Dr. Panine; FUE ~2400 grafts; DOS 1/6/2023

[mavigo]

Good afternoon everyone, 

I decided that for my second procedure, I was just going to document it right from the get-go. 

Quick background: 31 year old male, NW3/4, previously had an FUT - 1400 grafts, April 2019.

After getting disappointing results from my first transplant. I spent a few months researching recommended doctors on this forum before finding Dr. Panine while simultaneously getting some recommendations to go to Dr. Panine. 

Procedure started early, about 3 -4 hours were for extracting the grafts. 2 - 3 hours for implantation of grafts

The photos below are hot off the press, minutes after final grafts are implants. 

After this, my head was fully bandaged. 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by mavigo

[mavigo]

These before photos are from September. Would be about 2.5 years after my first procedure. 

Edited January 7, 2023 by mavigo

[mavigo]

Day 2:

After a mostly restless night at the hotel, went back over to the clinic to have the dressings removed, have my hair shampooed and have the doctor do some final checks. 

I only had minor swelling in my face but by the time I drove back home to Michigan, it was like ugly duckling turbo mode. I've never had this much swelling in my face before. I look an ogre. 

Are there anyways to manage this? Should I take a bunch of NSAIDs or something?

Here's what it looks like just getting back home (the old FUT scar on my back is more rough than I was imagining):

[nl502c]

The post op results look really good. The fue punches at the donor site look smaller than other examples I’ve seen from Dr. Panine. Do you know what size punch he used for you? Also, does Dr. Panine do all the FUE punches or was it an assistant?

[mavigo]

Don't know the punch size, I will find out for you. He does a good portion of the extractions himself but he did switch off a few assistants. 

[Philbo]

Excited for an update!

[mavigo]

On 1/9/2023 at 2:31 PM, Philbo said:

Excited for an update!

Not much progress. They only thing I got is my rainbow sherbet colored eyes. Probably will post another in 2 weeks and switch to monthly updates. 

[stephcurry30]

Looking good! I'm sure this will be a home run result!

[mavigo]

On 1/8/2023 at 9:09 AM, nl502c said:

The post op results look really good. The fue punches at the donor site look smaller than other examples I’ve seen from Dr. Panine. Do you know what size punch he used for you? Also, does Dr. Panine do all the FUE punches or was it an assistant?

Dr. Panine used a 0.8mm punch tool on me.

[Chetman2112]

Work looks very clean, I expect you will be very happy down the road, as for swelling I didn’t have much after my procedure but just resting and sitting up as supposed to laying down should help, drink lots of water. 

[mavigo]

2 Week Update

It's been almost two weeks since the procedure. Finished up the anti-biotics. All scabs have fallen off. Swelling has gone away, though; a little bit of bruising remains. The office has cleared me to resume showering normally and exercising. 

Onward and upward. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Wow I missed your thread. I'm really excited to follow your progress. I think Dr. Panine has done an excellent job camouflaging the previous work. This is gonna be a real feel good thread for 2023.

[ALittelTeal]

Just submitted for a consult with Dr. Panine because of your case. Looks very similar to my situation and what I would like to have done. I look forward to following along here.

[HappyMan2021]

@mavigo curious if there was a reason you chose to do this as a partial shave, or is this just by default what Dr. Panine elected to do? 

Also, interesting about the swelling. This allegedly is a common-enough side effect, but I only see it once in a blue moon on the forums. And even when patients do get swelling, it's hard for me to recall the last time I saw a patient who had really significant and colorful under-eye bruising, it looks like you were in a boxing match (one of the reasons I feel the partial shave was a moot point)

How do you feel about the FUT scar? It sounds like the only time it is ever visible is when you shave your head for HT surgery 🤣, if that is the case maybe just let it be and leave it alone, since it is never visible in your normal life. But, at the same time, I understand how a hidden but disappointing FUT scar would still bother someone. 

Congrats on surgery!

