Resul Yaman - 4550 Grafts, Sep18/2023

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

Right, it's just that everyone (including Dr. Yaman) set the expectation that I would have full coverage in the front. I'm growing things out as I can but the fact there is still not full coverage in the front kind of ( especially in the middle ) is very concerning to me at 7 months. I recognize there is still some time left for things to change and that I am probably a slow grower, but i am not coming from a place where I was completely gone ( though maybe 75% gone) and everyone I consulted with told me in general 5000-6000 grafts for full coverage. If I can't even cover the front with 4500 , my donor can only really handle one more procedure per Dr. Yaman, so ..that would be very concerning to me as I was expecting one more procedure possibly for the crown, but if I need 3, i'm done.

There is some time to go, trust the process, etc, but month after month goes by and there are still giant gaps in the front of the hairline that are concerning..

 

11 hours ago, Stewie said:

This is actually looking really good and all seems to be growing, I think you are taking this all the wrong way, I have over twice as many grafts as you and suffer from all the same things you are talking about, its see thru and unless longer and heavily layered then the illusion is not there properly. I think even the best of the best HT on here if messed up I the way you have done your hair would look exactly the same. But in doing that you can actually see all of the new hairs all over, 4.5k across your whole scalp is not a lot in the grand scheme to have great density, but in what you have had IMO is looking good and growing well

 

[Stewie]

For me I saw a lot of growth in month 6/7 but month 9/10 was when the hair thickened up and started to look better, definitely give it a bit more time and hopefully you'll be happy  

[Piotr94]

I had HT one month later in October and see the same issues with density as xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx. So far I found a lot of videos/pictures of men with similar amount of transplanted grafts (~4500) after 6-7 months and they have perfect effect for me, I mean I would be happy to have such effects after entire healing period (~18 months). Unfortunately, my hair look similar to xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx, bad density, lot of empty spaces and I don't believe that somehow magically there will appear strong and thick hair. My question is: does it possible to expect fully/partially refund of money instead of using guarantee and having free HT if +10% of grafts will fall out. In my opinion I lost at least 40% (could be more I'm not an expert) of grafts and honestly I wouldn't like to go for next HT there. I'm disappointed of current results, feel that donor area is wasted (around 2000 grafts are not re-growth), so I don't want to risk next waste of donor. This is very frustrating that I see in the mirror/photos that the only difference between before and after HT is partially covered receding front hairline. Also, I have a big claims to myself that I decided to read all that kind of forums and groups. I found there a lot of advises to not go to hair mill clinics, because I will regret over harvested donor, but now even if it's not over harvested there are a lot of grafts wasted. And it turns out in lot of them (Clinicana, etc) people have pretty good effects - at least in recipient area. Honestly, in current situation I'd rather to have over harvested donor and fully cover recipient area instead of having maximum half of expected effect and wasted a lot of grafts from donor. I would shave donor for '0' or '1' and make micro pigmentation, then I would have good looking hair.

[Jayhair]

can you share some photos so we can compare ?

[Piotr94]

22 minutes ago, Ajamilo said:

Can you make your own thread @Piotr94

@Melvin- Admin should this be the standard for a recommended doctor? This happening to often to just let it slip away 

I will consider making own thread in the future. Actually, I just wanted to ask one question (with high-level detailed explanaition of the problem), but I was asked to add some photos and I did that. Sorry for making confusion.

Just one more thing related to @Melvin- Admin post, left picture is not mine, I just joined to the thread. So, there are two different people. All my photos are few posts above. However, if I incorrectly understood your post, then ingore that.

[Melvin- Admin]

23 minutes ago, Piotr94 said:

I will consider making own thread in the future. Actually, I just wanted to ask one question (with high-level detailed explanaition of the problem), but I was asked to add some photos and I did that. Sorry for making confusion.

Just one more thing related to @Melvin- Admin post, left picture is not mine, I just joined to the thread. So, there are two different people. All my photos are few posts above. However, if I incorrectly understood your post, then ingore that.

Please do not post photos of individuals that are not you. Please create a separate thread. Im removing all of the posts from this patient’s thread. Please create your own thread using your own photos.

[BogdanNn134]

Hello, can you give us some updates? @xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

8 months

Still on Finasteride 1mg, Minoxidil(topical per doctor's instructions), Ketocanozle

There is little to update from last month. I don't know if I really see anything growing and there's not much of a visual change. Not feeling much more positive. Feeling very scared knowing I blew most of my grafts.

