i need help after 3700 graft

[missemotan01]

​​Hello, Am glad l found this site and at least I can share my story with people who understand.

l was born with a high hairline and while growing up I was taunted by playmates and made jest of. Thus made me very self Concious of my forehead. from a very tender age l made up my mind that someday l would do something to change my looks.

In 2014 I came across a youtube vlogger thathad the exact same experience with her hairline and did a hair transplant. I was excited.Because not just did she have great result she was black and that treated her was specialist in black african hair. I contacted him lmmediately and scheduled a procedure with him.

lt was quite expensive especially considering that l had to fly all the way from west africa to the states for the Procedure. It all went as planned and I was excited but my joy was short lived.

I was told to wait a year before I can judge my result. I waited, initially the the result was good but 7 months post up l noticed the graft roots was getting enlarged iand very visible like thousands of rashes were popping upon my scalp, It was also very itchy and whitish. It was hideos and aesthetically uncomfortable. Even more embarrassing when people began to notice and make comments,l tried then to contact doctor deip but everytime I called or emailed l kept on getting the same answer : To wait till after one year before I get a review meanwhile symtoms where getting worse. l was depressed and devastated, myself esteem plummeted. The worse part was that it was very difficult to disguise,thanks to my stylist I have now resorted to naomi Campbell type of bangs.

I online and did loads of research,I posted on Realself and some doctor suggested l get treated for folicullitis, I started researching treatments and went to see a dermatologist who prescribe cortisone Injections and antibiotics l choose antibiotics because l was not so sure how the Injections will affect my hair growth and I was not ready to risk the thousands of dollars l spent on HT. I saw slight shortlived improvement while I was taking the antibiotics so I kept researching and l read somewhere that drinking tumeric and taking garlic helps.

so I along with that too and I saw great improvement.

finally when got an online consultation with diep and he insisted I did not request an appointment that Is why his asistants did not put me through to him. But I called several times distressed anyway I didnt want to argue with him so I went on to brief him as the situation. He agreed had folicullitis and I should continue on the antibiotics.He suggestedan ointment as well. Then he suggested l schedule another procedure to increase density and disguise the scaring he did mention anything about treating my hideos looking scalp rather he was telling me how I need to pay another extra $8,000 for 2500 grafts. In as much as I want the density Idont want to be going aownd with a damaged and scared scalp at the front of my head.

I almost scheduled to surgery but at second thought I think I need another professional advice.I spent about $17,000for the first surgery I dont want to keep throwing money down the drain.

I need help please mhoo to get over this nightmare.

 

 

Sent from my Samsung device

[hairvanity]

Do you have any pictures? Did the grafts not grow in?

[missemotan01]

I will post pictures below. The I think some grafts grew and some didn't. The

[hairvanity]

Do you have a before picture?? I'm suprised Dr Diep did this work... I hope a moderator can link him into this conversation so he can explain what went wrong. It's unfortunate he's not doing the work for free. How much did you pay per graft?

Was this FUE OR FUT? what's your scar like?

[spyk777]

need closure .... Dr. Diep to comment.

[missemotan01]

The total cost paid to dr diep is $12250 just for surgery excluding my travel expenses. Number of grafts #3779 they charged $3/graft and in fact looking back at thr file and reciept . Now they are asking for $8000 to redo the surgery even at that I still have to wait until June for that. Which is not convenient for me cos of work plus I have to keep dealing with the mess on my head till then.

I have quite a number of before and after pictures but I don't know how to upload all of them here but I uploaded one before picture.

[hairvanity]

So they are basically charging the same $3 per graft for the second time. I assume this was the FUT (Strip method)???

[missemotan01]

Yes strip method. And yes they are charging me $7500 for 2500 and an additional $500 for axel treatment.

[hairvanity]

I have read that Dr. Diep normally provides you with antibiotics after surgery...(?).

When did you have your surgery?

How is your scar? He comes highly recommended on this forum. I was considering having him fix my transplant too...

[missemotan01]

Yes dr Diep gave me antibiotics after the procedure. I know he comes highly recommended which is why I am heavily distressed. I would have gone to him for the repair if the price was reasonable. But $8000 after spending roughly $17500 on the first procedure is just way tooo much for me. I am quite depressed about this to say the least.

[hairvanity]

I also had a transplant with low growth. My doctor offered me a free second procedure. It didn't work the second time either... He's offered me a third procedure but I want a new doctor... Did you try and ask for free second procedure or discount?

