A gun shy Aussie

[mac187]

Hey guys, 34 year old male that had a transplant to lower my hairline in 2012. I started losing my hair at 20 but immediately jumped on meds successfully moving the loss to a snails pace. To this day i’m probably still somewhere in the NWII-III range. 

Unfortunately i had a poor result with a reputable surgeon. I had 1800 grafts placed to lower a naturally high hairline. I’d say i had 50% growth at best. One side almost none. Fortunately i have good enough hair to wear down, or enough to get a long with fibres. 

Im one of those people that disappear with a poor result, i didn’t want to bad mouth the surgeon or place blame, i just wanted to move on. 

Now over 10 years later, i do want to correct my hairline. It seems the most convenient in terms of travel, price and esteem would be a surgeon that trained under the dr i had a poor result with though. Which really makes me pause. 

Im wondering, if i’ve had a poor result from a good surgeon - am i just the problem? Are there people that have had much better second goes even if they did all the necessary research the first time? 

Sorry for the info dump fellas. I’m just unsure if i should be going down this path again. Thank you for reading this far and any comments will be appreciated.

[Doron Harati]

Please share photos also of your donor.

I had a hairline repair with Dr. Maras at HDC clinic after I was botched badly by Arenamed clinic in Turkey, was demanding repair but now I'm very happy.

[duckling]

@mac187 11 years ago I don't think many people had successful HT ( which still isn't an excuse). Now there is definitely much more experienced surgeons along with much more experienced technician team of theirs. Surely there are still bad HT now too , not just in hair mills but also with good surgeons. But the percentage is on lower side for reputable surgeons. Here i have seen many good repair results. Many of the seniors members you will find here have done one earlier and got less results with bad scars too. But with repair surgery and then another surgery later (@Gatsby 's case comes to my mind ) they look like someone who wasn't botched. So don't beat yourself up atleast and surely you can repair it. Check out the repair cases and you will find surgeon names list along with cases which match your norwood level.  

[BaldReaper]

You need to post some pictures for us to understand your situation

[A_4_Archan]

Surgery is never a guaranteed thing but due to the improvement in technology and skills and instruments,nowadays if you go with a good surgeon thn there is a better chance of a positive outcome...the success ratio is improving at a rapid pace...but please share you before/after pictures and current pictures so evryone can understand your situation in a better way and cam guide you accordingly ...

[Melvin- Admin]

There are no guarantees, there is an x factor. Meaning, some patients don’t grow well. But poorly angled grafts, cobblestoning, pitting, thats all up to the surgeon.

[Gatsby]

@mac187 firstly don't beat yourself up. I'm also an Aussie from Melbourne and I was butchered years ago by a surgeon in Australia. Who was the surgeon that you went to here? This is only my opinion but I wouldn't recommend anyone here in Australia to touch your scalp. Their is no 'elite' as many claim. But further surgery if that is what you are looking for is definitely a reality. If you could share pics with your eyes blacked out showing your current hair situation then others will be able to chime in and give their opinion. Also have a look at the forum's recommended surgeon's results on patients who have a similar loss. All the best!

[mac187]

I appreciate all the responses a lot guys. Thanks for your time. 

 

To begin, i don’t have before and afters due to being so long ago. The surgeon did offer me another surgery at a discounted rate, i have nothing bad to say about him or his clinic. I just wanted to move on a forget about it at the time. 

 

To gatsby’s point, i didn’t go to an Aus surgeon either. 12 years ago i was here doing my due diligence and went with a surgeon on the recommended list. Dr Pathomvanich. It was just unfortunate. 

 

I’ve sent photos away for some online consults and got extremely varying graft estimates from different drs. One quoting me 1200, another 3000 lol, not sure what to think about that? 

 

Attaching photos now guys. Just an aside, currently have a “mullet” hair cut so the sides are purposely short and were shaved 2 weeks ago. Probably not most ideal for this.

 

I haven’t had much hair loss in the last 10 years. That’s how the new hairline grew in from the beginning. 

 

Again thanks for your time  

[Doron Harati]

@mac187,you got an excellent donor, rich and thick!

I think this revision job will take around 2000-2500 grafts, depends how low the new hairline will start from till how deep the procedure will be behind the hairline.

For more detailed review, you're welcome to contact me, our clinic located in Cyprus near to Greece, Dr. Maras specializes in repair cases, you can also read my journal about my 2 repairs.

