Post Op FUE visible straight lines/rows? please help

[Worriedgf]

Hello,

My boyfriend has been incredibly depressed for ten years about his hair loss and he just finally managed to get 20k together to have an FUE procedure done by John Diep out of SF.  The surgery was done last Saturday March 23, 2019.  We are highly concerned because we can see such obvious rows of straight lines running up from his head.. I wanted to post some pictures so people can let us know if this is normal and will somehow end up looking natural, or if he is going to have more of a “hair plug” look.  My boyfriend is upset because he chose Dr Diep because he talks of being a hairline artist, but the Dr did very little of the procedure himself.  He had young technicians do most of the work.  Do these pictures look normal?  Is this good work?  All the photos we’ve seen online of post op FUE show a much more scattered pattern and the research we’ve done has all concluded rows/grids end up looking very unnatural.  We would really appreciate any input you might have 😢

[Legend007]

The work looks good . It’s densely packed .. did he get around 2300 grafts ? .. what his donor look like ? Got pics ?

but yeah .. don’t worry too much ,, it looks desnely packed in the front .. 

[Worriedgf]

Thank you for the response.  He was told he’s a NW5a-b and it was 2400 grafts.  We don’t know the breakdown of how many hairs per graft.  I’ve attached more photos. That is good to here it looks densely packed.  We are just worried it seems to be packed in noticeable rows.. We knew beforehand he’ll have to have another procedure for the top and crown.. does it seems like a second FUE procedure will work for him though.  It seems like alot of area still needs to be covered..? 

[Legend007]

I wouldn’t worry about ur boyfriend having a pluggy hairline look with dr diep.. it’s his specialty .. if he has good donor , N those hairs grow .. his hairline should look great .. then he’s going to want to fill in the mid n crown next .. that’s usually the way it goes .. but yeah u doing the right thing by going to a top tier hairline doctor .. n the transplant looks good .. do u have pre-op pics of what he looked like before surgery .. n did the doctor tell him how many grafts he has left ? Right now just follow post up instructions n let the process take its course .. it’s also helpful if u post updates as the months come along .. there be many people interested in this post n will be helpful .. 

[Baldrick101]

I have to say that I don't understand this doctors approach. I don't think he needs to worry about density and naturalness at the front. It is quite packed but what about the rest!! He's going to end up with a huge tuft of hair covering the frontal zone and nothing behind it to the midsection and crown. He looks like a NW 6 to me with a rather weak donor. Did the doctor develop a plan with him? He'll need 5000-5500 grafts to get total coverage to put his mind at ease and that is gonna cost another $20k at least. 

[Worriedgf]

Thank you for your reply Legend007.  Here are pre-op photos.  He was told the Dr could get about 2000-2200 for the second (FUE) surgery. 

[Worriedgf]

haven’t figured out how to delete posts. Finally figured out how to reply🤦‍♀️

Edited March 30, 2019 by Worriedgf

[Worriedgf]

1 hour ago, Baldrick101 said:

I have to say that I don't understand this doctors approach. I don't think he needs to worry about density and naturalness at the front. It is quite packed but what about the rest!! He's going to end up with a huge tuft of hair covering the frontal zone and nothing behind it to the midsection and crown. He looks like a NW 6 to me with a rather weak donor. Did the doctor develop a plan with him? He'll need 5000-5500 grafts to get total coverage to put his mind at ease and that is gonna cost another $20k at least. 

Baldrick101, those are my concerns as well.  I don’t understand why they did so much in front when there’s clearly such a large area that needs to be done as well.  I don’t understand how 2000-2200 can possibly work, but I was hoping and praying the Dr must know what he’s doing since apparently he’s known to be good at this........the only thing I can think of is the Dr took into consideration that his hair is wavy so maybe that covers better??  Maybe he can never achieve full coverage so the front is more important?

Also, I am wondering what determines the strength/weakness of the donor area?  He was shaving his whole head completely bald prior to this procedure, and the donor area hardly had any time to grow back out.  What makes a donor area weak?  When he wasn’t shaving his head and was instead wearing a hat at all times the sides were thick and wavy...

[Legend007]

Melvin our moderator had the same hairloss as ur bf. But even worse ... he should chime in here..  2400 grafts don’t go very far .. that’s the amount of grafts needed for the hairline to look good .. u require less grafts In the mid n back . Possibly 4000 more.. 

believe me okay ,. I just had my surgery .. n I did 2500 grafts to the hairline .. n it is not a lot of area covered .. I was hoping it would cover more area myself .. my 2500 grafts covered less area .. 

the dr is planning a second transplant .. n the hairline needs to be built strong.. ur bf has good donor hair .. from the shaved pics I thought he might be in trouble .. but the new pics ,, his donor is good .. if he can afford it .. he shouldn’t be bald after 2-3 procedures .. u a good gf for looking out for him .. the hairline is a bit aggressive for someone that’s balding that much however .. 

