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1700 Grafts with Dr. Diep


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Hello fellow Norwoods.

I will be taking the plunge for my second procedure in approximately 3 weeks.

Per the suggestions on this forum, as well as youtube videos, I decided to go with Dr. Diep for my second procedure. From my research Dr. Diep seems to have a very high skill level as well as a great eye for overall aesthetics. 

I will be getting 1300 FUE grafts, with the primary goal of adding density and a secondary goal of slightly lowering the hairline. 

Want to say thanks for all the feedback I got in my first post. Specifically the following contributors deserve a shout out for their help in my, and other threads: HSRP10, HTsoon, Vermaj, ModernHair, Speegs,  JeanLDD (aka the "straight-shooter" lol), Bill.

I will aim to update my thread at least monthly, with more updates during the crucial first month post-op.

Happy Holidays!

 

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Remember you case!

I am sure everyone in here wishes you nth but the best.

Did Dr. Harris or Dr. Diep offer any explanation what went wrong and/or what will be done different this time? Some clinics have an internal protocol how extraction and implantation went. 

Bigger punch diameter? Different way to implant the grafts (forceps/implanter)? From your old thread I have recognized that the transplanted hair appeared also thin and has slightly lighter colour. Maybe a sign that extraction was putting to much stress on the roots. 

All the best

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Great to see you back, I hope you’ll keep us updated on your progress. I’m glad I was able to help- HTsoon


I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice.

Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey

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Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

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On 12/19/2018 at 1:28 PM, Melvin-Moderator said:

Great to see you back, I hope you’ll keep us updated on your progress. I’m glad I was able to help- HTsoon

I was trying to figure out if you'd changed your name or I was losing my mind lol.

Definitely read through your threads multiple times when deciding on surgeon. Hoping to get a result even half as good as yours!

BTW, who's the male model in your avatar? ;)

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A few questions for those users who've had prior procedures with Dr. Diep:

1. Did you opt for an additional A-Cell injection for the $500 extra? Why or why not?

2. Did you opt for the Amnio Fill injection for the $600 extra? Why or why not?

3. Did Dr. Diep mention when you would be allowed to use concealers (e.g., Dermatch, Toppik, etc.) post-op?

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4 hours ago, baldlivesmatter said:

A few questions for those users who've had prior procedures with Dr. Diep:

1. Did you opt for an additional A-Cell injection for the $500 extra? Why or why not?

2. Did you opt for the Amnio Fill injection for the $600 extra? Why or why not?

3. Did Dr. Diep mention when you would be allowed to use concealers (e.g., Dermatch, Toppik, etc.) post-op?

No, there’s really no evidence that Acell does anything. My hair grew just fine without it. 

I havent heard of the amniofill injection, I would need to see some evidence of it working before spending $600. 

You can start using concealer pretty much once the grafts shed around 3-4 weeks depending.

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I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice.

Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey

View my thread

Topical dutasteride journey 

Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

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Just to solicit any last minute suggestions I'm planning on the below strategy. I will be traveling tomorrow and having surgery Thursday so any advice/suggestions before then would be much appreciated:

1. Planning to get Acell ($500) but not Amniofill ($500)--Acell seems to have scientific evidence supporting quicker wound healing so even if it doesn't help growth it will help me look normal faster for returning to work.

2. Medium tight hairline--Dr. Diep is a hairline expert so I'm assuming this will be his choice as well but I need to be clear on this so that I don't get too aggressive of a hairline given potential future loss. To me, this looks like it will drop my current hairline about .5 -.75 CM. I have a few straggler hairs in the middle of my scalp which I plan to use as landmarks in the drawing of the hairline (see little red box in pic below). This is the lowest I will plan to go on the hairline as the primary goal of the procedure is for density, rather than hairline lowering.

3. Dr. Diep has a form where you can allow up to a certain amount of additional grants to be harvested at the physician's discretion. Although I'd prefer to hit 1300 on the dot I'm thinking of giving 100 grafts as leeway. Anyone have insight on this?

