Nebulosity

I’m guessing the yield is like 75%. Along the temple peaks it is maybe 90%, but in the front middle it is too sparse, and has been for the past few months while the other areas grew in. The left temple point is seriously thin. While I was on the operating chair, after grafts had been extracted, Dr Bhatti drew the hairline on my recipient area and actually changed the design to implant further forward in front of my left temple point, saying he was making it symmetrical. What’s odd is that, although the left temple point was implanted further forward in front of native hair, he didn’t use more grafts on that side than the other. So unless I keep the sides really long, the left temple point will look obvious. See that? He should have implanted with enough density, or not brought the left temple so far forward. Even if every single one of the grafts grows in, it won’t even be 20% of my native density in front of the left temple point. What sheer idiocy. The right temple point doesn’t look good but it’s not obvious. And by the way I’m getting it all reversed. The placement of the grafts, the sparseness, the patchy scarring in the donor area, are unacceptable. The grafts are pretty much all growing, and it is obviously too sparse. I only have two choices: go for another hair transplant and tap out my donor supply, or get it reversed. Dr Bhatti left me with no choice. I’ve already consulted top docs and it’s going to cost like 20-40k.

Hello @Mr S, I am on finasteride at the moment and I have side effects. Mainly I have no sex drive and my balls ache occasionally. No other real side effects. I’ve done a lot of reading on finasteride. The sexual side effects are real. Consider that in the literature, what they mean by erectile dysfunction is different from erectile dissatisfaction. Occasionally I have erectile dissatisfaction while on finasteride. But it doesn’t really matter because the stuff kills my sex drive anyway. Anyway, the reason I’m replying is that I learned one very important thing in my reading. Men who experience side effects and stop taking fin within 6 months usually fully recover. I don’t remember the numbers, but men who experienced side effects and continued using it longer than around six months were more likely to have persistent side effects (although still, most don’t). So, since six months is enough time to take it to minimize shock loss after a transplant, I urge you to consider ceasing use of finasteride after 6 months of use. Then, according to my experience in the past, you’ll be back to normal within around 3 months. It’s not something you can really continue using if you have side effects and want to continue being a man. Sorry I don’t have citations. If I find the paper where I learned about the important fact I mentioned above, I’ll reply to this thread with details.

Hello @Badresults, I am also a victim of Dr Bhatti. I had a fine head of hair, and he basically ruined my scalp. My recipient area is too sparse, and my donor area is patchy. If you look at results that Dr Bhatti’s former patients post on the forum, you’ll find that most of them are failures. The only supposed successes are those posted by the doctor or one of his reps, or one-off posts that are suspiciously lacking in detail or follow up. Did he claim that your failed result was due to your previous procedure? He refused to give me a refund. When I demanded a refund, he claimed that I had been told before the procedure that there would be no refund. That was false. No one had ever mentioned that to me. His staff took photographs of my scap before and after the procedure. When I asked for the one of my donor area after the procedure, he claimed that there were no photos. I asked him why he made my hairline so low. He said it wasn’t low. I asked him why the density was so low. The first time I asked, he said the density was “optimal.” Later, in a Skype call that I managed to arrange with him, he refused to talk about the density of my results. Then he claimed that he had inplanted along the hairline at up to 55 grafts per square cm, which was obviously false. I had even emailed images in which I measured the density with a translucent ruler. He wasn’t having any of it and ignored what I said. Exasperated, I asked him why the density was so low behind the hairline. He said that he did the best he could given the grafts available. Which makes you wonder why he designed my hairline so low. Dr Bhatti claimed in a subsequent email that I had “thrusted” (his choice of word) negativity onto his clinic and his personal character. He went on to say that he would continue to support me as he does all of his patients. Since then, I’ve emailed pictures of my destroyed donor area to him to ask for his advice/support. He has not responded. Once you start telling the truth about your results, I guess he basically ghosts you. To anyone considering a transplant with Dr Bhatti, as @Badresults said, think ten times. Everything I posted above is factual, and you can contact me if you have any questions.

