Dr Mwamba June 2022 - Asli Tarcan botch job repair

[NikosHair]

1 hour ago, RTC said:

I am not sure to be honest. Only God knows if Tarcan left lasting damage or what.

Don't get derailed by suggestions of scar tissue being the cause. 

Couple of example.

FUT scars will be much deeper, yet there are plenty of examples of good growth. Even beard hair which has a lower survival rate than scalp hair can still grow in a FUT scar.

There have been studies into hair transplants into scar tissue. Now we are talking significant disfiguring scars from burn, trauma and surgery. Upto 95% growth was observed. 100% of the sample got growth. The patient with lowest growth getting 64% of transplanted hair.

https://www.pulsus.com/scholarly-articles/follicular-unit-transplantation-for-the-treatment-of-secondary-cicatricial-alopecia.pdf

Edited December 27, 2022 by NikosHair

[Matt3210]

1 hour ago, Tiger2050 said:

I don’t want to keep derailing RTC’s thread but the majority of your post history is bashing Mwamba and calling anyone who says something positive about him an imposter paid by the clinic. Seems like you’re actively showing up to threads looking for problems. Here’s a recent comment you posted suggesting another conspiracy that multiple Mwamba patients with a good experience are the same person lol.

 

I'm not proud of one stupid post of mine. I could do better. I didn't use a statement and backed out a moment later. There's no shame in being wrong if I admit it. Why are you attacking me now? I wanted to "call the wolf out of the woods". Discrediting, ridiculing and insulting people in defense of Dr. Mwamba is very specific to one person (those who do research know what I mean). 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Melvin- Moderator
Removed accusation

[Melvin- Admin]

I’ve asked very nicely to stop de-railing this thread, but it stops now. Take these discussions via pm or create another thread. 

[Matt3210]

16 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I’ve asked very nicely to stop de-railing this thread, but it stops now. Take these discussions via pm or create another thread. 

I was attacked for my post in another thread by Tiger2050. Am I trashing the thread here? If so I'm sorry.

[Ajamilo]

1 hour ago, Matt3210 said:

I'm not proud of one stupid post of mine. I could do better. I didn't use a statement and backed out a moment later. There's no shame in being wrong if I admit it. Why are you attacking me now? I wanted to "call the wolf out of the woods". Discrediting, ridiculing and insulting people in defense of Dr. Mwamba is very specific to one person (those who do research know what I mean). There is no doubt that Dr. Mwambe employs a crook to defend him.

Is logical to ask questions regarding his bad results recently and supposedly he is the man when it comes to Afro hair and people refers to him when Afro guys ask about doctors but haven’t produced a decent result here yet. Is a propaganda, misinformation and closing the eyes and hiding away the truth her sadly

[asterix0]

3 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

@asterix0

What does this thread have to do with RTC? If you have a question about that thread, please ask it there. Otherwise, this is de-railing this thread. 
 

Guys,

These conversations about other surgeons have NOTHING to do with RTC. Please stop de-railing this thread.

Didn't mean any harm, but it was a case where the patient did not get good growth so I was curious if was applicable to OPs, since it was the same surgeon. 

[WhereIsMyMind]

Idk, you guys are in your perfect right to report all your concerns, but at this point it is an echo chamber of the same conversation over and over from the same people. It does a disservice in what you are trying to express, because the more you do it, the more skeptical I become about your claims.

[RTC]

Despite the hairline not growing in the way I want it to thus far, I have to say, the temples have grown in beautifully and the re-shaping of the hairline makes me look so much better (especially from far). Mwamba removed hairs at the corners and bolstered the temples, and credit where credit is due, there is a vast improvement.

There are a few hairs that weren't caught first time round, if I did go back for a second procedure I'd definitely remove them.

If the hairline grows in the way I want it to I will be a very happy man, but it remains to be seen. 

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by RTC

[HappyMan2021]

4 minutes ago, RTC said:

Despite the hairline not growing in the way I want it to thus far, I have to say, the temples have grown in beautifully and the re-shaping of the hairline makes me look so much better (especially from far). Dr Mwamba removed hairs at the corners, and credit where credit is due, there was a vast improvement. 

If the hairline grows in the way I want it to I will be a very happy man, but it remains to be seen. 

I'm 3 weeks ahead of you and fwiw I'm noticing grafts popping and the existing grafts are getting thicker/more noticeable. 

The thickening alone is making a difference.

Edited December 29, 2022 by HappyMan2021

[RTC]

Just now, HappyMan2021 said:

I'm 3 weeks ahead of you and fwiw I'm noticing grafts popping and they are thickening. 

I will keep the faith bro. 

[NikosHair]

6 minutes ago, RTC said:

temples have grown in beautifully

I'm glad you're feeling more positive. 

Those temples look ace.

