one year after my FUE, unhappy with results.

[bcl124]

Hello everybody, 

I've recently completed the one year mark (almost at 13 months now) of a 700 graft (350 each side) FUE procedure in the East Coast.  I've always been light on the temples and soon as I hit 30 i noticed it started to get worse. that's when I opted for a hair transplant.  

Which im starting to believe was probably one of my worst ideas yet. i feel like it has made my temples even worse.  the first 4 pictures are me now, the last 2 with a blurred face was me before transplant, the Last 2 after that was on the day of the procure. 

as bad as it was before the procedure, I could've just grown it out and hid it pretty well.  now it's almost like there's an un natural looking bald spot on the left side of my head no matter what I do. 

 

obviously this is an extremely depressing and frustrating situation for me. not even so much the money I spent (that too) but much, much more so, not getting the results I was hoping for.   now I'm on the fence, another HT would just be more money and stress/headache, but at the same time it's extremely aggravating to leave it the way It is now.   what are your thoughts? is another procedure and more money / stress worth it ?  thanks in advance. 

TL;DR I should've just gone to Turkey 🙃

 

[civic]

The before did not look that bad. Honestly, i would have just used minox & dermaroller, finasteride (if you can tolerate it). HT is usually best when area has not much native hair. What probably happened is your native hair kept receiding.  HTs have risk, poor survival rate , etc, it should always be last resort.

[Gatsby]

Did the surgeon recommend medication before accepting you for surgery? I would be seeking opinions of some of the surgeons recommended here. Though that in no way implies that a second surgery is mandatory. To me it doesn’t look as bad as you feel it is but I obviously realize that that doesn’t solve the problem of how you feel. What has the surgeon said to you who performed the surgery 13 months ago? All the best. 

[THE TRUTH]

First of all, never go to Turkey. 99% of clinics are hairmills in that country.  They'll you botch you and destroy your donor area for life. Except a handful few clinics. 

You shouldn't have gotten a hair transplant. 

You had poor survival or/and permanent shock loss of native miniaturized hairs. 

That is why I can't stress it enough hair transplant surgery is always LAST RESORT. 

However the GOOD NEWS is you don't much hairloss at all. 

Your situation is by no means dramatic and if you get on Finasteride now you'll be okay. 

Get on Finasteride and topical minoxidil or even better Dutasteride + oral minoxidil.

Give yourself 6 months at least. Don't rush into a second surgery. 

Your situation is an easy fix. Give the medication some time. 

If medication doesn't do anything then someone like Konior or Couto would do a wonderful job with  only 300 grafts on each side. 

Otherwise a good budget option is Dr. Bicer or FUECAPILAR in Turkey. 

 

[Yan bio]

4 hours ago, Your shill from the mill said:

First of all, never go to Turkey. 99% of clinics are hairmills in that country.  They'll you botch you and destroy your donor area for life. Except a handful few clinics. 

You shouldn't have gotten a hair transplant. 

You had poor survival or/and permanent shock loss of native miniaturized hairs. 

That is why I can't stress it enough hair transplant surgery is always LAST RESORT. 

However the GOOD NEWS is you don't much hairloss at all. 

Your situation is by no means dramatic and if you get on Finasteride now you'll be okay. 

Get on Finasteride and topical minoxidil or even better Dutasteride + oral minoxidil.

Give yourself 6 months at least. Don't rush into a second surgery. 

Your situation is an easy fix. Give the medication some time. 

If medication doesn't do anything then someone like Konior or Couto would do a wonderful job with  only 300 grafts on each side. 

Otherwise a good budget option is Dr. Bicer or FUECAPILAR in Turkey. 

 

What about maras?

[THE TRUTH]

4 hours ago, Yan bio said:

What about maras?

He is a decent option too. He does good work. 

Bit more expensive though. 

[JohnCasper]

Careful jumping into a 2nd procedure. I know your not satisfied with the surgery but overall your hair looks pretty good.  Keep us posted.

[bcl124]

On 7/6/2022 at 9:10 AM, Transplant ruined my life said:

First of all, never go to Turkey. 99% of clinics are hairmills in that country.  They'll you botch you and destroy your donor area for life. Except a handful few clinics. 

You shouldn't have gotten a hair transplant. 

You had poor survival or/and permanent shock loss of native miniaturized hairs. 

That is why I can't stress it enough hair transplant surgery is always LAST RESORT. 

However the GOOD NEWS is you don't much hairloss at all. 

Your situation is by no means dramatic and if you get on Finasteride now you'll be okay. 

Get on Finasteride and topical minoxidil or even better Dutasteride + oral minoxidil.

Give yourself 6 months at least. Don't rush into a second surgery. 

Your situation is an easy fix. Give the medication some time. 

If medication doesn't do anything then someone like Konior or Couto would do a wonderful job with  only 300 grafts on each side. 

Otherwise a good budget option is Dr. Bicer or FUECAPILAR in Turkey. 

 

thank you for the input. 
Yes, I see now that I should’ve never gotten a transplant but at the time I was desperate. 
 

im on fin now 3 mg per week (M W F). 
 

