Nordster34

Here you go! I’d say the results will be improved after the refinement for sure. It’s continuing to grow in and thicken. The temple points and hairline are all still pretty sharp, but Dr Hasson said those will continue to soften over time. I do think lowering the hairline by a centimeter or so was key as previously the hairline was high & conservative while the temple points were aggressive & youthful, leading to an unbalanced look. Lowering the hairline a tiny bit and softening the temples should lead to a more balanced outcome. Time will tell but I am hopeful.

Good timing as I was about to share an update since things are starting to grow in a little bit. Here are some pictures. Hair is starting to sprout and I think it will look good. I’m already cautiously optimistic that it’ll be a big upgrade from the original result. Means a lot that H&W stood by their work. I will continue to post every couple of months. As of now, I think the hairline and the density are looking good and will end up looking more natural overall. We brought the hairline down a tiny bit (maybe 1cm) which is balancing out more nicely with the youthful/aggressive temples for an overall more natural look. I am told the corners and the point / peak middle will continue to soften over time as the hair grows in and matures.

Nothing really to report yet! Thanks for checking in. Quick status update is: I’m still in the ugly duckling phase. I’m about 2.5-3 ish months out from the procedure so I think that’s normal. Everything has shed and not much new growth yet. A few things sprouting but nothing indicative yet. I will definitely report in once there is more progress!

Update? Did the bald patch fill in??

Hi all! Thanks everyone for the continued interest in my journey! I wanted to respond to a few of the questions that have come up from @Chrisno @stephcurry30 @HappyMan2021 @TrainingDay 1. Cost: Yes, the clinic did not charge me for the refinement/touch-up procedure in my case. The takeaway here is that they stand by their work. It's worth dispelling the idea that this is somehow a "better deal" than if I had achieved the desired result on the first pass. Our time on this earth is the most precious commodity we all have. I value my time, which is why I went to a world-class doctor in the first place. If I could pay $10k to wave a magic wand and have achieved the perfect final result at the end of my 1st procedure, I would. What I garner from my case is that H&W cares about the quality of their work and, in the seemingly rare cases (like mine) where the outcome doesn't achieve the original goal, they will make it right. 2. Hairline: We ended up lowering it by maybe 1cm. Anything beyond that visible in the pics is simply dovetailing that in with the prior hairline. The lowering of the hairline wasn't really the goal. The goal was to balance out the hairline with the temples and to refine the geometry along with the temples to generally make things look a bit more natural and refined. 3. Debrief: I'm doing my debrief with Dr. Hasson on Monday. He didn't stay at the clinic until the end of the procedure on Friday (around 5pm), but he did a) swing by at about 3pm to check on the progress of the implantation, and b) get on the phone with me at 5pm to discuss the final photos. I know I made a big deal about the doctor not staying until the end. I still feel that with my original procedure, ending on a Friday and not having any debrief whatsoever was a miss. But I think a final check-in around 3pm + a debrief call to discuss the photos he received at the end of the day + coming in on the following business day (which in my case is Monday) are sufficient to address my lack of debrief concern. The Dr. needs to have some balance in his life, too. Given how early the procedures start every day (6:30-7am), I think this is a reasonable compromise. At the end of the day, of course I still wish I had gotten the perfect final result in one pass. Every procedure means giving up a lot of time, missing out on social events, travel, athletic activities, etc. After reflecting quite a lot on my case, I think by picking a world class clinic I dramatically increased the odds of getting a great result first try. But I ended up in the unlucky minority of cases (from top clinics, that is) where a touch-up was needed. In the end, H&W stood by their work and reputation. Fingers crossed it’ll look perfect in another 12 months of growing! I think it’s looking really good and I’m definitely optimistic it’ll be exactly what I want in 12 months time! I'll update with some pics shortly. Edit: attaching 48-hour post op pics

Hi everyone! This is going to be a brief post since I just had my follow up procedure this morning and I am hoping to rest up tonight. In short, the clinic was extremely professional, they stand by their work, and I am optimistic for a good result! For context, I did reach out to other top physicians for a touchup procedure (the big names that everyone on here knows) and I ultimately felt confident in the decision to go back to Dr. Hasson for the refinement. It means a lot that they stand by their work and, while I am fortunate to be able to afford to go to other top docs, in my follow up discussions with H&W I felt like they had a great gasp of my goals, cared about making my case a 10/10 success, and had the ability to deliver. Of course, we won’t know the final result for another ~12 months, but again I am feeling optimistic. The procedure went smoothly and was a very similar process to last time, so I won’t go into that in detail. It is worth noting, however, that the doctor did a great job of walking me through many of the fine details/decisions/techniques that he uses and would be using in my case. I have a lot of appreciation for the art and science and detail that he shared with me. Posting the post-op photos here since I am sure that is what everyone is most interested in. There is already some swelling, same as last time, so you’ll notice the head shape already looks a bit odd but I am feeling optimistic about the design/geometry!

