Dr. Diep Second FUT Transplant - 1750 Grafts - Approximately 4,000 Grafts Total

[AlexMeister21]

I'm around the 3-month mark after my second FUT transplant with Dr. Diep in November 2021. I had about 1,750 grafts transplanted to add density to my previous transplant and to lower the hairline by about 1 cm. For my first transplant, I had around 2,200 grafts transplanted to rebuild the hairline.

The procedure itself was pretty easygoing. The most painful part was the anesthesia injections into the head, but it wasn't too bad. I don't remember too much of the beginning of the surgery as I was put to sleep for several hours. I remember feeling like they were ripping a strip from my donor area, kind of like pulling apart a carpet or something. It wasn't painful, but that was pretty much the last thing I remember before being knocked out.

I remember being half awake a couple hours later and I saw Dr. Diep implanting hairs. I remember feeling some relief that he was doing it instead of the techs and then I went back to sleep. I woke up again when it was lunch time and I noticed that the techs were doing the implants at this point and they did it for the remainder of the surgery. Dr. Diep would check in every hour or so to see how things were progressing. 

The day after my procedure, my donor area was dripping a lot of blood while I was sleeping. Thankfully my neck pillow absorbed all the blood and didn't stain the hotel bed. I told Dr. Diep about it and he made the time to meet me at the office on a Sunday to make sure everything was all right, which I thought was pretty cool.

As of right now, I'm a bit skeptical if the density will turn out good in the end. I know three months is still too early to gauge, but I feel like there's a lot of spacing between grafts. It looks like my previously transplanted hairs experienced shock loss, but I'm not sure. Still, I'll wait until the 6-month mark to assess things as my growth is going accordingly to how it did during my first transplant and I stopped sprouting new hairs near months 5-6.

 

Pre-op first transplant:

 

10 months post-op first transplant. Morning of second surgery:

 

Right after second surgery:

 

 

Two weeks:

 

First month:

 

 

Second month:

 

Third month:

 

Other angles at month 3:

 

 

 

 

Scar:

[Melvin- Admin]

You had some good density in the first one, the second will be icing on the cake. I’m at 2 months and I’m looking pretty rough, its all part of the process. I know it will be months before I have an idea how it’ll look like.

[AlexMeister21]

58 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

You had some good density in the first one, the second will be icing on the cake. I’m at 2 months and I’m looking pretty rough, its all part of the process. I know it will be months before I have an idea how it’ll look like.

The density looks pretty good in the photo I posted but it was pretty see-through in most lighting situations and I was still having to do a combover to cover my scalp. Here are photos from other angles of my first transplant:

Edited February 23, 2022 by AlexMeister21

[Melvin- Admin]

8 minutes ago, AlexMeister21 said:

The density looks pretty good in the photo I posted but it was pretty see-through in most lighting situations and I was still having to do a combover to cover my scalp. Here are photos from other angles of my first transplant:

Yea perfect density is hard with one surgery. But after this one it should be a lot better. Give it time.

[FUT4000]

Looks great so far! just curious why you didnt opt for a FUE for your second transplant? 

[AlexMeister21]

2 hours ago, FUT4000 said:

Looks great so far! just curious why you didnt opt for a FUE for your second transplant? 

I already had FUT from my first transplant so I figured I should just stick with FUT again. However, if I could go back and change my mind, I'd probably go for FUE for my first transplant. I didn't know too much about hair transplantation when I got my first one and was under the impression that it'd be easy to repair an FUT scar in the future if I needed to. I'm not sure if there was some shock loss to my scar area with the second transplant, but the outline of my scar is pretty visible for a couple days after I get a haircut with a 7 guard.

[AlexMeister21]

Here are my 4-month photos. The transplanted hairs are blending in better with my natural hair and I'm able to do like a combover for my hair to look mostly natural in public. There are still gaps that I'm hoping get filled in. Can anyone tell from my photos how much of my grafts have sprouted?

Edited March 20, 2022 by AlexMeister21
Spacing

[Melvin- Admin]

At 4 months it’s looking good. Probably 10% have sprouted, much more to come.

[AlexMeister21]

4 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

At 4 months it’s looking good. Probably 10% have sprouted, much more to come.

Thanks. If it's only 10% so far, that would be great.

[AlexMeister21]

What does it mean when this area gets itchy from time to time? I've been noticing it for the past few months after my procedure and I'm always checking to see if grafts are sprouting here, but I haven't noticed much difference. This also seemed to be a problem area for me after my first transplant.

 

[AlexMeister21]

I'm at about 5 months and a week now. I didn't really see any new growth until the end of the month, where I saw a few grafts starting to sprout. I can style my hair where I comb it back in a way to cover up the thinner spots and have it look mostly normal under most lighting conditions. Hoping for more density so I can have more flexibility of how I am able to style my hair. 

 

Styled:

 

Front:

 

Front angle 2:

 

Left side:

 

Right side:

[Melvin- Admin]

It definitely looks better than the previous month in terms of density. 

[AlexMeister21]

23 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

It definitely looks better than the previous month in terms of density. 

