TEXAN35

I had a second hair transplant to increase some density just behind my hairline. Even 10 months after surgery when I massage my scalp, I still feel some prickly hair stubbles trying to come out. This would have been normal for Crown but for Hairline isn't it little late? 10 months after transplant I would have expected that all the follicles should have come out and I would have entered maturing phase of the follicles. Hopefully these new stubbles grow up. Not sure if anyone has similar experience about hair stubbles coming late.

I have had uneven growth pattern, and my huge improvement came after 7-8 months. But even during month seven, I could feel hair follicles sprouting if I rubbed my scalp with finger gently. If you run your finger against your scalp and still not able to feel any new graft coming through, it is a concern. At 7 months you may not see final result, but you should be seeing additional grafts coming through.

You will continue to see these budding hair follicles for few more months, and it is a good sign. If they were lost, they would have already gone out of the scalp. Sometimes it just takes time for these grafts to pick up the growth speed. This is the reason people see incremental gains for like 8-9 months and not all growth in 4-5 months.

I also have some reservations about Minoxidil. I did have very minor dizziness when I was on it even though it was just topical. Have been on and off due this this. For me it is more concerning than Finasteride as its side or mostly tied to libido unlike minoxidil which can have cardiovascular impact. And even if you are not noticing any symptom does not necessarily mean that it is not impacting the body in long term.

Yes, A transplant can expedite the loss of already thinning crown. To mitigate that you can use Propecia and minoxidil for 8-12 months prior to transplant. Not sure how old are you and if you have tried medication. Looks like you still have quite a bit of native hair though they have thinned. Maybe stabilize your hair loss before transplant and don't rush into it.

At this point I would not worry too much as stressing out is not good. i think you need to wait patiently for 4-5 months and follow the post-transplant protocols. What's the number of grafts used? If the graft count used is not very large, then you are on the safe side. From pics the density is not that high which may not be a bad thing as you will have scope of improvement if this doesn't work out well.

Your current hair is better than the end result of most transplant. In short, please wait for some time. Your hair is very good. No need to feel insecure about it.

I think, the Doctor will prefer a clean untouched recipient area while doing implantation, but you can ask the clinic. It's easier to create art on a clean canvas. 🙂 .

Pic with dry hair may give better idea. Though, the straight graft position in the hairline is not good. You may need additional transplant. Maybe just by adding more graft in nonlinear fashion would make it look better. Worse case some grafts may need relocation. Either way you need a good repair specialist.

As per graft survival, difficult to evaluate without before pics, but 3000 graft is a smaller amount for the large area covered. Transplant provides illusion of density which will not be there when hair is cut short unless you get very high-density transplant. The SMP is not helping much because of overall redness. I don't think you had graft survivability issue here. But your skin redness and uneven texture is a real concern. I saw your pic after 40 days. It was more red than usual. Was is that you had a minor skin infection then which was not properly treated then. I personally don't mind applying mild antibiotic ointment once a while to recipient area 4 weeks after transplant whenever I see too many pimple or redness. You could be right about the incision being smaller than your hair caliber causing cobblestone but Dr Yaman being a good doctor, this is very unexpected.

Of course, the basic requirement is that doctors do all the design and incision. I would prefer if the Doctor can do some implantation specially in critical areas like hairline or in temple. Also, I would prefer a doctor to be in the operating room around 20-25% of the time at least monitoring the work of the tech. if we are paying 5 to 10 K , I think it's reasonable to expect the Doctor to spend 2-3 hrs in the Operating room. The treatment should be fair to all their patients.

Low density temples without using large number of grafts will have very positive impact on your facial profile.

The hair line looks very good but 720 grafts on temple seems more than necessary. Some of those could have been put on mid scalp. I think low density temples can also provide face a good profile as long as they are shaped right. I guess it also depends upon hairstyle. Short side hair goes well with low density temples whereas high density temple go better with longer hair.

From the PICS the density looks good and natural. I think your concern should not be adding density to the hairline but to make sure your hair loss is in control, and you have enough donor left in case you move from NW2 to high NWs .

For the front scalp including hairline, you would need around 3500. You have thinning on the crown also but since you have enough native hair there you may want to wait for few years or try medication to fix the crown area. Those doctors may have given estimate just for the fontal portion. But yes for full work you maybe need around 4500 in total.