4. I've read that shaving the recipient site is optional. I'm leaning towards shaving it all to make it uniform but this makes it difficult to use toppik for quite a while, and I have a big networking event for work at the end of the month so I'm wondering if it makes sense to keep the top long and try to style it strategically with concealer. Is this a feasible idea or is it going to look silly half shaved?

5. What time should I expect my surgery to begin? The clinic said they would call me to let me know the time a few days before but haven't received a call yet. I left a VM and emailed but no response yet. Assuming pretty early in the AM (e.g., 7 AM). Planning to call them again tomorrow to lock this down.

6. Planning to ask Dr. Diep for prescriptions for Nizoral 2% and Dutasteride. Not sure I will get the Dutasteride (or even for sure use it if I get it) but figured it's worth asking for.

image.png.5da795628b92810ca4bf602225898f27.png

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U a good patient for Dr. Diep .. he be able to fix ur hairline .. just one advice .. make sure u don’t let him use 1mm punch size on u .. request for .9mm n lower .. there’s no reason u would require a big punch size considering ur hair caliber .. 

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3 hours ago, Legend007 said:

U a good patient for Dr. Diep .. he be able to fix ur hairline .. just one advice .. make sure u don’t let him use 1mm punch size on u .. request for .9mm n lower .. there’s no reason u would require a big punch size considering ur hair caliber .. 

That's an interesting thought Legend. 

I was originally worried about Dr. Diep's punch size (which was a big reason why I didn't go to him for my first procedure, even though he was local) but having seen a lot of success stories where the donor ends up healing fine I'm not sure it's something I'm going to stress about. For example, Melvin's donor looked pretty rough in some pics for a few months post-op but now it looks untouched despite a large number of grafts. I'm also opting for the Acell with the hope that this helps with donor area healing.

That being said I'm guessing he'll use .9mm anyway.

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.9mm should be fine . Since u not using a lot of grafts .. but let him know u don’t want anything larger than that .. nothing wrong with letting the doctor n clinic know u are an educated patient .. it’s ur hair n ur money . Don’t be shy about things like that .. 

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Here it is boyos--surgery day recap time!

Overall things went very smoothly.

I know Dr. Diep has gotten some flack for bad post-op attention but I found him to be awesome. Super engaging--talked to me about family, hobbies, sports, etc. Overall seems like a good dude. Further, the techs were all very friendly and helped calm my pre-op nerves (valium helped too lol).

Regarding the procedure--when I first got there Dr. Diep's immediate statement was that I really needed 2000 grafts, rather than the initially quoted 1300, as the hair loss extended further back than he had initially expected. He also suggested that we didn't lower my hairline as this was going to require even more grafts for adequate density. After some back and forth I agreed to up my procedure to 1600 grafts, to which Dr. Diep kindly planted 1683 (with the additional 83 at no additional charge).

Further, Dr. Diep was very low pressure on me getting Acell though I decided to get it anyway, in hopes that it will speed up my recovery for an upcoming business networking event.

I am writing this as I'm still bandaged up prior to my post-op cleaning at the clinic, but below are some pics I took today to help chronicle the process. Will plan to upload more post-cleaning pics tomorrow, including donor area pics.

Love to hear your questions/comments.

Front Hairline

image.png.78aa5b8a2af7be028583763ae49039da.png

OH Hairline #1

image.png.61b3fb35951672a1005b624013535b45.png

Overhead Hairline #2

image.png.585569885545ac7dd58eefe495b44a24.png

Left Donor--Pre-op

image.png.fd71ad2def55ee6a68925f062421d5ee.png

Right Donor Pre-op #2

image.png.3a1006ec40bf502b1adf9c0d86c106af.png

Back Donor Pre-op

image.png.c6cbb0e598904f73ad54058664e4b0bb.png

OH post-op

image.png.44aa3a1a3d501276a6e52e1ef7f0d225.png

Left Post-Op

image.png.09996705dd54e154ca689e448fbf001c.png

Right Post-Op

image.png.020bf0d732bb46df4dbeba25f108b7d8.png

 

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Thanks for the detailed write-up. It seems your donor was fairly hyperpigmented previously. Maybe he felt that side was slightly less and wanted to balance it out. Overall I think you’re going to love your results. I find Dr. Diep to genuinely take pride in his work. That’s why I feel he excels in his hairline work.

