giegnosiganoe

There are probably other factors that can sway this trade-off, but it mostly comes down to pure math:

Cylindric volume = pi * r^2 * h

So all else equal, someone who has 70 micron hair will have about 2x the volume compared to someone with 50 micron hair. In that case, the person with 50 micron hair would need to transplant around 2x the number of hairs to achieve the same overall volume.

If donor supply isn't an issue, I'd prefer medium-fine hair because it tends yield a more natural result. If donor supply may be an issue, then I'd prefer thicker diameter hair to get as much coverage as possible.

1 hour ago, EvansLawrence said:

Couto is the best surgeon in the world! Funny thing is that for the same job HLC or Pekiner would have needed at least 3000 grafts. I have booked already my consultation with Couto and I have apointment with him in October 2022. Looong time yeah, but lets see. I would only do temples and maybe hairline just 0,5cm.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? Are you suggesting that those docs get 2/3 the growth rate that Couto does? Or that Couto angles the hair differently, such that he doesn't require as many grafts? Or simply that Couto is more conservative and uses less grafts?

I hope the OP posts some close-up, high quality pics. The most recent black and white pic isn't that easy to evaluate.

How many grafts did you get? Have you been on fin all this time? Do you have any clearer photos?

4 months and 20 days now. Got a haircut the other day and think my hair looks pretty decent, so wanted to add some pics.

Pics?

Sorry you seem to be one of the (temporarily) unlucky ones. Big props for still sharing regular updates - many people would go into hiding (I don't blame them) - but seeing this is super important for prospective patients and for anyone who is bound to end up in the same position. Out of the clear soon enough 🤞 , guaranteed by October.

It is interesting that you didn't experience anything like this during your first two ops, any ideas as to why?

I'm curious about the grafts you put into your strip scar. How did you sleep without damaging them? How are they doing now? Your donor still looks really good.

Donor looks pretty good to me, no worse than average IMO. And your lateral humps are quite high, which is great. Frontal tuft is still very strong. I think you're a great candidate.

Do you have any pics with long hair? That may add more color to your case.

Oh wow, yeah that is pretty severe retrograde in the before pics. Aren't the extractions on the right side of the donor a bit risky then? They were taken pretty low.

18 minutes ago, tbb1252 said:

I don’t think he should be taking fin his hairline may slightly be receding but I really don’t think it’s anywhere near a point where he should hop on fin 

Well if he's prone to further recession, min won't stop that. If that happens he'll end up taking fin anyway and need a hair transplant to get back to where he is now. The pictures he provided are difficult to evaluate because he cropped them so tightly, but I would not be surprised if he continues to recede.

Rogaine doesn't address the root cause of balding. Talk to your doctor about finasteride.

3 hours ago, Sitries1 said:

Have you thought about some SMP to the uneven nape/retrograde?? I’m thinking of getting some done at the back there to mimic a skin fade and lower the hairline at the neck line at the back after my transplant as I suffer slightly the same as you back there. 

Never thought of that. I was considering lasering/transplanting the hair at the sides of my nape to even it up with the middle. I feel like SMP probably wouldn't work too well unless it was blended in with hair (which I probably don't have enough of in the affected areas, definitely in the long term). And I'd probably have to commit to a short hairstyle.. Too many unknowns for me, I'd want to see someone else try it first. Do you have any pics you can share of your nape?

It's fine, doubt it will do any damage but better avoid it for at least couple of months to be safe IMO.

2 hours ago, EvansLawrence said:

Hey buddy! Everything is on point. You had an ugly shock loss like 95-99% of the patients and now there is huge improvement from last month.  About the crown: why dont you try finas/dutas and dermapen in combination with ur current meds?? I think surgery can be avoided.

Thanks man. I'm already on oral dut/min. Dermapen is pretty much the only thing I can add. But I've been on meds for 2 years now, so I doubt it will improve. But yeah, I shouldn't rush it.

Great progress for 4 months man! Would like to see some pics exposing the hairline.

