Vann

You had a large op. You’re bound to have bad shockloss and slow growth which is always out of sync. you’ll probably get a lot of growth in the next few months. If you’re not on medication it’ll probably be a bit longer. but once you start growing those hairs you’re going to forget about the ugly duckling phase entirely.

Its coming in, usually large sessions can cause shock loss which makes the ugly ducking phase look worse. But as time passes youll be the swan we all aspire to become. Dont fret just let time do its thing.

No plans for any more surgery for the next year or two. Would rather play this slow and see how oral minoxidil takes off. given I used probably 40-45% of my donor I’d rather protect finite grafts I have left and go slow. I might reach out to a few surgeons to get on the wait list at this moment. But no rush.

With a hair cut

12 months

Looking at your post op and 11 months it looks like you are still red. Could it potentially be some form of scarring? Perhaps an inflammatory response post surgery and you’re still healing? Have you ever taken a blood sample for auto immunity? That’s the only thing I can think of that would cause your left side to be growing as weak with the kind of density you had.

In honesty, I think you hair loss pattern is similar to mine. It may not be the exact same because of hair characteristics but I think the way you responded to meds was also similar to me. However, I just got lucky and started them earlier than you did. I also considered FUT but opted for FUE first. I am still considering FUT but only if I go to someone as skilled as Konior (not many). Despite the fact that its a deeper scar, the way that your skin healed for this looks pretty well and how you have responded well to meds you could probably rock your hair longer to cover it up. Nonetheless, I am not advocating you to do anything, just consider and explore more options as you explore your hair with your current medications in time. If I was in your position... I would go for a slightly thinning crown and address all matters from lateral humps, mid scalp and use some beard grafts in the crown in your second operation (lets say like 50) and see how they grow. If they pose no issue after your second operation then mix some beard grafts in there. However, with your current hair style I am sure you wouldnt want to rely solely there. If you are able to go outside of your donor zone you could use those grafts in "thinning crown" to give you some illusion of density. But this all varies on how many grafts you save, future loss, and all other things considering.

You know this is good when the moderator is by-passing the chat restriction to say this.

This looks great man. The density from the multiples are definitely showing. I think you won’t see a huge improvement but you may still have changes to hair size and texture which may only improve further with time.

Wow, I’m happy for you. I also have the wavy texture you’re talking about which for me makes my hair have a nice blend in certain areas that are weaker. if possible could we get another update whenever you get a hair cut to see the scar?

Any updates @TrustTheProcess

It’s extremely difficult to judge over photos. It really depends on hair miniaturization which can really be seen under a lense. I would suggest having your consultation search for signs of DUPA if you’re concerned and perhaps doing some lab work for any auto immune issues. If you have insurance in the states it’ll probably cost you 20-30 depending on your insurance (co-pay amt). your back and sides could also feel thinner depending on how you wash and dry your hair as well. Most of the time when we sleep it gets pressed against the pillow which can make it seem like it’s thinner. explore your options for surgery whether its FUT, fue, and so forth.

Month 11 About 40 mins after a shower with damp hair. My hair at this length usually turns into springy curls but I dried it to keep it consistent with other photos. I don’t think much will develop further. And been oral minox 2.5mg for about 1 month so some shed is occurring.

My personal opinion is… go for FUT if you want to maximize your donor. Considering you had a great response to meds., don’t mind the scar, and have a lot of real estate to cover. If you can yield 6k grafts from one FUT that would be insane. Yes it is a risky procedure but that’s more than 60-80% of donor that people have from FUE alone. if you still have over 5k graft you can do fue to cover future areas. Essentially you could rock more than just an illusion of a transplant but have a slightly thinning crown and a strong head of hair all around. do not disregard FUT because others are telling you it’s outdated. There are surgeons who can make that scar extremely pencil thin and you could SMP that or even donor restock (up to you) so consider every option to your disposal! Just make sure you understand that even getting a hair transplant nothing is guaranteed. The scar could stretch significantly given its large size, you could have complications, etc. but in a perfect world FUT could harvest you significantly more hairs if you have a weak donor and have no body/facial hair.

Spray the recipient about every 2ish hours is the general consensus up to a week. Some say up to 10 day

It looks like some abrasion type of scar healing. Could be some minor inflammatory response? I don’t think it’s permanent I had something similar but in a very minor part and my hair grew out. do you have any other immediate post op?

Sorry I do not understand… would you not want to swap to dut? It’s more potent yes, but if you tolerate fin well it could potentially be the same for you with some better ground. also don’t throw out minox either oral or topical. Surface coverage doesn’t always correlate with what’s happening underneath. Blood oxidation could help your hair become stronger and not miniaturize as much. nonetheless, I hope you as best of outcomes as you can get and if not, I hope it’s better than what you expect.

Are you currently taking on medications? Oral minox, fin/dut, etc?

I think that coin spot you mentioned is your native hair thinning out around the transplanted area. Despite not being on meds and your age you have progressed nicely (in terms of hairloss). Any plans for future work?

If you are able to stretch your budget a bit more I would say pinto or de fretas who have similar wait times as pekiner. between the two I say Pekiner if you are willing to wait (or the other 2 I mentioned above). growing hair today won’t change what you lose in 1-2 years. Sucks it won’t be back but nothing changes your present then a good head of hair in the future. So don’t rush. Take your time and pick who you believe is best

Yes shock loss affects your hair every where around the sites of trauma. Even your donor which is usually DHT resistant will be affected. Its usually temporary unless you had potential to have collateral damage (not always the case but a worst possibility) and that would be when it is a concern. But in time you will see it come back so dont bother too much early not much you can change so let time do its thing.

theres so many advantages to FUT if you arent balding, dont want to shave your whole head, and want healither grafts, etc. FUT is still practiced because it suits people for different reasons. Yes there are disadvantages to FUT, but if you have long hair and dont mind the scar you could harvest more grafts at once with less operation time. There are pros/cons to each procedure. Why not give them all the options available?

Welcome to the forum. I definitely believe you could achieve a really good result doing FUT (strip) if you dont mind the scar and getting a ton of coverage with it. Only down side is how long the healing takes but you could basically rock it since you have long hair and would be able to cover the scar even after operation (as it heals) since you could put your hair back. If you are choosing the states there are a couple of FUT procedures here with either Carlos Wesley, Bloxham and feller, and a few other surgeons. Take a look and see what you think works best either FUE or FUT.

Plan to do both. Consider the worst possible outcomes and see what your surgeon recommends. if you plan to do FUT first, consider options that would potentially go ear to ear. Then when you get checked on site you can always switch to FUE depending on your donor and scalp. If you go FUT first you can probably get 2-3k grafts additional over your lifetime. There’s a reason some people remain doing FUT. Nonetheless, I would say consider doing FUT first and if your surgeon says you have >7k grafts personally I would do FUT. However if you have way more than 7k grafts available you could probably cover enough with fue.

If you mean the crown, I do not care for it as much because it was never this bad. However, seeing an empty field definitely dampers my mood. I’d prefer to wait and see instead of rush through anything. Yeah I’m expecting it to get worse actually, I started oral minox recently. But hopefully after a couple months perhaps a year I’ll revaluation and look into fut to preserve the way my remaining hair feels. I might do 2 small strips across each side of the head. But this is all just thoughts In process.