xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

Right, it's just that everyone (including Dr. Yaman) set the expectation that I would have full coverage in the front. I'm growing things out as I can but the fact there is still not full coverage in the front kind of ( especially in the middle ) is very concerning to me at 7 months. I recognize there is still some time left for things to change and that I am probably a slow grower, but i am not coming from a place where I was completely gone ( though maybe 75% gone) and everyone I consulted with told me in general 5000-6000 grafts for full coverage. If I can't even cover the front with 4500 , my donor can only really handle one more procedure per Dr. Yaman, so ..that would be very concerning to me as I was expecting one more procedure possibly for the crown, but if I need 3, i'm done. There is some time to go, trust the process, etc, but month after month goes by and there are still giant gaps in the front of the hairline that are concerning..

Month 7 checkin There is some improvement, yet it's fairly slow. I am moving to a harsher lighting as the lighting in the pics i've used is now only going to show the same thing repeatedly, I think. ( which also is coincidentally what my hair kind of looked like before my transplant - using the longer back hairs to scam coverage of the front) In cloudy lighting, if the hair doesn't blow, and I don't move, ever - it actually appears OK. I can actually almost scam almost a full head of hair here. I have returned to coverage scamming somewhat. In fairly harsh lighting we are not there yet. things are kind of okay from the top down but are still relatively not okay from any front-looking angle if I get hit with the tiniest amount of wind or say, something touches my hair. The visual appearance is not quite there in less than perfect lighting. Trying to style it "up" also looks pathetic due to current visual appearance.( see side of head here) It looks like there is actually a decent bit of hair here that needs thickening time? The visual appearance is why I don't style my hair "up" - this can be observed from how bad this looks from even trying to move the hair up in this image. ( I admit, I didn't put much effort into moving it up, but a slight more perfect up angle would not change too much) Image2 is maybe a more fair comparison against my early sweaty hair pic. I wet my hair for this one and just kind of moved things around. There definitely does seem to be more hair here than in the image above - it's just still kind of sparse. My overall thoughts from month 6 to month 7 are: There is some visual improvement and change. I think perhaps I might still be waiting on the thickening of all of the transplanted hair? It seems like I have a fair bit of hair in places. I have heard that blonde hair needs the longest amount of time to thicken up. Also, I am slightly older (37), so that plays a factor in the slowness. I think it's pretty confirmed i'm a slow grower now, but I'm still kind of waiting on results. I continue to take topical minoxidil per the doctor's recommendations ( I was on oral minox before the doctor asked me to switch ), and have been on finasteride 1mg for many, many years now My current thoughts are not SUPER positive, but I do feel a positive change in appearance. What do you guys think? Some more time for thickening and i'll be happy? Too low density to make a difference? to me, it does feel like there's a good bit more hair there - it's just the visual appearance is not quite what I want yet, and i'm not sure that is a proportion of the density, or thickening that needs to take place. Has anyone also heard the "blonde hair takes more time to thicken" thing and maybe has a source on that? "trust the process" is my least favorite phrase in the universe but I keep repeating it to myself..

