My FUE Experience

[titansfan777]

So I posted this on a different forum, but nobody responds there, so I will post my experience here. Since a few months have passed since the surgery, I will throw my posts on here to catch you guys up

Hopefully you guys can chime in with what ya think!

[titansfan777]

So the day before thanksgiving 2014 I had 2,000 grafts done. I had a great surgery and everything went as planned.

The recovery was easy and on day 10 I got a haircut. I instructed them to not touch the recipient area and she did a great job of not touching the area minus running the clippers over it accidentally right where it met with the regular hair. But she barely touched it so I didn't care, even though it made my heart skip a beat when she did it.

Anyway, almost none of the scabs/crusts were falling off even with me washing it as instructed (wait 3 days after surgery, then use a cup of warm water + baby shampoo + lightly massaging). So I put a little argan oil on my hair before I went to bed yesterday and voila - all of the crust started falling off this afternoon.

So I washed my hair this afternoon and all of the crust is off of my head...however, tons of hair came off with the crust - I mean I may have lost 500-1000. Some pieces had 2-4 hairs in them. I did not see anything that looked like a bulb at the end but the hairs were so tiny and my eyesight isn't the best. I am wondering how many hairs with the bulbs I lost?

Anyway, I lost hundreds and hundreds of hairs all in one day here which seemed a bit over the top. I understand the hair will start to fall out around two weeks, but this just seemed startling to lose that many and right at two weeks on the dot. I figured I would lose a bunch every day for a couple of weeks, but not all of it in only the span of one afternoon. Has this happened to anyone here? And if so, what did they say/what did you find out? Is this normal?

[titansfan777]

MAY 10th 2015

Anyway, I have been waiting patiently these last 5.5 months for the progress to start to visibly show, yet my hair looks noticeably worse it did prior to surgery. Shedding in the front half of my hair has also increased exponentially and has been crazy ever since a few weeks after the surgery. I can run my hand through my hair and when I look at my hand there are a dozen fairly long (inch or so) hairs between my fingers. It has been like this for months and has not slowed down a bit.

2 weeks ago, my doctor said he saw lots of growth, and he would have a better view of it than I would looking at a mirror, but I do not see anything happening, not even when I really get up close and examine it. I asked if they were just very lightly colored thin hairs and he said no and that they were fairly dark and looked like normal hair.

I know it wont be for about another year until everything is at full maturity, but at 5.5 months, I felt that I would see slight noticeable progress, or at lest feel some stubble starting to emerge from my scalp. So far, however, there has been nothing at all, and it is starting to be slightly concerning. Some people have said that they get small pimples in the recipient area not too long before the hair starts to emerge, but I have not had this yet.

My doctor set up an appointment for an 8 month checkup for the beginning of August. Hopefully I see some real progress over this summer. I seem to be checking all over every day when I wake up (like a kid on christmas!) for any signs, but nothing yet. I understand this is a slow process to get hair back where I want it, but I am starting to get a bit concerned with the lack of progress so far. Should I be starting to be a little concerned yet or am I blowing things out of proportion?

I unfortunately have no photos to post of me the day before surgery, but just looking in the mirror and comparing it to what I remember it looking like last fall is what I have relied on.

I would love input from other people on the forum, and I plan on keeping this as a monthly update thread hopefully.

[titansfan777]

MAY 11th 2015

Here is 5.5 months. I hadn't cut my hair since surgery in late November. At this point I was getting frustrated with the lack of growth but understood it would take time to see results. My doctor visit one week prior included by doctor saying he saw lots of growth. This growth I did not see at all and even though I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, just off of memory, the result at this point was actually worse than what my hairline looked like before surgery. Here are the pics from 5/11/15:

[titansfan777]

JUNE 11th 2015

Well it has been 6.5 months now roughly. Here are some pictures taken yesterday of what it looks like. The lighting isn't the best but it was all I had to work with. I also got a haircut since the long hair was kind of unmanageable and would clump in areas kind of which would expose scalp where I had surgery. I have an appointment for a (roughly) 9 month follow up scheduled in mid August. Having talked to others who have had the same surgery (but by different doctors) they feel it is looking rather pathetic at this point in time. Considering I had thicker hair before surgery and I haven't seen any real growth (I look daily), I am starting to side with them. I know your supposed to be patient, but the anger and frustration grows by the day. Currently, it has gotten to the point where I do not even like to leave the house really and I hate being in public. I hope things start to change soon, but at this time, I am thoroughly disappointed and miserable. I would love some input from the forum members if they see any improvement which I may be missing. I emailed my doctor who did the surgery to request my pre-op photos. He used to answer my emails before surgery - now, he hasnt responded to my last 2 emails. This seems rather rude, and I cant call him due to me working 3rd shifts.

