Mwamba Bad Angle Repair

[HappyMan2021]

In 2018 I had a horrible botch job by a gynecologist named Shelly Lovitt. IDK WTF I was thinking. I was a lot poorer at the time and was incredibly naive on just how complex and serious a hair transplant is.  There were so many bad angles on the hairline and temples. I had my first repair with Dr. Mwamba this June, and I just had my 2nd repair with him last week in Brussels. 

This thread is not meant to tell my whole life story, I just want to give a window into how bad angles are repaired, hopefully this helps someone. In June Mwamba primarily worked on the right side bad angles, and did a bit on the left. For this last surgery, he worked primarily on the left side hairline, but also cleaned up the right side as well 

At this post op of this latest surgery, Mwamba did say I will have some bad angles remaining (if they are too close together they cant be extracted in one session), but he honestly and genuinely didn't think the remaining bad angles would really be noticeable. 

The great news is he said I could go to a local electrolysis place and they can zap away any remaining bad angles, and their absence shouldn't affect the aesthetic look.

The primary focus talking point of his post op was not the remaining bad angles, but rather the potential density on this left side hairline. He wasn't concerned persay, it was more of a disclaimer, that when he implants in repaired regions, density might be lacking. For example, on virgin hair he may implant 3 grafts in an area, but for an extraction/implant repair he only does 1 graft. 

But, he said this exact same disclaimer in June for my right side hairline and that density turned out fine. It also helps that I have very thick hair. 

So, if all goes according to plan, density will be satisfactory on the left side hairline, and the last step in my hair transplant journey (God willing 🙌) will be getting electrolysis on a few remaining badly angled grafts.

Below is a diagram of how Mwamba does extractions/implants for bad angles, and pictures showing the left hairline. The black spots are the extracted bad angles.

Feel free to ask my any questions, provide any input or commentary. 

Edited January 11, 2023 by HappyMan2021

[EvoXOhio]

Gynecologist?!?!

[HappyMan2021]

4 minutes ago, EvoXOhio said:

Gynecologist?!?!

Yes!!!! So at the beginning of my ht journey, like any naive idiot i decided to only look at doctors local to me. 

That brought me to Dr. James Harris. i had an in-office consult with Dr Harris, he was out of my budget at the time so he referred me to his assistant/trainee Shelley Lovitt. 

She is a trained gynecologist, but apparently failed in that medical track so figured she would give hair transplants a shot. 

I cant think of any other reason why a gynecologist would decide to enter the HT world. 

Edited January 11, 2023 by HappyMan2021

[Melvin- Admin]

Dr. Mwamba’s work looks impeccable. Did you have a previous username here? I recall someone else that had an issue back in the 2018 with this same doctor.

[HappyMan2021]

15 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Dr. Mwamba’s work looks impeccable. Did you have a previous username here? I recall someone else that had an issue back in the 2018 with this same doctor.

yes that was me, and this is the thread 

 

You may recall that surgery also left me with a big gap between the hairline and the native hair. The surgical planning must have been horrible, and it seems Lovitt just stopped the surgery as soon as my 1200 paid grafts were used up. At the end of surgery she even told me "you probably need to come back for a 2nd pass". WTF, I can't imagine any competent or elite doctor leaving a patient like that. Its her fault she severely underestimated the grafts needed.

At the time I was still very very naive and new to the HT world, and thought the badly angled hairs were simply 'kinky, wiry, etc' and would work themselves out. But nope they were plain old badly angled grafts. At the time I thought my only issue was the gap in my hairline, but the angle issue was 10x worse. 

I should also add that after the botch job from Lovitt, Dr. Harris did a free dense fill in of appx. 2500 grafts. He did not extract any of Lovitt's bad angles. But I did not notice any bad angles from the Harris surgery. 

So my repair case with Mwamba was kind of unique in that, when presented to Mwamba, my hair density was/is actually quite good and did indeed have some correct angles from the Harris surgery, but there were just 1200 or so badly angled Lovitt grafts scattered throughout the good grafts.  

