mtb

Dr Zarev told me there are 2,500+ grafts left for future balding. Beyond that I think he can still take more but I would have to commit to a very short side look. Nearly shaved. Low probability it will come to that. The diffuse look has to do with the shock loss. If you look back on page 6 of this thread I had the same thing 2 months after my first procedure. By months 4-5 everything was healed from shock loss and growing in the donor area so I assume it'll be the same thing after this second procedure. I did not receive a detailed report of my own case like in the video. He kind of covered it in the consultation but no detailed print out. He may well have provided it for me but I didn't think to ask and didn't care too much about it. I saw a couple of forms he was writing his notes on with diagrams of my head. @GeneralNorwood

Not having to shave the recipient area for the second procedure was nice. Yes. A few hundred in the hairline and then the majority in crown and mid scalp.

Had my second hair cut today since my first procedure (not counting Dr Zarev shaving the sides for second procedure). Some before and afters. Also a few of where I came from albeit with different lighting. At this point nearly all the grafts from the second procedure (Oct ‘23) have cycled and fallen out and will start sprouting randomly in the next couple weeks (at least that was my experience with first procedure in Jan ‘23). Still some donor shock loss which should take another two months two recover.

Thanks @davidn. I feel very fortunate to have had the results I have had. My vote would go to @Capelli21 or @Gatsby. I believe they both had their second procedures this year.

Very cool. Solid growth in the first 6 months. More to come in the next four months. Might be time to change your name from anxious6 to confidentformerNW6? lol

Good morning Fellas. Happy Thanksgiving. One month from second procedure. It looks like there may be a little bit of shock loss in the donor area. Everything seems to be going well at this point. I believe most all transplanted hair has cycled and fallen out. Should start coming back in 2-3 months from now. Happy growing, everyone!

Ha ha. Thanks. The shaved sides and back are growing on me. It looks pretty good still after 12k grafts extracted. I’ll post my 1 months photos in a couple weeks.

Ha ha. Thanks. The shaved sides and back are growing on me. It looks pretty good still after 12k grafts extracted. I’ll post my 1 months photos in a couple weeks.

Dr Zarev sent me the photos he took. He sent 470 photos. Lol. I’ll just post a few here in case any cares to see. They are pre op, pre op shaved, and post op with freshly washed scalp. I did have folliculitis with two grafts next to each other. It resolved after a few days with warm compress, rolling with q-tip, and a topical antibiotic

@consequence He does hair cutting, hair washing, microcamera pictures, regular camera photos, hairline planning, extraction and placement planning, disinfectant/sterilization, anesthesia, PRP injections, follicle extractions and follicle placements. His nurses do the blood tests and PRP extraction as well as the sorting of extracted grafts and the loading of the implanter pens. @Gatsby Thanks. I'm pretty happy thus far. I'm hoping for a great result.

10 days post op donor and real life pics. No pain almost at all the whole time except when I’d accidentally bump my head. I’ve completed all meds and no longer need to use the antibacterial soap. Starting his minox and .1 mg topical fin today. Swelling was much less than first procedure and gone after 5/6 days. Will post Dr Zarev’s office pics when he sends. I’m guessing 4-5 months until everything he implanted comes through really strong, based off of first procedure.

@Melvin- Admin It’s all good. Whatever helps @general-etwan and the community. Dr Sethi and Dr Zarev may have different thought on what the end pattern of your baldness will be. Is Dr Sethi open to making changes as you request? @Melvin- Admin can you please change the name of this thread? “Dr Zarev 11,941 grafts. 1st procedure 8,321, 2nd procedure 3,620.”

I posted something like this on a different thread: Yeah, it is a large "safe zone". But one I was okay with. My reasons were as follows: - Dr Zarev can calculated he can still extract an additional 2500+ grafts from my donor in case of future balding - My balding has been fairly stable for 10 years so lower risk of my NW getting all the way to 7, of course not guaranteed - No one in my family is a NW7, of course that's only a potential indicator and not a guarantee that I won't go there - NW7 is only achieved by 7% of the population so lower probability that I'll get there - I can tolerate oral finasteride and respond well to it which will greatly slow down my possible progression to NW7, of course not guaranteed (talk of sides and permanent sides are greatly overblown) - Even further, Dr. Zarev says in extreme cases he can take up to 70%-80% of scalp grafts for very advanced Norwoods (so an additional 1.5k to 2k grafts for me beyond the 2500 mentioned above), however this does require the patient to keep donor areas very short (nearly skin fade) which I saw as an acceptable option but a last option - I have a decent beard and can likely get 2k-3k grafts from it if there is big-time thinning in the recipient area - I'm also okay with SMP to add the illusion of coverage/density -I'm comfortable with an FUT procedure as a possibility down the road if recipient areas thin -Or in the case that nothing above works and I'm thinning greatly in the transplanted region I'm okay to shave my head and I chose Dr. Zarev because the scarring from his procedure is essentially non existent unless you’re eye is two inches from my scalp Just my my through process when making my decision. There are many things to consider and additional treatments if needed. I don't feel it's likely that it'll come to that for me but maybe. However, I knew the risks and the ways to mitigate and made my decision accordingly. He did say that due to his spreading the grafts around that if/when any of them miniaturize they will do so in diffuse way mimicking the normal thinning pattern but would be age appropriate. Further, Dr Zarev has been doing this for 10-12+ years so there is some history behind what he’s doing. @general-etwan

