Milo

You summarized it perfectly! I was not expecting to have to worry about trying to comb over thin looking hair where exposed scalp is evident. I accept the density would never be as good as normal hair. Yes, I agree the middle does look pretty good since the hairline was lowered, but the sides are way lower, in comparison. So I can ultimately comb it to hopefully give the allusion that the density is not as low, but this is not easy to achieve and I had to style it looking like a comb over! Unfortunately I didn't take any post op pictures to compare, I wish I had now. I was hoping someone could provide some insight, with a large number of grafts that I had , the resulting density was so low. Did some of the transplanted grafts not grow back? This ultimately makes me nervous/hesitant to get any further HT, since I don't know how good the result would be.

Attached are some more photos which should be better quality. Thanks for the kind words of support posted so far. I really want to understand why the transplanted grafts did not come back after shedding. Unfortunately I only have my memory of what it looked like before shedding, but I can't believe the density in the transplanted area after the procedure would be so low with 3000 grafts.

I had 3000 graft FUE done one year ago with a highly regarded FUE Dr. I was told I was Norwood 3 and was a good candidate for FUE. I have had a slow receding hairline and could see that it was heading to Norwood 4, which I dreaded. I am in my mid 40s, and the Dr said receding at my age slows down, but since I was worried about it getting worse, I decided to get a HT. I chose the Dr because of the many success stories that have been posted on this forum and has done many FUE procedures. However I am now at the one year post HT and the density is very low. The Dr initially suggested around 2200 grafts but told me that he ended up doing close to 3000, since he was able to get good extraction yield. Based on research I concluded that this should have been enough to provide decent density (I accept it would not be the same as original hair). The hair regrowth started off well around 5 months and lasted for about 2 months and then seemed to stop. Unfortunately I did not take pictures after the HT, as I didn't want to keep thinking about it. Since I have read that it can take up to year for the end result, I tried to stop obsessing and examining it every day. However with the one year mark approaching I started to get get really worried that the end result is not going to be as expected. It is very difficult to conceal the low density areas since it is both temples. Part of the reason for me getting a HT was not having to obsess about hiding the receding temples, but now it is worse because of sparse hair coverage. Even when I try to cover the temples with other hair you can still see the scalp under a normal light. I recognize that everyone can have a different result, but I expected this Dr to provide a much better result. I have my one year follow up with the Dr coming up, but I need some advice on why the density is so bad. I don't want to name the Dr, before giving him a chance to explain, but I am worried he will say I need another HT. I really don't want to go through another HT again and was expecting that 3000 grafts would have been enough. When I compare my result to others with a similar number of grafts, I don't believe there is 3000 grafts there. I have been taking FInasteride since the HT and been using Minoaxdil on the crown, as I minor receding there. I have attached photos before the HT and today (just after one year). I am scared to go to a hair salon in case they the make it look worse and am having to resort to getting a close family member to cut it for me. I am now more insecure about how thin my hair looks than before the HT and my constantly checking it in the mirror to make sure no scalp is exposed. I really need to find out why my HT result is a failure.