mafpe

there is a swelling/bump that you pointed out, i'm not sure what that is, has that been present for the hole 3 months? also, can you try to remove the fabric piece very gently? if you can do so very gently, i don't think there'd be a problem. if it tugs and pull though... maybe you'd need a doctor advice?

I think it's due to donor characteristic, and the thickness. Our natural front have very fine hair, and they are easier to style, meanwhile our donor are far thicker, even more so if you're suffering from baldness as your scalp hair continues to thin.

just to delay it, and hope for the best. that means hainig at least some hair for more years.

DUPA and retrograde, depend on the case, if the donor is affected, yes it's weak. but otherwise if the donor is not affected, then it'd be quite thick and strong. if it's affected, then the hair is weaker, and easier to fizzle out. transplanted hair from what i found out, will also get weaker after a decade probably. but that means a decade with a head full of hair. although, there are some people whose transplanted hair stays strong. unlikely for us high NW though.

for me, it's just buying time. i'd be down since when im much older i might not have hair but... at least i'd have it for a while more.
if you think it's pointless though, will just either shave it bald, or use hair system.

it's either that some grafts already shed or... yeah, density isn't looking good... need a bit more, but depend on your hairstyle, it might not matter. hopefully they'd turn out fine

it looks fairly natural to me...?

there's the transparency / lack of density on the front, but a 2nd pass would fix that real nice, or you can use concealers.

there are some multigrafts, but i don't think it look "pluggy".

it should be fine, but there's no need to be overzealous in moisturising it. like plants, if you overwater them, they might rot instead. most likely you're fine, but after the first 2-3 days, there isn't a need to spray them that much. we can tell better if you post a picture though.

yeah do wait for a bit until you can be sure they're gone, not just on resting phase.

anyhow, from what i gather, transplanted hair does get thinner over time, there are a few vids that cover the topic, you can look for one of melvin's vid on youtube where he talks with a couple noteworthy people where they do find thinning over time with transplanted patient.

hopefully it's just stress or simultaneous shedding.

even even transplanted hair still gets smaller, along with your native, but if your other areas are still fine, it's probably shedding, since HT areas are lower density, thus when they shed, it's going to look way sparser than your native hair.

still, if you're worried, you can consider dutasteride (i'm actually considering one since i just saw someone here say that for high NW people, finasteride isn't as effective)

1 month update

most of the loose follicles are already out, with few stubborn one stil sticking.
native hair growing in okay, but some are actually dormant or growing very slow... with the crown looking kind of bald.

more like a bald duckling than ugly duckling but yeah, not worried because hairs are gonna sprout starting month 3+ till 6th usually. 

11 hours ago, Calihome1 said:

6500? You sure?  Thought it would be closer to 8k-9k on average?

 

How come I see threads with people who have 6k-7k grafts done and will go for more?  Are those all FUT?

density is different for everyone, then there's the surgeon/tech skills, with how densely packed our donor normally is, its almost unaviodable some neighbouring grafts are going to be transected, and for many of us who suffer hair loss, seems like the donor are somewhat thin compared to healthy non balding people. at least that's how i know it, and thats why you rarely see more than 7.5k graft case that is not complemented by body / beard hair. maybe we do have 8-9k, but probably only with top docs. 

even with 7k, you can start to see the donor thinning. now at this point without a good doc, you'd end up with an overharvested look if you want to go further. 

i might be wrong, but that's how i see it.

40 minutes ago, Yan bio said:

thank you! this seems understandable.

for the sake of diversity - what are other good forums over the internet dealing with HTs?

not much tbh, this here is the most active with alot of topic and most documented real case. i did most of my research here for forum side

otherwise you'll have to look for national forums (like germans, spains, etc)

some like bald truth is.... very biased to the point that you can see them as a marketing tool. there are some "open" and truthful case, but that's pretty rare

basically they pay a monthly subscription fee.
there is money involved, like other forum, and there is a bit of bias.

still, compared to other forum it's a little more... transparent, and open. 
as far as i know, there are standard that they employ, as in they would only pick at least a decent to good surgeon, and not an overmarketed hairmill.

there are a few case of dropped recommendation, but usually only if there's a fatal mistake that go open.

in any case, the recommendation list although is not absolute, it's a good place to start your research, no doctor have a 100% rate once they go long over the years, there are bound to be some bad results. one doc on the list have some bad looks lately, but the price is... affordable for most. at least, i think it's still better than random marketed clinic.

the forum reccs works 2 way, they have to commit to some terms with the forum.

in my opinion you should later draw an image as if you will be filling for a NW6, so be conservative and don't pack it all super dnse at the front or move the hairline down by much, otherwise you might not have any left later for the existing native area.

reason is it's possible in a decade you will have front but no crown if you do otherwise, which is devastating. you can find the example here... 

hopefully it won't come to that, but better safe than sorry i think.

sorry but i think the result over the months would be inconclusive since we would have no idea if it does help growth or its just your HT hairs growing on. we can't tell if the lasercap itself would be aiding growth, stunting it, or does nothing. 

still, happy growing to you, hopefully your HT bears great result.

you should be fine, even if a scab caught on your hat, most likely it'll only pull the hair follicle and the scab, while the graft itself stays.

i think it's best if you wait until all scabs are off to wear hat comfortably though. more peace of mind.

imo you might need SMP. or shave very very regularly in short period of time.

the skin of transplanted hair is different from a balding one, you can see normal balding people have slick smooth and... shiny head.