Yes, actual opinions from top docs that it might be uneven extraction (as mentioned by the poster above) and not shock loss count for something. Iffy was my wording. If you think it really looks like shock loss, great. Maybe I misread you.

Why comment just to repeat the mantra of 12 months? It would in some sense be absolutely pointless to post progress images if we didn’t assess the progress. I’m also here to review the results of the service that I purchased. I think it’s fair to assume that surgical technique affects donor area healing, including the duration. I offer my experience for everyone’s benefit. Also, while you did provide your own example of donor shock loss, as far as I remember it didn’t last 5 months and wasn’t as obvious.

I’m looking for some actual assessment. Yea I’m hoping it’s shock loss, but at this point from what I’ve been told by docs it’s kind of iffy as to how much will grow back. Facts and analysis are appreciated. I’ve read about shock loss. I’ve also seen that in cases where donor areas get destroyed, people are told on forums to just wait, that it will grow back, until it doesn’t. Also, a lot of people seem to suddenly show up who seem to spend a lot of time making those kinds of comments. So I’d appreciate it if you either brought some substance, or didn’t reiterate the “program” (wait 12 months assuming and not assessing, and then, and only then, start to worry). The recipient area has been kept short until a few weeks ago. I’ll post pics soon.

Day 146 update: I cut my Bhatti donor area to a number 3, and it looks about the same as it has since about day 1. It’s still patchy, almost like the intention was to advertise that I got a hair transplant. I won’t cut it any shorter, because it’s just too obvious that way. From the left side, it almost appears like I have a linear scar from FUT, because of the dramatic arc of sparseness in contrast to the density above and below. That’s the area that I will have a better surgeon focus on for repair. Note: I cut the entire donor area, and the areas just above and below, to a uniform length.

Yea thanks. I’m going to wait 8 months, maybe longer. Besides, I don’t want the cost of the repair to interfere with my life too much. The most expensive option could run 40k usd including flights and hotel. I’m planning to wear my hair longer for the next several months, to cover up the hairline and donor area. I’ve got a nice gf who doesn’t care about my hair, a job, goals in the gym, business goals, etc. I’m going to use this setback to focus on progressing in those areas, and come back to this hair transplant problem later. I’ll keep this thread updated with progress pics and info.

Hey there. You’re right. Just read the last few pages of this thread and all will be clear.

I don’t even care about the recipient area. I just want my donor area to not be destroyed. At 4-5 months, it seems that maybe it will grow back, maybe it won’t. If it does, then I can probably look normal again. Yea, I don’t like going out in public, but I have to for my work. I have to meet people all the time, in various office settings with bright overhead lights.

I see the issue in your before picture, but the after picture hardly shows your donor area at all, and where your donor area does show it appears patchy, specifically right above and behind your ear. I'd like to see more after photos at a short length to really assess the difference. Did your shock loss take 4.5 months to start resolving? I am hoping that what I have is temporary shock loss. Doctors who I respect have told me that it's probably some shockloss, and I believe them. However, one of them also explained that it could be that my donor density was not that high to begin with, and that many extractions were made in a small area. It's hard to tell at this point without a picture showing exactly where the extractions were made. Dr Bhatti never measured my donor density. Did your doctor measure your donor density, Melvin? Dr Bhatti's staff told me to sit in a chair and took photos of my scalp before and after the procedure. They have not shared those photos with me. Dr Bhatti claims to have no photos from my procedure. Maybe he lost them? But there has been no acknowledgement of that. Furthermore, the only comment Dr Bhatti has made about donor areas in general is that mine should look normal 6-12 weeks after the procedure. Here I am, 4.5 months after the procedure, with little to no improvement. I've sent images to Dr Bhatti, and asked him what's going on with my donor area, but he hasn't even acknowledged the photos or the questions. I'd like this forum's help to request my photos from immediately after the procedure. Regarding your standing by what you said. Well, I'm not making you out to be the bad guy, Melvin, but you've been speculating about my psychological state, favoring ad hominem over substance. And you've made erroneous claims about what I'm planning. I'd like to focus on facts and analysis. Maybe you could too.

