mikenguyenn

Bro I’m sorry for your bad experience. Being a former Diep’s patient myself, it is sad to see things like this. Eventhough my result has been pretty good for being 5.5 years post-op and only turning 24 when I had my procedure, I do share some concerns with you. Most importantly, Dr.Diep’s donor management and scarring prevention still has lots to be desired. While my procedure with him was FUE, I have scarring in my donor that looks like a FUT scar. At first I thought it was shock loss but its still quite visible today if I cut the back short. While my hair looks quite ok normally, if my hair is wet or if I part my hair in the transplanted areas, it would have a see through effect where I can clearly see my scalp. This is expected as we cannot replicate the same density as native hair. I am lucky because my hair is quite thick so its not a huge issue for me but I am sure it would be an issue for people with thinner hair. Over the past few months, I have also been shedding hair quite a bit. Maybe because its a seasonal shed but also maybe because I have been working out a lot and lost quite a bit of weight over the past 6 months. Now if I stand under strong sunlight, my hairline would have a see through effect too. For your case, I would also expect better density than what you are having now since you already had 2 procedures in that area. Maybe show us some photos of your hair with normal daily styling? What I am concerned most in your case is that FUT scar. I remember looking at some of Dr.Diep’s FUT scars prior to my procedure and they were not great but not as bad at your case.

Yes that is something strange for me that I’m still unable to find some answers to. It’s only happening to my transplanted hairs and not anywhere else! Strange!!!

I appreciate it man! Will definitely stick around this time. Do you have any idea what’s happening with the greying in transplanted area? Also, do you mind moving my thread to “Hair transplant experiences and surgeon reviews? I think it would be more suitable there. Thanks man!

It’s been a while bro!! I can’t believe how fast time flies man! What do you think of my hair now 5 years later bro?

Here is the link to my previous thread 5.5 years ago:

Hi everyone! My previous account is called mikenguyen but unfortunately I am unable to login with my old email. I am not sure if some of you remember me but I was contemplating having a hair transplant at a young age (23) and posted on this forum before. I am turning 30 next year and had an FUE HT with Dr. Diep around 5.5 years ago on July 2017 when I was 23 (turning 24). When I first posted on this forum, I was stressed from having issues with a receding hairline at a young age. Fortunately, this community helped me tremendously and I was able to gather a lot of information regarding hair transplants. While I knew at the time that having a hair transplant at a young age was risky considering the fact that I chose to not take any meds, I still decided to have a hair transplant with Dr.Diep. On the thread that I created 5.5 years ago, I stopped updating my progress after 6 months because I was moving out of the country and was so busy with everything that was going on in my life at that time. I apologize to the community for not updating you guys further with my progress. You can find my previous threads here: Recently, I came across the community again and was surprised with the negative reviews about Dr.Diep. It sucks because I felt like he did quite a good job on me. Seems like the recent results are not on par as in the past and it’s pretty sad. I will talk about how I feel about my transplant with Dr.Diep later in the thread. Looking at many of the posts on this forum, it seems like there are many young men suffering hair loss at a young age like myself. That’s why I have decided to create a thread to show you guys how my hair looks like now 5.5 years later and hopefully it will help some of you guys in deciding on your own course of action. Below are some photos of my hair currently and some of the photos of my hair around 1 year post-op. I feel like my hair at around the 1 year post-op mark looked and feel the best. The hair was strong, natural and there was no sign that I had a transplant. Over the past few months, I feel like my hair overall has been shedding and thinning a bit. This might due to the fact that I went back to the gym and was in a caloric deficit for the last 6 months (I lost around 12kg during that time) and maybe some post Covid shedding or seasonal/cycle shedding? (Might need some comments here from you guys). I have decided to supplement with some hair vitamins and iron, hopefully it will improve. I have also read on some posts on this forum that transplanted hair can also thin out over time without medication. Also, I started to develop grey hairs in the transplanted area that started around 1.5 years ago???. None of the areas have grey hairs. Is this something that you guys have experienced? I have not seen anything through my research but this is definitely something strange that I have experienced. Currently, there are quite a bit of grey hair in the transplanted area now that you can see in the photos. This is me before the hair transplant: https://ibb.co/TYPNCxB https://ibb.co/4JT8Hm4 https://ibb.co/qjKVknH This is me 1 year post-op: https://ibb.co/MM3Y0L9 https://ibb.co/1dStgK2 This is my current hair (Taken in dimmer lighting) https://ibb.co/hd8tH57 https://ibb.co/4Zpjs7x https://ibb.co/0fRqqL8 This is my current hair (Taken in office fluorescent lighting) https://ibb.co/6szLqrs Regarding my native hair, I can definitely feel that they are not as strong as they were 5.5 years ago. This might be natural as I am turning 30 soon. However, I am sure my MPB is still progressing but luckily, it has not been quite as aggressive. Otherwise I would have bald spots right now in my native hair areas. When I check the surround areas around my native hair, I can get some miniaturized hairs so my MPB is definitely still progressing. For some additional information, I started vaping around 2-3 years ago and I feel that this also have some effects on the overall quality of my hair as well. Looking to quit smoking all together over the next few months for overall health quality. Fast forward to today, I can still say that it was the right decision for myself at the time and I have no regrets looking back. I had some of the best years of my life with a nice head of hair, got married and had a child (my hair looked great in my wedding photos). I will definitely need another hair transplant down the road and it sucks that Dr.Diep no longer produces great results like before. To sum up, here are what I have learnt from the past few years post-op: Without meds, your MBP will keep on progressing. I consider myself lucky that my hair loss did not accelarate too crazy after my procedure. I was scared of sides from meds and still am. That’s why it is still my personal decision to not take meds. It is not optimal but it makes me feel at ease. My result looked the best 1 year post-op. This might due to the fact that all my transplanted hair fell off during ugly duckling phase and sprouted out at the same time. Now they are in different cycles so not all the transplanted hairs are present at the same time. My transplanted hair has been greying while non of the hairs in my other areas are greying at all. Hair transplant will only give you the illusion of a full head of hair. It is quite impossible to replicate the same density as your native hair. However, if you have thick hair like me, the visual effect might be better compare to guys with thinner hair texture. I personally feel like smoking has contributed to my hair looking not as healthy as before (I might be wrong). Do what is right for you but only after thorough research. This forum is a great resource. Know all the complications and risks that might happen after your procedure so you are mentally prepared. If you are looking to do a procedure at a young age like I did, be prepared to do a few more sessions in the future if your MPB progresses. Regarding my procedure with Dr.Diep, here are my personal comments now that I have many years to assess the procedure: Dr.Diep did a great job in recreating my hairline. He did not go too aggressive and I personally feel that it was the perfect hairline for an asian man like me. It still looks relatively natural today even though not as strong as when I was 1 year post-op. I believe that this would create a great foundation for me for future hair transplants. Hairline has good density but definitely will need to add more density at the back when I have my future procedures. My donor scars are still quite visible today if I cut my donor area short and I think this is where Dr.Diep did not do a great job. I looked at the results of many other patients on here and it seems like many of us have a horizontal scar that looks like a FUT scar. He also only harvest from one side of my head and this seems like a trend for other patients too. I will post a photo of the donor once I get my hair cut later on. I apologize for the long post but I just want to provide as much information as possible :) This is my personal results/current state 5.5 years post-op without any meds, special hair care etc… However, results will be different for different people as we all have different lifestyle, hair color, texture and hair loss speed. Hair loss sucks but we are fortunate to have communities like this one to share our stories. Wish you all a great new year!