Potential FUE with True & Dorin (25M) (NW3)

[FBhair]

Hello everyone,

I am a 25 year old who has been dealing with hair-loss since I was around 17. First with temple recession and then some loss of the crown. Around the age of 22 I began taking both finasteride and minoxidil and with that came some positives. I was able to strengthen my crown as well all the hairs  in the rest of my scalp. Recession in the temples slowed down and even some regrowth was seen. 

Fast forwarding to the present I feel like I’m finally at the time to consider a transplant. I am soon to turn 26 and have been on medication with little too no sides and stabilization. If I had to assume I’m a Norwood 3 at this point.
 

I have a consult with Dr. Dorin in the next few weeks and am trying to get an understanding of the overall opinion of him. Some on this forum praise him for his hairline design and donor management while others believe he delivers abysmal density for the price. I am more or less looking for peoples honest opinions of his work that are more recent. 

Also I would love to know your opinions on recommend graft count as well as any questions I should ask Dr. Dorin. 

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by FBhair

[A_4_Archan]

@FBhair Good that you recovered some ground and able to stabilise your hairloss progression which is very important thing...26 is still too young to consider a HT but as you said you are on medication with no side effects and your hairloss is stable so if its concerning you too much than you can consider it but you have to be very conservative so you can preserve grafts for future loss as hairloss is unpredictable thing and can hit you even if you are on medication....

I didn't study too many results from the doctor you have mentioned but if budget isn't an issue than you can consider dr munib ahmad who is producing excellent outcomes and he is even conservative and he plans for the future...Best of luck and keep updating ....

[Matt434]

I don't have firsthand experience with Dr. Dorin so I can't help you there. While I don't think 26 is too young for a ht at all, understand that you're signing up for a lifelong job managing your hair loss and be ready to face that before pulling the trigger on surgery. Also understand that you're almost certainly going to need a second ht in your lifetime (more on that later).

Ask if they use microscopes to prepare and inspect the grafts. This is important even for FUE to ensure that quality grafts are being put into your head, and to ensure the right size grafts are being put into the right places (e.g. smaller grafts in the hairline). Don't be shy, ask to see the microscopes - any doctor worth having touch your head won't be offended. Also ask about how many technicians will be employed to place the grafts in your head. Fatigue is real - a single technician shouldn't be placing more than say 500-700 grafts into your head in one sitting.

Number of grafts: first off I want to say that I'm not a doctor and not an expert in this, so this is only food for thought and certainly not medical advice. But if I were you, I'd be thinking along these lines: assuming you aren't using topik in that crown photo and that's what your crown looks like naturally, I wouldn't touch your crown on the first surgery. You're maintaining it well, and by having surgery on it, you risk losing hair back there due to shock loss and by the doctor damaging native hairs. While it is true it won't be ideal to have a strong front with a weak crown, this is common enough among men where it won't look unnatural and won't give away the fact you had a ht. I'd come back to it when it's more thinned out. In the event you do in fact want it filled in, I honestly don't know how many grafts it would take. Going to the front: you're gonna want a conservative hairline to conserve grafts since you're losing your hair in your twenties and are thus very likely to need more work done in the future. I'm going to estimate that you need 1800 grafts to fill in bare spots and 1200 grafts to strengthen the center tuft, for a total of 3000 grafts. Maybe a little bit less, so let's say 2700-3100. But again, take what I'm saying with a huge grain of salt and listen to what the doctor tells you.

A final note: because you're already thinning, it's likely that even with medication, you will need a second ht for the crown within the next 5-20 years. A second ht is not just running back the first. If you go for FUE twice, the second time the doctor needs to be very careful to a) not over-harvest and leave you with a moth-eaten appearance in the back, and b) not take grafts out too close to the existing FUE scars, otherwise the scars might fuse and become more visible. Ask Dorin about his experience performing FUE on patients that had FUE previously. Ask him for photos showing the outcomes. Even though it's your first surgery, only go to a doctor who's skilled enough to successfully perform second round surgeries. Think long term so you don't have regrets later.

Cheers man, hope it works out.

 

[FBhair]

10 hours ago, A_4_Archan said:

@FBhair Good that you recovered some ground and able to stabilise your hairloss progression which is very important thing...26 is still too young to consider a HT but as you said you are on medication with no side effects and your hairloss is stable so if its concerning you too much than you can consider it but you have to be very conservative so you can preserve grafts for future loss as hairloss is unpredictable thing and can hit you even if you are on medication....

