• Welcome to Hair loss Experiences hair loss forum.

    Free impartial hair loss advice, hair transplant advice, hair loss medications and hair loss news.
    You can contact us directly at [email protected] if you experience any problems.

HGC - 2000 grafts

S

subterfuge

member
HairGrowthCenter - (misspelled the acronym in the title!)

Thought i'd do my own journal rather than hijacking the thread of the other guys who went here

I should say i'm a bit nervous about how my result will end up and admit that I did 'jump the gun' in terms of going with these guys. My plan was to go to Turkey and I was looking at Dr. Peckiner among others, but the whole covid/red list thing threw me off course and I jumped in with these guys who are local to me, partly out of frustration.

I did quite like some of their insta results and even spoke too a person who I knew had been there and he was happy with his result which helped me take the plunge, BUT only when it was too late did I start to see some less than encouraging things online about them. (apparent unhappy customers and some deception from their social media presence etc). At this point all I can do is cross my fingers and hope I get at least some sort of result i'm not unhappy with. I'm not expecting perfection. Hoping for the best but fearing the worst, I guess!

I think they said they took 2200 grafts. Everything went well, tbh. Less painful than i'd expected for one. Dr made the incisions, and the technician girl done the rest. Was all fairly smooth sailing

This is just after the procedure:
1636581753849.png






This is after 1 week (video):



This is day 10:

1636581859958.png


Today is day 15. Still looks the same as day 10. Waiting for the transplanted hair to fall out. I feel i've only lost about 5% of it so far. The occasional tiny strand on my finger tips as I gently brush the recipient area
 
Last edited:
JesterRIP

JesterRIP

Valued member
Strange - even though we went to the same place, they shaved my head but didn't shave yours? Did you request this?

My hair didn't really start shedding until 3 - 4 weeks.

Even 14 weeks later, some of the original donor hair is still in place, albeit the occasional strand is still doing that mad tight curly thing. I wonder when it stops doing that?
 
S

subterfuge

member
Strange - even though we went to the same place, they shaved my head but didn't shave yours? Did you request this?

My hair didn't really start shedding until 3 - 4 weeks.

Even 14 weeks later, some of the original donor hair is still in place, albeit the occasional strand is still doing that mad tight curly thing. I wonder when it stops doing that?
I guess since I was only having hair transplanted in an area where I didn't have any hair at all then there'd be no point in shaving the hair behind it?! haha. They of course shaved my donor area though.

In fact, I do have a memory of the girl saying something like 'now we'll shave your head' and I interjected 'You mean just the donor area, right? I'm only having hairs put in front of the existing hair' and she seemed to kind of correct herself and was like 'Oh yeah. Right' as if she was would have shaved my whole head if i'd not have said that lol

Yeah, i've barely started shedding yet apart from the occasional tiny hair on my finger tips. It's not visible yet.
 
JesterRIP

JesterRIP

Valued member
Yeah that makes sense, since it was only the front, as you say.
 
S

subterfuge

member
Day 17:
Starting to shed a bit more I think. Must have counted about 50 tiny haris on my hands in the shower during washing this morning. Scary but of course completely expected!

I really want to shave the recipient area, but I probably won't as despite 95% of surgeons on realself saying it's fine to do, I still find the odd google search where people say to wait months!

From searching, all realself surgeons say ''Grafts are completely secure after 10 days or so and can't be damaged without surgical instruments. You are fine to shave the hair. It falls out from gentle touch at this point anyway, and so it's not as if the hair could even be pulled enough (before falling out) to cause any damage either way''

However, as I say i'll probably just leave it alone.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
2000 grafts should give you a nice new hairline. Have you a picture from before your surgery? Was there only one tech placing the grafts?
Your 10 day post op picture looked on track so I’ll assume it’s all ok at day 17. Buzzing your hair now is fine but do check with your doctor as it’s best to follow their post op instructions.
 
S

subterfuge

member
2000 grafts should give you a nice new hairline. Have you a picture from before your surgery? Was there only one tech placing the grafts?
Your 10 day post op picture looked on track so I’ll assume it’s all ok at day 17. Buzzing your hair now is fine but do check with your doctor as it’s best to follow their post op instructions.
before surgery:
1637229481253.png



Yes, only 1 technician planting the grafts. I'm prepared for a bad result as I know I did roll the dice to some extent in my opinion, but obviously hoping for the best!

Here we are now at day 23:

1637229700954.png



Still slowly shedding in the recipient area. I'd estimate i've only lost about 10% of it so far. And mainly from one side (my right. The left as you look at that pic)
 
Last edited:
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for the additional pictures. Some grafts may continue to grow but usually, they all shed. Looking at those pictures the design looks straight across which I have seen before but once grown out looks ok.
Here's to good growth for you.
 