PS I hope my Happyman username is ok to use, this is the one I identify with lol. I never use my old account. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by HappyMan2021

[Melvin- Admin]

2 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

yes that was me, and this is the thread 

 

You may recall that surgery also left me with a big gap between the hairline and the native hair. The surgical planning must have been horrible, and it seems Lovitt just stopped the surgery as soon as my 1200 paid grafts were used up. At the end of surgery she even told me "you probably need to come back for a 2nd pass". WTF, I can't imagine any competent or elite doctor leaving a patient like that. Its her fault she severely underestimated the grafts needed.

At the time I was still very very naive and new to the HT world, and thought the badly angled hairs were simply 'kinky, wiry, etc' and would work themselves out. But nope they were plain old badly angled grafts. At the time I thought my only issue was the gap in my hairline, but the angle issue was 10x worse. 

I should also add that after the botch job from Lovitt, Dr. Harris did a free dense fill in of appx. 2500 grafts. He did not extract any of Lovitt's bad angles. But I did not notice any bad angles from the Harris surgery. 

So my repair case with Mwamba was kind of unique in that, when presented to Mwamba, my hair density was/is actually quite good and did indeed have some correct angles from the Harris surgery, but there were just 1200 or so badly angled Lovitt grafts scattered throughout the good grafts.  

PS I hope my Happyman username is ok to use, this is the one I identify with lol. I never use my old account. 

Wow, I remember you. I had no idea that was you. 

[HappyMan2021]

1 minute ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Wow, I remember you. I had no idea that was you. 

yea lol. The old username has some self-identifying information so I just preferred to create a new one. Only my city and birth year so not super personal, but regardless I just preferred a brand new anonymous username. 

But yes, it has been quite a long journey. 

[mavigo]

"like any naive idiot i decided to only look at doctors local to me"

*shamefully nods*

[Z--]

How many grafts did you need to repair the 1,200 originally taken?

[HairEnthusiast101]

Are you the guy that had minimal signs of ever having FUe? I think Melvin referred to you as Wolverine 😂 

[ray35]

Dude stoked for you! Happy to see you righting the wrong!

[HappyMan2021]

4 minutes ago, JoDimaggio22 said:

Are you the guy that had minimal signs of ever having FUe? I think Melvin referred to you as Wolverine 😂 

no im not Wolverine haha. I'm pretty sure he was not a repair patient either, not seeing the connection

[HairEnthusiast101]

Just now, HappyMan2021 said:

no im not Wolverine haha. I'm pretty sure he was not a repair patient either, not seeing the connection

Oh thought his name was HappyMan2021. Sorry thinking of wrong person. Does your donor look good though? Mwamba seems to have flawless donors 

[HappyMan2021]

45 minutes ago, Z-- said:

How many grafts did you need to repair the 1,200 originally taken?

My graft count/history is as follows:

I am a NW3 with minor crown thinning. No further loss since I started Dutasteride 4 years ago

2018: 1200 grafts from Lovitt. Most of them were badly angled

2019: An additional 500 or so grafts from Lovitt (yes, I know it was extremely idiotic to go back to the same doctor, please excuse my idiocy, couldnt resist the 'free touchup'). But I didn't really notice additional bad angles from this 2nd surgery, although she certainly could have added more bad angles

2020: appx 2500 grafts or so from Dr Harris. Density was greatly improved. Didn't notice any additional bad angles from Harris, but the bad angles from Lovitt were still there. It was kind of a strange surgery - I really needed a repair (extraction) but the surgery was solely a density fill in

2022: Mwamba extracted 600-ish of the bad grafts from Lovitt. In addition he implanted 3k brand new grafts for general touch up/density

2023: Mwamba extracted 600 more bad angles , and 1400 or so brand new grafts were implanted for touch up/density

Mwamba said I have 1500-2000 grafts in my donor area still.  

Summary:

-So even though my first botched procedure was a horrible horrible start to my journey, I have been fortunate that my lifetime donor graft count is 10k or so, and my hair is very thick. 

