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FUT - Black Male - 2017 Grafts - Hair Transplant with John Diep


Micky597

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*As I’m writing this, I’m 8 days post-op

 

Hey fellas, I hope you all are doing well. I’ve decided to share my hair transplant journey with you guys. About 2 weeks ago, I had a transplant performed by Dr. John Diep in Los Gatos California. I decided to go with him because he specializes in curly hair. As a black man, I couldn't go with a regular surgeon. Another user by the name of Norman Osborne Waves” inspired me to share my journey. I’ve decided to play my part and help my fellow brothers out. I won’t reinvent the wheel, I’ll more or less use Norman’s template to share my journey.

 

Background Information

I’m currently 26 years old. I started losing hair around 2015 when I was 21 years old. The hair loss mainly occurred in the hairline area. I was losing my hair very slowly at first, but by 2017 it started accelerating. Like pretty much everybody around here, I jumped on Rogaine. For a little while, Minoxidil helped me stabilize my hair loss.

 

This was very short lived. I soon understood that Rogaine wasn't going to fix the issue. I needed a more aggressive treatment, so in 2018 I started using Finasteride. I've been on Propecia for a little more than 2 years, and it really slowed down my hair loss. When I started this treatment, I really hoped that my hair density would improve. Unfortunately, it has pretty much been the same for the past year. Luckily, when my hair is long (wolfed out), the hair loss isn’t that noticeable. However, I can’t wear my hair any shorter than that. If I do so, too much of my scalp is exposed.

* Hair long with a line-up from the barber

 20200927_015411.thumb.jpg.3d5d2ac61c150fb1ef0120ec1bbb83ac.jpg

* Hair short with no line up

20200927_015436.thumb.jpg.93bab7ac7e34ab0c975a1c7822bc33ec.jpg

Consultation

Anyways, around March this year, after watching countless videos on YouTube, I’ve decided to get a hair transplant. Initially, I was supposed to go with another surgeon. As great as that surgeon is, I soon realized that his surgeries involving black people didn’t yield good results. My second option was going with Asli Tarcan, but then Covid-19 struck and going to Turkey became way to difficult for me (I’m Canadian btw). One day, I stumbled across Dr. Diep’s Youtube channel and that same night I sent him an inquiry.

·         Because of Corona Virus, I couldn’t really go to California, so we decided to have a facetime consultation. Based on the pictures I sent him, he recommended I get 1500 grafts.

·         The next day, his staff follows-up with me, and we schedule an appointment for September 18th. Luckily for me, because of Covid-19 he had a lot of cancellations. From what I’ve gathered online, he usually has a way longer waiting list.

·         The 5 months that proceeded might’ve been the longest 5 months of my life. Especially with this covid-19 situation… The border being closed, I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to get in the U.S.

 

Pre-Op

 

After what seemed to be forever, September finally came around. I flew to San Jose on the 16th. During my stay, I stayed at a hotel that the clinic recommended, a Residence Inn which is 2 minutes away from it. The next day I went to the clinic to pick up my pre-op package which consisted of a sponge and a shampoo. The night before the surgery, I was super anxious, and I think I slept like 2 hours.

 

I arrived at the clinic at 5:30 am. I completed some paperwork, and at 6:00am, I was finally inside the doctor’s office. I soon realized that the pictures I sent him of my hairline were a little misleading. My hair was too long in that picture. He then recommended that I get 2000 grafts instead. To ensure getting good results, I went for it.

 

Surgery

 

They gave me some pills. I don’t really remember what they were, but I know they made me really drowsy. I then put on a hospital gown and we got started.

 

As much as I want to describe the surgery, I don’t really remember what happened to be honest. I slept through most of it. I just caught some glimpses of it here and there. Before falling asleep, I do remember them asking me if I wanted to shave all of hair or only the donor area. I told them to only shave the donor. That was a BIG MISTAKE lol.

 

The surgery was painless for the most part. When he gave me anesthesia/stitches on the back of my head, I won’t lie, I nearly cried though. I vividly remember talking to Dr. Diep during the surgery, so I know he was there for the most part. However, his technicians were the ones who inserted the hair in the recipient area.

At 5:00pm, we were pretty much done. They took some pictures, give me some post care information and I took an Uber back to the hotel.

