newpatient99

Pictures should be working now if they weren't before. Would love to get some other opinions on how the progress looks so far (this Friday will officially be 8 months and 3 weeks).

On 9/2/2018 at 9:53 PM, Payam said:

10 months of sprouting goes against anything I've ever read, so please show.e a source on this. I believe you are talking about growth in general, 6 months is not too early to determine where the growth is weak and I can see weak patches where there has been no sprouts all over my recipient.

As many have said, 6 months is still early. I know it's not what you want to hear, but since it would be way too soon for a second procedure, the best thing you can do is just be patient, it can only get better from here. You need to give your scalp at the very least 8 months to heal before doing another procedure and that's already pushing it. I'm at almost 9 months and I'm not satisfied with my results so far either but I know the only thing I can do now is just wait it out a few more months and see if it improves. I spoke with my doctor about my density concern and he was very comforting about it and encouraged a touch up if it doesn't get better. 10 months of sprouting is not rare, I've seen some sprouting after month 8 in my own case , so it's very possible you can have another growth surge in the upcoming months. If there's no real improvement in a couple of more months, consult with your doctor and I'm sure he'll be open and upfront about expectations and if there is any needed touch ups. 

Amazing results, you must be very happy! The transplanted hair looks very soft too and blends in very naturally with the native hair. The pre-op work is also one of the cleanest I've seen too. 

Is there a reason you opted not to restore the temporal points?

1 week should be fine for light exercise, 2 weeks you can resume heavy exercise. 

Just to be safe, I'd avoid swimming for at least a month. 

Looks good and on track at 7 weeks. 

5 hours ago, made2care said:

I've been thinking about your situation and of course pictures speak a thousand words , so without seeing your lopsidedness I thought I might inject my thoughts here. Just an assumption of sorts. 

When Arocha performed my transplant, same situation involving who was assigned per task. Only difference is my was a FUT and from what I have read, the FUT does yield more density than FUE. However, what is perplexing is the fact that one side is more dense than opposing side and you are attributing that to a variance in skill level between the techs. 

So let's start from the onset with my FUT procedure. Arocha incised the donor site (strip) and closed the incision. Step 2 involved the techs dissecting the grafts while the Doc then proceeded to make the recipient sites. After the recipient sites were completed, the Doc stepped away and the 2 techs got to work , same as your situation, a different tech on each side began placing the grafts into their recipient sites. I distinctly remember the tech on my right was very talkative ( nothing wrong with that, she was funny and polite) and the tech on my left was pretty quiet. Now, from what I have read, the techs only have a certain window of time to transplant the graft into the skin, even though the grafts are placed in a saline solution or in other cases , the patient's own blood . This is crucial ! In addition to that, whoever dissects the grafts and groups the follicles, that person must be well trained or there is a chance the follicles could be damaged prior to install into the scalp. 

Now, let's say every follicle( this is the component that's grows the hair) is unharmed and is placed properly into each recipient site within the safe time frame recommended. Technically, each follicle should grow, taking into account the patient followed post op instructions, which should prevent any harm to the grafts and follicles. So by the 10th day post op, the follicles are now permanent and should adapt nicely to their new location. 

With all of this being said, I clearly asked Arocha's clinic what their guarantee was since I was about to invest a lot of money and I'm by no means rich, just a teacher so I wanted assurance besides reviews and Photographs . The response was 95 % of the grafts will grow and I've always wondered what could occur to the other 5%. 

It will be interesting to see your pics and I'm curious if the FUE robot can in some instances damage follicles thus explaining imbalance but I'm not sure on that. As far as placing a graft into a pocket in the skin by hand per the techs, I don't know enough info to comment on the actual expertise needed to perform that task. I do remember asking Eduardo if the Doc implanted the grafts and he smiled and said "no , if he did it would take him 3 days". I then asked how skilled the techs were and if they had been doing this a while and he responded that they were very good and experienced.

so there are my thoughts 

Yes, I'm in so much debt after the procedure lol. So yeah, hopefully he meant he'll do a free touch up for the areas where density is lacking. I'm not familiar with the FUE robot. There were 3 different techs and one of them harvested the grafts one at a time with a tool, I believe the tool he was using resembled a nail gun so I think it was manually done?

If you're curious about my results so far, I posted pictures in the second sub-thread. 

I've also heard FUT typically yields a better survival rate (although not by much) but I'm too scared of the strip scar. Plus the recovery from FUT is a lot more brutal and I generally have a fade haircut. 

