Chiku

1 hour ago, bigmistake said:

Can you please post some before and after photos of your donor area ?

I really do not have good pics which shows the donor well, most pics before are with long hairs. You can find some pics in this link. 

2 hours ago, duckling said:

Good that you are focussing on just strengthening the same areas. This time density should increase much more. I want you to get this result even in bright light. (think this one wasn't in bright line?) 

They suggested that I just do the hairline with 500 scalp and focus on crown with 500 scalp and 2000 beard. ALl in the next sitting.  They may be right. But I prefer to use the 1000 scalp grafts which they feel they could still extract along with 1500-2000 beard for the front and mid scalp. Will leave crown for another day. IF they tell me on the day of procedure that there will be no grafts left for crown with the above plan, I may change the plan a little bit to save some scalp hairs for the crown.  I feel that they will be in better position to asses the future plan for the day and future plan when they see my donor in person. 

I took all the pics at the same spot.  I know why the pic you are referring does not appear to be in bright light. In this pic I had my head tilted upwards while the camera was also above my eye level. So the picture captured more of the frontal view than the top view, as opposed to the subsequent pics where head is neutral and the camera is right on top of the scalp. 

1 hour ago, BaldGuy said:

You should never focus on cases posted by a clinic since they are their best results. You will never see an average result on cases that are posted by a clinic. As a result you will have high expectations and you will not be satisfied with your result. You should focus on real patient cases posted by the patients themselves to have a real idea.

You are right. I learned it as my results were maturing in the past few months. It is hard to find great results on norwood seven patients with severely depleted donor undergoing HT with use of body hair in ratio of 1:2, and only with 3000 odd total grafts. Perhaps None! Most Norwood 7 with depleted donor who got great results, with high proportion of beard hair use,( some cases even in 1:1 ratio)still had a lot of scalp hairs extracted with the total count being over 10,000 grafts. So they did not have severely depleted donor despite prior HTs.

11 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

What do the doctors expect to be the end result?

 

They expected frontal view to improve drastically at the time of transpant. I do not know what else they expected, but they say that the results will improve beyond 12 months.

2 hours ago, duckling said:

f it was 3k scalp grafts with more 1k beard (or even just 3k scalp hair with thick characteristics)  then i guess atleast your front look even in direct light would have also looked great. But 2k scalp grafts with thin hair characteristics is looking so sparse.

All pics are in direct bright light of bathroom mirror.( except the one with a rug on the floor). The difference is in the angles at which they are taken.  First pic is with camera( phone camera) right at eye level and then moving it up for the subsequent pics.

5 hours ago, bigmistake said:

It looks natural, if that was the goal of the surgery then it is a win. You definitely look better after transplant. 

 

What are your thoughts on the results as well. I'm also in need of a repair with limited donor. I like your results.

May I know who was your doctor and what was your package? 

Thanks. I expected better results than that initially. Expectations were based on before and after videos on youtube with similar grade of baldness and more or less same number of grafts used. But I have accepted that with limited grafts this is what I could have achieved. I am pleased with the overall results and very happy with the front view. 

Dr. Arika Bansal, Comprehensive package. 

5 hours ago, A_4_Archan said:

Density is ofcourse less ..but the area to be covered is very big compared to the number of grafts implanted ...this much area can't get dense coverage with just 3k grafts and which even consist 1k beard grafts...

 

What did the doctor say ?

Thanks. Doctors say that the results are on track and fibers can be used to enhance the results. But, I understand it is hard even for them to predict the outcome as results depend on so many variable, including hair thickness. SO three thousand scalp grafts with a lot of 3+ hairs per graft in someone with untouched donor may have been a much better outcome from all angles including viewing from the top.

1 hour ago, duckling said:

The three FUT had taken away so much of what could have been. And the newly implanted 3k hair is looking good from front in indoor light with light not directly falling on your scalp.

if it was 3k scalp grafts with more 1k beard (or even just 3k scalp hair with thick characteristics)  then i guess atleast your front look even in direct light would have also looked great. But 2k scalp grafts with thin hair characteristics is looking so sparse.

Currently you look like a diffuse thinner. One more HT and it would have looked much better. If you have any body hair then check if they can use those along with existing transplanted hair to improve density in some areas. (normally body hair is mixed with newly extracted scalp hair). Think ratio is 2 scalp hair graft to 1 body hair graft when implanting.