Thanks for your encouragement / thoughts. I think there is still some growth to come as I can see little dots there in the gappy spot (Also visible at 0:20 ish on the video ) but i'm not sure about density. Also the hairs that are there now really are microscopic. ( the image I uploaded is 108mp and if you zoom in REALLY close you can see stuff. ) I think if those continue growing and thickening there will definitely be more improvement on the horizon. My intentions with this procedure was getting a big-bang done because verteporforin is (maybe) on the horizon and I wouldn't want to do a second procedure until verteporforin maybe succeeds since I like having a little bit of fluff on the sides of my head to frame my face and a second procedure would probably not allow that. ( I could maybe swing it with beard grafts but it feels very high risk to me). I was told I needed a second procedure for my crown by Dr. Yaman, so the mark of a successful procedure for me would be having a frontal 2/3rds looking "kind of" okay. I was a diffuse thinner and could technically cover my scalp with my hair before. I would think a realistic result is having the front 2/3rds covered since i'm okay with growing longer-ish to cover up. I liked Yaman because he erred a bit higher on side of graft count, and every one I surveyed indicated that I should only need ~5000 grafts to achieve what I want (as again, evidenced from hairmill consultation photo in op). I know the crown is the last to fill in and my grafts are equally distributed along my entire scalp, which means it will take some time to see the full result I think, since it is definitely confirmed to some extent that I am a slow grower. ( Don't let the photos that had a hairline fool you - I had a hairline before. The growth of the hairline visible even a decent length at month 3 shows you that the hairline was native, because transplanted hairs are generally in telogen until ~90 days. The pcoredure did add some density to it, but the hairline was there(if not a bit pathetic) before. ) Every single HT doctor I consulted said what I desire should be achievable with 5000-5500 grafts. So this should technically put me very close to it unless this is a failure.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Z370zCmNTaQTZypfz5mS-vgmFuM6SCH/view?usp=drive_link OK, so I uploaded a video of things kind of running my fingers through the front as close as I can get without my camera refocusing. I think I see lots of little things here. This makes me feel hopeful - the hairs are just very small and thin still. I think I can see lots of new stuff popping through the scalp around 0:20- 0:23? This is the very "open" patch in the middle of the front of my hairline right now. There is still a chance that i'm the world's slowest grower. If you feel like taking a peek and have time to give me thoughts, feel free. I have also attached a much higher resolution image. IT seems like there is stuff going on..but stuff is verrrryryryry tiny. Perhaps...my story is not over yet? 6.5 months, here.o

The combover photo is never a good comparison to a straight down photo. I don't think graft yield is awful.. This is not @Lirti's fault for not doing a combover. Graft yield is looks rather low in the front.. Directly in the front of the hairline, in high implantation spots, there is extremely low yield here - so there might be a yield issue. Granted, medication (maybe?) have made the result better but the patient cannot take it. This does not look like great planning. It is the doctor's job to measure hair thickness, and assist the patient in planning and design phase. Placing things extremely sparsely behind the hairline in a way that only works assuming 100% yield is very strange. I think this could be planned better. (why not tighten up the graft placement rather than place things extremely sparsely behind the hairline in a way that makes no visual sense? Was this a gamble on things maybe looking "okay?" like this? Could this really have looked OK with 100% yield, even?)

It's still a bit too early to declare if 10% of grafts are lost yet or not. I'm obviously going to wait and see because hair growth continues for some time,but I don't feel hopeful at the moment, as you can see there is much of the hairline where there is 0 grafts still, and I felt that density was good after the operation( see last pic for my "Scabs off" image in more detail) - and the hairline is among the first to grow in usually. If it does fail, I will only return to the same Dr. if there is a clear and plain explanation of why it failed. (was graft handling bad by technicians?). I am on every medical therapy that I can basically be on(and have been for some time) and dermatologist has confirmed that this is male pattern baldness and nothing more. So the reason for failure would either be bad graft handling by technicians or something unknown. I will not accept "your hair is thin which is why the result seems bad" as a reason for a failed transplant, like @Lirti received. (This is a warning sign regarding this Dr.) The doctor measures the thickness of hair before the operation. If my hair is thin, density should be different / potentially the implantation of grafts should be shifted to compensate. Truly, a doctor cannot possibly estimate all outcomes, but the mark of a good doctor is being able to plan for the most of them. ( Especially because FUE is generally 90%+ success rate). I followed post-op instructions to a T and I was so nervous about leaving my hotel room after surgery and possibly damaging grafts that it is 100% not possible that I did anything to compromise the transplant in the first 96 hours. I then followed all post-op instructions after that, taking recommended vitamins, using required shampoo like I was shown, ultra-gently, avoiding physical activity, etc, etc, and so on. What I expect and what was communicated to me is full coverage in the front. So i'll wait and cross my fingers...i'm riding on hopium because the Dr. says growth looks good and he can see and understand something I don't, just need time for hairs to thicken up due to blood flow. Things can still change and turn around...(please..)

