SXP92

I think your running assumption in this case has to be that the poor growth is related to poor technique by the operator. Nobody will ever know for 100% sure, but that's how I would approach it. Look for a good repair surgeon and as others have suggested, think about doing a "test" case of a smaller number of grafts first. Look for someone who's focused on getting as close to 100% survivability as possible. There are some surgeons out there that are very meticulous and don't do a large number of grafts per day. That's the kind of surgeon you need. I think the focus should really be just homogenizing things and filling in obvious gaps so it has a more "even" look

No doubt there is some variation of results patient to patient, but hard to know what to attribute this to. Did the doctor do the extractions and incisions him or herself? or did an assistant/ technician do that part? It's weird to see such low yield in the hands of a skilled and experience operator. Especially when it's being placed into normal tissue. Not like this is being put into some thick FUT scar with low vascularity

I would definitely seek second opinions on your situation. Which region are you located in? maybe the forum can give you some recommendations on other people you can consult with

Definitely wouldn't take your doc up on an offer for a free second procedure. I know you have some faith left in your doc but you need to be singularly focused on who can get you the best cosmetic result from this point forward. Seek those who are expert in repair cases

who did your surgery? 

On 7/3/2023 at 12:54 PM, RTC said:

I think I am going to just do some punch outs in the hairline and re implant into some patchy areas of the donor. Nothing major. Won't be perfect but I'll try to just get on with life after that.

I also feel that the botch corners may actually have grown in from Dr Mwambas work. I don't know for sure until I cut my hair but that is a positive

Cut 'em and let us know! Only one way to find out..

On 6/19/2023 at 1:43 AM, RTC said:

Main thing with me is that I need as many grafts as I can get. So I have to recycle those grafts that are pointing up at 90 degrees. Plus, how long after laser can new grafts be planted?

I'm going to get approx 200 beard grafts planted in my donor. May look at SMP later, but what's the point of something that fades every few years

Out of curiosity, who are you going to go to for the beard grafts into donor? back to Mwamba?

On 6/12/2023 at 5:25 AM, RTC said:

Donor definitely needs more work

 

If Mwamba's beard grafts to your donor area grew in well, I feel like it would be a safe bet to use him again for additional donor area repair work.

Also, I definitely think it's smart to maybe go for something smaller in the botch corners the next time around. To at least see if anything will grow there before committing to putting in a larger number of grafts in there. 

On 5/2/2023 at 7:46 AM, RTC said:

Hey everyone

Progress has been very mixed

The back looks a 100 times better but could still be improved.

Hairline shape and temples look much more refined and natural.

The top has not grown in.

I'll be going to visit the Doc later this month and will make decisions then.

Any updates on how meeting with Mwamba went? what's next?

20 minutes ago, HairRun said:

I haven't done a consult with him yet, it great to hear he is looking for a new clinic space. I wonder what happened to this old clinics in New Jersey and Atlanta? 

He also mentioned some issues related to moving and storing his equipment since he was using shared clinic space (at least for New Jersey). Either way I hope it's all sorted. He's aware of the demand for his services in the US. If you can verify that's he's back to operating here, do let us know!

20 minutes ago, HairRun said:

I was hoping to see him for beard graft stuff, but he doesn't have prices in the US anymore, I would have to see him in Brussels. I noticed Dr Bisanga is also there, who is the other top beard transplant guy. 

Are you sure about this? I had a virtual consult with him back in December and he was actively working towards finding a clinic space in Atlanta and/or Washington DC. I called his office a few weeks ago just to check the status of things and one of his staff members said he would back for select dates in the US beginning mid/late July. You may want to call and clarify with them before committing to Brussels 

On 5/2/2023 at 7:46 AM, RTC said:

Hey everyone

Progress has been very mixed

The back looks a 100 times better but could still be improved.

Hairline shape and temples look much more refined and natural.

The top has not grown in.

I'll be going to visit the Doc later this month and will make decisions then.

Appreciate the update. I'm curious to know why the implants grew well in the donor area and temples, but not in the front corners. After all, it was the same surgeon, same operation, and (presumably) same technique..

Def let us know what Dr. Mwamba has to say. Do you think you will attempt another procedure to address that area? 

@VladRojas Please keep us all posted as you go through with the procedure. I would love to see immediate post-op pics as well. Are you going to Brussels for the procedure? I heard from one of his staff members that he is officially coming back to Atlanta, most likely starting mid-July. And the goal is for him to be operating out of the US on a recurring basis

On 3/19/2023 at 5:23 PM, BeHappy said:

 

I say under my chin, but I don't really know how to explain it. The area extends out a bit. I had several sessions done. The first one was in a small area under the chin, but we extended out much further in later sessions to get more and since I was satisfied that there was no major scarring.

