SBSinNYC

What do you look like now? Rock bottom is usually around 3 months or so. Are you on the upswing?

Personally, if a clinic screwed up on such a basic thing as insertion angles, I would never consider going back to them to repair the screw up. They can’t be trusted to do it right. There is a research paper on Bernstein’s website from over 20 years ago explaining insertion angles for all the different zones of the scalp. This is a blunder. Don’t risk magnifying it. Think long term. I know Turkey is cheaper, but ht requires long term thinking for best results. For me, short term savings is short term thinking if you are compromising on the doc in any way.

Well, I guess I spoke too soon.

Eureka!! I think you’ve finally got it!

I think this could be the source of your problem. You are confusing the amount of hair on someone's head with being totally fucked. You need some perspective. On the bright side, I can set my watch by when you will return to this site under a new name, so that I can re-live the train wreck of your psyche.

If a doctor “guaranteed” me anything, I would probably immediately cross them off my list. There are no guarantees in surgery. Ever. If he really said that, it was highly unprofessional.

Yes. Despite being told literally dozens of times that you need to wait 12 months, now is the time to panic. Don’t delay. Panic immediately.

I am just shy of 4 months post FUT. I am seeing quite a few grafts poking through, which is nice. If native hair typically grows at 0.5 inches per month, should the new grafts also grow at roughly the same rate?

After a single procedure, most doctors would say to wait at least a full year before doing another. This is to allow your scalp to fully recover from the trauma. I doubt doing two procedures so close together will maximize your result.

When I was a kid there were jokes about Nuns telling kids that if they masturbated hair would grow on their palms! They wouldn’t make that up, would they?

I am calm, but excited for growth. I’m at month 3 1/2, so I’m ready for action. I picked a great doc who I trust. I’m 55 with 3 (youngish) kids so I have plenty of more important things to worry about.

From Bernstein’s website. I had FUT with him in July. Staples came out in two steps. They were removed at his office, but said he could instruct someone to else how to do it March 19th, 2007 Q: I recall that you wrote an article about Monocryl for the donor closure in hair transplants. Why are you now using staples? — R.S., Park Slope, NY A: I have been using staples in almost all of our follicular unit hair transplants since the beginning of 2006. When we published the Sutures vs. Staples study in 2001, some doctors were still not convinced. Because of this I continued to look at the issue, not in a bilaterally controlled experiment, but just looking at my cases done with the 5-0 Monocryl and those with staples that I continued to use from time to time. After doing hundreds of additional cases, I was still convinced that, overall, the suture line looked better with the 5-0 Monocryl sutures than with the staples. However, it occurred to me that perhaps we were looking at the wrong thing. I began to think that perhaps we should be looking at hair preservation, rather than cosmesis alone. The problem with the appearance of stapled closures is that it results in a very well demarcated, geometric line. Monocryl sutures, on the other hand, results in a much softer, more smudgy line – the characteristic that made it look better in the study. This effect is produced by two things. The first is that the very fine 5-0 Monocryl sutures placed very close to the wound edges allow perfect wound edge approximation. However, the running suture actually destroys some hair as it makes its spiral course through the skin, destroying some hair and producing this smudgy appearance. We had felt that suturing very close to the would edge, using fine suture caliber 5-0 Monocryl, advancing the running stitch on the surface rather than in the SC space, and the mechanism of action of Monocryl absorption (via hydrolysis rather than by an inflammatory reaction) would all mitigate against any hair loss – but there was still some. It seemed that although the overall look was better with sutures, it might be at the expense of some hair loss. To test this, I began to look at the hair yields in the donor strips of second hair transplant procedures where the new harvest completely encompassed the old scar. It seemed, at least anecdotally, that the strip containing an old incision that had been sutured closed contained slightly less hair than that from one that was stapled closed, even if the former looked better. Although I did not do a rigorous study, this was my “sense.” In addition, I realized that staples could be left in the scalp for 3 weeks after a hair transplant without causing excessive inflammation (patient discomfort not withstanding) and this gave me more flexibility in using staples in patients with slightly tight scalps without having to rely on subcutaneous sutures. I began to take out alternate staples at 7 to 10 days and the remaining staples at 18-21 days post-op. With the issue of hair preservation, rather than just the cosmetic benefit, as the main goal and with the added flexibility of being able to leave in alternate staples for up to 3 weeks, I started using staples routinely in almost all of our hair transplants.

Hi Martino, Styling your hair to minimize the visibility is your best bet. Not sure what work you do, but maybe a hat would be acceptable for a brief stretch. Depending on your bosses hair, he/she might be very understanding. I am 3 months post FUT. After a couple weeks, it was no big deal. The few people who have learned of my procedure have been universally supportive and mostly inquisitive. Everyone wonders about these procedures, either for themselves or loved ones. It’s much less of a big deal than you think.

This is a question for the broad audience. With that much hair, would shock loss be a concern for the adjacent area?

Don’t smash your head into anything. Wear a hat on sunny days. The follicles are in place after 10 days. Wait as patiently as you can. I know that’s not easy.

If it was a problem, I expect they would have said so. At this point it doesn't matter. If you think you're nervous now, wait 10 weeks!

Just stop. Stop worrying about absolutely nothing. The stress will cause your hair to fall out. Stop.

Looks very good. He should be smiling. (But, he's not!)

Exactly. There are things you can do about your hair. A girlfriend (or wife) who isn’t in your corner is world of trouble.

Thanks. You don’t hear much discussion of Dr. Bernstein on this forum, but I wouldn’t let that dissuade you. His practice just doesn’t fit the profile of many posters. He has firm opinions about what will work best for his patients long-term and won’t sugarcoat his opinion just to get you in the door. These forums have many non-US posters. Many are in their twenties. Many have years to go until their conditions are stabilized. Bernstein would likely tell them to go on meds and wait. Many won’t want to wait. Bernstein is in NYC. Not a cheap town to travel to and stay in for several days. Not a cheap town to put together a top notch office and staff in. Compared to Turkey, he’s much more costly I believe he’s the real deal, though, with a depth of knowledge and experience that is hard to match. His website is an incredible resource, from FAQ’s to detailed discussion of procedures to original research.

I am 8 weeks post FUT with Dr. Bernstein. Unfortunately that puts me around the rock bottom stage, so I can’t give you much information about the final outcome. The surgical experience itself was very professional. If it helps, I am NW5, 55 years old, straight fine hair. Started 1mg Finasteride three months ago. Had a full head of hair at 40, but three kids can produce a lot of cortisol.

I am 40 days post op FUT. I’m getting a few pimples in the recipient area. Nothing concentrated. Widely dispersed. My question is what, if anything, to do? Pop them? Ignore them? Warm compresses? Curious what others have been instructed/done.

Also, the meaning of life and the nature of reality.

You should ask him what, if anything, he has changed since last time. Explain your previous experience and ask for his recommendation. So, what has changed with YOU in the last ten years to cause you to go for round 2? Curious what the future could hold.

1600 grafts is not a huge HT. FUT strips can certainly yield significantly more. How many singles, doubles, triples and more were harvested? Were there enough singles to fully establish the hairline?