Crown is lagging behind [13 months post HT]

[4 Strings]

Hello everybody,

Let me introduce myself.
I'm Mitch from The Netherlands and I started balding when I was 24 years old.
After a few years full of insecurity I decided to do a hair transplant in Turkey.

I've had a FUE/DHI & robotic hair transplant. They have transplanted 3503 grafts all over my head including my crown which was the main reason to do the hair transplant in the first place. My hairloss was most persistent on my crown.

It's been almost 13 months now so a FULL year and I'm partly satisfied with my results so far. The frontal and middle zone of my hair has really improved a lot but I'm very confused about my crown. I do notice new hairs on my crown but you can clearly see that he is behind the rest.

My aftercare assistant from the clinic which I have contact with each month tells me to be patience and that the hairs on the crown will start growing in but I have less and less confidence now that I'm over a year later and still not fully grown in. They keep telling me that crowns grow in between 1 and 2 years. The blood circulation is is a lot less there, so it takes longer for the grafts to grow. Is this true or false information?

Immediately after the treatment, when I flew back home, I took home 1000 euros (year supply) worth of aftercare products in the form of hair vitamins, hair serum, special shampoo and mesotherapy + derma roller (with those needles). I use the hair vitamins, hair serum + shampoo every day and still and the derma roller + mesotherapy 1x a month too. Even bought some new batches for the upcoming months.

I've read lot's of patience have done PRP treatments after the hair transplant but I haven't. Is PRP still meaningful after 12 months or should you start as soon as possible after surgery? Otherwise I'll have to think about it.

So I was already worried about my crown and even more so today. I just went to the hairdresser and had a slightly shorter haircut and now you seem to see my crown even more probably because the hairs have thinned out with cutting.

Who can reassure me and say that my crown will still be okay or is there a big chance that I will have to undergo a 2nd hair transplant later? That's something I'm really not looking forward to. It has cost me quite a bit of money & pain now. My girlfriend says it's not that bad and that you can clearly see a difference. I have always had very blond and thin hair and certain light can also mislead you. When I'm outside in the daylight I think yes it's not that bad, but as soon as I'm in the bathroom and I'm under the spotlights I think again, gosh, it almost looks like how it was before the hair transplant.

Pictures from before hairtransplant and after (now) attached. Some with hairwax styled and some without.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story and help me out!

Regards,

Mitch

 

[Bigmac]

Hello Mitch. Welcome to the forum.
It’s hard to tell the result from your pictures. 3500 for mainly the crown is a lot of grafts.
Do you have any pictures that the clinic took on the day of surgery? If you could post better quality pictures, a better assessment can be made.
Which clinic did you go to?

 

[4 Strings]

Hello Mitch. Welcome to the forum.
It’s hard to tell the result from your pictures. 3500 for mainly the crown is a lot of grafts.
Do you have any pictures that the clinic took on the day of surgery? If you could post better quality pictures, a better assessment can be made.
Which clinic did you go to?

Hello Bigmac,

First of all thanks for replying. Means allot to me.

I went to "Natural Hair Turkey" they changed their name recently to "Natural Clinic". The whole process was very professional. Very big and clean clinic but not only they concentrate on hairtransplants they do lot's of other plastic surgery's. If I am correct they have more clinics than the one in Istanbul. The only point I am not happy about is the assistance via Whatsapp for aftercare. They keep on telling I need more patience and need to keep using their products but when I am worried about things and question them about those things they just don't give me any detailed information except that I need to be patience. That's why I went to search for some websites/forums where other experts do help me.

Yes I have a few pictures from directly after the hair transplant. Please find them attached to this post.
Hope you have a better view and idea this way. As you can see not all grafts went into my crown.
Their idea was to realise more density on the overall head but my main reason was the crown so I am not sure how many grafts they have placed in my crown area. They never told me. But as you can see on the post surgery pictures they have placed enough grafts around the back of my head in the crown area. But I also see quite some space between the grafts overthere so I am not sure what to expect in density.
I'm very happy with the rest of my head, front and middle but it's really the back of my head, the crown that I am still worried about after 13 months.

 

[Bigmac]

Is this their website?

https://naturalhairturkey.com/

Are these pictures the same day of the surgery? I’m trying to figure the density and number of grafts they placed. It would be a good idea to ask them for a breakdown of how many grafts were placed in each area.

 

[4 Strings]

Is this their website?
https:// naturalhairturkey. com/

Are these pictures the same day of the surgery? I’m trying to figure the density and number of grafts they placed. It would be a good idea to ask them for a breakdown of how many grafts were placed in each area.