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Legend007
I didn’t have surgery with dr diep btw.. I just tell it how it is .

[Kiwi Guy]

Did your bf ever consider doing FUT over FUE, so a strip surgery? When you have that level of diffused thinning FUE doesn't seem like a smart choice to me being you need as many grafts as you can get, surely Dr. Diep discussed a plan with him

[JohnCasper]

The grafts do seem placed in an orderly configuration but do seem densely packed.  Dr. Diep is a fine surgeon and I’m sure has trained his technicians very well.  You may want to look back in the archives of this website and see if you can find pictures of post-op pictures from Dr. Diep and see how they compare.  I’m sure the results 4-5 months from now will be just fine.  You will, however, have to come up with another 20K for 2-3,000 more grafts for a more fuller look and coverage.

That said...... I’m always amazed at the cost per graft in different parts of the country.  I know SF is a high cost area and people living in that area may be fine with the cost per graft.  In comparison, I was a Norwood VI and had 5,250 grafts done over the course of two and a half consecutive days.  The technician was important and helpful but at this clinic every graft is removed and placed by the surgeon.  I know there are many skilled technicians but its very reassuring knowing the surgeon is doing all of the extractions and placements of the grafts.  Also, the cost is half as much ($4-5 per graft) plus a $350 plane ticket and all 5,000+ grafts were done in one visit.

Best of luck going forward but I’m sure the results will please you in a few months.  Be patient, you have plenty to look forward to.

[Gasthoerer]

My 2 cents:

- The "young" technicans have nothing to do with it, as I assume the slits and the overall plan was made by Dr. Diep

- The hairline design looks atypical for a top surgoen as it seems to lack micro irregularities

- The amount of grafts and the overall distribution appears strange for such a high NW (but maybe the pics are misleading)

Honestly, if I had to make a guess, I would not have guessed this would be a result from a top clinic.

Edited April 2, 2019 by Gasthoerer

[FUEblonde1985]

The pattern you see is pretty typical for this doctor. If you do a search on this forum you will see many other progress photos from this doctor and there are many dozens of videos on youtube showing the final results, all of which you will see look to be some of the best HT results you will find on the the internet - to the extent that there have been questions posted on this forum and elsewhere as to whether or not his results are legitimate.

I'm not sure what source Gasthoerer has to indicate that micro irregularities are a necessary component to produce good results. If you consider the fact that even the best transplant procedures have less than 100% growth, that alone will produce irregularities in the final growth.

In terms of the number of grafts - 2000-2500 is generally the upper limit in terms of how many FUE grafts you can do in one procedure. If he is a NW5+ then he will probably need more than one procedure to fill in that large of an area. 

For what its worth, I am guessing the pictures you posted are from day 5. I can say that his recipient area looks nearly identical to mine on the same day. You can look at my post history for the thread.

Edited April 2, 2019 by FUEblonde1985

[Melvin- Admin]

You’re worrying is not helping your bf to be honest. You chose a clinic with one of the biggest portfolios on the web. 

It’s totally normal to have buyers remorse. But you should be encouraging your bf and not causing him further distress. I’ve included how my hair looked before and right after, it looks pretty much like your boyfriend’s. I’m also including my most recent YouTube video. Dr. Diep changed my life your bf chose a good doc now just try to get him to relax. 

 

[Gasthoerer]

6 hours ago, FUEblonde1985 said:

I'm not sure what source Gasthoerer has to indicate that micro irregularities are a necessary component to produce good results.

Well, I have seen these micro irregularities in almost all results of the top tier clincis from US, EU and rest of the world. I remember thousand of threads and posts about this topic in here. There are comments about this at many websites of top tier clincis. I think it is save to say, that it is industry standard for most top clincis.

Diep seems to do a lot of things different than most other top clincis (punch size, extraction pattern and obviously also incision pattern). WIth that said, I do not follow Diep to closely but it seems other experiences User do and they like the results. Therefore, there might be no reason to worry. There is nth to do right now anyway.

@Worriedgf, what is the plan for the remaining bald areas? Hairline looks quite aggresive for such an big balding area.  Are there pre-op pics with longer hair on top?

 

[Melvin- Admin]

I’m going to disagree with you Gas,

Dr. Diep used the zig-zag pattern of micro-irregularities by using placing 1 hair fu’s in a zig zag pattern. This is his calling card for hairlines he mentions this in his videos a lot. Understandable you wouldn’t know since you don’t follow his work, some may not like it. I for one think the zig zags make the hairline appear natural when it's grown out. 

Also, I was just as bald as this guy with a similar hairline. It can be restored with multiple sessions, but no one should think they can restore the head completely in one session with a Norwood 6 level of balding.

