2332 Grafts FUE Dr. David Josephitis, May 27th 2021 (Shapiro Medical Group)

[PluggedIn]

Howdy everyone. Been lurking for a bit and finally got the procedure done myself. 28 years old been on finasteride for 2 years and minoxidil 18 months with some regrowth, but it wasn't going to bring it all back so I decided to get a transplant to take me the rest of the way. How do you guys think it's progressing? Personally, I'm extremely impressed with how quick everything is healing. I like the hairline design as well. I attached a picture of my regrowth, pre op pics, immediate post op pics and pics from today (day 6). Let me know what you guys think and if you need more details!

The plan originally was to repair the frontal band and the temple points, but we decided to wait on the temple points, except for addressing the weaker one, because that's where I had the most regrowth and it could be liable to recede again. I hope to wait until about 35 to see how everything is stabilizing and address the temple points at that time if my hair is holding up well. If not I'll address the midscalp and crown or what is needed at that time. Let me know what you think of my plan as well. 

Thanks!

Edited June 2, 2021 by PluggedIn

[Britanium]

Thanks for posting. All looks really good ! Excellent donor recovery. And the work looks very refined 🙏

[PluggedIn]

4 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said:

Thanks for posting. All looks really good ! Excellent donor recovery. And the work looks very refined 🙏

Hey, thanks my dude! I'm pretty surprised by the donor recovery. Especially in folks with fair skin I've seen some redness linger for a while. Other than the bruising it basically looks untouched in my opinion.

[Britanium]

Definitely will be following your journey 👌

[PluggedIn]

Sweet, I'm excited although I think it'll be an emotional roller coaster. Just got to stay patient. Not sure how often I'll update but I'm thinking once a month.

Edited June 2, 2021 by PluggedIn

[PluggedIn]

I'd also like to give a quick shout out to @hybonix. Your updates were helpful and encouraging in the months leading up to my surgery. Thank you!

[Britanium]

Total roller coaster, for at least 12 months 🤩

[Melvin- Admin]

Looks absolutely impeccable 👌🏼 

[PluggedIn]

7 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Looks absolutely impeccable 👌🏼 

Thanks so much man!

[aaron1234]

Work looks impeccable.  Now enjoy the ride! 

Also, stay on the meds... you've got a ton of native hair to preserve. 

[PluggedIn]

4 hours ago, aaron1234 said:

Work looks impeccable.  Now enjoy the ride! 

Also, stay on the meds... you've got a ton of native hair to preserve. 

Thanks dude! I intend on staying on them for life. Thought about oral min but why change if it's working. Also good to have more arrows in my quiver.

[Gatsby]

Excellent work. The hairline design is very good and in years from now you will be so happy you made this decision. Stay on the meds and I'm very happy that you are not getting any sides from finasteride. For this reason alone just stay the course with it. You have so much hair to keep. Wishing you all the best and I look forward to your updates. Thanks for sharing!

[PluggedIn]

10 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Excellent work. The hairline design is very good and in years from now you will be so happy you made this decision. Stay on the meds and I'm very happy that you are not getting any sides from finasteride. For this reason alone just stay the course with it. You have so much hair to keep. Wishing you all the best and I look forward to your updates. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks man! I already feel a lot better, it's probably gonna be a little sad once the hair sheds and I won't see the new hairline anymore but it'll be back and better than ever. I feel lucky not only am I not getting sides, but both treatments are effective. I just wonder for how long. If I get tired of chasing transplants, I think I'll get SMP.

[hybonix]

23 hours ago, PluggedIn said:

I'd also like to give a quick shout out to @hybonix. Your updates were helpful and encouraging in the months leading up to my surgery. Thank you!

You are very welcome! There are no recent SMG threads, so it's great that we can both document the process. SMG did a fantastic job with me and I am truly grateful for their work. They are a tad bit more reserved on the hairline when compared to other clinics, but I like that approach as they can pack more grafts in the area and it's super natural. Some friends of mine commented at how natural it looked, and they would have no idea I got any work done if I had not said anything.

