crankyhair

Yes from a previously bald area. Medication same pharmacy as usual. I'm not trying to convince anybody, and if you're doubtful I understand. I'm wondering if anybody has additional insight or advice based on what I'm seeing and it sounds like there isn't an explanation I'm missing and, for better or worse, this shouldn't happen and wait and seeing is the only option.

No scalp conditions. Yes, I've seen those posts. Hair shedding as part of a natural cycle would make sense except the usual growth phase is like 8 years, not just 15 months after the last time they shed post-transplant. It does feel like something triggered them to fall out, I'm just baffled as to what that could be and worried about whether I'll get them all back. And if I did something "wrong" I'd like to know what it is so I could avoid it in the future.

I guess don't know for certain it's only the new hairs that are shedding but there's definitely no obvious thinning anywhere except that new frontal virgin-ish hairline (which, yes, I suppose was thinner to start with than the rest by default) I'd say it went from giving the illusion of full-ish to clearly looking thinning, as if, say, a total of 25% just vanished. He did take some from the upper neck, lower base of head area which is the less safe zone but this person is also an undisputed expert so I assume he knew what he was doing there. Also, if there were impacted by DHT I wouldn't think they'd fall out all around the same period of time? Wouldn't they gradually thin like regular baldness?

Had a 1700 frontal third FUE with a very-very respected doc on these forums 15 months ago. Yes I’m on fin and minoxidil and have been for years. Then a few weeks ago I suddenly started shedding transplanted hair and it’s still going on. I’m freaking out. At first I thought maybe the so-called seasonal shed, but it seems like far too much for that -- there's one temple that went from being pretty filled in to hardly anything there. Doc says to wait a few months and see if it grows back which is indeed all I can do. But I’m just wondering if anybody has had anything like this happen. I’ve been trying to think of things I could have done to trigger a hair resting phase (like, I went into a tanning bed for 10 minutes last month). Even if there was something, why would it just impact transplanted hairs? Shouldn’t they be stable as regular hair after a whole year? I was just getting to the point where I felt like I was “done” and then this happens. I know some of you will be like “post photos” but I rather not do that and this is not about the overall result. Any advice or thoughts appreciated. Thank you

Sorry guys, I don't remember the specifics of the post, was a while ago.

Sorry let me clarify that: When I wrote about avoiding shedding the transplanted hair, I meant the hair transplanted from the first HT that's now grown in (but is technically not native)...obviously the newly transplanted hair would shed....

Something I’ve been wondering in general: Is it possible to get a density pass that’s so modest — like 200 grafts for the frontal third — that you can do it unshaven and with the new hairs spaced out enough so it doesn’t trigger a full-on inflammatory response that results in weeks of redness and shedding your existing native and transplanted hair? Basically a second HT without going through the nightmarish ugly duckling stage. Is that possible or unrealistic?

Not a question, but a potential answer for those enduring post-op redness. I'm like 6 weeks post-up and had lingering redness that didn't seem to be getting any better. Tried witchhazel, aloe, cortisone, moisturizer. Nothing helped at all and most made it worse. Then a former girlfriend recommended something for helping cover it up for a dinner I had to go to, called Dr. Jart's Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment from Sephora, which is basically like this green sunblock. I gave it a try and it was good at reducing the appearance of redness because the green combines with red skin to give the appearance of brown. But the far bigger surprise was the next morning after I showered and all the stuff was off and my skin was literally less red too, and moreso the next couple days after I used it again. I would never suggest this stuff for somebody who was a week or two post-op as it's got a long list of ingredients in it and who knows what they all do. And I'm not saying this for certain it is helping heal me faster. Maybe I was getting better suddenly on my own and it's a coincidence. But at minimum this is good for the appearance of redness as a cover up if your skin tone falls within a certain range, and it certainly didn't make me any more inflammed unlike everything else I tried. So I'm just offering this up as I know how totally frustrating dealing with this is and wish I had found it a few weeks sooner.

Actually I would think the red circle area is where it would look good to have a thinning look, especially as you get older, but I’m all for being conservative. As for graft direction, somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think you can really tell at this early stage how they’re gonna look after they fully shed and regrow? Bc you’re not seeing the direction of the grafts but rather the hairs which have been moved and messed with so... I have another offline thought, fake name, if you want to ping me directly, you have PM turned off

So many great outcomes, glad I’m booked with him

so if somebody is sitting next to you, can they tell it's not real stubble? do they look at it?

