Painful decade long journey. 34 yo | 3x HT

[track_rat]

Hi all,

To start, I’m thankful for this community. I had long ignored these forums because it became too painful for me to read your stories (good and bad) while at the same time reliving my past traumas. I want to touch on 3 brief topics before beginning.

1. Please excuse my lack of brevity. I’ve held my words for nearly a decade, and have had nobody but Dr. consults and clinical coordinators to really attempt to share my pain with. This isn’t something I’m open about with friends, or even family for that matter. I’ve learned that I internalize my problems and don’t like to share them with others for fear of feeling like a burden. Virgo thing?
 

2. I don’t wish to bash any physicians here. Please use my traumatic journey as a cautionary tale to be as well prepared and well informed as possible on your end before entrusting a doctor to work on you. I own share in the blame for my HT failures by not being as informed and communicative as I should have been. 
 

3. If you recognize me, please do not mention anything or show anybody this thread, etc. Please respect my pain, and understand that me sharing my journey today comes with nearly a decade of trauma and I’m trying this out as a new outlet for support and therapy. Melvin, if you’re out there, sometimes reading your uplifting messages to people in distress make me very happy to know that there is a community of people like yourself who understand the emotional toll that this world can take on us. While we haven’t yet met or connected virtually, you encouraged me to pony up and share my journey.
 

2012

My first HT was in 2012 with Dr. Walter Unger. I was only 24 years old. My father had 2 prior procedures done by Dr. Unger. From what I knew about Dr. Unger at the time, he was a pioneer in the field and very well respected. I was impressionable and very new to hair loss. My hair loss had just started, and after a visit to Dr. Unger, he explained what my baldness progression would ultimately look like. He was not wrong in any of this assessment.

My procedure was FUT with approximately 2,500 grafts if my memory serves correctly. Nothing about this procedure had me worried until I removed bandages at home and noticed a horribly uneven graft placement in the temple regions and hairline. Dr. Unger assured me that this would blend in well and that nothing was wrong. You’ll come to see that my initial worry was warranted, and that I would wear dirty hairs with 2’s and 3’s in my temple corner for the better part of a decade before doing something about it.

I also had tremendous shock loss in the first couple months. I don’t know why, possibly because I wore a hat everyday. Or possibly due to some closure technique. I couldn’t tell you why with any amount of confidence.

The below photos are painful to look at. I was young, felt helpless and hopeless, and was in a very dark place.

Thankfully, as Dr. Unger said repeatedly, the shock loss subsided and hairs grew back. Ultimately, Dr. Unger’s strip scar healed quite well also. It was the cursory graft placement that led me to lose all trust in the procedure and rush to have a “correction” done to my hairline just a few months later.

2013

I went to a local HT physician who was very respected and well credentialed. I explained the situation I was in and was prescribed a 1k FUE hairline repair procedure. Unfortunately for me, this was done by the ARTAS machine. It made my problem much worse in the donor area and made zero net improvement in the hairline. I don’t believe any of the grafts survived. The Dr. and I have discussed this at length, and believe the ARTAS may have glitched on me. I’m choosing to leave his name out of this thread. He and I are in close contact to this day and he is committed to guiding me through the rest of my journey. His results have been all around excellent based on what I’ve seen. The ARTAS was an unforeseen variable, and the Dr. was also met with an eager 24/5 year old at the time (me) that was motivated to correct a wrong.
 

The below photos are very difficult to look at. I withdrew from grad school and was living indoors for quite a while. I fell into deep depression and ended up moving back home with my parents for the year to build myself back emotionally and aesthetically. The “why me” question came up a lot in my mind. With so many successful simple procedures out there, why was I doomed?

Apart from the very invasive looking lines below the strip scar that the ARTAS drew, it also left me with a quarter sized trauma site with no hair. Ultimately, this healed somewhat and shrank to the size of a dime; which is how it looks today. 
 

There’s no need to show frontal hairline photos. None of the grafts took. 