Do you have any immediate post op pictures from Mwamba that you can share?

Beautiful result. And thanks for documenting your progress so well. You had good growth at month 4 and it continued to improve steadily since then. I'm at month 4 now, hope I can get a similar result.

Which clinic?

Great result for the number of grafts! Surprised that your hair/graft ratio is on the lower side too. How's the hair caliber?

And what do you think of your temple points? They seem a bit receded, have you ever considered rebuilding them and did you talk to Freitas about it?

1 hour ago, Rolandas said:

I'm doing all this transplants just to get to half of your baseline

Honestly, I've debated with myself on whether your starting position is preferable. Your donor is incredible, you're a NW5, whereas I'm a ~NW3V with diffuse thinning elsewhere. I think you'll win the long game lol. We'll see how the meds work for me.

Another couple things I want to add:

• I was on oral minoxidil 1.25mg/morning + topical minoxidil at night, for 3 months from Feb 20 to May 20. I've since upped the oral minoxidil dose to 1.25mg morning and night, and have dropped the topical. Noticed pedal edema again - for example a couple of my socks go halfway up to my calves, and when I take those off I can feel an indent around where the top of my socks reach. Pretty trippy. I'm sticking to my low cut socks now lol. I'm honestly not sure if this is because I've raised the dosage or because I'm more mindful - it's possible I've had this even at 1.25mg/day without realizing. I'll keep at it and see if it goes away in a month or two. It's not affecting my physical activity as far as I can tell. Oh, and I can't say I've noticed any changes to my hair. It's difficult to say as a diffuse thinner anyhow, but it must be doing something positive.
• Whereas up to month 3 was smooth sailing, I was pretty neurotic between months 3 and 4, not gonna lie. The expectation of growth was killing me, and I was obsessively comparing myself to others. Took multiple pictures of my hair every day, examining it very closely for growth. It sucked. Distracted me from work quite a bit. However since hitting month 4, I haven't been focusing on it nearly as much. Haven't taken any pics in a few days actually. I'm not sure if it's me just burning out from the obsessiveness, or because I'm pretty satisfied with how things are going right now. Maybe a bit of both.

On 6/1/2021 at 11:55 PM, Gatsby said:

@giegnosiganoe an excellent and well detailed write up! Your results are looking excellent at this stage. I think your temple points are pretty good and at 26 I would be more inclined to see how things pan out after twelve months at least. You want to know what you are working with for the long game is really what I am getting at. Your crown could very well improve from your meds alone. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, you're totally right. I won't lie, I have a bit of the classic hair greed. Unfortunately I don't have the best donor so I'd be taking a risk in the long term. I'll try to rely on concealer in the short term if I really want to take the crown/temple points to the next level.

This is why I like when clinics monetarily incentivize patients to post their results from start to finish. I wish it was standard practice.

Yeah I'm really not sure how I would've done mine without a pandemic keeping me WFH.

17 hours ago, soundasleep said:

During the procedure, the doctor told me that my grafts were quite large and splayed - and that I would NOT have been a good candidate for FUE.    Presumably because there would have been a high transection rate with FUE, i.e. it would be difficult to extract grafts without damaging them due to their size.  I had never heard of this before (someone having extra large grafts).  I was pretty set on FUT during my research, but there were a few times when I thought maybe I would go with FUE.  Glad I didn't.

This is the second time I've heard this now, again from Dr. Gabel.

It's quite interesting, and I wonder what other surgeons have to say about it. You hardly ever hear of surgeons advising FUT instead of FUE, only the other way around. And I've never heard this concern mentioned. Would be an interesting question for the next Q&A @Melvin-Moderator

In any case, you can't really go wrong starting with FUT. Work looks good to me. Best of luck!

Interesting case! First female one I've seen here, I'm sure it'll be useful to others. Maybe add that fact into the title so it's more searchable.

Have you been diagnosed with some kind of hair loss? Your native hair density does appear to be a bit low the sides. Are you taking any medication?