SD1984

The short answer is no. I've been fine with using fibers or dermatch now for years just fine on a much larger portion of my head and won't have much of a problem at all just dealing with the (what will be much smaller) crown area once the second surgery results come about. SMP to the crown is also a possibility I am seriously thinking about down the road.

Could you elaborate a bit? I guess you mean the big forehead becomes more pronounced when the sides are short and the hair is styling upwards in the front. I have grown my hair out quite a bit before my recent haircut. I was starting to like it a lot actually, but then what happens at around the two month mark is the hair on the sides starts getting curly/wavy and I just end up feeling very raggy and just not sharp. If I had totally straight hair it would be great, but I don't. My hair also doesn't grow very thick or long at the temple point areas so I have this other problem where there is a contrast between that area and the traditional horseshoe-ish growth of the sides and back, if that makes sense. At the end of the day you have to remember I'm technically a Norwood 5V/6. Hair is not great.

Though it doesn't really show the full extent of the frontal third, here is another pic showing just how natural and undetectable the hairline came out. Below that is a photo pre-surgery for perspective. Again, this was a very conservative procedure with a rather high hairline placement given the fact that my donor was somewhat limited and I knew I'd need at least one more surgery down the road (next month). The visual impact is not drastic and it wasn't meant to be, but I still beleive it has been a huge help after what was going on with my hair loss. A few other final pics to share.... Right out of the shower, hair somewhat volumized by the shampoo. Looking great. Great hair day(with product) ^^^^

What do you mean? Longer style as in rock star long? Or Brad Pitt Once Upon a Time in Hollywood long?

Hey guys. Two final pics below showing the results now well after one year. The surgery was a complete success for what it was in my opinion. I'll also say that it definitely took me the full one year (and even then a month or two after imo) to get to full growth and full maturing of the hair. For example the left side which at one point as late as 9-10 months was behind, now is perfectly fine. Sure it might not be a drastic change but not being on medication I had to be conservative and am extremely happy with how things turned out. Yes I absolutely WISH the hairline could be a little lower as that would make things a lot easier when it came to styling, but the reality is I only have so many grafts left to move from my donor, and not being on Fin makes me realize I need to not be greedy. I've had some amazing hair days ever since around the 1 year mark. I especially like letting the left side grow a little long and have the slight overhang to cover up the one side of my forehead which helps with the illusion of how big the forehead still can kind of be. My second surgery is currently set for next month and the focus will be mainly on the midscalp with some strengthening into the forelock and corner areas. I'm about 95% sure I won't be lowering the hairline at this point, but sadly I'm still having a few final greedy thoughts... It will definitely be nice to have hair in my midscalp again though. I can't wait. Right now it can be tough where I have this great slick frontal third but then nothing directly behind it. Almost nothing to support it in a way. Also, while I'm looking forward to going into an amazing clinic and seeing Dr. Ferreira again, I must say I'm not at all looking forward to another round of recovery and the insane undertaking of it all. The traveling from New York, the sleeping upright, the washing, the being careful with my head, the pain meds in middle of the night, the hiding under a hat for a while after I return, the waiting for the donor to recover which last time took a solid 4-5 months, etc. I guess this time though things might be a lot better in the sense that since I already have a foundation of solid hair at my frontal third, after 1.5 months or so there will now be something there to work with as opposed to last time where I had to wait a good 3-4 months before I got there with the new grafts growing out. Is that fair to say? Thank you all for following my journey.

Jimmy Kimmel - One of the more under the radar celebrity hair transplants as he didn't have terrible loss but definitely some thinning in the corners there back in 2012. If you look at pics of him now though the guy pretty much has the hairline of a 15 year old.

Never went there. Only read a few things. Wasn't crazy about their advertising. I remember specifically they called FUE a "scarless" surgery. Huge red flag. I ended up going to Dr. Ferreira in Portugal.

So anytime I spray a hairspray (i.e. L'oreal Elnett or TRESemme) onto my crown where the fibers are to "hold" them in place, they always clump up into gross little bits and pieces of the fibers. I'm curious what everyone else uses that might be better and not create this mess. @Melvin- Moderator I know you use fibers. Perhaps you have a good one you use? Thank you.

