Bandit90

How’s tricks Jay! Your combo of transplanted hair and SMP is looking killer mate – 100% are rocking it. TBF your current design with recession looks both solid and natural, and agree with other posters that hairline lowering should not be the priority. That said, on my last sitting I used ∼350 grafts to tweak my frontotemporal angle, which I think does give a lot of bang for the buck. I 100% agree with others that the density in the mid-scalp and crown should be your focus, then if you want to reduce the frontotemporal angle, you can make an informed decision to do so (maybe even as a 3^rd sitting). It’s a good dilemma you are in mate, because you did the sensible thing by starting conservative. You're doing the right thing and asking the right questions, ultimately it will be your call so just make sure you are armed with the facts to make an informed decision.

1 hour ago, GeneralNorwood said:

If you guys won't be together, i don't believe in love 😂

Don’t be getting jealous of mine & Gatsby’s bromance now General 😉  

Just a Mind-blowing transformation Adrian! 

Month 3 Update

Not a great deal to update, still in the ugly duckling phase, although I do feel I’m now on the decline out. Previously transplanted hair from the first two sittings continues to grow well, which is always reassuring. Haven’t seen much growth yet from the last sitting, although that said, I have had a couple of pimples sprout up in the last 48 hours. Strangely I’ve had a lot of pimples (some quite painful) in the donor area in the past month, which I never really got post sittings one & two. Also Ive been doing a DIY buzz cut on the sides, to keep things a little tidy, which seems to work fine. 

Still a lot of lingering redness around the hairline, which I’m expecting a good six months before this subsides, like the first sitting. In any instance, I’m a lot more relaxed compared to a month back, very much just kicking back and waiting for the magic to happen.  

Cheers mate! Feel like your second sitting is well due! Bet you cant wait to have that crown filled! 

Yes, 100% my hair was good after the two sittings and I could have easily lived with the result. The driver for the third sitting was to improve crown density so that I can have a bit of flexibility on the hairstyles. The hairline & temples work was not a necessity and more a luxury, but when you have the Maestro Dr Sethi proposing hairline enhancements, it just becomes a no-brainer!

The important question is, did you have in-person consults with these doctors? When a doctor says ‘no’ to surgery, this doesn’t mean point blank you are not a candidate, it’s more their way of saying they are not confident enough to able to make enough of a difference to warrant cosmetic surgery. But If you curtailed your expectations, there is probably a case for surgery. If I were you, I’d take the finances out the equation, and just take the opportunity to consult in person with the doctors the users have posted in the thread, this will get you an understanding of what realistically could be achieved, which you can reflect on to see if you would be satisfied.

Glad your surgery is going well. High-Norwood restoration its a unfortunately a marathon surgery, but in a couple of weeks time you’re going to look back and will thank yourself! Remember to keep cool and trust the process, will be a long few months ahead waiting for growth.. but it will be here before you know! 

2 hours ago, Tommy1991 said:

Day 8.

I think it’s prudent to upload some outside photos this time to give some insight as to what you can expect.

 

Have noticed hair fail in recipient area which is totally normal!  
 

I tried to capture the new grafts as best I can, you can pick them out when zoomed in. 

 

 

Healing nice Tommy! To 99.99% of the general public the redness will just look a bit of sun burn from not applying the sun cream high enough up the face. Going through a similar experience myself at the min (with redness in front of the hairline). 

1 hour ago, Buffaloboy said:

How many beard hair grafts in total are on your scalp now?

It was 3613 beard hairs in total. PS good luck with you procedure!  

3 hours ago, Al - Moderator said:

This has been an incredible transformation. Do you get people who haven't seen you in two years not even recognize you or can't believe it's you?

 

Thanks Al! I don’t think I’ve ever had a situation where someone doesn’t recognise me due to having hair. However, those people I haven’t caught up with in a while, I tend to notice their eyes wandering up to my hairline mid-conversation. I’ve had a couple of curious people ask a few questions, but with British culture, it tends to be that you just don’t comment on appearances, even if you have a strong burning desire to do.

1 hour ago, GeneralNorwood said:

 

They're probably trying to pull off the wig, but to their surprise, it's real hair

Haha... It's become my new party trick, that I reveal that this head of hair, is in fact all implanted.