The below series of photos are intended to show how I looked for the next 8 years of my life. These were all taken in late 2020 or early 2021. It took courage to leave the house on a daily basis. I surrounded myself with familiar settings and familiar people. I always felt eyes wander to the corner of my forehead when meeting someone new.
 

This is my latest professional headshot. If you look closely, you’ll notice the shaved Unger hairs in the corner. The red line I drew is my best approximation of the graft placement on me. My left (my left) side is native hair without reinforcement. I do not understand why this happened. 

Here’s how the corner looks before I shave it. I’ve never seen a man’s hairline do that. They recede, not go forward.

Here you can see that the left (my left) looks natural with almost no extra reinforcement. It’s like there was a parallelogram on my face.

 

I started experimenting with plucking with tweezers which turned out okay. I did this for about a year. The plucked region looks better than shaven. But there are too many dirty hairs to manage everyday.

In April 2020, I finally revisited the Dr who operated on me in 2013 with the ARTAS. He offered to try and remove some of the Unger hairs. We went conservative to see how things would heal, with the idea that we would go back later to remove the remaining ones.

 

This is about 1 month after the extractions. The redness subsided significantly, and is virtually undetectable to the untrained eye at a distance. 

 

August 2021

This is how I looked at the beginning of the month. I spent years researching how to get myself fixed and ultimately decided on Drs. Pradeep Sethi and Arika Bansal at Eugenix. In the photos below, you’ll notice that my right side temple looks significantly better than it did, though there are still quite a few dirty hairs in the corner that need to move. You’ll also notice that I started parting my hair a little as opposed to having it upright like in the prior photos. This gave me some more camouflage for the thinning. My barber has become my close friend and he realizes how much I’ve been through. He’s careful on my every 2 week visit for the last 8 years to give me as good as he can give me based on my situation every time. He’s even coming to my house for my first few cute post HT. He deserves a lifetime of beer for being my only real confidant in my hair vulnerabilities.

I have built myself back up to be successful in academia, career, and socially. I only revisit my hair loss now because I’m strong enough now to revisit this, and I think I’ve done considerable research and homework to find the right doctors.

If there’s a silver lining in all of this, it’s been my ability to adapt and to grow my personality outside of my exterior shell. To be thankful for what I have today, and to be very humbled by what my worst days looked like and how far I’ve come. I’ve even managed to land a few stunning and out of my league girlfriends along the way. I guess we prioritize our heads more than society does? 

Photos taken August 12

 

I will post my Eugenix experience in the next box. Thank you for sticking with me, and pardon any typos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by track_rat

[LaserCaps]

Being self aware was probably what had the most effect on you.  If you had come to our clinic and had a met with you, I would empathize but would also treat you like the thousands of patients that share some of your same "misfortunes." Fortunately there have been ongoing improvements in the industry and you seem to have found doctors that knew what they were doing.  Have you been doing any type of medical therapy throughout? You still have a significant amount of native hair that you can not only retain, but perhaps enhance.  

[track_rat]

19 minutes ago, LaserCaps said:

Being self aware was probably what had the most effect on you.  If you had come to our clinic and had a met with you, I would empathize but would also treat you like the thousands of patients that share some of your same "misfortunes." Fortunately there have been ongoing improvements in the industry and you seem to have found doctors that knew what they were doing.  Have you been doing any type of medical therapy throughout? You still have a significant amount of native hair that you can not only retain, but perhaps enhance.  

Thank you, Lasercaps. I appreciate the comments. I’ve had PRP / plasma therapy and have been committed to finasteride + oral minoxidil for the last 3 years. 
 

I agree, I’m hanging on to native hairs and that loss seems to have stopped / slowed significantly at this stage.

[LaserCaps]

Excellent.  I am curious about the PRP.  How much blood did they draw and how often do you need to return to do it again?

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, LaserCaps said:

Being self aware was probably what had the most effect on you.  If you had come to our clinic and had a met with you, I would empathize but would also treat you like the thousands of patients that share some of your same "misfortunes." Fortunately there have been ongoing improvements in the industry and you seem to have found doctors that knew what they were doing.  Have you been doing any type of medical therapy throughout? You still have a significant amount of native hair that you can not only retain, but perhaps enhance.  

