Senior Member TheEmperor Posted April 9, 2008 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2008 One thing that is interesting to me is that most people make subjective judgements on their yield based on their overall look (or improvement), instead of counting actual growing grafts. A patient with coarse hair, densely packed into a small area could be quite happy, even if he gets a low yield (from FUE or otherwise). OTH, a guy with poor characteristics, and a modest number of grafts planted over a large area could have 100% growth yet be unhappy with his result. My observation is that each recipient site leaves a tiny divot and in the right lighting you can see which ones are growing hair and which ones are not. I have been taking close up photos to evaluate the % of hairs that are growing. I am still in the doldrums phase and would say that 10-20% of the graft sites have shown activity, but growth is not uniform. There are a couple areas with more activity than others. My observation is that as early as week 7 there were some new tiny hair shafts and that this trend has continued uninterrupted (slowly) over time. I would not say that there has been an "explosion" but rather a slow progression. I am obvisouly fearful that this will not continue or fill in some of the void areas. I am very interested to see what % of the grafts grow. The subjective evaluation of my yield is clouded by the fact I had a decent amount of diffuse native hair which is now longer than any grafts that are growing. The only way for me to evaluate growth rates is close up photography of hairline recipient sites (where there was very little native hair.) I think first hand graft counting (sampling) is the only way to know for sure what % has grown. My Hair Loss Web Site - Hair Transplant with Dr. Wong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member TheEmperor Posted April 9, 2008 Author Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2008 One thing that is interesting to me is that most people make subjective judgements on their yield based on their overall look (or improvement), instead of counting actual growing grafts. A patient with coarse hair, densely packed into a small area could be quite happy, even if he gets a low yield (from FUE or otherwise). OTH, a guy with poor characteristics, and a modest number of grafts planted over a large area could have 100% growth yet be unhappy with his result. My observation is that each recipient site leaves a tiny divot and in the right lighting you can see which ones are growing hair and which ones are not. I have been taking close up photos to evaluate the % of hairs that are growing. I am still in the doldrums phase and would say that 10-20% of the graft sites have shown activity, but growth is not uniform. There are a couple areas with more activity than others. My observation is that as early as week 7 there were some new tiny hair shafts and that this trend has continued uninterrupted (slowly) over time. I would not say that there has been an "explosion" but rather a slow progression. I am obvisouly fearful that this will not continue or fill in some of the void areas. I am very interested to see what % of the grafts grow. The subjective evaluation of my yield is clouded by the fact I had a decent amount of diffuse native hair which is now longer than any grafts that are growing. The only way for me to evaluate growth rates is close up photography of hairline recipient sites (where there was very little native hair.) I think first hand graft counting (sampling) is the only way to know for sure what % has grown. My Hair Loss Web Site - Hair Transplant with Dr. Wong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member notgoing2gobald Posted April 9, 2008 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2008 So are you going to use this thread as your running hair blog? I think you should, because you keep telling us bits and pieces on other people's threads, but then stop.. you don't have to tell us your doc, thats cool. what month (post op) are you at now? how many grafts did you have moved? what nw level were/are you? these 'divot's how bad are they? your saying the recipient slits the doc made are still visible to you? I pm-ed you several time w/out a response...but that's cool too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member TheEmperor Posted April 9, 2008 Author Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2008 I didnt repond to your PMs because you asked me questions that I said I was not going to answer. I have mentioned that I have had a HT with a coalition doc but have no plans to document it online and would prefer to stay anonymous. However, I can certainly commiserate with many of the posters here because I am going through some of the same things (doldrums, etc). I am certainly curious about growth rates and am not far enough along to make any judgements, but just thought it would be prudent to count graft sites as opposed to the subjective appearance of hair and wonder if anyone else has done this? My Hair Loss Web Site - Hair Transplant with Dr. Wong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member notgoing2gobald Posted April 9, 2008 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2008 Ummmm...ok. In the pms and even here I asked you questions (not who your doc was) like: how many months post op are you? how many grafts did you have? can you elaborate on those divits? I swear talking to you is like having a conversation with a BRICK WALL ... Im in a bad mood I give up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member nm315 Posted April 9, 2008 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2008 emperor..nice blog..hmmm... http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/home-page.asp?WebID=1247 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairbank Posted April 9, 2008 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2008 I'm not sure how accurately you can actually count the graft survival rate?? I know clinics can do it and there have been studies performed but I assumed it was because they were equipped with staff and technology the average person doesn't have?? Anyway, to each his own. I suppose documenting with well-taken pictures has always been good enough to me. After evaluating several before/afters with # of grafts and other specs, it's really not too tough to tell if the majority of the graftss grew. Hairbank 1st HT 1-18-05 - 1200 FUT's 2nd HT 2-15-06 - 3886 FUT's Dr. Wong 3rd HT 4-24-08 - 2415 FUT's Dr. Wong GRAND TOTAL: 7501 GRAFTS current regimen: 1.25mg finasteride every other day My Hair Loss Weblog Disclaimer: I'm not a Doctor (and have never played one on TV ) and have no medical training. Any information I share here is in an effort to help those who don't like hair loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 This is an interesting topic. I agree that at least from a patient point of view, that judging the results is a highly subjective process. We'll judge the result based on what we believe a certain number of grafts are to look like. Hair geeks like the majority of us here on the forum will also know to take hair characteristics and density verses coverage into account. I think it would be a great question however for physicians as to how they measure growth rate. In speaking with many physicians, most will agree that the growth rate of strip can be anywhere up to 95%+. FUE is a bit more controversial. But how they conclude this percentage would be a great question to ask them. If I had the ability, I might just count every single graft on my head, but I just don't think it's possible. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member notgoing2gobald Posted April 9, 2008 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2008 I think it's plausible anyone could do this--- shave your head down to a #1 guard take a high resolution pic of your noggin count away... or better yet, download it on your computer, blow it *way* up, then using photo shop or some other application one could even 'dot' each follicle w/a color to ensure they don't re-count the same grafts. man, only a *real* hair geek would do this! *I* can't wait!!! Brick Wall, do you *not* even want to tell us the # of grafts you had moved, and the other questions? (go ahead, just ignore the questions as though I didn't even say anything)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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