2380 grafts per FUE in 5 hours at a renowned clinic???

[GuidoCr]

Dear friends of androgenic alopecia, 

I had a hair transplant (2380 grafts per FUE) on 30th January this year at a renowned clinic in Germany. The surgeon performed the local anaesthesia and the incisions, the rest was done by three assistants. The grafts were inserted by one assistant on the left and one on the right-hand side for instance. 

There were several red flags and ever since the surgery I feel as if I was cheated on the number of grafts they claim to have implanted. 

Firstly, the whole process was completed in 6 hours, including half an hour lunch break and about half an hour sitting in the waiting room at the end for the final review of the doctor. 

Secondly, one of the assistants dropped a comment "Oops, I dropped another two" referring to the grafts she was supposed to implant. 

Thirdly, when the number of 2380 grafts was communicated, the secretary working at the front desk said "Ooh by the looks of it I thought it would be way less".

By contract they were obliged to implant between 2200 and 2400. 

I have friends commenting that I would have less hair now than before the surgery. 

5 months have passed and my questions are as follow:

1. Is it even possible to perform an FUE hair transplant of 2380 grafts in 5 hours? (The incisions and implanting grafts was 1 hour 45 minutes) 

2. Is it possible that they scarred the scalp so much that even the hair I had before was damaged to the extent that it falls out and wouldn't come back? 

3. What do you think about the photos immediately after the surgery and after 5 months? 

I will attach as many photos as I can. 

I dearly thank you for any input you may have!

Best, 

Guido

[Melvin- Admin]

A clinic doing 2,300 grafts in five hours isn't a red flag. That would be a red flag if they couldn't do that many grafts in that time. You have surgeons like Dr. Zarev and Dr. Pittella who do 10,000 grafts in one surgery. You still have plenty of time, there's growth happening, nothing looks alarming.

[GuidoCr]

1 hour ago, Melvin- Admin said:

A clinic doing 2,300 grafts in five hours isn't a red flag. That would be a red flag if they couldn't do that many grafts in that time. You have surgeons like Dr. Zarev and Dr. Pittella who do 10,000 grafts in one surgery. You still have plenty of time, there's growth happening, nothing looks alarming.

Melvin, many thanks for taking the time to review my post! Would you say that even gaps of not only milimetres but a centimetre plus is also normal? Is it possible for new hair to emerge even after 5 months? 

[Melvin- Admin]

1 minute ago, GuidoCr said:

Melvin, many thanks for taking the time to review my post! Would you say that even gaps of not only milimetres but a centimetre plus is also normal? Is it possible for new hair to emerge even after 5 months? 

Absolutely, watch this video 

 

[GuidoCr]

31 minutes ago, Melvin- Admin said:

Absolutely, watch this video 

 

Many thanks for sharing! I assume I'll simply have to wait for another couple of months at least. 

[Al - Moderator]

The amount of time to transplant grafts varies a lot from clinic to clinic. Some places will have more people working on you and can get it done faster. A 2300 graft procedure in 6 hours falls in the normal range unless you know it usually takes a lot longer for that particular clinic to transplant that amount of grafts. It can look worse before it gets better because you can get shock loss of the surrounding area. That looks to be what happened to you. Give it another month or two to see if it's improving.

 

 

[GuidoCr]

2 hours ago, Al - Moderator said:

The amount of time to transplant grafts varies a lot from clinic to clinic. Some places will have more people working on you and can get it done faster. A 2300 graft procedure in 6 hours falls in the normal range unless you know it usually takes a lot longer for that particular clinic to transplant that amount of grafts. It can look worse before it gets better because you can get shock loss of the surrounding area. That looks to be what happened to you. Give it another month or two to see if it's improving.

 

 

Hi! Many thanks for your input, much appreciated!! They said it would take a full day when discussing the procedure. There were just a few incidents that left me in doubt. I have listed a few in the original post, but also adding to that, the assistants confirmed that the doctor had a bad night and was very tired. That's why I believe he came in early immediately saying "we are done here, finish up". The secretary at the front desk seeing numerous procedures also commented "Oh I thought it would have been way less" with respect to the number of grafts. 

The density after the procedure for the first two weeks before the shock loss also left me in doubt. There were and are still gaps of not millimetres, but centimetres. 

Based on the time frame, they would have had to implant a graft every 2,27 seconds. Since there were two, every 4,5 seconds a graft would have had to be implanted. I didn't see it, but it didn't feel like it. 

Many thanks for taking the time to support me in my journey!!!