ShadowMoon

Just soak your head with water for 30 minutes then use the shampoo lather to help rub off the crusts for like five minutes. Soaking your head with shampoo for 20 minutes is ridiculous

Just now, NicoAustralia said:

I feel you mate haha.

How long until your donor scar was completely healed would you say?

Also, did you get back shock loss in the donor area?

You're a week ahead of me, my three weeks was yesterday. My incision is healing well but one side is a little more raised than the other, and has more shock loss. I have some ingrown hairs along and inside of the scar. I'll post some pictures on my thread once I'm at 1 month.

The shed is real my dude. All my transplanted hair and some native hair was completely gone at 2 weeks. 

Happy healing!

One thing I'd like to point out is you have very dark hair and what looks to be lighter skin. Your hair shaft diameter looks to be pretty large as well. Those two things could lead to some pretty noticeable scarring were you to go FUE. Even with a small procedure of 1500. Whichever route you go, you may have to keep your hair longer regardless. 

As a side note, I know you are 35 which is a relatively later age to be getting a transplant. However, you have a high likelihood of losing more hair in the future. You won't be happy with an aggressive hairline and balding behind it at 55 or maybe even 65. If you put any hair at all in that front bit, that is a very aggressive NW0. Be prepared to need a lot of grafts to maintain that hairline for the rest of your life. It never goes away. If your plan is to shave it later in life, don't bank on dodging scarring by getting FUE either, as you will likely need larger punches to accommodate your thicker hair. Going gray will help but won't completely eliminate the problem.

Getting a hair transplant sucks. It is a last resort and creates a host of problems. You should only get one if you are willing to trade your current problems with all the problems that come along with a hair transplant. You might even get hosed and get the worst of both worlds, due to low graft survivability, permanent shockloss, or keloid scarring. Very, very rarely will you not notice a difference in transplanted hairs vs. native hairs when you look in the mirror every morning. It's not a perfect solution.

That being said, the two cases that @ADuckwithNoHair mentioned earlier were both FUT. I am a firm believer that FUT gives you the best chance at graft survivability, which is important if you want a one and done procedure. It's also much easier to fix a bad FUT donor area as opposed to a bad FUE donor area. Diffuse thinning in that region is a bitch.

No saline spray in my procedure.

21 hours ago, hakona said:

Hey all,

 

These are my top two picks. I was about to go with Dr Mohebi before covid-19 but now have some second thoughts after reading some reviews here that his technicians do significant amount of the work.

I know for a fact that Dr Gabel does all of the extraction work himself.

 

Any recent patients of either of those doctors that could help add more color ?

 

 

Dr. Gabel was fantastic, the only thing I'm waiting for is the final result. Absolutely no complaints regarding his bedside manner, his work ethic, or his process for the procedure itself. Everything was done correctly and he even put in half the grafts himself while another technician did her half. He also has a surgical background in face and neck surgery, which means his scar work is really good. Oh, and he models a lot of his practice on Dr. Konior, who taught him much of what he knows. 

On 8/11/2020 at 4:39 AM, 1978matt said:

Diep does not seem to offer good value based on the cost and the fact he has 2 surgeries going on at the same time.  The incisions he makes seem in a highly linear fashion designed to save time.  He should really work to refine his technique and use smaller FUE punches.

On the West coast I'd rather opt for H&W, Gabel or Mohebi.  Carman is a solid doctor too but not that well followed or flashy compared to other doctors - probably more conservative as well - but nevertheless ethical.

Having two surgeries going on at the same time is an instant deal breaker for me. That is a pure greed move. What if a problem occurs in one room that takes more time? 

Sounds like he had to go below the subcutaneous layer. Or, you could have weird anatomy and your artery/nerve ran up into the fat layer at that spot. Permanent loss of sensation should have been detailed in your signed consent form.

Just now, NicoAustralia said:

I'll get my girlfriend to take some good ones later today. I suck at trying to photograph it haha

Right there with you lol

4 minutes ago, NicoAustralia said:

Just a quick update.

3 weeks post op yesterday and the shed has kicked in hard for me. I'm anticipating I'll lose almost all the transplanted hair before it is done!

As for the donor area, scar is healing pretty well but I've had bad shock loss in the entire area so I'm looking horrible at the moment!

Any pictures of the scar? Just a waiting game now!

1 hour ago, Motorleza said:

Can you name the reasons .. ? Like this

1-

2-

3-

I won't, because I think you have your mind set already. You already disregarded every piece of sound advice in this thread because wearing a hat is hard to deal with. You're willing to risk permanent disfigurement at the chance of having one week of good hair. You're not in a rational state of mind and you have no perspective on what it would actually be like to ruin your life by overharvesting your donor area at 21 with a low hairline and shoddy surgeons. 

You came to this forum looking for validation for a second procedure. It's not going to happen, because that is a bad idea in so many ways. Take the advice everyone has given you. There are literally a thousand reasons not to get one. 

I would eat porridge and sit in a dark room all day if it meant a good result. I want to know my surgeon is putting his money into his staff and his equipment, not meals and entertainment.

2 hours ago, umarstar said:

It was a really tough decision for me, and I didn't want to take chances. Having a bald head is better than having man boobs.

Apart from finasteride, I started using Minoxidil 5%, but I was a bit careless and skipped so many doses, which mainly contributed to further thinning of hair.

Minoxidil won't really do anything to stop further loss. I would try doing a dose variation. 1mg a week for a month, if that's tolerated do 1 mg every four days for a month, etc. until you get to 1mg every other day. That is an acceptable dose that will have enormous benefits to maintaining your hair.

10 hours ago, umarstar said:

Yes, I took it but for a month or two only. it was working fine on retaining existing hair, but after some time, I started to see some side effects, so I had spoken to the doctor and discontinued.

Have you tried a dose variation? I think lack of Finasteride caused your hair to thin more.

Are you taking Finasteride?

On 7/27/2020 at 9:55 PM, Tentpole91 said:

I've sent photos of current growth to a few other surgeons. The two that have gotten back to me so far (well-regarded by this forum, based in the US, long waiting lists) seemed concerned by the regularity of graft placement on the right side, and recommended further surgery to refine and soften the hairline. At the same time, they both felt that fixing the right side would be relatively simple due to the small area and strong graft growth. Which is great news. 

I've also reached out to Dr. Diep to see what he recommends. I'm 99% sure he will tell me that I need to wait another six months to fully evaluate the success of the transplant. and he's probably right. I remain hopeful that the singles in front will grow in so that there is no detectable "pattern" to the hair on the right side. But as they say, hope for the best and plan for the worst. Hence the decision to seek out second opinions from professionals.  

I do want to emphasize that it isn't all doom and gloom though. While the placement of grafts is frustrating, the grafts themselves are growing in well, and the left side of the transplant is looking pretty damn good right now. It's a total trip to see how much the transplant changes the shape of my face, and to feel hair where there wasn't any before. Attaching photos of both sides to give you all a visual sense of the progress at 5.5 months. Looking at them visually, it's hard to believe that both sides were done by the same doctor. 

Left side looks great, right side is noticeable but could be worse. I wonder why Dr. Diep did his incisions like that. Was very intentional rows.