7 days post OP, overall miserable experience and looking for some advice

[episode4anewhope]

That's exactly what I'll be doing before undergoing this procedure, I did a lot of research and took consultation with about 5 other doctors, all highly recommended on this forum. Though I really shouldn't, I keep wondering whether results would have been different if I had went with one of them instead. This is the problem with making medical decisions as a layman - with as much research as we can do online, we are not experts - we have to put our trust in the doctors that give us medical advice. You can never tell who is right and who is wrong.

 

I've already presented my case to one of the forum's favorites - Dr. Bisanga - and he suggested to do an in-person consultation when he visits the U.S and a 100 graft extraction test to ascertain the difficulty of an operation. As my experience with him so far has been very poor, I would be very reluctant to go to another operation with the same doctor that did the first.

[hairweare]

Have you consulted with Dr. Lorenzo? Since he does both the extractions and implantations himself he would be on the top of my list. Your situation has already been shown to be challenging to a physician who does a lot of FUE procedures. I would be more at ease with a single operator with a great track record than a "team" if I were in your position.

[episode4anewhope]

I have not consulted with Dr. Lorenzo. Perhaps I should - I have quite some time before I'll be ready for another operation, so I'll be sure to exhaust my options.

 

Would you be willing to go another operation with a doctor that has failed to provide a good yield for you? whether my specific condition is really that difficult and rare considering my ethnicity and hair growth outside the skin, or whether the doctors skills and technique were not a good fit, remains to be seen. I only have his word for it, which is why I would like to have a small test with another doctor to confirm it.

[bismarck]

I do think that your surgeon (I am almost certain who he is) should initially have performed Fox Testing to determine your suitability for a large FUE procedure and then told you about the challenges that your donor was exhibiting. Your options would have been to abort the procedure, continue with compromised graft numbers, or switch to strip -- but at least you could have made an informed decision, albeit under pressure and medication. That said, you do seem to be healing well, and I think you can at least be optimistic that the grafts that were transplanted will grow well and take some comfort in your surgeon's decision not to squander large numbers of donor follicles with futile efforts to extract them.

 

 

I would agree with this. I really respect the surgeons out there who insist on Fox testing ahead of time. Although this becomes difficult when traveling a long distance for procedures, it was specifically designed to help avoid situations like this. I am generally not a big fan of going back to the same surgeon for revisions, but this is a personal choice.

 

E4, be patient, don't jump to any conclusions yet. The next 6 months will be quite an emotional rollercoaster, just do your best to not think about it. You still could do quite well in the long run. Unfortunately, unlike most cosmetic procedures, hair transplants require an almost insane amount of patience.

 

The next few months will be a time of meditation and reflection. Think of this as your time on Dagobah. You may very well look back on this one day as a distant memory and think "Was that really me? Was I really there?"

[episode4anewhope]

Bismarck, thank you for the encouragement and positive outlook. This is why I visit those forums

 

In my specific case, the doctor was only 20 minutes drive from where I live - we could've easily done a test if I had known about it and about the possible complications.

 

I think what a lot of people in this thread might miss, is that I really don't fret that much about the results of the transplant itself. Having done much research, I knew beforehand that it's risk and not all transplants pan out. What I did not know, however, was how big the scarring risk to the donor was. This is why I opted for FUE after all, despite significantly higher costs - cause I wanted to keep the option of keeping my hair really short. Significant, visible scarring from FUE (thousands of concave scars due to large amount of skin removed at each extraction point), was not something that I even considered - all the post-op photos of FUE procedures I've seen had such minimal trauma to the scalp, that my post-op photos looks very scary in comparison.

 

I've been talking to a friend today that has a nasty incident on his leg a few years ago, which left a large indent scar about 1cm deep. He basically had a crater in his leg. But it filled out over a period of close to a year - the reasoning he gave is that even though the skin is healed on the outside, the flesh behind the scar is still missing and healing, and once it is fully reformed, the skin resumes its normal, level surface. It made a lot of sense to me, and gave me much hope that I wouldn't end up looking like I am right now in a few months, even though on the outside it looks like the healing process is over. Also, I've been experimenting with several healing lotions and creams since day 7, after reading that Bacitracin does not really have much healing properties outside of preventing infection, and I think I have found something that works for me. More updates on that in a couple of days.

[jkm3]

Hey Episode4anewhope, I completely understand your frustration and worry. I also had an FUE procedure done this year and, like you, I freaked out when I saw the condition of my donor area the next day. My donor area looked pretty much exactly like yours did. Moreover, I also suffered significant shock loss in that area.

 

I have good news for you, though. I'm now 3.5 months post op and my donor area has healed very well. I shaved my sides down to a one guard a month or so ago and saw that the skin surface was level and the hair I'd lost grew back.

 

I applied Vitamin E spray and Aloe Vera gel to my donor area twice a day. I believe this helped me out, but I can't say for sure. Unfortunately, a major factor in donor area healing is time. I attached a few pictures to give you an idea of what you can expect. This is my hair restoration thread if you want to see more pictures: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/177064-2-460-fue-hair-transplant-doctor-john-diep.html

 

Hang in there! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

3 Days Post Op (Donor area has Aloe Vera gel applied to it):

 

14 Days Post Op:

 

2.5 Weeks Post Op:

 

3.5 Months Post Op (Current):

[hairweare]

Speaking medically, wounds actually heal for the bottom up and from the outer edges to the inner. That said, small .9mm holes created with a sharp punch should not result in significant pitting scars.