This is example of repair case of a candidate with thick donor, 1829 were used:

 

[mac187]

5 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

There are no guarantees, there is an x factor. Meaning, some patients don’t grow well. But poorly angled grafts, cobblestoning, pitting, thats all up to the surgeon.

 

Appreciate this Melvin, i guess i’ll just put it down to those variables. Maybe there’s tests i can look into with a derm that can rule out conditions that would lead to poor growth. 

1 hour ago, Doron Harati said:

@mac187,you got an excellent donor, rich and thick!

I think this revision job will take around 2000-2500 grafts, depends how low the new hairline will start from till how deep the procedure will be behind the hairline.

For more detailed review, you're welcome to contact me, our clinic located in Cyprus near to Greece, Dr. Maras specializes in repair cases, you can also read my journal about my 2 repairs.

This is example of repair case of a candidate with thick donor, 1829 were used:

 

 

Thank you Doron! I’ll look into your journey and appreciate you bringing Dr Maras to my attention

[Henry]

Was your first HT an FUT? 

[Sunset Dune]

That’s not a name I’m familiar with and I don’t think that surgeon was very reputable over a decade ago either. Honestly there are very few surgeons to choose from despite the recommended list many surgeons on that list aren’t guaranteed to give you a good result, there are only a select few that can actually guarantee it. 

[MyKindaMoves]

On 4/30/2023 at 8:12 AM, Sunset Dune said:

That’s not a name I’m familiar with and I don’t think that surgeon was very reputable over a decade ago either. Honestly there are very few surgeons to choose from despite the recommended list many surgeons on that list aren’t guaranteed to give you a good result, there are only a select few that can actually guarantee it. 

Who would you suggest can guarantee it?

[mac187]

On 4/30/2023 at 7:34 AM, Henry said:

Was your first HT an FUT? 

Yes FUT.

Also just an update fellas, after researching and chatting privately with a few extremely helpful members, i’m booked in with Dr Bruno Pinto next year. It’s a full 12 months away, planning to make a holiday of it beforehand. Very excited and optimistic i can get this fixed. 

[Henry]

12 minutes ago, mac187 said:

Yes FUT.

Also just an update fellas, after researching and chatting privately with a few extremely helpful members, i’m booked in with Dr Bruno Pinto next year. It’s a full 12 months away, planning to make a holiday of it beforehand. Very excited and optimistic i can get this fixed. 

Was the result from your first ht bad from the get go? Meaning after 12 to 18 months? Or did it get worse over the years? 

[mac187]

From the get go. Have had little hair loss in general over the years due to fin

[mrmane85]

4 hours ago, mac187 said:

Yes FUT.

Also just an update fellas, after researching and chatting privately with a few extremely helpful members, i’m booked in with Dr Bruno Pinto next year. It’s a full 12 months away, planning to make a holiday of it beforehand. Very excited and optimistic i can get this fixed. 

That's so interesting! I myself also had a very poor result with Dr Pathomvanich in August/September 2012. After many years of research, last month I booked a surgery with Dr Pinto for April 2023. 

Best of luck, you've chosen a great surgeon in Dr Pinto. 

[mac187]

4 hours ago, mrmane85 said:

That's so interesting! I myself also had a very poor result with Dr Pathomvanich in August/September 2012. After many years of research, last month I booked a surgery with Dr Pinto for April 2023. 

Best of luck, you've chosen a great surgeon in Dr Pinto. 

This is insanely coincidental?! Haha. I assume you meant 2024?

If you end up journaling it i’ll definitely be following 😊 I’ll be in a month after you. Best of luck! 

[TheGreatPretender]

Considering you hopped in early in meds and your area of intervention doesn't extend further in the scalp I'd say you are in for a treat with Dr Pinto. He was on my list but due to being busy at the time I booked in for Freitas. 

Best of luck on your recovery. 

[mrmane85]

4 hours ago, mac187 said:

This is insanely coincidental?! Haha. I assume you meant 2024?

If you end up journaling it i’ll definitely be following 😊 I’ll be in a month after you. Best of luck! 

Yes sorry 2024. Yeah it's a crazy coincidence. Further more I am also from Australia! When I saw this post I just had to reply.

Yes I will definitely be journalling my surgery.

Thank you and good luck to you too! 

Edited May 19, 2023 by mrmane85