Failed hair transplant - what can I do now ?

[Beno99]

Unfortunately my hair transplant didn’t work out. I’ve already conditioned my mind that it might fail so I’m not really surprised but still I’m very sad about it. Im a young guy and dealing with hair loss this early is really depressing, all I wanted was to feel and look better but it didn’t work out. I didn’t have enough money to go to the best clinics and went to turkey instead as most guys here from Germany do for hair transplants. Most get good results but unfortunately I’m not of them.

I now wonder what I can do ? Its adviced to wait a year to get another transplant so I’m not really sure what I can do in the mean time. Perhaps an SMP? 

Here are a few pics:

Its just the left side that’s problematic at least. The right side and temple looks very good, unfortunately I didn’t get the same growth on the other side 

[Al - Moderator]

How long ago was the hair transplant? It doesn't look so horrible that you can't simply wait it out until you save enough money to afford a proper fix with a much better clinic. I wouldn't do SMP at this point. The last thing you want to do is start trying all sorts of permanent (or semi permanent) things that you never intended to do without thinking them through. You also don't want to be spending money needlessly especially since you said you went to Turkey specifically because you couldn't afford somewhere else. We see this way to often where people go somewhere cheap and end up spending more money than they would have if they just did it right in the first place.

 

[Beno99]

16 minutes ago, BeHappy said:

How long ago was the hair transplant? It doesn't look so horrible that you can't simply wait it out until you save enough money to afford a proper fix with a much better clinic. I wouldn't do SMP at this point. The last thing you want to do is start trying all sorts of permanent (or semi permanent) things that you never intended to do without thinking them through. You also don't want to be spending money needlessly especially since you said you went to Turkey specifically because you couldn't afford somewhere else. We see this way to often where people go somewhere cheap and end up spending more money than they would have if they just did it right in the first place.

 

It’s exactly 111 days since the hair transplant, almost 4 months.

Regarding SMP you might be right, but I’m just really frustrated with the way the hair looks now. From what I’ve heard it looks good for 1-2 years and than fades away. Maybe doing it once while also saving money for a top clinic is a good idea.

 

And yeah you are right regarding the turkey thing, it’s really a gamble tbh. Many guys go there get very good results and than there are unlucky ones like me.

[Ajamilo]

6 minutes ago, Beno99 said:

It’s exactly 111 days since the hair transplant, almost 4 months.

Regarding SMP you might be right, but I’m just really frustrated with the way the hair looks now. From what I’ve heard it looks good for 1-2 years and than fades away. Maybe doing it once while also saving money for a top clinic is a good idea.

 

And yeah you are right regarding the turkey thing, it’s really a gamble tbh. Many guys go there get very good results and than there are unlucky ones like me.

Is almost 4 month bro. You should not expect anything in this stage.
Give it two more months and you will probably be happy

Edited October 31, 2021 by Ajamilo

[Al - Moderator]

OK. At only 4 months you are just starting to get to the heavy growth stage. Wait a few months and see how it looks then

[Beno99]

1 minute ago, Ajamilo said:

Is almost 4 month bro. You should not expect anything in this stage.
Give it two more months and you will probably be happy

I strongly doubt this. The left side looks absolutely horrible compared to the right, this is not normal and not going to become any better.

I’m just sad about all the hairs from the donor that are gone for nothing now 😔 such a waste 

[aaron1234]

Do you have any pre-op and immediate post-op pics for context?  How many grafts did you receive? Where did you go?

Like the others have already stated, 4 months is waaaayy too early to have any kind of opinion on your results.  

[Beno99]

13 minutes ago, aaron1234 said:

Do you have any pre-op and immediate post-op pics for context?  How many grafts did you receive? Where did you go?

Like the others have already stated, 4 months is waaaayy too early to have any kind of opinion on your results.  

First pic like 2 months before the HT, second one immediately after and last one 2 days after. 4000 grafts but I don’t want to mention the clinic.

[Beno99]

You guys say it’s too early but even at 4 months it can’t be normal that the left side looks this bad. I’ve seen many results online and follow many hair transplant YouTube channels, hardly anyone has a problem like this at 4 months. This is just terrible, sadly I’m one of the unlucky ones 😔

[gillenator]

4 months is way too early to judge the final result on anyone… can you tell us what that horizontal line of dots is under your hairline?

[Beno99]

6 minutes ago, gillenator said:

4 months is way too early to judge the final result on anyone… can you tell us what that horizontal line of dots is under your hairline?

Everyone says this but I’ve seen many results online and at 4 months it looks better than this for pretty much everyone.

The dots under hairline were from the injections I think.

[Fabulous]

Don't panic. Even though this hair transplant won't be a success you aren't in a bad spot. Your hair loss is not that advanced and probably you still have enough grafts to work with. Don't take any rushed decisions, if you'll pick your next surgeon carefully he'll probably make the things right.

[aaron1234]

If the first pic is indeed 2 months pre-op then 4000 grafts is a drastically high number for your first surgery.  You probably had shock loss since you had a lot of native hair to begin with.  Regardless, be patient and reevaluate things at the 9 month mark.

[Beno99]

9 minutes ago, aaron1234 said:

If the first pic is indeed 2 months pre-op then 4000 grafts is a drastically high number for your first surgery.  You probably had shock loss since you had a lot of native hair to begin with.  Regardless, be patient and reevaluate things at the 9 month mark.

Yeah I was surprised too that they did 4000 but I was told they wanted to achieve a strong density results at the hairline...nothing of that to be seen yet.

