Second FUE HT by Dr. Diep. 2,220 Grafts to Improve Density (4,700 grafts total)

[spyk777]

I have set up an FUE second session with Dr. Diep; in a few months, to increased density and coverage. Hopefully it will go well.

[Melvin- Admin]

I have set up an FUE second session with Dr. Diep; in a few months, to increased density and coverage. Hopefully it will go well.

 

Any updates to your thread?

[spyk777]

I will at 9 months. It is continuing to improve in. Mainly maturing and also feel some new stubbles or maybe a figment of my imagination. I am growing it out now as you suggested. How about you HTsoon. What's your update...

On FaceTime Dr. appeared visibly pleased with the growth. He wanted to fine tune and improve the overall aesthetics in the next HT. He guestimated 2000 grafts.

[Melvin- Admin]

I will at 9 months. It is continuing to improve in. Mainly maturing and also feel some new stubbles or maybe a figment of my imagination. I am growing it out now as you suggested. How about you HTsoon. What's your update...

On FaceTime Dr. appeared visibly pleased with the growth. He wanted to fine tune and improve the overall aesthetics in the next HT. He guestimated 2000 grafts.

 

Not to derail jkm's thread I had an update in January check out my thread.

[jkm3]

I have set up an FUE second session with Dr. Diep; in a few months, to increased density and coverage. Hopefully it will go well.

Good for you! I'm glad you're able to go in for another procedure. I can't wait to see how much difference it will make for both of us.

[jkm3]

I'm one week shy of my 2 month milestone. Although I'm still in the ugly duckling stage, I already see transplanted hair beginning to surface.

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Comparing this surgery to my last, these hairs will not make a cosmetic difference until about 3-4 weeks from now. Moreover, judging from all of the pimples on my recipient site, many more hairs should emerge between then and now. I should see a significant improvement in about 1 month.

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I also wanted to note that my donor area looks completely natural; It's nearly impossible to tell that almost 5,000 grafts were removed. I'm also relieved that my recipient and donor area didn't suffer as much shock loss as it did after my first procedure.

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Attached are photos that I took exactly two days ago (6 weeks and 5 days post op).

Edited January 10, 2016 by jkm3
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[spyk777]

Looking good!!

[jkm3]

Looking good!!

Thanks, Spyk! Just playing the waiting game now. I'll post an update at 3 months.

[jkm3]

 

[jkm3]

INTRODUCTION:

 

I'm currently 3 months and 1 week post op and I'm happy to announce that there has been a steady improvement since my 2 month mark.

 

First of all, I'd like to quickly discuss my plan for this thread with regards to my progress management and case presentation for hair loss sufferers. Over the years, I realized that many patients and clinics don't follow a proper standard when taking photos. Many clinics don't show their results in the same angle they took the pre-op photos and it's obvious that it's because they want their results to appear fuller or better than they actually are. I'm sure all of you have seen at least one case where a pre-op photo is taken directly over-head and the post op photo is angled lower so that the thinner areas are not as visible. As much as I hate seeing this, it really doesn't surprise me. It's business.

 

What's surprising to me is to see patients purposely taking photos in a way that makes their hair appear thicker or fuller. The whole point of posting on a hair transplant website for future patients is to present and share your experience with other hair loss sufferers so that they have a realistic idea of what they can expect if they have a similar hair loss pattern and choose to go with your surgeon.

 

Now, I understand that hair transplants usually offer patients an "illusion of density" rather than the full head of hair that we all had prior to experiencing hair loss. And this is because most hair loss sufferers, that have stabilized their hair loss, have lost more hair on top of their head than the amount of donor hair they have available for replacement. I feel that this inevitable truth is very difficult for many people to accept. THAT OUR HAIR WILL MOST LIKELY NEVER LOOK LIKE IT DID BEFORE WE STARTED LOSING HAIR.

 

However, with the right plan and a truly talented surgeon, it is possible for us to achieve a significant level of density that checks out not just when you take a photo from a "hair-friendly" angle, but when you're in the harshest indoor light or walking outside directly under the sun.

 

Finally, the whole point of that rant was to say that I plan to present my case in the most realistic possible way. So that anyone who views this thread will understand exactly where I started and what I've gained from my procedure.

 

PHOTOS:

So, I have included 10 photos in this update. The first 7 photos were taken under very bright bathroom light and without flash. The last three photos were taken in the same condition, except I used flash. Moreover, the first four photos show my hair combed forward and the last six are with my hair combed back. When our hair is short, our weaker areas are exposed more when combed forward instead of back. You'll see what I mean after seeing my photos.