 

How is your scar? Any pics?

[missemotan01]

I don't know if he would be happy doing it for free I strongly doubt that. Would try to upload more pictures so you can see the scaring am talking about.

[hairvanity]

Yes I want to see your scar. Is that bad too?

[TakingThePlunge]

missemotan01,

 

Welcome! I'm very sorry to hear about your experience. I may have missed it but have you stated exactly how far post-op you are now? It is standard practice for clinics to ask patients to wait one full year before making a final assessment of the results. This is the minimum time it takes for the transplant to fully mature.

 

Severe folliculitis is not terribly common but does happen from time to time after hair transplant surgery and it should be treated immediately. I understand that you had some difficulty in obtaining a diagnosis and that the condition become worse before you began treatment.

 

Traveling great distances for hair transplant surgery has become quite a common practice today. I recently went to India for a procedure. There are a lot of perks to traveling abroad for surgery but there are also some down sides. One of these of course is not having instant access to the surgeon the performed the procedure. When communications are lost or misinterpreted, this adds to the complications.

 

From what I've read above (and please correct me if I'm wrong), The main issue that you have at this stage is that you experienced folliculitis which has cause an unsightly appearance to your scalp and may have affected hair growth. In addition, you had difficulty in contacting Dr. Diep for a post-operative evaluation and diagnosis.

 

I know from experience how it feels when a hair transplant does not meet expectations. We expect recommended physicians to be accountable for the results they produce but there are factors that are beyond the control of the physician and staff. Folliculitis is not something that Dr. Diep could have predicted. However, had you had a quicker diagnosis, the effect might have been minimized.

 

Ultimately, we really need to see how your transplant responds at the one year mark however inconvenient that may be.

 

In the meantime, I'm going to notify Dr. Diep of your concerns and this thread and request that he shed some more light on the case form his perspective.

 

I do hope you get the results you desire and deserve! Don't lose hope, I'm sure this can be corrected.

[hairvanity]

I too wonder- how long has it been since your procedure? When did you get it done?

I know that Dr Diep prescribes anti biotics. Wouldn't that have stopped the folliculits from happening in the first place?

How can one prevent folluculitis from surgery? It's true, when you go with a recommended surgeon you almost believe it's guaranteed and nothing will go wrong, but of course we know that's not always the case.

[GreatPelo]

Look for other recommendations (from other hair specialists) before making final decision.

[Dr. John Diep]

Unexpected hair transplant results can vary from one individual to another. It does not solely depend on the work of the doctor. Some of the contributing factors could be from: 1) the way clients take care of their transplanted hair post – surgery; 2) sometime one surgery was not enough to produce the desired density; 3) side effects of hair transplant. As for this client of mine, I found there are many factors she encountered which may affect her hair results. These factors are: 1) patient wears wig after surgery (when told not to); 2) side effect: folliculitis; 3) patient did not transplant enough hair grafts due to budget issue.

I noticed that it is common among some African American women to wear wig. With all my female patients, especially African American, I always emphasize on NOT wearing wigs post-surgery. Despite of the instruction, she continued to wear wig over the transplanted area, which may have inhibited some hair growth. Furthermore, wig wearing can increase chance of folliculitis. Folliculitis whether caused by wearing a wig or not, will affect hair growth adversely. She also applied castor oil to the recipient area. Castor oil increases moisture to the scalp which will lead to higher chance of folliculitis. Last, but not least, due to patient’s financial circumstances, she was not able to get the number of grafts recommended. This may result in lower hair density.

In comparison to men, women tend to require more than one surgery to have better hair density. This is from my practice experience. All of my patients always have take home antibiotic post- surgery to help reduce any chance of infection. However, folliculitis, though very rare, is hard to predict and can occur anytime within the year after surgery as the transplanted hairs continue to sprout out. I have reached out to my client and have addressed her concerns. We have formulated a plan for her situation. No patients of mine will be left without my continuous patient care and support.

[missemotan01]

I had my procedure done on the 10th of march 2014 so its been over 13 months post op now. Dr. Diep reached out to me for a consultation in response to this forum. I showed him my hair and he accepted that wasn't the ideal result and I should keep taking the antibiotics.

He agreed to reduce the cost of the second procedure to $5500. And also try and get me am earlier date.

Now about his response here there are few things I would like to straighten out because I am not happy how he's putting all the blame on me. I paid for this procedure, i flew half way around the world to get it done so there is no way i will sabotage my results on purpose that just doesn't make sense.

