hongkongfue

Hi guys, first post here. As title states, I had a pretty large gap in time between surgeries. Wanted to share my story incase it helps others with similar characteristics. Thank you for others who have shared their stories and insight. Like many others I started losing my hair at an early age. Since my teens I have had a receding hairline that just progressed to more hair loss over time. I just remember being 17 and getting grief and saying I'm not worried about it, there will be a cure by the time I am 40 for sure, ha. Well didn't quite work out that way. I figured I would try to include pictures from the first surgery to help give a total picture. My hair is fine and blonde, but now with more gray and brown mixing in. Firstly I can't say enough positive things about Dr. Wong and team. Honestly being 18 years since the first one I don't recall all the ins and outs, but had no issues with the experience and was more than happy with my result. I was never going to chase density either then or now, just not enough hair and to much real estate. Prior to the first surgery I was not on any medicine. The first surgery was May 2005, FUT with 4,332 graphs. I decided on Dr. Wong originally because of the amazing results they were putting out. Probably not much to really worth saying about one so long ago other than the numbers and satisfaction, which for me both were good. With light hair and hair skin I think it really helps with how things look for me. After the first surgery I did start taking 1/4 Proscar tablets and continued on them for several years, for whatever reason I just faded out from taking it, maybe because at the time I was getting them from Canada, got busy with life, don't really know. That is one regret I do have. As everybody says, you should definitely stay on it if you can, especially if high loss like myself. I did use minox foam for the last several years, but stopped Dec 22 at the clinic's recommendation. I did experience quite a bit of shedding along with starting 1mg Finasteride at the same time. So I was back on the Fin 6 months before the second surgery, and certainly plan to stay on it or replace with topical Dut which at the surgery Dr. Wong recommended to use. I don't really have any side effects of the oral fin, so I will have to read up more on it, but I will definitely stay on whatever I need to. When I started thinking about getting a second surgery I knew I had lost a ton of non-transplanted hair over the last 18 years, but honestly it didn't really bother me to much so my goal was if my hair could look fairly close to how it looks 18 years from now and with that I know I needed to supplement what was lost so that is when I found this website and started reading. I think back in 2005 it was a different site that there were a lot of H&W results being posted. I don't remember exactly back then if even FUE was around much, I feel like it was just starting, so I had to read up a lot about it. After seeing Dr. Wong was still practicing and doing both, I felt no reason to really talk to any other doctor. If it worked the first time, why chance it so I reached out to their office in December 2022 for the consult. After the usual back and forth consult stuff, Dr. Wong said he could target 2000-2500 units. Since I already had the scar and I don't cut my sides and back less than a no. 5 I didn't see any reason to get the FUE so we planned for FUT and told to start . I think when I had mine in 2005 the trichophytic closure wasn't being used yet as I did not get it, so I thought I would aim for that. To me the scar wasn't to bad since I had not plans to go short, and in the back it was pretty think, with a little stretching in a few parts on the side. At that time of my consult I got the only available opening in 2023 which was in July so I the waiting game and scalp stretching started. The clinic took care of all the hotel arrangements and I turned it in to a week stay with some days before and after so we could explore the city and area more. Fast forward to July I went to the clinic the afternoon before surgery day for the in person consult. Told Dr. Wong I had never gone 18 years between doctor appointments with the same doctor before. ha. We discussed what I was looking for, which was no lowering of the hairline, just make the best use of the graphs for coverage, to plan for the future. After the scalp exam he said that my laxity on the sides was good, but the back not so much, which honestly I had a feeling he was going to say that even though I had 6 months of stretching. He said we could proceed with the FUT but that probably 1,800 max units and could not use the trichophytic closure as there wasn't enough laxity. I appreciated his candor as I was really wanting to aim for 2,000 units. He said that if I wanted to do FUE instead he felt confident he could get to 2,000. So that is the direction we set off in. Which in retrospect I am glad it worked out that way as I felt like things healed up quicker and not having to rock 50 staples in my head for 2 weeks was nice! We also discussed if I wanted any units in the scar, but he was honest and said it would eat up atleast 300 graphs. The day of surgery we talked about it some more and agreed since it wasn't bothering me, I don't wear my hair short and have limited resources, the plan was just to use around 100 to break up the scar in