If I move away the hair from the back I am coverage scamming with(growing to cover up the bald ), you can see there is hair there...but not a lot. It still looks basically the same as pre-transplant. The sides are also very sparse still. There is absolutely not enough density to do anything but the usual comb forward still because the visual effect is not good.

Hairline density has improved in the absolute frontal tenth, but frontal third is still poor and cannot be styled up because there's no volume. Still lots of gaps in the hairline where there is just almost nothing in a high density transplant area. Definitely nowhere near the 30fu/cm2 promised.

 

Does this have any hope of thickening up still? or am I doomed?

Edited May 20 by xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

Additionally - I will say this much. My ability to coverage scam is getting better, and the visual effect is also. This is a picture just from me in the middle of the day. If the effect improves just a LITTLE bit more, I would be okay with it and would say "Satisfied", even though I feel overall graft survival rate might not be the greatest. But there still is time to grow and improve.

This is a picture of me just having my hair fluffed as usual from top down., right now. Looks pretty okay! But..it's same as I used to, growing out hair to cover up. I'm of course, fine with doing that.

 

 

However, here's where my issue is - if I move my head a little bit or get hit by a gust of wind, it's pretty ugly in the middle. The middle front there should be a pretty high density transplant area with a good bit of native hair actually left. Either I lost a lot of grafts here, lost some natural hair, or a bit of both. (Maybe there is more to come in the months ahead?)

I would say my mood has shifted from "terrified" to only "disappointed". If I can expect some improvements in the next few months, I think I could graduate to "satisfied/acceptable result" , but if the frontal third / hairline remains gappy, I would probably call this a failed result.

 

Being able to coverage scam with my transplant was expected, but I could also do it BEFORE..thusly, my ability to do it should be better now. I should be able to tank a single gust of wind before looking like i eat toppik for dinner (Here's a 3-month pre transplant photo)

 

I want to keep in mind that i'm being quantifiable about this in the sense that i'm judging the satisfaction based on actual improvement that I see, not "is it covered or not" - because I was "covered" pre procedure. I want to see grafts growing in high density transplant areas, and there's still some significant issues in play regarding that.

 

but hey, still 

live laugh, love, trust the process..etc

Edited May 20 by xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

[BeardedArbor]

I just read through most of these posts. OP, thanks for communicating an honest journey with a Dr. Yaman transplant.

At this point you will need a 2nd transplant with a really good doctor to increase the density. Specifically a doctor that does most of the work himself/herself and specializes in densely packing in grafts. Perhaps Pekiner or Laorwong. I'm sure there are other options as well.

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

Yeah, if I do another one it will definitely be with a doctor-only procedure. I don't want to declare this as a failure yet and look like a dummy at 12 months or something where some voodoo happens in the next little bit and hair magically appears, but if I hit anagen desynch soon and it starts looking worse i'm in a VERY bad position.

Also, my donor can really only tank one more procedure per Dr. Yaman(including using beard grafts), so if this transplant failed I have some interesting choices to make. I expected on 2 transplants, but if I need 3, i'm kind of fked. kind of holding to see what would come of verteporforin. Would consider Laorwong - contacting Pekiner is an absolute nightmare, I tried to originally with this one. I really have to wait out the final results though because it's going to play a big portion in how i play my cards.

However, being a diffuse thinner - I will say that in the moment, I am still very disappointed. I'm definitely sure i'm a slow grower though, so I haven't lost all hope.

Edited May 21 by xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

[jjsrader]

'coverage scam'

----------------

I command this new phrase to be introduced to the HRN glossary of terms.

I decided; attribution to xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

 

[Al - Moderator]

I think the issue here is that you comb your hair forward to cover the front. There's nothing wrong with doing that and I'm not blaming you for it. That's how you're been combing your hair for a long time. The problem is most HT Drs try to create a thick hair line and then put less grafts behind it because they have to put less density somewhere in order to get a thick front line. There's a limited number of grafts. This is fine with most people because almost everyone wants a dense hair line. In your case however, it would have been better for Dr Yaman to transplant at a more even density, putting a bit less than he did along the frontal line and more throughout the mid scalp. Doing that would have made more of difference on you due to the way you comb it. 

If you decide to go for another HT in the future, make sure you let them know that you are interested in thickening the mid scalp more than the hair line based on how you style your hair.

