mister_25

Midscalp seems to be a bit stronger thanks to Oral Minoxidil, I’m having a better time concealing the weak points before pre-op. I’ll attach a photo, which you can compare to your own leisure I like your idea of a in person consultation to some degree, it’s getting more reinforced as a good measure the more I think about it. What I’m thinking on doing is I’ll see what the other online consults say, I am interested in seeing which clinics accept me or reject me first and I may select one for a online consult, and then a in person consult. If I had a preferable doctor to give me a in person consult I think Couto would probably be a great call. I am asking these questions because it is appropriate to do so, I expect somewhat accurate responses because at the end of the day I am asking hair transplant related questions on a forum on the topic of hair transplants and hair restoration rather than reddit, my GP, real self, google or whatever other unreliable source. This forum literally has surgeons and representatives active on here and is made for patients by patients. I will wait for a reply from H&W after the weekend.

Hey guys, really stressed here, I have asked these questions before, and I really need answers as I am not receiving clear answers. Also @Chrisnorequested a middle part picture, so I am including it here This photo shows how the growth actually is, in all the photos I presented before I take them in the absolute best positions, in the correct lightings and angles to showcase what it can look like at its absolute best. This is what it looks like if I comb it forward or a middle part it. I am aware that the illusion of density applies less in these angles and conditions, but if you look at any other procedure with similar area covered and similar graft count regardless of fine hair or not it should be better than this. To me, it’s about the same as pre-op in the worst conditions. You can see on page 1 of a photo I took in similar lighting, similar camera angle I need help guys, what do I do? I am having trouble communicating with the clinic so i have to wait a while for a response. I feel like my potential and one chance of having the hair I wish I had has been taken away from me.

If I do a middle part the whole frontal third looks bald because there is poor growth. My hair right now rests in a rather weak illusion that isn’t strong enough to look like a full head of hair, if I comb it forward or middle part then it’s going to look as bad as preop. Before or after this shed. I circled the area I was talking about.

Been using medication since February 2021, I have seen no regression since or further hair loss other than alone is areata patch (mostly grown back now) developed after a really stressful event, and as of yesterday after a very stressful day two days ago. The first two photos taken 9 months post op, pay attention to the area behind the forelock. These photos are taken in two different lightings. Then here are two photos taken yesterday at the 10.5 month mark in desirable lightings I lost it almost as a overnight process, so I don’t think it’s balding or further hair loss from pattern baldness, what do you think? Will it grow back?

Does anyone think the shedded area will grow back? Anyone with any experience with telogen effluvium on transplanted hairs? If it helps with answers, the day before it disappeared was one of the most stressful days of my life. very concerned if my transplanted hairs are going to begin to all fall out.

My impression/gut feeling of Pinto and Ferreira is that they are on par with or contending for a position similar of that to Dr Hasson, I see them as close to “equivalent” in terms of results which scares me a bit because I am so unhappy with my result. Expanding on this impression, and from the reviews I read of Ferreira and Pinto I’ve come to different conclusions on their skill set, best cases and ethics. for Ferreira; Likes to involve his patient in the process, keeping them informed on what they are doing and why. Good results in the NW1-5 range which I fall under. Seems he has good communication and aftercare. for Pinto; Ethical and likes to follow up with his patients, and keeps them close until they are happy Good at reconstructing areas from scratch with adequate density. As for Konior, in my opinion I see him as a higher quality surgeon compared to H&W and the other choices. The reason I chose Dr Hasson over Dr Konior was that for what Konior charges for the gap between him and Hasson is in my opinion not worth the monetary value. To expand on what I mean by “higher quality” from Dr Konior here is what I mean; More doctor presence More doctor involvement Critical patient selection Creates “more with less” Strong results in graft counts around 1500-2500. Strong portfolio of all Norwoods - about equal to Dr Hasson. Overall though, I am not confident in moving forward, the fact is that if you go back a page or two people are saying that my approach and methodology for selecting a surgeon cannot be faulted, which destroys my confidence because it highly implies that the next time I select a different surgeon I should get roughly the same results. I received a update from H&W, they think the hair looks good and that most of the hair has grown, and are asking me to elaborate on what I mean by the hair falling apart in that weak point and what I mean by most of the transplanted hair hasn’t grown in. They will forward the photos to Dr Hasson sometime next week. Just for a quick reminder, here is a photo of what it looked like after the scabs came off. If you had to ask me if the buzzed hair matches the 10 months hair, I would say no that it doesn’t.