Double post in error

I appreciate your response. I understand what you mean by the subconsiously processing the look, but wouldn't you agree from my photos that my hairline IS in fact quite high to begin with? So much so to the point where if it were lowered just a very small amount (just under 1 CM) it would almost be impossible to think it looks "unnatural", no? As far as the temple points, that is probably one of the biggest things making me think twice the most. I know right off the bat that would require another 100 grafts a piece on each side, and then aside from the hairline being natural, I have to hope the temple points are pulled off well, too. If I'm being honest I would say that the temple points are usually the most difficult of areas to pull off by the surgeon, and I really wish I wouldn't have to have them dealt with again, but I know they'd have to be brought in a bit more to compliment the newer, even slightly lower hairline. As far as the cost goes, the hairline grafts are factored in in my estimate for 2500. I've already research and its my understanding that 600 grafts is definitely possible for the range of 1 CM.

8 months post-op. Pretty much a final result at this point aside from a little more thickening that may happen through month 10 and possibly 11, but you get the idea. Overall my satisfaction with the surgery's near final result and growth is a 9.5 out of 10. However, my overall satisfaction with my hair in general isn't quite at that number and of course a second surgery will be needed. More on that now.... As previously talked about I want to do one more 2 day surgery of approximately 2500 grafts with emphasis on the mid-scalp and as also mentioned, lowering the hairline just a very little bit as my only very small regret about the surgery was not going ever so slightly lower at the hairline. Even though I'd still be fine if I never had the hairline lowered, I'd be lying if I said I am 10 out of 10 completely satisfied with it. If I could put a number on it now I'd say I'm at about a 7 out of 10. Yes that's still a great number, but if I could get to a 10 out of 10, what an amazing feeling that would be. So with that said, I am strongly considering lowering the hairline just around 1 centimeter, which to my knowledge would require around 600 grafts. Does that sound right to you guys? Also, I'd like to get everyones thoughts in general on lowering the hairline. Part of me thinks given the home run naturalness of the hairline I got in the first surgery, I should just be happy and leave well enough alone just incase god forbid things don't turn out as well next time. But the other part of me really craves that ever so slightly lower hairline that I truly want and know that Dr. Ferreira is almost a guarantee to give me it and in a natural way again. (BEFORE)

You can easily shoot some hair fibers into those corners now that there is at least some form of hair there that can take them on, until your results of the second surgery come about.

$11,000 for 1100 grafts wtf

If I couldn't have got in with Bisanga again I would have gone to Ferreira,I believe he has something like an 18 month waiting list though? I have not yet discussed a date for a second surgery but I sure hope it’s not 18 months. That would be crazy.

I know what you mean about the lesser contrast but it is still quite problematic when styling as I basically have a small frontal third with nothing at all behind it to "support" it if that makes sense. For example I can get a good look in the front but then it goes very flat very fast. Long story short I think I'm going to be moving forward with a second surgery sooner than later as having a midscalp again will certainly be the solution for all of this.

Yes, they were very conservative temple points but they were needed and have had a good visual impact in my opinion.

It is by no means ruled out and is a possibility. It's just such a shame and almost surreal how over 25 Finasteride is basically still the only serious choice for hair loss medication. The technicians were fine. All seemed "in the zone" but also casual at the same time. Ferreira and them have a good rapport.

Their first languages are all clearly Portuguese and they communicated with each other in that language if that's what you meant, but when speaking to me each one of them spoke English well if not extremely well (as in Dr. Ferreira's case). When doing my research and speaking to clinics it was imperative for me to deal with a clinic that didn't just speak English but also understood English, if that makes sense.