Lasercap, it would be nice to put your experience in your signature, and whether you’re currently working in the industry as a rep or for a company.

[track_rat]

August 18, 2021

I had a procedure done by Eugenix in Delhi India by Drs. Pradeep Sethi and Arika Bansal. 

Goals: Reinforce hairline, fill in strip scar and ARTAS scar empty spots, reinforce crown.

Procedure details: Design and planning done with both Drs. 100% slits made my Dr. Sethi. 100% extraction done by Dr. Bansal. Dr. Bansal oversaw implantation and has been in touch with me nearly everyday post op to field my questions and concerns. I stayed at the clinic for a few days and flew home to the US on the 2nd day post op.

Scalp grafts: 809

Side lock grafts: 257

Beard grafts: 1,824

Total grafts: 2,760

Dr. Bansal’s extraction goals were to remain conservative to keep donor area intact for future reserve. By doing this this, we harvested more beard hairs for the added density in the crown. There’s a decent reserve above the strip in the back for the future. 

Below photos show you what my donor area looked like prior to the procedure.

 

For fun, I think this is a 6 graft follicle in the center?

I’m a bit concerned about the hairline. I didn’t express concerns enough in person, so fault lies with me. I should have asked to wipe out the baby hairs and go back a little for a more uniform line. Instead, we worked behind the existing hairs, so the line may appear a bit choppy. Not as clean as I see a lot of you all have done. Hopefully this isn’t an issue, but I’ve already thought about removing a few in the center lower portion in the future to give it less of a pointy peaky appearance. Ultimately, Dr. Bansal did reinforce the hairline to keep it natural looking, as was the goal (rather than recreate). I hope it turns out ok.

Final extraction photos to show what’s left of my donor (including beard grafts placed into sparse areas left by strip and ARTAS):

 

Vert little extraction done in the back.

 

Beard extraction done only on neck.

 

Implanted photos:

 

Scalp hairs implanted first inside of the double cowlick / whirl for a soft directional look.

 

The final crown looks very clean. I circled to show what I’m thinking is a bit weaker left side. I noticed some slower growth there now that I’m 2 weeks post op and went back to my operative photos for a closer look.

 

2 week post op photos coming up.

Thanks, all. Would love to hear feedback (good and bad).

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by track_rat

[LaserCaps]

7 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Lasercap, it would be nice to put your experience in your signature, and whether you’re currently working in the industry as a rep or for a company.

Hi Marvin,

About a year ago I had many issues with my computer, lost all passwords, etc. I chose to sign in with the new name, Lasercaps, (S at the end).  I am not sure how to add experience in the signature.  I am not currently working in the industry nor am I a rep for anyone.  If this changes I will let you know and make the change in my profile.  I am actually looking for a position currently.  

Thanks,

Al

 

[TommyLucchese]

2 hours ago, LaserCaps said:

Being self aware was probably what had the most effect on you.  If you had come to our clinic and had a met with you, I would empathize but would also treat you like the thousands of patients that share some of your same "misfortunes." Fortunately there have been ongoing improvements in the industry and you seem to have found doctors that knew what they were doing.  Have you been doing any type of medical therapy throughout? You still have a significant amount of native hair that you can not only retain, but perhaps enhance.  

Wait, so you are selling things too? I asked you yesterday if you mention PRP and laser therapy in every thread and I thought your user name was a little suspect..... at least you have confirmed my suspicions here.

What is your clinic? Who are you? You should be making clear that the services you are speaking highly of (that others don't) is also something that you are selling. 

[LaserCaps]

6 minutes ago, TommyLucchese said:

Wait, so you are selling things too? I asked you yesterday if you mention PRP and laser therapy in every thread and I thought your user name was a little suspect..... at least you have confirmed my suspicions here.