The "before" photo isn't really a 100% fair comparison as I was very sweaty there. If I fluffed out my hair, I would have full coverage also. Very wet so some of the strands stick together and create larger looking ones. I asked the Dr. at 6 months, who said "Transplant is growing well, the front will also be full" - I'm assuming this is about the newer hairs that are smaller-ish?(I don't observe that many of them) I certainly hope so, and i'm putting my faith forward but I'm not feeling too great. There are some hairs sprouting, but not enough to make me have confidence this is not a failure yet - there's still way too much of the frontal third that is 0/cm2 past 6 months. Here's an image of March ( 5 months before transplant , first image) with hair pretty maximally fluffy after a shower. The pre-op photo on the first page was taken with my hair overall much longer and with the consultant parting my hair hard in the middle( marple.jpg) My main concern right now is the ultra-low density in the front. Even if I styled my hair up covering this empty patch would be ridiculous. This is also a high density area of the transplant and there is definitely nowhere close to the 30fu/cm2 promised in the exam here yet. Still, I recognize that there is time to grow and turn things around, but I don't usually see people with failed hairlines at month 6+ turn it around. Who knows though ?Maybe i'm a miracle? For example, the density looks really good here. ( see graftz.png ) a better vision of pre-op. But in comparison, see the areas highlighted directly in the front middle of the scalp. There are many areas where there is just 0 grafts /cm2. lol. I'm not saying that they couldn't be sprouting soon, but the hairline is usually first to come in and that there are just huge chunks of zero grafts/cm2 or very close to it makes it ridiculous to try to style my hair upwards because it'd be like putting a bunch of wooden cardboard cutouts in front of an empty lawn ( which is exactly why I got the transplant - to be able to do things with my hair other than just keep it in one direction and pray the wind doesn't blow to expose my scalp. )

I had a hairline pre-op. In fact, you can see it in the very first image. I also attached another pre-op There is almost no change in density so it is very hard to comb it back to achieve any result. This is a not-great image of things when I was very , very sweaty.(attached image) A hairline is one of the only things I actually had(lol) well pre-op ( and now. It wasn't a great hairline, but this image captures it while I was extremely sweaty. When fluffed out, it was a full hairline. Just like it is now. If I fluff it out, it is a full hairline..but it should require less fluffing because there should be like 1k grafts there at least. ). The hairline is visible in Stewie's photos below in the fact that it is native - the length says that it must be native, not transplanted, to be that length at 4mo. I was lacking density in the midscalp and I see almost no change in density in 6 months from what I can observe. I recognize this is a 12 month process but the fact that there is very little visible change at 6mo where typically most of is concerning, when almost every major publication indicates somewhere between 30-50% of result by 6mo, where I am scratching my head and going "is there actually progress?" The difference between these 2 photos is almost nothing imo. Just the lighting. Plus, furthermore, the hairline is already there before - this was at 4 months. The length of the hairline that is present tells you that it is native (blue).I gave Dr. Yaman an image of me with my hair down prior to the procedure to ask him what is achievable, and he said it is, but I may need an additional procedure for the crown. I was prepared for that. As for now, I don't feel there is barely even a change in the hairline. It still looks like there is nothing there ( black ). You can see the same identical gaps. It's like nothing is growing.

Yeah, I think one possibility is that my hairs using to cover up were making things look better. I agree I was diffuse thinner beforehand but the complexity of my case is slightly irrelevant - the doctor accepted my case, which means he was confident in his results. I hope that the thickening will make a difference over time, but what is concerning is the same sort of "gap areas" from before i'm still seeing are very gap like. I do not want to comb my hairs back as I have an awkwardly high forehead and want some bangs - which was advised when I did my consultation with Dr. Yaman, and I think part of the reason why I have grafts all over despite Dr. Yaman telling me I would likely need a second procedure for the crown. I did not touch my scalp even once for 21 days aside from the extremely gentle pats that were instructed by the clinic for hairwash procedure. I did some light scratching after 1 month, but not much. I did not suffer any hits or injuries or bumps to my scalp during the initial period. Visiting again during Antalya was not an option - flight is not possible during first few days after surgery, and I had surgery almost soon upon arriving. But even then, it would likely just be hundreds of dollars for them to tell me the same things they tell me on whatsapp.

Most of the results from yaman looked pretty good initially when I looked at this forum. I did not see Tope and Lirti, who are both failed transplants imo. If I saw them before I went to Yaman I would have bailed as they are both kind of similar to my loss and had garbage results. My official 6 month will be this weekend. I will check in then and ask for input. There's really no meaningful things I can add to my routine that aren't already there as without a scalp biopsy or something they are just guessing. ( My scalp doesn't play nice with microneedling - so I won't do that. I've already seen a dermatologist that insists it's just normal MPB and all of my bloodwork doesn't insist there's anything obviously wrong.) This is an image of me shuffling my hair to look versus pre-op. You can see almost no difference. Either less than 10% of grafts survived or i'm a magical late grower. But people with no growth don't turn around at month 6 and become a succesful transplant. They just get maybe a little bit of growth and become a failed one. There is a difference between slow growth and no growth. Maybe native hair was murdered by the transplant? I really don't know. I'm willing and literally trying 100% of all medical therapies at this point but it's looking pretty grim.

