HappyMan2021

if she truly was very obese, I wonder if the UK's national healtchare system would have paid for a UK procedure. Going to a cheaper country for surgery is something Americans need to do because of our appalling healthcare, interesting that a European would do this. 

I also wonder if she tried Ozempic or other treatments before going to Turkey. 

you could consume all the alcohol and drugs in the world right now, and it will have no effect on the HT. 

I do not advise this at all, but there is no correlation. 

The correlation between alcohol/drugs and hairloss is an overhyped old wives tale. If drugs/alcohol were truly bad for your hair, every down-on-their-luck person living in the street would be bald. This is NOT the case. 

@eze i also recommend you strongly demand a refund from the surgeon. If not, name and shame them on this forum (which you actually should do anyway to help out the community and potential new patients)

You were undeniably botched and there is no excuse at all for this type of result

Alot of ht doctors are shady and for all i know you wont get a refund....but you really have nothing to lose by asking them. 

Being respectful, kind, discreet to a doctor who was so negligent with you is not being fair to yourself

There is NO valid excuse for bad angles other than surgeon incompetence and/or outright carelessness

46 minutes ago, eze said:

will remove it with electrolysis before consulting any doctor

I think it would be beneficial to begin the consulting process earlier rather than later. No harm. 

But yes in my experience some doctors really will strongly debate you if you mention electrolysis, and for all i know reject you as a candidate 

Perhaps lead with the question "what do you think about electrolysis...". If they react negatively then just keep all the electrolysis on the downlow. If they are positive then share more

But yes, you can do successfully do electrolysis prior to consultations if you want

48 minutes ago, eze said:

will also be on dutasteride for life so chances are my natural hair will not reach NW 5-6? (what are your thoughts on this statement?)

Everyone is different...but as long as you only have a minor genetic propensity for MPB (like NW3) + dutasteride, you likely should be fine

1 hour ago, Kurse196 said:

Anyone willing to switch for an earlier appointment at FUECapilar? I am scheduled with Dr Gur on May 9th, but ideally would like to switch for an earlier appointment due to some work commitments that have come up.

can you describe this situation more? what is the specific pain point/conflict?

I imagine you marked vacation time for surgery, but now your company is overriding your vacation time?

Also - if this is your 1st HT - do keep in mind that this is a relatively casual surgery and the recovery is often much much quicker and way less dramatic than alot of people make it out to be. 

Without knowing further details of your situation - I gotta wonder why you cant have the surgery and work at the same time? Alot of people truly only take a few days off work. 

But again it of course depends on your profession and other detail. 

1 hour ago, eze said:

@HappyMan2021 @Gatsby @gillenator @Berba11

Posted a thread a while ago but now I added a pic to hopefully get some advice from experienced members. I had 1700 grafts and as you guys can see the hairs stick up like antennas. I am kind of torn between:

1. Remove only the frontal part of the transplanted region (a few hundred grafts at the very front) then implant correctly angled hairs to camouflage it

2. Remove every transplanted hair before implanting new hairs. 

Any input is much appreciated. 

https://imgur.com/a/OgICVsW

can you post more pics? 1 picture is not enough to understand the complexity of a repair case

also, in your current pic, have you pushed your hair back in the picture, or its placement is how it naturally rests? I will admit it does look very badly angled if the hair naturally sits up like that and you have not forcefully styled it to look like that. 

Camoflage is baloney it doesn't work. 

I know it sucks feeling like you need to regress and take 2 steps backwards, but I recommend killing off all the bad grafts as much as humanly possible, so when you do have repair surgeries they will primarily be implantation with just a bit of extraction. 

Perhaps look into laser therapy as well. I am not an expert in electrolysis vs laser. But I think the differences with laser is it is harder to kill the grafts in 1 go, but simultaneously you can really "carpet bomb" mass areas, whereas electrolysis is killing grafts 1 by 1. 

