FUT 2300 grafts - 8.5 months

[amileen]

I got an FUT transplant on October 1, 2014 from one of doctors recommended on this website. It has been 8.5 months since the transplant. I believe I should be seeing around 75 percent of the result now, but I don't think it is even close to that. I will reveal the doctor's name after one year follow up.

 

[consultation and surgery]

During the initial consultation, the doctor mentioned receding hairline and thinning on top. The hair loss was very slow progression for around 5 years, so I didn't notice it at first. At that time, I thought it was just minor receding hairline, and I agreed with doctor's recommendation of 1500-1800 grafts lowering hairline and filling in front area for more density. I decided to make photo documentations like people do in this website, and I noticed that my hairloss wasn't minor (It was because I couldn't see my top and crown area on a mirror). I went through photo results in this website and I thought I need around 2500-3000 total to cover the top and crown area, too. So I called the clinic and said I want 3000 grafts instead. The clinic responded 3000 was too many but they will let the doctor know about it. During the surgery day, the doctor also said 3000 is too many. So I told the doctor to do do as many as he can do to cover up the area, and he ended with 2300 grafts.

 

[Week 1] The pain wasn't bad. I shampooed my hair gently. No swelling. After one week, the stitches are removed.

[Week 3] The transplanted hair started to fall out. Around 40 percent of transplanted fell out.

[month 1] Almost all transplanted hair had fallen out. Most of the transplanted hair that didn't fall out was in my crown area.

I had a little bit of shock loss. I felt like I had less hair than before.

[month 2] Nothing has changed much in appearance. Very little pain. Maybe shock loss has been stopped. I still have redness.

Most of transplanted hair on my crown area didn't fall out at all.

[month 3] I started to see a little growth on my hairline. The pain is almost gone.

[month 4] I started to see more growth on my hairline, but I couldn't figure out if other parts have grown. At this stage, I

have recovered from the shock loss and I look like myself before the surgery. The pain is gone, but I still have redness.

[month 5] More growth on my hairline, but I can't still see growth on other areas. The redness is almost gone.

[month 6] More growth on my hairline. Density on my hairline is still low, but I don't know if it is the final result for my hairline. I don't see new growth on other areas. I can still feel thick small transplanted grafts on my crown area. It didn't fall or grow at all. The redness is completely gone finally.

[month 6.5] I got a mail from the clinic to make a schedule for follow up check. I called them and told them during the follow up, I want to know the total graft number and where they have been placed in detail. The clinic said it will be only 5 minutes check up. And it was really 5 minutes check up. I told the doctor the hairline has been grown up, but there is still no sign of growth on my top and crown area. The doctor said the crown area will start grow slower than other area and he will do detailed follow up for one year follow up. So I still don't know the total number of grafts and their placement.

[month 7] The result looks as same as month 6.

[month 8] The result still looks as same as month 6. Just my existing hair has grown more. I can still feel the ungrown thick transplanted hair on my crown area.

[month 8.5] Still same?

 

[My thought]

I am an asian and I have really thick coarse hair. Looking at the hair strands on my hairline, it is already thick enough. It started to grow really thick from the start instead of starting as thin and getting thicker. My transplanted hair is more focused on hairline and frontal area as you can see from the immediate post op photo. So even I don't see any change on my top and crown area, it is still understandable. But the density on my hairline hasn't been improved since month 6, and I feel like my frontal area hasn't been improved at all. I was expecting to have half of my head non-see-through by now if I don't see any improvement on my top and crown area.

 

What do you think? Do you think how many percentage of transplanted hair has been grown? I have 3.5 more months to wait and see.

[HairGuy86]

Do you have any pre-op pictures to share?

 

Best of luck

[BMW1990]

I wonder why the clinic wouldn't transplant 3000 grafts. Given the size of the area needed to be covered, 3000 grafts would have yielded a great result.

