FUE with Dr. Carlos Wesley in NYC (Update Post)
This is an update to my original post. I’ve received dozens of DMs asking for updates and referrals, so I finally decided it was time to post an update. Also, please do not DM me for a referral. I get a LOT of these messages and sadly I can't just refer dozens of people.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HairTransplants/comments/1ls87d4/fue_with_dr_carlos_wesley_in_nyc/
I had my transplant with Dr. Wesley over two days, July 2 and July 3, 2025. The first day was primarily the incisions/site creation, and the second day was extraction and implantation. This was an FUE procedure.
We did approximately 3,400 grafts. The main focus was my hairline and frontal area, with more grafts placed toward the front than the back. Dr. Wesley recommended that approach, and I agreed with him. I don’t remember the exact distribution, but he also reinforced areas that he believed were most likely to thin next so that the overall distribution would continue to look natural as I aged.
I’m extremely happy with the results. If you want to hear people ask how you have taken 10 years off your age, in my case the answer was to lose 15 pounds and get a hair transplant. Funny how we can forget to take care of ourselves, and its amazing how much better some of us can do with a little effort and a little extra hair.
It’s obviously not magic, and 3,400 grafts didn’t give me the density of an 18-year-old, but from normal conversational distance, I think the result looks fantastic. Most people would probably just assume I have a very good head of hair for a 46-year-old. It sounds silly, but it also looks fantastic on Teams meetings.
I did have pretty significant shock loss at around the one-month mark. Interestingly, I never really felt like I went through the “ugly duckling” phase, probably because my hair was already bad enough before the transplant that the temporary setback didn’t feel especially dramatic to me. I was also not taking care of myself as good prior to the transplant. Let me be very clear about something to those who do not feel great about themselves. The biggest gains in how I look and feel about myself had to do with my fitness and personal care routine. The hair transplant was just a very nice bit of icing on the cake. Please, exercise and take care of yourself, you will see the biggest gains and it costs little to nothing to do this.
My donor area appears to have recovered extremely well, and I believe I could comfortably support another transplant if I ever decided to chase additional density. For now, I don’t see much reason to do that, but I’ll see how I feel as time goes on.
For maintenance, I’m taking oral finasteride and oral minoxidil, although admittedly I skip days fairly often out of paranoia. That probably makes very little sense considering I’ve taken finasteride intermittently for about 20 years and never had any side effects. I probably could have preserved more hair with perfect consistency, but based on my family history, I’m also pretty confident it added many years to the hair I still had and kept me just dense enough to justify a transplant instead of shaving my head.
Currently, I probably take finasteride about five days per week and oral minoxidil three or four days per week. I also use topical minoxidil a few times per week.
Beyond that, I take plenty of vitamins, generally try to take care of myself, and use a ridiculously overpriced red-light therapy helmet. Sometimes I use it every day; other times I forget about it for several days. In fact, I have it on right now because writing this post reminded me that I hadn’t used it in a while.
As far as the clinic and surgeon, I would absolutely choose Dr. Wesley again. The entire experience was fantastic, and knowing what I know now, I would make the same decision again without hesitation.
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with the decision or the result.