With electrolysis I think you can kill like 50-100 grafts every session, and you can do it 1x a month. I am not sure of the cadence with laser

The cold hard truth is - while I think you can get a good end result- this WILL be a multi-year journey for you. There is unfortunately no shortcut or easy path. I predict a a handful of electrolysis or laser sessions, followed by a minimum of 2 surgeries. 

Also I wouldn't get worried about electrolysis causing micro-scarring. While that is true - extracting the grafts via surgery is way more damaging and traumatic for your skin. SO the less damaging route is electrolysis

Additionally, as you talk with doctors and do consultations, be skeptical of doctors who tell you not to do electrolysis (MANY MANY doctors I personally have talked to have been against electrolysis)

By doing electrolysis, there is alot less work for the doctor to do and therefore alot less money for them. So they have a financial incentive to tell you not to do electrolysis. 

For bad angles, electrolysis (or laser) are really the best option, in conjunction with surgery. 

Lastly, can you please describe your donor? How many grafts do you have left in your donor? It is super important to know this, ask your previous doctor if you are unsure.

I will say that while I do think alot of doctors are financially motivated to scare bad angle patients away from electrolysis, there is legitimate concern and a big risk of doing electrolysis if you have a limited donor. 

If you do not have the donor supply to kill off anywhere from hundreds up to 1700 grafts, then save yourself the time and remove electrolysis as an option for you. 

In the interim - if it helps you to cope - I recommend using gel or another holding product as that will (temporarily) control these bad angles. 

2 hours ago, eze said:

Thank you for your reply, I am probably gonna go for electrolysis when verteporfin becomes approved for FUE.

I want to ask you this since you have experience with this. I had about 1700 grafts transplanted on the hairline and they stick upwards perpendicularly from the scalp which looks very unnatural. I was wondering if removing the frontal half of the transplanted hairs and then implanting better-angled grafts with another FUE procedure will be enough to mask this. Or do I need to remove essentially all 1700 previous transplanted hairs and start from scratch if I want a natural result?

In other words, can implanting correctly angled hairs in front of mis-angled hairs camouflage the unnaturalness, or do I need to remove all the mis-angled hairs before I go for another FUE?

I personally do not believe "camouflaging" badly angled grafts is a legitimate tactic. There are a few prominent doctors who tout camouflage, but i think they are just full of it. I have yet to see a case of camoflage working for badly angled grafts

Say you have a badly angled graft surrounded by a bunch of good grafts, the badly angled graft will always "show through/reveal itself, etc"

Trust me it would benefit me personally immensely if camouflaging worked. I wish it did, but sadly it doesn't. 

I am hoping in your case your donor is generous enough that you can afford to kill 1700 grafts and still have enough for a good ht result.

if so i would have an electrologist kill all 1700 grafts (or as many as possible) before having your surgery

The less bad grafts a surgeon has to extract the better your surgery outcome and the quicker your repair journey will be

keep in mind that it is very very difficult for a doctor to extract bad grafts and implant new ones, in the same area during the same round of surgery.

So the more bad grafts the doctor needs to extract, the more limited the surgery will be, which will add on the need for even more repair surgeries

Lastlsy, another reason to do electrolysis before more surgery is because the more good grafts you have interspersed among bad grafts, the harder it will be for you and the electrologist to identify the bad grafts!

It is best to kill bad grafts before any type of repair surgery so you can much much much more easily identify the bad grafts that need to be killed. 

1 hour ago, Cooper48 said:

Hi All,

 

Ive Teslas a few stories about numbness but most people don’t mention it. Just curious if you have numbness after 4 months?

I'm currently at 4 months and the entire recipient area is numb. Still feels like I have a helmet on. 

I would see a doctor to be honest. 

Numbness is not normal 4 months post op.

It could be nothing, or it could be permanent nerve damage. Dont let random strangers on the internet decide if this is worth getting checked out or not. 

Even if the recipient site is in a brand new area, consider that you are still using the same donor, and your donor still may still need time to recover. 

i would say most ht doctors recommend waiting at least 1 yr. 

