akuma

i wet my hair and combed it back to show the results more clearly.

hey guys. i've attached the pics i took on 19th december 2011. My surgery was on 8th march 2011. So the pics are 9 months later. The last picture is taken in bright light. That is what Dr Pat assistants have said. To wait around 18 months after surgery for full result. I cant help but get worried though. That is why I wanted some other opinions on this. Looking at the pictures you can see my left and right temporal peaks have matured fully. They had fully matured 6 months after surgery. They match my native hair greatly and is dark and dense now. But the top scalp area as marked by the line in the picture, started to grow in later and is still maturing. You can see that the frontal area where i got it transplanted doesn't yet come anywhere close to my native hair. Less grafts have grown in at this point and more grafts are still starting to grow. My frontal area definitely has slower growth. Can anyone tell me why though? My frontal area was transplanted with 50 grafts per cm2. I read somewhere that dense areas have less blood flow. Is this what causing slow growth? Or is it because the front scalp is the highest point in the body and hence naturally has less blood flow. Please advise

anyone please?

My temples have grown in and thickened fully around 6 months after surgery. But my scalp transplanted area rested for many months and only started to grow at around 8 months and is still thickening ( its been 1 year now). There is still new hairs sprouting and thickening. Its a slower process than the temples. I got my surgery done in Thailand with Dr Pat. Has this happened to anyone? Is it cause scalp hair grow slower than sides of the head side since its the highest point in the body (hence less blood flow)? which translates into slower growth? The scalp was more densely packed than the temples, I read somewhere that densely packed areas have less blood flow. So maybe this is why the slowed growth? 2 months after my surgery, all the transplant scalp hair had fallen out. But around 50% of my temple hairs stayed. Basically scalp hair fell out sooner and is taking longer to grow back. Temples didn't fall out as quickly, but grew back quickly and thickened quickly. Scalp hair seems to have had a longer "no growth sleeep time", whereas temples had less sleep time. Is this all due to blood flow? or something else? Please let me know whats going on. Thanks

I think its due to dense packing. Im sure the surgeons dont densely pack the temples so they can achieve a softer look there. But on the frontal scalp, if they do dense packing, there is a risk of lower blood supply. There is a risk involved for poor growth at higher densities. I recall reading something about the risk of blood supply not being sufficient to support overly dense-packed areas. I think my density on the frontal scalp is around 50 FU / cm2. Has anyone else experienced slow growth and thickening in densely packed areas?

anyone care to comment on my post if they experienced similar situation?

I'll try and take a pic once its fully grown in.

Hair Graft Numbers in Follicular Hair Transplant Surgery | Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration ------------------------ Limits to Large Hair Transplant Sessions Although the goal should be to accomplish the hair restoration as quickly as possible, there is a limit to the number of grafts that can be transplanted in one session. As the number of hair grafts placed per unit area (density) rises, so does the risk of vascular compromise (decreased blood flow to the area caused by injury to the scalp) and this may result in sub-optimal graft growth. Other problems, such as graft elevation (popping), that may cause the grafts to dry out and an increased risk of mechanical trauma during graft placing, become more likely as hair graft density is taken to extremes and these factors may also cause the sub-optimal growth of grafts. The blood supply to the scalp is very rich and can generally support a large number of transplanted grafts in a single session. However, sun damage and smoking are some of the factors that can significantly compromise this blood flow and these risk factors must be identified in advance by the hair transplant surgeon. Problems associated with decreased blood flow and popping are more closely related to the number of hair grafts placed in a specific area (density) rather than the absolute numbers of grafts placed. For this reason, the transplantation of a large number of follicular unit grafts over a large area does not create the same problems as creating very high densities in one specific area. ---------------------- This states that high density can cause issues. could it be due to higher density at the frontal hairline?

Hi guys, I got a minor transplant on March 2011. I transplanted my front hair line, temples, and eyebrows. My front hairline is quite thick, but my temples and eyebrows were very sparse. After 5 months, my temples and eyebrows started to grow in quite fast. All the grafts sprouted quite quickly. I saw the density rise quickly. By the 8th month, the eyebrows and temples were thickened up fully. I could tell by looking at the roots. The frontal hair line was still sleeping though. No growth there After another couple of months or something (estimate), the frontal hair line started to grow in. But the grow in was more sparse. It took more months for all the grafts to start growing. Now (at 10 months) most of the frontal grafts have grown in, but there is STILL some 1-2 millimeter baby hairs that have recently grown. The growth and thickening is there so i am happy. But I am curious why the frontal hair took longer to "start" growing, and took longer for "each" graft to "start" growing. For the temple and eyebrow hair, most grafts started growing in a short time frame. Is it normal for the frontal lock to start growing in later than temples and eyebrows? What could be the reason? Is it because there is more blood supply near temples and eyebrows? Or is it that the frontal lock hair is "sharing" blood with the native thick hair? Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks

