Micky597

I managed to find additional pictures of how my hair looked the day before the surgery. I thought I was experiencing early growth, but it seems my hair is the exact same as it was before. I know I'm in the "ugly duckling phase" and that my transplanted hair is "dormant", but I cant help feeling worried. From what I've seen across the web, people usually retain somewhat of a hairline even after shedding. I feel like I look worse than I did prior to the surgery. Front view (Before & After) Left Side (Before & After) Right Side (Before & After) Top View (Before & After)

Month 2 Pros: The hair that didn't shed is getting longer I'm already really happy with the way my left temple is looking My donor scar isn't noticeable as it was before If I'd brush my hair and got a haircut, I don't it would look that bad. I think I'll wait until Christmas before doing that though. Cons: My hairline isn't too well-defined The density isn't all that good (for now) My dating life. 😭 Anyways, It's only been 2 months. I'm not expecting any substantial growth until month 3-4.

Hey Jim, As you know, I've had a surgery 6 weeks ago with Dr. John Diep. I've been keeping a close eye on your thread. Seems there's a lot of unsatisfied patients. Seeing all these people coming forward, I can't help feeling a little depressed and worried. However, I do think you dodged a bullet. The difference between your second month and your third month is crazy. I really hope I'll be in similar position. The ugly duckling phase is real. Also, what do you guys think of John Diep's "corn-row technique" when it pertains to curly hair?

Thanks Jim!! 🙏 Btw It's great that you had your procedure two months ahead of me. It's letting me know what to expects, and it helps me stay positive.

As you can see from my previous post, today I decided to shave my hair. I was starting to be depressed with the way I looked... Turns out it was a good decision. Here's my 1 month update guys. 1 month My hair is definitely still shedding a bit. On the flip side though, my hair is looking way better than it did before the surgery imo. If this is my ugly duckling phase, then I'm really excited to see my full results.

First of all, I would like to thank you for your prompt response. You are very knowledgeable when it comes down to FUE/FUT, and your feedback it always greatly appreciated. I decided to take a page from your book and shave my hair. I'm still working from home, and I don't go out much. However, I was starting to feel like a freak when I looked in the mirror, so I went to my barber today to do something about it. I made sure that my barber didn't touch the recipient area. I also instructed him to be gentle around the scar. I was really worried this morning, but it seems it was a false alarm. Now that my head is shaved, we can clearly see the scar. I really thought I developing a keloid scar, but the more I look at it, it looks like I have pimples/pustules.

Hello, I hope you guys are doing well, and keeping healthy, My donor scar is looking atypical ever since I removed my sutures. I seem to have some whitish bumps on my scar. I went to the hospital, the nurse told me everything looks fine. In your opinion, should I get a second opinion? Or will the scar flatten out over time... @jimcraig152 @Melvin-Moderator @Gatsby

Thanks guys! I definitely can't wait for month 3 & 4 😭 Hey Jim, it's always nice hearing from you!! The nurse took out my stitches last Tuesday, but it seems she missed a few spots. I have a follow-up with her tomorrow. I'm most definitely going to take pictures of my donor after my appointment.

Thanks brother!! 🙏

Hey guys, I hope you all are doing well. So yeah... I'm still shedding. Even though I knew the hair was going to fall out, it still pains me. On the flip side, my left isn't looking too bad right now. I'm still working from home, so I haven't bothered shaving my hair yet. I think I'll wait until Month 3 for Christmas. My dating life is on pause right now anyways lol. Week 3

The right side of my head is as expected. However, the left side of my scar, my hair seems to be noticeably thinner. However, I do see some hair in there. So I'm thinking perhaps my donor area was slightly shaved during the surgery? Maybe I should ask Dr. Diep

Thanks Aaron!! That's good to know 🙏 I was really worried.

Hey guys, I meant to do an update yesterday, but I was busy. I went back to work last Wednesday. Today is my 2 week update. I'm actually on day 15 to be more specific. To be 100% honest, I'm super worried right now. I didn't have no shedding at all until this morning. As I was washing my hair, I noticed a lot of small hair strands on my fingers. I'm told this is supposed to happen after 2 weeks, but I'm concerned I messed up my grafts. What do you guys think? Is it normal? 2 week ?

😂😂 I'm not sure tbh, we'd have to ask @jimcraig152. You're still better off asking Dr. Diep directly though, you might end up paying less than 12k.

I usually have a "bald fade" in the back of my head, so the scar doesn't really bother me. Worse case scenario, I've been considering SMP. Sure thing! I paid 12,000$ for the procedure. Mind you, prices seem to based off of supply and demand though, so it's really just a ballpark figure. The city where I'm from is on lockdown right now because of Covid, so my hair doesn't really bother me all that much. However, I do want to ask you, do you when we can get a full haircut (recipient + donor)?

Day 10 Today was a really good day! I finally managed to get rid of 95% of my scabs. I honestly thinks it looks really good. I'll try to get rid of all the scabs tomorrow, I didn't want to go overboard...