20 hours ago, Antonfarat said:

Quick one for you Bandit.
 

Firstly, what an truly jaw dropping result, very very very impressive work by Dr. Sethi indeed. 

There seem to be a few fairly wiry black hairs in your crown, I assume those are beard hairs. Has Dr. Sethi explained if those will ever fully change texture and become more similar to native scalp hair? I read in one of your comments that you said they are starting to blend in, so figured you had some knowledge on this? 
 

Congrats again on your result, hoping to see something similar on my noggin one day tbh. If I could only be so lucky. 

Cheers mate!

Yes, I noticed my implanted beard hairs change texture. Like any hair when the growth first starts, there is a very wiry appearance to it, this is even more so with the beard.

I’d say around months 14/15 months after my first sitting, I noticed that the implanted beard hair in my mid-scalp started to slacken off and behave like scalp hair. For the crown, I'd say the beard hair took a full 18 months to begin to slacken. If you look at my progress pictures you can see it was very obvious which was the beard in my crown, but if you look at my pre-op pics from my last sitting, the beard hair has become much slacker and blends in with the scalp hair.

In the mid-scalp, it's almost impossible to distinguish between scalp/beard.  In the crown area, you would probably have a better chance of distinguishing, but it's getting harder to tell as the months go on.

When I crunch the numbers I’m on about 2/3 Scalp and 1/3 Beard implanted on the scalp, when you subtract the temple work. Zoomester is a very good example of someone who has had a lot of beard hair implanted in the crown and retains a natural result.

Hope that helps & good luck with your journey.

Amazing Adam - Over the next three to six months, you are really going to see that crown close in! Also, agree your donor is looking great - which is reassuring, should you opt to do further enhancements down the line! 

Good luck Tommy, wishing you speedy healing and more importantly closure on your frustrating journey. Stating the obvious, but the work looks very refined & clean, which is demonstrated by your fast healing from the hairline extractions.

Quick question, is there any plan to add grafts to your hairline, not necessarily lower it, but perhaps add singles to your newly re-positioned hairline, or is it that what remains post-extraction, shall be the final hairline. Also, if you feel comfortable would you be able to share what the hairline height was before the surgery and what It is now.

Nonetheless, your journey will bring a lot of hope to the unfortunate growing trend of young males who have suffered the ill-fate of poorly designed, low hairlines with multi-grafts.

6 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

Your two months is looking more like four!!! At just over two months now for me it feels like I can see the key to open this prison. It’s all growth from here on @Bandit90. 👊🏻

Cheers Mate! Feel like ive really started to turn a corner with it the past couple of days. The illusion of density is beginning to kick back in. Another few more weeks, and I feel I will be back to baseline! 

23 hours ago, bigmistake said:

What is amazing is that there are no FUE scars visible. This is some Zarev level work. Really shows the top tier quality technicians at Eugenix.

Cheers mate! Probably worth sharing the photo of my hair shaved down just before my third sitting. given the area had just under 6k grafts taken from it at the time of the photo, it looks in reasonable shape. TBH I don't think id have any issues shaving down to a zero guard and drawing attention from general public.  Dr Sethi told me that the two techs who do the all the extractions at the clinic have been specialising in this for the past 12 years, which I really like. Also probably explains why they have good donor management. 

Oh wow! really good growth for just 3 months! Going to be an exciting summer for you! 

Without understanding the full picture. I would suspect, given that your discomfort was specifically felt during the final half-hour on your third day of surgery, you suffered tachyphylaxis,, as the anaesthesia became ineffective due to the repeated doses. If this was the case, the clinic could have considered pausing the surgery until the following day, however, I also suspect because you had the grafts removed at this point, the medical team were up against the clock to implant. Three-day surgeries are not the faint-hearted and what you have documented raises the complexities that come with such prolonged sittings extending over multiple days. @Gatsby documented having similar issues with the anaesthesia rapidly wearing off during the final days of his marathon surgery.

It would be interesting to know if Eugenix could fit these types of surgeries into two days, as opposed to three, or even modify it to do most of the heavy lifting on day one. I know there is amount of large amount of manpower required to execute these procedures and their growth yields speak for themselves. But it could be that some simple efficiencies could be made, which could improve the patient experience. However, despite the pain experienced towards the end of these marathon sessions, we patients do keep coming back for more, so the trauma does fade out (or maybe we all just have Stockholm syndrome 🤣)

31 minutes ago, azza786 said:

You had no hair, then got hair and now have more hair.. What's the issue? For a nw 6/7, you have had one of the most smoothest experiences so just take it easy. Honestly, this moment is like a needle in a haystack. 