With that said, it does look like you got some improvement and it seems like you can get a similar look that you had before without needing to grow your hair quite as long which makes it look more natural and less like you are trying to cover up a balding area and more like you just like styling your hair that way.

 

[Broni]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:34 PM, xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx said:

Donor - 3 months

As for your medical regime, have you experienced any side effects of finasteride?

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

12 hours ago, Al - Moderator said:

I think the issue here is that you comb your hair forward to cover the front. There's nothing wrong with doing that and I'm not blaming you for it. That's how you're been combing your hair for a long time. The problem is most HT Drs try to create a thick hair line and then put less grafts behind it because they have to put less density somewhere in order to get a thick front line. There's a limited number of grafts. This is fine with most people because almost everyone wants a dense hair line. In your case however, it would have been better for Dr Yaman to transplant at a more even density, putting a bit less than he did along the frontal line and more throughout the mid scalp. Doing that would have made more of difference on you due to the way you comb it. 

If you decide to go for another HT in the future, make sure you let them know that you are interested in thickening the mid scalp more than the hair line based on how you style your hair.

With that said, it does look like you got some improvement and it seems like you can get a similar look that you had before without needing to grow your hair quite as long which makes it look more natural and less like you are trying to cover up a balding area and more like you just like styling your hair that way.

 

No. This is not the issue. 

The very first thing I did when I entered the consult with Dr. Yaman is go. "Hello. Please look at this image of my hair. Can you help me get back to this? Is this realistic." , to which Dr. Yaman responded it is possible, but I will need another procedure for the crown. You can see that, honestly, with even little density here, you can still see the see-through gappiness of it. I'd be fine with that. My hair plays with my skin color, too. I've been scamming hair for a while, lol (Pre-op, 2018) Furthermore, I even came into the office looking like this. ( though with a little bit less hair )

 

 

After this, Dr. Yaman then implanted in my crown. In hindsight, I should have asked him why he did so. Perhaps Dr. Yaman was trying to align with my coverage scamming.  Perhaps he saw more follicles than he thought previously on consultation? May never know..

Even if * I wanted * to style my hair up right now, it is impossible, as previously mentioned, due to poor density in the hairline. Again, referencing gaps.png from the last update post - there are parts of the hairline that are still pretty empty. 

I've scoured tons of people at 8 months and see lots of people starting to panic about this time though and turn out still semi-OK, so i'm trying to keep patient.

This has absolutely nothing to do with my choice of styling my hair up.  I gave the doctor a "this is what I want, can you help me", I got "yes". If the grafts are implanted wrong, that is a doctor or technician issue and should be rightly called out as a failed procedure because the doctor either didn't listen or understand, which would be a red flag for future clients. 

 

The issues right now are that

A. graft survival rate appears to probably be poor (I have more growing time, this can change, please, lord of hair) (Possibly me, more probably a clinic issue )

B. Implant locations did not align with my expectations and were given with clear communication to the doctor. (I will say this is also a strong "maybe" right now still, because I am confused by the graft implantation in the crown) (If this is the issue, 100% a clinic issue)

 

Graft survival could be on  me and my body just hating my own hair for some reason, but I had pretty much all the ideal conditions for this to succeed. (I'm on all smart medical therapies, I can afford quality supplements and use them, and i've been hyper-vigilant about trying to make this succeed because I -REALLY- wanted to have hair again. I work from home in a non-physically demanding job but only did light exercise for the time the doctor prescribed, followed all post-op procedures to a T, no blood pressure issues, no diseases or disabilities), making graft survival much more likely a technician handling issue than a "me" issue.

 

I could still maybe consider this successful if the hairline fills in. I understand most doctors do it like that - but I can't do the hairline up due to low density or maybe immature hair, AND I can't quite have it my normal requested way either currently, that is the issue.

But i'm still content to wait it out and see. My best case scenario is, Dr. Yaman aligned with my ideas to help me coverage scam and things will actually turn out great. My worst is the hairline remains full of holes, and directly behind the hairline also remains full of holes that I remain in this limbo where i can't either style my hair up, OR style it forward comfortably without another procedure.

I honestly expect Dr. Yaman was on board with my coverage scamming, which is why he transplanted everywhere - but I really need to see some more grafts popping up / thickening soon to make me feel a little bit better about all this..