Hi Bigmac,

Yes that's their website and yes these pictures we're taken very soon afterwords the operation. I could ask but I'm not sure if they save and report that kind of patients information?

 

[Bigmac]

I would try as it’s beneficial to know.
Were the surgery pictures the day of surgery?

 

[4 Strings]

I would try as it’s beneficial to know.
Were the surgery pictures the day of surgery?

Yes taken the same day. My gf who was with me took them in the hotel room afterwords when we came back from the clinic.
I will send them a message asking if they can say something about that but I wouldn't be surprised if they can't comment on that question.

 

[Bigmac]

I don’t know how refined their work is which would allow higher density placing of the grafts. If every scab you have is a graft with nothing in between then it looks like they have not planted enough grafts in the crown.
Who knows if you actually got the numbers they said.
Have you any pictures of the extractions after the bandage was removed?

 

[4 Strings]

I don’t know how refined their work is which would allow higher density placing of the grafts. If every scab you have is a graft with nothing in between then it looks like they have not planted enough grafts in the crown.
Who knows if you actually got the numbers they said.
Have you any pictures of the extractions after the bandage was removed?

No unfortunately I don't have any pictures of my donor area after the surgery. I assume they have placed the number of grafts that they told me. It's unhuman and would be scam if they didn't right? I do get the feeling more day by day that I've selected the wrong clinic. I did let the barber cut my hair more than before since the hair transplant and this morning I was just crying in the mirror looking at the result on my crown so far. This hairstyle seemed to have openen up the crown more than the other hairstyle which was much longer. I really don't know what to do right now. The clinic just keeps on telling me I have to wait. I do feel several small & hard hairs between the longer ones so I have the feeling some grafts are still growing but the size of the crown is still truly ridiculous. It seems that I am one of the unlucky few.

 

[4 Strings]

Just talked to the clinic again and they keep on telling me that things improved and I have to be patient.
What are you thoughts @Bigmac Can things still improve much from month 13 till month 18 or even longer?
Maybe because I'm blond and always had very thing hair it takes longer and I'm one of the few "late growers"?

 

[Bigmac]

If the scabs/grafts that I can see are the only ones planted in the crown area then I’d have to question the numbers they say you got.

Your crown looks pretty much the same as it did before surgery.
The vitamins etc they sold you are overpriced and not required. You’d be able to buy them at a fraction of the cost from most health outlets.

For crowns, Finasteride/Dut are the most effective. Oral minoxidil is one I’m watching to see how people who use it on it’s own progress.

Your fine blonde hair and scalp/skin colour will also work against you for a non see through look.

Could you ask your partner to take some clear pictures in natural light, no flash and post them individually to show the crown and hairline.
The first montage of pictures you posted aren’t clear enough, although they do seem to show very little to no coverage.

 

[Bigmac]

Just talked to the clinic again and they keep on telling me that things improved and I have to be patient.
What are you thoughts @Bigmac Can things still improve much from month 13 till month 18 or even longer?
Maybe because I'm blond and always had very thing hair it takes longer and I'm one of the few "late growers"?

Some people do experience a bit more growth up to 18 months but I don’t think that you will achieve enough to make a noticeable difference.
Usually, it is maturing of the hair after 12 months.

 

[4 Strings]

Here you have some HQ photo's taken a few days/weeks ago. If they aren't good enough I'll ask my partner to make a few new ones later on this week. She has checked my crown this afternoon in good daylight with the eyes very close and she told me lot's of small & thin hairs are coming through the scalp. We also feel them going through the hairs on my crown slightly with our fingers.

 

[Bigmac]

With some luck you will get more growth. There is not a significant visual difference that I can see. I think they just did not place enough grafts. Hopefully, I’m proven wrong.

 

[4 Strings]

With some luck you will get more growth. There is not a significant visual difference that I can see. I think they just did not place enough grafts. Hopefully, I’m proven wrong.

Thank you for your time so far @Bigmac I'll just wait and see what happens the next few months before jumping to conclusions. Everybody is different and unique so I hope there is still progress to be made. I hope that I'm just an extreme late grower. I have read enough websites and watched video's where they say especially crowns could take up to 18 months till even 2 full years to fully grow and mature. If it hasn't gotten better in six months and I'm still not satisfied, I'll have to think about doing a 2nd hair transplant purely concentrated on the crown. Overall, I'm happy with the results on the rest of my head so far, it's just that stupid crown area.

 

[Bigmac]

Ok, well good luck with it and keep staying positive.