[TakingThePlunge]

You'll hear differing views on this but there really is a good reason why waiting 12 months before assessing your result is the industry standard. You can see big changes in the final quarter. If you check out my hair loss website (link in signature) you'll see that with my first transplant my hair changed big time between 8 and 10 months and continued to get fuller even beyond 12 months.

 

It is also regularly stated that crowns tend to grow more slowly but this is also a common area of debate.

 

Bottom line, hang in there and wait out the year. If your result is subpar for any reason, a recommended physician will certainly do everything possible in order to coreect the issue.

[Spanker]

2300 isn't a lot of grafts and writer pre op photos it's hard to make any kind of assessment.

[amileen]

Thank you for the replies.

 

[HairGuy&Spanker] My hairstyle is different on pre op photos. They looked so different depending on which direction hair strands are facing. So I decided to comb forward for the top view photos, and comb backward for the front view photos after the operation. I thought it wasn't necessary since it looks similar to month 3 and 4. But, here are pre-op photos to compare.

 

[bMW&Spanker] I know 2300 isn't enough after looking at hundreds of photo results on this website. That's why I wanted at least 3000. During the consultation, on the paper says maximum graft they do is 3000. He has a lot of photo results posted on this website, and he usually keeps the grafts done around 1500-2300 per session even though often it seems they require more. But many results look decent, and they are not at least see-through (although density will be lacking). However, I see he sometimes did 3000-3500 grafts on some people.

During the initial consultation, I didn't realize mine was bad because I looked at myself in the mirror only. Because of that, I showed my interest in lowering my hairline only. When he was studying my hair, he mentioned my top is thinning, too. He asked me if my main concern was my hairline, and I said yes. He said I will need 1500-1800 grafts to lower the hairline and fill in frontal part above new hairline for more density. Of course, 1500-1800 sounds enough for my hairline, so I agreed to it. He didn't say anything like, I need 1800 for the hairline and the frontal area and another 1500 for the top and the crown area for the 2nd surgery.

After taking photo of my head for documentation, I realized that my top and crown part were pretty bad, too. That is when I called them and told them I want 3000 grafts. The guy on the phone said 3000 grafts sound too much for me (I met him at the clinic). But he didn't really study my hair and my hair was long at that time, so it made sense. I told him 1800 grafts were only for my hairline and frontal area, and I need more for my crown area done, too. He said he will tell the doctor about it, and I can pay extra after the surgery. During the surgery day, the doctor told me that he heard me wanting 3000 grafts. But he talked like doing 3000 grafts is too much for one day. So I told him to do as much as he can.

One thing is for sure that he didn't mention anything about me needing another surgery after this one. And I wanted to know the exact number of implanted grafts and their placement to let forum people know, but they decided not to tell me until one year follow up.

 

[David] Yes, that is why I am waiting for a full year to say if this surgery was good or bad. But many people usually see dramatic change at their 8th month, so I wanted to know if my current progression subpar or not. And I wanted to hear people's opinion before one year follow up, so I can tell the doctor more informed opinion when I meet him. I am going to keep updating photos until one year follow up.

[Mick50]

I can't understand why David the moderator infers that there is a doubt whether the crown grows more slowly, everyone knows who has a had a hair transplant that this is the case, along with recommended Docs opinions on this site

[TakingThePlunge]

I can't understand why David the moderator infers that there is a doubt whether the crown grows more slowly, everyone knows who has a had a hair transplant that this is the case, along with recommended Docs opinions on this site

 

Mick,

 

I stated that because it is not irrefutable. To my knowledge there is no peer reviewed study that supports the idea of the crown growing slowly and, while I have read some physicians state as much, I have also read commentary to the contrary.