Doing it to for my own confidence, but also to be accepted from social circles and groups that ostracised me, doing it to feel like my age again after receiving comments that a 22 year old looks 55. Dating life is a small bonus

Yeah I’ll definitely get them to check on that. Not going to lie or down-play how I feel about my transplant and hair anymore. I don’t care what others think but this is the truth. This ordeal has been a absolute nightmare to my self esteem, I had a very stressful day yesterday and I woke up with a thin patch overnight. Even though it was already somewhat thin you can clearly see a large difference between the the month 9 photos, month 10 and 10.5 photos and today. Ive been trying to get into contact with H&W but I am not getting responses back as fast as I used too. BHR Clinic has rejected me as a patient, saying I am too young and that getting a hair transplant at my age is a mistake. I also sent a consultation to Ferreira, Konior and Pinto attached are the photos, right behind the forelock is this new patch of thinning hair or whatever it is. I can’t covered it no matter how hard I try.

Here are some additional photos that I took today to send online consultations to Bisanga and Couto. I had also started talking to Ahmad about a month ago, but he requested me to get some microscope pics of my donor/transplanted regions before I continue. When I go to get microscope pictures at my trichologist I am also going to finally get some fibers and probably post a picture with me using them, I'll also cut my donor to try and style my hair to make it look "good" rather than "full" I am also including a photo taken at the 1 year mark post finasteride/minoxidil (before surgery). To compare where I was on profile shots. As you can tell, the hair in the frontal third falls flat against the skin pre transplant and post transplant and I feel like there is minimal improvement. Not enough to qualify as a "illusion of density" as it doesn't look dense at all even after combing for 35 minutes in ideal lighting conditions. I am very concerned on my donor, A while ago someone told me that my donor looks like its suffering from a severe form of DUPA, Personally I don't see it but its stressing me out considering a lot of people have fully mixed opinions on my donor hair/characteristics and cannot come to a conclusive answer. Please let me know what you think, is there enough to still meet my goals? My donor feels a bit thinner than before surgery especially at the back. 4000 grafts is a lot out of my reserves considering I had retrograde alopecia. Here are my Questions: How many grafts do you think I have? How many grafts do you think I need to achieve a "illusion of density" in the frontal third? How many grafts do you think I need to achieve a "solid set of hair" in the frontal third that matches my original goals? How many grafts do you think my crown needs judging by the 9 Month photos previously posted? How can my yield be better on a second surgery, what are some methods that doctors could do to up the chances of better yield How do I get a online consultation with Dr Ferreira? On some good news, the alopecia areata patch is about 80% filled in. I have included a photo that I took when I first discovered it. 7 Months Post op - Alopecia Areata Patch 8 Months Pre Surgery: 10.5 Months:

Getting a hair transplant is gambling with your confidence. Most people that go to hairmills get some form of decent/mediocre growth/result with mild-moderate donor damage, but the major factor of going to hair mills is that the chances of getting the worst case butcher scenario is too high for anyones liking. Going to a elite doctor like Couto drastically reduces the chances of donor damage and incorrect placements/angles and other negative factors like cobblestoning/pitting, but also almost completely removes large scale donor damage and outcomes like necrosis. But remember, you are gambling with your confidence here. I was one of the unlucky ones that did their research, chose a surgeon that I believe was the top of the top without budget/geographical limitations, and I am so far very unhappy with my result (10.5 months in). As much as getting your hair back can lift years off your appearance and bring back tons of renewed confidence. A disappointing transplant does the opposite and in my experience reinforces your insecurities and destroys your confidence. All I can say is that you stacked the cards to your favour as much as possible, doesn't mean your going to win, but your more likely too win than someone getting a transplant for 1000 Euro in Turkey.