Hey guys. Sorry I have not yet made a blog with pictures. I had my HT with Dr pat 7 weeks ago on my frontal forelock and temples. Right now about 98% of frontal forelock hair has fallen off and i actually see tiny little hairs growing here and there. I am not sure if this is transplanted hair that is yet to fall off or new growth. It is hard to tell. I dont know if its early growth or not. My temple hairs have shed only about 30% though. Most of the hair has stayed and has grown to around 1 inch already. These hairs have already framed my face quite well. I hope the temples stay and dont shed. Whats the chances of them still shedding after already grown around 1 inch? My eyebrow transplanted hair has shed only 50% of its hairs. Most of it continously grows and i've trimmed them few times already. My donor area and recipient area used to itch during early days after my HT. But then it stopped. Now the itching has started again a little bit. This is when i noticed little hairs in my frontal forelock region. Dont want to get my hopes up but i wish this is early growth. I shall attach pictures soon to show my result so far. The question i have is, how do i get a hair cut? If i go to the hairdressors, they'll see little hairs in my frontal forelock with long hair everywhere else. How did you guys get a hair cut? Did you just end up telling the hair dressor that you have had a HT?

I didn't quite get what you meant doctor. In my post i wasn't referring to brow lift. I was referring to the top scalp being pulled back a little if it has high laxity. Just a little. It was more noticeable to me because I do have alot of native hair, and i remember where my hairline used to be on my forehead bone. Now the native hair is a little behind the spot it used to be, due to donor tension.

Looking at alot of before and after HT pictures of patients showed that it happens to others as well. Am I the only one who noticed this? No one else came across this?

I kindly disagree with the above. Yes most of the pull comes from the back of the neck and not forehead. But I do believe there is some pull at the forehead. Hence the hairline is pulled back JUST a little. To some extent. How do i know this? This is how... Before the hair transplant, I could put my palms on top of my head, press on my scalp, and be able to move the skin forward (towards hairline) and back (towards crown). And I had good movement BOTH ways. Everytime i did those movements, it looked like the kinda of movement when someone is wearing a wig (hair line moving back and forth JUST a little). I remember the movements clearly. Now after the transplant, I try the same thing and this what happens. I do the same thing. Put my palms on top of my head and move palms backwards towards crown. I no longer have the AMOUNT of movement I used to have before transplant (meaning the donor area is already pulling at the forehead/top scalp). The movement I have now is barely anything. This means the top scalp is more taut now. I try and move the palms towards the hairline, again barely any movement, and I can then DEFINITELY feel a tension in the donor area. The donor scar pulls the top scalp skin as well as the neck area. So for me I know it did pull the hairline back a little. Before I thought i was seeing things but I know for sure it has been pulled back a little. My forehead does look a little bigger than before. I think this would happen for people like me who had high laxity on top of the scalp. I think the issue is not common with people that have low laxity on top of the scalp. I think people should be aware of this before they get transplant. For some people the hairline can get pulled back a little. I guess the question i have now is when can I start scalp exercises to increase scalp laxity at the donor area? Which I know would bring back my top scalp laxity back to normal. PS my transplant area and donor area is not swollen. Thanks

thanks guys. i definitely feel at ease now. I thought the suture coming off would mean that my donor area would open up. lol I am definitely more gentle now with the donor area, Dont want to stretch the scar.

My surgery was done 18 days ago. Today i felt some dry scab in my donor area. I did a "slight" pull on it and the scab came off. But with the scab came off some white/yellow dissaovable suture i think. And then i tried pulling on the suture that i have in my hand to see if i can further break it, and it broke easily. So does that mean the time has come for the dissovable sutures to dissolve? or did i do something wrong by doing the slight pull? Please let me know.