[Beno99]

3 hours ago, Fabulous said:

Don't panic. Even though this hair transplant won't be a success you aren't in a bad spot. Your hair loss is not that advanced and probably you still have enough grafts to work with. Don't take any rushed decisions, if you'll pick your next surgeon carefully he'll probably make the things right.

I hope so. I have to wait like 8 months though to be able to get another HT. I try not to stress myself but the fact that I might have lost so much hair from the donor for nothing saddens me. I can’t even cut my hair short on the sides or get a fade like I used to because it gets noticeable that I got a HT 😔

[Fue3361]

You’re crying and not listening to anyone.  Do yourself a favor and read this 5 times if necessary:

 

You don’t know yet.  Maybe that side of your scalp had more trauma during surgery and the follicles will take a month longer to enter active growth stage,  maybe your blood flow on that side of the scalp is different, maybe (enter 100 different other reasons)...

 

There are people (trust me, there are) that only START to see any growth at 4 months...  ANYWHERE...  before 6-7 months, you have absolutely no idea of if it was successful or not.  I’ve seen specifically cases just like yours at 5-6 months where a certain area of the hairline is weaker than the rest, and then fills up 7-8 months in.

 

4 months dude... people literally say all the time, don’t even bother judging before 6months in... 

 

so relax, breath, and be happy that it actually looks really good for 4 months in.

 

looking at your post op, the follicles were implanted there at good density... those follicles won’t magically disappear...

[A Fue Good Men]

Wayyyyy too early to judge. U know it’s nerve wracking but try to remain patient and only look/take pics of your hair once a month.

 

how does the donor look?

[Mycroft]

I'm going to reiterate what everyone else said, that this is too early to know how good or bad it is going to be. The post op photos make it look as though a reasonable number of grafts were placed in the area, so right now you need to chill and wait.

You are 100% off about there not being many other cases that are like this at month four. In fact, I have seen many that look far worse after a patient suffers significant shock loss. It's also pretty common for patients to have a problem spot that grows slower and patchier than other transplanted areas. In some cases this spot needs a small touch-up surgery, but it is by no means a failed transplant.

I'm not sure if you went into this with unrealistic expectations or if it's just that you're having trouble dealing with it in the moment, but straight up you need to wait 8-12 months to get a good idea. In your case it's likely closer to 12 because it doesn't look like you're going to be a particularly fast grower. Just relax.

[TEXAN35]

The end result may not be as great as you may expect but it surely is too early and it will improve. Not sure which channels do you watch but not everything on internet is truth. its very common to have uneven growth at 4 months. Infact your 4 months growth is probably better than the average . The reason you find a lots of great 4 months result online is probably either marketing or people who get early growth are more excited than slow growers to show the results online. My main growth started at 5 months and is still improving at 7 months and hope it keeps improving for a couple of more months.

[MachoVato]

Failed at 4 months?! haha!

It's the BEGINNING of the growth phase. 

[gillenator]

That’s exactly right…the regrowth is just beginning.

[Beno99]

Hey guys I wanted to give an update. It’s day 138 now almost 5 months and this is what the hair looks like when I brush it back the same way I did in the other pics 

 

It looks better now than it did last time I posted that’s for sure but I still hope for more growth/density considering the amount of grafts that were used.

I also regret getting an undercut because of the scars at the back/donor area. I think I have to get an SMP done for that.

[Beno99]

This is how my hair looks like now when I brush it to the side 

[Gatsby]

Do not have SMP or anything else until you reach the 12 month mark. It's starting to kick in now as you have stated at 5 months and you have another 7 months to go. No offense but I have no idea where you did your research and who told you that at 4 months your transplant is a failure if you do not achieve full results? In my opinion you are now one month ahead of schedule and that in itself is a good sign. Did your surgeon mention finasteride to slow and stabalize you hair loss?? The best thing you can do now is to spend as much time on this forum and ask as many questions as you need to so that you can educate yourself about everything MPB and hair transplant results. It will keep your mind off your own hair and your interest in understanding the procedure from many who have gone before you. Please take this in the vein that it is intended. Take care and wishing you all the best!

[Beno99]

40 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

Do not have SMP or anything else until you reach the 12 month mark. It's starting to kick in now as you have stated at 5 months and you have another 7 months to go. No offense but I have no idea where you did your research and who told you that at 4 months your transplant is a failure if you do not achieve full results? In my opinion you are now one month ahead of schedule and that in itself is a good sign. Did your surgeon mention finasteride to slow and stabalize you hair loss?? The best thing you can do now is to spend as much time on this forum and ask as many questions as you need to so that you can educate yourself about everything MPB and hair transplant results. It will keep your mind off your own hair and your interest in understanding the procedure from many who have gone before you. Please take this in the vein that it is intended. Take care and wishing you all the best!

Thanks!

I was worried at month 4 because many of the results I’ve seen on YouTube and elsewhere showed many guys with good growth that early already. The clinic told me to wait 12 months to see the final result but I was still scared by how bad it looked. Just hope it gets better from now on.

 

regarding SMP, I don’t think I have to wait 12 months to get it done in the donor area since the hairs that got taken from there won’t grow back anyway. It’s just frustrating because I can no longer get a proper undercut without the scars being visible 😬I think I will let them grow out on the sides and back till I find a place to do an SMP.

I made the decision to not take Finasteride as the side effects that many get from them are things I’ve already experienced and I don’t want that to happen again. I’m aware of the risks about not taking it, that I might have to do another transplant in some years but I’m ok with that.

Edited November 27, 2021 by Beno99