Your donor looks pretty strong so at least you'll have good ammo to work with. Because your hair loss is pretty severe, I would advise a very conservative hairline so you can get max coverage, you want to save as many grafts as possible in case you need a second procedure. A good doctor can design a very nice receding hairline for you. 

Something like this

I'll try to get my pre-op pictures soon. I'm going to post them myself because I want to edit them in specific way to conceal my identity. I was in between a NW 2.5 and 3, very strong donor, I wasn't really balding except only in my hairline. 

I was hoping my result was be better at this point but I know there's still time for improvement. As you can see from the pics, the density isn't there yet but there also are some grafts that just sprouted not too long ago in the front of the hairline. The temporal points are especially lacking in density, but to the doctor's credit, during my follow up a month ago, he did acknowledge the temporal points didn't look good and he would do a touch up in a few months if they still haven't filled in (not sure if he meant that means he'll do the touch up for free, but hopefully that's the case).

My other concern is the transplanted hair isn't soft like my native hair, the texture is almost pubic hair like, and that's very evident in the temporal points. Is this normal?

As far as my experience during the procedure goes, my surgeon was extremely nice and his facility is gorgeous, it doesn't look like a clinic, it looks like a vacation house and that really makes you feel more relaxed. His techs were also very friendly and constantly asked me during the procedure if I was doing ok, if I was feeling any pain, and if I needed to take a quick break. They also did a great job of following up, I believe they would call me very 2 months to ask how I was doing and always encouraged coming in for a check up. And if you plan on taking Fin, get your prescription from My surgeon it's insanely cheap. I believe I paid like $20 for 3 months supply. 

I posted this in another thread, but after my FUE, all of my discomfort in my donor eventually went away except this HUGE bump that still hasn't gone away. It looks like a giant bald spot and it has a jelly like texture. When my surgeon checked it out a month ago, my hair was super long and covering it so the extent of it was hard to see, but he said it was ingrown hair. However, when I cut my hair short and the bump was visible, it looks pretty bad and it's worrying me. If someone can shed some light on this and let me know if this is common? I want to get this treated ASAP...

Is there treatment that makes it go away faster?

Definitely ask your doctor to make sure a hair piece won't harm your grafts and affect their growth potential. I would think suffocating your grafts like that and like letting them breath could potentially damage them?

Also, I don't know if a frontal piece only would look natural...

^ if half of your grafts have sprouted by month 5, I'd say you have nothing to worry about. 80 percent of your grafts should be sprouted by 8 months. 

Not all of your grafts sprout at the same time so at month 5, it's still early. Most of my grafts started sprouting at month 3, however I'm at almost 9 months and I noticed some of my grafts at the start of my hairline just barely sprouted a couple of weeks ago. 

1 hour ago, Lochtide7 said:

Wow so fades to pink in 5 months! darn that is a long time...too long for me, for someone who wants to get hairline lowered by 1800 or so grafts. I wonder if its possible to wear like a hair system over the pink areas for 4 to 5 months?

Sorry for the confusion. What I meant was, it will take at least 5 months for the pinkness to go away. From my personal experience, my recipient was red for about 2 months and then slowly faded to pink, I'd say it took 6 months before the redness/pinkness to go away. Even now at near 9 months, my recipient still isn't the same color as the rest of my scalp but it's not noticeable unless you look at it really close.  

Some doctors can do no shave for the recipient area but you will have to shave the donor no matter which doctor you go with. If the doctor does clean work and you respond well to the surgery, you should look fine in about 10 days. However your scalp will be red and then gradually fading to pink for at least 5 months

3 minutes ago, jj51702 said:

You want local docs but u consulted with two Turkish doctors and one in New York? Am I missing something?

No, I already had my surgery with Dr. Arocha because I'm in Houston. I was saying even though that's great Dr. Asmed offered any free touch ups, I would prefer to stay local. 

16 hours ago, bismarck said:

Ingrown hair, fungal infection, small abscess, less likely tumor. Not much redness on the picture you showed which is a good sign.

Show it to your MD,. Maybe think about an ultrasound to see if there is a fluid collection under the skin that can be cultured and drained.

9 hours ago, hairthere said:

It could also be a lipoma (benign fatty tissue/tumor). I would go to your MD and have it checked asap.

Thank you to everyone for all the swift responses. Has anyone else here had this happen after fue?

6 hours ago, Gasthoerer said:

Were grafts havrested from this region? It is kinda low and ar to the nape region.

Actually it looks a little but like alopecia areata...