 PART 1 OF 3: Background, emotional toll and treatments attempted I began noticing the first signs of hair loss just before my 23rd birthday in the Summer of 2007. Really, the hair loss (at the temples it was) must have started around a year earlier. Only two years after first noticing it, by the end of Summer 2009 at age 25, I had a pretty good receded hairline that would be noticeable without strategic styling. Without going on and on forever, to sum up in just a few words what could be a 50 page write up on just how difficult the entire hair loss saga ended up being for me, over the course of 15 years in total (mid 2007 thru mid 2022) I would experience on and off emotional distress that would affect my confidence little by little whether directly or subconsciously. Some phases were worse than others. Sometimes I didn't care. Other times it killed me to levels that I cannot begin to explain. But somehow I went on living my life with creative styling methods, lots of hair spray, and later, hair fibers and/or dermmatch. The fibers in particular were a godsend and bought me many more years of peace of mind and time. However at some point in mid to late 2019 I was becoming a full fledged Norwood 2.5 with diffuse thinning throughout with a future 5V pattern if not 6 in place. By late 2020 my hair was so bad that it began affecting me just as much as it did in the early years of my hair loss if not worse. It was at this stage that a bit of panic began to set in as it hit me that this was going to be bad and that eventually fibers were no longer going to be able to save me. It never helped that I was also a single guy without anyone by my side (had a friend who was helpful but was never able to fully relate) and I knew that losing all this hair didn't help me in the dating game one bit. By mid 2021, about one year out from the transplant, my hairline had become so recessed, my frontal third so thinned out and my forehead so large, that for the first time even with a ton of fibers and hairspray in, it was easy to tell that I had an awful head of hair. Year: 2000, age 15 - Original hairline. Wow! Year: 2008, age 23 - about 6 months after first noticing the early signs of a receding hairline. If you look close you can easily see the slight temple recession and deterioration of the straight hairline that has begun Year: 2014, age 30 - 7 years after first noticing my hair loss. Over the years the temples and forelock have receded and left me with a much larger forehead. The volume of my hair is nothing at all what it once was. That being said, my forelock is still not showing signs of serious thinning and fibers would not be necessary for another couple of years. By this point in time my hair could have passed off for a "maturing hairline" look and I am somewhat comfortable with my hair loss level. If the loss stopped around here I would have been ok with it. Year: 2022, age 37 - A whopping 7.5 years later from the 2014 photo and this is the sad state of what my hair had become. I know the photo is very poor quality but it is from my Aunts older iPhone plus I had to zoom in. While I know things don't look too horrific here, what you are looking at (aside from a massive forehead) is my hair completely covered with hair fibers in the front and throughout my crown and into my mid-scalp, a sh-t ton of hairspray and pomade. The temples and what was left of the central part of my hairline have recessed so far back to the point where now there is zero appearance of an actual hairline but more just a bit of a "poof" in front that I try and get as straight as I can. Anytime I now go out for anything formal I have to take at least a half an hour creating a work of art to look presentable, while also trying not to breath in a crazy amount of hair fibers. The parietal humps as I believe they are called have also thinned out and need a shot or two of fibers into them to connect my sides to the hairline. As mentioned earlier, at this point it is now clearly evident more than ever before that I am destined for at least the Norwood 5V or more than likely Norwood 6. Lastly, the temple points are also recessed quite a bit so I now often dab a little Dermatch into them in the front if you look close. Still, I know it might be hard to understand just how bad my hair had become with a photo like the one above, so here below are some high quality morning photos of my hair completely raw and in its natural state, just prior to my surgery. How I even was able to get my hair like I did for the last 6-8 months before my transplant is sometimes shocking even to me. To finish up Part 1, as far as medication goes, I am in the unlucky few where virtually nothing I tried had ever truly worked for me. Throughout those 15 years I tried almost every single kind of treatment from hair vitamins(2009-2012), to Rogaine foam(2017-2021), to serums(2013), to ket shampoo(2016) to even the hairmax LASERCOMB (2019) as a last ditch effort. The only thing that EVER sort of worked for me to some extent was dermarolling in where once to twice a week in 2020 I would basically stab my temples for 10 minutes at a time until they were left beat red, only to be shocked a week later when I'd see some extremely small hairs begin growing in that area. The problem that hit me though, was that this simply wasn't a long term solution. I had to strategically plan out when I would dermaroll, as the next day my temples would be reddish and I'd be forced to wear a hat wherever I went. Occasionally I would do it during the week and then put light makeup over the redness when going into the office (work) the next day. Finally I realized it all was just not worth it. Hurting myself in order to see a few minuscule velus type hairs was not going to be the be all and end all for me. So I stopped. So, in the grand scheme of things, all of these treatments either did nothing, or in some cases like the laser comb or the ket shampoo, gave me a massive shed and made things worse. Then, finally, there was Finasteride. The one, albeit somewhat controversial medication we all know works best, yet this came with fear in me taking it and wanting to put it off for a very long time. I had finally tried it very briefly once in 2017, only to stop instantly after I experienced what I felt was some brain fog while driving. At the time though, my hair loss still wasn't at a brutal point, so I figured I should just forget it and continue on with the fibers which were working wonderfully for me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PART 2 OF 3: Hair transplant research, one more attempt of Finasteride, anxiety in the wait period and surgery day When it came to my HT research