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

[Steve89]

6 hours ago, AlexMeister21 said:

They told me October was the earliest for consultation. They also said Dr. Mwamba's earliest available surgery date is 4 months from now in Brussels. Do you have a thread of your surgery?

I have a video consultation with Dr Mwamba on September 22nd and I had my booking confirmed only a couple days ago. Although I did request it tentatively locked in about 2 weeks ago 

[guraaf]

Just came to this forum a year after my surgery to say that I am a dissatisfied customer of Dr. Diep. I had found his name here last spring and had a requirement to get the surgery in bay area due to my family and work commitments. I got a FUT surgery and the results aren't great. The scar on the back had blood for a long time - maybe that is common or maybe it wasn't sutured properly? It is now visbile even with a size-4 haircut. Whatever. 

The forehead doesn't look natural and I got 2200 grafts that didn't really help much but oh well. I don't know if there is another doctor in the bay area for me and if I have the energy to go thru another surgery anytime soon.

[AlexMeister21]

On 8/28/2022 at 5:44 PM, HappyMan2021 said:

interesting. I must have really gotten lucky bc I got in with a consult super quick, there must have been a cancellation.

My own waiting time at the NJ clinic was 4 months. 4 months seems to be standard across the board. 

Nah, no thread yet. Maybe once growth actually starts I'll post a thread. I'm at month 3.

Regardless though I would definitely recommend Mwamba for a repair. 

I like that Mwamba does beard and nape hair transplantation as I'm thinking I could use that to repair my scar. 

20 hours ago, Steve89 said:

I have a video consultation with Dr Mwamba on September 22nd and I had my booking confirmed only a couple days ago. Although I did request it tentatively locked in about 2 weeks ago 

Interesting. I started a correspondence with them about two weeks ago. I'm fine with waiting until late October because that'll be pretty close to my 12-month mark. 

12 hours ago, guraaf said:

Just came to this forum a year after my surgery to say that I am a dissatisfied customer of Dr. Diep. I had found his name here last spring and had a requirement to get the surgery in bay area due to my family and work commitments. I got a FUT surgery and the results aren't great. The scar on the back had blood for a long time - maybe that is common or maybe it wasn't sutured properly? It is now visbile even with a size-4 haircut. Whatever. 

The forehead doesn't look natural and I got 2200 grafts that didn't really help much but oh well. I don't know if there is another doctor in the bay area for me and if I have the energy to go thru another surgery anytime soon.

Sorry to hear that. Please post your photos and help out the community. Here's my scar after cutting my hair with a 7 guard. It's even more noticeable in person. 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

On 8/26/2022 at 9:55 AM, AlexMeister21 said:

I don't feel too comfortable posting photos of my hair styled because I don't want it to potentially be taken out of context. Sometimes, I may style my hair in the bathroom mirror and think it looks pretty good, but then check in another mirror with harsher lighting and it looks fake.

I have to style my hair upwards and then brush my hair over to the side to cover the gaps and make it look normal. Depending on the lighting conditions and distance, it could look pretty decent, but I don't like the fact that I'm limited in my styling options, especially when my forehead is still pretty big and is quite evident when styling in this way. I think it would look pretty decent if I used gel, but I've never done that and it's not my style.

 

Why would posting a photo of you how you look normally be out of context? The truth is hair transplants look different under different lights, hair styles and lengths. Can we see what your hair looks like when it's not brushed apart? 

[AlexMeister21]

22 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Why would posting a photo of you how you look normally be out of context? The truth is hair transplants look different under different lights, hair styles and lengths. Can we see what your hair looks like when it's not brushed apart? 

I don't want to style my hair and post favorable photos because that is not beneficial to other people trying to make an informed decision on a procedure that's permanent. I posted a photo around my four month mark of my hair styled in favorable lighting. I could just post photos like that and people would think I had a great result when I did not. I also don't want others taking those types of photos and misleading others into thinking I had a good result. Anyways, here are photos I just took without touching my hair, so this is what it looks like normally:

 

[stephcurry30]

20 minutes ago, AlexMeister21 said:

I don't want to style my hair and post favorable photos because that is not beneficial to other people trying to make an informed decision on a procedure that's permanent. I posted a photo around my four month mark of my hair styled in favorable lighting. I could just post photos like that and people would think I had a great result when I did not. I also don't want others taking those types of photos and misleading others into thinking I had a good result. Anyways, here are photos I just took without touching my hair, so this is what it looks like normally:

 

Keep posting these honest reviews. I love them and keeps honesty and transparency in the community. 

