ML488

You def know what you’re talking about with regards to hairline placement but I disagree and feel they got it quite right for this case. Look at these pics instead of the awkward window pic … nothing seems unnatural here about the placement ….

There are a few things happening here that give the illusion of it not being natural, even though it is. First, he has VERY thick sides which throws things off when seeing the sudden appearance of less dense hair at the forelock. Second it’s the harshest lighting possible with the sun beaming in from behind him through the hair. Even though the transplant was a borderline failure, even if all 3600 grew it still wouldn’t have ever matched his natural super thick sides, but it would’ve been better.

In my opinion at least that looks like approximately 2700 grafts if I had to guess, which would put the growth yield at around 75%. Looks extremely natural at least.

@JoeManI see you came from the US to go to Ferreira. Just curious how did you make your payment? If it were with a credit card did they charge you a fee to use? He is on my short list and I am gathering info. Thank you.

It is definitely possible imo to get a respectable frontal third with the right surgeon who knows what they're doing when it comes to donor management.

The unfortunate part for you is that you don't have that thick coarse beard that would make you a good case for a clinic like Eugenix. Konior is right in the sense that if you took a few thousand or so from your donor, it would probably end up looking much thinner back there and on top of that 3,000 is not enough for full acceptable coverage. What about just using grafts for your frontal third only and considering a low density partial hairpiece for the midscalp and crown?

That's one of the most densily packed HT's I've ever see

Numbness can last months from all I've read

Thanks for sharing all those photos and I am glad you are happy with the outcome as that is what's most important. That said, maybe it's just me I really don't know, but am I the only one who thinks that frontal third is surprisingly thin and lacking of a great outcome for what was a whopping 3600 grafts?? Compared to your 10 days post op "preview phase" photos it looks like the density was going to be insane. The final result is not that and when shaved down you can see there was not full growth, no?

I can understand your anxiety about knowing how you'll have to be back in the chair again no matter what as opposed to so many guys who are already stabilized. The chasing game is never a situation anyone wants to be in as Gatsby implied. I am in a similar boat only using minox and still progressing a bit but also want to book a HT soon. Try and look at it this way as far as the future goes before your potential second transplant... you will likely lose just about all of the hair you have outlined in that frontal third region. Right now it looks like you have about the same amount of hair there that you would have if the grafts proposed for that area make it in(1600). You can subtract a bit from going into the middle of the forelock and figure they would instead go into your bald temples. So the question is how happy would you be with that kind of density, or even a bit less really, for your frontal third down the road?

It is possible, but you need to find a good surgeon who others have mentioned knows what they are doing when it comes to the donor. I'd estimate you only have a few thousand grafts to work with from your donor. 4,000 or so if I had to guess. You would have to go with beard too. Eugenix would probably be the best choice for this, but other good options who excel at donor management that i've seen are De Freitas, Demirsoy, Ferreira.

Trust me, it's not anything other than a good solid result. I think the part that's throwing you off is you have to also remember he has a pretty good head of solid strong hair outside of his recessed areas. Super high lateral humps and all. This will always make for a better looking "wow" result to the eye once it all grows in as opposed to someone who's diffuse thinning behind a frontal third transplant.

First of all it really is a VERY small area when it really comes down to it. Then there is the illusion of density on top of it all. It might look like a super thick strong wall of hair head on but from the sides it's really not. Still a great result that looks to have been a full growth of the grafts.

I am scheduled for my first ever hair transplant this Summer where I plan to have the frontal third done, around my existing forelock which is still in decent shape. For a long time and still to this day, I am not that concerned with my crown. I've always simply just wanted my hairline and frontal third back to reframe my face. That being said, my crown has been thinning out pretty badly the last few years and I've always thrown some toppik back there which has been fine. Over the last few months however, my crown has crossed that line to where it is simply too thin to take on fibers. There is still coverage from the thin hair, but the hair has thinned out so drastically to where now the fibers no longer cling to it well enough and instead land mostly on the scalp and it just makes for an awful, messy and very offputting look most of the time. I've been using Minox foam for a few years but I don't think it's ever done much. Oral finasteride I had sides. Laser helmet made me shed worse. Now as a last ditch effort of sorts I have begun using a minoxidil/finasteride topical combo solution in the crown in hopes of strengthening it up over the next 6 months before my surgery and in hopes of just strengthening/thickening it up in general. If somehow I could just get it a little thicker again, I could be in business. But if things continue to get worse or even stay the same, I really wouldn't be in a good spot because now toppik is really on longer an option back there. So I am curious, for someone who is not overly obsessed with the crown loss and doesn't want to run for a second transplant a year later, what other realistic options could there be? I have long thought of SMP, but like with fibers, I feel there has to be a certain amount of hair left (more than I have now) for the illusion to work. Is that fair to say? Nothing would be worse than someone coming up behind me or a girl looking at my head and easily spotting the dots through the thin hairs. Another option is a partial hairpiece which, if it came to it I would be willing to try, but something tells me that would be hard to deal with. I'd rather not share photos as I feel this is a pretty straight forward scenario. Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks.

7 month update?

You have movie star hair. A hairline any straighter or denser would look off in my opinion.

Very good write up and thank you for sharing ALL those pics. But am I missing something? In all honesty this does look like a home run result to me, wow. Those post op pics from whenever they were, a few weeks or a month after, are some of the best I've ever seen. This doc's work is very clean, always. I like it.

Redness is basically gone too, right? How long did that take.

Great video, thanks for sharing. I'm kind of shock by just how little real hair you had on your scalp. Gives me hope that fibers can go a long way with a little hair. I'm assuming you'd basically be just about a NW6.5 or even 7 without transplants?

I had no idea you were that bald in the crown area. Were you always using fibers/dermatch? Good luck with your growing.

I don't think you could ask for much more at 4 months. At this rate by 6 months you will be golden and everything after will just feel like a bonus imo

And how is it going now 5 months post op?

They made you wear a mask the entire surgery? Did you take a covid test beforehand?

@SadMan2021 Not sure why you are saying the lack of density may be due to an "underestimated" number of grafts when one side is clearly coming in quite dense and nice and the other side something may just be wrong. 1400 is a very acceptable amount of grafts for this imo. To the OP, was one tech working on one side and another tech working on the other? My personal opinion is it's not going to be a home run result on that one side of your head, but that being said, I absolutely have seen cases where 6-7 months in things really do take a sudden turn for the better and hair comes through stronger. I'd definitely just relax and give it a few more months before really panicking.

I would take a breather. The result at the hairline itself looks pretty damn good. I know the density looks off but you did take it in harsh lighting. Are you happy with it? As far as the infection goes I really wonder if that had anything to do with the poor regrowth back there. At the end of the day it healed up. Could just be a case of slight overharvesting instead, no? This is why I'd like to see a photo of the donor post op.