 

Post-Op

 20200927_015507.thumb.jpg.d8392aa13cf0e9d64d24e3a053e7398f.jpg

20200927_015551.thumb.jpg.2e84a0ec0b37da58e029721c71f225fa.jpg

20200927_015530.thumb.jpg.b52e5be8fb2184f4eb9f4e160c9e631c.jpgThe

You can't really see from it from the picture, but the hair density seems really good. Hopefully, it’ll more of less stay that way. When it comes to the post-op side effect, my head was super swollen and numb. They gave me a travel pillow for me to sleep on. I didn’t really get to sleep much that night as it incredibly uncomfortable/painful, the donor area was still too sensitive.

 

 

I'll give you a super quick breakdown of my first 8 days.

 

The day after the surgery 

1711221253_Day1.thumb.jpg.6b9bba057bb85337e72f2a56c7601bd7.jpg 

The white film/residue and the blood has dried. My head is still very swollen. I noticed that I have a bruise on my forehead aswell.

 

 

 Day 4 

291885272_Day4.thumb.jpg.687ee334f850b01b38e2344b5fe6bc86.jpg
 
Today was the first day I washed the donor area. The numbness has considerably gone down. My head isn't really swollen anymore. 
 
 
 
Day 7
 
179606861_Day7.thumb.jpg.68537000f117add74e1203e62d7e70a2.jpg
 
Everything is more or less the same. However, as a side note, you can notice that when my hair is long, you can't notice that hair is thinner around the mild scalp area. 
 
 
 
Day 8 
 
1800479328_Day8.thumb.jpg.df402a9007995d6ebc826a48b7fbe838.jpg
 
Today was my first wash. I was really concerned that my scalp was "whitish", but after lurking across this forum, I realize that it's pretty common after the first wash. 
Edited by Micky597
Pictures weren't showing up
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Yeah, I can't see your pics either.

I am a Dr. Diep patient as well (7/24/20 surgery date). I'm Asian though, so our hair characteristics are completely different. Dr. Diep was only in the room with me during anesthesia and extraction as far as I could tell. Last time I heard his voice before seeing him at the end of the procedure was when I woke from pain during FUE donor extraction with him saying, "You have to let me know if you are feeling any pain." Do you know if there was another patient being worked on that day? Because your work is one of the more better jobs he has done as of late. Seems he was able to spend more time with you. Perhaps because the other patient canceled? Or perhaps he was able to extract more units from FUT. I still see rows which is a signature of Dr Diep, but they are so closely packed together and that you have curly hair, you'll have a better chance of not having any aesthetic issues.

Wishing you all the best man. Will follow your progress closely.

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11 hours ago, Chances101 said:

Your pictures aren’t pulling up . Can you resubmit? And why did u get fut instead of fue if you don’t mind me asking 

Thanks brother for letting me know! Hopefully everything is fixed now. I went with fut instead of fue simply for financial reasons. Dr. Diep is a really good surgeon, but his rate was a bit steep for me. 

 

9 hours ago, jimcraig152 said:

Yeah, I can't see your pics either.

I am a Dr. Diep patient as well (7/24/20 surgery date). I'm Asian though, so our hair characteristics are completely different. Dr. Diep was only in the room with me during anesthesia and extraction as far as I could tell. Last time I heard his voice before seeing him at the end of the procedure was when I woke from pain during FUE donor extraction with him saying, "You have to let me know if you are feeling any pain." Do you know if there was another patient being worked on that day? Because your work is one of the more better jobs he has done as of late. Seems he was able to spend more time with you. Perhaps because the other patient canceled? Or perhaps he was able to extract more units from FUT. I still see rows which is a signature of Dr Diep, but they are so closely packed together and that you have curly hair, you'll have a better chance of not having any aesthetic issues.

Wishing you all the best man. Will follow your progress closely.

Hey Jim, from what I know he had at least one other patient that day. I took a lot at your results and it seems your progress is really similar to mine. It makes me feel better, because your transplant is coming out really good.

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Looking really good Micky! Really, one of Dr. Diep's better works as of late. What's the FUT stitching looking like at this time?

Also, check out GIMP which is a professional level picture editing tool. Open source and free! Helps you share more as you can leverage the editing functions to be more incognito. Real patient journeys help other hair loss sufferers a ton!

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15 minutes ago, Micky597 said:

Thanks brother for letting me know! Hopefully everything is fixed now. I went with fut instead of fue simply for financial reasons. Dr. Diep is a really good surgeon, but his rate was a bit steep for me. 