[craveforhair]

If we take the mole on your left forehead as the reference point, The 8th month picture showed significant thickening and new hair growth compared to the pic at 3 rd and 4th months.From your operative pictures it looks like you were very thin in the frontal area unless they shaved it at the time of surgery

[Mick50]

Hi David .well much of this hair growth business is not irrefutable, and possibly there has been no exact empirical studies done, but the general consensus seems to be the crown take longer to grow, whether it's to do with the blood flow or whatever ,even respected Docs like Feller would concur with this, along with newly recommended Docs like Karedeniz

[amileen]

[Crave] Thank you for putting your input on this. Yes, I agree with you on significant thickening. My native hair is really thick. While my transplanted hairline started growing, I didn't even have to worry about new hair being thin. They came out pretty thick from the start. I don't think they will get thicker. But I think the number of grafts came out is lacking, considering most of grafts were concentrated on frontal part.

And if you look at immediate post op photos, that's the worst my hair can look. It is even much worse than completely wet hair since they used glue-like gel stuff so they can do surgery without cutting my hair, although some of my native hair will get cut while transplanting.

[TakingThePlunge]

Hi David .well much of this hair growth business is not irrefutable, and possibly there has been no exact empirical studies done, but the general consensus seems to be the crown take longer to grow, whether it's to do with the blood flow or whatever ,even respected Docs like Feller would concur with this, along with newly recommended Docs like Karedeniz

 

I'm in agreement with this and this is why I try not to speak in absolutes.

[amileen]

Hello. These are one year result photos. I can still feel a few thick small transplanted grafts on my crown area which didn't grow at all. I will meet my doctor soon this month.

[Raman]

So Amileen who was your Doctor?

[Petchski]

Looks better at month 12, and you look better now than before, seems to me like you really needed more grafts...have you lost any native hair since? are you propecia?

[amileen]

Hello, people.

 

I visited my doctor for one year post-op checkup, and I have to say the experience was extremely horrible. My doctor's name is Edmond Griffin from Atlanta, Georgia. He is one of recommended doctors on this website.

 

I didn't reveal my doctor's name before, because I needed a better understanding of my result and their willingness to help me. After visiting them and sending a few emails, now I am sure that they are just trying to blame me for the bad result.

 

I will make much detailed new post about the doctor on "Hair Transplant Experiences and Surgeon Reviews" forum section later and make a link on this thread. But this short story is for people who replied to me.

 

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First, they took comparison photos and showed them to me. What would be your reaction after seeing these photos?

 

While preparing to take photos, their assistant said he doesn't know why the light is darker than before in the room. Later, when he was brushing my hair, he said he doesn't know which way to brush my hair to match my pre-op hairstyle.

 

This already told me three things:

1) The result is poor.

2) They are trying to hide the poor result from me.

3) They are extremely stupid enough to think that I am stupid.

 

The assistant showed it to me and told me only good things about the result. This was expected after him showing me those photos. Then he asked me if I am on any prevention medicine. I have been using minoxidil for 11 months, but I needed them to tell the truth about the result being bad. So I said I am not taking any prevention medicine at all. The assistant started talking about the importance of prevention medicine.

 

Later, the doctor came in. He just glanced at my hair. He didn't touch my hair at all! He didn't say anything about the result. He kept taking about the importance of prevention medicine. The doctor and the assistant both kept talking about they can't believe I didn't take any prevention medicine. However the doctor wasn't talking about my result. They were waiting for my reaction. I am a very calm person, and I know what they are trying to accomplish. Finally, they asked me if I am satisfied with my result. I said no. Now they started to tell me about the bad result. The doctor said because I didn't take any prevention medicine, there is almost no difference between my pre-op and post-op comparison.

 

I just acted like I am agreeing with them until I left the clinic, because my plan was to talk to them using email for the hard proofs. I told them everything on emails how much I know about this incident. The assistant and the doctor just kept making excuses that it was my fault and not even making counterargument for most points that I have made.

[amileen]

These are just short main arguments. I am using quotes from our email conversations with Dr. Edmond Griffin.

 

Doctor: "Without a good preventative program, in one year you could easily loose the same number of hairs that was transplanted; sometimes even more. On your initial consultation visit, we stressed the importance of using either oral or topical finasteride-containing medications to help combat this progression of baldness."