Hopefully you wont need a return visit but if you do,I'm sure Dr M would relish the opportunity to finesse the hairline.

 

 

[sl]

All the best for the next months.

[BaldGuy]

13 hours ago, RTC said:

Despite the hairline not growing in the way I want it to thus far, I have to say, the temples have grown in beautifully and the re-shaping of the hairline makes me look so much better (especially from far). Mwamba removed hairs at the corners and bolstered the temples, and credit where credit is due, there is a vast improvement.

There are a few hairs that weren't caught first time round, if I did go back for a second procedure I'd definitely remove them.

If the hairline grows in the way I want it to I will be a very happy man, but it remains to be seen. 

 

Temporal peaks indeed look nice and natural, but the problem with your case is the sparse hairline and its see through effect. If the density wont change by the next month, it will be a problem... I wish you good luck !

[BaldReaper]

The density isn’t bad, the problem is the vertical direction of the hair, if the direction was correct it would look so much better. Also there is poor growth so far but give it 1-2 more months.

[RTC]

10 hours ago, BaldV said:

The density isn’t bad, the problem is the vertical direction of the hair, if the direction was correct it would look so much better. Also there is poor growth so far but give it 1-2 more months.

I agree completely. Because the Tarcan hair stands up vertically the gaps are obvious. Motherf'ckers

[WhereIsMyMind]

The whole hair transplant journey (esp. if you been botched in the past) is such an emotional train wreck! But most people who are patient and take good decisions end up satisfied in the end thinking it was all worth it and thats all really matters.

Good luck in 2023, growth prayers to you!

[mister_25]

RTC hopefully you have a positive update for us? You should be 7.5 Months in?

[MelVB]

I think you made the right disicion! How does it look now? I am considering to make an appointment with dr Mwamba as well. My donor area looks similar to yours after butchery in Istanbul.

[SXP92]

On 7/1/2022 at 2:47 PM, RTC said:

Hi everyone, 

 

At the end of June 2022 I had a hair transplant with Dr Patrick Mwamba in Brussels to repair a pluggy hairline, sparse frontal zone and botched donor area (at the hands of the famous hair mill botch job kings, Asli Tarcan).

 

Just to recap, in 2018 Asli Tarcan gave me an awful hairline with single grafts in the front in the hairline. It is very pluggy and contains numerous multiple grafts (sorry for the huge pictures).

 

 

The corners of the front of my head also look particularly awful, there are two big circles where hair should be.

 

I have attached photos taken very recently, almost 4 years after Asli Tarcan, very patchy frontal corners.

 

Also see the extremely bad donor area, particularly on the right side.

 

 

Goals of the surgery:

 

1) Repair the awful density of the frontal hairline and hair behind it, particularly on the corners.

 

2) Donor re-stocking using beard hair and carefully depleting the rest of the donor so as to homogenise the look all over.

 

3) Rebuild the temples (I didn't start thinking about this until I saw @NARMAK thread). But I thought, why not, If we have the chance, let's do it.

 

Graft breakdown: 

 

Scalp - 1360

BHT - 765

 

Medication:

 

Topical dutasteride 0.01% with dermarolling once a week. Prior to the surgery, I had noticed visible strengthening of my temples after doing this for around two months. this was confirmed by the photos that were taken two months earlier when I first visited Dr Mwamba for a consultation.

 

However, I will now bump up to 0.05% dutasteride with dermarolling to improve my crown, which still needs work.

 

1st day:

 

The pre-surgery consult with Dr Mwamba was extremely thorough. I came in with a list of questions/concerns/suggestions, and we really took our time.

 

He was able to answer everything and we discussed the strategy for the hairline in particular depth. He manually examined the hair and then used the pro-scope magnification device to look at my hair and plan out the extractions and inserts etc. He shaved my head and spent about an hour drawing the hairline and marking out the zones for grafts to go in and out. Then we took lots of photos.

 

I would estimate that in all, this took about 2 hours. The man is a perfectionist.

 

The first order of the day was to remove the garbage grafts sitting in the corners of my head and above the temples. Random, pointless grafts that had no reason being there. Dr Mwamba removed them, stitched them up, and they were later placed in the corner areas of the front (see below). Those had bothered me for years, so it was a huge relief to finally see them gone.

 

 

 

We wrapped up very late, 12.30am, and I was able to home and get some rest for the next day.

 

2nd day:

 

This is where all the major hairline work and donor re-stocking would happen.

 

Head wash and then had extractions from my scalp donor area by the excellent Dr Ali and technicians under Dr Mwamba's direction.

 

Note: Mwamba has a very strong team of Doctors and techs - they will all work on you some point most likely, but obviously Mwamba does the super important parts like incisions and placing hairs in delicate areas such as temples and hairlines. And he is always overseeing things.

