1250 graft FUE - 16 days after

[Britanium]

Average person will have more than 4K from FUE. Maybe around 6-7k or so. Nothing wrong with wanting to preserve your donor areas as much as possible but you also need enough grafts to cover the area that’s being grafted. 
 

Edited May 2, 2021 by JohnAC71

[BDK081522]

Not sure why you think only 4,000 grafts can be harvested by FUE until the donor looks depleted. It all has to do with each patient's individual physiology. Some donors will look thin after 3,000 and some will still look solid after 8,000. There's no magic number. It has to do with multiple factors including donor density, hair characteristics, punch size, extraction pattern, and donor area size. This is all different for each patient. Yours does look slightly thin for 1250 grafts at the moment. It's more than likely some shock loss along with the extractions not being spread far enough apart. All you can do at this point is be patient and trust the process. 

[TrialAcc]

6 hours ago, FkdUpHairline said:

Yes mate, was a lurker before registering after HT.

I don't think it was stupid of me to want to preserve the donor area. I'm only 25. As much as a dense packed hairline was tempting., my hairline stabilized due to the meds, but it might've not forever. Being that FUT is out of the question, and I'm open to more FUE hair transplant in the future, I don't think I made the wrong decision, being that on average 4k FUE grafts is all you can give without being bald in the back. As you've said, it's healing nicely as expected except for the shock loss in the back.

Let's see how it goes, I'll keep my fingers crossed for my sake that it at least turns out to look decent.

Where did you get the 4k number? Most people easily have 6k+ grafts available. 

[JayLDD]

16 hours ago, FkdUpHairline said:

Yes mate, was a lurker before registering after HT.

I don't think it was stupid of me to want to preserve the donor area. I'm only 25. As much as a dense packed hairline was tempting., my hairline stabilized due to the meds, but it might've not forever. Being that FUT is out of the question, and I'm open to more FUE hair transplant in the future, I don't think I made the wrong decision, being that on average 4k FUE grafts is all you can give without being bald in the back. As you've said, it's healing nicely as expected except for the shock loss in the back.

Let's see how it goes, I'll keep my fingers crossed for my sake that it at least turns out to look decent.

Problem is you might end up with an unnatural result that looks worse than you did prior to a hair transplant. From your initial photos it’s somewhat hard to conclude but your hair looked decent already.

4K grafts before you look bald in the back from FUE is absolutely false as an average, even a NW6 will almost always achieve more than that number. For NW5s the average would be closer to 7k. 

if you were worried about your long term donor utilization you should have chosen a clinic that is taken seriously on a forum such as this one and probably gone with FUT.

In this case, if every last graft grows it might look fine, in regular circumstances it will look thin and overly see through. Unlikely to be natural. My personal opinion is that it’s highly likely you’ll be forced back into another surgery in the near future because of this, and therefore your point about saving donor is unfounded.

There are surgeons that make a small amount of grafts go a long way, at the end of the day though no surgeon can make 1250 grafts enough for that area appear fully natural (unless it’s just providing basic thin/wispy coverage) and it’s visibly thin in the post-op.

I assume this company has a variety of doctors working for them, but some of the results they achieve are good. If every graft grows like I said it might be passable.

 

[FkdUpHairline]

1 hour ago, JayLDD said:

Problem is you might end up with an unnatural result that looks worse than you did prior to a hair transplant. From your initial photos it’s somewhat hard to conclude but your hair looked decent already.

4K grafts before you look bald in the back from FUE is absolutely false as an average, even a NW6 will almost always achieve more than that number. For NW5s the average would be closer to 7k. 

if you were worried about your long term donor utilization you should have chosen a clinic that is taken seriously on a forum such as this one and probably gone with FUT.

In this case, if every last graft grows it might look fine, in regular circumstances it will look thin and overly see through. Unlikely to be natural. My personal opinion is that it’s highly likely you’ll be forced back into another surgery in the near future because of this, and therefore your point about saving donor is unfounded.

There are surgeons that make a small amount of grafts go a long way, at the end of the day though no surgeon can make 1250 grafts enough for that area appear fully natural (unless it’s just providing basic thin/wispy coverage) and it’s visibly thin in the post-op.

I assume this company has a variety of doctors working for them, but some of the results they achieve are good. If every graft grows like I said it might be passable.

 

Thank you for the answer. I was pretty happy with the density on week 1 to be honest even if the hair was short, let's hope it grows to that. It was 2789 hairs total, they had planned 2200-2300 hairs but ended up extracting more. I like to wear my hair down anyways when it's grown so here's hoping it turns out good. I was also really happy with the graft direction, also.

I also added that the area was not completely bald, even tho the point that some grafts are placed far apart still stands.

