Willit

I know you guys have been asking for an update, and I just hit my 1 year mark, and am very happy with the results. Here are some pics of my hair pulled back and down. I tried to make it as close up as possible. Sorry I don't know how these are turned upside down. They are also posted in my photo area on my profile page.

Here are a few pics of from Pre Operation, to about 6 months out when I had my first checkup with Dr. Gabel. This was an FUE procedure, the left side looks amazing to me, and the right side looks good, I have hair where i didn't have before, I am very happy with the results thusfar. These are also in my profile pics.

I uploaded pics of months 3, 4, 5, and 6 to my profile photo area. Take a look at them here. Hair Restoration Social Network - Hair Loss and Transplant Photos At this point, I started seeing real growth as of 5 months out, and at 6 months I am really happy with the progress, FUE procedure was a success to me.

I made it to 2 months post op! Coworkers are used to the hats, and my native hair is getting longer by the day, but I still have some covering up to do before I look normal. My plan is 3 more weeks of no haircutting, then I'll have to bite the bullet and get a haircut. Right now the back is really good and I'm just hoping the front will look closer to normal by then. I have to say, if I was to do this again, I would have tried to grow my hair out for about 2 months, get it really long on top and front, change the hairstyle to comb forward style, then do the procedure. I have great hopes growth come a month or two from now...it really is the small milestones. Like this week, I finally went back to the gym, and boy am I feeling it in my muscles, but in a good way. I can see why after a while people on here only post every month because there isn't really anything to show while you're waiting through the ugly duckling phase. So I might just post in a month or so. Here are some pics, first set is at 7 weeks, and second set at 8 weeks

I agree, ugly duckling stage is and ego killer. I'm at 2 months post opt FUE, and have been getting by with a hat at work and hibernation mode at home, movies, and tv, but I'm going stir crazy....the procedure was easy compared to the covering and waiting...I'm trying to take up some new hobbies, like playing piano or guitar. Seems to really take your mind off of things. You can only watch so much tv.

CaptainO, Yes at the security counter was where I got the most looks, when I had to take my hat off. Hopefully you're taking finesteride or avodart to help stop the thinning. I really do think diet has a big part to play with it too... Looking back, I think the procedure was easy, but the post-procedure of trying to cover up and wait with a weird haircut is the hardest.

So the journey continues, and with some new twist and turns. So while back at work I pulled my back, and was ordered by the doctor to take a whole week off. Thought that would be great! I get another whole week off, but I had too much work to do, so I only took 3 days off. My boss has been great, and coworkers don't ask much anymore about my hat wearing, they just chime in when I switch hat styles...which is kinda fun. Anyways, I have to see a massage specialist and chiropractor for my back. I started getting worried because they would see my head and procedure...but I ended up using a handkerchief when I go in, and say it's to keep my head warm...works perfectly and actually does keep my head warm. Then I had some friends from out of town that wanted to go to the beach every day, which I did with a hat, even in the water. All little challenges, that need to be met with a positive attitude. Next, I have a huge birthday party to go to, along with a night time event. Originally I was thinking wear a wig, and I tried that, but decided the handkerchief was a better idea! Brilliant. The night event was a stylish hat, and I was all good. I am getting bored of staying at home every night after work, but at 6 weeks and due to my injury I started to swim in the ocean. Contacting Doctor Gabel he says I should be good for everything by week 5, so had I not pulled my back I would have been in the gym again. But this past week, getting in the water to swim allowed me for some exercise, light but still something. I'm going to try and hit the gym this week, and get some blood flowing, it's been far too long. I also decided to dye my hair with herbatint, which worked out fine, and now at least all my donor hair in the back is uniform color and meshes together nicely. At week 5, I did a test with my parents, again being around them without a hat, the bad haircut is all they are expecting. I did catch my mother looking at my front hairline temple in the car once, and I quickly put my hat back on. But she didn't say a thing. Although I have been going on some dates, with a stylish hat, and I'm all good, and it brightens my spirits too. Week 6, I have been swimming and putting aloe vera (from the plant, we have some here) on the recipient area. It seems to help the redness. Every now and then I get a pimple, but it goes away. I am still shampoo and conditioner with Revivogen 1 x week per Doctor's orders. I have to resume some group events soon, and in about 5 weeks I have a major event. Those are my next challenges. How long does this ugly duckling phase last?:confused: Here are some pics at week 5 and week 6. Thanks for the support guys, it really does help. Willit

You can look at my profile for my procedure with Dr. Gabel, I am very happy with his work thusfar, and await the results. I have a similar recession to yours and went FUE for a 2102 graphs hairline procedure. It looks like your hair is long, so you may be able to cover it up after the procedure. I am having some after procedure challenges trying to cover up the frontal hairline, but am making it work with a hat prescribed by my doc for 2 months. And I have changed my hairstyle to comb forward also. I do wish I had grown it as long as possible to really cover up the frontal portion, but the back would have been shaved either way for FUE. Which by 4 weeks is grown out already, you can see my pics. Hope this helps you, for prices you can message me.

HI guys, I'm at day 31, just made 1 month...and I have to say that yes the pain goes away one day at a time...I didn't have to take Vicodin, just took advil and every now and then would get a little shocking pain. But applied Aloe Vera gel to my donor area which helped to soothe the pain and redness, now I'm just dealing with the frontal area bad haircut and redness phase. Good luck and blessings on great growth.