I'm not sure, I just know it developed after the surgery. Isn't alopecia areta just a flat spot though? This is a raised bump that has a soft jelly feel to it. 

17 hours ago, Spanker said:

I mean after you take it out and clean any infection.  Could be antibiotics. See what the doc says. 

Oh I see. As far as your patients go, is ingrown hair common after FUE's?

11 hours ago, jj51702 said:

I like what clinics such as asmed offer patients- a formal guarantee that 90% min of grafts will grow

That's awesome. However, I'd prefer local so any setbacks or follow ups can be addressed in person immediately. 

9 hours ago, made2care said:

Absolutely agree. How much longer do you have until he determines if a touch up is necessary?

3 months. 

When's your next follow up?

4 minutes ago, Spanker said:

I really don't know. Hopefully about 90 days if there isn't any real infection. 

It's been almost 9 months lol damn. Let's say there is an infection, generally what would be the treatment?

On 9/1/2018 at 7:23 PM, Spanker said:

I was thinking ingrown hair too.  If you are located close to your surgeon, I'd make an appt to see him next week. If not, see a dermatologist.  On the bright side, your donor besides that looks very strong. 

How long does ingrown hair take to heal? I am in Houston but the clinic won't be open until Tuesday and it's just embarrassing whenever I go out. 

Thank you for the compliment regarding my donor area. When I went in for my initial consultation, my surgeon did make a comment about me having very strong donor hair and I only had 2000 grafts removed so it's comforting to know I'll be able to have another procedure if needed. 

On 8/30/2018 at 6:43 PM, Melvin-Moderator said:

Rushing to have surgery is never a good idea, I assume you’ve dealt with hair loss for more than a year, so why would you want to rush in to surgery? It is best to consult slowly with various doctors, this way you’re able to form a long-term strategy based on professional opinions and consults. 

Furthermore, a clinic that can see you and schedule you for surgery that same day is not a clinic you would want to go to. 

Just wanted to say your result is God tier. I would have gone with Dr. Diep if I lived closer to his clinic. Seems like Dr. Diep is one of the masters at hairlines, if I were in your shoes, I probably would have gotten greedy and asked for a straighter and lower headline hah. 

I'm at almost 9 months since my FUE procedure and most of the pain from the donor hear have long gone,  BUT I had this lump that still hasn't gone away, it does hurt a little if I put pressure on it and it has a gel like texture when you touch it. Anyway, after the surgery, I was growing out my hair long so you couldn't see it and I didn't realize how bad it was. I had my FUE and when I went in for my check up a month ago, I told him about it and he said it was just ingrown hair. Again, my hair was super long and covering it at that point so it was hard to see. So today was the first time I got a shorter haircut since my procedure and holy crap, it looks awful! There's literally a huge bald spot lump in my donor area and it's low enough to where I can't hide it with a cap. Obviously doctor's offices will be closed for Labor Day weekend so I won't be able to reach them. I know the coalition doctors are pretty active on here, so if the Moderators could help me contact my surgeon for me so I can get this addressed immediately. Here is a pic just taken. This is 8 months and 2 weeks post op.

44 minutes ago, made2care said:

So will you have to pay additional costs if density doesn't improve or will Arocha fix it free of charge since some follicles didn't take?

I don't think anyone should have to pay for additional touch ups if the result doesn't turn out to that doctor's standard. I'm sure everyone here would agree with me on that. 

On 8/12/2018 at 1:53 PM, made2care said:

My first hair transplant with dr Blaine Lehr ( Oklahoma City) 10 years ago was not good. All he did was remove the strip and his techs planted. 

My recent HT with Dr Arocha ( Houston, Tx USA) was totally different. Consultation was very thorough. Not only did  Dr Arocha remove the strip but  he also created all of the recipient sites, then the techs went to work with the implanting. 

I think having good techs implanting definitely helps with fatigue , sine it's such a long process. Doctors can get fatigued!

I had a HT with Dr. Arocha in January. Dr. Arocha did the incisions but 3 different techs did the harvesting and implanting. I don't know if this is common with FUE or not. My concern with 2 different techs doing the implanting without the doctor's involvement is that two techs might have different skill levels and so far it's showing in my result as one side is thicker than the other, especially in the temporal points. One side of my temporal point looks really bad so far for 8 and a half months, I'll be posting pictures of my progress next week. However, to the doctor's credit, during my check up, he did acknowledge that one side was lacking in growth and would do a touch up if the density doesn't improve in a few months.