 

Would you mind sharing which surgeon did your beard harvest?

On 3/19/2023 at 5:23 PM, BeHappy said:

 

16 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Personally if you have no scalp hair to mix with it then I wouldn't use beard hair alone. It won't look natural. Perhaps if they are being implanted in areas that have scalp hair already transplanted it could work to give greater density. Is this your goal or are you wanting to transplant purely beard hair alone on a bald/balding area? I've had over 7k beard grafts strategically transplanted with over 6k scalp grafts at the same time. This was carried out in two procedures 12 months apart. Even now two months post op I can still grow a beard. However at 56 my beard is practically white now so I always shave and let someone else be Santa from now on! 

That's a good question. My situation is unusual because I don't have male pattern baldness (very favorable family genetics in that regard). But I do have persistent chemotherapy induced alopecia from cancer treatment I had 9 years ago. This led to more of a diffuse thinning type appearance across the top of my scalp without any truly bald areas. So yes, the beard grafts would be placed in between native scalp hairs (and not in any truly bald area)

My standard donor area has only been able to support ~2600 grafts (done over two procedures). Since I don't have any personal or family history of male pattern baldness, a couple surgeons are willing to harvest around ~500 grafts in the temporal region (which is an area of relatively normal density still for me). The idea would be to use those to help bolster the density up front toward the hairline further and then use beard grafts to help fill in behind it. I was also offered the option of a beard transplant "test" to see how things heal

39 minutes ago, BeHappy said:

If I wanted to grow it out, I can still grow a beard. Here is what it looks like after a few days of growth. I had to let it grow to see if I had enough left for another session.

 

Also, would you mind sharing which surgeon did your procedure?

31 minutes ago, BeHappy said:

If I wanted to grow it out, I can still grow a beard. Here is what it looks like after a few days of growth. I had to let it grow to see if I had enough left for another session.

 

WOW that looks great for 3000 grafts! When you grow it out, does the area they harvested from look noticeably thinner than the rest of the beard when you grow it out?

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?

On 2/15/2023 at 10:32 PM, VladRojas said:

What was the result of your visit with Mwamba?

@mustang Thank you for the information. I'll see Dr. Mwamba in Atlanta this Saturday.

To clarify, you suggested patch testing for growth. Can the low-density pass work as a patch test, or do they have to be separate procedures?

Based on this, which option would you recommend?
Option A: Patch test first, then low-density pass for vessel creation, followed by the second pass at higher density.
OR
Option B: Low-density pass first for vessel creation and growth assessment, then decide on the second pass at a higher density after six months.

In your experience, are there any other measures I can take to increase the survival rate of the first pass or patch test? you mentioned using PRP during the slit creation, but what about using PRP weeks before and/or between procedures or taking finasteride? I'm asking because I want to do what I can to improve the success of the graft survival.

On 7/1/2022 at 2:47 PM, RTC said:

Hi everyone, 

 

At the end of June 2022 I had a hair transplant with Dr Patrick Mwamba in Brussels to repair a pluggy hairline, sparse frontal zone and botched donor area (at the hands of the famous hair mill botch job kings, Asli Tarcan).

 

Just to recap, in 2018 Asli Tarcan gave me an awful hairline with single grafts in the front in the hairline. It is very pluggy and contains numerous multiple grafts (sorry for the huge pictures).

 

 

The corners of the front of my head also look particularly awful, there are two big circles where hair should be.

 

I have attached photos taken very recently, almost 4 years after Asli Tarcan, very patchy frontal corners.

 

Also see the extremely bad donor area, particularly on the right side.

 

 

Goals of the surgery:

 

1) Repair the awful density of the frontal hairline and hair behind it, particularly on the corners.

 

2) Donor re-stocking using beard hair and carefully depleting the rest of the donor so as to homogenise the look all over.

 

3) Rebuild the temples (I didn't start thinking about this until I saw @NARMAK thread). But I thought, why not, If we have the chance, let's do it.

 

Graft breakdown: 

 

Scalp - 1360

BHT - 765

 

Medication:

 

Topical dutasteride 0.01% with dermarolling once a week. Prior to the surgery, I had noticed visible strengthening of my temples after doing this for around two months. this was confirmed by the photos that were taken two months earlier when I first visited Dr Mwamba for a consultation.

 

However, I will now bump up to 0.05% dutasteride with dermarolling to improve my crown, which still needs work.

 

1st day:

 

The pre-surgery consult with Dr Mwamba was extremely thorough. I came in with a list of questions/concerns/suggestions, and we really took our time.