which began in early 2021 I had never heard of Dr. Bruno Ferreira but I had heard of the legendary Dr. Lorenzo in Spain whom Ferreira had worked for previously. I did consultations online with a few other surgeons that at the time I had read more about (i.e. Eugenix, Pekiner, De Freitas, Bicer, etc) but it wasn't until I got to Bruno and began researching him that I noticed something different in that he seemed to understand hair on a level that I found to really hit home with me like I had never seen before. I considered myself a bit of a hair loss/hair transplant nerd after all the years and can say (without trying to brag) that I am very knowledgeable. Reading Ferreira's blog on his website with him going into detail about how hairlines, temple points and other parts of how hair are supposed to be in nature and then recreated in transplants, etc, was so refreshing compared to many other clinics who don't seem to go the extra mile. At this time I also began noticing quite a few amazing results coming from Ferreira's work posted online whether they were from his actual social media or by real patients. It also certainly helped that it appeared Mr. Rolandas had what in my opinion was one of the best hair transplant results I had ever seen on the internet. To me, the hairline was my #1 concern and it appeared as if Ferreira's hairlines were among the best out there. Suddenly, somehow I zeroed in on him as my likely choice, and since I wanted to get the ball rolling asap, I paid for his "Fast Track" consultation ($50) and we went back and forth a bit via email. The fact that he was in Portugal which was a 6 hour flight as opposed to let's say a 14 hour flight like Eugenix also became a huge factor. However, it wasn't long before he informed me that he would not be willing to operate on me due to my advanced hair loss not being stabilized without Finasteride. Since all roads seemed to point to his clinic for me and this surgery, I was very upset but also respected his decision. It also didn't surprise me as I knew Dr. Ferreira seemed to be big on stabilized patients and rarely (if ever) operated on someone like me. Desperate, made the decision to finally suck it up and began trying Finasteride one more time with a different mentality in hopes that I could really save what I had left, which was a pretty decent amount of hair (albeit thin). What followed, as documented in a previous thread of mine is what I can only describe as significant brain fog and dizziness each day when taking the medication. My local doctor who prescribed it then told me to get off of the drug. Disappointed was an understatement. Shortly after I went on the only medication I now continue to take to this day which is a minoxidil and finasteride (very small amount of Fin in it) compound spray from HIMS that I use once a day on my crown only, in hopes to keeping the sparse crown hair alive enough to continue to take on hair fibers. I decided to keep in touch with Bruno and told him the story, also thanking him for his advice and communication. I also told him how he basically had made it to my #1 choice as far as surgeons go and if he ever would consider operating on me with a very conservative approach to let me know, but if not, then it would be farewell, and that I would still have the surgery elsewhere. He responded, letting me know that he understood my feelings and would not turn down a patient who was very motivated to have surgery as long as I understood that multiple surgeries would have to be in the cards for me. Long story short and many, many more emails later, in early September of 2021 my transplant was booked for all the way in JULY (7-8) of 2022!! I went into the next 10+ months with the mentality that there would finally be a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how much of an uphill battle this all would end up being long term. Fast forward though, when finally approaching the last few months and especially days before my trip, anxiety had set in on a level I had never experienced before in my life. You could see this from a previous thread of mine earlier this year. The thing was, unlike so many other cases I've seen, my hair loss was not stabilized, I was headed towards a higher norwood, and I just felt quite alone in my own world going into this surgery. I knew we were going to go very conservative and that I was going to try and make this all work long term by hook or crook, but it was tough. Simply put, I had not seen many other situations like mine at all and felt that I was somehow going to make a big mistake. The majority of people who undergo this surgery are either on Finasteride or are not but have minimal hair loss. Melvin is actually a good example of a more rare scenario of someone not stabilized but went the multiple surgery route. Many times before my trip I envisioned the nightmare (yet always possible) scenario that I could have poor growth and be left looking worse while also out thousands of dollars. But I knew this was almost my last hope for a chance to have a framed face again and to regain some confidence that I had lost probably years ago. One of the last photos taken of me prior to my transplant. This is what I would have considered a very best case scenario day with my hair. Loaded with fibers and hair spray, the forelock would somehow get molded into a swooped over "hairline". Any real framing of my face was lost a good 3-4 years prior. On the way to the airport I began having more good feelings along with a realization that doing what I and so many others do, going to a foreign country (especially in my case coming from the US and not closer in Europe), alone, to get what I'd consider a pretty major cosmetic surgery, it really takes some pretty big balls. So I had this newfound feeling of where I was proud of myself in a way. When I got dropped off by my friend I felt a mixture of excitement but still serious nervousness. I had been on international trips many times in my life, even alone before, but something about this one was hitting me different, for obvious reasons. Arrival in Porto: My flight itself also wasn't the most comfortable as I was in the emergency row which doesn't have reclining seats which prevented me from getting any sleep at all. Once in Porto things got a bit worse as I was unable to do an early check in and was stuck on the street for a solid hour. At this time I had a variety of dark thoughts go through my sleep deprived head, one of which was wondering what the hell I was doing there, in this foreign country, about to go through a pretty big surgery the following day. I must continue to be honest with you guys in that for a good few seconds