Edited May 22 by xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

12 hours ago, Broni said:

As for your medical regime, have you experienced any side effects of finasteride?

I have. I did feel a slight libido drop and watery you-know what. For me, the libido drop is welcome..it's amazing what I can accomplish without that monkey on my shoulder all the time. No impotence though. I have remained on finasteride even with sides because the sides are welcome. lol.

Edited May 22 by xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

[Broni]

8 hours ago, xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx said:

I have. I did feel a slight libido drop and watery you-know what. For me, the libido drop is welcome..it's amazing what I can accomplish without that monkey on my shoulder all the time. No impotence though. I have remained on finasteride even with sides because the sides are welcome. lol.

Can you be more specific as to "slight"? How much time was needed to actually grasp whether Fin is working to stop the hair loss?

[BogdanNn134]

@xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx Thank you for the update. I think you should've focused only on Hairline and Mid scalp on your first hair transplant, after that you could do the crown. Seems like Dr Yaman have 50/50 results some are good some are bad. 

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

5 hours ago, Broni said:

Can you be more specific as to "slight"? How much time was needed to actually grasp whether Fin is working to stop the hair loss?

The problem is I don't even know if it's working to stop the hair loss. I have had very very slight loss over time ( though I think part of it was shock loss initiated when I microneedled that never came back - my scalp HATES microneedling, thusly I will no longer do it. It just makes me shed and causes nasty shock loss that takes a long amount of time to grow back.)

The problem with finasteride is there's no way to tell it's working or not until you go off of it. Being that I don't want to risk losing my hair any more, I'm not willing to take the risk and get off of it. I've been scared into meds , basically. If you're hearing this merck, you've won, customer for life.

 

27 minutes ago, BogdanNn134 said:

@xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx Thank you for the update. I think you should've focused only on Hairline and Mid scalp on your first hair transplant, after that you could do the crown. Seems like Dr Yaman have 50/50 results some are good some are bad. 

I perhaps also agree with this. I think at best I can hope for an "average" result from this. To be fair, Dr. Yaman is a relatively low cost doctor compared to others on this forum, perhaps the lowest cost recommended Dr. That being said, final results aren't totally locked in yet because i'm an insanely slow grower ( growth in the hairline really only started at 4 months for me ). also it is difficult for me to notice new growth due to my hair being blonde, and the new growth always coming in transparent.

 

However there are still gaps in the hairline and it still looks like trash at 8 months so i'm tempering my expectations.

Edited May 22 by xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

[BaldGuy]

I think your result looks pretty decent compared to before and taking in mind your huge area to cover. You cannot expect high density in all of this area with a hair transplant.

If you change your hair style and comb your hairs to the back it will look better than combing your hairs to the front. That happens in all of hair transplants because doctors tend to put higher density in the frontal part. In your case, if you see the post op photo you will see higher density in the hairline and lower density in the midscalp. So in order to get the best looking result you should comb your hairs to the back and forward like you are doing now.

Also keep in mind that dr yaman implanted hairs between your native hairs in the midscalp and because of your hair loss progress you may have lost some of them...thats why you can see some "gaps"...

Finally, all of your pictures are in pretty harsh light and strong conditions with you sepeterating your hairs in different dirrections. Hair trasnplants are an illusion of density and all of the candidates if they would seperate their hairs in different directions like you, they would show gaps.

Edited May 22 by BaldGuy

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

1 minute ago, BaldGuy said:

I think your result looks pretty decent compared to before and taking in mind your huge area to cover. You cannot expect high density in all of this area with a hair transplant.

If you change your hair style and comb your hairs to the back it will look better than combing your hairs to the front. That happens in all of hair transplants because doctors tend to put higher density in the frontal part.

Also keep in mind that dr yaman implanted hairs between your native hairs in the midscalp and because of your hair loss progress you may have lost some of them...thats why you can see some "gaps"...

Finally, all of your pictures are in pretty harsh light and condition with you sepeterating your hairs in different dirrections. Hair trasnplants are an illusion of density and all of the candidates if they would seperate their hairs in different directions like you, they would show gaps.

It becomes frustrating to have to say this over and over again, but I did not get a transplant to comb my hairs back. I told the Dr. what I wanted, asked if it was achievable, and was said yes. Every single doctor I have consulted with said it is achievable.

Furthermore, again, I will repeat, this is not a "me combing my hairs back" issue. This is a "stuff isn't growing well" issue.

