10 Month Results

[TakingThePlunge]

Today I hit the 40 wk mark. At this point, I've given up hope that this procedure will produce an acceptable result. You win some and you lose some and I lost this one, gentlemen.

 

Just to recap, I saw Dr. Alexander at the 6 month and 8 month marks and he urged me to let my hair grow out in order to take advantage of the layering effect. I have not cut the top in over a month. My worst HT fear has now come true. I have a bird nest on my head! Exactly what I'd hoped to avoid.

 

As always, my photos were taken with no flash and trying to find the best ambient light. There are no products in my hair other than Rogaine Foam. It was washed, towel dried and combed. There was no attempt at styling. This is the way I've taken all my pics for the sake of consistency.

 

I know, I've still got two more months...

[hdude46]

real sorry ttp...you seem to have great caliber hair too. what do u think your next course of action will be. repair by dr. alexander? another clinic such as shapiro or h&w? again, real sorry dude.

[thanatopsis_awry]

You had practically zero native hair pre-op, and 2500g isn't a tremendous amount given that; but, your hairline design was quite conservative, so I'd have expected a bit better density, nonetheless, especially the sides of the hairline.

 

Honestly, though, I don't consider this a massive fail, and you could still have some more growth; I wouldn't say the growth was perfect, but given your level of balding I think you would need virtually flawless yield with 2500 to expect that much more.

 

As well, you aren't doing your HT *any* favors. I can't express how strongly I'd reccommend you style your hair to maximize your HT and use some legit products, too.

 

I started a thread recently about boosting naturalness and density in HTs, and I think you could be a poster child. I think cases like yours are quite common, and while I personally wouldn't be satisfied either, I think even given everything with the right regiment you could make leaps and bounds.

[TakingThePlunge]

hdude46 - Thanks. I'm not sure what the future holds. Of course, I will speak to Dr. A when the time comes to get his assessment and se what he feels is a reasonable solution. Going to another clinic at this point is probalby not within reach financially.

 

thanatopsis_awry - I understand what you're saying and you're not the first to suggest that, given my degree of balding, 2500 grafts is not tremendous. However, you have to understand, and I've said this before, I did not request 2500 grafts nor did I ask Dr. A how many grafts I could get for $10,000. At my consultation, I asked him how many grafts he recoommended, based on my degree of balding, so that I would achieve an acceptable and aesthetically pleasing result. Dr. Alexander said 2500 and also showed me results of patients with similar degrees of loss and similar numbers of grafts that looked great. He also told me that my hair and scalp quality were so good that I would have great results by six months.

 

I did read your post on hair products and I thought is was great! I should have commented on that. I have bookmarked it and plan to try all the products you mentioned.

 

I normally do style my hair and put some different products in it. I choose not to do that for my monthly pics because I think it should be displayed in its natural state for consistency.

[rpachigo]

I think not great, not terrible but somewhere in between. Some percentage of grafts have not grown. Perhaps he could map a few square centimeters and determine which percentage didn't grow based on density he planted at and then refund the difference. All the best moving forwards.

[thanatopsis_awry]

Ya, don't get me wrong, I totally hear ya man...trust me....what you just said is *precisely* why I can be such a hardass on people about graft #s...it kills me to see you say what you've said because it's said so often and it is precisely such a situation that I am constantly trying to help people avoid. I don't know if it was you who posted pre-op about your Alexander HT, but if you had I would have strongly cautioned you to re-evaluate your expectations, likely result, and the # of grasfts conjoined to these two things.

 

Again, I don't consider the HT some massive fail, but I question the gameplan, as it clearly has not actually been in sync with your expectations.

 

I honestly believe there is a non-malicious disconnect between a lot of doctors' expectations projected onto patients, and what patients' actual expectations are. Sometimes patients' expectations are unreasonably high, sometimes doctors' gameplans are peculiarly modest. A doctor can only do so much, and miracles can't be worked, but I feel that this "expectation gap", largely defined by # of grafts, needs to be better illucidated and discussed between patients and doctors.

