Thanks for your reply. I've seen a couple of dermatologists who have also confirmed MPB. I've attached a picture of my crown and a hair density image of the middle of my scalp. You can see minituarization in the hair density image and you can also see some thinning in my crown pic (around my crown). I'm pretty sure it's MPB, but please feel free to comment on the pics, or let me know if you want other pics. You've seen a pic of my hairline, although i'm just getting over 10 months of intense shedding, so i'm hoping everything starts to fill back again, as it was pre-op. Also, I had a hair pathology done by a derm, who said i'm shedding 60% of the hairs on the top of my head and 8% in the donor area, so it's definitely just MPB. My dads is 65 and has been an NW4 now for about 15 years.
Just before my surgery, i had a massive shed on my hairline, due to minoxidil. I foolishly started using it 2 months before my op. When i had the FUE surgery, i had very little native hair on my hairline, as it had all shed. I think the doc definitely MUST have damaged existing hair, which doesn't seem to have grown back. The grafted hairs haven't grown either, so my hairline looks terrible now. I don't think anyone should do a HT whilst they're in the middle of a agressive shed.
Gillenator, are the chances of a succesfull transplant to my hairline now much less likely, now that i've had a failed operation in that area? I've read that the area operated on gets saturated with scar tissue and blood flow becomes poor ?
Also, are there some people who just can't have a HT ? i.e. their scalp won't accept transplanted hairs ? Have you ever heard of this? My derm told me i don't have any type of strange alopecia (like scarring alopecia), just MPB. I'm really skeptical about FUE now and might go for strip next time. I see all these great results posted online and can't believe i've had no growth. My HT surgeon was recomended by IAHRS by the way.
Thanks for the picture Folly. I agree with others after seeing your first picture that you definitely did not need a hair transplant. You had a great head of hair for a 28 year old. Nowadays in our modern lifestyle, and yes that is what I believe is causing hair loss not some genetic programming, most guys at 28 are going bald. You sound a little like me. Most people would have told me I was crazy for getting an HT since I have more hair on my head than most guys my age. I'm 45. I also was a little greedy and wanted my hair to look like it did when I was 20. I am thinning across the top of my head but the only place you could see a little balding was on the very top of the crown which bugged me. the rest of my head was covered with hair but the doctor convinced me I was seriously thinning through the entire top and I got 3000 grafts done. It seems like a lot but they tell you it wont cover a lot since you have 40000 through the entire zone of mpb. Well anyway I am post opt 2 months now and I believe I may be a tiny bit thinner across the entire tope where all the grafts were done. It doesn't appear I have suffered a major shock loss but I am unclear how long that can happen. Some people say after 2 weeks you are safe but others say they had shock loss 2 months after HT. The big thing for me is the growth of the transplanted hairs. Of course right now I cant see anything growing after 2 months but by the sixth month out I am hoping I see something. If not you will have a friend in the pissed off category.
I am sorry I don't have any pics. I never thought to take any before the HT but since I am only 2 months out I guess i could take some now. I will try to get to it. My crown is a thinner than yours and about twice as big.
Most HT patients experience shockloss approximately 3-4 weeks post-op. You obviously are already aware that the degree of shockloss varies between patients. IMHO, it is the level of trauma caused to the recipient area from the incisions, and sometimes can even impact the donor zone.
You might even notice more thinning on top of your head in the next month or so before the regrowth begins.
You also sound like a good candidate for Propecia because you have alot of native hair left that is susceptible to DHT.
Let us know how things develop for you in the coming months and best wishes to you.
NOTE: I am not a physician and not employed by any doctor/clinic. My opinions are not medical advice nor are they the opinions of the following endorsing physicians: Dr. Bob True & Dr. Bob Dorin
I have been meaning to reply to you and thanks for the updated pic. No question IMHO, that there are some grafts coming through at the hairline area that you circled in red. The hair that is coming through that appears "crinkled" are the grafts.
Your case is somewhat difficult for the following reasons:
1) How experienced was you docotr in FUE?
2) IMHO, you should have been re-scheduled for the procedure because of the shedding of your exisiting hair from the intial use of starting minoxidil. Did you inform your doctor of this?
3) It appears very possible that transection was done to exisitng hair follicles in the recipient area because of the lack of exisitng hair and why your surgery should have pushed ahead for 9 months. That would have given the shed area a chance to recoup and regrow what was once there. That way your surgeon would clearly see where he should have not made incisions, he would have seen the angulation of your exisitng hair and made the accomodating recipient incisions at the appropriate angles.
4) It is diffucult to conclude why the new grafts are not growing 9 months post-op. I think it could be from initially starting Propecia in the last several months. Yes, no question that you should be on it HOWEVER, it is the timing of starting something new so quickly post-op. I truly believe the minoxidil caused the first shed however starting another hairloss drug so quickly may be affecting "any" of the follicles in the recipioent area from entering the growing phase. So both exisitng follicles that were not damaged and the new transplanted follicles may be lingering in the resting phase at present. The test results from your derm confirm this with 60% of them in the shed/dormant phase. That's very high.
5) You may experience a delay in the regrowth period with all of this worry. So reaaly try and listen to Tracy and do not allow stress to take over. Stress will compound the problem and hold back the regrowth period further.