What is your clinic? Who are you? You should be making clear that the services you are speaking highly of (that others don't) is also something that you are selling. 

 

6 minutes ago, TommyLucchese said:

Wait, so you are selling things too? I asked you yesterday if you mention PRP and laser therapy in every thread and I thought your user name was a little suspect..... at least you have confirmed my suspicions here.

What is your clinic? Who are you? You should be making clear that the services you are speaking highly of (that others don't) is also something that you are selling. 

 "If you had come to our clinic and had a met with you," 

I worked for Bosley for 15 years, worked for Advanced Hair Restoration for a few years, and worked for Dr. Arocha for a few years.  I am not currently in the industry and I am selling nothing.  I am here for support and to educate the ignorant and those who need help.  A lot of miss-information out there.

If you had come to our clinic - back when I was a rep, and I had met with you........ Totally my fault for the lack of a description.

With regards to my name, I am sorry you feel it is a "little suspect." I use LaserCap and I believe in it.  That's why I chose the name.  

Again, I am not a consultant in the industry and have no clinic.  I am not selling a damn thing.  

Are you clear or do you need any other info?

 

[TommyLucchese]

2 minutes ago, LaserCaps said:

 

 "If you had come to our clinic and had a met with you," 

I worked for Bosley for 15 years, worked for Advanced Hair Restoration for a few years, and worked for Dr. Arocha for a few years.  I am not currently in the industry and I am selling nothing.  I am here for support and to educate the ignorant and those who need help.  A lot of miss-information out there.

If you had come to our clinic - back when I was a rep, and I had met with you........ Totally my fault for the lack of a description.

With regards to my name, I am sorry you feel it is a "little suspect." I use LaserCap and I believe in it.  That's why I chose the name.  

Again, I am not a consultant in the industry and have no clinic.  I am not selling a damn thing.  

Are you clear or do you need any other info?

 

So if you still believed in Santa you might have chosen that name instead?

To confirm then - you don't sell any laser products?

Thank you for your reply and for the info. It's important to be sceptical in this hair loss world as I'm sure you know, with your years of experience.

[track_rat]

 

September 1, 2021

This is just over 2 week post op.

Hairline is lower than I would like in the center. Sides are a great distance I think. Maybe in the future I can have someone good locally so some rest extractions in the lower center to see how I heal? I was thinking just the lower half centimeter if the center. Open to your thoughts. For now, I think it will look fine as that’s where all the baby hair was anyways. You can see they implanted behind native.

 

I think the crown looks great. They were meticulous with the angles it appears. Would love your feedback. You can see that center left portion is looking a little light (I circled this in an earlier post).

 

Right side looks to me as it was before the procedure. Once the top fills out, it will fade clean in a haircut.

Left side looks to be a bit challenging. If you go back to my shock loss photos from the strip, this area never fully healed. The hairs below the strip were weakened it seems. And I should have instructed Dr. Bansal not to take any grafts out here. There is some regrowth coming back in already, perhaps those hairs are just slower to grow due to some early trauma. In any event, I’m not too worried. A few grafts may be needed there in the future, though.

 

Dr. Bansal says the side locks are healing well. The punchy red look should disappear in the weeks to come.

Let me know what you think.

[LaserCaps]

5 minutes ago, TommyLucchese said:

So if you still believed in Santa you might have chosen that name instead?

To confirm then - you don't sell any laser products?

Thank you for your reply and for the info. It's important to be sceptical in this hair loss world as I'm sure you know, with your years of experience.

Correct, I do not sell anything.  

I agree, skepticism is important.

If I do end up returning to the industry I'll make sure to note it on the signature.  

Santa would be a nice name.....

[TommyLucchese]

9 minutes ago, LaserCaps said:

Correct, I do not sell anything.  

I agree, skepticism is important.

If I do end up returning to the industry I'll make sure to note it on the signature.  

Santa would be a nice name.....

Good to hear, thank you for confirming.

[Melvin- Admin]

45 minutes ago, track_rat said:

 

September 1, 2021

This is just over 2 week post op.

