I am a 50 year old male, living in the US. I started losing my hair in the early 40s. Long time lurker here, first time poster. I am a dual citizen of US and Pakistan. In 2016, in my mid 40s, I decided to get a hair transplant after not finding success with fin and the min. Getting one in the US was cost prohibitive, and I happened to know a friend of a friend in Pakistan who was offering FUE hair transplants. I decided to gamble. I am not entirely sure it paid off. I present the evidence here and let you guys decide. First HT was about 2,800 grafts.
Pre HT1 Top. Most of the hair on the top and front are thinning and on their way out, I think.
Pre HT1 Crown:
I looked like a NW6'ish, headed into NW7 territory, eventually.
Here is a picture 2 days after HT1:
There was a lot of ground to cover and 2,800 grafts weren't going to do it.
3 weeks after HT1, I lost most of it, as expected:
And this is where I was 4 months later:
Sure, there is improvement, but nothing to get super excited about. Things improved a little after this and I resorted to using concealers for a few years. But life with concealers is a miserable existence, as I suspect many of you know. With ideal lighting, long hair and concealers, I could go far in hiding my hair situation:
But, I could not let rain or my girlfriend touch my hair.
Reality as of Aug 2021:
I have lost a lot more hair since 2016. Given that the surgeon had to cover a large area and that I was still losing hair at a rapid pace, I personally consider first transplant to mostly be a success. We cannot expect magic with HT. For my second HT, I consulted some local docs and the good ones were even more expensive than before and were booked 9 months out. I figured it was time to go back to the original doc. So, I got second HT with 4,800 grafts. About 3,800 from the back of my head and about 1,000 from beard.
Day of surgery (Sep 12th, 2021):
HT2, at the end of the day when it was all said and done:
Donor area and crown, 2 weeks after second surgery:
I wonder if it has been over-harvested. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks.
So far, I am cautiously optimistic. I know I am about to go through a shedding phase. And in fact, many hair have already fallen out with the scabs. I think this is normal? Let me know what you guys think.
I do see a 3rd surgery in my future. To cover the crown a little better. I may not have a lot of hair left on the head donor area, but I have *a lot* of beard hair left.
I had previously given up on fin and min, but I hear good things about microneedling with minoxidil. I am thinking about giving it a shot as well. I had side effects from using finasteride, so I'll have to stay off of it.