Yan bio

Of course, you’re right, it’s just that I considered ‘dense packing’/‘relatively dense packing’ as something that every decent surgeon is able to achieve ..

How can such a top surgeon not be good in dense packing? You sure about that?🤔

22 hours ago, BaldGuy said:

Any update here? I feel sorry that you got a bad experience with HDC...
Did HDC offered you money back for the lost grafts because of the necrosis ? For the necrosis on your recipient area the surgeon is the responsible for it, so in your case Dr Maras.

Hi, I decided to fix/improve it elsewhere.

No, I didn't ask for money-back, and HDC didn't offer that. They did offered free touch-up though.

While my result is very disappointing, it's important to remember no medical treatment if "risk-free"/100% guaranteed, even under good hands. I guess that's life and sometimes you're on the wrong side of statistics. It doesn't mean it's a bad clinic/doctor. 
 

I will translate this for you:

"Do you think I (Dr. Bisanga) don't 'believe'/'know' that in my usual fee (4 euros) my patients, which I care about dearly, as I am a moral and ethical and professional doctor/person, will get a premium service and maximum results? really? do you think it is really needed for getting significantly better results?"

Dr. Bisanga is a top-notch doctor. It's a matter of character. You can see this even from his videos with Melvin. This kind of person would have never built a 'system' that allows him to deliver less than "100%" results. You know what? nobody is perfect, and we to have some 'give and takes'. So let's correct this to 99%. Bisanga (and other fantastic doctors) built a 'system'/'algorithm' which will provide quality of service of 99% or higher (and actually, 99% and 100% are pretty much the same anyway).

This is not a personal thing, it's the way the Doctor see himself. 

You asking him to do everything by himself is a bit disrespectful. Not in personal way, but Dr. Bisanga tells himself: "Damn, isn't it obvious I would never vouch for anything that isn't a 99-100% of maximal dedication and quality contro?"

If you want to be so petty with him, and force him to do actions which he knows a doctor is not really needed for, you're being indeed very petty and creating tedious and uneccessery (and in someway disrespectful) work for him. 

I can totally understand his response.

16 hours ago, Turkhair said:

How did the doctor perform the surgery? I mean when implanting grafts, did he use any antiseptics? What were the post-op instructions?

 

He performed it like in any other top clinic. of course we used antiseptics. actually there was no infection, so I'm not sure why you ask this, I hope this is not because you have some intention to de-legitimize this clinic. 

16 hours ago, Turkhair said:

Either incompetence of clinic placing grafts too close suffocating blood supply, unsanitary surgical conditions/equipment or patient error introducing germs and infecting his scalp. The last one can only happen if it’s immediately after surgery because the body closes wounds really fast so clinic rather than patient error is more likely.

It’s so rare though, I have only read horror stories from India/Pakistan where uneducated technicians operate in dirty conditions causing serious infections and deaths. 

 

It wasn't an ideal experience, true, but I'd definitely would never call this "horror story".

15 hours ago, TheGreatPretender said:

@Doron Harati

 

Doron was not my representative, he has nothing to do with this case. 

The clinic I've been to is a good clinic, with mostly positive results, good reputation, and is recommended on this forum.

The customer service was very quick, sincere and full of emphaty.

The doctor really did everything he can to provide me with an excellent result. I know for a fact he tried to get the best he possibily can, and he had put a lot of effort into this. 

Whether he tried to 'over' dense-pack ± there was too much of adrenaline being used, or everything was ok and I was just part of the less positive side of statistics - I really don't know. 

12 hours ago, TheGreatPretender said:

Did the clinic offer a touch up to fix the area?

yes, they offered, but I lost some trust due to the overall poor growth/hairline design/etc'. also, sadly, I received messages from different users here about going through necrosis as well, and met other 3 people (beside me) from the same clinic, with necrosis. 

11 hours ago, mr_peanutbutter said:

how does this happen?

I think the doctor wanted a "too good" result. he really did his best, I have no complaints about his caring/attitude. he really wanted to create (that's how he expressed) an "incredibly good/dense result", but growth was very poor (I assume ~%60 of follicles). 

3 hours ago, Turkhair said:

Can you post a picture?

I had it fixed in another clinic 1 week ago, so can't. but it's just a skin bared of grafts/hairs.

this is 1 year old almost, it did turn out to be a necrosis with no growth.

for future readers: it did turn out to be a necrosis, no hair sprouted there. 

for future readers: it did turn out to be a necrosis, no hair sprouted there. 

relatively easaier? harder? less anxious (because we already know the follicles will grow eventually)?

On 11/19/2022 at 1:09 PM, CJH said:

Soon after the one year mark I noticed a lot of shedding. My hair lost a lot of volume and density and I was slightly panicking 😅😅.

After consulting with Dr Ahmad and some researching on the internet I found out it was because of the phenomenon: Anagen desynchronization of the hair follicles.

Please see this video for further information and explanation: 

 

It took at least 3 to 4 months to restore the volume and density as it was before the shedding. 

At this point (18 months mark) I believe the hairs are even thicker than the 12 months mark

 

 

1. But the video explains that after 13-15 - this is the final results. it will forever be '80% of what you saw during months 9-10". The main message in the video is not: "it will get better after months 9-10 to 13-15", it is: "it will not get worse". I think if you watch the video closely this is what she says. 

2. if a hair follicles grows for 2-6 years (avg. of 4 years = 196 weeks), and stalls for 6-8 weeks (avg. of 7 weeks), how come the proportions between the follicles that grow and stall (as mentioned in the video) is 80%/19%? shouldn't it be in the proportions of 196 to 7? that means 97% growing and 3% stalls/sheds, not 80% to 20%..

update?