Pics are fixed now. Nice work.

One of the biggest factors that keeps hair loss sufferers on the fence about HT is the price. Can you outline the cost of your procedure for others to gauge?

15 minutes ago, Micky597 said:

 

Hey Jim, from what I know he had at least one other patient that day. I took a lot at your results and it seems your progress is really similar to mine. It makes me feel better, because your transplant is coming out really good.

Dr. Diep has a well known reputation for results. No doubt about that.

He also has well earned reputation for other stuff. But I am not going to get into that and rain on your parade. Want your progress to be magical. Everything is looking good so far man. FYI, I gently buzzed what was left of my shoulder length hair after the procedure on the 4th day. Helped a ton making me feel somewhat normal during the early days. With you being in the 10th day, your grafts should be rooted now. If you do buzz it, I'd say do it after the stitches and staples are out so you don't accidentally snag the clippers on them.

I'd say, don't buzz it yet though. Let those grafts start falling out after the 2nd week, ten evaluate from there. You might have to comb things forward.

 

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20 minutes ago, Chances101 said:

Hey if you don’t mind could you upload a couple pictures of the strip from the back view ? Curious to see it 

20200928_150102.thumb.jpg.45fd9ab8a6fe207cb4f727fdf51a4525.jpg

I usually have a "bald fade" in the back of my head, so the scar doesn't really bother me. Worse case scenario, I've been considering SMP.

 

 

2 hours ago, jimcraig152 said:

One of the biggest factors that keeps hair loss sufferers on the fence about HT is the price. Can you outline the cost of your procedure for others to gauge?

Sure thing! I paid 12,000$ for the procedure.  Mind you, prices seem to based off of supply and demand though, so it's really just a ballpark figure

 

2 hours ago, jimcraig152 said:

He also has well earned reputation for other stuff. But I am not going to get into that and rain on your parade. Want your progress to be magical. Everything is looking good so far man. FYI, I gently buzzed what was left of my shoulder length hair after the procedure on the 4th day. Helped a ton making me feel somewhat normal during the early days. With you being in the 10th day, your grafts should be rooted now. If you do buzz it, I'd say do it after the stitches and staples are out so you don't accidentally snag the clippers on them.

I'd say, don't buzz it yet though. Let those grafts start falling out after the 2nd week, ten evaluate from there. You might have to comb things forward.

 

The city where I'm from is on lockdown right now because of Covid, so my hair doesn't really bother me all that much. However, I do want to ask you, do you when we can get a full haircut (recipient + donor)? 

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10 minutes ago, Chances101 said:

How many grafts did you get ? And DAMN lol he charged 12k for a fut. how much is he charging for the fue then?

😂😂

I'm not sure tbh, we'd have to ask @jimcraig152. You're still better off asking Dr. Diep directly though, you might end up paying less than 12k.

Edited by Micky597
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5 minutes ago, Chances101 said:

How many grafts did you get ? And DAMN lol he charged 12k for a fut. how much is he charging for the fue then?

Diep is located in the most affluent area in the world. Check out this house in Los Gatos and it's listing price for only 1600 sqft. If you want affordable, you'll have to look elsewhere.

As for FUE, he is $10/unit. He gave me a discount at $8/unit. Still came out to $19k for 2337 grafts.

 

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8 minutes ago, jimcraig152 said:

Diep is located in the most affluent area in the world. Check out this house in Los Gatos and it's listing price for only 1600 sqft. If you want affordable, you'll have to look elsewhere.

As for FUE, he is $10/unit. He gave me a discount at $8/unit. Still came out to $19k for 2337 grafts.

 

I understand but 12K for 2k grafts FUT sounds a lil crazy. Sounds like they are adding there tax on my guy. I don’t like that. It makes no sense . How can A price be situational. It should be a equal amount unless they are dealing with a special type of case. It shouldn’t be  I’m going to charge this guy 15k one week. Then I’m going to charge this guy 20k because im having a slow week. That’s not ethical 

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On 9/26/2020 at 11:59 PM, Micky597 said:

*As I’m writing this, I’m 8 days post-op

 

Hey fellas, I hope you all are doing well. I’ve decided to share my hair transplant journey with you guys. About 2 weeks ago, I had a transplant performed by Dr. John Diep in Los Gatos California. I decided to go with him because he specializes in curly hair. As a black man, I couldn't go with a regular surgeon. Another user by the name of Norman Osborne Waves” inspired me to share my journey. I’ve decided to play my part and help my fellow brothers out. I won’t reinvent the wheel, I’ll more or less use Norman’s template to share my journey.