 

 

COMMENTS ON MY CURRENT STATUS:

At 3 months and one week post op, it's clear to me that my grafts are taking longer to grow out/mature than they did after my first procedure. I understand this is common, but wanted to address it anyway.

 

I saw that a substantial amount of hair continued to grow instead of shedding. I also noticed a significant amount of thick hairs growing as early as 1.5 months post op. However, the rest of the hair is coming in very slow. I currently have thousands of quarter inch to half inch hairs growing through my frontal third. But this hair is making very little or no cosmetic impact because it is so thin and colorless. I'm confident that this hair will grow longer and thicken up in the next few months. But I just wanted to state that at 3 months after my first procedure, the growth I had was much thicker.

 

I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone who experienced this with their second hair transplant. Thank you all in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Looks good man, your first surgery was a home run so this one is going to be the icing on the cake, I try and take photos from different everyday situations, what kind of preventive hairloss meds are you on?

[thisguy1]

Diep just killed it on your first HT. Looks like you have a decent back third and crown so all you needed to worry about was the front half. This HT wont take off the age like your 1st one did but it will give you more styling options etc. But holy smoke what a result on your first one - this is gravy from here.

 

p.s. you also had amazing early growth. Your 5 month result on HT #1 is what most hope for at 12-15 months. Lucky ducky. It's kind of strange to read back on your 1st thread and hear you worried/complaining sort of about the lack of early density - your entire hairline grew in and temples etc in under half a year... you went from a NW4 to looking like a natural NW2 in 5 months; that's nearly unheard of.

[jkm3]

Looks good man, your first surgery was a home run so this one is going to be the icing on the cake, I try and take photos from different everyday situations, what kind of preventive hairloss meds are you on?

 

Thank you, HTSOON. I think your frontal third is looking great! I'm glad it worked out well for you.

 

I'm currently taking 1mg of Propecia every day. I used Minoxidil as well for around 18 months, but I gave it up because it bloated and irritated my face significantly.

 

Are you aware of any other medicine/supplement that improves hair?

[jkm3]

Diep just killed it on your first HT. Looks like you have a decent back third and crown so all you needed to worry about was the front half. This HT wont take off the age like your 1st one did but it will give you more styling options etc. But holy smoke what a result on your first one - this is gravy from here.

 

p.s. you also had amazing early growth. Your 5 month result on HT #1 is what most hope for at 12-15 months. Lucky ducky. It's kind of strange to read back on your 1st thread and hear you worried/complaining sort of about the lack of early density - your entire hairline grew in and temples etc in under half a year... you went from a NW4 to looking like a natural NW2 in 5 months; that's nearly unheard of.

 

Thank you for the encouragement, thisguy1! Yeah, most if not all of my hair grew out by 4 months after my first transplant. I clearly saw that there wasn't enough density in some areas, but it still looked great and I was so thankful. After I quit Minoxidil, a significant amount of native hair behind the hairline permanently shed and I was left with much less density. Thankfully I was already scheduled for another transplant.

 

Yeah, I'm aware of how fortunate I am to have experienced an exceptional yield after my first surgery, especially because it was FUE. My career involves research day to day so, naturally, once I started losing hair, I spent countless hours researching hair loss and the transplant industry. My search led to Dr. Diep and I'm so glad to say that he met my expectations and more.

 

I just hope that I can keep the back area with Propecia. I have no one in my family that experienced hair loss in the crown or even the back half so I hope genetics will be on my side. And my donor area is still fairly thick so I have some grafts to spare in case I continue to thin.

[thisguy1]

Curious why you decided to quit minox if it was working for you?

[jkm3]

Curious why you decided to quit minox if it was working for you?

 

Minoxidil was clearly causing a negative impact on my skin. My main concern was the bloating it caused. I also saw that the skin around my forehead became looser and wrinkled more. I looked at the side effects and balanced it against the growth I had. The growth created some coverage, but the hairs that grew were thin and wispy. I did not want to continue using minoxidil for the rest of my life just to keep some hair that was visibly unhealthy and, on top of that, deal with my skin problems which seemed to have been getting worse every time I analyzed my face.

 

After I quit, I saw my face become so much healthier looking. I was left with much thinnner hair right behind my hairline, but it didn't bother me much because I had the second procedure just a couple of months after the shed.

