Dr. Mwamba's FUE 2200 grafts work 7 months review

[Dhcyoo]

I had the FUE surgery done on early February 2022. It's been 7 months and my result does not seem to be getting better. Particularly my temple is not growing and I wonder if this is normal and if I should be concerned about this. Dr. Mwamba is a good guy but I must say I'm a bit concerned about my growth compared to others' photos at this point. I am particularly concerned because it seems like there were less grafts planted on the temple areas (as you can see in my post op photos), which he responded with "there were other grafts already there" When I spoke to him about 6 months mark, he said that there might be shock losses and it's normal for front hair to grow first and temple to catchup later cycle. But I have never seen photos on reddits (hairtransplant) not on this network. Could someone share with me if you know of any similar cases and the temple filled up later around 12 months mark? I'm already looking into different clinics for a fixup. 

$5 per graft, New Jersey, Dr. Mwamba, roughly 2200 grafts. 1 PRP session, i have been on fin for 1.5 years and min for last 5 years

[HappyMan2021]

If your growth was more diffuse, i would say just be patient and that some of the grafts growth is slower than others

But the fact that your post op photos show a lack of implants in specific areas, and now these areas are not growing - unfortunately i do not think you can expect further growth

If its any solace - I know you are a 1st time patient. Its actually pretty uncommon to have a perfect end result after 1 surgery

[Melvin- Admin]

It looks to be growing well for 7 months. Keep in mind, you do have to have some length to your hair to have the illusion of density. I doubt it will look optimal keeping it at that short length. 

[Dhcyoo]

20 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

If your growth was more diffuse, i would say just be patient and that some of the grafts growth is slower than others

But the fact that your post op photos show a lack of implants in specific areas, and now these areas are not growing - unfortunately i do not think you can expect further growth

If its any solace - I know you are a 1st time patient. Its actually pretty uncommon to have a perfect end result after 1 surgery

Thanks for your response! As mentioned in my post, Dr. Mwamba was certain that he put less graft there because there were already hair in those areas, which I doubt because my pre-surgery photo does not show any hair in that region... So I'm having difficulty understanding what he means by that. I mean, I don't think he would lie to me and I do believe he provided the best work he can. Do others think that it might be true that there were more hair in that spot? Does his explanation of "shock loss" make sense (even though I don't see hair in that region in the pre-surgery photo?) 

[Dhcyoo]

5 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

It looks to be growing well for 7 months. Keep in mind, you do have to have some length to your hair to have the illusion of density. I doubt it will look optimal keeping it at that short length. 

Thanks, Melvin. I appreciate your thoughts given that you'd gone through an extensive surgery. If I were to pursue the second surgery, after how many months should I receive the second hair transplant, would you say? Also, in your experience, is "fixing"/"touch-up" different skill than the whole surgery itself? I'm wondering if I should be looking for a specialist who can do "fix-up" surgery or a reputable surgeon (i'm considering HMR in Mexico) would be able to do the fixup. 

[HappyMan2021]

IMO if you do need a 2nd pass, you are a layup case for any elite surgeon. 

I do understand your hesitancy to go with Mwamba again. However, i dont understand the logic of going from Mwamba to HMR. HMR does not seem elite and unless budget is an issue not sure what is drawing you to them.

Just take your pick of any elite doctor. Does not have to be Mwamba again. 

[pkipling]

I can see why you'd be concerned - and your concerns may very well be valid, buuuut... I wouldn't jump to any conclusions or have another procedure until you reach the 12 month mark. While 7 months is a significant amount of time to get a solid idea of how your hair transplant is going to turn out, there's always a possibility that things really kick up over the next 3-5 months. 

I know it may be a frustrating answer, but waiting is really all you can do right now. And as HappyMan mentioned above, even if you do need a 2nd procedure, keep in mind that that's fairly typical, though not ideal to have to have one so soon after the 1st one. 

I hope this turns around for you. Keep us posted. 

[shiba1985]

3 hours ago, Dhcyoo said:

Thanks for your response! As mentioned in my post, Dr. Mwamba was certain that he put less graft there because there were already hair in those areas, which I doubt because my pre-surgery photo does not show any hair in that region... So I'm having difficulty understanding what he means by that. I mean, I don't think he would lie to me and I do believe he provided the best work he can. Do others think that it might be true that there were more hair in that spot? Does his explanation of "shock loss" make sense (even though I don't see hair in that region in the pre-surgery photo?) 

