aaron1234

Yeah, I was wondering if future balding is taken into consideration with traction alopecia patients. I'm sure that some actually experience both MPB and traction hair loss.

Awesome, awesome, awesome! The last couple of months have treated you well hairthere. You are approaching spex-level hair now. Can't wait to see the 12 month B&A's!

I don't think many docs actually offer PRP... at least not publicly. Some have outright blasted it as just another snake oil. So I think that has scared some docs who do offer it to not really publicize or market it. Or it just could be they don't really see much benefit from it yet.

That's the right attitude to overcome this genetic weakness. It's called making the most of what we got.

Nizoral 1% is pretty reliable for me when my scalp starts to feel itchy. So I use it about once a week. I really doubt it does anything for hair loss. I would only expect shedding if you use it every other day or so. I have no experience with Revita, so I can't help you there. Sorry! But again I will preach to you Corv to get on Propecia. I'll freakin' fly to NY and slip it in your drink every morning! I think that will do much better for you than Rogaine.

Great growth already but I love the graft placement even more. A fine strategy for this patient.

I was on pain meds but it didn't affect my driving. The drive was just fine even though it was long. Maybe you could stop at a hotel one the way back to break the drive up in half.

For both of my procedures with Dr. Paul I drove from Chicago to SMG and back the day after the procedure. It's about a 7 hour drive. Not a big deal really. 9 hours might be tougher but I prefer just to stay away from other human beings for awhile after this procedure.

fakeplastictrees (good song by the way).... You've gotten good yield for the amount of grafts you got. I don't like the design but you did get results. But if you really want Rahalesque results, then go to Rahal for your second procedure. Why go back to the doctor that disappointed you in the first place? I don't care if he offers you a discount or a free procedure. If you want elite results you have to go to an elite surgeon, period!

Donor bleeding 7 months post-op is NOT normal. I'm shocked you were told that it was. Who was your doc?

Yeah Bonker, things have definitely gotten better. Maybe the quick growth is harder to come by for diffuse thinners - but I definitely see some improvement. So hang tight. I really can't wait to see your 12 month pics and then compare then to your six month pics. I'm sure they'll be a notable difference.

It was some nasty fallout that's for sure.

If you love crappy hair transplants then Bosley's the place for you.

It is still early but it's not looking good. The hairs seemed to be angled in every which way and not in sync with your native hair. Fortunately, you still have a good head of hair so your situation is not dire. You might up needing some of those unnatural hairline grafts punched out in the future along with another session of 1K-2K. For the time being, get on Fin if you are not on it already. The worse thing that could happen to you is having your hairloss accelerate. Also, make sure to go with an elite surgeon next time around.

Thanks for the compliments Flint. Appreciate it. You should definitely wait about a year before you get anything else done - even FUE. Be patient. Since you started with strip you should maximize the amount of grafts you can get via strip. You were practically a NW 7 so I'm not even sure if you were a great candidate to begin with. But at this point you started and there's no turning back. I would stick around this website and research like crazy for the next 12 months. You should be consulting with the elite docs. After a few months researching here you'll know who they are. Using nape hair (neck hair) via FUE is controversial. Your neck hair looks pretty thick but it is also at risk for more miniaturization from DHT. Very few doctors take donor from this area. Given your level of hair loss you might also want to look into more experimental procedures; such as scalp micro-pigmentation (SMP) that Dr. Rassman offers or Body Hair Transplantation (BHT) that other doctors like Dr. Umar and Dr. Bisanga offer. You just started on a long journey. Hang tough. Research research research.

Unfortunately, you probably won't achieve that with this procedure. It was a far too small number of grafts for such a large area. Corv is right. You at least needed double the amount of grafts, if not triple, to achieve a real cosmetic difference. Now, hopefully all of the hair yields and grows out in a natural manner. But still, you should probably be looking into clinics that specialize in megasessions of 3K,4K, and 5K grafts for your next two or three procedures.

Yeah, most of those points are non sequiturs. Healing ultimately depends on the patient's physiology when dealing with elite surgeons. Proscar and Rogaine both work; I would try both. Both docs are in high demand. You can't go wrong either way. Maybe meet both in person to get a better feel for the clinics.

Yeah, for the first couple weeks when I was a hermit I had my donor hair long to cover it. Then after the staples were removed I buzzed it down to about a 5 guard. Still a bit longer than the top was but it evened things out a bit. Then a couple weeks after I buzzed the sides down to a 5 guard again. Of course, none of it really mattered since I wore a hat all the time.

Keep it long for now. You can always cut it after the surgery if you want to even it out with what have on top. But the shorter you go in the back the more obvious the scar will be.

Capelli11, Here's a thread I started a couple weeks after my first transplant with Dr. Paul. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/136508-concealer-donor-w-pics.html As you can see, the indents and creases in the back of my head where the strip was taken were still apparent even after covering it with dermmatch. However, the shock loss and redness were greatly disguised. The dermmatch really didn't affect healing - I'm slow healer to begin with. I simply told people I was cutting my own hair and made a nasty mistake, thus the indents, creases, etc. But the dermmatch really really helped for the first 2-3 months when I started to grow my hair back. Right now being 2 and 1/2 months post-op from my most recent surgery I have grown my hair out in the back so I don't really quite need the dermmatch like I did before. I will still occasionally apply it though.

Good point ShiningDome.

With the hair shaved the doctor is better able to see the angles in which native hairs exit the scalp. With the hair long it can be combed in many different ways which can obscure the direction in which the native hairs grow.

Here it is: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/155543-cutting-hair-short-recipient-areas.html

Well, shaved down to about a three guard. I used dermmatch to hide the scar. As for shaving, read a post by Dr. Hasson on the topic. Very persuasive.

I think shaving is totally worth it. It certainly sucks for about two months afterwards. But I really believe it makes life easier on the doc and techs which can only benefit you in the long run. Even docs who don't require your head shaved prefer that it would be. Think long term with this procedure. As for explaining the shave, I told everyone that I was cutting my own hair and had an accident so I just shaved it all off. They bought it both times! Suckers.