1700 FUE with Couto on 5/29/23 - My Amazing, Remarkable, Not Bad, Very Good Day in Madrid

[Kacan]

Did you have PRP? Couto recommended it for you?

[consequence]

Day 200:

 

Not the thickness I was hoping for at the frontal line, though the temples look great.

One thing that is very apparent is when I comb my hair from right-to-left the density is also lacking at the widow's peak and on the right, so I think my focusing on the left was just because of the way I tend to comb my hair.

Certainly not one of the home runs we're used to seeing from Couto but better than where I started. From seeing his other cases that looked like this at 6-7 months, it's reasonable to expect that my situation will not change.

On 11/30/2023 at 11:09 PM, Kacan said:

Did you have PRP? Couto recommended it for you?

I did PRP 1 month prior and at 1 month after surgery, but I didn't inject directly into the operative bed. Couto advised against it for me because I couldn't fly back and forth to Spain each time and there was some uncertainty as to what version of PRP I'd get at other clinics (he uses an Italian kit by the name of Fidia that I haven't been able to find in the USA). He also had some thought about how it would interfere with the natural growth cycle of the hair, but then he does recommend it to other patients so it's more of a case-by-case basis.

Actually thought about purchasing the kit myself but sent multiple messages to the manufacturer and they never responded.

Couto's cases that used PRP had an average result of [9.3/10] from my own personal rankings, whereas those that didn't had an average yield of [9.1/10] so perhaps it makes a difference. That being said, the people who got PRP were usually locals (ie. Spanish) so had thick, darker hair to begin with and they were almost always getting it from his clinic directly.

I may try Emcyte with a clinic here that I've found as that kit seems to have the highest concentration of growth factors in the one small study I could find comparing different manufacturers, but I'm not expecting much either way.

If this is where my result stays, which, again, is probably the situation based on other cases I've seen like this at 6 months, I'd give it an [8/10].

I know people say wait till 12 months, and sure of course I agree, but almost every case I've seen here that looked "stringy" like this along the frontal line at 6 months just stayed there so, just, whatever.

Part of me really wonders if getting a strip from Konior would have helped avoid the density issues, but I'll never know.

If things are better at 12 months I'll post an update, but if you don't see anything from me it's safe to assume things didn't develop any further.

Good luck everyone.

Edited December 4, 2023 by consequence

[duchaine]

Has Couto offered you a free touch up If this won't get better?

[EvansLawrence]

While I understand your paranoia I would still be patient

Here is an example of a couto,s patient that was even a slower grower than you

 

 

 

[Youth_Again]

Did you get the grafts breakdown? 
would be interesting to know 

[Der3k7]

On 11/25/2023 at 4:14 PM, consequence said:

Thanks for the advice. Laorwong seems very strong, I'll review his patient submitted cases more carefully if I want to go back in for a second pass.

I really don't care about the swelling. I imagine it would be much better with a revision as it would be just a few grafts hopefully. Alot of the edema isn't actually "inflammation" it's literally fluid from the lidocaine used for anesthesia. Esteban may have used more with me because I kept feeling the extractions. The amount of lidocaine would presumably be much less the second time around.

My main annoyance/reason for hesitation at going back is the whole not being able to use hair dye afterwards. Some people say wait 1 month, other people say wait 12 months, no one really knows the answer. I've waited this time till 6 months though probably will dye it around month 8. It's just hard to convince myself to go through another procedure with the possibility that I may not get a significant improvements and so much of my life was disrupted by the restrictions afterwards. Also second passes seem to be less consistently successful than virgin scalps, at least from looking at the cases here.

Either way, pretty disappointed with my left side as it seems to have plateaued. Other cases like mine that level off around 6 months don't really seem to get much better. Every case I've found here that looks like mine from months 4-6 just kind of stays there.

If there's a miracle, great, but I don't think anythings going to change at this point.

Whatever. I did my best and went to a surgeon that seemed to have a decent track record, ultimately can't control what I can't control. That's just life.

This was my third hair transplant and it was by far the best yield when compared to my other prior surgeries. It was done by dr wrong. I started dying my hair at 6 months. Although it might have been sooner actually I can’t remember. Taking a hit of not dying hair for 6 months is easily worth the trade off you get at the end. Also just take those 6 months and work on the gym a ton. Kill multiple birds with one stone self improvement monk-mode for awhile then come back leveled up. I’m going back to wrong to improve density in my hairline and corners and crown again. Smaller surgery this time though but will totally be worth it

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Der3k7

[Youth_Again]

update ?

[Kacan]

Can you update?

[Hairy Henderson]

On 12/5/2023 at 3:44 AM, EvansLawrence said:

While I understand your paranoia I would still be patient

Here is an example of a couto,s patient that was even a slower grower than you

 

 

 

Amazing

[JML]

Would be interesting to see any update?

[EvansLawrence]

Yes please give us an update

[Diff-thinner]

Any Update? :), Would be great to know what happened