I do plan to go back to them soon to get another session with 1K scalp and 2 K beard grafts. Just focusing on the same areas which they did last time. My beard hairs have texture similar to my scalp hairs. 

No worries.

I am happy with the frontal view. It has improved significantly. But the top view has been an area of concern. 

51 minutes ago, Rafael Manelli said:

Are these photos before or after the procedure?

You mentioned you have 3 strips previously. How many grafts did you get from them? How did they grow? Do you have photos before and after?

These are after pics, after 11.5 months.

The above link will give you the before pics. 

Repair with Eugenix last year.Three prior FUTs in early 2000's. All pics in bright light, except the one with carpeted floor. Any comments , feedback appreciated.

11.5 months update. 3000 grafts, 2000 scalp, 1000 beard.

All are in bright light except, the fourth one( carpeted floor) is in a room without lights on.

21 hours ago, SoSoz said:

Is it okay to use minoxidil just for crown regrowth? I am having terrible skin flaking after minoxidil on entire saclp scalp, are there any ways to avoid this?

Try foam based minoxidil.

On 3/19/2023 at 10:02 AM, SXP92 said:

Hi all. Considering the merits of possibly undergoing a beard to scalp FUE procedure in the future (scalp donor area has reached it's limit). My biggest reason for being hesitant about pursuing this is what the beard donor area may look like afterward. I have heard the beard generally heals really fast, but I do want to maintain the option of being able to clean shave my beard (without it being obvious something has been done). I am also of mediterranean descent and have tan skin at baseline (although didnt' feel like there was any hypopigmentation in my scalp donor areas from prior FUEs).

Has anybody undergone beard to scalp FUE and have pictures of their unshaved and/or shaved beard area that they could share?

1000 beard hairs taken from under the chin, no signs whatsoever shaved or unshaved. Southeast Asian descent.

6 hours ago, Archan said:

Yeh depends from person to person bt in most cases it is different ...and evn if  it is nt different still thr should be a balanced ration...66/33 is perfect ...

Agree.

14 hours ago, Archan said:

Yeh they are high caliber...bt at the end they are single hair grafts...you cannot pick multiple hair grafts from beard and evn texture is different so it doesn't look natural at all..so imo it can be used well with scalp grafts in a balanced ration (70/30) or at the most (60/40)...

evn texture is different so it doesn't look natural at all.

It depends from person to person. Outcome aside, my transplanted scalp and bead hairs look very similar, and the ratio was 66/33. 

The choices offered are way two extremes. A lot of people will fall somewhere in-between. Adding two more choices which represent the feelings of vast majority of patients will help include many more in the poll. Great question though. 

36 minutes ago, Z-- said:

I'm glad that they are communicating with you and you don't feel strung along or left to dry.

Still, Eugenix really needs to stop pressing on this "wait 12 months to assess" non-sense. Konior and Couto -- with patients on this very forum -- have offer touch-ups after 6 months in the very rare instances of a sub-optimal procedure.

Have you asked what is Eugenix going to do to make this right at 12 months? If so, what did they respond?

I had 1000 beard grafts, that is the likely reason for the 12 month wait time. 

53 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

Eugenix is pretty active on this site, it would be great to hear from one of the Eugenix people commenting on this case.

Thanks for your input. I have been in touch with them, so I personally do not expect/need them to respond on this forum. I can get answers from them directly. 

I posted these pics to see what others have to think about the results as I had growing concerns about the density. There was no ambiguity with the verdict the forum gave.

36 minutes ago, Archan said:

Tht is called aftercare and evryone is agreeing tht their aftercare is fine..bt u wer never a fit candidate for a transplant cause of the poor donor and i jst believe they shud have made u aware of this thng before surgery...and thts wht i askd u earlier and u said they didnt tell u anythng about u being a fit candidate or not...

Good or bad candidate, suitable or unsuitable candidate, these labels were not given. But some specifics were discussed.  I distinctly recall me asking some specific questions about "see through" under light. Well before the transplant date was confirmed, they said that under bright light my scalp may have a see through and if a camera is clicked with flash on, that may make your scalp shine in the picture.  