[Gasthoerer]

20 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I’m going to disagree with you Gas,

Dr. Diep used the zig-zag pattern of micro-irregularities by using placing 1 hair fu’s in a zig zag pattern...

 

It is OK if you disagree. Many turkish clinic use a similar zig-zag approache. But like you can see from the very first picture the entire left hairline has maybe 5-6 "zigs" and maybe 10 graft in total which create this "zigs". This is very low compared to others using this standard (without saying that this is good or bad) and it is different from most other top clinics who use a different approach.

Anyway, many seems convinced, whi follow this clinic more than myself. I am fine with that.

Still, I would like to see the overall plan for the remaining areas...

[Worriedgf]

4 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I’m going to disagree with you Gas,

Dr. Diep used the zig-zag pattern of micro-irregularities by using placing 1 hair fu’s in a zig zag pattern. This is his calling card for hairlines he mentions this in his videos a lot. Understandable you wouldn’t know since you don’t follow his work, some may not like it. I for one think the zig zags make the hairline appear natural when it's grown out. 

Also, I was just as bald as this guy with a similar hairline. It can be restored with multiple sessions, but no one should think they can restore the head completely in one session with a Norwood 6 level of balding.

Thank you for 

 

13 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

You’re worrying is not helping your bf to be honest. You chose a clinic with one of the biggest portfolios on the web. 

It’s totally normal to have buyers remorse. But you should be encouraging your bf and not causing him further distress. I’ve included how my hair looked before and right after, it looks pretty much like your boyfriend’s. I’m also including my most recent YouTube video. Dr. Diep changed my life your bf chose a good doc now just try to get him to relax. 

 

Thank you Melvin!  I showed him your pictures because they do look very similar and he feels sooooo much better after seeing your video.  He was having buyers remorse, but didn't want to reach out at all because he was afraid of anything negative that people might say.  Since its such a sensitive subject for him I decided to reach out so I can pass along any encouraging words/info/advice that people might have.  I am definitely not going to pass along anything that might worry him more!

What you shared was very encouraging for him, so thank you again!  If you don't mind me asking.. you mentioned having multiple procedures and I was wondering what exactly you had done to achieve your current results?  My bf was initially told by Dr Diep that he thought he could do everything in two procedures.  After this first session Diep told him he could probably get another 2000-2200 grafts during the second procedure.  Since your hair was very similar to his, I'm just wondering what you think about that?   

[Worriedgf]

Thank you to everyone for your input!  It has all been very helpful!

[Melvin- Admin]

24 minutes ago, Worriedgf said:

Thank you for 

 

Thank you Melvin!  I showed him your pictures because they do look very similar and he feels sooooo much better after seeing your video.  He was having buyers remorse, but didn't want to reach out at all because he was afraid of anything negative that people might say.  Since its such a sensitive subject for him I decided to reach out so I can pass along any encouraging words/info/advice that people might have.  I am definitely not going to pass along anything that might worry him more!

What you shared was very encouraging for him, so thank you again!  If you don't mind me asking.. you mentioned having multiple procedures and I was wondering what exactly you had done to achieve your current results?  My bf was initially told by Dr Diep that he thought he could do everything in two procedures.  After this first session Diep told him he could probably get another 2000-2200 grafts during the second procedure.  Since your hair was very similar to his, I'm just wondering what you think about that?   

Well I think he’ll need another two procedures IMO, but another 2,200 grafts would complete the midsection for sure. The crown is something that will always be thin. I’ve had very little put in the crown. I currently use Caboki and it works wonders. IMO it’s better to complete sections, as opposed to doing one big mega-session.

Your bf is going about it the right way and chose a good doc. Go ahead and tell him everything so far looks good. The midsection appears that way because it’s only lightly covered. The second surgery will focus on that area with density.

[Worriedgf]

Hi guys.. I am posting pictures of two weeks post op.  I would like to know what everyone thinks.  He is feeling extremely concerned because he says while the left side looks natural, the right side looks like perfectly straight stitching across his head.  I am trying to assure him it’ll turn out looking great, but is this really what good work looks like??  I haven’t been able to find any pictures on the Internet that look like this.  

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Your bf is going to worry himself out. The single hair grafts are there and have shed. Again, re-assure him that he went to a good surgeon and at this point there is nothing left to do, but wait. 

[Baldrick101]

I would agree that the feather zone on the left looks more natural than the right. 

But as Melvin says, all he can do is wait it out now, what's done is done. There is no point stressing out too much, I can't say I've ever seen a Diep failure on here so the odds are on his favour. 

[JohnCasper]

Melvin and Baldrick are correct. In 3-4 months I’m sure your boyfriend will feel much better and you won’t notice any graft placement pattern on the right side after the hairs begin to grow.  I don’t mean this in a disparaging way but some hair transplant patients are inherently insecure and may be especially critical after surgery.  I sure you’re boyfriend will be fine.  Please keep us posted.