6) If you still have these issues one year post-op or so, you will at least have a better idea of how much exisitng hair was permanently damaged and also get an idea of how successful the FUE was.
Whatever you do, STOP TRYING NEW PRODUCTS. I highly recommned that you take a vacation, get away, fill your time with fun activity and forget about you hair for awhile.
Some will advise you to start taking MSM, scalp invigorators, scalp cleansers, etc, etc. Some will even advise you to start using laser therapy!
Let your follicles chill and rest. They have been through enough for now, no sense to keep introducing new products and chemicals, herbals, supplements, and on and on.
If you want to email me more pics in the future that's fine. I think you'll find more growth coming with a little more time.
Wow, thaty was a mouthful and hope you do well in the future my friend.
NOTE: I am not a physician and not employed by any doctor/clinic. My opinions are not medical advice nor are they the opinions of the following endorsing physicians: Dr. Bob True & Dr. Bob Dorin
I was just about to mention Morelocks comment about Gillenator. I REALLY appreciate your help with my case Gillenator. You've replied to numerous posts of mine with lots of critical information and advice. I don't really know anything about you, but you obviously are an expert in MPB/HT. I'm assuming you work in the industry. Regardless, thanks for you help and i just wish i had met someone like you last year, before i made the mistake of having a HT.
To answer your question.
1) How experienced was you docotr in FUE?
I would say VERY experienced at FUE. I'm not mentioning his name, but he is IAHRS registered and has some impressive results on these forums with FUE.
2) IMHO, you should have been re-scheduled for the procedure because of the shedding of your exisiting hair from the intial use of starting minoxidil. Did you inform your doctor of this?
Yes, my surgeon knew about it. I started minoxidil in February. Met with my HT surgeon in March and we agreed on 800-900 grafts. Started shedding A LOT of hair on my hairline 1 week after this consultation. At the end of April, i went for surgery and my HT surgeon was stunned with how much hair i had lost on my hairline, in the 1 month since our original constulation. He then suggested increasing the grafts from 900 to 1,250, to which i agreed. He gave me a very juvenile hairline (which was a big mistake in retrospect), as you can see from the red lines in my hairline pic. I got all excited when he drew the outline of my new hairline and would have paid for 10,000 grafts if he's asked. Obviously, he was creating recipient sites into good native hair, which had gone into resting phase from the minoxidil.
4) It is diffucult to conclude why the new grafts are not growing 9 months post-op. I think it could be from initially starting Propecia in the last several months. Yes, no question that you should be on it HOWEVER, it is the timing of starting something new so quickly post-op. I truly believe the minoxidil caused the first shed however starting another hairloss drug so quickly may be affecting "any" of the follicles in the recipioent area from entering the growing phase. So both exisitng follicles that were not damaged and the new transplanted follicles may be lingering in the resting phase at present. The test results from your derm confirm this with 60% of them in the shed/dormant phase. That's very high.
Gillenator, i believe i know why my grafts haven't grown. I recently met with a well respected HT rep and i showed him the pic below. This is a pic of a tranplanted hair that grew on my hairline and seemed to just die and fall off. I saw this happen to most of my grafts which grew from months 3-9. He said that this has happened because the actual follicle beneath the skin has been damaged from the FUE procedure. I was suprised, as i thought if a follicle is damaged from the FUE process, it won't grow hair AT ALL. Would a damaged follicle produce a damaged hair ? This happend to most of my grafts, as i saw it with my USB scope. Maybe this happens to a lot of FUE patients, but they don't know about it as they don't have a scope. So, this is why i believe i've had poor growth.
Thanks for your reply mate. Good luck with the growth Jimmy. I think some people are very susceptible to shock loss, which i believe i am. I shed for 9 months after my procedure. I have very fine hair too, which may be a factor. I'm sure that won't be happening to you though. My intense shedding started 3 weeks after surgery. Good luck !!
Gillenator, u seem like one hell of a nice and helpful guy.
Wish I'd found someone like u a few years back when I was going through this hell and was very clueless about this industry
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and that people like me defo appreciate all the input from people like yourself.
Have a great weekend
Morelocks,
My word. Thank so much for the kind words. That is very humbling and encouraging to know that I am appreciated. Listen my friend, feel free to email me anytime or call my office. Actually, I was around a few years back and sorry you were not aware of that.
Sorry to hear about what you were going through. That's exactly why I do what I do as an independent patient advocate. I can speak totally unbiasly with truth, and not get involved in the sales or money!
Anyways, glad to be of help and wish you the very best in life.
NOTE: I am not a physician and not employed by any doctor/clinic. My opinions are not medical advice nor are they the opinions of the following endorsing physicians: Dr. Bob True & Dr. Bob Dorin
Folly although this does not help you picking a doctor off a recommended list is not always a good strategy and others should be aware of this and it doesn’t matter which list.
I’m curious about the punch sizes used in your case. I have seen some European doctors claiming to use a .5 mm punch and in some of the cases the yield appears to be very low. Just wondering if the punch size might have been a factor. I would also be curious if it was a hand punch or a mechanized device.
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Originally Posted by morelocks
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