1700 FUE — Hairline Restoration Log

[yalla8]

Hey Everyone,

I'm going to have my first ht procedure next week, and want to share photos of my results on a monthly basis with the forum here both to document for myself and others who are in similar shoes or just want to chime in.

About Me

• 28 years old
• Live in MENA region
• Been on Finasteride for 5 years; hair loss has stabilized
• Mixed history of MPB in family (present on paternal side; not present on material)

My Procedure 

• My doctor is an Israeli MD (dermatologist) who specializes in hair transplant using manual FUE and FUT. Although he is not discussed on this forum, he is known as having the best hair transplant clinic in the country.
• I've been told I have a good donor area, so I'm ok with 1700 grafts to start with at my age

My Concerns Going In

• I'm worried about the recovery time and feeling judged in the first 7-10 days
• I'm concerned about ensuring a natural appearance 
• I'm hoping that 1700 grafts is enough density for good results and that it blends in nicely overall
• P.S. Any advice in the next few days before my surgery, please let me know!

Before Photos

Edited August 11, 2020 by yalla8

[Melvin- Admin]

What’s the name of your surgeon? Thanks for sharing your journey, eager to see your results 🙏🏼

[ciaus]

Firstly, one of the potential causes for hair loss that we DO have control over is stress -so take it easy and stay positive for starters

and judging by the pics of you pulling the hair back,  I assume you are addressing the frontal hairline? Do you have photos with the markup of where you want your new lines to be already? -if not you can open any pic on your PC (assuming you have a Windows PC), and for example,  use the 'Snipping Tool' program (just search for 'snipping' in the Windows search bar) and drag/select your photo with the mouse -it will create another image of your picture that you can draw on with your mouse. See my example below of how I'd scribble in Mr Jude Law's new front and temple points

 

 

 

[ciaus]

 

On 8/4/2020 at 11:30 AM, yalla8 said:

I'm worried about the recovery time and feeling judged in the first 7-10 days

Assuming you are doing the new hairline, don't get the front and sides cut any time soon and practice hair styles where you comb your sides forward and your front forward and over to the side.

How many work days are you taking off initially after the procedure? or are you working from home and worried about family/personal social situations?

Edited August 6, 2020 by ciaus

[yalla8]

11 hours ago, ciaus said:

Firstly, one of the potential causes for hair loss that we DO have control over is stress -so take it easy and stay positive for starters

and judging by the pics of you pulling the hair back,  I assume you are addressing the frontal hairline? Do you have photos with the markup of where you want your new lines to be already? -if not you can open any pic on your PC (assuming you have a Windows PC), and for example,  use the 'Snipping Tool' program (just search for 'snipping' in the Windows search bar) and drag/select your photo with the mouse -it will create another image of your picture that you can draw on with your mouse. See my example below of how I'd scribble in Mr Jude Law's new front and temple points

 

 

 

 

Thanks, ciauc! Staying positive and excited.

I don't have the hairline the doctor drew up during my consult, but I've tried to recreate it here (purple line below). Basically the doctor said he would lower my hairline by 0.5mm and not touch the sides, as this would not look natural over time. What do you think?

[ciaus]

Hairline you draw looks good across the top, but your sides are thinning and receding too, not real bad yet -and that is what will eventually not look natural over time when you have a strong hairline on the top and your temple points are receding and thinning, eventually to the point where your side hair line is almost a straight line down. Lot of guys neglect the sides and alot of doctors are reluctant to address them because they are more difficult to fill in and define, but I would want them addressed sooner rather than later while you still have some of your natural hair to help guide the doctor instead of having him just make up what he thinks your temples should look like after they are gone -and it would be easier to conceal during your recovery if you have surrounding and nearby hairs that you can grow out and comb/style forward a bit to cover the area while it heals.