Me: "During the initial consultation, I told you my choice is to either do the surgery and take prevention after seeing the final result, or don't do the surgery and take prevention only to see the result first. You chose to do the surgery, and now you are telling me that you kept asking me to take prevention before and after the surgery?"

Doctor: [No reply]

 

Me: "I have been minoxidil twice a day for ten months."

Doctor: "The problem is not the lack of growth or lack of results from the transplant. The truth lies in lack of your following a good prevention program which was stressed to you at every visit to my office."

Me: "Third, you are completely ignoring the alternative prevention called minoxidil. So, as one of many hair transplant surgeons, do you believe minoxidil doesn't prevent male pattern baldness at all? And why are you acting like you or your assistant have never mentioned me about minoxidil as a prevention during both pre-op and post-op?"

Doctor: "Finasteride blocks some of the breakdown of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, which is not the method of minoxidil at all."

 

Me: "Most important thing is the awful result. There is almost no visual improvement as the doctor also believes. I still have a few thick transplanted hair strands on my crown area that didn't grow at all. The doctor didn't even touch my hair, so he doesn't even know."

Doctor: [No reply about doctor not touching my hair]

Doctor: "And lastly, looking at your pictures you can see the area before where you have the greatest loss is along your edges and you can see this same area afterwards and how great and thick it looks and continues to look thick. "

Me: " 'Looking at your pictures'... so you are evaluating my result from looking at those comparison photos, not looking from the real life."

 

Doctor: "I feel it is based in lack of knowledge and an overall mistrust in us for no good reason. Both your surgical experience and our treatment of you as a patient has been excellent, in our opinion."

Me: "Eighth, you didn't even touch my hair. Because rather than trying to evaluate what really happened, you tried to make it all my fault since I told you I am not on prevention. If you really studied my hair, you should have seen about a dozen of thick transplanted hair that didn't grow at all on my crown. It is crazy to say both my surgical experience and your treatment of me as a patient have been excellent."

Me: " I have a lot of knowledge than you can imagine. I made counterargument of every points you have made. And the pre-op and post-op comparison photos you showed me were unbelievably stupid enough to be a good reason to not trust you. Just look at it, and tell me you actually think it was a smart idea and isn't embarrassing to try it."

 

[i have a lot more arguments, but I am making this short here]

 

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There is one more thing I want to mention here since people were wondering about why Dr. Edmond Griffin only did 2,400 when I asked him to do 3,000.

 

[Me]: "He can't even do large amount of graft in one day. People on the website were all agreeing that the number of graft I received wasn't enough from the start."

[Doctor]: "Another misunderstanding you have is that I don’t do session sizes greater than 3000 grafts, which you implied in both your email and on the internet, which is false. I frequently do session sizes of many more than 3,000 grafts, if the patient requires such numbers of grafts. [...] It is misleading to state on the internet that I don’t do more than 3,000 grafts in a session."

[Me]: "Fourth, when did I say I believe or said on the internet you only do maximum of 3,000 grafts? (once again, I didn't write anything on the internet, yet). I knew you could do more than 3,000 grafts. I saw photos that you do more than 3,000 grafts. That's why I later told you to do 3,000 grafts for me. Then you acted like 3,000 grafts are too much for me, during both pre-op and post-op, and you could only managed to do 2,400 grafts. After the surgery, you told me, "your head is larger than I thought. You must be smart." That means, you expected less grafts required for me, but in reality, it wasn't enough for me."

 

[Doctor]: " I do not want to burden a young patient like yourself with an unreasonably large number of grafts. The number of grafts required is really a judgment call made by an experienced hair restoration surgeon and not someone from the internet or other random person. [...] My initial consult stated 2 sessions would be needed for you. Please refer again to your initial consultation sheet as it clearly has the “2” circled at the bottom. You stated on the internet you were never told you needed more than one session, which is untrue."

