10 months versus 12 months post op

[fritz68]

Dear all,

 

I'm posting my results 10 (first pic) versus 12 months (other 2 pics) post-op after an approx. 1700 graft frontal zone FUT. My hair is otherwise quite thick with exception of transplant

 

Perhaps it's not so clear from photos but I've seen a nice improvement in the last 2 months. At 10 months I was 100% convinced I'd need a 2nd pass. Now I'm not quite so sure.

 

My options are to leave it as is, wait another 4 months or so before making a decision, or going ahead and booking a 2nd FUT. Any thoughts much appreciated

[mattj]

A nice example of how it's best to refrain from judging the result until you've reached 12 months at least.

If you're really desiring an increase in density, could it be worth looking at FUE? A relatively small number of grafts would be needed. Definitely wait a few months, though, like spex said.

[Cant decide]

Expectations and frame of reference are a funny thing. I would be thrilled with this hairline (At 10 or 12 months

 

Good Luck

[fritz68]

Spex, thanks for your advice. I've actually read your bit on patience about 100x, helped get me through the first 11 months or so

 

Mattj, thank you, yes FUE would definitely be a possibility, but am not so keen on the shaving part. Agree, my case does emphasise importance of patience. My growth timeline was as follows:

 

3-5 months nothing much, just wispy stubble

7 months-longer but wispy and thinking it had been a complete failure

9-10 months looking better but still nowhere near density of original hairline behind and clear demarcation between the 2. But occasional good hair day

12 months. Blending in, lot more good hair days and getting compliments on hair.

 

It's an extremely long wait when you're expecting fireworks at 4 months.

 

Can't decide. Thank you, I realise I'm lucky, with a great starting point. I think humans are neurally designed to take what they have for granted, and happiness (albeit transient) can be achieved by either getting back what you lost or getting more than you already have. I'm lucky to be in the 2nd category, although those in the first category are lucky to be born in an age when they're able to do something about it.

[RCWest]

Expectations and frame of reference are a funny thing. I would be thrilled with this hairline (At 10 or 12 months

 

Good Luck

 

I would be thrilled also! It's a FAR cry from no hair at all!

[Amped]

Fritz,

Looks amazing to me. Thanks for month by month expectations post...I needed some sense knocked into me. I am nearly 6 weeks and was getting impatient and thinking of the worst.

[Blake Bloxham]

Fritz,

 

Thank you for posting these images. Like others have said, this really adds some proof to the idea of waiting 12 months before officially judging the results of a hair transplant procedure. Additionally, I agree that your hairline looks good!

[BlondeDude]

I just got to the 4 month mark myself. 8 more months of examination and concern haha!

[fritz68]

Thanks for your comments guys.

 

A few points to note:

 

(1) I think I'm an exceptionally slow grower so hopefully if you're in early stages you'll be one of the guys who have great results by 6 months or so.

 

(2) I stopped minoxidil at month 4, restarted at month 9. Not sure if this is coincidental

 

(3) I still have stubble, but it seems like some of it is perpetual stubble, i.e, grafts that neither grow nor fall out.

 

(4) Once grown in, the first 3-4cm that grew was so wispy/kinked that it needed to be clipped off. It didn't match hair behind.

 

(5) The longest wait is probably if you have hair transplanted in front of thick hair, as the hair needs to both grow and mature until it looks decent.

[wb280]

Hi mate, am i glad to see your post! I am at 9 months now and i am in that predicament of contemplating a second pass as my density is mediocre at best. I am really hopeful that the next few months would bring a miracle to me! but i am prepared for the worst

 

In any case, your hair is already thicker than mine. I am not expecting a wow result but a justifiable result for 3150 grafts...

[fritz68]

Hi wb280, really hope you get some satisfaction, not sure how far you've come since your 4.5 months pics you have in your profile so can't comment (I saw ur other post on 2nd pass)

 

I remember Dr. Lindsey posting that he'd ideally see patients post-op at 16 months, but at 1 yr there was about 80% of final result. So you might be only 60% of the way there with respect to the final aesthetic impact.

 

At 10 months I began to see a lot extremely thin hairs that were almost invisible to naked eye that have thickened up in last 2 months. Are you seeing that? It's hard to tell but I wondered if doubles initially came in as singles before the 2nd shaft came in.

[waveskier]

Looks great. I'm now at 8 months and looking forward to more improvement over the next few months. Thanks for posting the pics.

[wb280]

hey fritz sorry for the late reply. In fact i do see several v thin and translucent hairs growing. I saw that during the detailed check at the clinic a couple months back as well. I really hope that i am just a slow grower. Pardon me for not updating the pics as they look quite bad now and i dun want to create unnecessary friction between me and my doc as i promised to wait till at least 1 year ( he said probably 18 months to see the full results ). I will defn post pics at the end of the journey

 

Hows it so far for u?

[fritz68]

Hey there wb280, I'll say that I'm in much better shape than I was only a few months back, but I'll still need another pass to get it to the stage where there isn't a marked jump in density between transplanted and native hair. There simply isn't enough hairs even with shaft thickening in the next 6 months.

