My story- two FUT's, going on #3

[1_ez_goer]

Hello everyone. I'm a loooong time lurker, first time poster on here. The info on this website is extremely helpful and is very much appreciated.

 

I would like to put my situation out there and hopefully it will help some folks on this website or anyone who is contemplating having a HT. I have had two previous FUT HT's totaling approx. 6,100 grafts. I have no idea if the first HT was a success but I am positive that HT #2 was the best I could have hoped for... my problem is that I keep losing hair!

 

Now going on 46 years old I have lost more hair on top and in the crown since my last HT in 2005. The good news is that hopefully my hair loss will slow down at this age (I hope). The bad news is that I do not know how many more grafts they can harvest from my donor region. I think I have an Ok donor region and we should be able to get more grafts, but I won't know until the day of the procedure.. I am contemplating another FUT to try and fill in the top and crown a bit and I have reasonable expectations given my situation.. I am ok with having thin areas and I realize that I will never look like Elvis..

 

Here are a few pics of me now. You can see I have lost hair on the top/sides and in the crown. And my scar goes past both ears..

 

I don't have any questions (at the moment) as I have done a ton of research and know almost exactly where I stand, but I wanted to put my profile out there and see what your thoughts and opinions are.. Please let me know if I missed anything or if you have any questions. Thanks, and good luck to everyone.

[Rashid36]

This is what i've been told but how long before the further loss?

Which areas did you have the transplant?

I guess one would never know how hair loss will progress?

 

see my case;

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/182527-can-i-have-transplant.html

[don174]

Are you taking finasteride ?

[HairsGone]

Yes it would be useful to know if you are taking Finasteride and when this was started?

 

Also do you have any photos 1 year after your last transplant with Dr Hasson? It would be interesting to see how your hair loss has progressed over the last 10 years, especially for me as I'm aged 35 and considering my next FUT.

 

Your donor looks decent so I'm sure you can get a reasonable number of grafts again.

[1_ez_goer]

Hi guys,

 

Rash- everything at my hairline and on top is transplanted hair. My 2nd HT was much different from my first as I recall. I remember staring in the mirror immediately after my 2nd HT and thinking to myself- wow, this HT was the REAL DEAL! I did not get that felling after my 1st HT.

 

don- I am not taking any meds and haven't for the last 15 years. It was simply a personal choice as I did not like the idea of taking meds on a daily basis.

 

HairsGone- I am not on any meds. I was/am very bad at taking and keeping photos. Unfortunately, back then I didn't realize that they would be useful in tracking my hair loss.. I would say that after my 2nd HT, I did have very good coverage but still thin spots at the top of my head. I have definitely lost more hair at the crown and top/sides of my head.

 

Yes, my donor hair is decent and I am lucky to have wavy hair. The bad news is that I have dark hair and a white scalp. But as I said, I am 45, married, and have very real expectations of what amount of coverage I can get going forward... It's all FUT for me as there's no turning back now!

 

I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have more questions.

[Rashid36]

I have had some doctors clinics tell me - i cannot have a transplant as i'm not a suitable candidate. I have a large area of hair loss and highly likely to loose more with low donor to keep up with demand.

 

Would you have had HT if you knew you would loose hair like you have ?

 

I have had alot of doctors/clinics tell me - i can have a transplant now without any mention of future hair loss

 

The doctors who are willing to do my hair transplant are all not able to answer my questions related to further hair loss. I ask them,

 

What about future hair loss?

I'm worried if i have a transplant now and then loose further hair in future i will only have the transplanted hairs left, what can i do then?

 

The answers i've had back are:

 

We will give you Prp, we will give you medicine so you wont loose hair and most recently, 'We will do our best and pray for the best.'

[1_ez_goer]

Hi Rashid-

 

Yes, I would have still had the HT at the time because I knew that this would be a lifetime battle...

 

If you have top doctors tell you that you are not a good candidate for a HT, then I would trust their word and not do it.

 

If you are not getting straight answers from doctors, then I would be very cautious. The answers you got back "We will give you Prp, we will give you medicine so you wont loose hair and most recently, We will do our best and pray for the best" are not acceptable.

[Melvin- Admin]

If I were you I would FUE the rest of the donor hair, it looks very thick and dense still, you probably got another 3,000 grafts there hell maybe even 4,000, I think working on the hairline is imperative, to be quite honest and please don't take this the wrong way I doubt you had much growth from the first procedure, it appears about 3,900 grafts survived which was Dr. Hasson. Have you consulted to see if you could do another strip? if not then FUE would be your best bet, refining the hairline and addressing the midscalp and lateral humps would completely change your look and I think it is definitely possible given the characteristics of your donor hair. Leave the crown as is to be honest, your grafts would be better utilized connecting the hairline to the lateral humps and thickening the midscalp and making smooth transition in to the crown, you have hair in your crown once everything else thickens up you'll look great. Have you consulted with any surgeons?

