24 yo - Nwood 3 - Dr. Diep - 2281 FUT Grafts

[YoungNorwood3]

Hi everyone!

 

First time poster, long time reader of these forums and researcher on all things hair-loss related. Let me say by reading everyone experiences it has given me a lot of courage and inspiration and (I hope to do the same to you). Here is a very brief background on myself so you know where I am coming from. I am currently 24, have been experiencing hair loss all across the top of my head since I was roughly 16. I have thick-italian hair, slightly wavy. My hair loss is to the point now where it is very noticeable (to me at least), my hairline has receeded greatly and overall top is pretty wispy and thin (no longer able to style, etc). So after years of research, 2 years on rogaine, and shying away from cameras and mirrors I decided to get something done about it.

 

I live in the CA area, south of San Francisco and went to a few prominent docs out here and ultimately settled with Dr. John Diep for the FUT strip procedure. I decided on Dr. Diep for a few reasons, he was very personal and at the same time professional. He is very experienced, and impressed me with his previous work on other patients. I am happy to say that I had 2281 grafts performed yesterday (took roughly 8 hours, which actually flew by) and am extremely happy with how the procedure went. The graft breakdown is as follows: (420 - 1 hair, 1210 - 2 hairs, 651 - 3 hairs for a total of 4793). Dr. Diep mentioned that I had an excellent amount of 3 hair grafts. There was little to no pain involved except when the anesthesia was administered. After that, I felt absolutely nothing and was happy to watch a few movies (Shawshank redemption!, etc.) Overall the Dr. and his staff did a great job, but you can judge for yourself. I am posting before/after pics below and will keep you all posted as to the progress that I see in 3 months intervals, I am currently starting Propecia as well. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have and I will answer them if I can. A big thanks is in order to everyone on this board who has shared their experienses and instilled confidence in me that you do not have to go through life unhappy with baldness.

 

Below are immediately before heading into the surgery and immediate post-op the morning after. I will post some pics of the scar after the bandage has been taken off and they walk me through my first hair washing procedure!

Edited October 16, 2011 by YoungNorwood3

[Hairgoesnothing]

Looks good. You should have great results. Keep us posted on your progress.

[TakingThePlunge]

YoungNorwood3,

 

Welcome an congratulations on your recent hair transplant. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to your continued updates.

[Spanker]

I am a little unsure about your situation. I do not mean to cause you any undue worry, because it is too late now, and it may just be your skin, but the grafts seem a lillt too spaced. It just does't look very refined. Also, you appear to be headed to a NW judging from the pics, but it would be the lighting again.

 

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, I just looked at the work and my initial reaction was not positive.

 

That said, I think very few people get where they want to be in one surgery, so there will be a chance to add density at a later date.

[YoungNorwood3]

Thanks for your reply Spanker.

 

As I cannot say for sure if the grafts are completely as close as they should be, I can say for certain that I do not have thin straight hair at all. The fact that I have thick/wavy hair along with propecia (and considering my young age allowing me to get a good kick from the propecia) should make the space seem optimal with the amount of grafts that were placed. It might be hard to tell from the pics but the grafts are placed extremely close in the hairlinne/front and not as dense in the vertex. The reasoning behind this is due to the frontal hairline shaping your face, being most noticeable and the crown, while recieving less grafts, in general receives most assistance from propecia. Keeping in mind that it could also could be the low resolution of the picture or the lighting as well and that I am not expecting to have the hair density of a teenager!

 

Edited October 17, 2011 by YoungNorwood3

[Jazzy]

Hi Youngnorwood 3,

 

How short do you plan on keeping you hair on the side's?

[YoungNorwood3]

I keep my hair on the sides/back around 3/8" or 1/2". As it is right now almost 1 month post-op, you cannot see the scar at all with my hair being 3/8" on the sides and back. Why do you ask?

[Jazzy]

Was just wondering. Did you think of going for fue?

[scar5]

YN3,

 

Thanks for your post. I hope you grow well. To be honest I just wanna know one thing. How was Dr. Diep able to convince you to chose strip at your stage of life and hair loss?

 

I, like you, was 24 when I stepped into the world of HT. I still had the full crop at 17, but by 18 and a half it was going.

 

And like you, I went to a local surgeon who seemed to be reasonable. I even did the strange move of asking a renowned doctor in another field, radiology infact, to recommend a HT doctor to me based on what I thought of as come kind of "doctor-peer-respect" thing. I ended up going with the the president of the IHSRS! the biggest HT association in the world at the time (still is??) so I thought I chose pretty wisely.

 

Now I am 48, and I am still here, all these years later trying to sort out my dilemmas. I made some dumb mistakes along the way, including recently, and perhaps the biggest I made was opting for an HT at a time when the techniques were not a match for what hormones were gonna do for me. I chose strip surgery (it was that or scalp reduction -trust me u don't wanna know about that one) when it was clear I would lose much more hair.

