Dr Camacho - 2500 grafts

[BaldDude]

I tried to book an appointment with Camacho but was assigned another doctor instead.  I asked for Camacho and never got a response.

[Melvin- Admin]

On 7/21/2023 at 10:17 AM, mrthirsty said:

So far, so good, to be honest. Albeit a very slow grow in process and seemingly tons of shock loss.  From what it looks like the hair pattern is pretty natural - so the doc did a good job there, still thin but I assume it will get more dense now over the next couple months.  Happy to share more photos soon.

AFAIK, shock loss affects not only implanted hair, but non-implanted hair as well... and unsure if its shock loss or otherwise, but it looks like while the crown is growing in, the mid/front scalp is beginning to thin

Can you share some pictures?

[mrthirsty]

Updated crown photo, approximately 6 months in now.  I understand crown sometimes takes longer to come in but certainly a little concerned at how long it’s taken.  There has been progress, but as soon as I add product it looks about the same as it was before my HT…

[mrthirsty]

Would love any feedback here from the forum... I am approaching month 7 in a couple weeks... and the results are coming in pretty lackluster... I still have to use Toppik despite being told 2500 grafts would get me to "natural" levels of hair on my consultation.  The lighting here isnt as good, but you can tell there is a clear thin patch that is much more apparent in natural daylight without Toppik.

[mrthirsty]

6.5 months in… perhaps even worse than pre transplant…?

[Melvin- Admin]

Hard to judge without similar pics in the same lighting. It looks like marginal improvement thus far. But the crown does take longer to grow due to blood supply. Are you on minoxidil?

[mrthirsty]

21 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Hard to judge without similar pics in the same lighting. It looks like marginal improvement thus far. But the crown does take longer to grow due to blood supply. Are you on minoxidil?

Im on daily Minox, 4x/week LLLT, 1x/month microneedle @ 1.25mm.  No fin due to sides.

At almost the 7 month mark, I am beginning to worry now.

Edited September 15, 2023 by mrthirsty

[GoliGoliGoli]

Definitely need to wait until at least month 9 to make anything resembling a final judgement, but I agree you should have A LOT more coverage by now =/

That said, sit tight until month 9. 

[Melvin- Admin]

21 minutes ago, mrthirsty said:

Im on daily Minox, 4x/week LLLT, 1x/month microneedle @ 1.25mm.  No fin due to sides.

At almost the 7 month mark, I am beginning to worry now.

Don’t worry, I would use minox daily. Are you on oral or topical? Have you considered topical fin/dut?

[mrthirsty]

2 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Don’t worry, I would use minox daily. Are you on oral or topical? Have you considered topical fin/dut?

I am using topical minox, 1x/day.  I will not consider hormone modulation unfortunately, topical or otherwise, at this point, given my history of sides.

 

[Melvin- Admin]

6 minutes ago, mrthirsty said:

I am using topical minox, 1x/day.  I will not consider hormone modulation unfortunately, topical or otherwise, at this point, given my history of sides.

 

I would also add MSM and MAP as well

 

[mrthirsty]

Month #7… I am starting to lose hope after months and thousands of dollars potentially wasted.

It looks virtually the same as pre-op… I get that crown results take longer, but if no real benefit seen at month 7 starts to give me failed operation vibes.

[Baldingman01]

maybe ur still losing native hair due to not being on fin/dut. Just a guess 

[mrthirsty]

7 hours ago, Baldingman01 said:

maybe ur still losing native hair due to not being on fin/dut. Just a guess 

Even the center / top of the crown which had virtually no hair, still has no hair.  I maintain you're accurate to a degree, but I doubt I would've lost that much, that quickly, to completely offset a hair transplant of 2500 grafts

[RobertoDeNiro]

 

Sorry to see that those 2500 grafts are not all coming out. 
Have you reached the clinic? What is their assessment? 

 

[mrthirsty]

3 minutes ago, RobertoDeNiro said:

 

Sorry to see that those 2500 grafts are not all coming out. 
Have you reached the clinic? What is their assessment? 

 

They message every month for an update, I have responded with my concern and 48 hours later haven't yet gotten an update.  On their last update they mentioned there is a lot more room for growth, but that's about it.

[CharlesBarkley]

On 10/4/2023 at 1:59 PM, mrthirsty said:

They message every month for an update, I have responded with my concern and 48 hours later haven't yet gotten an update.  On their last update they mentioned there is a lot more room for growth, but that's about it.

If they said "there is a lot more room for growth", so you should be patient. I am sure they will take care of you. 

[mrthirsty]

Before & after // 7.5 months later.  I am afraid I have had a failed result. 

The doctor is working with me now to understand what went wrong and is suggesting an updated hormone panel (I submitted a results from a panel I did earlier this year, which showed largely normal stuff sans cholesterol issues).  I, personally, think this follow-on hormone panel is an added cost and errand that will have no bearing on the reason my result has failed.