Hello everyone

As for photos - there're no signficant changes from previous photos, actually, beside the hair being a bit more thick.

I did consult some of the top surgeons (bisanga, pinto, feriduni, freitas).
3 of them pretty much agreed increasing the density at the hairline is beneficial, and can be done at the same session with some crown work. 

one of them, though, reacted in a what I find 'too aggresive' way, I quote:
"Dr. XXX evaluated your pictures thoroughly and set up an assessment for your hair restoration procedure.
He will first need to get rid of the faulty transplanted FU’s out of your existing hairline to get rid of the unnatural doll effect. The extracted FUs will be relocated to other areas of attention that will be discussed during the preoperative consultation.
Just like with every repair surgery, 2 or 3 extraction sessions with 4 – 6 months in between each session are required to get rid of the entire hairline. After the 3 extraction sessions, you will return to a hair situation that you would have had if you never had done any surgery. At that stage, you will be able to decide whether or not you continue to have further surgery to rebuild a new and aesthetical hairline.
Please note that the mentioned price in the attached quotation is the price per session, and thus not for 3 sessions."

Well, this felt to me very aggrresive and not justified at all. Really all wanted is to extract some mal-positioned follicles from the left side hairline + adding some density behind hairline + some crown work (which will surely, from the clinic's perspective, will be more financialy rewarding). Not only are they too/overly judgemental, I feel like they're thinking more about "we must, always, create perfect hairlines" (which I respect to some degree), rather than understanding what it important for me as a patient, which will happily 'settle' for an "A- (minus) head of hair.

hi

well, ~8.5-9 months, to sum it up:

1. How satisfied I am? 
around 9/10. after developing some skills with combinations of toppik+dermmatch - I can style my hair in a way that looks fantastic. I'm getting much more 'general compliments' about my overall look (not hair specifically), so I feel much more confident. for this, I have to kind of 'curl' my hairline along the hairline with my hands, so it looks more natural (I don't simply comb it up, I just pull some (around 20?) singles straight and a bit down, it really creates a much better and natural hairline)).

2. Am I happy with HDC?
I'd say around 6/10.
positives:
-they're moral
-dr. maras has great bedside manners
-the team is very polite
-they did offer me a fix for free
-the donor area looks good

minuses:
-my density is low at central hairline (which I cover with some styling, but still a bit sucks). the growth there is really disappointing and I had 2 small necrosis due to too much anesthesia and/or too much dense-packing and not enough blood supply.
-hairline @left side looks a bit pluggy (overall there're around 5-7 doubles all over hairline, with 4 on the left), but again - with some 'curling the hair down' at the hairline - it's unnoticeable

3. future plans? I'll have to transplant the crown, and will probably have to add ~200 hair at the hairline, and maybe unroot some doubles. 

overall I'm very very happy with deciding take the plunge.

It seems to me hairline requires strengthening many times, but how mich is this true for crown?

.

Are there any serious pitfall/disadvantges in doing so (hair line)?

tnx!

Hey guys, thank you for your comments!
I think I wasn't very clear on some points:
1. the pictures from 24/12/22 show markings that were done 1 month before surgery, just to discuss hairline design ideas. On the day of surgery - we had lowered my hair line ~1.5cm. This area was so called 'naked' of hairs. I really do feel the new hair frames my face much better.
2. My hair isn't combed forward, this is how it naturally grows/sets up in the morning/after shower  But yes, I agree this is no longer a suitable 'indicator' im my situation.
3. After having some negative feelings (some of them due to me having a very very bad hair-cut ) I wanted to share those recent pictures as I love the way it looks. I wanted to detail that you can actually feel bad about your hair one day, just to be happy with it the next week, because I want future readers to be less judgemental about themselves because a huge part of this journey is staying positive. 
4. I'm feeling my hair is getting thicker and I think new hair sprouted at the hairline Since I'm already having better days and since I don't want to indulge in it too much, I'm just going to take a break for 1 month, let it grow, and of course (!) update everyone

Thank you guys!

.

56 minutes ago, zerocool said:

I stared using toppik. Of course it helps a lot but it’s disappointing that I need to use it.

I did. They said wait until 12 months and they’ll do a repair if needed. I doubt I’ll go back there for a repair tbh.

I think the main reason to use toppik is just to let those 5.5 months pass without too much doubts/anxiety...

If I were you, I would have:

1. try to examine on a month to month basis

2. not having an hair-cut, just letting it grow!

3. stay optimistic, there will be more growth

4. why oh why don't use you use concealers? dermatch and toppik can be so helpful and stress-relievers. I'm 100% sure if you conceal a bit more you feel much less anxiety.

On 11/18/2022 at 8:29 AM, zerocool said:

5 months:

Continuing to improve but still very patchy. Area that was infected is very bare. It’s still early so hoping it will even out. 
 

any updates?

1 hour ago, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

@Yan bio,

Before jumping into a crown hair transplant, I suggest waiting a full 12 to 18 months to see how your new transplanted hairline and frontal area looks which is when it will be fully grown in and mature.   The photos you presented don’t really show the work performed in the front but at six months postop, you have a long way to go before you see your final result.

In my opinion, if the new transplanted hairline and frontal half is thick enough to your liking, then I see nothing wrong with focusing on the crown in your second procedure.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

Hi, thank you for the response!

These images are actually 6 months old, it's taken before my hairline procedure... :))

Hey guys! 

39 Y/O, Had my #1 ht 6 months ago in hairline area.

I've been using finasteride+minoxidil for the past 10 years, and my balding is stable. Not getting worse, not getting better. 

Given that I'm, in a stable condition, I'm thinking about an ht to my crown area. I should also mention that even when I grow my crown hair longer, it still looks the same. 

What do you guys think?