3200 FUT grafts, 15 months later, how does it look?

[TwoAndHalfNorwood]

Hello,

I had a FUT with 3200 grafts done 15 months ago in Europe (at age 39), for the price of around 9500 euros. The goal was to achieve a bit more youthful hairline.

Since I don't have much judgement when it comes to hair-transplants, I would like to ask the more experienced people in this forum to give some feedback on the results. At this point I won't share more details about where the procedure was done, so that I won't affect your opinion in advance with any preconceived notions.

First, here are photos one week after the operation, showing you the recipient area:

Below are current photos, 15 months after the operation:

Below are photos taken before the operation, for the sake of comparison (the lighting, my pose, and camera positioning are a bit different):

Finally, I tried to estimate the recipient area graft density from a close-up photo. The average density is probably somewhere between 45-75 grafts per square centimeter.

P.S. Here are three more photos, 11 months after the operation:

 

[Bigmac]

Overall this looks like a nice result. The hairline has a staggered pattern with only singles from what I can make out from your pictures. The only part I see which in my opinion could have been done differently is the angulation of some of the grafts on your right temple points. The hairs are growing straight ba k when they would usually be in a downward angle. I’ve marked it below. The hairs are darker here which makes them stand out more to me. However, I’m looking for it whereas most people would probably not notice anything.
At 39 would you say your hair loss has stabilised? Are you on a hair loss prevention regimen?
What does your FUT scar look like?
Are you happy with your result?

 

[TwoAndHalfNorwood]

Thanks for your comment. Interesting to hear about the angulation, I hadn't really thought about that. It looks like the angulation gradually changes when going up along the temples. It doesn't look out of the ordinary to me, but I do not have that much knowledge about hair angulation at the temples.

My hairloss has been gradual and slow. I don't expect any sudden hairline receding. A bit maybe, and gradual loss of density, if my hair follows in the footsteps of my father's.

As for the regimen, I only take 5% minoxidil solution topically once a day and pumpkin oil supplements (a bunch of other supplements as well but I haven't checked which of them ought to help with hair).

The FUT scar seems to look quite good on a haphazard inspection. The scar doesn't seem any darker, and the only way I see the scar clearly is by pulling my hair up, which reveals a thin bald line (kind of like you see on a tennis ball). I've kept the hair on the back of my head at 4cm length, as I'm a bit unsure how short I can cut it and get away with.

Regarding my feelings about the result, I have noticed that the recipient area hair seems to be a little less dense than my hair adjacent to the recipient area. This has bothered me a slightly, but I don't know if it's noticeable to other people. Estimating the recipient area hair density did put me at ease however, since I realized that the density is very reasonable for a single operation.

 

[Bigmac]

If you look at the flow of the hair behind you’ll see the angles and how that small area is different. Other than that, your density looks good. Hopefully, your hair loss pattern does follow your fathers resulting in this one off transplant. The minoxidil should help achieve this.
Your FUT scar sounds like it is quite thin. Hair cuts at a grade 3 or 4 are short enough if you can pull it off.
Do you have a top down picture to show the density?

 

[TwoAndHalfNorwood]

Ah, I see what you mean.
Here is the only top down'ish photo I have at hand:

 

[Bigmac]

The image is under bright light but the density still looks good.

 

[I_am_Doll_Grafts]

Looks very good and natural brother. I wouldn't sweat the angulation thing too much in the temple peaks. Looking at your before pics, native hairs swept backwards as well. Therefore, your surgeon likely followed the angulation of your native hair as close as possible, though not exact, as far as I can tell. The darker hairs in the temple peaks probably get lost in the dense canopy of the hair you have now. The surgeon looks like he didn't move your temple peaks forward at all (correct?), he simply reinforced them if I am not mistaken? I see a mole on the right side of your temple. It is positioned to the relative same spot in your before and after pics, so I don't think your temple peaks were moved forward at all, yeah?

What points that should be highlighted are:

• There is no ridging or cobblestoning whatsoever
  • Only the most finicky of hair nerd or hair restoration surgeon can tell you had surgery
• Your surgeon approached your surgery as if he was sprinkling magic dust on your forehead to shift your receded hair line forward
  • Your native receding hair line had a widows peak/M-shape
    • You surgeon preserved this for you. It looks more like you regrew hair forward than had surgery
  • This probably helps when reuniting with people in your circle who haven't seen you in a while
    • They probably see an improvement but wouldn't suspect you had surgery
    • This is great for discretion
• Finer caliber hair was used right at the hair line
  • Your surgeon was definitely selective
• No multi-hair grafts in the hair line to speak of
  • Your surgeon's medical team put in the work to dissect and sort those grafts from the FUT strip
• Reinforcement of hair behind the native hair line like what I think was done in your temple peaks requires precision. Basically, the surgical equivalent of walking between rain drops. Otherwise, what can happen is shock loss from transection when placing grafts into areas with existing hair. When that happens, native hair doesn't come back. But your temple peaks are more dense. But not too dense in that you have a wolf-like appearance
  • The right amount of grafts were used in the temple peaks and grafts weren't just jammed in
• You yielded well. This points to good surgical technique, the surgeon had a good medical team on hand, and proper aftercare instructions were provided to you
  • Not every clinic has an experienced staff to employ good surgical technique or go the extra mile to give patients the low down on their part of surgery that is in their hands to ensure yield is high

 

[loui]

Looks good overall, you could nitpick the temple both angulation and it looks to be some multi grafts in there aswell that should not be there but temples is incredibly difficult to do, I am pretty much of the opinion that they should not be touched at all no matter what Doctor.

If I would have a guess this is done by Dr Marwan Saifi in Poland, looks like his style and usual approach.

 

[TwoAndHalfNorwood]

Thanks for the very detailed feedback I_am_Doll_Grafts! Quite reassuring!
I'm not sure about the temple peaks, but I think you're right about them being merely reinforced.

 

[Bigmac]

Overall, as mentioned above your result is good. You can relax and enjoy your hair.

 

[MarcusSawyer]

Your hair transplant looks really good, and it's great that you're reaching out for feedback from others with more experience with it. It's hard to say anything specific about your results without knowing where you had the procedure done, but from the pictures you shared, the hairline looks more youthful and natural-looking.