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I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice.

Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey

View my thread

Topical dutasteride journey 

Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

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59 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Thanks for the detailed write-up. It seems your donor was fairly hyperpigmented previously. Maybe he felt that side was slightly less and wanted to balance it out. Overall I think you’re going to love your results. I find Dr. Diep to genuinely take pride in his work. That’s why I feel he excels in his hairline work.

Yes, I small talked with him a bit before and after the procedure and it was apparent he takes great pride in his work. Great quality to have in a surgeon.

Not particularly worried about the donor just seems unusual to me that they wouldn't aim for homogeneity on the graft removal.

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31 minutes ago, Legend007 said:

What size punch did he used on u ?  And how many grafts did u get from ur previous surgery .. 

Ah Legend I forgot to ask on punch size. Blame it on the Xanax! lol

I got ~1800 grafts in my last procedure and 1,683 for this one with the breakdown as follows:

1's - 268

2's - 796

3's - 487

4's - 132

Total - 1,683

Dr. Diep said my grafts were of good quality (consistent with what my prior surgeon said) and also said that the average donor capacity is between 8K-10K grafts. So, realistically I think I can plan on having another 4K in the tank without too much worry. Provided this one turns out well that should be plenty as I don't mind using a small amount of concealer and/or having a thin crown if my hair loss continues to progress.

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Have notice diep donor’s always looked butchered after, big holes and very red. Also the hairline finishes near your ear on one side and further back on the other? 

Hopefully will all look good when healed and grown in

Edited by nb98
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33 minutes ago, Raker said:

Have to agree with gas, donor doesn’t look great. On another point the hairline symmetry looks wrong, hopefully that’s just my eyesight. Good luck. 

No hairline is perfectly symmetrical. In fact a perfectly symmetrical hairline is a dead give away for a hair transplant. The human face and body is assymetrical. That’s why the phrase “take a picture of my good side” exists. 

If you study hairlines and facial symmetry you will notice that facial propertions change from one side to the other. Those with less assymetry are usually perceived as more attractive because of it, but make no mistake there is still asymmetry.

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I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice.

Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey

View my thread

Topical dutasteride journey 

Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

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The last thing you ever want to see is a hairline that is too symmetrical like this

C1688232-C2E8-4B8D-BE1B-609504C2A3A4.jpeg


I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice.

Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey

View my thread

Topical dutasteride journey 

Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

Follow our Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube.

 

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10 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

No hairline is perfectly symmetrical. In fact a perfectly symmetrical hairline is a dead give away for a hair transplant. The human face and body is assymetrical. That’s why the phrase “take a picture of my good side” exists. 

If you study hairlines and facial symmetry you will notice that facial propertions change from one side to the other. Those with less assymetry are usually perceived as more attractive because of it, but make no mistake there is still asymmetry.

Study the hairline, I understand symmetries but the patient’s right sight side is completely different to the other side. Are you suggesting that surgeons apply asymmetrical approach to a hairline? Just asking. 

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Just now, Raker said:

Study the hairline, I understand symmetries but the patient’s right sight side is completely different to the other side. Are you suggesting that surgeons apply asymmetrical approach to a hairline? Just asking. 

Yes, 

The hairline is designed according to the individuals facial structure. Some men are born with one hairline slightly higher than the other. This is perfectly normal and seen in nature. In fact, you can see Dr. Diep, simply followed the natural pattern of his hair. Below is an example of a non-balding assymetrical hairline. 

66DA5ABC-4B4D-4757-9DD8-2F166570610B.jpeg


I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice.

Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey

View my thread

Topical dutasteride journey 

Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

Follow our Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube.

 

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