Not sure why I'm even weighing in here, but here's a different POV than the two sides I keep reading... -- FUE seems to get great results when things go well in the hands of the right doctor. If I do a procedure, it's gonna be FUE. -- It's probably inaccurate -- and is certainly not very polite -- to assume Feller or Bloxham are deliberately giving misinformation out of some intricate greedy and lazy scheme. None of us know their private thoughts. And the real lazy and greedy thing to do, actually, is to push procedures for whoever wants them regardless of your own reservations and just have techs do most of the work, cheerlead surgery and watch the money roll in. My read on all this is that Feller totally believes what he's saying. He says we're all skewed by the rare good results posted online...well, perhaps he's a tad skewed by being a guy that patients with bad FUE results come to for help. But I don't think he's wading into the online chaos over and over again because he secretly doesn't believe his own position and thinks that he can somehow make more money by criticizing a hugely popular procedure. And in any case, it's not necessary to question a doctor's sincerity and morality just because we may disagree with his position. Just my .02

Is it just me or like in postop front 1 does the front hairline look kind of clustered into little groups in a pattern-y way?

Docs like Konior and Wesley claim their FUE yield is actually the same at this point as their FUT results. Is there any evidence that for top docs this is not the case?

Probably impossible for people to know if swimming had an impact on their results months later after since they don't have a twin who had same procedure without swimming. But just as a disinterested third party I'd vote to wait. You're trying to get hair to live and sprout in their new home so give them every advantage and don't submerge them in chlorine.

looks pretty flawless to me

When a top surgeon refuses to take your money and tells you you're better off not doing it, I'd listen... Speaking of Dr Feriduni, somebody posted on here yesterday complaining they got a bad result from him and now -- poof! -- it's gone. Makes it tough to really judge this stuff, and trust this site, when mods vanish complaints...

Yes totally thanks

Looks great. Question: a few pages and many months back you said you felt a tad unsatisifed with the front hairline spacing, that when looking in mirror you could tell it looked artificial (but at a foot or two away on camera that disappeared). Do you still feel that way or has that aspect improved? Thanks!

Since this was posted by the clinic not the patient (who hopefully isn't reading this) I'll just say it: this is an example of what I would Not want. Strikes the eye as artificial despite an attempt at natural unevenness. Nope nope nope.

I'm sorry you're going through this. Personally -- and this is just my opinion man -- id cut my losses. I'd shave it, spray tan, hit the gym and wait for the next so called cure to come down the pipe. Might be sooner than you think. Lot of treatments in the works. Good luck and hang in there.

Long list, but a good one. You will get replies like "you can't go wrong with any of those!" But since those always annoyed me when i would do research, I'll pre-emptively point out that answer is A) not actually helpful because you still have to pick one and B) you could be the one of the very few who get an unsatisfactory result from a top name so somebody might end up being a bad choice in retrospect. That said I went through this decision making process recently and narrowed it down to Feriduni and Konior. I booked with the latter because he does everything himself so it eliminates the Nurse Roulette that other docs have you play. Also I looked very hard to find one person online saying a bad thing about Konior and coudln't find it. But Feriduni has some amazing results, several of the best results I've seen online are his, and he is less expensive. I've been a tad less impressed with Dr. B, and I think Lorenzo benefits somewhat from being in Spain -- his patients tend to have great thick-dark hair characteristics (this might not be true so somebody correct me if that's wrong). It's a tough choice.

He actually explains it on his website: "Most surgeons first go through the existing hair and make all of the recipient openings. After all of the openings have been made, they leave and have the technicians implant the hair grafts into these pre-made openings. Since skin is elastic, the openings begin to shrink almost immediately after they are created. To counteract this effect, surgeons will make larger openings. Because the graft openings are larger, less grafts can be implanted per square centimeter, reducing density and the natural look of the final result. The larger openings can also have a negative impact on the blood supply to the nearby, existing hair...Smaller openings are possible when using the stick-and-place method as they are filled with a hair graft immediately before they shrink. Smaller openings create less skin damage, maintain a healthier blood supply, reduce the risk of shock loss and allow the openings to be made closer together. Smaller openings and more follicles per square centimeter result in greater transplant density. The stick-and-place method also eliminates the risk of leaving openings unfilled or inadvertently placing two grafts into the same opening - problems often associated with standard pre-made openings. Finally, unlike pre-made openings which commit one to a predefined graft distribution, the stick-and-place method gives Dr. Konior the flexibility to customize graft placement so as to optimize the outcome. The "stick-and-place method" is utilized exclusively for patients who require grafts to be implanted among existing hair. This method assures the greatest precision possible so as to minimize shock loss and adjacent follicular damage."

I'm no expert, just another person in the market like yourself, but if I lived in NYC I would go with Wesley. I've consulted with him too. I think his pics look great. He seems to care about his online reputation. A lot of the cheaper acclaimed FUE guys overseas aren't really THAT much cheaper once you add travel costs. And a lot of them have at least a couple bad results out there mixed in with their terrific results. I haven't seen an all-out bad result from Wesley yet, though I have noticed some resistance to him on this forum among the veterans who have never been to him. Just my .02

Good to hear. But I'm still going to beat the bushes like mad trying to find any dissenting opinions before committing to elective head surgery. Too many patients do not. (And really, not "dirt" as you contextualize it --- as if anything other than the usual cheerleading on this site, even privately given, is somehow unseemly).