[jkm3]

This is w quick update to show my progress from my last update. The fine hairs that grew out at 2-3 months are thickening as they cycle through their stages and this is starting to make a significant cosmetic impact. I'll post more photos at 5 months.

[jkm3]

Mobile website only allows one photo to be updated at at time. So here's another one.

[Melvin- Admin]

Holy crap dude, your ugly duckling stage is officially over, the change from your last update to now is incredible good stuff man congrats.

[jkm3]

Here's a side view.

[jkm3]

Side view from the right.

[Dutchie]

I think they gave you too much hair....LOL

[jkm3]

I think they gave you too much hair....LOL

 

I don't know about that, Dutchie. haha But that's better than not getting enough.

[jkm3]

I just wanted to do a quick update with some photos to show how my hairline is shaping up. My hair in these photos is still slightly wet after showering. The first photo was taken without flash and the last one was taken with flash.

 

It's hard to tell from the previous photos, but my frontal half is still not as solid as I'd like it to be. If I stand right under direct light, certain areas behind my hairline are still see through. I'll upload some photos showing this at 5 months. However, these areas have a lot of short, immature hairs growing all over. I know this because my native hair, previously transplanted hair, and the hair that never shed from this transplant is around two inches long (cut my hair evenly about 4 weeks ago), whereas the immature hairs i'm referring to are a quarter inch to an inch long and they haven't developed their full thickness and pigment yet. As a matter of fact, many of these immature short hairs have been shedding over the course of these two weeks. Of course, these hairs should eventually grow back thicker and match the quality of hair that matured earlier.

 

Aside from that, I'm very happy with how my hairline is progressing. One reason I wanted to go in for a second procedure was to thicken the hairline so that it was not so transparent. Before, I could never comb my hair straight back and leave it "up" without exposing my scalp (due to the density at the time). Because of that, I would have to put product in it and comb it lower and a bit to the side. I didn't want to continue doing that.

 

My goal from hair transplants is to have density that would allow me to have my hair any way I wanted and still have a full looking head of hair. Currently, I'm coming very close to achieving that goal. Like I said, there are weak areas, but the hair there has not fully grown out and matured. Actually, I even see fine hair just barely popping through the surface of my scalp in various spots.

 

I'm going in deeper than I wanted since the point of this post was to discuss the hairline. This is where I've seen the biggest difference so far. Before, my hairline would not look as defined and thick as it looks now. Because of 1) the additional multiple grafts planted right behind the hairline and 2) the fairly thick row of single hair grafts placed on the hairline, my hairline is starting to look much more natural. My girlfriend has been mentioning how thick and "greaser like" my hair has been looking lately. I always smile and tell her she's just crazy about me, but I can tell she's starting to notice a change because the frequency of her looks and comments. I'm still debating on whether or not I should tell her I got a transplant.

 

Any way, that's that. The hairline is definitely thicker than before my second procedure and the portion behind the hairline is thicker as well. I'm happy to report that the additional 2,200 grafts are making a significant difference. After losing the Minoxidil dependent hair in my frontal half, which I spoke of in a previous post, 2400 grafts alone was not sufficient to cover such a large portion of loss. I never thought I'd get almost 5,000 grafts done via FUE, but I did and I'm very happy I did it. The yield already appears to be better than many of the FUSS cases I've seen with the same amount of grafts transplanted. And, no, my donor does not have a "moth eaten" appearance. Although it's not as thick as before, it's very difficult to see the lost thickness and there are no scars visible unless of course you examine my head with a magnifying glass.

 

Also, someone on this forum recently asked me if I've noticed my transplanted hair falling out or miniaturizing because some people say Dr. Diep harvests outside of the "safe zone". I sure haven't noticed any terminal hairs shedding. But this sort of issue, if it happens, most likely won't happen for many more years. I think Dr. Diep may have gone slightly too high in the back corners of my donor region, but I will trust his professional decision and hope my donor area is genetically programmed to remain thick until I'm old enough not to care about my appearance. Especially for FUE, that's all any of us can do.

 

Alright, I hope my information is providing some value to those following because I update for that very reason. I'll try to post another update at 5 months, but it may be later because my responsibilities are becoming endless and I'm currently wrapping up my final semester of law school. I'm glad that I've made it this far; ironically, with more hair than I did coming in.

 

Take care.

 

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Edited April 13, 2016 by jkm3

[jkm3]

I wanted to throw in a couple of photos showing what my hair looked like about three years before my first hair transplant. After the first hair transplant, I lost most of the frontal forelock due to discontinuing minoxidil and likely further MPB progression.