Here is a low effort me combing my hair back to appease the crowd. You see this giant gap? There are multiple of these in the hairline still. At 8 months. This is the issue. Not the direction of my hair.

[asterix0]

It's pretty simple, unfortunately this was no the doctor to handle your case, you have naturally thinner donor hair, it is trickier to handle than thick grafts, perhaps there was some transection which affected your yield.

With a high Norwood case like yours only the top clinics should have touched your head if you wanted a true home run result.

Nevertheless, another procedure can solve your problems, but do your due diligence this time and go to the right clinic for your case. 

If you would have searched just this forum, there were enough recent cases with your doctor to turn on alarm bells and made you aware you were taking on more risk with your result than you may have been comfortable with.

There is no guarantee of a home run result with any surgeon, to be fair, but the level of risk is lower, or higher, depending on where you go.

Edited May 22 by asterix0

[BaldGuy]

6 minutes ago, xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx said:

It becomes frustrating to have to say this over and over again, but I did not get a transplant to comb my hairs back. I told the Dr. what I wanted, asked if it was achievable, and was said yes. Every single doctor I have consulted with said it is achievable.

Furthermore, again, I will repeat, this is not a "me combing my hairs back" issue. This is a "stuff isn't growing well" issue.

Here is a low effort me combing my hair back to appease the crowd. You see this giant gap? There are multiple of these in the hairline still. At 8 months. This is the issue. Not the direction of my hair.

if you see the post op photos it is clear that the hairline has better implantation density compared to midscalp. So in order to have the bestter looking result you have to change your hairstyle and do not comb your hairs forward.

Also as i said dr yaman implanted grafts between your native hairs and a percentage of them may have been lost due to hair loss progress, thats why you can see some gaps.

Your photos are all with wierd hairstyles seperating your hairs in different directions. As i said hair transplants are an illusion of density and if everyone seperate his hairs in different dirrections it will show "gaps"

Edited May 22 by BaldGuy

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

20 minutes ago, asterix0 said:

It's pretty simple, unfortunately this was no the doctor to handle your case, you have naturally thinner donor hair, it is trickier to handle than thick grafts, perhaps there was some transection which affected your yield.

With a high Norwood case like yours only the top clinics should have touched your head if you wanted a true home run result.

Nevertheless, another procedure can solve your problems, but do your due diligence this time and go to the right clinic for your case. 

Dr. Yaman has succeeded on multiple high norwood cases. The problem is he fails as often as he succeeds from a glance around the forum (which the results were skewed positive when I originally booked. I scoured everything on reddit, and here.) There is no single post here that says "Dr. Yaman cannot handle higher norwood cases" in 2023. There was no amount of due diligence that could have saved me. If Doctors are not recommended to perform certain procedures, they should probably be removed from the recommended list here.

I sincerely hope my donor has enough to handle a larger second procedure due to a potential borf up of the first one. 

Edited May 22 by xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx

[xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx]

5 hours ago, BaldGuy said:

if you see the post op photos it is clear that the hairline has better implantation density compared to midscalp. So in order to have the bestter looking result you have to change your hairstyle and do not comb your hairs forward.

Also as i said dr yaman implanted grafts between your native hairs and a percentage of them may have been lost due to hair loss progress, thats why you can see some gaps.

Your photos are all with wierd hairstyles seperating your hairs in different directions. As i said hair transplants are an illusion of density and if everyone seperate his hairs in different dirrections it will show "gaps"

Look dude. no matter how many times I style it up or change directions it still doesn't change the fact that frontal third density is just not there despite being in a high density transplant area. This can maybe change and improve but its not super likely. Even if all of my hairs were 100% straight up johnny bravo style there's still going to be huge gaps. In the hairline. I will literally do it to prove to you that the frontal third is still trash looking if I absolutely have to.

HOWEVER, this does not matter because I showed the Dr. what I wanted, he agreed with it, and then rearranged the hair in a way that does not support what I want. 

There is a small line of hairs. And then there is nothing. This looks equally as stupid.

Still..i'm not saying anything can't change with a few months, as i'm definitely the slowest grower i've seen, but things are not looking positive at the moment.

Is there improvement? *yes* , but not 4550 grafts worth currently and that is not the issue. The issue is that I have potentially blown out more grafts than I can use on a possible bad procedure.

Edited May 22 by xXFOLICILEDOMINIONXx