CasuallyCopacetic

Thanks, man. It wasn't a major difference in total hair, but I feel more comfortable in my own skin now and am extremely excited about being able to style it in interesting ways.

I understand where you're coming from as far as critiquing the outcome by a board certified surgeon and his clinic, but we're looking at photos of a high resolution camera with full exposure from less than an inch from the subject. No one on earth is ever going to examine your hair in this manner except for you. If you had a hair transplant surgery with the expectation that it would perfectly replicate your natural hair, then that is pretty misguided. How does this look from 2ft in sunlight, from 2ft in overhead light, or from the more likely 4 ft? By all means, strive for perfection and have the issue fixed by someone else, but the narrative in this thread is that you're clearly very upset by this when you probably should be ecstatic at your new hair that is likely going to look phenomenal in 2 months. ALSO, you argue that you "always have a fade" so having this temple issue isn't acceptable. I would counter that by saying you probably only had a high fade because with temple recession like yours, a high fade creates an illusion the receding area is more of a feature of your temple points and not temple recession. The reality is that once your new hairline matures, you will have the freedom to try an infinite number of hair styles that won't require a 2mm high fade that you'll be equally excited about. Anyway, good luck with everything! I think it's coming along very nicely for being at 5 months. Almost all of the results here show a TON of growth from months 5-7.

LOL same. An unfortunate comparison!

Yes, exactly. From the front angle, things weren’t “terrible” but now I think it looks great from every angle despite not being full density yet.

Bingo. In all of my before pictures (outside of that last one), my hair is cut and styled to create as much symmetry as possible with the unevenness. I can try to find some better photos that illustrate how bad the recession was.

I had recession all the way across, but it was much more dramatic on the left. The very noticeable difference created even more facial asymmetry than I naturally have which is hugely detrimental to general attractiveness and the way in which my hair could be styled.

I had three sessions over two days. Dr. Elif and Dr. Umut were assigned to my case with Dr. Elif doing the majority of the work.

I’m surprised that you think the state of your hairline prior to transplant was worse than mine. We basically had the same level of recession except mine was completely asymmetrical. My hairline was lowered roughly 1cm on the right temple, 2cm in the middle, and 3-4cm on the left. They even maintained some of that natural asymmetry in their design as it’s still higher on one side over the other. Heres a before photo of the left temple that shows my recession a little more clearly.

Here’s a video in bathroom lighting with my hair styled.

Thank you! I think I'm on a successful path so far. I was extremely worried about shock loss with how much of the high density transplant area was blended into my existing hairline, but it I think starting Minoxidil 6 weeks prior to the transplant shed most of those hairs I would have lost post op anyway.

Here’s 1 day post op donor:

Ahh, that was a typo! I AM currently taking those both everyday. I had originally thought my hair was thin to medium, but HLC told me it was very thick. I’d probably say it’s medium to thick. Here’s a donor picture from yesterday after having a pretty low fade:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment on my initial post and provide their input/advice. Obviously, I ended up committing to the surgery and to be frank, I'm completely satisfied with the progress thus far! This week was the first time I've been able to style my hair in over four months, which was a huge ritual for me prior to this adventure. The styling product provides volume and a relatively natural look, but my growth has really just started as of the beginning of month 3. If I had to estimate, I am probably at about 40% density so far. The hair that has grown out (that are about 1-2" long and styled) are very immature and wispy compared to the surrounded natural hair. I can see strands breaking through the skin (less than .5" long) that look more normal in strand thickness, so I would imagine I have several months before I have a completely natural density that isn't noticeable. As it stands, in certain lighting, you can definitely tell that transplant areas aren't full density, as you would expect. In the first photo, you see the hairline design suggested by HLC. The area inside the outline is actually only 1660 grafts (50-55 grafts/cm2 density). They then used an additional 500 grafts blended 1-2" into my hairline in order to blend the texture of the transplanted hair and provide density if my hair continues to recede further. I've been on Fin since I was 26 (Currently 32 years old) and started Min 1 month pre-op. I'm currently taking both Fin+Minox daily for hair loss prevention. # Grafts Total Hairs Singles 239 239 Doubles 701 1402 Multiples 1220 3660 Total 2160 5301 10/28/2021 - Consultation Day with HLC 10/29/2021 - Day of Surgery 2/15/2022 - 15.5 Weeks Post Op May 2021 vs. Feb 2022 - 15 Weeks Post Op

Wow, these results at 6.5 months are killer. I’m so happy to be scheduled with HLC.

Yes, that’s how I interpreted it. I can’t imagine the lowering would be anything but conservative. I’m not trying to look 17 over here.