I had serious thoughts of forgetting about the entire thing, giving up my deposit and accepting my fate as a bald guy. This was my "What the f-ck am I doing here" moment, as J. Tillman describes hearing from many hair transplant patients. It also didn't help that during my hour walk I had stumbled upon a bit of a run down area near where I was staying which put a bad taste in my mouth too. Eventually I got a grip, went back to my (very nice) hotel and was able to check in. The Monte Lirio hotel had an amazing staff and were great to me throughout my stay. I caught a good few hours of Z's and that night I went down to the city of Porto for dinner and to take some photographs. The city in my opinion is one of the most peaceful cities I can say I've ever been to in Europe. Very beautiful too, of course. There was even a small musical band playing down by the Luis Bridge in Porto which eased my anxious feelings a bit on this night. Dr. Ferreira's clinic however is in a small little beach town a good 25 minutes outside of Porto called Espinho where my hotel was. Literally a 2 minute drive from the clinic which was good peace of mind for when the time came to call a cab in the morning. When it came time for sleep I will admit the anxiety overtook me pretty huge. 15 years of emotions and feelings and thoughts ran through my head as I slowly drifted off. At the same time I began having a new feeling of being more ready than ever to finally get this surgery over with and to say goodbye to my badly receded hairline. I only slept around 5 hours but to my surprise didn't feel extremely tired when I woke. I took a nice hot shower, calmly ate a delicious free breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then it was game time and I really was ready. The front desk called me a cab and I was on my way. Dom Luis Bridge - Porto, Portugal The Surgery I got out of the cab almost in a trance like state, entering the clinic with feelings of happiness mixed in with fear. I was first met by Ferreira's nurse/assistant Ricardo, who from the moment I walked in greeted me by name and somehow, someway, put me at ease in a way I cannot fully explain. I am a pretty skeptical person in general when it comes to people who are getting paid to do a job (in this case Ricardo's job was to make me feel comfortable) but I have to say everything changed for me from the second I got in there and began speaking with this man. I was able to see that he really did truly care, even if a small bit, about the patient and their wellbeing. He gave me everything I needed, including some orange juice and a snack to start while helping me get dressed. He even brought me an iPhone charger for the day as my iPhone was on low battery due to me forgetting the European power outlet adapter at home. At this point I was ready to get going with the surgery as Dr. Ferreira and his assistant Christine entered the room to go over some final details. I was very happy to hear Bruno talk about details from our original emails, knowing he must have done some studying of my case again before my arrival. His demeanor was very calm as well as very professional which I expected after following him for some time. We then took photos, drew the designs and washed my hair over the next 45 minutes. In one of the more shocking things I experienced on the trip, I didn't actually look that bad with a shaved head. There was one "issue" that then came up during the design phase however: Bruno drew a pretty significantly lower hairline than what I had envisioned and practiced drawing on myself for the better part of the previous 6 months every couple of weeks. Right away in my gut, even though I'm sure it would have been fine, I personally was not crazy about it and while it was a difficult decision to go against what the doctor felt was more "ideal" for me as he said, I had to. At the same time he said he understood my concerns about possibly not being happy with going lower than I wanted as after that you cannot go back. He informed me that this is my decision of course, and he then redrew a nice, much more conservative hairline. Spoiler alert: I don't regret not going as low as Dr. Ferreira wanted, but DO wish I went a LITTLE bit lower (more on that later). Shot of my donor prior to surgery. Ferreira estimated I had a capacity of around 6,000 grafts. Though limited, it was better than what I had even thought. Once finally in the operating room I was 100% ready and took some note of just how routine and calm Bruno and the entire staff seemed. It was as if they'd been doing this everyday for 20+ years even though I know his clinic has only been open for a few years. I enjoyed watching some of the American music videos on the television hanging from the wall before we began. Even though such a little thing like a TV, it helped put me more at ease and bring me back to "reality" so to speak, given the fact that I felt like I was in another world. All these things were part of the patient oriented experience that I appreciated. Ricardo was still there for me assuring me everything would be just fine even giving me a pat on the back before I took a small dose of valium. As huge as it was for me that my day and my time for a hair transplant had finally arrived, I acted as if I had done this before. Constantly looking at Ferreira's social media accounts over the previous year and always asking him questions in his "You ask, I answer" things, certainly helped, too. But before I knew it grafts were being extracted from the back of my scalp and it was all really happening. While I'm actually more of a Metallica type of guy music wise(and I know Dr. Ferreira is too), I preferred pop music as I felt it would be a bit more pleasant to hear during a surgery. As far as the injections went they were near painless in the back as Bruno was able to do a massaging technique, however the injections on the sides of the head were a little more sensitive for sure. Bruno asked if I was ok as I grimaced a few times but I assured him I was fine and was just dealing with it in my own way. I told him how the night before I explored the city of Porto and just how nice it was, while he told me his dream vacation was Hawaii. 