-Mwamba confirmed I will still have some badly angled grafts remaining after this last surgery, but seemed very confident I can kill them all with electrolysis. And given I've had so many good/correct grafts after the Lovitt surgery, my hair will be dense and look good even with these remaining bad angles zapped

-the only real uncertainty at this point is if this the density of this repaired left hairline will be satisfactory or not, which I alluded to in my original post. Mwamba didn't seem too concerned, it was more of a matter-of-fact disclaimer that with repairs density may be sub-optimal. But he was quick to add that given my thick hair caliber and camouflage grafts he used that this may not be an issue. And given Mwamba is really well known for repairing bad angles, for all I know the density will be fine. He just mentioned it as a disclaimer. 

And in my June surgery which focused primarily on the right side, he mentioned this exact same density disclaimer item, but the right side density ended up being good in the end. 

But yes, I suppose if I were to be brutally realistic, the left hairline density could potentially need a 2nd pass touch up. That is the sole factor which may keep me in this HT world for a bit longer. But given all these other factors I've mentioned, I am optimistic the density will be satisfactory. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by HappyMan2021

[HappyMan2021]

21 minutes ago, JoDimaggio22 said:

Oh thought his name was HappyMan2021. Sorry thinking of wrong person. Does your donor look good though? Mwamba seems to have flawless donors 

haha no worries. I wish I was Wolverine.

My donor looks completely normal and has had zero damage. Even though Lovitt is a horrible surgeon, I guess I should be thankful she didn't damage my donor. 

All my surgeries have been FUE, for what its worth. 

[Melvin- Admin]

35 minutes ago, JoDimaggio22 said:

Are you the guy that had minimal signs of ever having FUe? I think Melvin referred to you as Wolverine 😂 

No that’s @SteveUrkel02 

[HairEnthusiast101]

Just now, Melvin- Moderator said:

No that’s @SteveUrkel02 

Thanks Melvin 

[JP28]

It’s looking good man! And as you said you might need one more very small pass but nothing to be worried about.

any pictures of your donor area? 

[HappyMan2021]

16 minutes ago, JP28 said:

It’s looking good man! And as you said you might need one more very small pass but nothing to be worried about.

any pictures of your donor area? 

thank you! yes I'm cautiously optimistic that I won't need a small pass, but I do want to be grounded, down-to-earth, realistic in expectations. 

Here is a donor pic, taken 2 days post my last day of surgery. It doesn't show my donor in its complete entirety, but its the best I have at the moment. 

You can see the white marks, but only because I was completely buzzed down for surgery days earlier. 

But yes my donor is completely normal, zero damage. Considering my journey stated off so badly, I am very lucky that my donor was unscathed 

[mavigo]

15 hours ago, EvoXOhio said:

Gynecologist?!?!

Hair transplantation is a very new field and isn't even a proper subspecialty. Most hair transplant surgeons are dermatologists but anyone can become one if they can get the training. The guy that botched me was a former ER doc. 

Since HTs are so lucrative don't surprised to see more "odd" conversions like Lovitt. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by mavigo

[AlexMeister21]

Do you have any photos showing the density of your right side hairline, before you went in for the second procedure with Mwamba?

[HappyMan2021]

3 hours ago, AlexMeister21 said:

Do you have any photos showing the density of your right side hairline, before you went in for the second procedure with Mwamba?

I didn't take that many pictures between my 1st and 2nd surgery specifically on my right side, but hope this helps. 

Also note that I had my 2nd surgery 7 months to the dot after my 1st repair. So the 1st surgery repair was not even 100% blossomed yet (and probably still isn't). I didn't care about going in so soon though. I could afford it, and my complaint was bad angles, which do not resolve with time. 

Please refer to this thread to see where I was starting from prior to my repair. It is absolutely STUNNING how Mwamba fixed so much. My right side cowlick was so horrible. I hope everyone can see that even just my 1st surgery alone with with Mwamba was such an improvement. 

https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/62419-rejected-by-konior/

 

There is no product, etc in any of the pictures below, for reference. 

A few days after the 1st repair. The dark black marks are the extractions, everything else is fresh implants.

this admittedly was a sub-optimal dense area. But it was covered well by my thick hair. I'm not sure if this was an area Mwamba extracted from, or if he implanted and the grafts didn't take. But for whatever reason, going into the 2nd surgery, this small area was lacking in density.