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2020 by ciaus

[yalla8]

On 8/6/2020 at 8:01 PM, ciaus said:

Hairline you draw looks good across the top, but your sides are thinning and receding too, not real bad yet -and that is what will eventually not look natural over time when you have a strong hairline on the top and your temple points are receding and thinning, eventually to the point where your side hair line is almost a straight line down. Lot of guys neglect the sides and alot of doctors are reluctant to address them because they are more difficult to fill in and define, but I would want them addressed sooner rather than later while you still have some of your natural hair to help guide the doctor instead of having him just make up what he thinks your temples should look like after they are gone -and it would be easier to conceal during your recovery if you have surrounding and nearby hairs that you can grow out and comb/style forward a bit to cover the area while it heals.

 

 

 

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I'll have to raise this with the dr. When I asked him about the sides, I remember him saying that the sides would not look natural if I filled them in now. For reference, he showed me this patient as an example of something very similar to what he would perform on me. I guess he did fill in the sides on him just a little bit. How many more grafts would you expect the sides as you drew them to take? I'm worried about overharvesting on my first FUE. 

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by yalla8

[ciaus]

You say your hair loss is stable now and you've been on fin for 5 yrs -have you been paying attention to your sides during that time and noticed much of a change there? If its been stable there too you may be alright for now, but Fin and Minox usually don't help much anywhere in the front for most guys so I'd start taking some profile pics occasionally to help you and the doc evaluate down the road.

On the number of grafts question I'm not good with that, you still have some pretty good definition there, just a little filling and bringing forward to define the edge of your battle line, so to speak. You don't want to be too aggressive in case you continue to lose alot behind that new front line, it could force your hand to get a smaller (and therefore more expensive) procedure to fill in behind  -I would also look into dermatch/toppik concealers for your transplant recovery and as a tool in planning/delaying your subsequent procedures. They are on amazon, relatively cheap, easy to apply well when you already have a good amount of hair, and can give you enough coverage for months or even years so that you get the most bang for your buck.

[yalla8]

@Melvin-Moderator — I'm curious what you think about the hairline design before I go in for my operation. Thanks!

[Melvin- Admin]

It’s conservative enough in my opinion. 

[yalla8]

I had my operation today! Here's a general overview of the day and a detailed description following:

• 8:00am: Arrival 
• 8:00-8:15am: Meet with dr and finalize hairline
• 8:15-8:30am: Head shaving
• 8:30-10:00am: Dr makes incisions in hairline for grafts
• 10:00am-11:00am: Dr uses motorized punch (0.8-0.9mm) in donor area
• 11:00am-2:00pm: Technicians implant grafts (dr supervising)
• 2:00-3:00pm: Lunch and post-op debrief

One of the technicians was keeping count of the hairs on an iPad. The final tally was:

• 1715 grafts
• 3478 hairs
  • 405 ones
  • 875 twos
  • 393 threes
  • 36 fours

As a reminder, the primary goal of the surgery was the restore my hairline with particular emphasis around my temples. The hairline was lowered in the center by only 0.5mm.

The day started bright and early at 8am. The doctor and his team of 5 super friendly technicians were ready for me when I arrived and I was made to feel comfortable. Each of the technicians had a role and it was clear they had been working with each other for a while. The doctor took me to his office to go over my hairline design. After measuring my face, he marked me up and we agreed on it. He went conservative on me due to my age and hair loss pattern. Next, I had my head shaved in back "marines" style and in the front forelock and temple region. Then we proceeded to the operating room. The doctor applied local anesthetic to my forehead. I was a bit surprised that the first step was making incisions on the forehead, but I think this was so that once the grafts were extracted, they could be immediately implanted, saving time and increasing their chance of survival. Then the doctor had me flip over as he used a motorized punch to extract the grafts. Again, felt nothing due to the anesthetic (which itself only felt like a pinch -- the doctor had an electronic massager he used during the needle portion that I think helped reduce pain.) 

Then came the longest part of the day, which was implanting the grafts. I couldn't see what was going on, but I felt a lot of different motions (pulling, squeezing, injecting). My guess is that it consisted of a combination of the Lion Implanter Pen and "stick and place" technique for different areas of my scalp. The technicians handled this part (with two working on each side of my head) and the doctor observing and making comments. 

