Need some advice ..

[HonestApe]

Hi Folks,

Wanted to say that there is a wealth of information in this forum and would like to thank everyone for sharing their experiences with the community, and in the same vain, i would like to share my experience to seek some advice and to help add to the education of anyone thinking about HT surgery.

The cost associated with an HT surgery had been always the major hurdle for me as i am supporting my family and my very ill father. But after years of saving a bit for myself i was able to set aside a small deposit.

So, in 2008, for my birthday, i decided to bite the bullet and get the procedure. After shopping around i found a surgeon that claimed to offer the same quality as any other doctor i had spoken to so far at an affordable cost. I knew an acquaintance that has a procedure there so i felt some what comfortable. What i didn't realize at the time was this person was a Norwood 2 and i was a Norwood 5A.

So at the consult, i was told everything i wanted to hear. According to their analysis i required 4500 Follicular units performed in two session, 1st yielding 3000-3500 and then the second with 1500-1000 grafts to address my entire balding area. The donor scar was to be closed with tricho closure and i was to have an undetectable hairline.

During the first surgery, I was assured that according to their precise and patented measuring technique, the donor area will produce 3500 FU. When in fact they only extracted 2500 FUs. This was first of many inconsistencies.

During the recovery i noticed some alarming signs, The hair direction was completely random, the graft sites were very visible and bumpy, the coverage and density was very low and the scar was wide and rough, but i remained calm and give it time.

1 year later, i couldn't take it anymore. The hair had grown in and it was a disaster. I had a tuft of coarse hair at the hairline and a blatantly visible scar at the back of my head. I contacted the doctor to get an explanation as to why i looked this bad. He admitted that the results were alarming and that he needed to perform a second emergency procedure to make the adjustments. So i retuned for a second time.

Again i was told that they will extract 2500 FU, but managed to get 1500. the second surgery changed nothing other then widen and add track marks to the scar.

It has been a year since the second surgery and i am very disappointed. not a day has passed that i haven't wished i never did the procedure. I am beginning to develop a ring mark on my scalp due to the constant hat wear. I fell into cycles of deep depression and am on medication and therapy. My life has been living hell for the past 2 years.

Also as a result of this experience, i lost my job, my fiancée and destroyed my credit.

I am considering repair work but once again financing is an issue, and i don't want to make the same mistakes again. So i am hoping that this community can shed some light on what would be the best course of action moving forward.