Hairline is lower than I would like in the center. Sides are a great distance I think. Maybe in the future I can have someone good locally so some rest extractions in the lower center to see how I heal? I was thinking just the lower half centimeter if the center. Open to your thoughts. For now, I think it will look fine as that’s where all the baby hair was anyways. You can see they implanted behind native.

 

I think the crown looks great. They were meticulous with the angles it appears. Would love your feedback. You can see that center left portion is looking a little light (I circled this in an earlier post).

 

Right side looks to me as it was before the procedure. Once the top fills out, it will fade clean in a haircut.

Left side looks to be a bit challenging. If you go back to my shock loss photos from the strip, this area never fully healed. The hairs below the strip were weakened it seems. And I should have instructed Dr. Bansal not to take any grafts out here. There is some regrowth coming back in already, perhaps those hairs are just slower to grow due to some early trauma. In any event, I’m not too worried. A few grafts may be needed there in the future, though.

 

Dr. Bansal says the side locks are healing well. The punchy red look should disappear in the weeks to come.

Let me know what you think.

I am honestly shocked with how much Dr. Bansal was able to do with your limited donor. I don’t think theres many surgeons in the world who would take you on as a patient. The crown looks absolutely meticulous, the angles look perfect and I’m very eager to see this grow. 

Threads like this one affirm my decision to choose Eugenix. What they’re able to do with minimal grafts and depleted donors is nothing short of amazing. 

[track_rat]

7 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I am honestly shocked with how much Dr. Bansal was able to do with your limited donor. I don’t think theres many surgeons in the world who would take you on as a patient. The crown looks absolutely meticulous, the angles look perfect and I’m very eager to see this grow. 

Threads like this one affirm my decision to choose Eugenix. What they’re able to do with minimal grafts and depleted donors is nothing short of amazing. 

Thank you, Melvin! Did you catch my little hello to you in my original post?

I agree, the work is meticulous. I’m excited to see how this grows. I was skeptical during the first week as the beard hairs felt coarse and then having massive anxiety about what that would look like. But at week two, they feel softer when longer, and are growing in the direction of my native hairs. The beard hair, in combination with the scalp hair that’s been implanted in the center of the crown in the double whirl, plus my native hairs should yield a decent result I think. 
 

Dr. Arika said she could have extracted over 2k from my scalp, but we decided to be conservative as a test. The good news is, I’m not entirely depleted. I have some left in my scalp donor bank and a ton in the beard bank to revisit touch ups. 

Appreciate the support.

 

[Berba11]

The new hairline work & crown work you've had done looks really promising. I'm booked with Eugenix in late November (travelling from UK), so will be following this very keenly.

It looks like you'll be completely out of the woods in 12 months time having had some early HT difficulties. I hope posting and sharing your story brings some additional relief. and lifts a weight.

[kirkland]

This procedure with Eugenix looks like it is off to a good start, @track_rat

I hope that you end your HT journey feeling positive about the final results. Good luck!

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, track_rat said:

Thank you, Melvin! Did you catch my little hello to you in my original post?

I agree, the work is meticulous. I’m excited to see how this grows. I was skeptical during the first week as the beard hairs felt coarse and then having massive anxiety about what that would look like. But at week two, they feel softer when longer, and are growing in the direction of my native hairs. The beard hair, in combination with the scalp hair that’s been implanted in the center of the crown in the double whirl, plus my native hairs should yield a decent result I think. 
 

Dr. Arika said she could have extracted over 2k from my scalp, but we decided to be conservative as a test. The good news is, I’m not entirely depleted. I have some left in my scalp donor bank and a ton in the beard bank to revisit touch ups. 

Appreciate the support.

 

I’m basically getting the same area done in my crown. Did you choose to not shave? I don’t wanna shave my head, but what did Arika say?

[track_rat]

1 hour ago, Berba11 said:

The new hairline work & crown work you've had done looks really promising. I'm booked with Eugenix in late November (travelling from UK), so will be following this very keenly.