A few may allow as soon as 6 months after the last operation, but this is incredibly patient/surgery/doctor dependant. 

Even if you go to a doctor who is totally fine operating 6 months after your last procedure, it is basically universally 100% always better to fully wait until the results from your last ht are complete (9-12 month mark)

It just depends on you and the doctors risk tolerance and the specific needs of your patient profile

29 minutes ago, Thoro said:

Thank you Duchaine,

I can see no-one has confirmed whether this is true or not....do you have a link to Bernstein's article by any chance?

absolutely 100% without a doubt, existing hair is at risk of being killed whenever implanting is done very close by

just like everything in HT world, it depends on your surgeon. 

in general, it should not be a significant concern as long as you go to a good doctor. 

On 11/15/2023 at 7:08 PM, eze said:

I heard eletrolysis can take more than 12 sessions and 2 years to completely remove hairs, so Idk if thats a good idea

You heard 12 sessions for your specific case? 

Extraction via surgery is exponentially more effective and you can remove more grafts that way, but i think electrolysis can help augment the process

The more grafts removed via electrolysis, the easier you are making it for the surgeon and the more grafts can be removed in less time.

Ex. Say you need 4 formal HT repairs to get rid of all the bad grafts

Instead, you could have a few electrolysis sessions and may only need 3 surgeries. So with electrolysis you are removing the need for one of your hair transplant repairs

When you consider the cost of a formal HT repair vs a few electrolysis sessions, you honestly cant compare the two. Electrolysis costs like $80 tops and you can do it 1x/month. 

A repair HT can be $15-20k and you can only have 1 ht a year

So while multiple ht repair is undeniably necessary for you to be fixed, you can still expedite the process and save a lot of money by incorporating electrolysis

***I will add as a disclaimer that you should only do electrolysis if you are ok killing grafts and you still have a generous donor

Dont waste your time with electrolysis if donor supply is an issue for you***

I think this thread would be vastly more effective and educational if they were separate for each doctor/surgeon. 

Instead of seeing the pros and cons of each surgery independently, they are merged together which is hazy. 

I feel like all the complaints and criticism of your 1st surgery with Dr. Mwamba is being swept under the rug a bit bc the original thread is now being blended with Dr. Turan's work

1 hour ago, kc87 said:

Or maybe my expectations were too high and I'm being melodramatic?

no offense but yes this possibly

you weren't botched and you had significant growth. As a NW3 with your 1st HT, this is all you can ask for really...

You need a 2nd HT just like 95% of other patients, and your 2nd HT should in theory be much easier than the 1st, as it should just be a routine density fill-in. 

Also $10.5k for 2300 grafts is a steal for a hair transplant in the United States

if you are shaving your head in the first place, and are comfortable with that look, I honestly would not recommend a hair transplant for you.

What is your Norwood level? 

Do keep in mind that even relatively minor hairloss usually requires 2 or even more procedures if you are looking for a perfect result and perfect density. 

If you only get 1 HT, you might lack density and look like you have thinning hair, and in this case perhaps your current bald look looks better than a thinning look. 

Hair Transplant journeys are almost always multi-year endeavors. 

to me it look like there was either a slight bald gap that was not implanted, or there was native hair that was shocked out, or perhaps there were grafts that shed really early

can you kindly share the surgeon name, your own thoughts on your surgery, your own concerns and pain points?

31 minutes ago, DavidFrancis said:

There are scarring ? 

there is scarring with ANY type of incision on the scalp.

the difference is that bad doctors will cause needless scarring, perhaps visible, and the scarring can be a great challenge for future hair transplants, or it can perhaps even cause general scalp conditions or other medical issues

Whereas good doctors will have scarring - but it will not be visible, and it will not significantly complicate your prognosis or ability for future hair transplants. 

If scarring is not visible to the naked eye and it does not impact future HTs or your general health, then it is somewhat of an irrelevant factor. 