I've started to notice a trend where on the lower Norwood cases, Mwamba's yield is quite low.

I remember someone saying the same thing about the Russia-Ukraine Conflict right before I booked my procedure. You will be fine, do your best not to stress

Its more than just dating. I've been treated differently depending on what social circles I am in by people I once thought of as my friends. Also even if my balding had no effect on my dating life such as covering up with fibers. The insecurity and lack of confidence associated with my hair loss surely will. It is a big personal issue for me on multiple fronts. I'm not expecting for my hair to come back and all the damage to be undone to my mental health and relationships, but I just want to feel a sense of normalcy and not have "balding early 20s" as my defining physical trait. I am taking your advice, I took it the first time around. I've started to see a psychiatrist and I've returned to my diet and my hobbies as past times. But thats all they are now, past times. They no longer serve as a sense of fulfilment to me. I am treating it as a work in progress, it's just what I was told to expect and what I expected myself is such a mismatch to reality. It's gotten me anxious for any future surgery because if I yield poorly the first time around, what's to say it won't happen again? I was told two surgeries were needed, but I can't realistically see my goals being met if my growth the first time around is the standard that's set for me. It's looking like 3 to 6 possible surgeries at this rate and I'll be 26-30 by the time its all over. I don't want my 20s to be remembered as me hating myself for a insecurity that I fought with everyday with all my effort and it still wasn't enough.

Here are photos I took today about a week post 10 months. This is taken in the best lighting that makes it look the best I can possibly make it. I have no confidence in moving forward due to the conflicting and contradicting insights/points found here. I cannot make a informed decision based on these contradictions. I don’t want to get into it, but I am really having insecurity issues and feelings of self hate associated with shame and embassment because of this ordeal. But at the same time, I can acknowledge how far I’ve come since I started taking finasteride and minoxidil back in the beginning of 2021 Im really overwhelmed here, I don’t even know anymore if I’m capable of getting a head of hair anymore. I am just exhausted, all of my funds go towards hair transplant savings, travel, accomodation, psychiatric help and medication, all of that money so I can feel secure in my appearance but now I just feel awful about it. Like I am wasting time and energy on something that won’t work.

I'll be following your journey closely, after looking at your previous surgery I understand why you were unhappy. Did Couto give you a final graft count? Did it measure up to the 1500 estimated? I am also curious if Couto made any comment on how much donor you would have left for future loss. Would be interested to see photos of how it looks by the time the scabs come off, keep us updated.

I wouldn't call this a repair, more like refinement. But I do trust Couto's judgement in this manner so I am probably wrong. Did Couto tell you what he expects this procedure is capable of in terms of results? Will you need another pass? Usually repair patients need to undergo multiple procedures to undo the initial bad transplant.

These are still objective points regardless that have been partially-piled on one case. It wouldn't make much of a difference in public outrage if they were scattered across 7 cases, or if they were piled on one. And yes, whilst I do agree that there is a increase in documented cases that will both add more negatives and more positives in total, I feel like the jump of negative cases is not proportionate to the jump in positive cases.