Now 4 weeks post op, the donor area is completely covered with hair and probably the only thing is I get comments about my bad haircut from my parents, so I passed one test there. Lessons learned: the procedure was a snap, the after growing part and waiting is harder, especially trying to cover up the donor and recipient areas. I am not doing too much exercise at 4 weeks because I get a head ache after about 10 mins, so I'll be taking advil to help with that. If I did it again, I would shave the back down and grow the top front and sides as long as possible, with a comb forward to cover it up, but that's just me. The other option of course is full shave. At least my hair is to the point that I can conceal the recipient area with my hair a bit better, it just still looks dorky, especially since I normally comb my hair up. Here are some pics at 28 days, I've started Revivogen 1 x a week and have used up about all of my Graphcyte. At 28 days, I do notice a little bit more shedding, and I'm washing 1 x a day....

Nice question on the exercise, I am almost 4 weeks post opt FUE, and like you I'm going a little crazy and want to get back to my normal exercise routine. But to be honest, at 2 weeks I tried a 10 min walk, and started to get pain in my head, slight dull pain, but enough to make me stop. I decided to wait another week, at end of week 3, I did another 10 min cardio and stopped right away, it felt great while doing the elliptical machine, but I felt like I had a slight headache after for about 30 min to 1 hr. When I hit 4 weeks, I'm going to do only body weight exercise and see how that goes. But when I feel it in my head like a head ache I stop, even though I know my brain wants to keep going. I don't want to damage the graphs or procedure. My doc says I should be able to workout and sweat by now no problem. I'm just being extra cautious...and listening to my body instead of my brain. Does that seem normal to everyone, to get headaches after trying to workout a little?

I began thinking Day 10 would be Father's Day with my parents, but the cancelled due to being ill. My next challenge was going to work, I ended up asking Dr. Gabel for a doctors note to wear a hat at work for the next 2 months. He quickly obliged, and did so in a discrete letter, this was my saving grace. I submitted to my boss and was off and running, explaining to my co-workers along the way that I had a procedure and my doctor is asking me to wear a hat at work. Most coworkers don't ask much other than: "Are you ok?" and as soon as I say "I'm ok, just need to take it easy." and they usually don't ask much more than that. I am lucky because I have an office and can close my door when I need to and take off my hat and let my graphs breath, which I do as much as possible. I am still using Graphcyte shampoo on the transplanted area, and regular non-sulfate shampoo on the rest of my hair. Around the 16 day time I began to hurt from the dryness on the scalp so I decided to not shampoo or wash for a couple of days, which turned into 3 days. When I checked it on day 3, it looked like the transplanted area got bumpy and some zits formed, perhaps infected? So I decided to wash every 2 days, but upon looking again I thought it best to wash every day, and consult with Dr. Gabel about this. I notice that there is some shedding starting in the right temporal areas and the native hairs are starting to grow back. I've been putting Aloe Vera 99% on the donor area and you can see hair growth in that area are good. I still feel very awkward with the front hairline area being noticeable and don't know what to do about that other than wearing a hat when being with other people. I tried to go to the gym at the 14 day mark, and did cardio for about 10 minutes when my head started to hurt a bit, I thought it might be psychosomatic so I continued. After another 2 minutes I still had some dull pain in my head, so I decided to stop. I went and did a little bit of machine exercises, but stopped after 4 different exercises of 3 sets of 10 reps. I decided to wait another week before going to the gym again, but I'm getting stir crazy from just sitting around and watching tv or surfing the internet. Today I'll try the gym again lightly on day 21. Here are some pictures from Day 14 and Day 21

I have to say, I've been resting all week, and have pretty much stayed in my house, reading books, watching movies and tv, pretty much getting bored by now in my hermit phase. As the days go by, I've been able to slowly take more trips outside, used a hat, gone to a movie theater, shopping, and slowly becoming normal again. With every person I talk with or passer by that looks at me normally I gain more confidence. The biggest hurdle will be work, family, and friends. It just so happens that my Day 10 will be Father's Day and my first really long encounter with people and my Dumb and Dumber haircut, at least it will be with my parents (who don't know), so we'll see how it goes. Here are some updated pics of Days 7-9, when I began my bath soaks, white crusts formed and were gently removed in the bath. I've begun using Graphcyte shampoo as well, am no longer using Baby Shampoo. Still using mineral oil on graph area til all white crusts come off. Stopped using Polysporin on Day 9 on donor area, and every now and then use Aloe Vera Gel 99% on the donor area if I feel a tingle or pain or anything. I have to be honest, I still decided to use the cup method for wetting and rinsing the hair, and lightly put on shampoo for the graphed areas. I've also put all these pics in my profile alblum One thing I would recommend is to grow out your hair as long as possible to cover over the recipient area when you have to go back to work, or the opposite, go fully buzzed so people get used to that look for a while before your procedure. I like the long hair method, because even if there is redness on my scalp I could cover it up with longer hair. Any ideas for cover up let me know.

Pics from days 4, 5, and 6. If they areas look wet it's because these are the days the regimen is to put mineral oil on the recipient area and polysporin on the donor area. I have some small pain in both areas, but they are small dull pain that I'm taking 2 Advil for. I've also decided to eat as healthy as possible with foods that promote good hair growth, like Salmon (Omega-3 fats), sweet potato, Nutribullet Spinach shake x 2s a day; acai, blueberry, strawberry bowls (antioxidants), coconut water, lots of regular water, lentil soup. Pretty much trying to stay away from preservatives and fast foods. Also taking: MSM - 3000mg Bioastin - antioxidant Hair, Skin, and Nails - by Nature's Bounty (w/ 5000 mcg of Biotin) Collagen Vitamin E - 400 iu Avodart Multivitamin Iron Fish Oil Taking them at different times in the day, so they are spaced out. Thanks for the continued support, tomorrow I start my bath soaking day for the graphs.