1750 FUT by Jae Pak

[Escalator4969]

Got an FUT done by Jae Pak MD in Los Angeles back in July and decided to post a review since there doesn't seem to be many, if any at all, of this particular clinic. The appointment setup was very quick, was able to get my surgery scheduled for about a month after my initial phone call with JP. The day of the surgery, I came in around 6am, and we discussed the hairline I wanted. I really just needed the temples to be filled in because they were severely receded. They gave me a pretty decent hairline IMO, but were a bit conservative since I am so young (22) and could potentially still lose hair in the future. Understandable. The actual surgery itself was not bad. I knocked out pretty quickly and woke up twice during the surgery. I was given a xanax to fall asleep after the first time. I don't remember much about the second time. I went back in the next day, and they washed my hair and head, which I appreciated. The total price came out to a little under 9000 USD after the pandemic discount. I had mild nausea for the first week or so, but very little pain. The nausea only happened if I moved around too much, so I mainly just watched netflix for the first week. Attached are 2 pictures from the day of the surgery. You can see how my temples were very receded. The next picture is of my left temple on day 11 after the surgery. It was looking pretty good, I think. I was happy with the hairline I got, except idk if it was my imagination but I think my right side is a bit higher than the left. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures so thats the only picture I have of day 11. The last 3 pictures are of this week, a little over a month later. I buzzed my head because I thought it would make my transplanted area blend in a bit better with the rest of my hair. I also included a picture of the scar. I think the scar I got is bigger than most of the ones I've seen on here, so a bit unhappy with that. I had a surgery on my elbow about 2 years ago that was pretty invasive, and that scar is smaller than the one I have on my head, but I think that with long shoulder length hair it probably won't be visible. I should note that before I buzzed my hair with a number 0, my hair was about an inch and a half long, and the scar. It might just be that when I rubbed off the scabs last week, I pulled out some hairs around the wound, which makes the scar look bigger than it is, but I guess I won't know the full size for a few more months. What do you guys think?

[Melvin- Admin]

Thanks for sharing your journey, I haven't seen any reviews from Dr. Pak, though, I know he worked with Rassman for a while. Happy growing.

[TheEye]

it looks good generally but i think the amount of the grafts look a bit less.

[SctWls]

Why did you choose the fut technique?

[Escalator4969]

On 9/1/2022 at 4:12 AM, SctWls said:

Why did you choose the fut technique?

I'm really young lol. I'm 22, and I wanna keep my donor area as full as possible in case I need to do FUE in the future.

[Escalator4969]

On 8/29/2022 at 6:08 AM, TheEye said:

it looks good generally but i think the amount of the grafts look a bit less.

Yea, doc said they wanted to stay conservative since I'm young.

[Dillpickle123]

That doesn’t seem like enough grafts for that big of an area 

[SctWls]

On 9/7/2022 at 2:50 PM, Escalator4969 said:

I'm really young lol. I'm 22, and I wanna keep my donor area as full as possible in case I need to do FUE in the future.

if the mark of the scar wouldnt be so visible it is a good job

[Escalator4969]

Entering month 5. Started taking fin last month. Progress seems to be good. I’m kind of worried about density now. The transplanted areas look very sparse but I think they should fill in with time. In other videos I’ve seen the patients generally already have a good head of hair by now which has me worried whether there will be enough density in the final result to match the rest of my hair. 

[Escalator4969]

On 9/7/2022 at 10:03 PM, Dillpickle123 said:

That doesn’t seem like enough grafts for that big of an area 

If there isn’t enough, and my transplanted areas are visibly sparse compared to everywhere else, do I have any recourse? How much do you think should have been transplanted instead?

[Dillpickle123]

2 hours ago, Escalator4969 said:

If there isn’t enough, and my transplanted areas are visibly sparse compared to everywhere else, do I have any recourse? How much do you think should have been transplanted instead?

Gotta let it grow for 12 months but I would say something closer to 2200-2500 but it all depends on hair type and caliber 

[JohnCasper]

Hope to see more pictures later on.  Curious to see how the FUT scar is covered. 

[Escalator4969]

1 hour ago, JohnCasper said:

Hope to see more pictures later on.  Curious to see how the FUT scar is covered. 

It’s pretty much invisible now. I think the scar is actually smaller than it appeared to be. I don’t have anyone to take a good picture of it rn, but with my hair about an inch long you can’t see it at all. 

[MarkW]

Thanks for sharing. Im also looking at Pak myself. Love to see how its looking now if you get the chance

[Escalator4969]

3 hours ago, MarkW said:

Thanks for sharing. Im also looking at Pak myself. Love to see how its looking now if you get the chance

Going into month 6 I think. It’s pretty clear at this point that i will require another smaller transplant. I will probably opt for fue given the size of my current scar. My left side is looking way better than my right. My right side looks so sparse, not sure what happened there. I have to push my hair towards the center to give the illusion of density otherwise if I push it straight it looks like I’m balding. My scar is still pretty big but it’s not visible unless I run my hands through my hair, and it looks more like a bald spot. A bit disappointed but I think that I can make do for now as long as my non transplanted hair grows out more and helps to cover up the sparse areas.

[Escalator4969]

also i got a bad haircut so excuse my chopped up temples lol im going in to get it fixed tommorow

[Gatsby]

This surgeon was happy to operate on you at 22? The FUT scar is easily covered with your hair and you could always go SMP down the track. I wouldn't waste money on an excision or farming into the scar. Are you on meds for MPB? You're only six months in and there is more growth to come. Give it the full twelve months before making any decisions. You have great hair texture and caliber that aids in making the transplant look natural. All the best mate!

[Escalator4969]

6 hours ago, Gatsby said:

This surgeon was happy to operate on you at 22? The FUT scar is easily covered with your hair and you could always go SMP down the track. I wouldn't waste money on an excision or farming into the scar. Are you on meds for MPB? You're only six months in and there is more growth to come. Give it the full twelve months before making any decisions. You have great hair texture and caliber that aids in making the transplant look natural. All the best mate!

I wouldn’t say he was super happy. He was apprehensive, and told me he would go for a conservative number of grafts. I’ve been on fin for 3 months now, and will take min and dermaroll at the 1 year mark so I can check if fin is working or not.

[HairTrippin]

6 hours ago, Gatsby said:

This surgeon was happy to operate on you at 22? The FUT scar is easily covered with your hair and you could always go SMP down the track. I wouldn't waste money on an excision or farming into the scar. Are you on meds for MPB? You're only six months in and there is more growth to come. Give it the full twelve months before making any decisions. You have great hair texture and caliber that aids in making the transplant look natural. All the best mate!

Why do you think you should not excise into the FUT scar? I’ve done FUT and considering putting grafts into the scar first then maybe smp just because idk how well smp will blend with different lengths of guards. But yeah if smp can cover the scar better to cut it to a lower guard then I don’t want to waste money on grafts. 

[Gatsby]

5 hours ago, HairTrippin said:

Why do you think you should not excise into the FUT scar? I’ve done FUT and considering putting grafts into the scar first then maybe smp just because idk how well smp will blend with different lengths of guards. But yeah if smp can cover the scar better to cut it to a lower guard then I don’t want to waste money on grafts. 

Because at 22 the donor can change (and will) over the years ahead. MPB is progressive over your life. I would have waited at least a year to see if finasteride is stabalizing my hair loss and/or to see if I end up with side effects. I would be saving every graft for future hair loss. You can SMP into the strip scar but you want that scar to be stable. I've had SMP into my donor scars. That means waiting for at least a year. From my own experience scars change texture and color over the lifespan.