 

He was able to answer everything and we discussed the strategy for the hairline in particular depth. He manually examined the hair and then used the pro-scope magnification device to look at my hair and plan out the extractions and inserts etc. He shaved my head and spent about an hour drawing the hairline and marking out the zones for grafts to go in and out. Then we took lots of photos.

 

I would estimate that in all, this took about 2 hours. The man is a perfectionist.

 

The first order of the day was to remove the garbage grafts sitting in the corners of my head and above the temples. Random, pointless grafts that had no reason being there. Dr Mwamba removed them, stitched them up, and they were later placed in the corner areas of the front (see below). Those had bothered me for years, so it was a huge relief to finally see them gone.

 

 

 

We wrapped up very late, 12.30am, and I was able to home and get some rest for the next day.

 

2nd day:

 

This is where all the major hairline work and donor re-stocking would happen.

 

Head wash and then had extractions from my scalp donor area by the excellent Dr Ali and technicians under Dr Mwamba's direction.

 

Note: Mwamba has a very strong team of Doctors and techs - they will all work on you some point most likely, but obviously Mwamba does the super important parts like incisions and placing hairs in delicate areas such as temples and hairlines. And he is always overseeing things.

 

Dr Mwamba made the slits in my front hairline and temples, then he started implanting there while Dr Ali harvested my beard for grafts. This was very uncomfortable as we were going for 5-6 hours straight (Superman 2 was on loop while this was happening, I watched it three times). Him and his team are very very hard workers. Tremendous work ethic.

 

Finally, with the temples and hairline done, it was time for 'FIT farming' - planting beard grafts into my decimated donor area. Beard grafts were also implanted into some areas on my scalp where hair had just been extracted. Dr Ali took the lead here (again with Dr Mwamba's direction).

 

We finished very late that day - would you believe that I went in at 11am and walked out at 6.30am? No joke. Luckily, I was only staying 5 minutes walk around the corner. 

 

This was a very draining day and I couldn't wait for it to be over. The clinic was short-staffed the day before due to airline problems, so this had an impact into the next day. 

 

Another patient was also being treated on the same day (shout out to @SteveUrkel02 lol). The important thing to note here is that Dr Mwamba was still heavily involved and attentive throughout the process, but things just took longer.

 

Everybody was super professional and in good spirits while getting the job done, they all really put a graft in (no pun intended). Dr Mwamba was singing along to Michael Jackson and Congolese music as we got through the last few hours. He even went back and added more grafts behind my hairline to give it more density. He truly is a perfectionist.

 

The next day I went back for head-washing, light therapy, and checking of the grafts.

 

On my final day (2 days after the second day of the op), I met with Mwamba to remove the stitches from where he punched out the excess grafts on my hairline. He recommended a silicone gel and also checked that I didn't lose any grafts on the back of my head (as i was concerned that I may have put too much pressure it while sleeping). He also did a de-brief with me, showing me the implanted grafts via the proscope. 

 

 

 

Overall, what can I say? I am very, very happy with the work that was done on me, and if all goes well, God willing, it should be a (very) good result.

 

But I do want to manage my expectations because I know things can happen. Infections, poor growth, etc. And it will never look 100% perfect. But if I get even 75% improvement on my Asli Tarcan botch-job I will be very happy.

 

I'm so happy I went to Dr Mwamba. There are many doctors who would not have taken on this type of repair job, and if they did, may have suggested 2 or even 3 sessions. For me, 4 years has been long enough to wait.

 

I'd advise anyone travelling to stay at least 2 days after their procedure just for peace of mind - it's always good to go back and get your head washed and be able to consult with the Doctor in person. I would also recommend staying super close the to the clinic. You don't want to have to mess around travelling home after a long day of surgery. 

 

The quality of the work is NIGHT and DAY compared to Asli Tarcan or other shoddy hair mills - it is super refined, clean, and precise. 

 

I'm sure there'll be lots of questions so please fire away - remember a botch job is not the end and in many cases they can be fixed. I hope this will encourage more people to consult with Dr Mwamba - there are at least 3 people who've had recent repair ops with him and all talk about him glowingly, but nobody seems to be posting their journey, so here we go.

 

I'd like to thank everybody on this forum who gave me advice on where to go when I first posted here, because without this forum I probably would have remained static forever, without ever taking any action to fix my situation. Cheers

 

 

 

Any updates on how the Asli Tarcan "botch corners" have filled in? Also curious to know if you've cut the donor area short to see if the area of overharvesting has improved with the beard grafts

19 hours ago, JP28 said:

Is Mwamba back to work in Atlanta?

 

He has some appointments in Atlanta this upcoming weekend, but he's not officially back to doing procedures in the US. I had a virtual appointment with him for a similar issue a few months ago and told me that he is actively working toward finding a suitable clinic space in the US which he said would most likely be in either Atlanta or the Washington DC area