S

subterfuge

member
Thanks for the additional pictures. Some grafts may continue to grow but usually, they all shed. Looking at those pictures the design looks straight across which I have seen before but once grown out looks ok.
Here's to good growth for you.
thanks.
Yeah, the line wasn't 100% as i'd asked for. I was looking for only a tiny amount of lowering of the actual hairline, and not completely straight. I was slightly shocked when I first saw the result directly after surgery as it looked like not only was it completely straight, but they'd lowered the whole hairline a lot, BUT in hindsight, some of that lowering looked more extreme due to the swelling and I was more happy with the design a few days later when swelling reduced. Still a little more straight that i'd expected, but if I get good growth I won't have any problems with how straight it is tbh!
Cheers. Fingers crossed. Kind of already expecting the need for a 2nd procedure to give desired density but we'll see!
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hopefully, you won`t need a second op. You had enough grafts placed for that area. Swelling does distort the appearance and it can and does change as the growth begins.
 
S

subterfuge

member
1 month update:

Redness is getting annoying as makes it hard to hide the transplant and I can expect it to last another 2 months from what i've seen

Assuming I will start to shed a fair bit more this month and be at peak shedding at the 2 month mark??



Wish my camera was better to clearer show how we're looking, but it's the best i've got i'm afraid:

 
Last edited:
JesterRIP

JesterRIP

Valued member
1 month update:

Redness is getting annoying as makes it hard to hide the transplant and I can expect it to last another 2 months from what i've seen

Wish my camera was better to clearer show how we're looking, but it's the best i've got i'm afraid:


Yes the redness is a pain. I kept mine crew cut length which sort of covered it.

Having said that - even at the two week point, despite it being blindly obvious to me and those close to me that I'd had a transplant, bizarrely most people at work only noticed when I told them....!

My redness at one month:

IMG20210904160314_compress10.jpg
 
S

subterfuge

member
Yes the redness is a pain. I kept mine crew cut length which sort of covered it.

Having said that - even at the two week point, despite it being blindly obvious to me and those close to me that I'd had a transplant, bizarrely most people at work only noticed when I told them....!

My redness at one month:

View attachment 28086
i think i've got a bit more of a casper the friendly ghost complexion than you which likely doesn't help!
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Pale skin often shows the redness more. All you can do is try things like Aloe vera and let it heal over time.
 
K

Kopkin

member
Looks good subterfuge. you posted on my thread a few days ago and said we’d had similar work done - and seeing your pics I agree. Will keep my fingers crossed that you get good growth.
 
S

subterfuge

member
Day 38.
Usual bad camera i'm afraid, but you can see that it's fairly sparse. Had some shedding. Still fairly red. Still kinda waiting for one last shed. most people seem to be at their baldest at around the 2 months mark? So another 3 weeks for me!

 
Last edited:
S

subterfuge

member
Day 57.
I'm at around the point where a lot of people seem to be at their worst in terms of the ugly duckling stage, but i'm starting to wonder whether I had mine very early (and only shed maybe 30% or so at a guess?), and that i'm done shedding? We'll see

This is just out of the shower. Can also see a bit of donor area in the mirror. Donor has never been mentioned by friends so that's a good sign. Also redness has gone down a bit since last update I think

So yeah, around the 2 month-ish mark now:
 

Attachments

  • 20211221_112013[1].jpg
    20211221_112013[1].jpg
    57.5 KB · Views: 147
S

subterfuge

member
Day 98: A little over 3 months


1643621546345.png


Honestly already pretty happy. I always had low expectations and they've already been exceeded and we're only in month 3.
Hopefully got more thickening to do.
If I add fibers and stuff to the above it can already look pretty good and that was always my plan. The illusinon of hair. Made possible by the transplant since you need SOME in order to do that lol

Sorry about pic quality as always but my phone isn't the best

I'll try to get some better pics for my final update whenever that may be
 
Last edited:
K

Kopkin

member
Nice subterfuge. I know you were worried you had made a mistake choosing your doctor so it's great you feel alot more positive now. Your new hair is already looking good so hopefully you will be delighted with your end result.
Is all that hair that didn't shed or can you see any new growth?
 
S

subterfuge

member
Nice subterfuge. I know you were worried you had made a mistake choosing your doctor so it's great you feel alot more positive now. Your new hair is already looking good so hopefully you will be delighted with your end result.
Is all that hair that didn't shed or can you see any new growth?

There appears to be some regrowth (since I feel it looks a bit thicker than my last update not that you can really tell from the bad pic quality) although I actually didn't seem to shed a tonne compared to most people. I feel like I skipped the worst of the ugly duckling stage that most people have and I maybe only shed 50% or so and always had 'some' transplanted hair sticking around.

In theory i've got a lot of regrowth and thickening to come being that i'm only in month 3. We'll see how that pans out
 
Top