I will let you know of my blog once i get my camera back and take pictures.

you will be fine mate. I used to worry the same thing. I got my surgery done with Dr Pat in thailand. I kept expecting some sort of sharp pain at the procedure. The procedure went TOOOO smoothly. Took painkillers before surgery. I was told to lie down on a special bed face down. The amazing thing was, I did not even feel ANYTHING when the donor was extracted. All I know was that i was told to get up and look at my donor through microscope. i said to them "what? donor removed? i didn't even feel a thing!!!" hehe and then i layed on my back and was told to just relax. I relaxed so much that i went in and out of sleep alot. Felt very at ease. They woke me up to show me the finished work in the mirror. I said to them " wow how long has passed?" They said "7 hours". I was shocked. The procedure was soooo pain free. To be honest with you, any pain that you MIGHT feel is later on. The first night you will take pain killers so u'd sleep fine. The second night you might feel slight pain in the donor area (since this part will be on the pillow), and if thats the case, pain killlers help. But when your up and walking around, there is no pain. Just numbness. You will be fine mate.

I had surgery on 8th and you had on 9th. i'll keep close eye on your blog to see how your growth compares to mine. Having said that. I gotta take pics to make a blog. After i got blue nylon stitches removed, so much easier to sleep. I noticed a good way to treat the itch (apart from applying olive oil as told by Dr Oravan). My sulture area has small hairs (that were cut during donor extraction). What i do is just play with those hairs without touching my skin and it REALLLLYYY relieves the itch. heheh Might work for others too so try that.

With the strip procedure, say about 2000-3000 grafts taken out, open skin is then sutured together and skin is tighter from the top and bottom of the scar. That means the skin below and above the scar is pulled together. Which means the frontal hairline would be pulled back to a certain amount. So if one takes on another procedure in the future (say another 2000 grafts), it will further pull the frontal hairline back (more tightness at the scar area due to another procedure), which means new hairline will have to be created (if one wants to lower it back to normal). This is my guess on what happens. Is it true? Or does scalp tightness return back to normal after a few months and frontal hairline is "not" pulled back by the scar area? Would be helpful if patients that had around 2 or more procedures could comment on this. I am not sure if this has been covered before. Thanks guys

The job that dr pat did is great on my eyebrows. I already have eyebrows but it was more sparse and asian looking. All he did was add hairs here and there to add density a bit. But not over the top. My transplanted eyebrow hair hasn't fallen off yet and i've trimmed it and it looks great. I already know how it will turn out. But now I just wanted to add few hairs at the starting of the eyebrow. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Hln2AEigAz4/SZsXN9BRXhI/AAAAAAAARWg/Kg7_LQj7tBo/s400/14.jpg see how at the starting of the eyebrow it points upwards, i want to get that. I do have that but its quite fine and adding few hairs would balance the eyebrow more.

Yea it is expensive in australia. That is why i got a HT and eyebrow transplant in thailand with Dr pat. He did great job. But after when I came back to Australia, I realised i want to get just probably 15 grafts at the beginning of the eyebrow. It would even everything out more. I'd love to go to Dr pat, but for such a small procedure, i dont want to pay the plane ticket hehe

wow how did your transplanted hair grow so fast?

can this thread be deleted. i asked this question on the "Hair Transplant Experiences and Surgeon Reviews" section

Hi guys. I got a beard transplant along with my hair transplant. Just fixed up symmetry issues from both sides of the face. I got the procedure done on 8th of March. About 10 days ago. On sunday 13th march i trimmed all beard hair carefully with electronic trimmer (close to it looking shaven but not fully). Today, 18th march i've noticed that my transplanted beard hair has grown along with the rest of the beard. About 2 millimeters. Its obvious. I thought when hairs are transplanted, they stop their growth, and then fall out within 2 weeks to a month. And then start growing after 3-4 months? But i never thought they'd grow right away? Or will they still fall out within 1 month even though they grew? I hope they continue to grow. My scalp transplanted hair seems a little longer as well. Maybe 0.5 millimeter. Or maybe i am just imagining things with the scalp one. heheh But my beard one DEFINITELY grew.

Hi guys. I got a beard transplant along with my hair transplant. Just fixed up symmetry issues from both sides of the face. I got the procedure done on 8th of March. About 10 days ago. On sunday 13th march i trimmed all beard hair carefully with electronic trimmer. Today, 18th march i've noticed that my transplanted beard hair has grown along with the rest of the beard. About 2 millimeters. I thought when hairs are transplanted, they stop their growth, and then fall out within 2 weeks to a month. And then start growing after 3-4 months. But i never thought they'd grow right away? Or will they still fall out within 1 month even though they grew? I hope they continue to grow. My scalp transplanted hair seems a little longer as well. Maybe 0.5 millimeter. Or maybe i am just imagining things. heheh But my beard one DEFINITELY grew.