[AlexMeister21]

1 hour ago, stephcurry30 said:

Keep posting these honest reviews. I love them and keeps honesty and transparency in the community. 

Thanks. Transparency is very important here as our results can influence other people's decisions. It's only beneficial to the clinic and my ego if I were to only post deliberately favorable photos.  If I were an outlier case from Diep, I would probably be more careful of what I'm saying or just not post at all, but it's disappointing to see that this is not a rare occurrence. 

[John1991]

This level of transparency is admirable.  It's one thing to only post pictures in the worst overall conditions (harsh lighting, hair wet/greasy, hair parted) because, transplant or not, that's going to make hair look imperfect.  Even if you're a natural NW1 you can make your hair look less than stellar.  That said, this isn't what you're doing. You're simply showing how your hair looks in appropriate lighting when left on its own.  Yes, hair looks better when styled, but styling should not entail combing your hair in such a way that you hide noticeable thin regions of an area you spent many thousands of dollars and much time recovering to get hair transplanted to.  Nor should it involve sprinkling whatever the hell hair fibers are into that area.  Posters like you keep this forum useful and, IMO, there aren't enough people like you here.  We're talking about spending thousands and thousands of dollars and spending many months recovering in the hopes of having better looking hair, people should know what they're getting themselves into - period.  Thank you.

Edited September 1, 2022 by John1991

[AlexMeister21]

About two months away from the 12-month mark. Not much improvement. Hoping to land an in-person consultation with Dr. Bisanga if he comes to the United States.

Here's a picture of my scar in optimal lighting. If there's anything world-class about my procedure, it's the stretch of the scar, I'll tell you what. 

 

 

 

[AlexMeister21]

Here are photos at 13 months. I have my one year follow-up with Diep a couple of days after Christmas and I will give my final thoughts after that.

 

Front:

 

Left: 

 

 

Right:

 

Scar:

 

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by AlexMeister21

[HappyMan2021]

57 minutes ago, AlexMeister21 said:

I have my one year follow-up with Diep a couple of days after Christmas

maybe you can try to get a refund from him. 

Edited December 19, 2022 by HappyMan2021

[AlexMeister21]

40 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

maybe you can try to get a refund from him. 

That'd be a nice consolation from all of this but I doubt it will happen. I think I have a good idea of what Dr. Diep will say, but maybe I'll be surprised. We'll see.

[FUT4000]

Do they contact everyone for a year follow up? 

[AlexMeister21]

So I had my one-year review with Dr. Diep a few days ago. I don't really want to get into too much detail about the call, but he initially offered me free scar revision and then later offered free 800 grafts to add density to the previously transplanted areas. Since this was my second procedure with him and with unsatisfactory results, I didn't want a third procedure and he later offered a partial refund. I've emailed their staff to discuss the refund but haven't heard back yet, which is understandable.

I guess that's all I have left to post in this thread. I'm at least glad Dr. Diep was able to offer a partial refund. Right now, I'm looking to get a repair done with Eugenix in 2023 or 2024, which would increase density and revise my wide FUT scar.

[HairRun]

Eugenix does lots of beard grafts. Have you considering not doing a revision but putting beard grafts into it? I would get their take on it when doing a consultation 

[HappyMan2021]

i hate so much how these doctors offer free touch ups instead of refunds. I don't think it does either side any favors. Diep should have offered you a refund after 1st surgery and you'd have been better off, stinks bc that's what happened in the end anyways. 