 

I have as good a donor as can be, and had/have a decent amount of native hair to back up my HT zone -- I got 3k, which I think was a great # and Dr. Feller did an excellent job intuiting my expectations based off of our talks. Nonetheless, I was "lucky" in the sense that I myself was partially in the dark at the time about the impact grafts will likely have on individuals -- thankfully, my instincts, a bit of luck, and Dr. Feller's keen eye and apprectation gave me an ideal graft #.

[TakingThePlunge]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am seeing Dr. A for a follow-up next Friday. He had asked me last time to come in again around this time. I'll be sure to update my post with any relevant information.

[phxind]

TTP, yes I agree the results could have been better. Please keep us in the loop on what Dr.A tells you. Good luck.

[aaron1234]

Plunge,

 

I know how you feel man. It doesn't look terrible but the yield was not one would hope it to be. I think you are doing the right thing by keeping in touch with your doc. As always, keep us posted.

[Bill - Seemiller]

TakingthePlunge,

 

I'm sorry you're still experiencing less than optimal growth. I know you had talked to Dr. Alexander about this previously and it was a little premature to draw a conclusion at the time.

 

Unfortunately, less than optimal growth can occur for unknown reasons, even if a physician and their staff have done everything right. Dr. Alexander has an excellent track record and I trust he'll stand behind you and his work if you don't get the results you desire in a couple of months.

 

When is your consult with Dr. A so he can evaluate your results?

 

Hang in there my friend.

 

Bill

[kaounis]

I also can understand how you feel TTP, I had about the same level of baldness as you, my first HT was 2640 fu's, and my surgeon said it would be more than enough, after a year, I didn't feel it was quite adequate, so I had a second round, this time with Dr. Konior, another 2000 fu`s , I`m at 5 months post op, and let me tell you, what a difference it has made...That means around 4700 fu`s for a NW 4a...I don`t think your HT is awfull, just incomplete...

 

 

Just a thought from the peanut gallery...

[NW4recession]

Sorry you did not get an acceptable result. If I had to guess, I would say you had less than 50% yield.

[the B spot]

Hang in there Plunge! Let us know how your meeting with Dr. A goes.

 

Sometimes you just get less than optimal growth, through no fault of anyone. Obviously this is a problem, but I believe Dr. Alexander will take care of you.

 

Chin Up!!!!

Jason

[Byehair]

I definitely wouldn't be happy with this result. Many guys with similar loss patterns have came out of Rahal's office with similar graft counts and much better results.

This is a typical reason why I have waited to get a HT.

Your hair looks good buzzed short. I would just keep it buzzed and move on.

[Coligion]

I'm sure these past ten months have been an anxious time for you, TTP. You do your research, take on a large financial burden, go through surgery, wait months and months, and then the result you had hoped for has not been delivered. You deserve much better than this, and I hope Dr. Alexander accommodates you as much as possible.

[Atomic]

I think it is looking pretty darn good for 2500 grafts!

You still have some growth time left too.

However, if your expectations are to high then you will be disappointed with the density.

 

Some of the results you see took some guys multiple provedures to achieve. and they still have not achieved perfect density.

 

I don't think Dr. Alexander did any wrong, he is an oustanding surgeon.

 

Are you at all happy with the new hair you have so far?

[Atomic]

Oh, I don't get the birdsnest comment.

i just showed your pics to my wife & she was surprised that your not happy so far.

But like I said it depends on your expectations.

 

sure 5k plus grafts would be nice but did you have 20K to spend?

 

Just my thoughts.

[Coligion]

TTP's hairline was conservative to begin with, so I still believe 2500 grafts should have yielded a better result for him.

[TakingThePlunge]

Thanks for all the valuable commentary guys! I understand that whether or not a result is deemed to be successful is very subjective. I would like to say, for the record, that I believe my expectations were very realistic. I had done my research and viewed many results right here on this forum over the years. That said, I was also shown examples by Dr. A of his own patients who were very similar to myself and when I saw results I liked I specifically asked if I could expect the same. Therefore, if my expectations were truly inflated, it was not due to any illusions of my own. I'm not going to go through the photos on Dr. A's website and link to the ones I was shown but they are there for anyone to see.

