asterix0

OP, you can wait until 12 months but what you see now is pretty much what you're gonna see then. Consult with a few more surgeons and see what they recommend. To me, there is no point returning back to the original clinic, you can look at other posts from them where expectations have not been met based on the large number of grafts they use for relatively small surface areas.

True. Actually if my hairline just receded to a Norwood 2 with temple loss then I would have never gotten on finasteride or looked to get a transplant. The problem is, as a diffuse Norwood 6, the entire hairline just disintegrated, became wispy and see through, basically the worst look imaginable.

I started losing my crown first, and thought it was much worse than losing the front. Then, when the front started to go, and every picture of me was looking worse and worse...I realized that losing the front is much, much worse.

Excellent consultation and how every clinic should do it. Analyze the whole donor area, calculate the densities, full transparency with the patient. Not just draw a hairline and let's jam pack it with as many grafts as possible.

The sad part is for how much he paid and how many grafts he got, it's quite a shame and pity that he has to go for a repair surgery.

Consult with Dr. Pitella and Dr. Sethi/Eugenix and see what both say. Dr. Zarev would be a possibility but he is booked until 2026.

I would consider Dr. Nadimi or Dr. Konior for a repair, they will be expensive but if anyone can do it, they can. The problem is, why would you have confidence they can fix it if it was botched the first time? From your write up, which was very detailed and informative and is an excellent resource for future prospective patients by the way, I did not get the feeling this clinic listened to you and respected your input in the process.

@Curious25 From what I can see, these fixes are difficult. He would need several sessions of electrolysis on the temples to make them recede more gradually and naturally. Perhaps those grafts, in a best case scenario, can be moved to the top, but I have not seen cases where this was done before.

Unfortunately, you are right on the money.

@jimcraig152 Are you considering a repair with another surgeon?

It is difficult to say. On the one hand, he can achieve good density because he uses a larger punch size. So if you are a lower Norwood and on meds, or have a low chance to lose everything based on your family history, chances are you can be more liberal with your graft reserves and get pretty good overall coverage. I wanted to give him a fair chance and looked at almost all of his own, recent YouTube videos he posted on his channel. I can assume that these are some of the better results he's had, and therefor chosen to post them. From what I can see, the density overall of his patients is pretty good. You will have some styling options to work with at the end of the day. However, I do not like his hairline designs. Look at the videos yourself to see if you would be happy with such a hairline on your own head. For his male cases, they appear too often to be rounded, and pluggy at the front. It looks like he does not achieve this fine gradually shift from the singles to the more dense grafts behind the hairline. To me, Dr. Konior is the gold standard for natural looking hairlines. Also, the lighting in his videos is not a good portrayal. The light is not direct to the hair, and is not overhead, which we all know is the true test of density. Even when I was balding, and badly, in certain lighting I could pass for much better hair, and I knew exactly what lighting conditions to avoid, and which to look for when I was taking pictures. We also do not get direct hairline exposure in some patients, so we don't really know how the result truly looks like. Also, we do not get to see the donor area close up enough, and the image quality is not great. Overall, my conclusion is I would only recommend Dr. Diep in the following scenarios: 1) For whatever reason (work/family) you are restricted to the California area and have enough disposable income that you dont mind his prices. 2) You can live with being limited to styling options after your surgery. 3) Your main concern is density, because chances are it will be pretty good. If I was running the site, I would re-instate him back on the recommended list if he can fix his hairline decisions and if he figures out how to preserve yield while moving to a lower punch size.

The problem is you have to save people from themselves nowadays. The level of critical thinking in almost every field, politics, technology, the environment, is very low. The exceptions are the actual people architecting these things. So, I can understand from this perspective why the list is important. Although, if someone is dead set on going to a hair mill to save $, I don't think a bad review here or there, or the absence of a recommendation is going to mean much. This is the type of person that went to google reviews, watched a few YouTube videos, and decided to take the plunge.

Damn absolutely shameless on their end.

I agree with you. All I'm saying is, I hope a layperson wouldn't take the list as some gospel and do research for themselves. I can understand an 18 year old kid who's desperate might. But an adult who has some working experience and has lived in the real world should know by now there is no free lunch out there.

I interpreted a financial stake to mean, the participation in this forum, either with my positive or critical commentary, will lead me to profit somehow. My praise of a result yields 0 change to my bank account. My criticism of a result yields 0 change to my bank account. Me logging off this forum and never logging back in yields 0 change to my bank account. This forum being closed down forever, if the Admin so chooses, yields 0 change to my bank account.

To clarify, do I think Dr.Diep should be recommended? No. But a doctor I was considering, and had a flight booked to Madrid to see, Dr. Lorenzo, I probably would have proceeded with, because of his YouTube marketing and higher price tag I assumed even in a worst case scenario I was in good hands. It is thanks to this forum and some courageous forum members to post their experiences, that I see this would have been a big mistake, as it appears Dr. Lorenzo is resting on his past laurels. But, we know how it is, this condition breeds desperation in men, we are willing to take all kinds of risks to fix this disfiguration that hair loss causes, everyone has a different risk tolerance. For some it is as low as rolling the dice at a hair mill, or with Dr. Diep, or with Dr. Lorenzo, and some will only consider the highest tiers like Dr. Zarev or Dr. Konior.

What do you mean? I only use/used HRN to view the results of certain doctors I was considering, and also to provide advice/analysis to patients who so desire it.

Sure, but the alternative of this site not existing is a much larger detriment to all of us than some arbitrary list. Ultimately, this site is the Admin's sandbox, you can play by his rules, or you are always free to "take your ball and go home". Plenty of bandwidth on the internet for you to make your own site/forum as well. To be clear, I wish it wasn't like this, my position is just, this place has pros and cons, I try to contribute positively and objectively always, as I feel the truth is most important, but I also have no financial stake in anything here.

@Wallaby_Upstairs Further, whether or not the recommend list includes this particular doctor is irrelevant to me, and should be irrelevant to anyone else. Look at the results yourself and filter the signal from the noise.

@Wallaby_Upstairs There is some discretion that is up to the patient to filter the "signal" from the "noise", so to speak, when it comes to hair transplant results. I will speak only for myself here, in that I am quite grateful this forum exists where I can query the numerous results from many patients. It is unfortunate that clinics themselves do not post with the level of clarity that one would expect, namely, detailed post-op pictures, different stages of post-op, final results with clear comb through videos at multiple angles in direct lighting, etc. I generally ignore the commentary of "this is a good result, bad result, etc." and come to my own conclusion based on the hundreds/thousands of different results I've analyzed. I would advise every patient do the same, rather than relying on the opinions of others.

Why did you go to ASMED? Were you aware of the recent bad results that have been posted here from their patients?

Unfortunately you were preyed upon by an unethical surgeon/clinic, it is unfortunate and all too common. Where did you get it done? Your best bet is to get SMP, yes it will fade and cost money but there are not too many options for a Norwood 7. I wish you good luck, save up money however you can, perhaps look to change for a higher paying job.

100% it helped, but on the flip side, trying to do it cheap and quick at a hair mill can ruin your life.

It looks like you've got excellent donor hair so I think you should expect a great result.

7300 in a single session, holy crap. I'm guessing they divided that into two days, that must have been tough to deal with.