Yeah I feel mostly comfortable with it if I style it. Seeing some new sprouts so hoping I'm entering another phase of growth. 

[Sonu]

Hey how is it looking now?

[AlexMeister21]

4 hours ago, Sonu said:

Hey how is it looking now?

I didn't see much improvement this month and it still looks pretty much the same to be honest. Still quite a lot of thin areas. I see a few black dots underneath the skin, which I'm hopping are grafts that need to pop out but I can't tell. I'll post my 6 month photos in a few days. 

[AlexMeister21]

I'm at a couple days past the 6 month mark. I didn't really see much improvement this month. The hairs that have already sprouted got thicker, which I suppose allows me to look like I have a full head of hair when I style it properly and I'm under the right lighting conditions. However, there's still some very sparse areas that I don't see much growth at all and I expect I will need a third pass to get the density I want. I can also very clearly make out where my transplanted hairs begin and where my natural hairline is.

I'm not expecting many more grafts to sprout and since I need work done in my crown anyways, I set up a consultation with Dr. Freitas who will hopefully evaluate me at my 7-9 month mark. If I get an appointment, then I should be past my 1-year mark by the time I have a procedure done. 

Front:

 

Right side:

Left side:

 

Problem area (left side):

 

Pushing hairs aside to expose thin areas:

 

Hair styled in favorable lighting (homerun result?):

[Melvin- Admin]

It’s definitely improving, and you still have plenty of time. Patience is key. 

[AlexMeister21]

1 hour ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

It’s definitely improving, and you still have plenty of time. Patience is key. 

I hope it all fills out because then I can save money and grafts if Dr. Freitas agrees to work on my crown. The problem areas I have are developing very similarly to the problem areas I had during my first hair transplant, and that never filled in 1.5 years later so I'm expecting a similar result to my first HT. 

[Melvin- Admin]

18 minutes ago, AlexMeister21 said:

I hope it all fills out because then I can save money and grafts if Dr. Freitas agrees to work on my crown. The problem areas I have are developing very similarly to the problem areas I had during my first hair transplant, and that never filled in 1.5 years later so I'm expecting a similar result to my first HT. 

You have to compare your progress, if you look at your 4 months and now, it’s a big improvement. You’ve been improving each month slowly. 
 

[AlexMeister21]

16 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

You have to compare your progress, if you look at your 4 months and now, it’s a big improvement. You’ve been improving each month slowly.

Well to be fair, in the 6 month photo I'm pulling my hair back, which allows my hair to cover more scalp. Below is another 6-month photo where I'm not pulling my hair back. Still looks thicker compared to previous months but that's because my transplanted hair that already sprouted got thicker.

 

[Melvin- Admin]

19 minutes ago, AlexMeister21 said:

Well to be fair, in the 6 month photo I'm pulling my hair back, which allows my hair to cover more scalp. Below is another 6-month photo where I'm not pulling my hair back. Still looks thicker compared to previous months but that's because my transplanted hair that already sprouted got thicker.

 

I mean you’re always gonna see scalp if you spread your hair apart. That’s why hair transplants are an illusion of density. But regardless, this picture still looks better than the 4 month update. 

 

 

[AlexMeister21]

Also, I'd like to mention that it seems like the grafts implanted in my left temple area were angled incorrectly. I started to notice this around month 3, but I wanted to give it time to see if it would work it itself out. I keep noticing it when I look in the mirror that the hairs in my left temple area juts upwards and it leaves this line of scalp showing. Not sure if that's something I'm going to have to have extracted in the future or not. 

 

Left temple 1:

 

Left temple 2:

 

 

Right temple: 

[BDK081522]

Yes, the grafts have been implanted at incorrect angles. They are almost perpendicular to the skin. They should be much more acute. He did the same thing to me. I was able to rectify the situation by having two subsequent procedures with Dr Konior. Luckily, no grafts needed to be extracted. Our plan was to implant in front of and around the misangled grafts to camoflouge them. So, he dropped the hairline about a cm and implanted high density at correct angles adjacent to Diep's misangled grafts. It worked very well. 

[AlexMeister21]

8 minutes ago, BDK081522 said:

Yes, the grafts have been implanted at incorrect angles. They are almost perpendicular to the skin. They should be much more acute. He did the same thing to me. I was able to rectify the situation by having two subsequent procedures with Dr Konior. Luckily, no grafts needed to be extracted. Our plan was to implant in front of and around the misangled grafts to camoflouge them. So, he dropped the hairline about a cm and implanted high density at correct angles adjacent to Diep's misangled grafts. It worked very well. 

Thanks for letting me know. I guess this is even more reason for me to go in for a third procedure. Did Diep make the implantations during your procedure? I'm not sure if he was doing the implants during my surgery or just the incisions, but I remember feeling like the left technician gave off a vibe that she wasn't too experienced. 

[BDK081522]

Honestly, I have no clue if Diep did anything. I have complete amnesia from the amount of valium I was given. Last time I remember seeing him was in his office after drawing the hairline and taking the pills. I'm assuming he did extractions and incisions at bare minimum since it is illegal in the US for a technician to score the skin. But I can't confirm this. I know they had another case going on the same time as mine as they told me so.