Had the surgery/ not sure it was a good decision

[Jarhead0311]

I'm 45 yrs old. Started losing hair at around 30 yrs old.
I was a member if the hair club for around 12-13yrs. I got sick of it and after doin a lot of research decided to have a HT with Dr. Nicholas Agnessi in Ohio.
I had 3042 graft/strip done.2000+ grafts in front and 1000 in the crown. I'm 6 months post op and I am not happy at all so far. My hair is thin and sparce. I new I wouldn't have a thick density with 2000 grafts in front but this is ridiculous. In getting a bit scared at this point. Does anyone know (from experience) if my hair will continue to grow at this point. Maybe thicken a bit. I have been doing crazy research and it seems everyone has a different opinion. I've heard at 6 months what is grown in is what your gonna get. That it will thicken a bit tho. Then I've heard that at 6 months is when a lot if guys get most if their growth (between 6-8 months). Which is it? I'm going crazy and I really am starting to regret my decision. I'm hoping for words of encouragement but I also want the truth. Please.

[csoul]

I also did a lot of research before finally decide to have my surgery in 4 weeks but you will find a lot of cases and photos of dramatic growth between the 6th and the 12th Month so I recommend you to relax a little bit and wait another 6 months.

Important Question... Is the Doctor that did the surgery a IAHRS Doctor? If Yes then I would not worry... yet... If not... then I would definitively contact a local IAHRS for a consultation.

[Delphi]

I'm 45 yrs old. Started losing hair at around 30 yrs old.
I was a member if the hair club for around 12-13yrs. I got sick of it and after doin a lot of research decided to have a HT with Dr. Nicholas Agnessi in Ohio.
I had 3042 graft/strip done.2000+ grafts in front and 1000 in the crown. I'm 6 months post op and I am not happy at all so far. My hair is thin and sparce. I new I wouldn't have a thick density with 2000 grafts in front but this is ridiculous. In getting a bit scared at this point. Does anyone know (from experience) if my hair will continue to grow at this point. Maybe thicken a bit. I have been doing crazy research and it seems everyone has a different opinion. I've heard at 6 months what is grown in is what your gonna get. That it will thicken a bit tho. Then I've heard that at 6 months is when a lot if guys get most if their growth (between 6-8 months). Which is it? I'm going crazy and I really am starting to regret my decision. I'm hoping for words of encouragement but I also want the truth. Please.

Slow growth can happen and while IAHRS doctors are considered to be the best in the world, there are probably some good ones who are not part of any organization, so don't be too worried just because your doctor is not in the IAHRS. This does not automatically mean you got bad work done.

It's not a bad idea to get a second opinion if you are worried though. You should also post some pics so people can give you better advise.

[deep84]

I wouldn't be concerned at 6 months post-op. I expressed the same concerns at 6 months post-op with my surgeon and I was told that between 8-10 months is when I would start to see dramatic results. I am now at 9 months post-op and my hairline is starting to fill in. The thing is you may have considerable growth already at your stage, but the hair is colorless, thin, and difficult to see by the naked eye. At 8-10 months is when the hair shaft starts to take on color and thicken, and at about 1 year, give or take. is when you should see the end results. Hope this helps.

[35YrsAfter]

The toughest part of hair transplant surgery is waiting for the hair to grow. You need to try to be patient and realize that the hair can grow for a while at a fine caliber, offering little to no cosmetic benefit. As the hair continues to grow, the hair shaft diameter nearly always increases, providing some coverage. Results depend upon the doctor and his technician's skills/methods and your donor characteristics. Did you get a good strip scar? If they are going to widen, that usually happens around the third month post op.

35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
forhair.com
Cole Hair Transplant
1045 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email 35YrsAfter at chuck@forhair.com
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

[topcat]

It depends on your expectations and it is still early to judge, best to wait until 12 months.

3000 grafts probably represents about 7000-9000 hairs approximately. If you have 50,000 hairs on the top of your head alone this would represent a 16% increase in density over a NW6 pattern. So it all comes down to basic math. How much area was covered with those grafts and was there hair in those areas before surgery.

You should post some pictures.

[Jarhead0311]

Thanks guys,
My other concerns are lighting. In darker light it appears sometimes that I have ok coverage. In brighter light or when I step outside in the daylight my hair looks virtually non existant. I'm trying to figure out hiw to post pics on my thread. Bare with me Fellas

[gillenator]

Jarhead,

An individual's hair characteristics can vary greatly as you probably are already aware of. The better quality of hair especially hair caliber is critical in attaining the illusion of coverage. The brighter the light, the more ultra-violet rays reflect off of the scalp and why your coverage may not appear as well as you had hoped.

Still, as others have already stated, it is early to fully evaluate what the matured result will look like in another 6-8 months. You may very well decide that another pass would provide the additional coverage or better visual coverage. Very few men can get by with one procedure and that is a consideration that should be made even before the first procedure is done.

Equally important to the graft count is to define the surface area where the grafts were placed. The further apart they are from each other, the less dense the result. So to be more specific, one needs to understand the "level of density" that was achieved and then compared to one's native density. So were you given the actual FU per cm2 count by chance?

If the individual can gain back at least 40-50% of original density, the result should be adequate in attaining visual coverage. Again, this is where hair caliber becomes critical. If the individual has a very fine grade of caliber then more grafts may be needed even above 50%, so again there are variables in the equation.

Lastly, I think you will see much improvement in the coming months and let us know how things turn out in another six months or so.

Best wishes to you...

[gillenator]

Also, did you by chance serve or are now serving as a Marine?

[Jarhead0311]

Gillinator,
When I was a younger man I had a very heavy density. As I am getting older it's still pretty good. I would say a medium density. I was hoping to get by with one surgery. Even tho it's early I will probably opt to get another 1000-1500 grafts in the near future. I know I'm judging my HT too early but it's hard not to.
Yes I was in the Marine Corp for 6 years. 0311 Infantry.