Parts of my donor area have a burning sensation, especially the left side where it is most thin. Does anyone know if this is normal and what I can do about it? I want to know if I should consult a dermatologist, or if there is any treatment besides minoxidil, or if the burning sensation indicates anything. Any suggestions? I really don’t know who to turn to.

“I spoke with this patient when he was thinking about removing his transplant after a month. This sort of impulsive behavior shouldn’t be accepted as appropriate or normal.“ Correction: You spoke with me via pm, 3.5 months after my transplant, when I was considering how go deal with my damaged donor area and looking for a refund, and you acted like there was nothing particularly wrong going on in my donor area. You also replied to my messages by telling me that I’m not a candidate for hair restoration surgery - after I had already had a transplant and was trying to figure out how to deal with the result. Early on, I did come to this forum to ask people what I should do. I could see that the density was lower in the hairline than in the work of top doctors, and wondered if there was any way to deal with it quickly. And I learned that there was not. You commented, but you basically told me that I was wrong. Seriously guys, I have gone into this whole thing in good faith, and also posted to this forum in good faith. The least you could do is acknowledge the issue with my donor area. My donor area is still messed up after 4.5 months. Dr Bhatti, whom your forum recommended, is not helping me with it. And you are not acknowledging it as a problem. I’m reluctantly ready to wait to see how the recipient area turns out, although I believe the evidence points to a bad result. How on Earth are you guys being a voice of reason? Please, everyone here, lets stop this intra forum bickering. I’m going to ignore the mods if they don’t want to help, and continue posting about my apparently damaged donor area as time goes on.

Bill, You’re right that the doctor should answer my concerns regarding my donor area, which looks much worse than it should. Have you looked at the pictures above? I can’t wear the hair on the back of my head at anything shorter than a 3. At 4 and a half months. Should I be unconcerned? Please explain, because everything I’ve read, and everything I’ve heard from professionals, leads me to believe that what happened to my donor area is indeed something to be concerned about. Is there something inaccurate in what I just said? Now, instead of acting like I’m the one being irrational, why don’t we focus on my donor area, and the fact that Dr Bhatti hasn’t addressed how damaged it appears to be, and refuses to provide images that his staff took of my scalp after the procedure. So, is my concern about my donor area misguided? Is it normal for the donor area to be so depleted in such a pattern after 4 and a half months?

I acknowledged that he's been in contact with me. Did you miss that part? (By the way, it was (corrected) 8 terse emails since Feb 10, where he refused to acknowledge most of my questions, and never addressed my damaged donor area once. And one Skype session where he gave me generic answers as if he knew nothing about my particular case. He even had to ask me when I had my surgery done.) So, thinking is irrational? And how about wanting a photo of the surgery that done on my scalp that I paid for, when doctors I'm in contact with have requested it? Irrational?

After repeated requests for the the photo of my scalp after extraction, I've finally received one reply from Dr Bhatti that actually acknowledged the request. NOTE: I remember clearly that his staff took photographs of my scalp before and after the procedure. This is unmistakable. I never received any photos. Dr Bhatti's reply: "We do not have any further photos other than what has already been shared with you. In addition, a photo of the extraction zone immediately post-op would make no difference for anyone attempting to fill any point on the scalp that has had a follicular unit extracted. This would be the same as asking for a photo of an empty water bucket in order to understand how to fill the bucket with water again." Besides that, I have been told the following: "As conveyed earlier, refunds are never offered. This was also mentioned to you before the procedure." And actually it was never mentioned. I don't know if it was in the form I signed before the procedure. But it was never mentioned. Anyone considering Dr Bhatti, please consider the above. They took my photos before and after the procedure, but the Dr refuses to give them to me. Why is that? I need one photo in particular. I explained to Dr Bhatti that other doctors have requested the photo immediately after extraction, to get a better idea of whether my issue is shock loss. At 4 and a half months, I'm losing hope that it's shock loss, and resigning myself to never being able to have remotely short hair again. But at least if I had a photo, I would have some idea, because I'd be able to see exactly where follicles were extracted, and perhaps any damage to the surrounding tissue. Dr Bhatti is pretending to not have photos. I remember being told to sit in a chair, and his staff using a camera to snap photos, before the procedure, and after the procedure. Dr Bhatti is not offering any support whatsoever. After telling me that although I am "thrusting" negativity on to his clinic and his personal character (which I think is false, as I am merely telling the truth about a terrible experience), he told me that he would still support me as he does any patient. But he has said nothing regarding my irregular and thin donor area. Absolutely nothing. In fact, I think most doctors would offer some kind of explanation, and offer some kind of potential solution. And I believe that part of the reason for the lack of support is that I am openly discussing my terrible results in a public forum. I'm only telling the truth, and for that, I am receiving terrible treatment, after being given a terrible, life altering result, which I will need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to fix. Thanks Dr Bhatti. I didn't even really need a hair transplant. But I just had no idea that a surgeon could produce such a sloppy result, and treat someone's scalp like an elementary school paper mache project. Considering Dr Bhatti? Look at the extraction pattern on the back of my scalp. Look at it again. Want to look like that? Then by all means contact Dr Bhatti.