 

Background Information

I’m currently 26 years old. I started losing hair around 2015 when I was 21 years old. The hair loss mainly occurred in the hairline area. I was losing my hair very slowly at first, but by 2017 it started accelerating. Like pretty much everybody around here, I jumped on Rogaine. For a little while, Minoxidil helped me stabilize my hair loss.

 

This was very short lived. I soon understood that Rogaine wasn't going to fix the issue. I needed a more aggressive treatment, so in 2018 I started using Finasteride. I've been on Propecia for a little more than 2 years, and it really slowed down my hair loss. When I started this treatment, I really hoped that my hair density would improve. Unfortunately, it has pretty much been the same for the past year. Luckily, when my hair is long (wolfed out), the hair loss isn’t that noticeable. However, I can’t wear my hair any shorter than that. If I do so, too much of my scalp is exposed.

* Hair long with a line-up from the barber

 20200927_015411.thumb.jpg.3d5d2ac61c150fb1ef0120ec1bbb83ac.jpg

* Hair short with no line up

 

Consultation

Anyways, around March this year, after watching countless videos on YouTube, I’ve decided to get a hair transplant. Initially, I was supposed to go with another surgeon. As great as that surgeon is, I soon realized that his surgeries involving black people didn’t yield good results. My second option was going with Asli Tarcan, but then Covid-19 struck and going to Turkey became way to difficult for me (I’m Canadian btw). One day, I stumbled across Dr. Diep’s Youtube channel and that same night I sent him an inquiry.

·         Because of Corona Virus, I couldn’t really go to California, so we decided to have a facetime consultation. Based on the pictures I sent him, he recommended I get 1500 grafts.

·         The next day, his staff follows-up with me, and we schedule an appointment for September 18th. Luckily for me, because of Covid-19 he had a lot of cancellations. From what I’ve gathered online, he usually has a way longer waiting list.

·         The 5 months that proceeded might’ve been the longest 5 months of my life. Especially with this covid-19 situation… The border being closed, I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to get in the U.S.

 

Pre-Op

 

After what seemed to be forever, September finally came around. I flew to San Jose on the 16th. During my stay, I stayed at a hotel that the clinic recommended, a Residence Inn which is 2 minutes away from it. The next day I went to the clinic to pick up my pre-op package which consisted of a sponge and a shampoo. The night before the surgery, I was super anxious, and I think I slept like 2 hours.

 

I arrived at the clinic at 5:30 am. I completed some paperwork, and at 6:00am, I was finally inside the doctor’s office. I soon realized that the pictures I sent him of my hairline were a little misleading. My hair was too long in that picture. He then recommended that I get 2000 grafts instead. To ensure getting good results, I went for it.

 

Surgery

 

They gave me some pills. I don’t really remember what they were, but I know they made me really drowsy. I then put on a hospital gown and we got started.

 

As much as I want to describe the surgery, I don’t really remember what happened to be honest. I slept through most of it. I just caught some glimpses of it here and there. Before falling asleep, I do remember them asking me if I wanted to shave all of hair or only the donor area. I told them to only shave the donor. That was a BIG MISTAKE lol.

 

The surgery was painless for the most part. When he gave me anesthesia/stitches on the back of my head, I won’t lie, I nearly cried though. I vividly remember talking to Dr. Diep during the surgery, so I know he was there for the most part. However, his technicians were the ones who inserted the hair in the recipient area.

At 5:00pm, we were pretty much done. They took some pictures, give me some post care information and I took an Uber back to the hotel.

 

Post-Op

 

 

The

You can't really see from it from the picture, but the hair density seems really good. Hopefully, it’ll more of less stay that way. When it comes to the post-op side effect, my head was super swollen and numb. They gave me a travel pillow for me to sleep on. I didn’t really get to sleep much that night as it incredibly uncomfortable/painful, the donor area was still too sensitive.

 

 

I'll give you a super quick breakdown of my first 8 days.

 

The day after the surgery 

 

The white film/residue and the blood has dried. My head is still very swollen. I noticed that I have a bruise on my forehead aswell.