the wider part on the side so I think he put around 115 in to the scar in those 2 areas. Dr. Wong also said that the transplant hairs have held up very well and at this point up top in the transplanted zone 95% of the hairs left are probably the transplanted ones, so that shows you the progression of loss. The only unexpected thing was that I needed to dye my hair for the FUE due to the light color of my hair, so went back to a procedure room and they shaved off all my head and proceeding to color it, they had to use a couple different ones to get it dark enough. Honestly it was kind of shocking, I had gone for never having a complete hair shave (last time was only the top area) to shaved and colored! The only thing was we didn't get any before pictures before it was shaved, probably because we were doing things the day before surgery. I know it was only little stubble that was colored, but not sure how long it will take to lose the color which I am probably as anxious as that as anything so I can get back to "normal" as soon as possible, I am happy to just get back to my baseline hair length and color and wait the 12 months for the new hair to do it's thing. If anybody else had to color the shaved head and has any insight on that I would appreciate it. Day of surgery arrived at 6:15 am, hair wash, catch up with Dr. Wong, another final hair shave and pictures and they started. The hardest part was probably being face down until we broke around 1:30 or 2 for lunch. For the most part it was painless, you felt some stings here and there but they were very quick to administer more numbing agent. For my my crown felt more sensitive. But everything is tolerable, again for me, the hardest part was sitting face down, or really more so when had to turn head to side. I was certainly ready flip over by the time we got there, but the goal was to get everything face down done at that time, so the tech did the extractions, Dr. Wong did the incisions in the crown and scar and the techs did the implants in those area and then we broke for lunch. I believe they Dr. Wong did 340 graphs in the crown. So between that and the scar, it left around 1,657 for the rest. The day finished up probably 5:30-6, so it was a long day. Dr. Wong was in and out several times and I was more than happy with the level of his involvement and the techs. You can't say enough about the techs, I get that a lot of people wish the docs did it all, but like I said the techs did great the fist round, so many of them have been there for so long they are very experienced at what they do and are just so in sync with Dr. Wong. Just picked up some Subway by the hotel for dinner since was long day. Next morning when back to to the clinic for a wash and check. Tech took care of that and met with Dr. Wong and he was happy with how things looked. After that, went about my day just wearing the hat they give you which at nameless, solid back, it nicer than the H&W branded hat from last round! Same thing the next day. Since my scalp is prone to pimples they recommended I wash 2x a day and did not need to return the 3rd post op day, so we just explored more until left on the red eye back to the states. Swelling wasn't to bad, I tried to massage my forehead as much as I could. I definitely swelled up less this time, but it was half the graphs. Sent pictures back to the clinic on day 4 and day 7 with prompt feedback. Up until day 7 I slept on the travel pillow and it was ditched after that and I slept much better. Day 8 came around and I was able to take the long shower and use a wash cloth to scrub off the scabs, after that I felt fairly normal other than short and colored hair in places. Anyways, that is pretty much it. I know I will not win any density awards and a lot of people would probably not be satisfied, but I have to play the long game here and with fair hair, light skin and my hair style it works and I can carry it off and feel good about it. So that is kind of it, if anybody has any questions, happy to help. Here is a pic from when I was probably 14 or 15 so you can see the high hairline., circa 1988-1989. I know pictures from a surgery 18 years ago are probably not needed, but figured would help the story. May 2005 Surgery day from May 2005 Scar 5 months after surgery. These next ones are 22 months after the 2005 surgery. I have a lot of pictures over the first year but figured fast forward to the end. If I had only been able to maintain! Some at home pre photos over the last year few years. I know not a lot of good ones, but just helping to paint the picture. Pictures for initial consult. There were also videos sent in. My wife took these right before it was shaved. Day 1 (assuming surgery is day 0) Day 2 Day 3 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 - Scab free day!! Day 10 That takes it to where I am today. I have gotten pretty used to the short hair now. I wanted to also add to what has been echoed by others, even at the airport coming back when I didn't wear a hat a lot since I was inside, nobody looked at me weird or anything else. So don't worry about that. and now that my head is cleaned and the initial surgery redness gone I am comfortable to go out without the hat (aside from wearing it if going to be in sun) even with the FUT scar since at this point to most people I would just look like every other thinning hair shaved hair guy. Thanks