Very true mate! Probably lost my perspective a tad. Feels a big step back, to go forward. But like you said its just a needle in the haystack

2 hours ago, hairman22 said:

looks great for 2months short hairstyle suits you

Cheers man! Good tip to buzz the sides down 😉

1 hour ago, Melvin- Admin said:

Shaving is such a 🤬 but the good news is your hair looks thick and full, even with short hair. 

Sure is. Its reassuring to see all the hair for the first two sittings come in! 

4 hours ago, Myles23 said:

Healed well already @Bandit90. Time seems to stand still during the ugly duckling phase I agree. Most Norwood 6/7 would  give their right arm for how you look now let alone what it will look like in another 10 months when this third procedure evolves. I look forward to seeing the return of the quiff. 

Cheers Myles! Very true. The Ugly Duckling phase, is natures way of keeping me humbled lol!

We will be both rocking a morirssey quiff come late summer time!!  

4 hours ago, OliverAtom said:

 

Bandit, wow wow wow. I have just spent like an hour reading and enjoying your story and process, what a transformation my friend 🤩 And with this last third sitting the result will be incredible, can not wait to see the final result 🧐

Thanks a lot for sharing so much and great information. Eugenix is becoming too legendary! 🌟

Thanks Oliver 🤙

Month 2 Update

Not a huge amount to share, I’m very much in the ugly-duckling phase. It is generally just growth from the first two hair transplants growing in. Positive signs for me this month, are that the donor area has seemingly recovered well, which I factored in to take longer. I did a DIY shave on the sides a couple of weeks back which certainly helped take the edge off, as it was beginning to look very untidy.  Also, the redness is fading, albeit at a glacial speed.

I'll be honest, it’s all felt frustrating, mainly because I got so used to having hair and now, I’m waiting for it to grow in and for that all-important illusion of density to kick. It's all part and parcel of the ugly duckling phase but certainly can be mentally draining. In hindsight, I probably should have put a bit more consideration into doing unshaven FUE, that saying hopefully, in a couple of months, it will be all behind me.

Disappointing to read about the last 30 minutes on the final day of your procedure. I would expect the clinic to conduct a root cause analysis and provide a surgical de-brief based on the investigation. I have had three surgeries myself at the clinic and certainly noticed more discomfort towards the end of the final day on my first sitting in March 2022. I attributed this to Tachyphylaxis, as my body was gaining tolerance to the repeated doses of lidocaine applied over three days. One thing I note is that the clinic uses dull-needle implanter pens for their method implantation (which has advantages for growth yield), but I feel a disadvantage of the method is that it is more invasive than the traditional forcep insertion method, as you are having to push a dull-needle implanter into a recipient slit. Nonetheless, I believe the clinic, should conduct a review to ascertain why their pain management fell short of expectations in that final half hour, as you should never have been expected to grin up and bear it.

Thanks for posting your honest feedback, I hope the results come off for you, as you have surely gone through the battle. I do hope that you begin to feel comfortable enough to share your growth journey on the HRN, especially as it has been pointed out we have similar hair characteristics.

Very nice result so far! Huge improvement on your before pictures. Also no detection of the previous FUT surgery on the back of your scalp on your recent update. 

56 minutes ago, jjalay said:

Well, some of the "best in the business" caused him this mess so i would be cautious about that. You dont have to be a genie to see that the donor area on the sides has already been depleted and there is no way you can extract additional 5k without causing further damage.

Short blonde hair can be very deceiving, my donor looked similar post-sitting one and I went on to get another 4k grafts from it. The OP has stronger donor than me, so on that logic alone,  the 5k estimation, appears completely plausible. Also with FUE I find there is length (similar to OPs latest update) when the FUE is more noticeable. When I buzz down, its much less noticeable and grown longer its hard to detect. But the one-two weeks after shaving down, there is more noticeable patchy appearance.  Another observation I had is the OP FUE scaring reminds me of Rolands' result - to a lesser extent.