Your work looks amazing and you will start to see the grafts growing around month 3. The minox should speed it up a little bit. I believe SMG recommends waiting two weeks or a month before applying it again. Also, I would recommend doing Nizoral or HRL Shampoo so you can be on the "Big 3" regime for regrowth. You are in much better shape than I was. You could see a ton of my scalp and I literally had two or three hairs in my hairline... Pretty bad, so you are on the right path. Your temples look great, I had no temples before I got my HT.

[PluggedIn]

1 hour ago, hybonix said:

You are very welcome! There are no recent SMG threads, so it's great that we can both document the process. SMG did a fantastic job with me and I am truly grateful for their work. They are a tad bit more reserved on the hairline when compared to other clinics, but I like that approach as they can pack more grafts in the area and it's super natural. Some friends of mine commented at how natural it looked, and they would have no idea I got any work done if I had not said anything.

Your work looks amazing and you will start to see the grafts growing around month 3. The minox should speed it up a little bit. I believe SMG recommends waiting two weeks or a month before applying it again. Also, I would recommend doing Nizoral or HRL Shampoo so you can be on the "Big 3" regime for regrowth. You are in much better shape than I was. You could see a ton of my scalp and I literally had two or three hairs in my hairline... Pretty bad, so you are on the right path. Your temples look great, I had no temples before I got my HT.

Yours looks great now! Can't even see scalp in harsh lighting and it will still thicken up! I'm also a fan of the conservative approach as well, especially being 28. They were actually a little hesitant to do the procedure because of the age but ended up being cool with it because treatment is working. I consider that a good sign I went to the right place though because it seems they are thinking about the long term. There was actully another doctor there during the operation to learn, so that's another great sign! 

[PluggedIn]

Little update. The scabs are gone and I'm liking the direction the hair was placed. I also don't see any multiples in the hairline. There were 695 singles and 1637 doubles totaling in 3969 hairs. What do you guys think of the density? 

[Mycroft]

Looks appropriate for the area covered, in my opinion. I think there should be enough density to blend nicely into the native hair behind.

[PluggedIn]

3 hours ago, Mycroft said:

Looks appropriate for the area covered, in my opinion. I think there should be enough density to blend nicely into the native hair behind.

That's encouraging! My goal, like most people here I imagine, is for people to look at me and think "that's a guy with a full head of hair". Hopefully I'll get there next year!

[aaron1234]

Your donor has healed up nicely!

[hybonix]

Very clean work and good hairline design. SMG is a little more conservative, but they can pack more grafts with less surface area. Look forward to seeing more updates from other SMG patients! It's about time we get more results on the forums. 

[kvv]

Thanks for posting. New to the forum and I'm looking at SMG for a FUE HT. 
Couple of questions: 
1. How are they with waiting times? Can I expect to get an appointment for HT anytime soon? 

2. What was the cost for the FUE? (I did see their website, which said $7/graft for first 2000 and $5/graft thereafter. Was the pricing the same?) 

Good luck with your recovery and new hair growth phase!

[PluggedIn]

Thought I'd give a 2 month update. Most of the hair shed and the redness is virtually gone. It looks like I have a lot of growth but that's actually little bit of native hair that was shaved before surgery so they could see a little better. However a small amount of transplanted hairs started growing right away which I assume is a good sign. Anyone have an idea how common that is?

I feel I'm out of the ugly duckling phase and basically look like I did pre surgery. I was wearing my hair in a 2009 era Justin Bieber fringe and cover the redness so I feel lucky I had enough density to pull it off so no one would notice.

[Britanium]

Your donor area has recovered 100% and you already have some nice early growth. This is going to turn out pretty amazing I’m sure 🙏

[PluggedIn]

9 hours ago, JohnAC71 said:

Your donor area has recovered 100% and you already have some nice early growth. This is going to turn out pretty amazing I’m sure 🙏

I sure hope so! Just got to keep being patient

[PluggedIn]

Hi folks, here is my 3 month update. Noticed hairs sprouting a couple of weeks ago and I already feel I look better than pre surgery with the thin band of hairs framing my face. Definitely excited to see how things progress over the next several months. The ugly duckling phase sucks, you pay a bunch of money because you feel bad about how you look just to look worse for a couple months, but you just have to keep telling yourself it's for the best.