I’m going to carefully consider a second , smaller FUE procure to add density to my left temple, though tbh I will probably just leave it as is and hope it gets better. I don’t have the energy to go through a second procure again. It’s a lot of stress and waiting then for me to only come out more unhappy in the end only puts makes it harder for me to convince myself a second surgery is worth it. 

[bcl124]

On 7/5/2022 at 6:59 PM, Gatsby said:

Did the surgeon recommend medication before accepting you for surgery? I would be seeking opinions of some of the surgeons recommended here. Though that in no way implies that a second surgery is mandatory. To me it doesn’t look as bad as you feel it is but I obviously realize that that doesn’t solve the problem of how you feel. What has the surgeon said to you who performed the surgery 13 months ago? All the best. 

i was told the reason for thinning COULD be due to further recession, which isn’t really crazy to think about because my thinning was starting to get worse before I had the surgery … but he primarily said to give it more time before we came to any conclusions because even at 13 months there could still be more growth on the way. 

[THE TRUTH]

19 minutes ago, bcl124 said:

thank you for the input. 
Yes, I see now that I should’ve never gotten a transplant but at the time I was desperate. 
 

im on fin now 3 mg per week (M W F). 
 

I’m going to carefully consider a second , smaller FUE procure to add density to my left temple, though tbh I will probably just leave it as is and hope it gets better. I don’t have the energy to go through a second procure again. It’s a lot of stress and waiting then for me to only come out more unhappy in the end only puts makes it harder for me to convince myself a second surgery is worth it. 

You're totally right and I agree with you  

Lot of money spent. Lot stress, lot of waiting and the end big disapointment. 

The positive thing though is that your hair is even't bad. 

You still have a very nice strong midscalp and crown so you can do whatever haircut you want and style your hair the way you want. 

 

[BaldDude]

What east coast clinic did you go to?

[bcl124]

A few more photos. This is what my hairline looks now .. that “cowlick” on my left temple doesn’t help it at all. It definitely adds to the thinning appearance. 
 

as for the donor area, here’s what it looks like now with a skin fade.   FUE definitely isn’t a scarless procedure by any means. 

[THE TRUTH]

Agree 100%. FUE is crap. 

Especially for people who don't need it. 

This is why I always tell people: don't rush into FUE. 

That crap is not scarless unfortunately. 

This looks like poorly performed extractions. A skilled surgeon knows how to create an extraction pattern and homogenously/carefully extract while spreading out the extractions. 

Your donor isn't too bad don't worry.

I've seen A LOT worse. I'm sure if you grow it out longer it will camouflage the dots nicely. 

You can always get SMP or go to a very good repair surgeon who will rehomogenize your donor using beard grafts for instance. 

Who was your doctor btw ? 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Nurses take over

[JohnCasper]

On 7/10/2022 at 4:59 PM, Ali took over said:

Agree 100%. FUE is crap. 

Especially for people who don't need it. 

This is why I always tell people: don't rush into FUE. 

That crap is not scarless unfortunately. 

This looks like poorly performed extractions. A skilled surgeon knows how to create an extraction pattern and homogenously/carefully extract while spreading out the extractions. 

Your donor isn't too bad don't worry.

I've seen A LOT worse. I'm sure if you grow it out longer it will camouflage the dots nicely. 

You can always get SMP or go to a very good repair surgeon who will rehomogenize your donor using beard grafts for instance. 

Who was your doctor btw ? 

I respect everyone's opinion but FUE is NOT crap!  I have posted numerous times a picture of my head shaved 2 years after surgery and from a couple feet away there is no discernible scarring.  Sure, the tiny 0.8mm scars are there but very difficult to see.  Compare that to the FUT lengthy linear scar????  FUE is the way to go.

[johnto]

Can you please let us know who the surgeon was?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gatsby]

On 7/11/2022 at 4:54 AM, bcl124 said:

A few more photos. This is what my hairline looks now .. that “cowlick” on my left temple doesn’t help it at all. It definitely adds to the thinning appearance. 
 

as for the donor area, here’s what it looks like now with a skin fade.   FUE definitely isn’t a scarless procedure by any means. 

To be honest with you, looking at these pics I can't see why you (or myself) would feel this is not looking good. No surgery is scarless. I don't know who told you that? If you skin fade (basically shave) your scalp you will definitely see scars (FUE or FUT). I agree that the punch size looks larger than others and perhaps not extracted in the most homologous way. But at such a short length to the scalp this will show scars regardless. Who was the surgeon that you chose? All the best!

[GoliGoliGoli]

On 7/13/2022 at 8:22 AM, JohnCasper said:

I respect everyone's opinion but FUE is NOT crap!  I have posted numerous times a picture of my head shaved 2 years after surgery and from a couple feet away there is no discernible scarring.  Sure, the tiny 0.8mm scars are there but very difficult to see.  Compare that to the FUT lengthy linear scar????  FUE is the way to go.

Would you mind reposting? I searched but could not find it