[FUT4000]

4 hours ago, AlexMeister21 said:

So I had my one-year review with Dr. Diep a few days ago. I don't really want to get into too much detail about the call, but he initially offered me free scar revision and then later offered free 800 grafts to add density to the previously transplanted areas. Since this was my second procedure with him and with unsatisfactory results, I didn't want a third procedure and he later offered a partial refund. I've emailed their staff to discuss the refund but haven't heard back yet, which is understandable.

I guess that's all I have left to post in this thread. I'm at least glad Dr. Diep was able to offer a partial refund. Right now, I'm looking to get a repair done with Eugenix in 2023 or 2024, which would increase density and revise my wide FUT scar.

How did he say he was going to repair your fut scar? Like FUE from the back of your head into the scar or what?

[AlexMeister21]

1 hour ago, HairRun said:

Eugenix does lots of beard grafts. Have you considering not doing a revision but putting beard grafts into it? I would get their take on it when doing a consultation 

Yes, they suggested taking about 800 beard grafts to use for my scar. I'm an Asian guy but I'm lucky in a sense that I can grow somewhat of a beard if I wanted to, so that should help me in the future if my crown keeps going. 

 

55 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

i hate so much how these doctors offer free touch ups instead of refunds. I don't think it does either side any favors. Diep should have offered you a refund after 1st surgery and you'd have been better off, stinks bc that's what happened in the end anyways. 

I think the first transplant was okay. I wish I had done more research, but at that time, I just thought I was one of those guys who'd need a second pass to achieve full density. It was only after the second procedure failed and there was barely any density where I feel justified for some sort of refund. I still don't know the refund amount. They may only offer 20% or something. We'll see...

 

36 minutes ago, FUT4000 said:

How did he say he was going to repair your fut scar? Like FUE from the back of your head into the scar or what?

I didn't ask for specifics but he said he would not be using beard hair, so I'm assuming he'd get grafts from my donor with FUE. 

[FUT4000]

On 12/31/2022 at 1:25 PM, AlexMeister21 said:

Yes, they suggested taking about 800 beard grafts to use for my scar. I'm an Asian guy but I'm lucky in a sense that I can grow somewhat of a beard if I wanted to, so that should help me in the future if my crown keeps going. 

 

I think the first transplant was okay. I wish I had done more research, but at that time, I just thought I was one of those guys who'd need a second pass to achieve full density. It was only after the second procedure failed and there was barely any density where I feel justified for some sort of refund. I still don't know the refund amount. They may only offer 20% or something. We'll see...

 

I didn't ask for specifics but he said he would not be using beard hair, so I'm assuming he'd get grafts from my donor with FUE. 

gotcha. my transplant with Diep came out decent, but the scar is crazy wide, wanted to get it fixed. 

[AlexMeister21]

19 hours ago, FUT4000 said:

gotcha. my transplant with Diep came out decent, but the scar is crazy wide, wanted to get it fixed. 

I remember you mentioned you were planning on making a thread at your one year mark. I'd like to see your photos/results and I'm sure others would too. It'd be beneficial for the community. 

[FUT4000]

On 1/2/2023 at 2:05 PM, AlexMeister21 said:

I remember you mentioned you were planning on making a thread at your one year mark. I'd like to see your photos/results and I'm sure others would too. It'd be beneficial for the community. 

I wanted to, but in light of all the drama about diep, and what that reddit mod did on here, i'm not going to. I don't want to be part of that TBH. 

[AlexMeister21]

On 1/3/2023 at 5:44 PM, FUT4000 said:

I wanted to, but in light of all the drama about diep, and what that reddit mod did on here, i'm not going to. I don't want to be part of that TBH. 

Fair enough. 

[AlexMeister21]

So I just had over an hour long phone call with Dr. Diep's staff regarding the partial refund and I must admit that I am quite annoyed. I brought up the issues I had with the results of my transplant, the lack of density, misangled grafts, unnatural design, compromised donor from scar and needing repair, and they basically kept trying to justify the results, saying stuff like everyone's results are different, Dr. Diep has many happy patients on YouTube and Google and stuff like that.