Dr Bhatti has told me via email that I have thrust negativity on his clinic and his personal character. But, he said that he would continue supporting me as he does his other patients. The thing is, I haven’t been given any explanation or support regarding the state of my donor area. Also, twice I have requested a copy of the image of my donor area immediately after the procedure or after thr extraction, because I think that would help me to seek support elsewhere. I haven’t received any acknowledgment of those requests.

No, he didn't promise me 50-55 grafts/cm2. I measured the density of my recipient area at 25-35, which is just too low in any case, considering my native density is much higher. I don't expect a refund for the poor density, but I just think it is poor judgement and would like to voice my dissatisfaction that, regardless of whether it was discussed, he would make such a poor judgement and implant at such a low density. But as mentioned, that is not what I want a refund for. I want a refund because I think my extraction pattern was very ill conceived and caused an unnecessary moth eaten appearance. I did mention before the procedure that I wanted to be able to wear my sides at a #2, and my back sort of short. After some more months, I'll post more pictures, and if my donor area is still moth eaten, I expect a refund so that I can more easily afford a repair and/or SMP. And actually, I think the lack of more than a few single hair grafts along my hairline is grounds for a partial refund. After the transplant, he said that he had transplanted at a density of around 55 grafts/cm2 along my hairline, which is obviously false. Maybe some people reading this thread understood me to mean that, prior to the procedure, he promised me 55 grafts/cm2. No, he did not promise anything like that. I just think it is ridiculous that, after the transplant, in conversation, he claimed that he had implanted at a density approaching 55 grafts/cm2.

There were 58 singles extracted. He told me that they divided 100 doubles to produce an additional 200 singles, but as you can see in the picture 3 weeks after the transplant in my post above, there are hardly any singles at all, except for some along the temple points. Certainly not 258. And the first row of the frontal hairline is mostly (almost exclusively) 2s and 3s. Yes I discussed the hairline with Dr Bhatti. I am as much to blame for the bad temple corner design as he is, by accepting the poor design. However, part of his job is to make aesthetic judgements and in this case he made a very poor judgement. The implanted density is around 35 follicles per square cm in the hairline, and more like 25 further back. That is very low. Should I have specified every single detail of the procedure, down to the extraction zone, the density, and placement of singles? Should I have asked, periodically during the procedure, whether he was extracting enough singles? Obviously not. Did doctor Bhatti tell me specifically that he would place singles in the first two rows? Yes he did. Did he actually do what he said? No, not unless you think placing just a few singles, but mostly 2s and 3s, fulfills the expectation. The temple points are not as bad as the frontal hairline. However, the left temple point is very sparse, whereas mant grafts were implanted among the native hairs in the right temple.

The hairline design is alright if I had 3500+ grafts. Also I now realize that the rounded temple corners look unnatural considering the lack of density. The whole thing is very sloppy work.

