Chrisno

The answer is probably Trichophytic Closure of the FUT strip. You can read more here: https://hassonandwong.com/trichophytic-closure/ The way the FUT strip is closed leads to hair growing through the scar in many cases. Bloxham, specializing in FUT, closes his strips this way I presume.

The hairs will also soften and relax as they further mature towards 18 months

Wow, great result with natural temple points! It'll even get better from here

Hey man, how is it looking now? Almost 3 weeks later, I'm sure you are seeing more growth? The 4 month mark really popped for me, so I'm guessing it's an exciting time for you as well!

Looking very good! Impressive for 4 months

It's just a very aggresive temple points restoration

I'm nominating @Kent for best hairline of 2023.

I absolutely love the fact that you have recreated what nature gave you, and I think you look great! I did the same thing, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Each to their own, but I am much more comfortable restoring what I was born with, rather than altering it to something I never had to begin with.

There is no 100% right and 100% wrong when it comes to hairline design, it all depends on what you want to achieve. Your example #3 gives a more recessed look. You find this 'design' in nature when the hairline corners and templed are receding. Different surgeons do this differently. Some surgeons do more rounded corners (Konior comes to mind, some of the Spanish doctors as well), whereas other doctors do more acute angles (which, in my opinion, looks the best and most natural usually). In my view, the lower the hairline, the more actute the angle should be.

We need at least two categories, high and low NW. Might need a category for hairline and crown also. A 80 FU / cm transplant is incredible difficult to achieve, so I do not agree that a high NW case is more difficult from a technical perspective. Maybe from a planning perspective. The view on aesthetic impact differs from person to person. Sure, we can have an impressive high NW case with 10.000 grafts in one sitting, achieving an adequate density and a very good improvement from the starting point. But the hairline of a ultra high density case will be (in the right surgeon hands) much more impressive than the hairline of the 10.000 graft case (in most cases). My point is that if only high NW cases are viewed as the "best transplants" we are missing out on some of the most impressive cases on this forum, and we are excluding some of the very best surgeons.

I hope the clinic is not on the recommended surgeon list. That hairline design is horrible and completely unatural, full closure of the temporal angle.

I found the nights most difficult, while I was sleeping. One night I woke up scratching my hairline ever so slightly. The next nights I duct taped my hands to my thighs, which I did for the next 6 nights up until the 12 night, just to be safe.

A combover

Taking exogenous testosterone will, regardless of your testosterone levels before/after TRT, accelerate your hair loss.

If you feel the need to ask the question, you are probably right in your concerns. And I agree, this is low density.

Are you asking if you are allowed to wear a hat / baseball cap on an airplane? What do you think?

Window seat. Board the plane early. Wear a hat. Be cautious of the people around you. Don't stress, you'll be fine.