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! I've been playing around with various design tweaks for the touch-up procedure, and the below photos are what I'm currently thinking I'll ask for. Curious to get feedback from everyone! As you'll see below, I've drawn this on with a pencil that matches my hair color as closely as possible. This is good bc it blends in nicely and most closely resembles what the final product would look like. But is bad because it's hard to see exactly where the changes are. Anyway, lmk what you think and what you'd suggest adjusting. Lmk what you think / what you'd change!

Hi all! Wanted to share the 11-month update! Photos below. The TLDR is: The hairline density is looking good The clinic (shoutout to @H & W Doug) has been extremely helpful They do stand by their work and do ensure a great result As such, while touch-ups are very rarely needed at H&W, they have agreed to do a complimentary refinement procedure for me. I am extremely grateful they are doing this and am scheduling it for late spring / early summer Other people considering H&W should take confidence in this fact, and I also think my prior posts were overly harsh The touch-up is going to address the geometry of the temples & hairline corners. It should be a fairly minor procedure in terms of # of grafts and won't take more than a single day Photos below. The photos with the blue background were taken at the clinic pre-op (thanks @H & W Doug for sending me these!) and I am including them for comparison. All other photos were taken today. Really curious to get folks' thoughts! How would you approach the touch-up/refinement? Do folks still think I should do a tiny bit of electrolysis to remove a couple grafts from the tip of the temple points? I do think it's really important that the community knows how responsive H&W have been and that they do stand by their work. I very much appreciate that! Also, from the conversations I've had with them, I should only need a minor refinement to get to a great final result!

Just wanted to jump in with a quick update. I've had several conversations with Doug from H&W over the past few weeks. He has been extremely thoughtful, empathetic and helpful. He's committed to making sure I get to the end result I wanted. We haven't scoped out yet what that would look like in terms of scheduling, cost, logistics, etc., but I can tell he's genuinely focused on helping me get to a great result. I also think I should point out that I was likely too harsh in my prior post. H&W clearly a highly competent practice and, after speaking wit Doug, I think they will do what it takes touch up and refine my case to make sure my result meets their classic high standard. I have offered the various constructive pieces of feedback that I think could help improve the patient experience (e.g., more time at the doctor, a debrief, etc.), but the truth is that, long-term, the only thing that really matters is the result. After speaking with Doug, it feels like H&W will help me get to a great final result. As for the growth, the hairline density continues to look good. Hasn't changed much since the prior pics. I am happy with the density everywhere except the left corner (as mentioned previously). The touch-up/refinement will really just be about making a few small modifications to the design/geometry. Will keep everyone posted as I learn more about timing, logistics, costs etc. of a touch-up.

Looks great! Amazing result especially considering the # of grafts wasn’t that high!

After doing quite a bit of reading and research regarding temple point best practices, I am extremely surprised as to the extent of the problems with my temples from H&W. It is very clear that temple points are always among the finest, wispiest, thinnest caliber hairs to be found one the head. For this reason, it is always advisable to use only single grafts of the finest possible caliber. Many of the top doctors use nape hairs for temples for this reason. I'm a nerd, and I decided to whip out the microscope and look at the temple point grafts to see what H&W used, considering they look so unnatural and pluggy. I knew I could see some doubles with the naked eye, but I was quite shocked by the incompetence revealed by the microscope. Here's what I found: Pictures of Leading Edges of Each Temple (i.e., the very front part of the temple where it transitions from hair to skin, where the absolute finest, thinnest, single, delicate grafts should go): Left Temple - Right Temple - For comparison, here's a picture of my nape hair - For Comparison, here's a picture of where my hair naturally transitions to skin above my ear - The pictures say it all, but the work here is pretty shocking to me. Virtually all of the grafts along the leading edge line of my temples (and within the temples, though that is a tad less important) are thick caliber, dark in color, double and even triple grafts! It is common knowledge among all the top doctors (Konior, Feller, Bloxham, etc.) that temples should be done with the finest, wispiest, most subtle single grafts, and that using double and triple grafts of thick caliber, like what was done to me, is absolutely unadvisable. Overall, my case does not seem to align with I expected from H&W nor with the price point I paid. I do recognize they've done good recent work (e.g., on @Kent's case). But my case does not seem to be up to their standard at all. Here is the summary of my H&W experience: 1. I was originally quoted 3,000 grafts. I was upsold (via a very cordial and low-pressure discussion, to be fair) to 4,000 grafts the day before the surgery. 2. When the surgery was complete, I was informed they actually had used nearly 4,600 grafts. I was charged for all the nearly 4,600 grafts, even though I was never told the graft count would be increasing again. 3. The placement of the transplant did not adhere to the purple lines that were drawn on my skin prior to the procedure, and the temple points in particular extended massively beyond the purple line. 4. The angularity of the transplant did not adhere to the purple lines that were drawn prior to the procedure. The hairline corners and temple points are significantly sharper and more angular than what was drawn. 5. Dr. Hasson was only present for an extremely limited time during both days of surgery. Approximately 29 minutes in the room on day 1, and only about 16 minutes in the room on day 2. 6. I was told during the initial phone consult that Dr. Hasson only does 1 patient per day. This was patently false as both Dr. Hasson and Dr. Wong typically do 2 patients per day each (4 surgeries were going on simultaneously when I was there, and when I casually asked the techs about it, they said that two surgeries per doctor per day was the norm). 7. Dr. Hasson was not present at all at the end of day 2, which didn't even end late in the evening. My procedure wrapped up around 4:30pm and he wasn't physically present in the office to inspect the work, answer questions, or conduct any sort of debrief. 8. After contacting the clinic to debrief and get clarity on some aspects of the procedure (e.g., that I heard a tech mention that my donor area was depleted—which ended up not being the case), I had a call with Dr. Hasson and he did not have my file available or any context on the conversation. He was polite enough and very friendly, but unprepared. 9. The temple points are not well-constructed in terms of geometry/design nor in terms of graft selection. Thick caliber doubles and triples were used throughout the leading edge of both temples, which is a clear mistake. 10. The upper left corner of the hairline, which is where I always part my hair and where there is a natural part given the pattern/swirl of my hair, is extremely, noticeably sparse. Given all of the advice I have received here and elsewhere, I am leaning towards going with Konior to fix this instead of going back to H&W given they delivered the subpar result and experience in the first place. That said, I am absolutely open to discussing my case with H&W openly and transparently and hearing what they recommend. I will set up a follow-up conversation with H&W and will keep everyone here posted. Overall, I'm very grateful that this community exists. Even though my result hasn't been excellent (and I did find, learn about, and select H&W based on the recommended docs here on HRN), the feedback and discussion here has been excellent and I am extremely grateful to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment on this thread. Thank you all so much!