I think I might have got excited when I was on vacation. I'm like..constantly desperately checking to see signs of growth but I just don't see it. I realized when I was on vacation the back hairs were getting longer so I could hide and cover up again...exactly like I was pre-transplant. This got me excited when I stopped to do a double-take. We're just a few days shy of 6 months now. I'm still following the clinic's directions, i've been on medical therapy for years. Is there any improvement? I see basically all of the same gaps that I saw pre transplant. I feel that there's still almost nothing happening and we're just shy of 6 months. My old native hair is back and helping to cover, but I feel like i'm gradually losing my mind. Each passing month is a "is there some improvement?" that I scamper for. I mean, hell, it looks worse than pre-transplant still. I think this 6 month update is just about game over. I shouldn't be struggling to see growth at 6 months. This is just sad. I included a bonus pre-op picture before this.( 2 months before the transplant) I had always planned on 2 surgeries, but now i'm not sure because I didn't bank on 1 surgery being pretty much a failure. Today 2 months prior in slightly different lighting than op post, and without hair parted in the middle today. Looks worse than pre-op still.

OK boys, this is 5months, 1 weeks. I'm just back from Antalya, Turkey ( Got lower blepharoplasty to get rid of my undereye bags! Antalya is so beautiful!) This was my finally "we are turning this ship around, boys" moment. Just a few weeks ago, I was like "can this shazbot really turn around in two weeks?!" and by the power of the Great Gatsby, the answer is YES. Harsh overhead lighting..we are not there yet. But I am now officially past telling friends "no, my hair transplant didn't fail, i'm busy growing, leave me alone" over and over. In cloudier lighting? We are now looking pretty good. Especially if I fluff my hair a little bit after a shower. I hope for things to thicken up and get denser, but now i'm starting to feel pretty good! Thank you for your support! Like Son Goku, I have taken all of your prayers and began growing. I think my hair just might grow slow in general. I still haven't got a haircut since the procedure, lol. STAY TUNED BOYS, THIS IS MAYBE GETTING GOOD

Thank you all for your encouragement, it helps. Dr. Yaman does not do the full procedure. He does consultation and hairline design, and then incision. Techs do extraction and insertion. Yaman comes to check in several times during the procedure. When I selected yaman, I selected based on a couple quite good results on high norwood cases on this forum. I did not see Tope and Lirti (who I think both had a failed transplant ) or I would not have selected this doctor. I am just disheartened because everyone's ugly duckling is supposed to be like 3-4 months, and for me it seems it may be longer. (and what's worse, now is about soon the time whether I find out this is a fail or success.)I found someone like me on reddit who had a great transformation ( I am not sure I am allowed to display reddit posts here? ) But if you look at this guy and then see his 6.5 month, wow. This guy is my inspiration and I hope for something like this. I think also it is hard to maybe see if I have density since longer , thicker hairs are covering up my smaller hairs

I actually did watch this video initially, It kind of inspired hope - however there is still an improvement from pre-op to month 5 in all of these slow grower examples. For me, I have negative improvement. ( at least it kind of feels that way )

I reached out to the clinic today. They recommended I stop oral minoxidil and switch to topical minoxidil 1x/ day at nighttime. I will follow the clinic's directions but it does not inspire hope. I'm 1 week away from 5 months and I look significantly worse than pre-transplant still. I'm trying not to panic but I haven't seen anyone with results like mine at almost 5 months. I'm trying to grow whatever native hair I have left out to cover things up but I have a feeling some of the native hair didn't survive the transplant from the way things look. Usually people see some sort of positives by now. I don't even have a complete hairline and look worse than most people pre-op. If anyone has any examples of anyone as bad as me as 5 months that turned things around, I could really use some hope now. I am assuming I am a failed transplant at this point but i'll continue to update for the good of the journaling. ( plus journaling helps let some stress out )