Dr talked to me about lowering and what was involved and we decided not to do it Yes, his tiny scars were definitely a reason I went to him Yeah I wouldn’t hesitate to shave it. I’m not sure I understand the question. When I had my first surgery he blocked out a date for me 10 months out. Many of his surgical days are scheduled for patients coming for their one day second surgeries.

Had my second procedure yesterday. 3620 grafts. Going into the surgery he was estimated 2,000 but I apparently healed very well from the first surgery so more grafts were available. With both procedures that’s a total of 11,941. All of the grafts went toward density. I still have 2,500+ grafts available in reserve to repair additional balding in the future. As for scarring from the original procedure I couldn’t even see any on my photos. They are very very tiny. I was happy he gave me the option keep the hair from the first surgery at length. I spent 16 hours at the clinic and surgical time was about 11-12 of those hours.

Awesome. Your experience of the pre-op eval, surgery, and post-op follow up are identical to mine. Things should really take off for you from this point forward. I'm happy for you. Other surgeons have got to step up their game so more patients can have access to these life changing results.

My hair has been fairly straight my entire life so I was surprise when it grew in curly. However, I've read elsewhere that the first growth cycle of transplanted hair can often be curly. I'm good with it though. I agree with you that it likely provides more visual coverage.

Yeah, maybe a lower hair style would look thicker. I'll look into it on the other side of surgery. While it looks good now that's partly because it's all grown in at the same time. Once each hair is on a different growth cycle there will be some thinning so it's important to do the second procedure. It's just one less thing to worry about. It's nice to never give it a second thought when I'm getting ready or when I'm out somewhere.

9 month update. Flash and no flash. I’ll be in Bulgaria soon for my second procedure. Will post shaved pre-op pics from there along with my post surgical pics. Pretty wild how fast 9 months flies by.

If I hadn’t gone to an elite surgeon I would have felt worried about doing a mega session as my first session. I have had friends go to other surgeons with some subpar results. Unfortunate situations.

If I were you I’d look at going elsewhere besides Zarev. I believe he is the best but if I was looking at a 3-5 year wait I would go elsewhere. Very grateful I got in when I did. Yeah I’m doing it this month. ~2k in the crown and mid scalp. A little bit for the hairline. Would like to lower the hairline if possible. Just not sure it’s realistic given my remaining donor grafts and need to thicken the crown and midscalp. If I can’t lower it I’ll still be happy with where it is. Wont know for certain until he does his pre-op measurements.

Oh really? I didn't know about that. I didn't see that on his website. But can't blame him. If the demand is there you can charge whatever you want. I see that he charges 500 euros for a consult now. Very glad I got in when I did. I've thought about holding off. The crown and mid scalp do need a bit more. He says that even with this 2k there will still be another 2k in reserve for years down the line.

@Grouse No easy answers unfortunately. Once I saw my head shaved bald before my Zarev procedure I thought, "hm, I don't look bad bald." Have you tried shaving your head first to see if you'd like it? If you want to do the hair system I'd find a reputable online company and a local stylist that has experience with systems. Then there is a thousand vids online of how to apply and maintain them. I did a few different glues and two sided tapes over the years. It's a commitment but if you have to do it you'll figure a way to make it work. The company I used is out-of-business now so I cannot recommend them anymore. If you would like a lot of details please dm me and I can share more. I don't even think about the hair system days anymore, feels fortunate to be where I am. While I think Zarev is the best surgeon but there are other phenomenal surgeons who have much shorter waitlists if you cannot wait the full 3 years to see Dr. Zarev. They would require an FUT/FUE combo or FUE with beard hair. Just a thought.

Thank you for sharing everything in your journey, Karl. You were one of the ones that showed that high norwood HT is possible and can look great.