[episode4anewhope]

jkm - thanks so much for the encouraging words. Though I think your donor looks better than mine 3 days post-op, I'm glad to hear you've healed and that the skin surface became level again.

 

hairweare - I completely agree. Small .9mm holes should not result in pitting scars. The holes you can see in my post-op photos are significantly larger in diameter - I would say 2-2.5mm. That also means a much larger surface area (as it increases squared to the radius). Still, recent days' progress and the encouragement of other members here on the forum leave me hopeful it will heal well.

[m0dthispny]

this is unfortunate as this surgeon yields great results, but your donor did heal very well the first week so i think you will be ok. we always assume that were perfect candidates for surgery and often blame the surgeon if were not a good candidate, not to say your blaming the dr, but unfortunately these things happen time to time.

 

the work on the recipient area looks good, hopefully the donor area heals well so he can finish up the rest of the surgery.

 

keep us updated

[episode4anewhope]

m0dthuspny, I'm sure you mean well. I'm not saying I was the perfect candidate. However, the doctor did "sell" me on a certain result, which was backed by multiple consultations with other well regarded doctors. As we know, there are many approaches and tools for this kind of procedure, and each doctor swears their combination is the best. If there was an agreed upon standard, then everybody would be using the same approach and there would be no questioning on whether it was the best fit for a certain case.

 

Suppose you go to a car dealership, and get sold a lemon. The salesman might claim that there's nothing to be done, due to complications at the manufacturing process, but no one will let that fly, right? you would expect the dealership to make it right (at least in the U.S).

 

Now, we're not even talking about purchasing a thing, we're talking about changing a person's physical appearance, and also dealing with pain, discomfort, and a long healing process. Unlike buying a car, which is a well understood process, you are putting all your trust in an expert to provide you with all the information you need to make a decision. You don't think that the surgeon has some responsibility, considering he promised one thing and delivered another? considering that when he knew he was not able to deliver the initial expected result, he should've consulted with the patient and allow him to make an informed decision? You can't just brush that off with "these things happen". That's not acceptable. Yes, hair transplant procedure carry a certain amount of risk - like some of the grafts not taking hold, and the total result being less than initially expected. However, what happened here falls way outside of that relatively well understood and explained risk, and in my opinion, the doctor has to share some of the responsibility and cannot place it all on the patient.

Post operation, the doctor informed me of the results, and that the initial plan of doing 2 operations of 2500-3000 to get the promised result is now out of the question. He said he could do another operation of 1600 (using the same yield from this op as a guide), then a 3rd operation of 1000 - and that would max out how much he could harvest to avoid the donor looking damaged. The original planned coverage would then not be achievable (I'm not talking right now about the risk that some of the grafts won't take hold). Since he knew that when he figured what his yield would be - and did not give the option the make a decision on whether to continue - I think he definitely holds some responsibility. All this not including other things mentioned in this thread - excessive trauma to the donor region, incomplete hairline (which I mentioned in a few posts here), and extractions from outside the safe zone.

Edited October 20, 2014 by episode4anewhope

[m0dthispny]

episode4anewhope, i didn't mean to say the dr. shouldn't have any accountability. As you said, when you pay for the surgery, you expect results from it. surgery is not 100% fool-proof, and in the instances where things don't plan out the way you had anticipated, you hope that the dr. will make things right. End of day this is why you pick the good surgeons, because you know they have the accountability and reputation because of the way they treat their patients.

[glocktop]

E4, as frightening as your post-op donor pics looked, the 1 week photos look remarkably improved. How are you looking these days? Any pics for an update? Most of the threads I have seen around here show the donor site looks more or less undisturbed after 2 to 3 weeks of regrowth which effectively conceals all of the extraction sites. Hopefully you're improving with each day, and even if the extractions take longer to heal in your case, at least they'll be undetectable soon with your native hair regrowth providing some cover. Hang in there buddy!

[abcd0000]

Oh dear. That definitely looks larger than 0.9 mm. I am so sorry for you and I agree that the Dr. should have given you a choice. Taking grafts outside of safe zone, not completing the hairline, the huge punches--it all looks incredibly irresponsible for a reputed doctor. How did it even happen?

 

I hope your healing is going well and that your recipient grows well. With the area covered, I'd say that there are still good chances for a very decent result. But definitely change the doctor for the second HT...

[episode4anewhope]

Here are donor shots 13 days post-op. I buzzed my head with no guard 2 days ago. Not much visible improvement, if any, compared to day 7 photos (some of it could be attributed to shorter hair).

[hairweare]

Looks fine and normal for where you are at. Time to forget about it and stop looking in the mirror everyday. Take photos at monthly intervals and try to resume your normal life, I am sure you will not have any disfiguring scars.

[episode4anewhope]

Thanks, I'm trying. Someone above asked for update pics, so I've posted those.

[Blake Bloxham]

Episode,

 

I think the updated pics look much improved! Frankly, this, in my opinion, is a fairly normal 2 week post-op appearance.

 

Like a few others said, I think you can breath a sigh of relief and relax a bit.

[PupDaddy]

As others have said, looks totally normal for 2 weeks post op, especially considering you have buzzed down to a zero (0) guard. It's a shame you'd didn't get the graft numbers you will need for a full restoration, but you should get some decent cosmetic improvement of your hairline and apparently without any long-term damage have been done. You look good with the buzzed down look!

 

Good advice now to relax, try not to think about it, and take monthly photos.

[m0dthispny]

it looks fine! the results will be great (for the amount of grafts the dr. did)

 

you can then have another HT to fill the rest in.

[jkm3]

Episod4anewhope, can you please update your case?