I will add, part of Mwamba's repair is using camouflage. And when all my hair is down, this non-dense area was camouflaged well enough. Regardless, I do not believe anyone but my own neurotic self ever really noticed this small non-dense area after the 1st surgery

Mwamba couldn't get all the right side angles in 1 surgery. This shows some existing bad angles

Look how refined and nice the right side looks. You may (or may not) note that the lowered .5cm hairline from the 1st surgery is slightly lacking in density. For what its worth this picture was only a few months after my 1st surgery. But regardless he did do a 2nd pass this 2nd time around

Just illustrating that my 1st surgery was a vast improvement again. Very refined right side work. 

The lowered hairline was not ideal density. But as already stated these pics were only a few months after my 1st surgery. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by HappyMan2021

[AlexMeister21]

2 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I didn't take that many pictures between my 1st and 2nd surgery specifically on my right side, but hope this helps. 

Also note that I had my 2nd surgery 7 months to the dot after my 1st repair. So the 1st surgery repair was not even 100% blossomed yet (and probably still isn't). I didn't care about going in so soon though. I could afford it, and my complaint was bad angles, which do not resolve with time. 

Please refer to this thread to see where I was starting from prior to my repair. It is absolutely STUNNING how Mwamba fixed so much. My right side cowlick was so horrible. I hope everyone can see that even just my 1st surgery alone with with Mwamba was such an improvement. 

https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/62419-rejected-by-konior/

 

There is no product, etc in any of the pictures below, for reference. 

A few days after the 1st repair. The dark black marks are the extractions, everything else is fresh implants.

this admittedly was a sub-optimal dense area. But it was covered well by my thick hair. I'm not sure if this was an area Mwamba extracted from, or if he implanted and the grafts didn't take. But for whatever reason, going into the 2nd surgery, this small area was lacking in density.

I will add, part of Mwamba's repair is using camouflage. And when all my hair is down, this non-dense area was camouflaged well enough. Regardless, I do not believe anyone but my own neurotic self ever really noticed this small non-dense area after the 1st surgery

Mwamba couldn't get all the right side angles in 1 surgery. This shows some existing bad angles

Look how refined and nice the right side looks. You may (or may not) note that the lowered .5cm hairline from the 1st surgery is slightly lacking in density. For what its worth this picture was only a few months after my 1st surgery. But regardless he did do a 2nd pass this 2nd time around

Just illustrating that my 1st surgery was a vast improvement again. Very refined right side work. 

The lowered hairline was not ideal density. But as already stated these pics were only a few months after my 1st surgery. 

Thanks for the detailed photos. Looks like very good work by Mwamba.

[crazytimess]

Do you remember if you were given large liquid medication bottles from the doctor? I am getting a transplant from Mwamba and I'm just curious to see if the liquid medication would be able to go through security in my carry on luggage. Did you have any trouble with that?

 

Also did you have technicians shampoo your head the next day after the surgery? I was told that it could be an option. Did you use baby shampoo to  shampoo your head the next few days?

[HappyMan2021]

19 minutes ago, crazytimess said:

Do you remember if you were given large liquid medication bottles from the doctor? I am getting a transplant from Mwamba and I'm just curious to see if the liquid medication would be able to go through security in my carry on luggage. Did you have any trouble with that?

 

Also did you have technicians shampoo your head the next day after the surgery? I was told that it could be an option. Did you use baby shampoo to  shampoo your head the next few days?

No issue getting the saline solution through security. If for some reason security gives you an issue, point to your gross, bloody, scabby scalp and say the saline is for a medical surgery. I think for medical reasons they have to allow it (but again I've never had trouble with the saline and security in the 1st place)

My flight was the next day so I didnt have time for the tech cleaning. For my 1st surgery though I had the cleaning the next day, do it if you can. 

To be completely honest, Mwamba's work is so clean and I am perhaps (needlessly and neurotically) nervous about messing with the grafts and scabbing, that literally all I've been going is applying saline alot to my scalp. 

If the work was not clean I would be cleaning it more. But yea really just using saline. 

I did get all the post op instructions, creams, etc but yea whatever. 99% of the results come from the operating room. And, most of the post-op care is for the donor region, which will recover just fine naturally unless it was wrecked for some reason (and it won't since you are seeing Mwamba)