[Sethticles]

thanks for sharing your story, you are that HT case which I feared the most would happen to me... you have about 60 - 70% survival over a ten year period, confirming for me that HT just simply dont last for everyone, no matter they say, so I really appreciate sharing and I thank you. You have confirmed in my mind that FUE is the only real solution we have now in HT until something better comes along. This is the reason why us FUE people love the idea of the shave down escape route. RANT OVER... for your case I would go for a mega FUE session with Dr Bhatti and get him to address your scar with a BHT - all the best and thanks

[JON86]

thanks for sharing your story, you are that HT case which I feared the most would happen to me... you have about 60 - 70% survival over a ten year period, confirming for me that HT just simply dont last for everyone, no matter they say, so I really appreciate sharing and I thank you. You have confirmed in my mind that FUE is the only real solution we have now in HT until something better comes along. This is the reason why us FUE people love the idea of the shave down escape route. RANT OVER... for your case I would go for a mega FUE session with Dr Bhatti and get him to address your scar with a BHT - all the best and thanks

 

 

This is one opinion but both procedures have their place. The problem here is not what procedure was done but the choice to not take meds. My opinion and just my personal opinion but I would never have either procedure without meds it's just like throwing a bag of money in a fireplace. I totally understand the escape theory of fue have dealt with those thoughts myself . Even taking meds doesn't guarantee anything. The sides happen a lot more than are reported. It's a roll of the dice for all of us. In this case the op has already gone strip and if he has laxity if I were him would go fut again to get more grafts. He has what appears to be solid donor.

[Rashid36]

It feels like a gamble, will one have further visible hair loss?

if so how long 1 year 5 years, 10 years?

 

In the mean time stay in between been not fully bald nor having good coverage all over!

 

Do some have success without taking meds after a ht?

[1_ez_goer]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for replying.

 

HTsoon- I agree that my first HT was not too successful. I have consulted with Dr. Hasson's office and they said that we could do another HT.. I'm not sure about FUE as I need lots of grafts..

 

Seth- I'm not sure if I had 60-70% total survival or if I had 0-10% survival for the first HT and 90-100% survival for the second HT. But if I were to bet I'd say it was the latter.

 

Jon- I agree- FUT again because I need lots of grafts..

[Sethticles]

I think you're kidding yourself if you think you've had 90-100% survival rate on 3900 grafts. However Jon's right, you look like you plenty of grafts left in the bank, you've already had strip, why not do it again. all the best ez-goer

[Garageland]

In cases like yours your laxity be be the key to what is best for you in your next procedure if you are considering FUT again and it makes sense as you already have a donor scar to loosen your scalp for a couple of months to prepare for surgery. If you work hard on the laxity exercises then you should get a respectable number of grafts as the donor density still looks decent.

 

If you can get an in person consultation that would be ideal to assess laxity/density.

[1_ez_goer]

Seth- to clarify, I meant that of the hair I have left in front and top, 90-100 % is from HT #2.

 

Garage- thanks for the input. I have been in contact with your office and am strongly considering another FUT procedure with Dr Hasson.

[HairsGone]

Out of interest, did you have hairs transplanted in the areas that are bald now? Or did these areas not need transplanting at the time and now lost native hair? Just trying to figure out if you lost transplanted hairs or not as this will help me in my choice of what I do during my next HT. Thanks

[1_ez_goer]

HairsGone- you are correct. I did not have any hair transplanted in my now bald areas. These now bald areas are where I have lost native hair since my last HT. I hope that helps.

[HairsGone]

Thanks. Do you know if the area now bald had any signs of hair loss at the time of your last HT with Dr Hasson? Did Dr Hasson mention there were any signs of miniaturisation in those areas to suggest it may lose hair? Or did it just feel like you had a full head of hair?

[1_ez_goer]

Yes he did mention that he was not sure if the hair on my now bald spots would survive.

[HairsGone]

Thanks for the reply. That certainly helps me. Best of luck with your next HT

[n00b]

Hi 1_ez_goer,

 

Thanks a lot for sharing your story. I am 26 yrs old and had a FUT with Dr.Hasson recently. I fear that I would be in the same boat as yours in about 10 years and I fear what my options would be then. I wish I had taken the FUE route as Seth put it, i would have a "shave down escape route".

 

Can anyone advise whether there is any way to repair the scar and make it look as normal as possible so that one can buzz down to either #0 or #1?

[Melvin- Admin]

Hi 1_ez_goer,

 

Thanks a lot for sharing your story. I am 26 yrs old and had a FUT with Dr.Hasson recently. I fear that I would be in the same boat as yours in about 10 years and I fear what my options would be then. I wish I had taken the FUE route as Seth put it, i would have a "shave down escape route".

 

Can anyone advise whether there is any way to repair the scar and make it look as normal as possible so that one can buzz down to either #0 or #1?

 

You can always FUE in to the strip scar but its never going to look 100% to be honest. You could probably get away with #1 on the sides but not a #0. Although, FUE scars in most cases will be visible at a #0 it does not draw the eye like a linear scar. Don't beat yourself up about not choosing FUE though, I think we all fear this happening to us, myself included and I chose FUE, you're still young, so who knows maybe in another 10 years they will find a way to fix the scar issue. I don't think it would be an issue so long as you are on some form of preventive hair loss medication like Minoxidil, Finasteride and Nizoral.

[Rashid36]

Atleast i'm not the only one worried about this it's the plug look .

I mean just transplanted hairs remaining.

 

If it came to norwood 7 I wonder if donor and beard hair would be enough to cover the whole head ?

[Shampoo]

In cases like yours your laxity be be the key to what is best for you in your next procedure if you are considering FUT again and it makes sense as you already have a donor scar to loosen your scalp for a couple of months to prepare for surgery. If you work hard on the laxity exercises then you should get a respectable number of grafts as the donor density still looks decent.

 

Garageland I too will be returning to Hasson/Wong probably in May for a followup procedure. I hate doing the scalp exercises, but am trying to do it once or twice a day.

[Garageland]

Hey Shampoo! Great to see you back on here. I always had a hard time with the exercises too but they do make a difference as you know.