800 grafts later Ricardo casually took my lunch order which for me was delicious pork and vegetables. The second half of the day would be the only part of the experience that was unpleasant as now I was face down again only this time my entire forehead was swollen from the anesthetic which made for a rather uncomfortable situation. Finally I could not handle being face down anymore and told Dr. Ferreira. Quickly they readjusted my head so I could lay more on my side and Bruno changed his approach. I felt a bit bad but there was simply no going on as my forehead I guess had become a bit too swollen. But day #1 was soon done and I was like a kid in a candy store looking at my new hairline in the mirror. I felt so fine that I am not joking in saying that if it weren't for the sun beaming brightly I would have gladly made the 10 minute walk back to my hotel. I had visions of being completely messed up post-op, yet in a weird way I had this surreal, great feeling and boost of confidence. Reality hit a few hours later in the hotel though when all the numbness wore off, but I iced my head well and took a painkiller, comfortably drifting off to sleep a bit later. For dinner both nights I ordered room service. In a really interesting moment on day 2 after the surgery, I first thought about walking to a local McDonalds for dinner after asking the front desk girl how far of a walk it was, only for her to then say to me "Don't you need a hat for the sun?". I was already iffy about the walk since the sun was pretty strong, and I decided against it. But my point is it was nice to see how the hotel staff, who I knew for a fact had many Ferreira patients in the past, actually took the time to look out for me while also making me feel comfortable considering I was walking around with grafts clearly implanted in my head. Speaking of day 2, things were even better. The only negative was that Ricardo had the day off! Jk. The other nurse was very helpful to me and she was attentive at every single step. One of the other nurses who was so very pleasant, Ana I believe her name was, did a nice wash of my donor area to start the day off. 1200 more grafts later and we were at 2512 and I was back in my personal room getting ready to go, again feeling just fine. As a nice touch at the end, the entire staff (all 3 women who helped out during the surgery) came in and wished me well. I explained to them how this was a very big thing for me and how each one of them helped make the experience a good one. Bruno and his assistant then spoke with me about post-op instructions before I said my goodbyes. I told Bruno thank you for everything and even gave him a hug. The very next afternoon I flew home to New York, walking through airport terminals and sitting on a flight with my head exposed, blue drawing lines still on it, without a care in the world! I was still riding the high of all that had happened with regards to my surgery and how unbelievably better than expected everything went. Below are some post-op photos including a close up of the great temple work done. Simply put, the 2500 grafts were mostly used by Ferreira to build a solid and strong, yet conservative foundation of my frontal third for the future. Some photos from a few days after the trip: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART 3 OF 3: Post transplant journey and future plans In conclusion, I hope I can be some sort of an example to the smaller minority of guys out there who feel hopeless (like I felt) with their hair loss unstabilized yet also wanting a transplant. Being smart and conservative is key, as is doing a TON of research. That being said, even after all of this, my hair is still far from perfect, it still takes me quite a while (though much less stressful) to do my hair, and with a second surgery definitely in the cards for me down the road I am well aware that my journey isn't over. Far from it, probably. That being said, I am more optimistic than I ever was before and the amazing experience I had with Dr. Bruno makes me actually look forward to going back and finishing the job, whereas beforehand I dreaded what my future would be like in the hair loss battle. Sure it was still very tough psychologically in the few months post-op, hiding under my hat a lot and putting dating on hold, but the actual surgery wasn't a big deal and that was absolutely huge for me. As I've stated on these forums once before, in my honest opinion there is simply nothing that can beat an actual (good) doctor being present for most, or in this case, ALL, of the entire surgery. It is a rarity, almost always costs a bit more, but if you can somehow pull it off financially, it really is worth it. My only regret, as noted above, is that I didn't go ever so slightly lower with my hairline, but at the same time I know many more things could have been worse and overall I am very pleased. At this time, now 6 months post-op, I am already quietly planning my second (and hopefully final) surgery. I estimate a ballpark of 2500 grafts again, with a few hundred being used to bring down the hairline ever so slightly (under 1/2 inch) and the rest (hopefully many multi's) used to conservatively fill in my mid-scalp and strengthen the forelock behind my hairline. I've already accepted that I'll probably never have full coverage and I do not care if I have to conceal my crown with fibers or dematch forever. It's been a tough road and it may get tough again in the future and that's fine because at this point for me, I'm confident I will win the war with hair loss one day, or at the very least never actually lose it 3 months post-op: Right out of the shower, raw, no styling. Right around where I should have been growth wise. The first 2.5 months were a tough waiting game for me. At the point of this photo I was at least able to use some fibers to get a decent look. 5 months post-op: 2 months later, the frontal third began filling in VERY nicely. 5 months post-op top view: Hoping 1800 solid multi grafts or so can address my mid scalp in the second surgery. As you may notice, one side is a bit weaker in density, but a month later (current) it is now evening out! 5 months post-op: Donor area completely recovered (bottom is damp from shower) 6 months post-op: Right out of shower and styled only with the blow dryer and comb: This is current day. No flash, no camera trickery and absolutely NO product whatsoever in my hair. 6 months earlier I would have had to work for over a half an hour in my bathroom to get something even close to this look and still it never would have been like this as obviously there was less hair up front. Bottom line is I have a (natural looking) hairline again and still have 4 or so months to go of thickening in the temples and everywhere else which is awesome. Yes I still definitely cringe when I think about how I should have gone just a TAD lower with the hairline, but it is what it is. I'm still extremely happy. High quality (DSLR camera) hairline close up (with flash) and with product in, though no fibers at all. The naturalness of the hairline is the most impressive part of the result for me. Thank you for reading.