Have definitely gotten overall comments from friends who don’t know I had a procedure along the lines of “you look more tan” and “your skin looks better” and “you look healthier these days,” which is great! On the flip side, folks who are close to me including my mom, wife, sister, etc. have all said it looks great but the angles are really sharp and the temples look like hair plugs. My wife in particular kept calling it my “hair plugs” which was annoying though she wasn’t trying to be mean… (she was actually trying to reassure me by saying “it’s ok thats just what hair plugs look like, I’m glad you got hair plus,” not fully understanding that I paid top dollar for a non-pluggy, subtle FUE). That does sound amazing… Thanks! Just watched it. After watching this and after reading a bunch about temple points on other posts here, I’m honestly flummoxed as to why H&W used doubles, triples, and thick hair from the back of my head on my temples. Everyone here AND the Feller and Bloxom video all talk about how temples should be done with the finest most delicate hairs and not use doubles and triples. Wtf this seems like basic knowledge that every other doctor talks about. Konior even uses nape hairs for temples. I’m pretty upset that there are literally thick caliber double grafts directly on the leading edge of the temple points!!!

Good question. I did not specify or want to specify exactly where things should go, I picked a tier-1 expert for a reason! The only thing I specifically said was that I want a mature & refined hairline that won’t look weird or fake for years to come, and that I trusted his judgement on what that would mean design-wise. Tbh, i think if he had gone lower on the hairline by 0.5-1cm and done a softer/rounder design, it’d look much more mature and refined. The high hairline plus extreme sharp angularity and super pointy temples isn’t really something found in nature. Correct. Temple points was not something I was considering going into the procedure. He pitched it as he’d do some very light/minor temple work and that most of the focus would be on the hairline. Definitely ended up with wayyy more temple work than expected. Yeah this was the aspect of the procedure that really made me feel lousy. Honestly, walking out of the clinic after two days of surgery with a really unexpectedly angular looking design with tons more temple work than I bargained for and a $35k lighter wallet and the doctor not even being available to answer questions, inspect the work, or just have a basic debrief conversation… it was unbelievably soul crushing. It was super depressing and frankly made me feel like a fool. All that said, I bounced back pretty quickly and ultimately the only thing I’m focused on is the result, not the bedside manner. Unfortunately the result is starting to look like some of my fears were well-founded. Will see what it looks like when month 12 hits…

The hairline is looking really good and natural! I like that he rounded the corners a little bit to give it a softer and more refined look. Mine ended up having sharper more angular corners and I really wish mine was a bit more like yours in terms of shape. The growth looks fantastic!

I’m leaning towards going back to them. I know that’s generally not the advice, but they are considered a top clinic with plenty of skill and I think it may be worthwhile to see what they can do to repair this. The only other doctor I’d go to at this point to repair is Konior. I was willing to pay a premium price (my procedure was $35k) specifically because 1) I wanted a one and done procedure, 2) I wanted to be able to trust the surgeon’s design, and 3) because I wanted the assurance that if something went wrong, they’d fix it. Fixing this seems like it should be easily within H&W’s capabilities. Plus I bet people here will be interested in seeing if H&W fixes this (and how it turns out). Here’s hoping that’s the case for me! The sparse corner really looks bad and is almost becoming more and more noticeable as the hairs grow longer. It’s quite noticeable both in person and on zoom. Agreed. The original quote was $22k (for 3000 grafts) but it is worth mentioning that the total price went up to ~$35k with the increase in grafts. That’s only $5k less than two full day sessions with Konior (he charges $20k by the day not by the graft, which I like).