3.5 months / 106 days after 2369 FUE with Dr Bhatti. I'm getting some growth, maybe average for 3.5 months, considering how sparse the transplant was. I’m resigned to the fact that I got a bad HT. My long term plan is to have the whole procedure reversed - have most of the implanted hairs extracted and reimplanted into the depleted donor zone so at least I look normal again. Maybe if there are more than enough grafts, or if I have some more extractions in other areas of my donor zone to even things out and implant into the depleted areas, then I’ll have enough left over (800-1000) to sort of reinforce my forelock where I am unlikely to go fully bald in the next 20 years or so. Then I can buzz it to a #2 all over and stop thinking about hair - which is probably what I should have done in the first place. Or at least I should have been very selective in choosing a hair surgeon. What worries me is the area in front of the forelock, behind the new hairline. The growth rate there is much lower. The native hairs seem to be growing fine. I noticed a lot of itchiness in my forelock during months 2 and 3, but that seems to be gradually subsiding. I was thinking that maybe that meant I would lose some native hair, but so far things seem fine. Currently on minoxidil 5% twice per day, 1mg finasteride, biotin and folic acid. I was on 0.5mg but increases it to 1mg at around 6 weeks at Dr Bhatti’s suggestion. I have reduced libido from finasteride, so I’ll be stopping that in another few months. I was on it before and it gave me the same side effect, but when I discontinued use, things went back to what they were like before taking finasteride. According to Dr Bhatti, the side effect is “all in my head.” But I read about double blind placebo controlled studies that prove some od the sides of finasteride are not just in peoples’ heads. Also, I suspect that many studies of finasteride use clever definitions to make it seem as if very few people get sides. For example, ‘erectile dysfunction’ is different from ‘erectile dissatisfaction’, but most studies only report on erectile dysfunction. I’d say my erections are not as good when I’m on finasteride. One thing I read is that the risk of long term side effects from finasteride use increase significantly if you use it for more than around 6 months. Enduring 6 months of finasteride is acceptable, but I’m definitely quitting at the 6 month mark. For reference, here is what it looked like 2 weeks after the transplant: Todays images of donor area attached below for completeness.

I’ll post some new recipient pics today. At 3.5 months, there is some growth. Also I posted some recipient area pics in this thread from the first month or so.

So far, I have asked Dr Bhatti for a photo of my donor area immediately after the procedure twice. He has not responded to my requests. The last time was yesterday. The previous time was posted above in this thread in a screenshot.. Without an image of my donor zone immediately after extraction, I need to *slowly* learn the extent of scarring or sparseness. If I can see the image, I can use it to consult a surgeon to plan a repair at some point in the future. I think they may want to see the donor zone immediately after extraction, either now or when I consult them in person. I think I had a big misconception. I thought Dr Bhatti would really focus on minimizing damage to the donor zone so that I could wear my hair somewhat short in the fiture. Not super short, but like a #3 guard without worry, maybe a #2. I saw images of peoples’ donor zones (who went to other docs) that healed up nicely after a few weeks or months. Some of them had shock loss, which I was prepared for. But I was not prepared for the level of damage that I see in my donor zone now. As far as I know, donor zones are not supposed to look this bad. There’s supposed to be scarring, but the scars are supposed to be small and separated by hairs, very evenly and carefully distributed across as much area in the donor zone as possible. Dr Bhatti, if you’re reading this, I need the image from right after my procedure.

Here is another set of clearer photos of my Bhatti donor zone. Note the irregular extraction pattern. There’s a lot of space that could have been used for extraction, but wasn’t.

Exactly. Why doesn’t he simply measure the area to be covered, the hair thickness, and then simply use enough grafts? What I noticed is that Vermag or someone else said that Dr Bhatti had told them they they received 55 follicles per square CM. Dr Bhatti told me, over skype, that my hairline was up to 55 follicles per square cm. In either case, that’s not even remotely true. I told him that I had measured the density with a translucent ruler, and the highest number of follicles I could find within a single square cm was 35 at best, and around 25 towards the back. His response was that he achieved a higher density based on the number of grafts and the area covered. Yet he never actually measured the area covered. Moderators, and Dr Bhatti: Just so you know, I am just pointing out facts. I realize it may seem like I’m being overly negative. But this is all relevant, especially to people considering a HT with Dr Bhatti. If anyone is interested, I have pictures of measurements of graft density for my HT.