 

 

 Day 4 

 
 
Today was the first day I washed the donor area. The numbness has considerably gone down. My head isn't really swollen anymore. 
 
 
 
Day 7
 
 
 
Everything is more or less the same. However, as a side note, you can notice that when my hair is long, you can't notice that hair is thinner around the mild scalp area. 
 
 
 
Day 8 
 
 
 
Today was my first wash. I was really concerned that my scalp was "whitish", but after lurking across this forum, I realize that it's pretty common after the first wash. 

Okay real talk, is that you Tyron Woodley haha jk. Awesome man, thank you for creating this thread and sharing your journey with us. @Norman Osborne Waves has inspired many, his results are amazing, it's really crazy how your hairline can make such a huge difference in your appearance. Also, I can relate on the not shaving your head. This was my head during my last surgery. Happy growing man and welcome 🙂 

image.png

image.pnghaha, 

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3 hours ago, Micky597 said:

However, I do want to ask you, do you when we can get a full haircut (recipient + donor)? 

I don't have an answer for FUT. I think its the doctor's call on that one though. Has FUT scar healed enough to do all the craning forward of your head, stretching of the nape of your neck required when you get a high quality fade? Dr's call. You want a scar like this and not want to risk it stretching or more scar tissue building up.

Maybe at @Melvin-Moderator has a better answer for you.

4 hours ago, Chances101 said:

I understand but 12K for 2k grafts FUT sounds a lil crazy. Sounds like they are adding there tax on my guy. I don’t like that. It makes no sense . How can A price be situational. It should be a equal amount unless they are dealing with a special type of case. It shouldn’t be  I’m going to charge this guy 15k one week. Then I’m going to charge this guy 20k because im having a slow week. That’s not ethical 

You wouldn't be out of pocket with those statements either. But let's move that discussion elsewhere. Keep Micky's thread about his journey. You'll have no shortage of people joining into an ethics discussion when it comes to Dr. Diep.

3 hours ago, Chances101 said:

Your results will definitely be a home run. 🏌🏾‍♂️This looks really clean. You might of did your self a favor with FUT. because a lot of his most recent fue donor areas have looked a little crazy when he was finishing . 

He sure did. At 26, it is a good plan to go with FUT. As for Dr. Diep's FUE techniques, that is stuff for another thread too.

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Hey guys, I meant to do an update yesterday, but I was busy. I went back to work last Wednesday. Today is my 2 week update. I'm actually on day 15 to be more specific.

To be 100% honest, I'm super worried right now. I didn't have no shedding at all until this morning. As I was washing my hair, I noticed a lot of small hair strands on my fingers.

I'm told this is supposed to happen after 2 weeks, but I'm concerned I messed up my grafts.

What do you guys think? Is it normal?

2 week

?20201003_161752.thumb.jpg.df15f2e971ac5cfe41e0b3877adc79bc.jpg

20201003_161746.thumb.jpg.0388cb9f0ef1b525094b4b00c9e54022.jpg

20201003_161801.thumb.jpg.3bf63bbf5b09f4fdce1f37c2d5232d2e.jpg

 

 

Edited by Micky597
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Totally normal.  Hair strands will shed two weeks post-op, but the roots are firmly in place.  Don't stress it!

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Dr. G: 1,000 grafts (FUT) 2008

Dr. Paul Shapiro: 2,348 grafts (FUT) 2009 ~ 1,999 grafts (FUT) 2011 ~ 300 grafts (Scar Reduction) 2013

Dr. Konior: 771 grafts (FUT) 2015 ~ 558 grafts (FUT) 2017 ~ 1,124 grafts (FUE) 2020

My Hair Transplant Journey with Shapiro Medical Group

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3 minutes ago, aaron1234 said:

Totally normal.  Hair strands will shed two weeks post-op, but the roots are firmly in place.  Don't stress it!

Thanks Aaron!! That's good to know 🙏 I was really worried.

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Yeap, normal and more will fall out in the next 6 weeks. All normal. Check out my comparison shot photo. Notice how I shaved everything down in the 6th week? LoLoL. With the hair falling out and no more long hair to use to conceal my hairline, I decided to shave it down to feel, ironically enought, normal. We have different genetics and physiology, but the journey HT patients go through is largely the same. How's the FUT strip looking and how are you feeling otherwise?

 

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