9 hours ago, champybaby said:

Just an update. Got 4400 FUT in 2012.

do you still think about hair transplants in your day to day life? 

While I sincerely appreciate your update, I'm not sure why you are posting updates when your last surgery was over 2 years ago and you have 100% been completely done with your journey for quite some time now.

I think the end-goal for every hair transplant patient should ultimately be to stop thinking about hair transplants, and be able to live a full and productive life free from hair transplant world. 

2 hours ago, DavidFrancis said:

Lupanzula, but he doesnt' want remove grafts

Can you specify why the doctor does not want to remove grafts?

Its funny to me how doctors can call a surgery a "repair" when their whole plan for repair is nothing but implants.

It allows them to charge very expensive repair-level pricing but the surgery itself is no different really from a non-repair surgery

Another reason could be that many doctors simply dont have the skill level to properly extract bad grafts. 

Doctors will generally only sell you on surgery plans they feel comfortable doing. A doctor with poor skill level in extractions is not going to be touting extraction as part of his services to you

Or....there is of course the honest and genuine possibility that lupanzula thinks the bad grafts are not bad enough to warrant extraction, and/or some other legitimate reason for this

9 minutes ago, DavidFrancis said:

Less of libido.. that’s it.

My own personal take but I dont think loss of libido (importantly - as long as you do not have ED), i dont necessarily see a negative in having a minor loss in libido

If anything, lower libido will allow.you to focus more on work and other productive areas of your life

Also, are you 100% certain loss of libido is due to Fin and not due to normal aging?

17 minutes ago, DavidFrancis said:

finasteride i got little side effects

What side effects did you get? Most people seem to love or hate fin. So i am curious if the side effects are.manageable

At least for me minoxidil was useless

1 hour ago, hxris-h said:

Bisanga turned me down cause of my age 

I don't really understand this. Did Bisanga provide any additional information?

I can certainly see any doctor refusing a first time 22 yr old patient as that is far too young. 

But as a repair patient, you are already stuck in this journey regardless. You need a repair regardless of your age. Yes, it was a mistake to get stuck in this world in your early 20's, but now that you are here I don't understand why any repair surgeon is rejecting you. 

By rejecting you, the doctor is basically saying "just suffer and live life with your botched result for now...come back to me in 10 years or whenever I deem appropriate"

It really doesn't seem like a welcoming policy. Repair doctors should have open doors for all repair patients. 

1 hour ago, hxris-h said:

graft camouflaging 

I do not think graft camouflaging is a legitimate thing. Some doctors certainly tout it, but I do not believe in it. 

If you have a badly angled graft or otherwise bad graft, it will ultimately still aesthetically "reveal" itself even if proper grafts are in front of it. 

One of the reasons repair cases are so challenging is extracting grafts is often a necessary part of the process. And when you are extracting grafts that inevitably turns into multiple surgeries, as it is very challenging to extract and re-implant in the same area, during a single round of surgery. 

5 minutes ago, follically challenged said:

Would be great if there were some kind of minimum requirements regarding results documentation

I think it should be mandatory to name the clinic/surgeon for any reviews. It will increase transparency and accountability for patients and doctors alike. 

When creating a new post, perhaps the HRN web developer can have a required "Clinic/Surgeon Name" in order to post. 

in my opinion PRP is a total scam

4 hours ago, Berba11 said:

your case looks borderline impossible

this is harsh, but yes I looked at @Bamboo's initial thread, and @Bamboo I'm not exactly sure what your end-goal is. It seems like a dicey risk for you getting any decent coverage. It seems like a massive investment to at best transform into a NW5 or NW4.

There is certainly no harm in contacting any and all doctors you can. 

But since you have already been wearing a system for 25 years, I think you should just continue with that. With a quarter of a century of system-wearing under your belt - I imagine it is second nature by now and I don't see how a system can faze you at this point. 

If I were you I would continue wearing the system, and if you truly truly cannot bring yourself to wear a system, perhaps its time to face to shave it and end this item for you.