 

I have also said many, many times in other posts that I do not fault Dr. Alexander. How can I when it is made clear to anyone who reads the hundreds and hundreds of posts that I've read over the years that there a many variables to consider and results can vary? I have never suggested to anyone that they not go to Dr. A nor would I. All I can say is that I was given every reason to believe that my particular hair, scalp, etc. would yield very nice results by as early as 6 months. I do not yet have very nice results and I no longer believe that any future changes will be significant enough to make a difference.

 

What do I believe?

 

1. I believe that somewhere around half of my grafts grew.

 

2. I believe that I should have greater density because, at this point, there is not even an "illusion of density" particularly when viewed from the sides.

 

3. I believe that, if 2500 grafts were not suitable, then I would have been told I needed 3500 or whatever and, since Dr. Alexander recommended 2500 and was convinced that I would have an acceptable result, then I stand in agreement with him. The issue really isn't how much did I have to spend. The point is that I asked how much I needed and if the true answer was not within my means then the choice should have been mine to say "no thanks."

 

4. I believe that there are some guys who would be happy with a little extra fuzz covering their melon and deem that to be a vast improvement but I was clear that I was looking for a hairstyle again and what I have now is akin to paying someone for a ride and then getting dropped off halfway to your destination. It could be argued that you're better off than you were before but...

 

I'm 41 years old but I'm a young 41. I spent my youth bleaching, dyeing, spiking and ratting my hair and the only thing that really ages me now is my hair. I spent the past several years buzzing it because it was my only option. My goal here was to achieve a hairdo, even with a conservative hairline, that I could style a little. I was told that would happen with the 2500 I got. That didn't happen. That's the long and the short of it.

 

My only reason for posting these results in transparency. I'm not bitter just a little bummed. I didn't set out to be the poster boy for what can go wrong with a HT. I really thought I was going to have great results.

 

What I really don't deserve is any suggestion that I was naive or ignorant or foolish in my expectations. I did the research, I chose a quality doc and I asked him all the right questions. Then I listened to what he had to say and I put myself in his hands and trusted him because that's all you can do.

[aaron1234]

My only reason for posting these results in transparency. I'm not bitter just a little bummed. I didn't set out to be the poster boy for what can go wrong with a HT. I really thought I was going to have great results.

 

Plunge,

 

You don't come off as bitter one bit. You have every right to be disappointed. No one wants to be the "poster boy" for poor transplants. But I think keeping the dialogue with Dr. A is important and I'm glad you are doing that. Who knows, maybe in another 3-5 months you'll be more much pleased. Your hair still looks a little wirey and I know that should improve with time.

[M&M]

TTP,

 

I commend you for coming on here and sharing your story with clear and fair photos documenting your case. There are many patients that appear to either have a great start or a slow start to their growth, but never follow-up with the final results.

 

I look forward to the results of your meeting with Dr. A.

 

M&M

[spin266]

plunge,you come off as a sincere,honest and knowledgable person who has done everything right .you have aright to be disappointed it looks like you have about half of the 2500 growing.if all2500 would have grown and matured i believe your results would be astounding. the doc owes it to you to fix it for free.you waited long enough good luck.

[Raphael84]

I totally agree with you regarding this dissapointing and unfortunate result. I know its not what you want to hear, but for you age, your hair looks good. Regardless of this, like you have explained, you just wanted to have the option to style. Whatever is your next step, I wish you luck!

 

What does your doc say about this?

[hdude46]

ttp, have you notived any less loss and or thickening/regrowth with the proscar?

[TakingThePlunge]

Again, I can't thank the members of this forum enough for all your continuing support. I hope that my experience adds to the collective knowledge of this site and helps others make educated decisions about their own hair loss.

 

I've wondered a lot about what effect, if any, taking Proscar has had on my hair during these past 10 months. I've also been using Rogaine Foam twice daily and I've been taking Biotin for about six months. I think the fact that my hair is longer now than it's been in years makes it difficult to tell in photos. I don't believe I've grown any new hair in the crown but I do think that it has slowed the loss.