ced80

13 hours ago, Raphael84 said:

Hi @ced80

Thank you for sharing your photos and case.

You have received some great support and advice already.
My recommendation would definitely be to visit your preferred doctor in person before committing to any surgery to allow them to thoroughly examine and evaluate your donor area and your recipient area as a repair surgery revisiting the same non virgin scalp, and to be able to provide real live data in terms of your donor density, hair groupings and also very importantly levels of miniaturisation. 

As you have explained that transplanted hair from previous surgery has thinned, this may well be likely due to the decline in quality of your donor area in this interim period due to not being able to take medication and your donor not presenting a stable environment. If this is the case, then regardless of your doctor and regardless of your budget, growth and yield may well be influenced as well as the longevity of any potential result from a further surgery. This is well worth an in person consultation in my opinion, regardless of the inconvenience of travel and potential expense, to allow you to be accurately informed on what may be the most appropriate next step for you.

I wish you the very best.

 

Hi Raphael,

Thank you very much for your valuable advice.

You underlined some factors to which i didn't think like miniaturization or quality of the non-virgin recipient site. Indeed it makes sense that for such a complex and important surgery a physical visit to the doctor should be favored..

I will try to first meet the surgeon to confirm I am a good patient for FUE.

Thanks a thousand.

Thank you Gradina, much appreciated.

No, I haven't mentionned my side effects to propecia/minox to the surgeons. I shall indeed and see their feedback on how it could influence their work.

Also thanks Melvin true that the surgeon I am in contact with mentioned that my grafts may have fallen because of genetic influence, he didn't specify if/and why a surgery with him would have some better outcomes. And to reply to your graft estimates, indeed the surgeon estimates to can harvest 2000 grafts from the scalp area and around 1000 from beard. He believes he could possibly make a second surgery later with the same number of grafts (around 3000) but using more BHT than scalp hair.

Interesting topic even if that's not going the direction I planned  

2 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I’m gonna be honest. I don’t think you should consider another HT. It’s clear you have significant diffuse thinning in the donor. Overall, your donor looks sparse and weak. Even if you did get surgery how many years would it last before you look the same. Have you considered smp?

Thank you Melvin for your honest opinion. Althought, I am not sure if you have read that  "several renowned surgeons, including, Feriduni, Konior or the HLC clinic indeed consider me as patient for a FUE (scalp + beard). I hope I can trust their acute analysis and experience. In the case where some FUE spots would be visible, possibly SMP could help.".

Although, the surgeons have seen my donor area before my scar reduction (photo attached) which may seem better than the photo taken after the reduction.

I will consider SMP as a last solution, and in case some FUE scars become visible.

Thank you again for your kind support.

16 minutes ago, aaron1234 said:

I understand why some are wondering if you're even a HT candidate at this point, but since you just got a scar reduction a few weeks ago we could very well be seeing some shock loss in your donor right now.  My answer to your question is the same as Melvin's - yes, shorter hair styles are more exposed so an elite doc would be just as necessary, if not more so.  Here's a case that comes to mind, albeit his donor is extraordinary.  

 

Thank you Aaron but I am not wondering if I am an HT candidate at this point. As I mentioned, several renowned surgeons feel that I am a candidate for FUE so I totally trust their opinion. 

True that I could have some shock loss after this scar reduction, but it is supposed to grow back I believe ??

Thanks a lot for your opinion regarding short hair being more exposed... I totally understand and agree with that view. I really feel I will go for the top suregon.

Thanks also for the Konior case . I had already seen it. Quite amazing indeed althought the guy is not a caucasian and seems to have thicker hair than average caucasians.

Thank you very much to both of you for your concern. Much appreciated. Even if I would have preferred an opinion on my original question 😉

Indeed my donor area is quite limited, but several renowned surgeons, including, Feriduni, Konior or the HLC clinic indeed consider me as patient for a FUE (scalp + beard). I hope I can trust their acute analysis and experience. In the case where some FUE spots would be visible, possibly SMP could help.

I indeed had a SMP into my scar before to excise it. It was good at the beginning but the 2nd tatoo made on it wasn't natural anymore.

I don't take any Propecia and Monoxidyl as I has side effects for both.

The 2 FUT were done 11 years ago in Canada by Dr. David Clas, but he has closed his clinic some years ago. The result was very good in the first years then it started shredding year by year until today. I don't know I could have avoid the loss of grafts with another surgeon, maybe it's due to genetics.

7 minutes ago, BLE123 said:

Sorry but I don't see where you're going to get 3k grafts from unless you have a lot of beard/body hair to use. Have you consulted with the surgeon yet?

Thank you for your experts comments 😉 

Indeed the surgeon plans to harvest around 2000 grafts from scalp and 1000+ grafts from the beard hair.

8 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

It's much more important with short hair. With long hair you can disguise some fundamental flaws like a few multi-grafts or macro and micro-irregularity disparities. However, with short hair, you need to get a surgeon who does an excellent job. I will also say, that it is extremely difficult to get the appearance of density with short hair. A prime example is David DiMuzio with long hair he looks very dense, with short hair you can see a lot of scalp.

 

Thank you Melvin !

I appreciate your highly-experienced view on the matter. 

Indeed, In understand that long hair can help to hide some flaws in the hairline when there are enough hair. In my case, the density is super low (see the 2 photos I added) so it is just impossible to let my hair grow further or it would make the Alopecia even more obvious.