At the end of the procedure, I was given lunch and then instructed by the doctor what to do/not to do for the next week. The doctor said everything went very well, and he was able to achieve very high density in the hairline and even slightly behind it where I haven't yet lost much hair (as you can see, further up) due to the number of two and three shaft grafts he was able to obtain. That made me happy to hear, as I told the doctor that density was a high priority for me.

Right now I look like a tomato, but here are the post-op pics. Would be glad to hear any feedback on how it looks. Thanks guys!

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by yalla8

[Sps133]

I think it looks good so far. You have a similar pattern to me, and I had about the same number of grafts—not sure about hair count though. My density came out to 32-35 fu/cm^2. 

[yalla8]

Day 0 - Complete. Aside from being groggy and finding it difficult to sleep upright, I was ok yesterday.

Day 1:

Most of the sensation has returned to my scalp. The back of my head is still a little tingly, but I can feel sensation coming back there too.

I've been spraying saline solution religiously today. I can finally start to see tiny hairs around the crusts, which weren't visible yesterday.

I also took off the dressing on my donor site for the first time, washed it with baby shampoo, and applied an antibacterial cream that the dr put me on for 5 days. Although it's hard for me to tell how the donor site looks up close, I think it looks ok? Any opinions?

Edited August 13, 2020 by yalla8

[yalla8]

 

On 8/11/2020 at 8:20 PM, yalla8 said:

Day 0 - Complete. Aside from being groggy and finding it difficult to sleep upright, I was ok yesterday.

Day 1:

Most of the sensation has returned to my scalp. The back of my head is still a little tingly, but I can feel sensation coming back there too.

I've been spraying saline solution religiously today. I can finally start to see tiny hairs around the crusts, which weren't visible yesterday.

I also took off the dressing on my donor site for the first time, washed it with baby shampoo, and applied an antibacterial cream that the dr put me on for 5 days. Although it's hard for me to tell how the donor site looks up close, I think it looks ok? Any opinions?

 

Day 6:

Everything is coming along! I don't think I've lost any grafts, as I was pretty much sedentary for the critical 72 hours.

Last night my dr instructed me to apply a cream to the recipient site and let is soak in overnight to loosen up the crusts. He then told me to massage (with some force!) the crusts off this morning. I was a bit nervous to apply much pressure, but gently and with the tips of my fingers (cleaned with soap, of course) I was able to get 99% of the crusting off! See before and after below. 

Now that the crusts are off, I can see the tiny hairs, their density and their direction on the scalp. It's getting me excited for the final result. I think my dr did an excellent job from what I can tell at this point.

The donor site is a little itchy. I'm continuing to wash it with baby shampoo 2x/ day and apply a combo of antibacterial cream and vaseline. The vaseline has helped a lot in terms of soothing and getting rid of the scabs.

Other than these updates, the numbness around my scalp (middle section) is fading but still present. No numbness on donor site. Biggest aesthetic issue is the redness around the follicles (especially the front hairline where 1 shaft grafts were used -- not sure why). I'm trying to apply coconut oil to see if that may help sooth the recipient area. 

Any feedback or comments would be great, thanks! @Melvin-Moderator

Edited August 15, 2020 by yalla8

[ciaus]

The donor area is healing nicely and your redness around the front in the tranplanted area is pretty mild too. Some guys with denser packings in the front especially can have some pretty pronounced redness for months.

The waiting game starts, don't let the ugly duckling phase sheds get you down. In a few months you'll get to start saying hello to your hairs in their new home!

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by ciaus

[LonelyGraft]

Can u share your doctors name? I think the work looks pretty good 

[yalla8]

9 hours ago, LonelyGraft said:

Can u share your doctors name? I think the work looks pretty good 

Thanks. Absolutely — here is his website. It's currently only in Hebrew: https://www.drofermor.co.il/

[jimcraig152]

That motorized extraction machine seems to do definitely did a better job than the surgeon that did my FUE by hand :). Very symmetrical. Very diffuse. Looks like you have nothing to worry about with your donor area.