Edited January 19, 2023 by HappyMan2021

[mavigo]

@HappyMan2021 I didn't choose it, Dr. Panine did. In regards to pre-op haircuts, I just left my hair as is and left it up to the doctor to decide. I've read that sometimes leaving the hair longer on the implant site allows for the doctor to better "see" how the transplanted hairs will "fit" with the big picture. So I assume this was the case of Dr. Panine leaving my hair on the top as is but I can ask. It looks like he does this for most patients but I've seen some of his work where the patient was fully shaven so again I don't know if there's some science to this. 

On the swelling, likewise I've seen a couple of patients on various forums that had it as bad as me but I just assume it's my propensity for rare side effects. Seriously, I'm the side effect king for medications and stuff like this (notable exception was finasteride, I got not sides but it was shocking because I was expecting the worst). 

Okay the scar - this my biggest regret and it's near the top of the stupidest things I've ever done list. Getting an FUT completely handicaps your haircut options for the rest of your life. The worst part of my current situation was the headcover purgatory that I just got out of: having to wear a baseball cap to cover the front, and a hoodie over it to cover the back. For the past 2 months, I've been wishing for my hair to grow faster but it's gotten almost there where the back is long enough to keep the scar covered. 

Here's some pictures of it:

1 week after (sorry for gross flaking):

~2 weeks after (sorry for crap quality pic):

~3 weeks after: 

~5 weeks after:

~2 months after, finally the scar is no longer visible: 

Edited March 7, 2023 by mavigo

[HTenjoyer]

Hey @mavigo, thanks for posting your journey! I'm sure your results are going to look great.

I've been considering Dr Panine for a while, and noticed he doesnt do it all himself and uses an assistant for some of it. Do you feel like that made a difference at all in terms of the quality?

[mavigo]

@HTenjoyer I can't really say yet because it's only been 3 months but I believe all doctors use assistants; some more so than others. If you go to a doctor and there's none, I think that would be a huge red flag. 

He made all the incision points for the grafts and worked with a lead tech to implant them. I was facing down for the whole time, so it was hard to tell who was doing what but Dr. P was at the table the whole time. 

I don't think the assistant under his supervision had a negative impact on the quality. 

 

[mavigo]

Quack, quack, ugly duckling checking in. It's about 3 months since my procedure, very short hairs are starting to "bud" up and I'm getting hair acne for which I was prescribed a topical ointment: clindamycin phosphate.

[mavigo]

6 hours ago, UnfortunatePatient said:

I hope it goes well for you. Saw your post in other forum and i couldn't believe the quality of the first work. Doctors like this should be banned unless they charge like .5$ for graft and otright say that they have no idea what they are doing. He didn't provide any density. I think that when doctor doesn't measure the reciving area before the procedure it is a huge red flag cause they operate on feeling rather than pure mathematical facts.

I see that you took the first transplant well mentaly at least. I had much less of hairloss and looked much better before mine so it was very hard for me. It basically killed all of my social life at 24. I've been working with a support on my mental health a lot due to failed transplant.

I wouldn't say that, it did wreck me. I literally haven't gone to a barbershop or been outside with out a hat since. But I'm hoping I'll be able to once this 2nd transplant grows in. I probably will resume with mental health services too. Just have a lot going on haha. 

[mavigo]

@UnfortunatePatient I went to a barber once before and he asked me why I didn't shave it off? A dermatologist saw the FUT scar and though I fell off an ATV or something. That's the worst part, explaining a failed transplant. But that's going to be my litmus test, to go to the barber again and see if they can notice anything. So likewise, I'm waiting for this repair to be finished and then I'll go back.

On the brightside, I learned how to cut my own hair and saved a lot of money. 

[needmyhairback]

Interested in an update

[Balding Bad]

Echoing @needmyhairback back. Would appreciate an update!

[mavigo]

@Balding Bad @needmyhairback

Hey everyone, here's a 6 month update.

Checked in with the clinic, say everythings going as it should. 

@UnfortunatePatient I also went to the barber for the first time in 5 years. He didn't notice anything. 

 

[Balding Bad]

@mavigo thanks for the update! How do you feel about your progress so far?

[mavigo]

@Balding Bad Looks much better than before, it's getting there but not quite yet.