As much as I want to be a neutral party because I chose H&W as the clinic to perform my HT, I'll have to heavily disagree here. When I selected Dr Hasson as my surgeon, I combed through every single result on this forum/reddit/elsewhere that I could find and made a notepad on how many successful cases vs how many failed cases, and even wrote the reason as to why I believe and why others believe the transplant failed and in what areas (Usually Poor yield or Native Hair shock loss) In total I found 3 Conclusive Failures on this forum dating back before 2022. There were others that could be seen as "doubtful" that they are truly poor results, but I think its fair to say that out of them all, 3 were blatant failures. Too also note that in these failed cases, patients followed up with the doctors and seemed to be usually satisfied with moving forward with H&W or end up with somewhat positive words in spite of the poor growth if they decide to conclude their business with H&W. Now In the past year, I'm seeing a upward trend of more unhappy H&W patients with factors that are objectively negative rather than subjectively. I even wrote here what the clinics/doctors response is as I want to be fully transparent. Reports of the Planned Hairline being different than the transplanted hairline - No Comment Poor Placements/Angles - Surgeon offered a follow up refinement/repair procedure free of charge Unnatural Temples - Surgeon offered a follow up refinement/repair procedure free of charge Accusations of a technician doing incisions on a patient - No Public Comment FUT Scar Stretching - No Comment Cases of Lower Yield than industry standard - Refunds or Free Touchups promised/offered Patients being upsold amount of grafts doing a surgery and told to come back in the future for a second one - No Comment And on the subjectively More grafts being used than needed - No Comment Diminishing Communication - No Comment I don't think its fair and actually a little bit insulting to admonish the critics as "vultures", when you factor in that there have been a increase of unhappy patients, people want answers and I'm sure OP wants them more than anyone. Overall, Do I still think H&W is a good clinic? Yes, their positive cases speak for themselves, infact they impressed me that much that I chose Dr Hasson out of a list of other HT greats, but can I say that they are living up their reputation this year? I don't know. I will say that I respect and think its a admirable quality that he offers and honors his refunds even if I disagree with the reasoning behind it (50% Growth, hence 50% refund). Not many clinics/surgeons do that and most clinics in Turkey will block you if you request a refund and some big name doctors would probably just ghost you. I agree that on the positive side, that there is still a lot of hope for your future transplants. Also its promising that you've been on treatment for 16 years and your still probably a NW3 or NW3A. You can still meet your goals even if all your future procedures yieleded the same as this one, provided that of course you stabilize for life.

I don't know if this fits OPs situation, but I imagine there is some catharsis from going from bald/heavily thinned/receded to a decent amount of hair like he has now, regardless if it looks right or not.

I have been looking for these cases for Bisanga and Ahmad. Can you message them to me?

That's a given. I feel that exact way It's a humiliating and soul crushing experience putting that research in, finding a doctor to place your trust in and ending up not any different or only that tiny bit better. For me it's given me a lot of self hatred issues that I am struggling with and it feels like a losing downhill battle. I wish you the best OP. We need it. I honestly think he should go to a different surgeon if he is unhappy. This is coming from a H&W patient. The patient clearly could of restored his hair to a satisfactory level without the need of a FUT scar in a single pass, why go through all of that again with someone who failed you the first time around? This isn't giving a doctor a chance to make it right, it's giving a second chance.

I’m struggling with my result so far with H&W as well. in all honesty, when I compare the photos you show right now to where you were, I see almost no difference. Your hairline hasn’t moved or even really changed in density, just looks like you killed miniaturised unhealthy hairs and replaced them with better hairs. Echoing the sentiments from @Youth_Again

I have a cousin recently that lost his finger in a workplace accident, and the physical stress or something else caused him to go from Norwood 1 thick hair to diffuse Norwood 6 in three-five months. He is in his fifties

Very impressive result I completely understand why you want the corners filled in, especially your right side corner. I think you can get it done for a minimal or even negligible amount of grafts.

Obviously in a ideal world this will be the case, it would be beneficial if everyone was compliant enough when seeking a service of any kind and is educated/mentally prepared in what they are purchasing. But we don't live in a ideal world, at the end of the day a hair transplant procedure is a surgical procedure, same thing you would call a heart transplant, kidney transplant etc. People will be wary/afraid because of the connotations of that umbrella term, I certainly was as I never had a proper surgery before. OP, Just know that Couto is one of the greats, I feel like there are many doctors that are good, or even very good, but Couto fits in the category of great and I'm actually very envious that your through the waiting list if its close. As for flying, just google "safest form of travel" and you will see that flying is literally the first thing you see.