[titansfan777]

Well it has been 8 months as of next Wednesday. Honestly it looks even shittier now than before in my opinion. I honestly think this thing has been a failure as of this point. Hopefully I am a late bloomer and something up there happens in the next few weeks but at this point I am probably at the lowest I have ever been in my life. This has absolutely destroyed the self esteem of me. I am pretty much wanting to never go outside anymore and it has started to affect my social life. So far I would say my doctor and his technicians who did the surgery did a very shitty job. Maybe I am overreacting, but I truly am at my wits end. My doctor still hasn't responded to emails for my before pics and it has frustrated me so much. It is so insanely frustrating to see others have great growth on many forums at this point and I am just going backwards at an alarming rate. I honestly just about cry when looking over these pics and watching this horrible progression. Can anyone see any growth? I feel like if anything, it has gotten worse in the last month alone. Anyone?

[titansfan777]

Thank you for your reply,

The place I went to was not a dedicated hair restoration clinic, but a general plastic surgery place more or less.

I followed my post op care sheet instructions to a t. Including how to wash the hair gently with a cup of lukewarm water and baby shampoo after a few days. I sprayed the hairline with saline post surgery for a few days as instructed, and honestly everything was going great.I met with my doctor on day 14 and he said everything looked great. On day 14 that night, I put a little argon oil in my hair as told and it immediately got all the crust out - and all of the hairs as well. Literally hundreds and hundreds of hairs fell out. This was quite alarming but I just assumed it was the shed I was to expect at 2 weeks post op.

I also took all my meds I was prescribed for before during and after the surgery, and I also started taking Finasteride starting the next day. At this point that is all that I am taking.

Well now here we are and I dont know what happened. It truly looks terrible and is quite disheartening. I live in San Antonio not too far from you in Houston and got the procedure done here as well. I am pretty much in shock of how horrible I look at this point - especially with little to no noticeable growth. My hair in the front is wispy and wiry when it wasn't before the surgery as well.

In your opinion (or anyone as well on this board), how likely is it/how often do you see a major jump in growth this far down the line?

[J_B_Davis]

If I were you I would consider seeking a second opinion. Since you are close to Dr. Rashid, you might want to take advantage of that. After 8 months there should be some significant growth. Was the surgery performed by the plastic surgeon or was it a group of technicians doing both the extracting and placement. Were they using a NeoGraft machine? The good news is you only had 2000 grafts so still have more in the bank if you don't see results in the next couple of months. Good luck!

[titansfan777]

It was a neogaft and the doctor would come in for a little bit at a time but it was probably 80% done by his two technicians.

I would love to see him, but my schedule pretty much does not allow me any time off at this moment. Does that even look remotely close to 2000 grafts done in the front?

[J_B_Davis]

It's difficult to say, but if you did receive 2000 grafts, it's possible that you are just a very slow grower. By the 6 month mark most people will see a good amount of growth and by 8 months most of the hair has popped and will mature even more up until month 12 or so. Don't give up hope, but if you can find the time you should have an IAHRS surgeon like Dr. Rashid check you out. I don't know if he charges for consultations, but I think it would be worth it. He would be able to tell if you had 2000 grafts placed and if they are growing or not. He can also assess your donor area and if you were a good candidate for surgery in the first place. If I were you I would find the time to see an expert.

[titansfan777]

Here is a picture from last month on 6/12/15:


I have let the hair continue to grow since that picture, and I wash it thoroughly over couple days.

Yeah, the more I look over photos the less confidence I have in the procedure I got. The doctor/patient relationship is pretty much non existent in this case, with him only communicating if I initiate contact, and even so, it is a 5 minute appointment with him and the rest of the time I am with his 2 assistants for the remaining 10 minutes or so.

I was already planning on getting a second procedure done to hit the crown area, but it looks like I may have another surgery after that at this rate...which makes me nervous because I don't know how many surgeries I can have before I run out of donor hair. Is there a rough amount back there that I should be aware of? I mean I already used 2000 grafts from the back - how many more do I have left before it starts to look noticeably less full back there?

[J_B_Davis]

Only a qualified hair transplant surgeon can make that assessment for you.

[pkipling]

While it's true that there is no 100% guarantee with any medical procedure, this highlights for me the importance of doing thorough research and finding a top surgeon in the field when choosing to get a hair transplant. I really hope that this turns around for you and you end up with the results you were expecting. If you don't however, I would look into other options and get opinions with some recommended doctors.

Personally, I would make sure to always go to a doctor that only does hair transplants exclusively. It's my personal opinion, but I would trust a doctor who specializes in any one thing much more than a "general plastic surgery" facility. Take that into consideration if you end up needing to look elsewhere for improved results.

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My opinions/comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.