I didn't study too many results from the doctor you have mentioned but if budget isn't an issue than you can consider dr munib ahmad who is producing excellent outcomes and he is even conservative and he plans for the future...Best of luck and keep updating ....

Thanks for the feedback!

[FBhair]

57 minutes ago, Matt434 said:

I don't have firsthand experience with Dr. Dorin so I can't help you there. While I don't think 26 is too young for a ht at all, understand that you're signing up for a lifelong job managing your hair loss and be ready to face that before pulling the trigger on surgery. Also understand that you're almost certainly going to need a second ht in your lifetime (more on that later).

Ask if they use microscopes to prepare and inspect the grafts. This is important even for FUE to ensure that quality grafts are being put into your head, and to ensure the right size grafts are being put into the right places (e.g. smaller grafts in the hairline). Don't be shy, ask to see the microscopes - any doctor worth having touch your head won't be offended. Also ask about how many technicians will be employed to place the grafts in your head. Fatigue is real - a single technician shouldn't be placing more than say 500-700 grafts into your head in one sitting.

Number of grafts: first off I want to say that I'm not a doctor and not an expert in this, so this is only food for thought and certainly not medical advice. But if I were you, I'd be thinking along these lines: assuming you aren't using topik in that crown photo and that's what your crown looks like naturally, I wouldn't touch your crown on the first surgery. You're maintaining it well, and by having surgery on it, you risk losing hair back there due to shock loss and by the doctor damaging native hairs. While it is true it won't be ideal to have a strong front with a weak crown, this is common enough among men where it won't look unnatural and won't give away the fact you had a ht. I'd come back to it when it's more thinned out. In the event you do in fact want it filled in, I honestly don't know how many grafts it would take. Going to the front: you're gonna want a conservative hairline to conserve grafts since you're losing your hair in your twenties and are thus very likely to need more work done in the future. I'm going to estimate that you need 1800 grafts to fill in bare spots and 1200 grafts to strengthen the center tuft, for a total of 3000 grafts. Maybe a little bit less, so let's say 2700-3100. But again, take what I'm saying with a huge grain of salt and listen to what the doctor tells you.

A final note: because you're already thinning, it's likely that even with medication, you will need a second ht for the crown within the next 5-20 years. A second ht is not just running back the first. If you go for FUE twice, the second time the doctor needs to be very careful to a) not over-harvest and leave you with a moth-eaten appearance in the back, and b) not take grafts out too close to the existing FUE scars, otherwise the scars might fuse and become more visible. Ask Dorin about his experience performing FUE on patients that had FUE previously. Ask him for photos showing the outcomes. Even though it's your first surgery, only go to a doctor who's skilled enough to successfully perform second round surgeries. Think long term so you don't have regrets later.

Cheers man, hope it works out.

 

Matt, thanks for the write up appreciate it! 

That top crown photo is no topik and under intense white light. Finasteride saved my crown and I have no intentions of touching that for some time. My overall goal is to get a solid hairline and then go on from there. 

Dr. Dorin from my research is one of these conservative, more with less, kind of doctors who tries you use the least amount for the biggest change. That’s why I am considering him first for this surgery. Also from my research he tells most patients that you will need a second surgery so I’ll be sure to ask him about what a second or even third procedure could look like.

[Rc14]

I just got a 1200 graft procedure from him 7 weeks ago, a couple weeks ago. Im still too early to be able to tell if it’ll be good or not, but Im worried about the shock loss. You can check my profile for how it looks.

[cwalters29]

Hey there. I’ve had 2 FUE procedures with Dorin. I had basically the same recession pattern as you and treatment plan. I had consultations with Weasley, and Bloxham as well. He was the only doctor that really guided my expectations for what was BEST for the long haul. Not just my immediate recession but more of a overall plan And was really realistic about what could and could not be done. His tech team has also been with him for 7-20 years and yes I asked about the microscopes. I went to him because all of his hair lines look incredibly natural and more importantly they age very well. I have seen so many dense looking hairlines that just look awful. Lots of hair but frankly a bad look overall and also destroying donor area. My biggest concerns were looking natural and preserving donor supply. The first one completely changed the way I was able to style my hair. It wasn’t super thick but Dorin was clear about that going in. But it framed my face in a better way and when I styled it (layering is your friend) you couldn’t see recession at all. So I was really happy with the result. And the recovery process was easy. That’s where going to a good surgeon pays off. I healed super quickly and had minimal pain. No one knew I had a procedure done. So much so that I went back for a smaller second session to add thickness.  He is expensive but you are messing with your face! I think it makes sense to pay for the best! Highly recommend. Peter, who helps coordinate  the process for Dorin, was also super helpful and attentive. 