I am not taking an medications (other than minox, LLLT, microneedle), nor do I have any ongoing health issues that could have affected this result.

Is this simply a failed surgery?  Does anyone have relevant experience?  My result seems to be virtually no different than pre-op, maybe 5% better?

[Melvin- Admin]

I wouldn’t call it a failure at 7.5 months. But, I would expect more growth. There could be a delay in growth. The crown can take up to 18 months. So I wouldn’t cast judgement just yet. 

[mrthirsty]

8 minutes ago, Melvin- Admin said:

I wouldn’t call it a failure at 7.5 months. But, I would expect more growth. There could be a delay in growth. The crown can take up to 18 months. So I wouldn’t cast judgement just yet. 

Given the doctor's responses to my photos, I have become more concerned.  If it were a simple response of "yes more growth expected," my concerns would have been at least somewhat quelled.  But the response from the doctor was more along the lines of acknowledging that there could be an issue, suggesting getting bloodwork done, and he mentioned there should be some progress by now, which isn't apparent.

[Melvin- Admin]

48 minutes ago, mrthirsty said:

Given the doctor's responses to my photos, I have become more concerned.  If it were a simple response of "yes more growth expected," my concerns would have been at least somewhat quelled.  But the response from the doctor was more along the lines of acknowledging that there could be an issue, suggesting getting bloodwork done, and he mentioned there should be some progress by now, which isn't apparent.

Well, I think the doctors concerns and your concerns are valid. But I don’t think we can definitively call this a failure yet. But it would be disingenuous to not acknowledge the lack of growth at this point. There could be something delaying the growth. Perhaps he wants a check up to cross this off the list. I know stress can play a big role. 

[HairFunk]

On 9/15/2023 at 5:44 PM, GoliGoliGoli said:

Definitely need to wait until at least month 9 to make anything resembling a final judgement, but I agree you should have A LOT more coverage by now =/

That said, sit tight until month 9. 

Definitely wait a little longer. Melvin posted a great thread on slow growers. Everyone is different, so hang tight.

[mrthirsty]

Officially past month #8.  I am going to announce this as a failed hair transplant.

I know full well that this is anecdotal evidence, and that this clinic does many hair transplants every single day, and also the people that I went to have a transplant with had much better results than I have, but I have found three similar crown transplant failures from this clinic on Reddit:

Example 1

• https://www.reddit.com/r/HairTransplants/comments/1163b3k/2_year_crown_update_with_dr_sergio_camacho_bogota/

Example 2

• https://www.reddit.com/r/HairTransplants/comments/113zio8/3000_grafts_bogota_hairlines_dr_camacho_and_team/

Example 3

• https://www.reddit.com/r/HairTransplants/comments/1643f5p/10_month_update_dr_camacho_bogota_hairlines_3750/

I have been in touch with the doctor, and the doctor suggested I have a massive panel of bloodwork done (which I did), and my iron levels have come back low.  The assertion has been made that my iron is the cause of the failed HT, however for a number of reasons that I dont think I will spend the time elaborating on, I just don't believe this to be the case (I fully accept that I could be wrong here).  FWIW, the guy I went with has similar iron numbers to mine, and his results were great (but he used a diff doc on a diff day).

This will likely be my last update unless something drastically changes, but my final thoughts on Bogota Hairlines:

• I think Dr Camacho is personable, honest and skilled- but I think he had an off day with me
• I personally am not a fan of the clinic's operations (mostly customer care) from start to finish
• Would I recommend Dr. Camacho?  I already have; but if going for crown-work, I would likely suggest a different doctor
• As of the date of this post, no remedy (financial or rework) has been offered by the clinic

$8k and so many months / years of research down the toilet.  I will reconsider a HT at a different location in 1-2 years now.

Please no further advice on Fin, Min, Dut, LLLT, etc etc etc.  I have spent too many hours of my life on this stuff.  The goal here was to have a hair transplant.  Also, I am aware "crown takes longer," but we would be joking to assume that this result at month 8 will magically become natural density in the next 10 months, as I was told by the clinic would be the result of the procedure.

Edited November 8, 2023 by mrthirsty

[Melvin- Admin]

What has the doctor suggested in the event it doesn’t change at 12 months? I will say it looks better than the previous months. I

[mrthirsty]

Month #10.  I have had a failed hair transplant and am out ~$7k plus all of the time, waiting, and pain.

The doctor brushed off my failed transplant as a "my problem" and hasn't suggested anything further.  I have requested a partial refund.  I had so much medical work done (blood testing, seeing specialists).  There is absolutely nothing wrong with me; and now I am out that money too.

The clinic sends Whatsapp messages monthly for photos under the guise that they are monitoring your progress, but all they are doing is harvesting that data for evidence of good work to post on forums like this.

IMO - do not recommend this clinic