It looks like you'll be completely out of the woods in 12 months time having had some early HT difficulties. I hope posting and sharing your story brings some additional relief. and lifts a weight.

Much appreciated, Berba. Let’s see how things shape up. I will be updating here monthly hopefully to share my progress. And yes, posting and sharing has already done wonders for my anxiety and stress levels. There’s something about having two procedures gone wrong that you somehow convince yourself that the next one will also be bad. After posting and seeing the photos myself on another medium, I’m realizing that’s mind tricks and things look pretty ok for 2 weeks out. 
 

cheers

[track_rat]

1 hour ago, Berba11 said:

The new hairline work & crown work you've had done looks really promising. I'm booked with Eugenix in late November (travelling from UK), so will be following this very keenly.

It looks like you'll be completely out of the woods in 12 months time having had some early HT difficulties. I hope posting and sharing your story brings some additional relief. and lifts a weight.

Much appreciated, Berba. Let’s see how things shape up. I will be updating here monthly hopefully to share my progress. And yes, posting and sharing has already done wonders for my anxiety and stress levels. There’s something about having two procedures gone wrong that you somehow convince yourself that the next one will also be bad. After posting and seeing the photos myself on another medium, I’m realizing that’s mind tricks and things look pretty ok for 2 weeks out. 
 

cheers

[track_rat]

36 minutes ago, kirkland said:

This procedure with Eugenix looks like it is off to a good start, @track_rat

I hope that you end your HT journey feeling positive about the final results. Good luck!

Thank you, Kirkland.

I appreciate the feedback. Hoping the same!

[track_rat]

32 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I’m basically getting the same area done in my crown. Did you choose to not shave? I don’t wanna shave my head, but what did Arika say?

Oh that’s great. Dr. Bansal is a wonderful person and very nurturing. She put up with my post op stress and questions and has been in constant communication with me to put me at ease. I convinced myself my beard was gone (and I really treasure my beard), but hairs are sprouting there everyday and filling back in.

I didn’t want to shave totally because I wasn’t getting a full coverage procedure. I also didn’t want to buzz off areas that I didn’t need to. My midscalp has a ton of native / weaker hair still left. Decided to just let them be instead of waiting for them to get to their potential again. I wish there was a way for me to have not buzzed my crown, but I understand the complex process for my double whirl required it to be shaved. Dr. Arika had no objections to me not fully shaving.

[follically challenged]

4 hours ago, track_rat said:

This is just over 2 week post op.

Hairline is lower than I would like in the center. Sides are a great distance I think. Maybe in the future I can have someone good locally so some rest extractions in the lower center to see how I heal? I was thinking just the lower half centimeter if the center. Open to your thoughts. For now, I think it will look fine as that’s where all the baby hair was anyways. You can see they implanted behind native.

Man....this hairline is looking amazing. TBH, this is my ideal hairline lol.

I am waiting patiently for the day that Eugenix uploads a case like this, but instead of black hair, they work on blonde fine hair..... as soon as i see a good result from eugenix with a patient who has hair as fine as mine...then i will most likely book my ticket.

Happy growing mate, keep us updated!

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, follically challenged said:

Man....this hairline is looking amazing. TBH, this is my ideal hairline lol.

I am waiting patiently for the day that Eugenix uploads a case like this, but instead of black hair, they work on blonde fine hair..... as soon as i see a good result from eugenix with a patient who has hair as fine as mine...then i will most likely book my ticket.

Happy growing mate, keep us updated!

Check out @Fluffhead he’s a dirty blonde. 

[BDK081522]

Great story of redemption! You chose wisely with Eugenix. Both doctors perform outstanding work. I don't think your hairline in the center is created to low. Once the hair grows out and you get some density it will look perfect and I wouldn't think you'd want to remove any of those grafts. Are you able to share a picture of your beard donor area immediately post op and one or two week photos. Just trying to get an idea of how fast this area heals as it seems to heal quicker than the occipital area from what I've seen. Thanks for your detailed review as well!