 

Dr Mwamba made the slits in my front hairline and temples, then he started implanting there while Dr Ali harvested my beard for grafts. This was very uncomfortable as we were going for 5-6 hours straight (Superman 2 was on loop while this was happening, I watched it three times). Him and his team are very very hard workers. Tremendous work ethic.

 

Finally, with the temples and hairline done, it was time for 'FIT farming' - planting beard grafts into my decimated donor area. Beard grafts were also implanted into some areas on my scalp where hair had just been extracted. Dr Ali took the lead here (again with Dr Mwamba's direction).

 

We finished very late that day - would you believe that I went in at 11am and walked out at 6.30am? No joke. Luckily, I was only staying 5 minutes walk around the corner. 

 

This was a very draining day and I couldn't wait for it to be over. The clinic was short-staffed the day before due to airline problems, so this had an impact into the next day. 

 

Another patient was also being treated on the same day (shout out to @SteveUrkel02 lol). The important thing to note here is that Dr Mwamba was still heavily involved and attentive throughout the process, but things just took longer.

 

Everybody was super professional and in good spirits while getting the job done, they all really put a graft in (no pun intended). Dr Mwamba was singing along to Michael Jackson and Congolese music as we got through the last few hours. He even went back and added more grafts behind my hairline to give it more density. He truly is a perfectionist.

 

The next day I went back for head-washing, light therapy, and checking of the grafts.

 

On my final day (2 days after the second day of the op), I met with Mwamba to remove the stitches from where he punched out the excess grafts on my hairline. He recommended a silicone gel and also checked that I didn't lose any grafts on the back of my head (as i was concerned that I may have put too much pressure it while sleeping). He also did a de-brief with me, showing me the implanted grafts via the proscope. 

 

 

 

Overall, what can I say? I am very, very happy with the work that was done on me, and if all goes well, God willing, it should be a (very) good result.

 

But I do want to manage my expectations because I know things can happen. Infections, poor growth, etc. And it will never look 100% perfect. But if I get even 75% improvement on my Asli Tarcan botch-job I will be very happy.

 

I'm so happy I went to Dr Mwamba. There are many doctors who would not have taken on this type of repair job, and if they did, may have suggested 2 or even 3 sessions. For me, 4 years has been long enough to wait.

 

I'd advise anyone travelling to stay at least 2 days after their procedure just for peace of mind - it's always good to go back and get your head washed and be able to consult with the Doctor in person. I would also recommend staying super close the to the clinic. You don't want to have to mess around travelling home after a long day of surgery. 

 

The quality of the work is NIGHT and DAY compared to Asli Tarcan or other shoddy hair mills - it is super refined, clean, and precise. 

 

I'm sure there'll be lots of questions so please fire away - remember a botch job is not the end and in many cases they can be fixed. I hope this will encourage more people to consult with Dr Mwamba - there are at least 3 people who've had recent repair ops with him and all talk about him glowingly, but nobody seems to be posting their journey, so here we go.

 

I'd like to thank everybody on this forum who gave me advice on where to go when I first posted here, because without this forum I probably would have remained static forever, without ever taking any action to fix my situation. Cheers

 

 

 

Any updates on how the Asli Tarcan "botch corners" have filled in? Also curious to know if you've cut the donor area short to see if the area of overharvesting has improved with the beard grafts

[CharlesBarkley]

On 12/25/2022 at 4:36 PM, RTC said:

Thanks for all the comments, but I am not optimistic as some of you guys. I've never seen a transplant get significantly better after six months. Hanging on to the slim chance that things will start improving now is only setting myself up for disappointment.

The thought of having another transplant sickens me after the amount of money and time already invested. And like I said, I highly doubt I have enough viable grafts to do this again without creating another problem in my already decimated donor.

I have emailed the doctor and will wait to see what he says.

How is that going? Hope all is getting better. You are right that most of the times things do not improve that much after 6 months but it's good to wait till at least 10 months. 

Also, checking your donor, it looks amazing to still have another round even though I can understand 2 HT are already tiring.

[Ajamilo]

@RTC How is it going with your progress bro?

[Dillpickle123]

Update?

[Tommy1991]

On 12/29/2022 at 10:37 PM, RTC said:

Despite the hairline not growing in the way I want it to thus far, I have to say, the temples have grown in beautifully and the re-shaping of the hairline makes me look so much better (especially from far). Mwamba removed hairs at the corners and bolstered the temples, and credit where credit is due, there is a vast improvement.

There are a few hairs that weren't caught first time round, if I did go back for a second procedure I'd definitely remove them.

If the hairline grows in the way I want it to I will be a very happy man, but it remains to be seen. 

 

This is pretty good work if you ask me. 
 

[patronovski]

Nice progress. Keep us updated with your results.

[patronovski]

How is your donor now (right side)?