Berba11

Hi mate, I’m 5.5 weeks post-op myself so I know how you feel! However, apart from the few weeks leading up to surgery where I grew my hair out a bit, I normally rock a tight buzz. So I’m used to seeing my mid scalp. Mine too has some diffuse thinning but nothing noticeable at longer lengths. I suspect what you said about just not realising is probably at play here. Everything looks normal.

I didn’t see this post before I wrote my reply but that’s great news! Definitely wait it out. Give yourself time to adjust to the buzzed or shaved off look. Give yourself time to settle into the routine of buzzing down. As @Gatsbysays, you need the right character to pull off a hair system. If you’re happy for people to know you wear one and can have some fun at your own expense with it - awesome! If it’s something you’ll feel you have to hide from people, forget about it. You’ll just torture yourself. They aren’t cheap, either.

Hi mate, By far and away the best option and the absolute first thing you should do is buzz it all off. Not only will doing so look more deliberate, tidy & better than your current balding look, it’s always the cheapest, most hassle free & safest option. It’s a total no brainer. I have to say it’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine when people get a HT or other interventions without buzzing off FIRST. If you get a HT or SMP etc, you’ll have to have your hair buzzed off (at least for a while) anyway. Buzzing off should be step one. Permanent work, like surgery or SMP should ALWAYS be the last resort. Just don’t make any hasty decisions. Take your time. The one benefit of having advanced hairloss so young is that there’s no real ticking clock. You haven’t got much more to lose at this point so have no reason to rush. Finasteride will help keep what you’ve got but it’s going to be a regular commitment for decades.

Excess oozing is normal (I oozed a lot during my FUE 5.5 weeks ago), but it does slow things down significantly. I ended up having 2,762 grafts transplanted over two days rather than one. As far as I know, I was just oozing a lot but not ‘popping’ as you were. In either case, that does sound like everything was done very quickly. It’s very unlikely that having had a drink or two 4/5 days before had any impact so you’re not to blame for a poor result.

We must be due a 9 & a half month update @ADil

An update would be great!

Looking good @Zoomster! I'm not jealous at all that you're off in Miami right now!

Awesome! Glad things are kicking off now - great to see! Looking forward to seeing how this progresses!

Would definitely love an update! Hope you’re doing well @Strongman

Love it Maz! Looks really, really good already. Definitely an epic home run with just a couple of months more growth. Nailed it!!

It’s quite possible. You’re at 7 months so there’s plenty of time for improvements.

Ok, well that simply means you’ll have to ride it out until you can get another HT. That’s your only option if you’re not willing to try anything else in the meantime.

It doesn't look too bad at all. A touch up procedure using a conservative number of grafts to the left temple should really do the trick. Have you tried using hair fibres to add a bit of extra thickness to the area of concern?

Wow! Brilliant results so far! Can I ask you how much FueGenix charges per graft? They're doing a lot of good work so would be great to know how their prices compare to the other top clinics in Europe.

UPDATE - 5 weeks (35 days) post-op Hi all - Happy New Year! Here's a few pics from different profiles 5 weeks on since my HT. There's been a fair amount of shedding though that seems to be slowing down. The recipient area remains quite red which does makes things look a little odd but hopefully that will subside soon enough. Donor area looks really good. I buzzed everything down to a grade 3 a few days ago. Right side is a little patchy compared to the left but I really don't care to be honest. And with a bit more length it wouldn't matter anyway. Even as it stands, most people would never know. I'll probably just do monthly updates from here on in, so will update again at the 2 month mark. One final thing... I've now been on finasteride for 7 months. I think I'm starting to notice some early signs that it might be working. If you look back at my update from the 12th December and compare the lowest bit of the nape to the donor pic below, I think it looks a bit fuller. Could be lighting/angles, but either way I'll use that as a comparison from here onwards. To me, it looks like the retrograde that is visible at the bottom is a bit more 'filled in'. The length of the hair are about the same as each photo was taken a day or so after a number 3 buzz.

Hope you're recovering well mate & looking forward to your latest update!

Hi mate. Hope you're doing well brother! Happy new year to you! I'll post a 5 week update tomorrow but yes, I seem to have retained quite a lot so far. Not a massive change since last week albeit I've tidied things with a buzz. Noticing there's less and less shedding each time I apply some aloe vera gel (which I've switched over to from E45 as of a few days ago), so hopefully a decent chunk of it sticks around, though I know a lot can change over the next few weeks! Just need to try and get the redness down & I'll be a happy bunny.

Hey @H3ri, Hope you're doing well mate & Happy New Year! How are things looking? Would love to see and update! Cheers

Everything looks pretty good to me. Your growth is starting to kick off now. Plus, because you've got loads of native hair in that area, as I've said before, it looks totally normal. If I met you on the street tomorrow I'd not have the first clue you'd had any surgeries at all. I'm 5 weeks post-op today/tomorrow and I'd trade places in a heartbeat! You said you'd saved some posts on your notes to refer back to remember... Have a re-read! Also, now that you're 4.5 months on, who knows about your HT(s) in real life apart from your mate during/before the Mexico trip?

I have to ask… How on Earth can you afford to go to F&B or, in particular, H&W at 20 years old!!? I could even remotely get close to being able to afford H&W & I’m 32 and doing alright! Also, is it possible you can post some better photos (and ones that aren’t upside down)? It’s hard to get a proper idea of what you situation is after the first HT. Cheers

FueGenix has certainly produced some very good work from what I've seen on this forum. 1500 extra grafts sounds like plenty. Knowing exactly how many grafts a person needs is always tricky. I just had 2800 grafts done a month ago and had/have more loss than you. There's various factors; head sizes, hair thickness, texture, future loss considerations etc... I won't know what my own results will be until several months down the line but if you really did get 3,000 grafts initially (which I simply don't think you did), then it should have been enough to get you the coverage you needed. I think you'd be fine getting abother HT to finish this up. Your donor looks excellent at that length, and you probably didn't get 3,000 grafts extracted - maybe 2,300 give or take and in reality maybe even less. So you should have another 1-1.5K in the bank that you could comfortably use to fill in the gaps and still have enough in the bank for later if/when needed. What I would say... Be conservative here & look to preserve your native hair.

Could just be a little tiny bit of shock loss to nearby native hair. The hair in that area might have been undergoing a little bit of miniaturisation given its proximity to your areas of baldness/balding so might be a little weak. Probably nothing at all to worry about. The work looks outstanding.

Can you post some good quality photos so that we can better understand what you mean/how things look?

Apart from being too early to judge, you're not going to get away with your hair quite that short without showing a few signs of depletion in the donor area. You'll have to play around with lengths/grades to see how short you can go before you start to notice things looking a little more sparse or bothersome for you.

Looks great already!!