What should be the course of action be for someone who may be NW6, has 4,000-5,000 grafts left, and needs repair from previous work?

[AlexMeister21]

As some of you may know, I'm a former Dr. Diep patient who had about 4,000 grafts extracted and implanted by FUT into my frontal region to rebuild the hairline, but the results are unsatisfactory and I'm left with a wide scar.

Consulting with other clinics, I've been told that I may have about 4,000 - 5,000 grafts left in my donor. If I get my previous work by Diep repaired, it is estimated to take an additional 1,000 - 2,000 grafts, which would leave me with about 2,000 - 4,000 lifetime grafts left, depending on how many grafts are needed for repair.

I'm worried that if I go ahead with a repair, I wouldn't have enough grafts for my crown/top of head area, which has been gradually thinning for the past few years. Would 2,000 - 4,000 grafts even be enough to cover that region?

 

[davidn]

Pictures would help Bro

anyway, If I were you I would consult with someone like Konior, tell him about your short and long term plans and find a game plan.

[Z--]

49 minutes ago, AlexMeister21 said:

As some of you may know, I'm a former Dr. Diep patient who had about 4,000 grafts extracted and implanted by FUT into my frontal region to rebuild the hairline, but the results are unsatisfactory and I'm left with a wide scar.

Consulting with other clinics, I've been told that I may have about 4,000 - 5,000 grafts left in my donor. If I get my previous work by Diep repaired, it is estimated to take an additional 1,000 - 2,000 grafts, which would leave me with about 2,000 - 4,000 lifetime grafts left, depending on how many grafts are needed for repair.

I'm worried that if I go ahead with a repair, I wouldn't have enough grafts for my crown/top of head area, which has been gradually thinning for the past few years. Would 2,000 - 4,000 grafts even be enough to cover that region?

 

First, I'm really sorry to read about your experience with Diep. Fortunately, there's more than a few repair cases after a poor surgery from him who turned out stellar.

I'd consult with Konior (who has repaired multiple Diep cases here), Bisanga, Mwamba, Couto, or Pinto. Even if you don't ultimately opt to use them, I think having multiple opinions on your status/donor is invaluable.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Z--

[AlexMeister21]

1 hour ago, davidn said:

Pictures would help Bro

anyway, If I were you I would consult with someone like Konior, tell him about your short and long term plans and find a game plan.

I called Konior's office but they told me that a virtual consultation would be about $600, so I'm prioritizing other options at the moment. Here's a photo of the top of my head when it's wet. Seems like a lot of space that would need to be covered if I keep thinning up there.

[AlexMeister21]

1 hour ago, Z-- said:

First, I'm really sorry to read about your experience with Diep. Fortunately, there's more than a few repair cases after a poor surgery from him who turned out stellar.

I'd consult with Konior (who has repaired multiple Diep cases here), Bisanga, Mwamba, Couto, or Pinto. Even if you don't ultimately opt to use them, I think having multiple opinions on your status/donor is invaluable.

I've consulted with Mwamba and Pinto, both of whom said they'd need to see me in-person to get a better idea of my donor availability. Currently in touch with Mwamba at the moment, but it's been difficult getting responses from his clinic. Been trying to meet Bisanga in person, but not sure when he's coming back to the US. I've also consulted with Dr. Bansal and Dr. Laorwong who have given me the 4,000-5,000 grafts estimate. I believe I should also have about an additional 2,000 grafts if I grow out a beard, but 500-800 of those grafts are going towards fixing my FUT scar.

Edited January 9, 2023 by AlexMeister21

[davidn]

You can talk to Hattingen, he is answering quickly and does free online consultations.

[HappyMan2021]

Shapiro does good repair work. I could be wrong but I believe Gabel does a fair amount of repair cases as well. 

While many of these repair docs ask for in-person consults first, there is no law or anything requiring it lol. Maybe put your hustler hat on and present your case why you don't need to do an in-person consult first. 

Or, if there is a competent HT doc or trichologist in your region, ask these elite repair clinics that if you get a comprehensive assessment of your donor at a place more local to you, can you email them the results. 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by HappyMan2021

[Gatsby]

@AlexMeister21 how old are you? Can you share pics of the front and back? Have you considered Dr Bisanga?

[AlexMeister21]

9 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

Shapiro does good repair work. I could be wrong but I believe Gabel does a fair amount of repair cases as well. 

While many of these repair docs ask for in-person consults first, there is no law or anything requiring it lol. Maybe put your hustler hat on and present your case why you don't need to do an in-person consult first. 

Or, if there is a competent HT doc or trichologist in your region, ask these elite repair clinics that if you get a comprehensive assessment of your donor at a place more local to you, can you email them the results. 