My main worry really is the donor area right now. Fucking shockloss.

I have an additional question that some of you might be able to answer: They told me to stop min for 15 days, already started it again. Fin they told me to stop for 31 days but I'm not feeling it. In your experience, can I start before?

 

 

 

[4000hairs]

I did my fue ht 19 days ago, so similar timeline. I'm experiencing shock loss also around my crown. Its stressing me out too, because my crown was dense before hand. Does it grow back in the same timeline as the new transplanted hair grow?

[ITA]

1 hour ago, FkdUpHairline said:

I have an additional question that some of you might be able to answer: They told me to stop min for 15 days, already started it again. Fin they told me to stop for 31 days but I'm not feeling it. In your experience, can I start before?

 

Minoxidil is a blood vessel dilator, so it is important to stop taking it before surgery to avoid excessive bleeding during the procedure.  Since you have entrusted yourself to this clinic, and you trust them, I in your place, I would do what they say.

[FkdUpHairline]

17 minutes ago, Egy said:

Minoxidil is a blood vessel dilator, so it is important to stop taking it before surgery to avoid excessive bleeding during the procedure.  Since you have entrusted yourself to this clinic, and you trust them, I in your place, I would do what they say.

I stopped taking minoxidil for 7 days before the transplant also, so I was 21 days without min.

My question still stands about fin for those that are willing to answer it.

[FkdUpHairline]

55 minutes ago, 4000hairs said:

I did my fue ht 19 days ago, so similar timeline. I'm experiencing shock loss also around my crown. Its stressing me out too, because my crown was dense before hand. Does it grow back in the same timeline as the new transplanted hair grow?

Hey man best of luck.

One thing that is helping me is taking daily pictures and seeing how my hair is naturally covering it. That's the only advice I can give.

It has been mentioned in this thread that it can take months for it to grow back if its temporary and that it can in fact coincide with the new transplateds hair's growth.

[JayLDD]

4 hours ago, FkdUpHairline said:

Thank you for the answer. I was pretty happy with the density on week 1 to be honest even if the hair was short, let's hope it grows to that. It was 2789 hairs total, they had planned 2200-2300 hairs but ended up extracting more. I like to wear my hair down anyways when it's grown so here's hoping it turns out good. I was also really happy with the graft direction, also.

I also added that the area was not completely bald, even tho the point that some grafts are placed far apart still stands.

My main worry really is the donor area right now. Fucking shockloss.

I have an additional question that some of you might be able to answer: They told me to stop min for 15 days, already started it again. Fin they told me to stop for 31 days but I'm not feeling it. In your experience, can I start before?

 

 

 

As far as I'm aware for both minoxidil and fin there isn't a good amount of data to draw conclusions on for your questions. Standard practice is no minox for a few weeks prior to the procedure to avoid excessive bleeding. I have also heard some clinics state to avoid for a short period after, but plenty of clinics don't say this. My assumption is that you'll be 100% fine starting up minox early, and for fin I've never heard clinics say to stop taking fin for that period, so I wouldn't worry about that at all.

The donor doesn't look great for those graft numbers but at the end of the day its incredibly common for it to take a 3-4 months for it to get back to relatively normal and even a full year sometimes. I'm more concerned with how the transplanted hairline will look when grown out than the donor. 

Part of the issue with the graft numbers is that its extremely clear looking at the photos that the density of the new hairline is lower than the hair behind it. Conventionally what is natural is highest density in the hairline with decreasing density behind this area.  Yes immediately post-op without it being grown out it might look reasonable, but its problematic when grown out. I'm just saying it as a warning from a (very) educated guess based on seeing tens of thousands of results. At a guess I think you will need a touch-up for it to look natural, potentially 6-800 grafts. It depends on your donor quality and the growth rate however. 

[FkdUpHairline]

1 hour ago, JayLDD said:

As far as I'm aware for both minoxidil and fin there isn't a good amount of data to draw conclusions on for your questions. Standard practice is no minox for a few weeks prior to the procedure to avoid excessive bleeding. I have also heard some clinics state to avoid for a short period after, but plenty of clinics don't say this. My assumption is that you'll be 100% fine starting up minox early, and for fin I've never heard clinics say to stop taking fin for that period, so I wouldn't worry about that at all.

The donor doesn't look great for those graft numbers but at the end of the day its incredibly common for it to take a 3-4 months for it to get back to relatively normal and even a full year sometimes. I'm more concerned with how the transplanted hairline will look when grown out than the donor. 

