shadowcast

Your temples are fine, if I know Pinto then I'd bet he will say that you don't need temple work. First of all, you should tell Dr. Pinto how you want to wear your hair post-surgery. He will tell you if it will work or not. I am 10 months post-op with Dr. Pinto, my hair was MUCH thinner than yours. Also a musician, always wanted long hair, could never do it because I was headed for NW6. My hair calibre is thin, Dr. Pinto made a point to tell me that I probably wouldn't be able to wear my hair slicked up and messy, he advised me that if I wore it up in the front it would need to be with the hair styled together in the same direction. He was bang on with his prediction. That being said, I've not cut my hair since surgery. It's getting quite long, way longer than I've been able to do in 20+ years. I wear it framed around my face with a slightly off center part, and it looks almost so good that I can't believe it. Even in bright sunlight. You do see gaps if I pull it straight back, but if I'm strategic enough with it, then I can make it work. I bet you'll be very happy with surgery. Your hair is really not that bad, with Dr. Pinto throwing some magic your way I'd guess you'll meet your goals.

Are you on medication?

I just look at this thread and I'm kind of astounded, both at the result and the fact that it cost $35k. I cannot fathom why anyone would bother getting a transplant in the USA at this point.

How many months of hair growth without cutting is this? Just curious as I'm currently growing my hair out post op.

Wow. I'd say you're NW7. That's a big crown dip. Anyway, doesn't matter now. In a little over a year you'll look awesome. Zarev's extractions look very close together. I guess he's able to do that with whatever magic vacuum technology he uses. Actually you may already look quite good even before you go back for 2nd surgery. I am (was) NW5/6ish, also thin calibre/high hairs per graft. Have ~6,700 grafts and I'm pretty damn happy.

This looks really good. With the FUE dots, I think nobody would really notice unless they already knew what they were and were looking for them.

Looks good. Crown coverage is tough huh 😁 I think we had surgery dates very close to each other w/ Pinto. I've seen improvement/refinement since December, I'm sure you're seeing the same.

I think you overestimate the locality of the effect of topical minox. Using it only on my scalp gave me very thick/luscious (seriously) eyelashes. I can't prove this, but I believe it causes my nails to grow very fast as well.

I got my temple done by Bruno Pinto, but it wasn't full reconstruction work, just a little touch up on my weaker side. It came out great, and yes specific grafts are selected for the temples. Although I believe it was the nurses who selected the temple grafts during sorting.

I've had my entire scalp transplanted (not all at once). I've never slept with a neck pillow, as I find them to be extremely uncomfortable. Just sleep on your side, head on the edge of the pillow, angled on the front of your face/cheek. Give it a try, you can do this without touching any recipient area (unless you've had temple work, that's a different story). I've never lost a graft. You WILL have longer facial swelling with this method, though.

Interesting video. "In most men, the right corner advances more than the left corner, and of course this also happens in templates" - this describes me perfectly. Temple restoration is weird. In line with the above quote, I had only my right temple restored. My left temple is untouched. The result is so-so. I think the doctor erred on the side of going too subtle rather than too thick/dark. I basically have a light shadow of hair bordering the edge of my temple recession. It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look great. Interestingly, I don't think the temple grafts shed at all, while the hair transplanted into my scalp did shed as usual. 100% (or close to it) survived and simply grew from day 1. I have to say that Couto seems very good at doing temples. I wonder how many grafts were used in the cases from those videos (just graft count for the temples, not total grafts). I wonder if his temple results consistently look like that, or if those are just home runs picked out.

Yeah I think this is like a Couto or Freitas influence or something. Makes me wish I opted for a straight hairline. I think your result will be great.

Looks really good. Is Lorenzo changing his style a bit? Seems like a very straight hairline compared to his usual work.

Not sure about Burgos but the rest are great doctors, don't think any is that much better than the other. I only have experience with Pinto but everything about the clinic and surgery was perfect. I'm ~5.5 months post-op now and so far the growth is good.

Strongly suggest you fly home ASAP. It's so much better to be at home after surgery. Ideal is window seat in a bulk head row so you can easily get in/out and also avoid chance of falling luggage during boarding. That being said, I had an aisle seat coming home from my second surgery and it was fine, if not just a little nerve wracking.

I was going to say the same thing. Even if a vacuum is getting blood out of the way, and even if those shots are post-wash...the donor and recipient areas look almost unbelievably clean.

Surgery was perfect. I have been taking Dutasteride every day for years, so that part was not an issue for me. Good luck.

Shame about the midscalp/crown, but the frontal area still looks amazing. Really good result. Thanks for updating.

Looks good so far! I had surgery with Pinto probably a few weeks after you. I'm about in the same place. Solid improvement, but still thin. Sound about right? My first transplant took 6-7 months to get coverage, so I'm expecting the same this time around. Dr. Pinto asked me to send pics at a full 6 months, so I think there's a good reason for that.

I don't think his results have ever suffered, but it does sound like you got him/his clinic on a good day.

The work looks good, also your donor looks great. You'll have a great result. Did Lorenzo do all implantation, or did the nurse do some?

Part of my transplant grew in with an aggressive bend to the hair, almost a complete 180 hook sort of thing. Took about 13-14 months to resolve, but it now lies down completely normal. Point is that it can take a very long time for hair to normalize.

Most if not all of the "Spanish" (usually includes Portugal) clinics mentioned here and elsewhere are "English accommodating". Most of these doctors (can only personally vouch for Pinto and Lorenzo) speak absolutely perfect English. I did extensive research on "the Spanish forums" before having surgery, it's quite easy with Google Translate, and yes their search functions work just fine (one in particular, you need to be signed up and logged in to be able to search with any regularity). It's really not that hard. There's plenty of reviews for all of the doctors mentioned here on those "other" forums. Everyone wants to talk about ranking, or who edges out who, but the truth is that they're all in the top tier. The patient is the other side of the coin - your donor and physiology partly determine your result.

I'm not an expert, but I can't imagine a reputable clinic not using a scope during consultation. I doubt it's possible to get an idea of how many singles/doubles/triples/etc. you have with the naked eye. Not sure it's possible to determine hair calibre with the naked eye. Not to mention current miniaturization and scalp condition.

Obviously family comes first but it'd be such a shame to see you come all this way, only to lose it again because of stopping meds. Anyway thanks again for continuing to update, I love this thread because I also went to Pinto and our hair seems to grow on a very similar schedule. I'm almost at 5 months and my hair seems to look exactly the same as yours did in the pictures you posted (good improvement but still lots of gaps). If I match your growth at 7 months I'll be extremely happy.