 

I don't know how much of your hair in your old pics is native hair but it's much more than I had at that stage.

[fritz68]

I see now it's your native hair at 4.5 months (just saw your immed. post op photos and read you were shaved). It looks like it was a very large area you covered with 3500 hairs, the post-op pics look immaculate but even with 90+% growth the spacing between the grafts must dictate that you'll need a second pass to match the hair behind no? Or did Dr. Path think one might be enough?

[wb280]

fritz. actually i do not think that was a really big patch. Bear in mind that i had native hair to start with so ideally if all the grafts have grown, i goto admit i should better than wat i am looking right now

 

Nevetheless i will wait for 18mths to come before i make a final conclusion. Yup Dr Pat did suggest a second pass but like i posted in the other thread, i am sort of in a dilemma. There is defn growth but its not at the pt whereby i am satisfied, but i have enough now to put on some hair products and look fairly good. Its tough to decide, which is why i hope i just have another, say 20% of thickening + growth and i should be able to move on and save my donor till i m older

 

wats ur call?

[fritz68]

@wisiorek, if you're looking like I do now at an earlier stage then you've every reason to be positive. Hope it goes onwards and upwards.

 

@wb280, of course we're all experiments of one so I can't predict what will happen in your case but based on my experience, if you'd be happy with another 20%, then I think you'll achieve that between now and 18months.

 

If that's where you are, my guess is that, like me, you'll want a 2nd pass to get things looking almost perfect, but you'll look good enough to not be desperate to get it done. That's a very good feeling, when you feel that it's not detracting from your looks, even if it's not perfect.

[fritz68]

Another point is that tonight I was out with closest friends, guys I've known for years, and we were talking about surgery. One guy mentioned that the worst he'd seen was hair transplants, that it was a brutal process.

 

I never told a soul I did this, but I was able to explain that I don't believe it's painful and that the patients are actually conscious.

 

If you compare my before and after there's a marked difference, but the change happens so slowly it's hard to tell. Even I have to look at before photos to remind myself of how far I've come.

[corvettester]

Very encouraging!

 

As someone who is coming up on his 6 month update, I can't tell you how encouraging this is. I see so many early growers that lots of us expect too much and become to impatient and overly-critical.

 

Not that my HT isn't coming along well, it's just that, like anyone, I want more! It's nice to know that I potentially still have so much more to look forward to.

 

Thanks for the post Fritz68.

 

All the best,

 

 

Corvettester

[C]

Agreed. I think with all the anticipation we have for growth, it is nice to hear all the reassuring posts about "4mth growth, 6mth explosion" etc... When, in reality, regardless how great of a grower you think you might be. The actually results will not show up until 12-18mth post procedure. I have had great results showing at 3mths and 6 mths, but it takes only one thing for the shaft to thicken and fully mature... and thats time.

Once it really has time to develop and catch up to where your natural hair is, you will be amazed how much of a difference it will make. Though the gradual progress is great to see, time and patience are the ultimately the key to a great final result.

[wb280]

C, i am at the point whereby i no longer hinge on the hope that there will be new hairs. I think i will just settle with existing hairs thickening as they are still v thin and wispy and curly... Do u see a big difference between your lets say 9mths and 18mths?

[wb280]

Fritz, after considering for some time, i believe i will not chase HL anymore... at least for these couple years. I am at a point whereby concealers can work their magic, plus some hair products... i can pull it off so i will just reserve my donor for utilisation in the future! Like u said, i am not expecting for much more. just another 20% new growth+ thickening... i will be satisfied. i know i m not headed for a wow result, guess i goto suck it up and live with it. nothing much i can do now anyway!

[amanindia]

Really awesome results!!Congrats!!

[C]

C, i am at the point whereby i no longer hinge on the hope that there will be new hairs. I think i will just settle with existing hairs thickening as they are still v thin and wispy and curly... Do u see a big difference between your lets say 9mths and 18mths?

 

Yes! Actually after a year I remember thinking "well it turned out pretty good" then a few months later, I could tell when washing my hair and even in photos, the density got better and it really "filled" in as it thickened up. If you think of it like a babies hair, it takes years for it to mature. Granted a hair transplant is a bit different scenario but not entirely. You are taking hair to completely re-build itself and it takes time to set its place in the new location and mature fully. As it goes through its phases of growth and even falling out and growing back in.

[fritz68]

Well it's now gone 14months and I've decided to go in for a 2nd session with Dr. Alexander in Arizona. I narrowed it down to a few excellent choices, but Dr. Alexander was the only that ticked every box and made the idea of flying the extra 5hrs (after 9hr flight to Boston) worth it.

 

I'm much more positive going into this 2nd session as (1) I now know FUT works (2) I only need thickening behind the hairline so it will be much less noticeable in the first 3 months post-op (3) I now see what a huge difference a 2-3cm lowering of my hairline has made in my appearance.

 

Now I can pretty much sit back with a certain amount of confidence knowing that things should be looking very good by early next year (procedure in June).

 

To cut a long story short, the first 10-12 months were psychologically tough hairwise...but now that I got past that I'm delighted I got this done, money very well spent.

Edited May 3, 2011 by fritz68