[Me]: They are not random people. Most of them frequently talk on forum and had actual experience themselves. And most of them don't have reasons to lie, unlike clinics. [...] And you contradicted yourself again. Does that mean, you saying 1500 - 1800 grafts was a judgment call and people on the forum saying I needed 3,000 or more grafts wasn't?"

[Me]:What are you reading? Are you lying about reading my review or did you actually read it and believe it is written by me? Check the date the review is written. I didn't write any reviews on the internet, yet. You are making a fool of yourself. However, I didn't expect anything more after looking at that before and after photo you took and gave to me expecting it to work. Seriously, look at those photos. Can you even make better excuses of them other than, "the assistant didn't know which direction to brush your hair to match the pre-op photo."?

[Me]: "[...] I clearly know that "2" circled at the bottom on the consultation sheet. However, the meaning can be changed according to the situation and your will. It could mean that I need 2 more sessions at the moment, and it could also mean that I need 2 more sessions in my life time. If it means I need 2 more sessions at the moment, it is a lie, since I asked you to do more before the surgery and you said 3,000 grafts are too much. If it means I need 2 more sessions in my life time, you contradicted yourself. Since you said you recommended me less, because you didn't want to burden me."

 

This is my educated guess about Dr. Edmond Griffin's call to say 1,500-1,800 grafts are needed for me. He guessed that would be the reasonable amount of money I have now since I am young. Because if he said higher number of grafts, I might have decided not to do it.

I could only find three or four forum posts about Dr. Edmond Griffin on this Hair Restoration Social Network forum. On one of them, everyone believed this person needed around 4,000 grafts. But since they heard that he had only around $5,600, they just told them he can do 800 grafts with the doctor.

And I guess they thought it was risky to do 1,200 more grafts from me, because they could fear that I don't have more money and unable to pay after the surgery.

One more thing is that they can make excuse like, "on your paper, 2 more surgeries might be needed in the future." So they do less grafts, and if people are not satisfied, they can just say, your consultation paper says 2 more surgeries might be needed in the future. But they didn't specify if it considered about the future hair loss or not.

When they heard that I wasn't taking any prevention medication, they talk about this other patient who didn't take prevention medication after the surgery and lost more hair a year after. They were saying it was his fault. I am sure they don't want their patients to take prevention medication because then they can make a simple excuse even their surgery turns out to be poor.

 

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Thank you for reading. I will post a link to surgeon review post later after I finish writing it. I asked for a partial refund (not even a full refund), but they didn't cooperate with me, saying that it was my fault for not taking prevention medication. I read on forum that some surgeons give refund or free additional grafts (but I don't want free additional grafts from Dr. Edmond Griffin at all, of course). I don't know why this surgeon is even on recommended doctor on this website when no one is even talking about him or reviewed him in detail.

 

If this "shortened" version is still long for you to read, just know three most important things.

 

1) Look at the pre-op and post-op photos they gave me.

2) It was his decision to go with the surgery without prevention medication rather than taking prevention medication without the surgery to see the full result first, and he is blaming me for not taking it (although I decided to take minoxidil myself).

3) He didn't touch my hair during post-op checkup!!!

[1978matt]

The result looks satisfactory to me. You have posted pictures of the hair separated and with harsh flashlight which can show it in its worst light....

 

...but overall it seems you have now got an even, natural looking hairline compared to the fuzz that existed before. 2400 grafts is not a huge amount for the surface area covered.

 

You had grafts placed in-between existing hairs which may have caused them to die out (if they were prone to the balding process). That's why the result may not look any denser that it did pre-op. Finasteride may have helped prevent this but is no guarantee either.

[Petchski]

I would not call this a failed HT, and it is your responsibility to sort yourself out with propecia, saying that, if he told you to wait after the HT i don't agree with that. I think he should have done more grafts, but it is not unreasonable to suggest you lost native hair through continuation of the balding process, and/or shock loss.

 

You are better off now than you were pre op, but obviosly for you this was not the experience/result you were looking for.