for transplanted hair, there is some irregularities, it might not be as much as pitting or cobblestoning, but it won't be fully smooth. there might be slight indentation or slight bumps. if you're fine with the front being... somewhat lush while having a barren scalp... then i guess it's fine, but yes it won't be "natural", because normally people won't have their balding on the scalp only and a head full of hair in front. it'll look weird (which is why people end up shaving/electrolysing)

45 minutes ago, Aslitarcan sucks said:

I hope my two months of microneedling will not affect my HT result lol

i think you should be fine. 2 month is pretty short, unless you run over the same area like 20x each session and you do it daily (yeah that's gonna break your scalp health instead).

you're using a somewhat deep needle but... in truth your depth using a manual dermaroller means you pierce less than it's full length. 

at least, i think you should be ok. don't worry about it, just enjoy your new hair in half a year *and don't dermaroll it yet

there is scarring, because of how our body works. for example, like in FUT, the hole is closed by bringing the skin together, so to seal them in, scar tissues are made. in fue cases, our holes are filled and covered with congealed blood, which then become the scar tissue.

think of these scar tissues as glues, resin, or a filling material to fill in the crack, or to close open ends.
problem is these tissues are different from the native tissue, since they are, a repair. its like you pouring resin on wood to make a full surface, but these filled areas are, in the end, resin, not wood. scar tissue lack elasticity, function, and organs that were originally there.

with micro needling, it pierces through our skin tissue, but due to it's small size and our skin elasticity which then fills the gap, the scarring is very minimal (is why i call it microscar), but when it heals, it's held together by the scar tissue.

i've seen many good results from microneedling but there is an unproven concern that it might be harder for graft to survive in these scar riddled area. only time will tell with lots of case studies as these are new... technically it shouldn't affect HT due to different depth they are using (microneedling is 0.5-2mm, personally i only use 0.75-1mm since while not "maximum" result, these produce enough result for me. meanhwile graft insertion is around 4mm? *might be wrong). but then again, we don't know until it's proven.

curious on damage of microneedling. logically there should be microscarring, even if minimal. technically you poke thousands of holes in your skin, which due to our body elasticity, would be covered so the microscarring whould be very minimal. it did however make your body work to heal it, which probably rejuvenates the hair since they are on the same area. i tried to find topics on micro scarring but instead all i found are how microneedling is used to mask a scar, as they break down, and end up more "uniform".

most of the results i found are somewhat positive, or with low results or none. but so far i haven't found a bad case unless they're done without any sanitary preparation or proper tools and knowledge (reused needles that they're blunt, uncleaned, or improper technique).

this is the first time i've seen stitches to prevent obvious scarring from fue removal, but it doesn't even look like you had any after the stiches removed.

grats man, looking forward to seeing you with a great head of hair.

as per title, i'm wondering if there's any significance of bent grafts?

these "bends" are all at the base, i remember people have posted some pics on their fallen off hair after transplant as well, which i see few bent follicles also.

other than that, most if not all of my shedded grafts, have no root/bulb on their end. i was wondering why this is the case? when you pluck a hair out, usually there are bulb/roots on the end, seeing how fue pulls out the grafts in entirerity, i'm wondering where the root/bulbs goes? 

*pic of "bent" follicle, these 2 have their bulb on the end, it's very small almost the same thickness as hair. many of my shedded hair seems to not have them however.

he's just trying to make money, and i just skip skimmed it, what's shown is only the incision making. that would hurt, but then again our anesthesia injection is way deeper than any incision anyway. basically, a clickbait.

surgeons that tries to cut extract a graft without anesthesia can expect a destroyed graft due to the patient trashing, most likely, which would then become be an operation room nightmare with blood splattered everywhere (?) 😂

social media these days... there are even crazy brats actually disabling themselves because they "IDENTIFY" as a disabled person. it's an utter insult to actual disabled people.

on the other hand, seems like a pretty quick way to lose your medical license lol

10 minutes ago, hairystyles said:

Unfortunately (if I understood the clinic secretary correctly) the entire office is going on vacation and the only way I can reach them is to send e-mails. I was patiently waiting for Couto for so long to minimize the chance of something going wrong so this is a bit of a curve ball.

Also, if people could share what their individual post op recommendations were like. I think a generic line is "follow your surgeon's advice" but the huge variability in post operative protocols I've seen suggests that most surgeons are kind of just winging it, so I wanted to see what had worked for you all.

I think Melvin said he had better results with the 2nd/3rd surgeries where he didn't use saline? But then Hasson uses that thick petroleum jelly stuff and his yields are really consistent. I just wanted to see a flavor of what people have done.. the more information the better (until it's too much 🤓).

depend on how your days after the surgery will be then

if say, you are staying at hotel for a whole week, with good cool temperature, no sweating, no exertion etc, you should be ok (antibiotic etc ready).

then again, best ask the clnic about what if theres something happening in the next week after ops? for example, infection? listen to what they say and then if you're still nervious, ask for a speedy reschedule.

i think you can ask for a reschedule after the vacation?

most likely if there's any serious problem that's easily visible, it'll show in the first week, so while it's rare that something bad develops, having someone to ask about the care in the first week would be preferable. of course, if the clinic/ or your contact person can still help with post op care like address your worries, or what to do if a, b, or c occurs, it's most likely to be fine (the clinic and members are likely to have weathered most kind of complication since they are there for a logn time already).

so imo, even if the doc is on cavation for a week, as long as the clinic people can still help you with your concern, it would be fine.