The main thing they were trying to convince me is that they did the work and now it is my job to manage my results to make it look good by styling it, gelling it, etc. Then I brought up all the criticism Dr. Diep has received from here and online to show that my unsatisfactory results aren't individual to me, and they were saying that it's just people trying to harm them, possibly competitors, or that people just read one thing and repeat what everyone else says, or that these people posting negative things may be disingenuous or fake. 

They offered me a 22% refund of $2,500. Dr. Diep told me the partial refund will account for labor for that day. I paid in total about $11,300 for the second procedure, and after the refund that will be $8,800. Does that cover expenses and labor for a surgical day? I don't know.

Anyways, I feel like I'm venting here and I could include more details of the call and my last video meeting with Dr. Diep, but I'll probably take some time to process. 

[stephcurry30]

1 hour ago, AlexMeister21 said:

So I just had over an hour long phone call with Dr. Diep's staff regarding the partial refund and I must admit that I am quite annoyed. I brought up the issues I had with the results of my transplant, the lack of density, misangled grafts, unnatural design, compromised donor from scar and needing repair, and they basically kept trying to justify the results, saying stuff like everyone's results are different, Dr. Diep has many happy patients on YouTube and Google and stuff like that.

The main thing they were trying to convince me is that they did the work and now it is my job to manage my results to make it look good by styling it, gelling it, etc. Then I brought up all the criticism Dr. Diep has received from here and online to show that my unsatisfactory results aren't individual to me, and they were saying that it's just people trying to harm them, possibly competitors, or that people just read one thing and repeat what everyone else says, or that these people posting negative things may be disingenuous or fake. 

They offered me a 22% refund of $2,500. Dr. Diep told me the partial refund will account for labor for that day. I paid in total about $11,300 for the second procedure, and after the refund that will be $8,800. Does that cover expenses and labor for a surgical day? I don't know.

Anyways, I feel like I'm venting here and I could include more details of the call and my last video meeting with Dr. Diep, but I'll probably take some time to process. 

That is so unethical and un professional on their part. TA clinic should stand by their results or alck there of. They obviously offered a REPAIR meaning they did take some accountability. I will never ever visit DIEP's office ever for a consultation or any type of surgery. 

[AlexMeister21]

7 hours ago, stephcurry30 said:

That is so unethical and un professional on their part. TA clinic should stand by their results or alck there of. They obviously offered a REPAIR meaning they did take some accountability. I will never ever visit DIEP's office ever for a consultation or any type of surgery. 

I was only offered a repair after I pressed on about the issues that I had with my transplants. On my video call with Dr. Diep, he tried to assure me that my results were great and initially only offered to revise the scar for free and was suggesting I come in and do another paid procedure to increase density. I pushed and kept explaining why I was dissatisfied with my results, which he could see the lack of density through the video call. Eventually he offered me 800 grafts free in addition to the scar revision, to which I declined. It was only after I mentioned how no one here on HRN approved of my results, except for maybe Melvin, that Dr. Diep offered the partial refund.

Then, I spoke with Diep's wife regarding the refund, and any concern I had was met with strong defense or biased justification. I mentioned the wide scar, and she tried to explain the reason why my scar was wide was because I had 4,000 grafts extracted. To counter, I mentioned the recent 20, 21 year old Diep patient who had 500 grafts extracted by FUT and how his scar was almost as wide as mine, and she basically said that the scar is dependent on the individual. What irks me is she even said that that young patient had went into their office and they thought his results were fine and that he just needed to comb it over. Are we paying to achieve an expensive combover? 

I asked them about the experience level of their technicians and she told me their techs have been with them for 5-10 years. I asked them if they all have been working consistently as a team, which she said yes. Then I mentioned how the techs that were working on me were asking each other "acquaintance level" questions, such as how old they were or if they were married, to which she replied that they don't control the conversations of their employees and that even she doesn't ask her coworkers if they're married or not. Huh?

I also mentioned the recent removal of Diep from the surgeon's recommended list, to which I was told that it was their decision to be removed as opposed to being voted off because they didn't want to be associated with negativity.

Oh, I could go on. I was initially just going to take the refund and end or limit my Diep tirades, but this just fueled the fire in me. I'm legitimately pissed.