 

Your concerns are valid. there is  a disconnect between the transplaned region and the non transplanted region. It happens sometimes. Should be an easy fix. Dont worry about it. Dr Mwamba can probably fix this for free, but if you are hesitant to go with him again cause the trust is shattered I think Dr Camacho from Mexico does good work .

[LookMaxx]

Wow, this looks pretty weak honestly. Maybe you need to keep your hairs long and then it will look good. It just looks like you don’t have dense growth so maybe it’s shock loss and it will become dense in few months ?
 

If it still bothers you, you should get a free touch up from Mwamba again because sheesh you paid a lot of money and Mwamba is considered elite ethical doctor so hold him to that. 

I feel sorry bro your hairloss isn’t advanced and you went to a top doc this should’ve been done once and forget type of deal 

 

[Ajamilo]

6 hours ago, shiba1985 said:

 

Your concerns are valid. there is  a disconnect between the transplaned region and the non transplanted region. It happens sometimes. Should be an easy fix. Dont worry about it. Dr Mwamba can probably fix this for free, but if you are hesitant to go with him again cause the trust is shattered I think Dr Camacho from Mexico does good work .

Don't think there's anything free here to be honest. from my experience, it was about if I am unhappy during the period with mwamba when I asked questions about growth, then we will do the right thing and fix it. but when it came down to reality, it was something else.  
excuses after excuses and bla bla we will measure and see if there is 80% growth and if it is 80% growth u have to pay. So basically they wanted me to «fix» the bad work of the doctor when it was clearly poor growth and a lot of other things. Soo, i guess nothing is free here. They  speak with two tongues, in other words

Edited September 7, 2022 by Ajamilo

[shiba1985]

6 hours ago, Ajamilo said:

Don't think there's anything free here to be honest. from my experience, it was about if I am unhappy during the period with mwamba when I asked questions about growth, then we will do the right thing and fix it. but when it came down to reality, it was something else.  
excuses after excuses and bla bla we will measure and see if there is 80% growth and if it is 80% growth u have to pay. So basically they wanted me to «fix» the bad work of the doctor when it was clearly poor growth and a lot of other things. Soo, i guess nothing is free here. They  speak with two tongues, in other words

100% growth, in a poorly designed recipient sites is still a surgeons fault. This is the surgeon’s mis calculation, misvisualization and the results look odd to say the least. 
 

if you create enough noise on here, they will fix it for free. It sucks you have to do that. An ethical surgeon would wanna do it without the noise but who knows.. 

[Mike10]

I agree with Melvin

[mustang]

18 hours ago, LookMaxx said:

Wow, this looks pretty weak honestly. Maybe you need to keep your hairs long and then it will look good. It just looks like you don’t have dense growth so maybe it’s shock loss and it will become dense in few months ?
 

If it still bothers you, you should get a free touch up from Mwamba again because sheesh you paid a lot of money and Mwamba is considered elite ethical doctor so hold him to that. 

I feel sorry bro your hairloss isn’t advanced and you went to a top doc this should’ve been done once and forget type of deal 

 

You seem to misunderstand how hair loss and surgery works.

[mustang]

I am sorry to see the outcome is not that great, there were obvious signs of miniaturization where low density was implanted and these grafts can or won't survive a transplant, it happens all the time, even with transplanted hair. Are you on medication? 

I always tend to believe that those areas are best to be treated as they had no hair but he respected the native hair you had left and only implanted a couple of hundred grafts on each side on the circled parts.

1) Is this a good esthetical result?: No, you definitely need a touch up of 250 grafts per side

2) Did you have shock loss from miniaturized hair?, Yes, 100%. That is why your hairline looks dense and with proper growth and the connection is not there with your native hair.

3) Did you have good growth?: Yes, definitely over 90% which is the norm with any elite doctor.

You just had further hair loss and there is nothing and none who can prevent that, you will need to stabilize it with medication and get a touch up to blend in both areas, I have had to do it several times.

I hope Dr Mwamba or another good surgeon can give you the result you are looking for and deserve. 

[Tiger2050]

Wait 12 months before considering a touch-up, 7 months is way too early. Most doctors avoid dense packing in areas with existing native hair because of shock loss, especially if the native hair is miniaturized like in your case. Do not go to HMR if you want a touch up, use the next 5 months to do more research. Here’s a recent HMR result:

 

[Dillpickle123]

I think the hair there might’ve been affected by shock loss 

[LookMaxx]

10 hours ago, mustang said:

You seem to misunderstand how hair loss and surgery works.

You’re funny

[Mike10]

On 9/7/2022 at 4:14 AM, LookMaxx said:

Wow, this looks pretty weak honestly. Maybe you need to keep your hairs long and then it will look good. It just looks like you don’t have dense growth so maybe it’s shock loss and it will become dense in few months ?
 