[FBhair]

2 hours ago, cwalters29 said:

Hey there. I’ve had 2 FUE procedures with Dorin. I had basically the same recession pattern as you and treatment plan. I had consultations with Weasley, and Bloxham as well. He was the only doctor that really guided my expectations for what was BEST for the long haul. Not just my immediate recession but more of a overall plan And was really realistic about what could and could not be done. His tech team has also been with him for 7-20 years and yes I asked about the microscopes. I went to him because all of his hair lines look incredibly natural and more importantly they age very well. I have seen so many dense looking hairlines that just look awful. Lots of hair but frankly a bad look overall and also destroying donor area. My biggest concerns were looking natural and preserving donor supply. The first one completely changed the way I was able to style my hair. It wasn’t super thick but Dorin was clear about that going in. But it framed my face in a better way and when I styled it (layering is your friend) you couldn’t see recession at all. So I was really happy with the result. And the recovery process was easy. That’s where going to a good surgeon pays off. I healed super quickly and had minimal pain. No one knew I had a procedure done. So much so that I went back for a smaller second session to add thickness.  He is expensive but you are messing with your face! I think it makes sense to pay for the best! Highly recommend. Peter, who helps coordinate  the process for Dorin, was also super helpful and attentive. 

Wow so glad you had a positive experience, definitely makes me feel more confident going in. My whole thought process is that this is a long game and you have play your cards right from the get go. Happy to here that is also how Dorin likes do business with his clients.

Would you say that even after your first transplant that the density was still miles better then before hand? More or less were you afraid of wind and water as much? My hair is very thick and falls forward so layering should be very easy for me. 

[cwalters29]

Yea same. Thick hair that falls forward. No question it was miles better after the first one. Massive improvement. I could not comfortably slick it back without being self conscious. But combing it forward it looked great. It’s like I am 15 again, but my temples had very little hair if any with a super strong widows peak. So it helped a lot. 

[GoliGoliGoli]

2 hours ago, cwalters29 said:

Hey there. I’ve had 2 FUE procedures with Dorin. I had basically the same recession pattern as you and treatment plan. I had consultations with Weasley, and Bloxham as well. He was the only doctor that really guided my expectations for what was BEST for the long haul. Not just my immediate recession but more of a overall plan And was really realistic about what could and could not be done. His tech team has also been with him for 7-20 years and yes I asked about the microscopes. I went to him because all of his hair lines look incredibly natural and more importantly they age very well. I have seen so many dense looking hairlines that just look awful. Lots of hair but frankly a bad look overall and also destroying donor area. My biggest concerns were looking natural and preserving donor supply. The first one completely changed the way I was able to style my hair. It wasn’t super thick but Dorin was clear about that going in. But it framed my face in a better way and when I styled it (layering is your friend) you couldn’t see recession at all. So I was really happy with the result. And the recovery process was easy. That’s where going to a good surgeon pays off. I healed super quickly and had minimal pain. No one knew I had a procedure done. So much so that I went back for a smaller second session to add thickness.  He is expensive but you are messing with your face! I think it makes sense to pay for the best! Highly recommend. Peter, who helps coordinate  the process for Dorin, was also super helpful and attentive. 

I'm a bit confused, you say "I have seen so many dense looking hairlines that just look awful. Lots of hair but frankly a bad look overall and also destroying donor area"

Then later say you went back to add more density to your hairline?

Are you just saying in the first quote that it isn't the denseness that makes it look unnatural, but other factors? 

[cwalters29]

I just mean I have seen other hair transplants that just look a bit odd. I’m sure all of us in our research have seen hairlines that look too flat, or hair growing in strangely, etc. I was very cautious for my first one. I was just nervous about it looking “fake” so I was very happy when the first one looked so natural. I was comfortable to get some more density added after.