 

So my question is this. You are an early loser of hair. Dr. Diep does both FUE and strip. How was it he was able to convince you, at your age, and at your stage of hair loss, that strip would be a wise choice for you? I am not stronger or wiser myself. I got convinced to do strip as recently as three years ago by a HIGHLY respected surgeon. It created my worst scar. (edit - well, it is now my worst, I actually had one worse, that was revised in 2003, created by my first HT the same doc who subsequently created my best scar, still today -end edit)

 

I wish you all the best, and I hope you can take advantage of all the medications, information boards, highly skilled "surgeons" as well as the other options that are now available.

 

Thanks for the post and pictures.

Edited November 15, 2011 by scar5
see (edit brackets)

[YoungNorwood3]

I was more concerned with the retention of the available grafts then having a scar. When weighing the pros and cons of strip and fue, strip was a much better choice for the results I wanted, my financial situation, etc. At one month and 5 days out, the scar is absolutely non noticeable even with short hair like I mentioned before. I am also happy to report that I am responding very well to propecia and my hair no longer falls out at the vast pace it used to. Also I have a very elastic scalp when compared to others so that was another reason why i choose the strip method. Hope this answers your questions!

[hair1978]

Hey YN3! Looking forward to your results. I'm also having my procedure done with Dr John Diep. But I'm doing FUE procedure. Did Dr Diep do a YouTube video of you?

[YoungNorwood3]

Hi Hair1978.

 

Of course he did! Here is the link to them both (one for front and the other for crown)

 

(Videos removed by moderator - See Terms of Service)

 

Best of luck, I am sure you have found him to be very kind and skilled. How many grafts will you be receiving?

Edited September 6, 2012 by TakingThePlunge

[hair1978]

Ah, I already watched these two videos!

I will be receiving around 2,000 FUE grafts to establish a hairline and fill in the front.

Yes, you are right, he is approachable and professional.

I'm looking forward to the procedure and my YouTube video!

[YoungNorwood3]

Haha glad you already watched them.

 

Keep us informed of the procedure! I can tell you that it is ABSOLUTELY pain free, bring a few movies to watch also. Feel free to message me if you have any inquiries about Dr. Diep or anything about the procedure and following days after.

 

Best of luck!

[johnyq]

How are your results now YoungNorwood3 ?

[YoungNorwood3]

The results have been amazing. My hairline is fully restored and it has done wonders for my confidence. I can't wait to go back to Dr. Deep's office and share my results with him!

[Slickers]

The results have been amazing. My hairline is fully restored and it has done wonders for my confidence. I can't wait to go back to Dr. Deep's office and share my results with him!

 

Any pics?

[thinny]

Dr. Diep, those photos are not for the same patient who created this thread.

 

We still have yet to see the results photos from the OP.

 

YoungNorwood3, if you are still around it would awesome if you could help me out with a couple things.

 

1) Can you post after photos. (Including photos of donor area)

 

2) In your bio(and in a post) you say you have medium/thick wavy Italian hair. But your photos don't seem to match that description. Your hair seems quite thin and straight. Like mine. (No offense intended, just looking for some clarification)

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[thinny]

Also, if someone could pm me the video url for this patient it would be very helpful. Thanks guys!

[Bill - Seemiller]

thinny,

 

I believe Dr. Diep meant to update "CanYouHairMeNow's" topic at http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/165773-11-month-update-1548-graft-fue-w-dr-diep.html instead of this one. Thus, I moved his posts to the correct topic.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Jinglealltheway]

Still no photos? Can you please update this thread with your results? You say you are thrilled, and you even posted your before photos. Why not complete this thread with photos of your results?

Thanks

[Rob14]

Do you have any pics? The videos were taken down, and I'd like to see pic/video if you have them.

 

Are you happy with your results? I am very impressed with Dr. Diep's online videos, but it's hard to find too many positive reviews on him. He is who I am considering at the moment (with my second option being Dr. Feller), and I would really appreciate any feedback you can give me to help me make my decision more confidently. This whole process is very stressful (as I know you understand), and I am quite scared that I may make the wrong choice.

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

Hi Hair1978.

 

Of course he did! Here is the link to them both (one for front and the other for crown)

 

(Videos removed by moderator - See Terms of Service)

 

Best of luck, I am sure you have found him to be very kind and skilled. How many grafts will you be receiving?

[Blake Bloxham]

Rob,

 

You're having difficultly finding positive reviews for Dr. Diep? That's strange; I haven't heard his before. As you probably know, he's been thoroughly reviewed and approved for recommendation by our community. Have you reviewed the other results he's posted on the forums? Let me know if I can help you conduct any additional research.

 

Good luck!