Your receipient site looks good too. Also, your experience on the day of the procedure is the way how things should be. Trust me when I tell you, alot of us patients are just put on an assembly line. I also like how they made the graft incisions first actually. The only concern would be from coagulation as you need to wait for the extraction to complete. But I am sure they have that accounted for with meds. From my experience, inconsistency with incision patterns might be from extracting a set number of grafts first, then as the incisions are made and exceed the grafts extracted, some shortcuts are then taken. Seems very smart to me to do the incisions first although is atypical.

Look foward to seeing your results. Please make sure to keep it updated regularly.

[knight19]

How much does your doctor charge per graft?

[yalla8]

2 Week Update:

Overall feeling good. No pain anywhere and numbness at donor/recipient site has nearly disappeared. I still use some ointment on donor site but going to ween off of that soon. But otherwise donor looks untouched.

The hairs in the recipient site seem to be growing. Only about 15-25% have fallen out at this point (mainly small single grafts in the front). Still showering with J&J baby shampoo.  All crusts are off.  Curious how folks think it's look design & density-wise at this point. I'm really hoping it gives me results that I'm after.

I'm not really happy with my haircut right now, so I may shave it off or go down to a 3-4 guard all over. Any advice?

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by yalla8

[jimcraig152]

8 hours ago, yalla8 said:

I'm not really happy with my haircut right now, so I may shave it off or go down to a 3-4 guard all over. Any advice?

Shave it!

My one regret now at my 5th week was not shaving my head prior to the procedure. I had very long hair and it could have been donated to someone that needed it. But on the day of the procedure, I checked 'NO' to a head shave. That did not mean that they would work around my natural hair on receipient site. So I had a rooster-type/Friar Tuck hair do just like you do now. On the 4th day, I shaved it all down.

It acutally helps a ton during the recovery process. No natural hairs flopping over the receipient site. Being that we are all in quarantine, I don't have to worry about concealing anything since no one sees me.

[yalla8]

42 minutes ago, jimcraig152 said:

Shave it!

My one regret now at my 5th week was not shaving my head prior to the procedure. I had very long hair and it could have been donated to someone that needed it. But on the day of the procedure, I checked 'NO' to a head shave. That did not mean that they would work around my natural hair on receipient site. So I had a rooster-type/Friar Tuck hair do just like you do now. On the 4th day, I shaved it all down.

It acutally helps a ton during the recovery process. No natural hairs flopping over the receipient site. Being that we are all in quarantine, I don't have to worry about concealing anything since no one sees me.

Thanks Jim. I think I'll shave it later this week.

It looks like we're on similar journeys. I checked out your post with Diep and our new hairlines look somewhat similar, although yours was lowered it looks like, which may account for the additional grafts. (Or maybe you just have a bigger head :D) Otherwise it seems from the photos that our recipient densities are close to identical. Best of luck brother!

Edited August 24, 2020 by yalla8

[jimcraig152]

Yeah, I have a big ol' mellon head. But the face attached to it is nice to look at :P.

Still though, I can't help but to admire the work done on your donor site. Yours is the first testimonial I've run into where a machine was doing the work. The result is excellent! There is one other testimonial that came after yours that described the machine extraction process as well. In both cases, the graft incisions were made first. In just comparing your donor extraction to mine, if I didn't know better, I would say whatever that machine is doing the work is the new gold standard.

As for shaving, it saves you a ton of time during the recovery process. No need to worry about stylizing it or what not. Just shave it all even once, then let it all grow from there on out. Us guys that are follically challenged should try the buzz cut for once in our lives. Now is the chance to do it.

[yalla8]

Day 31

Now a month in. I feel like I'm full on ugly duckling. Never ended up shaving my head, and I'm using my longer hair to cover up the front pretty well. Redness has subsided about 50%. In the past week, I've gotten about 5 pimples that come and go. About 75% of the hair has shed at this point, although I have seen some tiny shafts sprout from around my new hairline which is interesting and excited. I also feel like my vertex is thinner, but that may just be because there's less hair on my head overall! I'm excited to see what the next month holds. 

[ItHasToLookNatural]

Hard for me to tell. Did you lower the hairline in the center a little?