Thanks brother for letting me know! Hopefully everything is fixed now. I went with fut instead of fue simply for financial reasons. Dr. Diep is a really good surgeon, but his rate was a bit steep for me. Hey Jim, from what I know he had at least one other patient that day. I took a lot at your results and it seems your progress is really similar to mine. It makes me feel better, because your transplant is coming out really good.

Hey Gatsby! Thanks for your kind words. 🙏

*As I’m writing this, I’m 8 days post-op Hey fellas, I hope you all are doing well. I’ve decided to share my hair transplant journey with you guys. About 2 weeks ago, I had a transplant performed by Dr. John Diep in Los Gatos California. I decided to go with him because he specializes in curly hair. As a black man, I couldn't go with a regular surgeon. Another user by the name of “Norman Osborne Waves” inspired me to share my journey. I’ve decided to play my part and help my fellow brothers out. I won’t reinvent the wheel, I’ll more or less use Norman’s template to share my journey. Background Information I’m currently 26 years old. I started losing hair around 2015 when I was 21 years old. The hair loss mainly occurred in the hairline area. I was losing my hair very slowly at first, but by 2017 it started accelerating. Like pretty much everybody around here, I jumped on Rogaine. For a little while, Minoxidil helped me stabilize my hair loss. This was very short lived. I soon understood that Rogaine wasn't going to fix the issue. I needed a more aggressive treatment, so in 2018 I started using Finasteride. I've been on Propecia for a little more than 2 years, and it really slowed down my hair loss. When I started this treatment, I really hoped that my hair density would improve. Unfortunately, it has pretty much been the same for the past year. Luckily, when my hair is long (wolfed out), the hair loss isn’t that noticeable. However, I can’t wear my hair any shorter than that. If I do so, too much of my scalp is exposed. * Hair long with a line-up from the barber * Hair short with no line up Consultation Anyways, around March this year, after watching countless videos on YouTube, I’ve decided to get a hair transplant. Initially, I was supposed to go with another surgeon. As great as that surgeon is, I soon realized that his surgeries involving black people didn’t yield good results. My second option was going with Asli Tarcan, but then Covid-19 struck and going to Turkey became way to difficult for me (I’m Canadian btw). One day, I stumbled across Dr. Diep’s Youtube channel and that same night I sent him an inquiry. · Because of Corona Virus, I couldn’t really go to California, so we decided to have a facetime consultation. Based on the pictures I sent him, he recommended I get 1500 grafts. · The next day, his staff follows-up with me, and we schedule an appointment for September 18th. Luckily for me, because of Covid-19 he had a lot of cancellations. From what I’ve gathered online, he usually has a way longer waiting list. · The 5 months that proceeded might’ve been the longest 5 months of my life. Especially with this covid-19 situation… The border being closed, I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to get in the U.S. Pre-Op After what seemed to be forever, September finally came around. I flew to San Jose on the 16th. During my stay, I stayed at a hotel that the clinic recommended, a Residence Inn which is 2 minutes away from it. The next day I went to the clinic to pick up my pre-op package which consisted of a sponge and a shampoo. The night before the surgery, I was super anxious, and I think I slept like 2 hours. I arrived at the clinic at 5:30 am. I completed some paperwork, and at 6:00am, I was finally inside the doctor’s office. I soon realized that the pictures I sent him of my hairline were a little misleading. My hair was too long in that picture. He then recommended that I get 2000 grafts instead. To ensure getting good results, I went for it. Surgery They gave me some pills. I don’t really remember what they were, but I know they made me really drowsy. I then put on a hospital gown and we got started. As much as I want to describe the surgery, I don’t really remember what happened to be honest. I slept through most of it. I just caught some glimpses of it here and there. Before falling asleep, I do remember them asking me if I wanted to shave all of hair or only the donor area. I told them to only shave the donor. That was a BIG MISTAKE lol. The surgery was painless for the most part. When he gave me anesthesia/stitches on the back of my head, I won’t lie, I nearly cried though. I vividly remember talking to Dr. Diep during the surgery, so I know he was there for the most part. However, his technicians were the ones who inserted the hair in the recipient area. At 5:00pm, we were pretty much done. They took some pictures, give me some post care information and I took an Uber back to the hotel. Post-Op The You can't really see from it from the picture, but the hair density seems really good. Hopefully, it’ll more of less stay that way. When it comes to the post-op side effect, my head was super swollen and numb. They gave me a travel pillow for me to sleep on. I didn’t really get to sleep much that night as it incredibly uncomfortable/painful, the donor area was still too sensitive. I'll give you a super quick breakdown of my first 8 days. The day after the surgery The white film/residue and the blood has dried. My head is still very swollen. I noticed that I have a bruise on my forehead aswell. Day 4 Today was the first day I washed the donor area. The numbness has considerably gone down. My head isn't really swollen anymore. Day 7 Everything is more or less the same. However, as a side note, you can notice that when my hair is long, you can't notice that hair is thinner around the mild scalp area. Day 8 Today was my first wash. I was really concerned that my scalp was "whitish", but after lurking across this forum, I realize that it's pretty common after the first wash.