If it still bothers you, you should get a free touch up from Mwamba again because sheesh you paid a lot of money and Mwamba is considered elite ethical doctor so hold him to that. 

I feel sorry bro your hairloss isn’t advanced and you went to a top doc this should’ve been done once and forget type of deal 

 

I am not sure you really understand the nature of HT. Honestly, even with top docs, it is not that unusual that patients have to gor for a touch up. 

[mustang]

1 hour ago, Mike10 said:

I am not sure you really understand the nature of HT. Honestly, even with top docs, it is not that unusual that patients have to gor for a touch up. 

I have had 12 hair transplants and still have thin areas behind the transplanted hair, I guess I should go and complain to Couto, Feriduni, Mwamba, Vila and the entire army for the hair I lost as they are elite doctors and ethical doctors. 

They should also provide endless free touch ups all the way back to my crown for any native hair lost in proximity to to the transplanted zone.

Edited September 8, 2022 by mustang

[Mike10]

13 minutes ago, mustang said:

I have had 12 hair transplants and still have thin areas behind the transplanted hair, I guess I should go and complain to Couto, Feriduni, Mwamba, Vila and the entire army for the hair I lost as they are elite doctors and ethical doctors. 

They should also provide endless free touch ups all the way back to my crown for any native hair lost in proximity to to the transplanted zone.

I guess I see what you're saying. Because of the way it is marketed, people now think HT is this easy thing. They just look at the home runs posted on the clincis websites. 

[Johnny129]

17 minutes ago, mustang said:

I have had 12 hair transplants and still have thin areas behind the transplanted hair, I guess I should go and complain to Couto, Feriduni, Mwamba, Vila and the entire army for the hair I lost as they are elite doctors and ethical doctors. 

They should also provide endless free touch ups all the way back to my crown for any native hair lost in proximity to to the transplanted zone.

You must have one hell of a donor area!!

[RTC]

Definitely a poor outcome. Simply telling him to grow his hair longer is not a solution as there will be visible gaps behind the hairline. Some photos do look much better than others though.

I guess all you can do now is wait and then either try to get Dr Mwamba to touch it up (which should be for no cost in my opinion), or go elsewhere.

Edited September 14, 2022 by RTC

[Dhcyoo]

On 9/6/2022 at 7:05 PM, HappyMan2021 said:

IMO if you do need a 2nd pass, you are a layup case for any elite surgeon. 

I do understand your hesitancy to go with Mwamba again. However, i dont understand the logic of going from Mwamba to HMR. HMR does not seem elite and unless budget is an issue not sure what is drawing you to them.

Just take your pick of any elite doctor. Does not have to be Mwamba again. 

It's so challenging to figure out who "elite" doctors are. In Reddit community, HMR is super highly regarded - but it seems like folks here don't really like HMR. And after experiencing Mwamba who's supposed to be the elite doctor here, I don't really have a good tool to gauge who the elite doctor is anymore. Does anyone have advice on this? 

[Dhcyoo]

On 9/6/2022 at 8:14 PM, pkipling said:

I can see why you'd be concerned - and your concerns may very well be valid, buuuut... I wouldn't jump to any conclusions or have another procedure until you reach the 12 month mark. While 7 months is a significant amount of time to get a solid idea of how your hair transplant is going to turn out, there's always a possibility that things really kick up over the next 3-5 months. 

I know it may be a frustrating answer, but waiting is really all you can do right now. And as HappyMan mentioned above, even if you do need a 2nd procedure, keep in mind that that's fairly typical, though not ideal to have to have one so soon after the 1st one. 

I hope this turns around for you. Keep us posted. 

I appreciate your encouraging response. That's my plan - to give at least 12 months to see what happens. I'd really love to hear stories of individuals who might be in the similar situation who saw patches around 7-9 month mark and saw growth hmm... ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN EMPATHIZE WITH ME?

[Dhcyoo]

4 hours ago, RTC said:

Definitely a poor outcome, simply telling him to grow his hair longer is not a solution as there will be visible gaps behind the hairline. Some photos look much better than others though.

I guess all you can do now is wait and then either try to get Dr Mwamba to touch it up (should be for no cost in my opinion) or go elsewhere.

I appreciate you naming that "grow your hair" is not the solution. That's how I have felt every time I hear someone respond me with that comment. I didn't spend 10K to "seem like" I have hair. My hope is to get the density that I'd like to have at that price point. So, thank you for naming that.