[amileen]

[1978matt] I have posted pictures of the hair separated and with "harsh" flashlight to show better understanding of my hair density. It is not harsh enough to hide my existing hair. If you say it like that, all my comparison photos have exactly same "harsh" light. And when comparing, just compare photos with the same hairstyle. Other photos are just additional since some people want to see details. One more thing to consider is that I have longer hair, if you look at the length of my front hair. I know about possible permanent shock loss especially on diffuse hair loss like me. I believe that might be possible. Did the doctor mention about this? No.

 

[Petchski] I thought I made everything clear on my post. I don't know if you even read my post or not. I didn't say I don't see any improvement. The only place with the improvement I see is hairline. I feel like only half of grafts has been grown, mostly on hairline only.

He didn't tell me to wait after the HT. At first, I only saw my hairline. I thought my hair loss wasn't bad. And my hair loss was so gradual; I didn't think I will suddenly start to lose my hair quickly at that moment. The doctor said I need 1500-1800 grafts. 1500-1800 grafts weren't that much, that's why I was sure that my hair loss wasn't bad. I didn't like the idea of doing both surgery and taking medicine at the same time, because then there is no way to tell if the surgery was successful, the medicine was successful, or both were successful. I told him, if I take a surgery, my hair loss is so gradual and it is not bad yet, so I will start taking medicine after seeing the surgery result. And the other option is to only take prevention medicines and see the result first, and then decide to take surgery after or not. This doctor chose the surgery route. And he is now blaming me for not taking the medicine. I think I explained well about the situation for you to understand.

 

I agree that I am better off now than I was pre-op (appearance-wise), but obviously for me, this was not the experience/result I was looking for because the growth is poor. But, have you also considered about the fact that I lost donor hair? If you had 2,400 grafts and you only see 1,200 grafts, of course I look better. But is it worth it? No.

I have learned a lot from this website after researching more about hair loss transplant surgery results. It would have been better choice to take medicine first for a year. But the doctor wanted money and told me to do the small surgery that people agree that I wouldn't see much improvement.

 

I also said that the doctor told me because I didn't take prevention medicine, my result isn't great and it almost looks as same as before. The doctor said it himself. And if the result is good, why did they post comparison photos like that? I guess that photo trick really works on some people. And evaluating the result without touching my hair? And they are so sure that their transplant was successful and I lost more of my natural hair? I guess you would be satisfied if they did that to you.

Edited November 3, 2015 by amileen

[amileen]

Maybe the reason you said the result is okay is because my hair is 2 months longer. This is why I decided to talk to Dr. Edmond Griffin on email rather than on person, so there is an actual proof of what he said. These are the quotes:

 

Dr. Griffin: "One thing that is loud and clear about male patterned baldness is that it is progressive and unpredictable. This was both both explained to you verbally and given to you in writing on the first page of your consultation sheet: “HAIR LOSS IS PROGRESSIVE AND UNPREDICTABLE”. Without a good preventative program, in one year you could easily loose the same number of hairs that was transplanted; sometimes even more. On your initial consultation visit, we stressed the importance of using either oral or topical finasteride-containing medications to help combat this progression of baldness. Therefore, it is not surprising for you to think you had poor growth. The problem is not the lack of growth or lack of results from the transplant. The truth lies in lack of your following a good prevention program which was stressed to you at every visit to my office."

 

But he keeps ignoring my comment:

 

Me: "I told him my choice is to do the surgery and see the complete result first and start taking prevention, because it will be hard to tell if the surgery was successful or the prevention made it look like that. The doctor said it is recommended to do both. I told him that was my choice since my hair loss is very gradual that I am willing to wait for one year and start taking prevention after. I also told him if I start taking prevention now, there is no point of taking surgery now, and I will see the result of taking prevention medicines first. And you also know why the doctor didn't go for taking prevention medicines first."

 

Me: "Second, I am saying this one more time. During the initial consultation, I told you my choice is to either do the surgery and take prevention after seeing the final result, or don't do the surgery and take prevention only to see the result first. You chose to do the surgery, and now you are telling me that you kept asking me to take prevention before and after the surgery?"

