Tentpole91

As someone who did surgery with Dr. Diep, I would probably recommend you look elsewhere for touch up work. He has a knack for drawing good hairlines, but his execution isn’t perfect.

@Guano let's see an update!

Wow you are really bringing it in short in these cuts. I’m on a similar timeline with FUE on Feb 12, and I’m not comfortable going lower than a four guard right now.

@FUEblonde1986 did you happen to have your April follow up with Dr. Diep yet? Also, can you comment more deeply on the state of your donor? If you cut the hair short, can you still see the rough outline of where the doctor did the extractions in terms of it being less dense than the surrounding areas? cc @FUEblonde1985 since I’m not sure which one you are getting emails on.

Yeah, your donor really looks awesome. Crazy stuff.

Do you have any examples of those? I am getting to the point where I need to cut my hair soon, so I will be able to check on how my donor looks after 2.5 months. I honestly don’t really want to check, since I suspect it will look exactly the same as it did 6 weeks ago.

Brutal

Looks fantastic @Guano! can you please post photos of the donor? I’m curious to see how it’s recovered since the time of your surgery

Thanks for the update. Your donor looks very similar to mine, which gives me hope that in both of our cases, it is closer to the norm than it is an outlier. The Dr. Diep donor management horse has just about been beaten to death, but I do want to state one final time that I wish he spread out the extractions more evenly throughout the donor, so that even if there is patchiness and sparseness long term, at least it looks symmetrical. That is the thing that continues to stump me.

Honestly there is really nothing to report right now. I have some light hairs growing in but I’m only at 2 months 1 week out from surgery. I expect to provide an update around the 3 month mark. Right now, the main thing I am watching is the donor area and whether the shock loss grows back. Not sure what the timeline is for that piece.

@Noodles123 Thank you for the photos and for the detailed response. The patch on the donor is pretty obvious, which honestly isn't a great signal in terms of Diep's approach. 1500 grafts shouldn't leave you looking like that. I'm still not really seeing what's wrong with your hairline, though, other than a lack of density. That's not necessarily something I would attribute to the placement of the grafts, though.

@Guano any updates?

@Melvin-Moderator that’s good to know. I think it’s possible to simultaneously hold that he is a great surgeon but also that he takes some shortcuts compared to others who charge $10/graft. And that’s my point — compared to the whole population of surgeons, he is likely top tier. But compared to the others who charge top dollar, he’s a bit of an outlier in terms of his approach. Regarding the straight lines: there have been two people on this thread who have commented on how the grafts are placed in straight lines. One of whom had surgery with Dr. Diep prior and called this out as an issue. So yeah: no proof yet that it gives sub-par results, but another thing to note I suppose.

Yeah @Noodles123 if you could post a current-day photo illustrating the see-through nature, that would be awesome. @Melvin-Moderator I’m starting to see a couple trends pop up around the way Dr. Diep approaches his Hair Transplants. Mainly: Larger punch size than other surgeons in his $$$ price range ($10/graft) Uneven FUE extraction from the donor, increasing the risk of over-harvesting for smaller transplants (<1500 grafts) Unnaturally straight rows for the implanted grafts, which you can see from my photos earlier in the thread (though whether this is a bad thing is definitely up for discussion) At the same time, he delivers some stellar results on the site and is generally seen as a “safe” bet due to the sheer number of unbiased write-ups available online. I understand that each doctor has their own techniques, and each technique has its own pros and cons. Larger punch size = higher rate of graft survival. Uneven FUE extraction = more untouched donor down the line. Unnaturally straight rows = something, but I’m not sure what. Ultimately we all consider a bunch of factors, make a decision, then hope for the best. And I am hopeful that in both my and Dadda’s cases, we have awesome results. But at some point, I think it’s worth figuring out whether there’s a pattern here. One possible set of explanations: Larger punch size is easier than smaller punch size, but a more dedicated surgeon could make lower punch size work, maximizing graft survival and minimizing impact on the donor Localized FUE extraction is easier to do than extraction in an even pattern across the donor area. You only have to shave one area, and you go line by line until you have enough grafts. Unnaturally straight rows are easier to implant than more staggered edges Again, this is just one possible explanation, and I’m not a doctor. But an easy story to tell here is that Dr. Diep just has a slightly lower quality bar than other top surgeons, while still managing to produce home-run results because of his expertise in other areas (hairline design, graft survival rate, etc). At the end of the day, he has a formula, it produces good results, and his waiting list is 6 months long. So from his perspective, why should he mess with the formula?

Thanks for the post Noodles. I guess we will have to see how that plays out for me. Are there any photos you would be willing to post, or that you could direct me to, with examples of what you are talking about? Also, do we have any doctors here who would be able to chime in on this strategy of graft placement, and how it compares to others?

I had a 1300 graft FUE with Dr. Diep back in February and he harvested in a similar manner. It wasn’t a one-off decision because he was running late in @Dadda’s case. I do think that the large punch size and uneven donor harvesting are not ideal. My decision to go with Dr. Diep was mainly based on the results he is able to achieve in the transplanted area. My preference would be for him to evolve his technique or better articulate why he is doing it so differently from other doctors.

Would also love an update here

Any pics of the donor?

Hey all, one month update here. Posing on mobile so not sure how the photos will render. Main thing I’m noticing is that the left side (first pic) has a lot more thinning towards the front than the right side (second pic). I have read that hair falling out is part of the process so nothing super concerning yet. If anyone has specific questions, happy to answer them.

This is a fascinating thread for me as someone who recently got surgery with Dr. Diep. The points being made about the angle of the hair are definitely valid, especially when the density isn’t really there behind the grafts to push the hair down naturally. @Mycroft I’m curious how the angle of the hairs could be corrected through surgery. That doesn’t seem possible to me, but then again I’m not a doctor.

Yeah, it definitely doesn’t look awesome when buzzed down that short. How did it feel when you kept it longer? Btw, awesome to hear about how it is improving your confidence. The recipient area looks great for 5.5 months and will only get better

@soontransplanted any updates on this? how are you feeling roughly 4 months post-surgery?

@0GraftsSurvived any updates here?

Thanks for following up on this! Reading your journey makes me feel better about my own experience, where there is definitely some thinning in the donor area that is noticeable three weeks after the surgery (here). My hope is that it improves over the coming months.

Curious how this one turned out as well