Part of the issue with the graft numbers is that its extremely clear looking at the photos that the density of the new hairline is lower than the hair behind it. Conventionally what is natural is highest density in the hairline with decreasing density behind this area.  Yes immediately post-op without it being grown out it might look reasonable, but its problematic when grown out. I'm just saying it as a warning from a (very) educated guess based on seeing tens of thousands of results. At a guess I think you will need a touch-up for it to look natural, potentially 6-800 grafts. It depends on your donor quality and the growth rate however. 

Thank you for the answer. 

The person whose video I quoted shaved the hair after a year and you could definetly tell the difference between the transplanted hair and the natural hair, I'm fine with that compromise, and also fine with having to do a touch up if I'm not happy with the density. Overall worried about the current state of this ht tho, the donor area as you pointed out.

[Britanium]

If you do end up having a touch up (likely) then please consider choosing a different clinic next time. At least one that can manage your donor area well and enhance whats already been implanted. Even another 750 grafts will prob give you much more satisfactory density. 

Edited May 2, 2021 by JohnAC71

[SD1984]

Only time will tell about the donor. In a few months you'll see. Could there be shock loss happening in it? Yes. But that would grow back.

As far as recipient, 1250 was a perfect amount of grafts for such a small area, but the problem is it looks like there really weren't many hairs overall as the "preview phase" leads me to beleive you won't have a very dense result. I'm going to assume not many multi hair grafts in the final count? It is the surgeons responsibility to harvest a good amount of those for density purposes after they harvest the necessary amount of singles too of course.

[FkdUpHairline]

45 minutes ago, SD1984 said:

Only time will tell about the donor. In a few months you'll see. Could there be shock loss happening in it? Yes. But that would grow back.

As far as recipient, 1250 was a perfect amount of grafts for such a small area, but the problem is it looks like there really weren't many hairs overall as the "preview phase" leads me to beleive you won't have a very dense result. I'm going to assume not many multi hair grafts in the final count? It is the surgeons responsibility to harvest a good amount of those for density purposes after they harvest the necessary amount of singles too of course.

Hi thank you for the answer. The area is relatively small, the size of girls finger as you can see on the side photos, but I do agree with some here that say some people do 2k for the area as ive seen online. The overall count is made up of much more multihair grafts, they had trouble finding singles for the lower part of the hairline.

[FkdUpHairline]

1 hour ago, JohnAC71 said:

If you do end up having a touch up (likely) then please consider choosing a different clinic next time. At least one that can manage your donor area well and enhance whats already been implanted. Even another 750 grafts will prob give you much more satisfactory density. 

Thanks once again. You've pointed out my donor was suffering from shock loss, which I've also seen happening multiple times in clinics suggested here.

[j1mmy]

5 hours ago, FkdUpHairline said:

I stopped taking minoxidil for 7 days before the transplant also, so I was 21 days without min.

My question still stands about fin for those that are willing to answer it.

Anyone telling you to stop finasteride before or after must know something that nobody else does, because that is wreckless. 

Minoxidil 0-14 days before (depends on the clinic), some of the worlds best even have 0-2 so it probably doesn't matter. 14 days after was a good idea.

[Britanium]

30 minutes ago, FkdUpHairline said:

Thanks once again. You've pointed out my donor was suffering from shock loss, which I've also seen happening multiple times in clinics suggested here.

Oh yes for sure, shock loss can occur with any clinic 

[Navthedon]

your surgeon has been far too conservative with the grafts allocation. I hope it's ok but you may need to book a second session. 

[WildBlueberry]

Do you have pictures of the donor immediately post op? It will give a better idea of what’s going on

[Gatsby]

Most people stay on Finasteride or if they are not on it start it after they have surgery. All the best.

[Swedishdude]

I had a very similar post-op result. Glad I am not the only one who gets the scolding from this forum for not enough density at first look. lol. I'm on day 12 ATM and already trying to book a second operation with a much better clinic, as I had rushed into my hair transplant for the first time and didn't know of this forum.

With that said I hope your result turns out the way you desire. Best of luck

Edited May 27, 2021 by Swedishdude

[_Hairman_]

Here is my density at 2nd day big diffrence. Can you see that your density isnt that good if you compare? I did almost 4000 grafts.

[FkdUpHairline]

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Edited July 8, 2021 by FkdUpHairline

[Britanium]

Thanks for the update ! Good to see your getting some nice growth already 👌

[FkdUpHairline]

17 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said:

Thanks for the update ! Good to see your getting some nice growth already 👌

Thank you mate.

One last question if I may: went to the 2 month consultation last week (at 2,5 months by my mistake) and asked for the graft count to know the hair count in the grafts that were transplanted, and to my surprise there were only 3 single hair follicles. I asked and the surgeon said that he found almost no single hair follicles (which he was complaining when doing the extraction) and that he had to use 2's for most of the lower part of my hairline. Did anyone else experience this?