 

I set up an initial consultation with Shapiro's associate next month and then I think I'd have to wait several weeks after that before I could speak with Dr. Shapiro himself. I don't really have any good clinics in my area, so perhaps I'll see a trichologist. My scar is like an inch wide so I get why some clinics want to see me first before giving me a concrete assessment of my donor.

[AlexMeister21]

8 hours ago, Gatsby said:

@AlexMeister21 how old are you? Can you share pics of the front and back? Have you considered Dr Bisanga?

I'm 30. I tried to catch Bisanga last year, but I don't know if he ever came to the US. Apparently he did, but I wasn't notified. I was told he may visit in April but haven't gotten confirmation of that yet, so perhaps I can see him then.

 

[coinflipdrifter]

Hey Alex, 

 

You and I are in the exact same boat. I mean literally the exact same one. 

I'm 30, have had two terrible HT's (one with a scar) that total around 3400 grafts, recently met with Dr. Hasson who was confident I was about a Norwood IV or V, and now am desperately looking for a near term plan and fix. Hell, my donor and hair color looks kind of like yours in the sense that it's course and while it looks thick, has been depleted. What makes matters worse is that I can't take oral fin. I'm still recovering from the sides (but fingers crossed that topical works). 

I've consulted with Dr. Hasson and have further consults setup with Bloxham, Nadimi, and Dorin. I'm also in contact with Konior (and hoping to grab a consult with him soon despite his office saying he's booked out until eternity). Hasson thought I needed at least 2000 grafts - and only had about 4000 FUE's left to give. That feels generous. 

Let me know how things go on your end. Would love to know the plan you roll with. Have you spoken to anyone about beard hair? 

[AlexMeister21]

Hey, sorry to hear about your situation. I had a repair surgery about 1.5 months ago with Dr. Laorwong and it's looking good so far. Used up about 1,300 scalp hairs and he says I may have about 3,000 grafts left in my scalp donor. As for beard hair, I think I should have at least 1,000 grafts to use, probably more with a surgeon that specializes in BHT. Started taking Dut and oral min about two months ago in hopes that it'll regrow my crown area.

[Doron Harati]

On 1/10/2023 at 2:20 AM, AlexMeister21 said:

I called Konior's office but they told me that a virtual consultation would be about $600, so I'm prioritizing other options at the moment. Here's a photo of the top of my head when it's wet. Seems like a lot of space that would need to be covered if I keep thinning up there.

I think you should wait more and experience more hairloss then get a quote from a clinics, you final hairloss pattern is not defined yet and by this photo it's too early to make a correct strategy.

[HappyMan2021]

2 hours ago, AlexMeister21 said:

I had a repair surgery about 1.5 months ago with Dr. Laorwong

I'm curious, what made you go with Dr. Laorwong? For all I know he is an amazing repair doc, but his name is never really included in the usual repair doc lists/recommendations on the forums. 

You seem really active and in-tune with all the forum discussions, so its interesting to me you went with a doctor who is not really mentioned often in repair discussions on here. 

[AlexMeister21]

2 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I'm curious, what made you go with Dr. Laorwong? For all I know he is an amazing repair doc, but his name is never really included in the usual repair doc lists/recommendations on the forums. 

You seem really active and in-tune with all the forum discussions, so its interesting to me you went with a doctor who is not really mentioned often in repair discussions on here. 

I was going to go with Dr. Mwamba, but Laorwong won me over in the end. Mwamba's a great doctor and I understand he's a busy man, but it was difficult for me to communicate with him and his staff. Sometimes I would have a question, but I wouldn't get a response for weeks or not at all. With Laorwong, I just text him and he's there to answer. Plus, Mwamba wanted to use 2,000 nape hairs for the procedure, which I was onboard with until Laorwong informed me that nape hairs aren't DHT-resistant and so I felt like it may not be the best decision in the long run if those hairs fall out.

I also didn't feel like my repair case would be that difficult. I could deal with the weird Diep angles as long as I had density, and all the repair surgeons I consulted with did not suggest extracting grafts and just planned on adding density. So far, I feel like I made the right decision with Laorwong. He did a good job and progress looks good so far. I'm technically in the ugly duckling phase, but it doesn't really look like it and I see grafts popping out in the thin areas left by Diep.

[HappyMan2021]

1 hour ago, AlexMeister21 said:

difficult for me to communicate with him and his staff. Sometimes I would have a question, but I wouldn't get a response for weeks or not at all

Mwamba is definitely not the doctor to go to if someone requires in-depth tactical answers beforehand lol. Hoping the best for your repair 🙌