This has become a very long thread, and a difficult case. I thought I'd take the time to give my insightful input and provide some (perhaps) valuable input for the OP. But firstly I want to say that I think a lot of the posters in the recent pages of this thread do not contribute to the discussion, which should be to help OP with his situation. Hair loss is difficult - that's why we are all here on this forum - so let's treat each other with respect. @mister_25 I have gone through your entire thread in detail the last few days. I have read all posts, and looked again (and again, and again) on all the photos you have provided. Firstly, I want to say that threads like these are what contribute to this forum, in which it lets everyone learn the struggles, and realities, ups and downs and positive and negatives of what to expect from a hair transplant. And secondly, I want to say thank you for providing your journey for others to learn from, in such detail and sharing your thoughts and struggles. Below a summary of how I perceive your situation, my (non-professional) conclusion to you case, and my advice moving forward: You have aggressive hair loss at a young age, and are heading to a high NW Medication is slowing down your hair loss, but you are still losing ground Overall your procedure was good, but could perhaps have been better You need to plan for the long run - forget about your 20s. You need a thorough in-person evaluation of your procedure You need a proper in-person (medical/expert) evaluation of your scalp You need a high NW specialist HT surgeon down the line 1. You have aggressive hair loss at a young age Without a doubt, you are heading for a high NW. Even with medication. Medication slows it down, but eventually the little DHT still left in your system (along with testosterone, which is also an androgen) gradually chips away at your hair. You could try switching to Dutasteride. Most likely it will halt your hair loss better than Finasteride, but as you mention you are taking a risk in switching. This is because Dutasteride blocks even more DHT so that your testosterone will increase even more than on Finasteride. Some people have hair follicles that are sensitive to testosterone increases, and this is why a few people can experience an increase in hair loss when switching from Finasteride to Dutasteride. 2. Medication is slowing down your hair loss, but you are still losing ground. This is evident by your pictures. See below two photos of the area of concern you have highlighted; your forelock. Photo 1: post op. Photo 2: post op day 4. Photo 3: middle part at about 10.5 months [photos at the bottom of this post]. You can clearly see from your post-op photos that you were implanted sparsely in your forelock area. This was not a wrong decision by your surgeon, you had existing hair there. However, at 10 months-or-so you complained that you were losing hair in this area, and that the area is now weaker than before. You claim transplanted hairs have fallen out, but to the contrary I think your native hair is progressing further. There is no reason your transplanted hair have fallen out. It is your native hair that is continuing to thin. 3. Overall your procedure was good I firmly believe your procedure was good. You have a much better hairline. The result look completely natural, and no one will ever suspect you have had a transplant. That in itself is a success. I do not believe for a second another surgeon would have gotten you a higher yield and more density. I do not believe other surgeons could "make more with less grafts) as others in this thread have pointed at (which is a statement that in itself is absolutely absurd in my view, but which I won't go into here). Now, did it meet your expectations? No, because it looks a bit thin due to two reasons: Your yield is probably not in the high 90% range (which is what Dr. Hasson consistently delivers). Is that the doctors fault? You went to arguably one of the best hair transplant surgeons in the world - the answer is simple, it is not the doctors fault. I think it is your physiology more so than anything else. Some people have better yield than others, it's just the laws of nature which we are all humbled by. See point 6 for more input on this. You are losing the hair just behind the transplant, which makes everything appear thinner. As an example, I have thick dense hair (100 FUs per cm2) and when I take a 1x1cm of my hair and comb anything else completely flat, that section is a bit see-through simply because it does not have hair behind that that blocks the light. 4. You need to plan for the long run - forget about your 20s You are losing hair fast and are heading to a high NW. You need to realize that whatever you do now - in your early 20s - will have a big impact on your options for hair restoration later in life. You absolutely need to plan for the long run. Do not 'spend' anymore grafts before you have a better understanding of where you will end up eventually. Absolutely do not get a procedure in 2025 or 2026 with one of the surgeons you have listed. You fail to think long term. There is a high probability you will end up as a NW6 or NW7. Imagine this: if you were a NW6 or NW7 right now, would you go to Couto? Would you go to Konior? No. You would go to a high NW specialist. More on that in point 7. This next paragraph you can skip if you do not want some honest advice and feedback on your life situation. Keep in mind that it's based on my understanding of your social and work life situation solely from your online forum posts - so I might be completely wrong. You keep circling back to the statement that you want to have hair in your 20s and to feel your age. I understand that. However, while you may think your 20s is the most important decade of your life, I am here to tell you that you are wrong - like most 20 year-olds. Forget your 20s. Plan for your 30s. That's when things get fun and exciting - if, and only if, you set up your life for success. That means working hard in your 20s to get an education with good grades, get a good paying job, climb the ladder. That's where your focus should be right now; to set up your future life for success. In your 30s you could have financial freedom, a nice apartment/house, a young girlfriend (or boyfriend). You will be more mature, and you can make better decisions about what you want to do with your hair. If you continue down the path you are on now, which is obsessing over your bad hair as a 20 year-old, I can almost guarantee you that your 30s will be much worse than your current situation when you realize you didn't spend your 20s setting up your life for the future. 5. You need a thorough in-person evaluation of your procedure I've said this before: you need a thorough in-person evaluation of your procedure. And you should first fly to Vancouver to have Dr. Hasson inspect your results and have his evaluation of i) your yield, and ii) the speed of which you are a losing hair. After consulting with Dr. Hasson, if you for any reason feel you need a second opinion, you should seek out another surgeon if this would give you any comfort / closure. In that case, you should see a high NW specialist. 6. You need a proper in-person (medical/expert) evaluation of your scalp Based on your photos it seems your scalp is red. A red scalp at almost 12 months is not normal after a hair transplant, and could be indicative of an underlying scalp issue, which again could explain you losing native hair while on Fin&Minox and/or having bad yield (or a combination of both). 7. You need a high NW specialist HT surgeon down the line When you are ready for surgery(forget about your 20s, plan for your 30s) you must see a high NW specialist. You should consult with the likes of Zarev and Pittella. Do you research on NW6+ cases to evaluate who you want to have your procedure with -------------------------------- This has been a long post, so to summarize: you need to wait for your next HT until your early 30s. It would be a big mistake to get another procedure in 1-2 years from now, as you are evidently losing ground fast. You need to be in the hands of the highest skilled high-NW-specialists when the time comes. Ps. I am here for support and advice. Feel free to PM me if there is anything you want me to elaborate on, share with me etc. The struggle is real, I know, having had a HT myself. Picture 1: Sparsely implanted (and rightfully so) in the forelock and mid scalp among existing hair: Picture 2: post op day 4 Picture 3: losing ground in the forelock and mid scalp:

Yes. Estradiol is the absolute most potent/active of the three. Get the 'sensitive' test version if you can. If you cannot get a sensitive e2 / estradiol test, try and test all 3 if you can. Often, estrone gives a higher (and thus false) reading on estradiol tests.

Thanks for sharing, a magnificent hairline!

Normal. The higher density, the more redness and the slower it goes down - that's my take on it. I'm still a little bit red at 4.5 months, although it is decreasing week by week.

It will for sure thicken up. Those vellus hairs will mature. Lots of progress judging from your photos a few weeks back. Got many of those hairs myself, and they are gradually maturing and the visual density is improving. New hairs also sprouting at this time. You are only half way. I understand your concerns though, I'm 18 weeks myself, and growth seems soooo sloooow. But it's s waiting game.

That hairline is perfection!

The hair of the Gods

I understand OP is let down. However, although some communication errors have been made, this sounds like an ethical doctor to me in that the surgery is cancelled when he understands that patient expectations cannot be met. If there had been more surgeons like that, many 'disaster cases' where patients are highly dissatisfied could have been avoided.