I didn't read every single detail here but I did read very carefully the doctors responses. All I can say is this: If there is one thing I've learned in my many years now of hair transplant researching and studying, it's that the more a doctor is present during a surgery, the better off you are. It's as simple as that. I went through a phase of thinking it might not matter as long as it's well documented that there is a top of the line tech team, but I soon understood that when looking at the overall odds, nothing will ever beat a (good) doctor being heavily involved. I'm going to be honest in that while I still feel this clinic is among the very best in the world and I personally think the result of this patient looks fine, I can say I don't like reading things like the doctor was watching or could watch via monitor, and that it's also implied how he may be home or simply not in the clinic when the surgery is still going on sometimes. Then it was written that in those cases he'd be sent high quality photos to look at and if he doesn't like them he's always "minutes away" (???) So what does that mean? If he looks at his photos at home over dinner and sees something strange he hops in his car and comes back? Those are things that I just wouldn't be able to get behind, I don't care how great the tech team is or how legendary the doctor's name is.

Konior, Cuoto, Hasson & Wong

Looking quite good to me and most importantly, extremely natural. I'm positive it will thicken up in the coming months, too.

Yes he is one of the very best for DHI, I’d say

If that’s 5 months then this is going to be a home run result. Awesome.

That looks like approximately 1200 grafts, all of which should have been concentrated in the corner/temple region. Instead many were scattered down the forelock into the back unnecessarily imo, leaving the density in the front lacking the proper amount to match your native density. You will need a second surgery and yes the temple points will need some definition added to them especially on that one side. It's not the end of the world imo. What concerns me most honestly is the redness still being very prominent at 8 months. Did you ask the clinic about this?