Yes i did use a wig 7 months after the procedure when I felt it wouldn't cause any harm unfortunately folliculitis struck shortly after but then I reach out to my dr for advice and as the David said the effects wouldn't have been that drastic if I had i had an earlier diagnosis. If only he responded to see me when i reached out to me.

I also disagree with dr Diep saying I didn't pay for more graft due to my financial situation that there is not true because I asked for 4500 grafts and i was told i can only get 3500 but because I kept insisting for more i paid for the 3500 and told himm to do as much as he can and I would pay the balance after the procedure and that was how we got 3779 because he managed to get in 279 extra grafts in for which i paid for.

I want to state here that the reason I came to this forum in the first place was to get help and a solution to my predicament and not to point fingers. I am looking for the way forward.

[hairvanity]

Good luck to you! Do not put oils on your head! That sounds like a terrible thing to do after this procedure. I would suggest getting several refills for medicine/treatment for folluculitis Incase this happens again and you are half way around the world and it happens again. Nice to see this forum helped.

[nyguy718]

sorry to hear about your situation but the oil and wig defeated the purpose of spending so much money and going through so much trouble to get this procedure done . sounds like self sabotage to me . the do's and dont's are stated in the post op instructions .what you did post op is enough to affect your surgery results .you say dr diep is putting the blame on you.not to offend you or come across as harsh but it is your fault .I hope everything works out for you

[ZeoRanger]

I think the underlying issue here is that clinics should give way more thought into preparing their post-op guides.

 

A lot of emphasis is given on "common sense" but each patient has their own approach to common sense. In this case it was not made clear enough that the patient wasn't meant to use oils and wigs for a whole year. Detailed instructions could have avoided this scenario.

 

I also feel that the occurance of folliculitis is often downplayed. Clinics should take a more proactive approach and prepare patients for the possibility.

 

It seems like folliculitis is a silent graft killer. When it strikes it's often too late.

 

Post op guides should have pictures and a detailed list of symptoms and recommended medications so the patient or a GP will know what to do when the HT doc is unavailable (often the case with overseas procedures).

 

Many post op guides don't even acknowledge the existence of folliculitis.

 

All too often you'll read that after the surgery the only thing can that can harm your grafts is UV/burns. Clearly not the case. I had a few pimples and was worried sick. Based on all the info I found, I could not rule out an infection. So I saw a dermatologist who assured me all was good.

Edited June 2, 2015 by ZeoRanger
Added more thoughts.

[HairJo]

Are you using any Rhogaine that can cause drying . I do agree I think I would do another session but I would try another doctor why would you go back to someone you weren't happy with the first time. I would have some online consults with a couple of doctors recommended on the top surgeon site . Get as many opinions as you can. Unfortunately from what I've been reading a lot of people need more than one surgery to achieve their goal. When you were impressed by the other patents results do you know how many procedures that person had to achieve those great results. Also how is your scar in the donor area?

I wouldn't give up hope really research the most recommended doctors and see which one is the best to do your repair . I'm sorry you spent so much money and were not happy but pick yourself up there's someone out there that will fix you up and understand your hardship. Good luck

[hairvanity]

What did you end up doing with Diep?

[davonne44]

Hi everyone. I had 3 consults prior to my HT surgery. As a professional woman, I needed a solution for my head for about 6 months until substantial growth began. NONE of the doctors stated that wearing a loose fitting wig would be detrimental as early as 2 months post-op, much less 7 months. ALL of the doctors agreed the wig would be ok after 4 weeks post. I did show them the wig I wanted to wear and had them examine it before providing me with their final responses.

 

News flash: Women generally cannot get away with wearing a hat or cap to work like guys can. HELLO! And no one spends thousands of dollars only to self-sabotage her hair. HELLO AGAIN!!

 

On the other hand, I've only heard and seen positive results from Dr. Diep. I would agree that another doctor might be the best route at this point. More than one fish in the sea. Best of luck to you!

[Spidey]

Good luck to you! Do not put oils on your head! That sounds like a terrible thing to do after this procedure. I would suggest getting several refills for medicine/treatment for folluculitis Incase this happens again and you are half way around the world and it happens again. Nice to see this forum helped.

 

The post op brochure I received from Hasson and Wong advised to put vitamin e oil on the recipient sites if crusts/scabs were still around on the 5th day, as it helps loosen the scabs and crusts... So the no oils on your head comment, may not be believed by some Drs.