 

We both agree that I have a poor result. However, our argument is about what is the reason and who is to blame.

 

Basically his argument is:

1) The grafts I transplanted are successfully grown.

2) You didn't take Finasteride, and Minoxidil can't acquire the result of Finasteride.

 

and my argument is:

1) You didn't touch my hair during post-op.

2) It was your choice to do the surgery when I said if I take a surgery I will wait for a year before I take prevention medicine.

 

He has never made a counterargument of me saying starting a surgery was his decision. Isn't it an enough proof that the fact I said is true?

[Petchski]

I can understand your logic in not taking propecia, but i don't agree with it, and it hasn't really worked out either as now you don't know if it would have helped keep the native hair if you have indeed progressed with your hairloss, and your Dr can now point to that as a reason for the result not meeting your expectations, for good or ill.

 

Propecia also helps with native hair shock loss, so you really should have taken it first...nevertheless, i find it quite hard to tell if all the grafts he transplanted did grow or not, i think the only way you can find that out is to find out how many grafts he transplanted per cm2 and then get another HT doc to assess how many of the grafts grew.

 

You would expect that he would have taken a good look at your hair when evaluating the success of the HT, but it is still your decision to go through with the surgery without prevention medicine as you put it, and you shouldn't put that decison in the doctors hands, it's your decision to make.

 

Playing the blame game now isn't going to change anything, your HT will still improve after 8.5 months, probably not enough to make you happy with the result, but you stated the doc said all the grafts grew, so he is not going to offer a refund or anything, wait until 12 months post op and then see where you want to go from there.

[amileen]

[Petchski] I really appreciate your input on this matter. But you forgot important things. The thread's title is "FUT 2300 grafts - 8.5 months." But this thread was started 4.5 months ago. I actually met the doctor for 1 year checkup as I said. This is my 13th month. I don't think you actually read my posts well. And did you read that the doctor didn't touch my hair at all during that 12 months checkup? And do you think the blame game isn't going to change anything? I am sharing my experience here for people to know. And if you think doctors can get away with this, I don't know what to say to you.

Maybe you didn't read my new post I shared yesterday at all, and you just read my post written 4.5 months ago.

[Melvin- Admin]

What a load of bull, if the doctor didn't think your hairloss was stable why would he operate? I've been on minoxidil has two transplants and so far so good, sure finasteride may work better, but minoxidil is a proven treatment that's why it's FDA approved.

[Petchski]

[Petchski] I really appreciate your input on this matter. But you forgot important things. The thread's title is "FUT 2300 grafts - 8.5 months." But this thread was started 4.5 months ago. I actually met the doctor for 1 year checkup as I said. This is my 13th month. I don't think you actually read my posts well. And did you read that the doctor didn't touch my hair at all during that 12 months checkup? And do you think the blame game isn't going to change anything? I am sharing my experience here for people to know. And if you think doctors can get away with this, I don't know what to say to you.

Maybe you didn't read my new post I shared yesterday at all, and you just read my post written 4.5 months ago.

 

I have read all the thread, although not in one sitting and re reading it before replying probably would have helped me get more of the details correct, but lets not get too hung up on that, fair enough, you are at 13 months post op now, my HT did continue to improve over 18 months so my point still stands that your HT could still improve a little.

 

I did mention in my previous reply that "You would expect that he would have taken a good look at your hair when evaluating the success of the HT", so you see that it is easy to overlook comments made.

 

Sharing your experience here is important to help others, no doubt. What are you going to do from here? Start propecia? Get another HT?>

 

Minoxidil is a great regrowth agent, and also boosts the amount of hair growing on your head by taking hair out of the dormant phase, but it does not tackle the underlying root cause of MPB, DHT, which miniaturizes the follicle over time.

 

If propecia gives you sides, you could try saw palmetto, which also reduces DHT, although not as well, but if you're sensitive to DHT inhibitors then even that may give you minor sides.