9 minutes ago, Z-- said:

Agree @Archan. This is disappointing to see. Way too many bad cases lately. Not going to recommend them in the same breath as higher Norwood elites like Zarev until I see massive improvement (both in their technique and ethics for failed cases).

Appreciate your input Z.

'technique and ethics for failed cases' 

I am no one to comment on their or on any other surgeons technique. I believe most of us will go by their results and results of other patients.  

As for ethics,  they have been in constant tough with me. I communicate with them regularly. They have asked me to wait for at least 12 months to see the full results before thinking of any future transplants. So I do not see anything wrong there.

6 minutes ago, Xanadu said:

I see what you men but in my oppinion that two pics with longer hair looks worse and less dense even.

https://content.invisioncic.com/o278943/monthly_2023_02/8month-side.jpg.a181b136345451534a3b2ae54f49eb1e.jpg

Top view post transplant with long hair.  

3 hours ago, Archan said:

Yeh nothng to loose other thn money and so much time and evn bad feelings dealing with a bad outcome ..

But did eugenix told ths beforehand tht u r nt a good candidate or did they tell u tht u will get a good hair of head? 

Even considering 3k grafts implanted the outcome is nt tht good as of now..lets see if gets better with time as thr are many slow growers and evn people gets growth till 18months ...

 

They did not tell me that I have a good head of hair. No comments, specifically about being a good or bad candidate were made.  Hope it gets better in the months to come. 

2 hours ago, Baal123 said:

Oh wow I didn’t realise it was Eugenix. They are the ones I’m seriously considering for next year but lately I’m seeing a good few bad results, especially from those with poor donor and prior HT’s

I had a strip procedure 21 years ago and now going to Eugenix is concerning me.  

I really hope you get a better outcome over the next few months. 

Would you mind sharing how much you paid and what package you opted for? 
 

 

 

I had strip too 20 years ago. Use your own judgement, no two patients are same. Each have their unique characteristics and histories. They have many great results patients with similar profile as yours. Am sure you have seen their youtube playlist for grade VII norwood results. 

1 hour ago, Rafael Manelli said:

I’m surprised you say the caliber was thin. Some of those hairs in your donor look super thick,

I was always told that my hairs are thin caliber. They are definitely not DHT affected thin, if that's what you thought I implied when I said they are thin. Inherently they are thin.  which pic did you see which make you think that they are super thick. Z below also mentions in his comment "donor hairs are a bit weak" . 

24 minutes ago, Z-- said:

Who was the doctor that did this procedure? Have you had previous procedures?

For 3,000 grafts this is very poor growth. I think your donor hairs are a bit weak looking, but I still would expect much better than this.

Dr. Arika Bansal. Yes FUTs in the past. Will wait and see if growth improves in the next few months.

4 hours ago, StillAlive said:

Anecdotally, each subsequent HT has reduced chances of success given the scalp's scarring, lower quality of the donor etc. It's essentially diminishing returns, that is why everyone in the community is adamant on getting the first procedure done right. It kinda sets you up for success with smaller future procedures vs chasing after it to repair it.

True. Also what is debatable is the whether it is an inherent condition of scalp which led to several procedures due to suboptimal outcome from prior procedure OR multiple procedures caused the scalp condition inhospitable for future grafts. 

10 hours ago, Archan said:

I dnt think u r a good candidate of ht considering ur grade of baldness and big scalp area with poor donor...

Agree, in hindsight. But sometimes you feel there is nothing to loose.

4 hours ago, StillAlive said:

...also, a buzzcut is a really bad choice when it comes to seeing the benefits of an HT. You want 6-8cm's of hair length for it to achieve it's maximum coverage value. Also agree with the colleagues, the yield does seem rather poor. 

Possibly poor outcome could be related to prior HTs. Any thoughts?

14 minutes ago, Baal123 said:

The yield isn’t looking great but you never know it may improve in the coming months.  I can’t see it having a drastic improvement though.  
 

where did you get your HT from? 

Eugenix, they feel that it may improve up to 12 months. But had prior HTs elsewhere.

46 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

3k grafts was never enough to cover such a large area, but even so the graft yield seems like it was poor. 

8 months is definitely enough time in your case to begin looking for a new doctor to do a 2nd pass...

Had several HTs done in the past. 

37 minutes ago, Rafael Manelli said:

Even with fine hair, I'd expect more than this for 3000 grafts. 

Thanks Rafael.