But I understand from your message that short hair will make any flaws / unnatural hairline even more obvious.. so it is even more important to go with a top surgeon.

Thank you also to share the case of DiMuzio. I didn't know him but indeed with the shockloss we can see his scalp more on the video. Hopefully, it will improve much on the mid-long term.

I have to make up my mind and decide going for a 30 K $ surgery with a top-notch surgeon or a 15K $ with a decent good one !

Thanks again 😊

9 hours ago, aaron1234 said:

If you're asking whether there's a difference between good and elite HT docs, then yes there is definitely a difference regardless of what area they are transplanting.  Even though you say your previous HT's have thinned out I still see stubble on top.  If you're going to keep that style after your surgery, I'd say that 3000 grafts would definitely make a difference at the hairline.  But are you planning on using some FUE grafts to address your preexisting strip scar?  It would be helpful to see your donor region.  It'd be sort of curious to keep your hair that short without doing something about the strip scar.

Thanks Aaron!

As you can see on the photo, I still have some hair on the top but very few. The fact that I cut my hair super short makes the alopecia less obvious Vs the full hair sides.

Actually, my exact question was kind of double. If I have super short hair as today : 1) will it be essential to have a top-notch natural looking hairline ? and 2)  will it be essential to have a high density on the top frontal zone ?

My doubt is whether with very short hair, these two factors are so important in order to have a natural hair look. If with long hair I 'm sure that they are essentials.

And good remark regarding my FUT scar. Indeed, I just had my FUT scar excised 3 weeks ago. I have attached a photo of how it looks today.

Thanks again !

Hey guys,

I'd appreciate your opinion on that one.

As you can see on the photo, I have super low density and very short hair since I suffer of diffuse Alopecia. I have had 2 FUTs a long time ago but unfortunately almost all the grafts have fallen down..

In order to rebuild my hairline and give more density on the frontal zone I plan to have a FUE surgery (3000 grafts) with a top-notch, but very expensive, surgeon. He has excellent results on the hairline quality and density and a great reputation. 

The thing is that I plan to keep my hair super short ( round 0,5 cm ) even after the surgery because the density will still be limited. So I am wondering if it is worth to spend a huge amount of money in order to have a high density top-notch hairline but with very short hair... ??

I mean, do you think that there will there be a significant ( visible ) difference between a top-notch hairline and a good decent hairline, if with super short hair ?

I believe maybe not, but I am not sure so I'd appreciate your comments 😉

The surgeon who I am considering has per graft fees at least double from the standard rates compare to other good surgeons on the market. And with 3000 grafts that can make a BIG financial difference 😜

Thanks a lot in advance for your kind opinion !!!

On 10/27/2020 at 10:43 AM, Ron94 said:

I have visited him for a consultation. He is very professional and cares greatly for his patients. The waiting list is indeed long. For face to face consultation it took 9 months to wait. For an operation it depends on the patient and schedule. The operation can be split into 2 days aswell and so you could get a shorter waiting period for a procedure. The tricky part is getting into the list. I have gotten into it and I could practically schedule a date for an operation in less than a year. He is very frank with you. He tells how many grafts you could use your whole life and then asses the operational split for crown. Front. Etc.

He won't operate you if you haven't been on propecia/finasteride for at least a year and you promise him you will commit to it your whole life. Because as he told me. If he does the operation and I stop using the drug then the outcome would be worst than going bold. Because i'll have strands anywhere like hair plugs. And he doesnt want to waste his time and my money and health if I wont be able to commit to it.

Overall he has really made me positive about the whole thing. And he said upfront that if I feel that the drug affects me negatively then its better not to take it and not to get the operation. Because health is above all. Hair loss affects mental health and drug affects physical health (negatively / positively). 

To sum it up. It's been 10 months since im back on the drug. Feeling fine. And would probably schedule a date for the procedure somewhere in the summer of 2022(because of school maimly) - and because he said that its better to go through the procedure older. I was 24 when i visited him. He said he operates from 26+ but only for mild recession. Mine is NW3 and I have in his estimation 5K grafts in total for my entire life that can be used for harvesting. He will use 2-2.5K in 1st procedure in the front. And 1.5K in the crown for the 2nd one.

When i'll be after I promise to inform. Though it will take some time.. 😅

Propecia can have some dangerous effects on sexual sides, may be irreversible. That's a no go for me...

Thanks for sharing but the photos are so blurred... hard to truly appreciate the hairline

Amazing results !! And I'm also talking about the 10 years span btw the procedures and the high survival rate of the grafts...

You indeed must have spent a huge amount of money on it but many the price of feeling good and proud of your hair has just no price 😉

On 10/12/2020 at 6:18 PM, whattheFUE said:

The hairline looks spotty and not filled in considering the amount of grafts used. Konior is usually the opposite.

Am I the only one seeing this?

Agree that the density isn't enough to look natural. A 2nd FUE would be necessary, or also possibly cutting hair shorter could help. But at the end it's a personal choice if he is satisfied with this. At least the hairline, except the density, looks natural

Thanks a lot for sharing man. It's a nice work and the density will only get better.

Meanwhile, is it a feeling or the density on the frontline looked a bit stronger (with shorter hair) after the first FUE procedure than after the second procedure (with long hair) ?