PP2

*I used a different camera this time, my apologies, I didn't have access to my SLR camera this time around. *I slowly see more growth than last time, so hopefully from this point on it will continue to get fuller. *I can sleep on my back with no discomfort on the back of my head. *Scar is still red but hopefully with time it will continue to blend in. *Shockloss areas have become more hidden with when my hair is longer. But when I cut my hair like a 3-4 length, its still noticeably visible.

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Your welcome! Thank you for the kind words! I will definitely keep the monthly updates coming

*I slowly see growth again, a bit more from last time...so progress! *I have gotten more comfortable now sleeping on the back of my head with minimal discomfort now. *The shockloss area's I feel have slowly gotten a bit more hidden than last time, although its hard to tell if there is hair regrowing back or not. *I started to notice a good amount of dandruff started to develop all around the recipient area. Before the transplant, I had a very flaky scalp and had a lot of dandruff. The first 4 months I didn't notice any dandruff but now I'm starting to see yellow deposits forming and as I comb through my hair they sort of pop off. I called Dr. Diep's office about this and his staff informed me to not worry and to just use a dandruff shampoo. I purchased Jason's Dandruff shampoo and the yellow deposits have now began to go away. *I'm exercising about 3 days out of the week (always wearing a hat when I go outside) and I haven't experienced any pain or discomfort unless I put pressure on the back of my head like doing a bench press. Other than that, I feel like normal.

Based on a lot of other transplants that I've seen on the forums it could be that just my shockloss is a bit worse than I expected. But I'm hoping it grows back like the Dr. Diep said. I don't know how common shockloss is but I would be believe that it is something that is not uncommon. The area's where they strip the skin on the back of the head, those hair follicles undergo a lot of trauma and so it doesn't surprise me that the hair itself around those area's doesn't fall out. I think with time gradually the strip scar will be more hidden with time, I also did A-cell injection (extra $500) from Dr. Diep. It's supposed to help with the healing process of the strip area. I didn't go with bosley initially of the fact that it was so commercialized and I didn't see the recommended doctors on this forum work for bosley. I think all of them work in a private practice. Well initially right after operation there won't be any pain because my whole head was numb throughout the procedure. And it will take several hours for the numbness to fade away and the pain slowly got worse throughout the rest of the day. But Dr. Diep provided me some pain meds to help alleviate some of the pain which helped a little bit, but they also made me pretty nauseous so I stopped taking them and just kind of sucked it up. I think the first couple days post operation was about 6/10 pain level. The majority of the pain was due to the tension of the sutures. Once the sutures were removed, the pain started to get better slowly with time. The shots felt like getting a flu shot, it stings but its a quick sting. I did feel the strip being cut being cut but since I was numbed up it wasn't too painful, about 4/10. The stripping part was also took about 2-4 minutes. There's not a lot of posts from Dr. Diep on this forum so I can't say how other people's experiences were, I wish there were more and that the main reason why I wanted to share my experience. If you would like to speak over the phone, send me a PM and I would be happy to answer any more questions over the phone too.

For the 2 months I definitely had some pain. The 1st 10 days was hard because of the stitches and it caused this constant pain. The stitches had a lot of tension and so my mobility with my mouth and head was limited in the beginning. After the stitches were removed, the pain was still there but it slowly got better with time. I wasn't aware of how long the pain should last but I believe you will definitely have some pain even after a week, just through my own experience. Its not a lot of pain, it was about a 2/10 scale, but it was constant. The amount of shockloss was a little frustrating but it wasn't a surprise. Dr. Diep mentioned that the shockloss hair should grow back overtime so I'm anticipating it to be better with time. Dr. Diep mentioned that I can wear a loosely worn hat after 2 weeks, which is what I did. I believe a week may be too soon. The scar will be visible for the first 2-3 months in my opinion. FUT is pretty invasive when it comes to Stripping the skin from the back of the head and it won't heal up within a month. It takes a while for it to heal. From my experience, it took about 3-4 months for the scar tissue to form completely. For the first 2 months definitely my head felt pretty tight. My head was pretty numb for the first 2 months. It was pretty discomforting opening my mouth real wide, laughing or resting my head back on something because I could feel the strip area being stretched or pulled and it was really uncomfortable. After about 3-4 months my head started to began to feel normal and I was beginning to get feeling back all over my head. At about 5 & 1/2 months now, I feel very normal now, but I still do have some discomfort when I apply pressure on the back of my head. I do believe that swelling is common after the first week of operation. My face & eye's got pretty puffed up and I had a relative that had a transplant too and their face was puffed up too. If I would go back again, I still would do FUT because for larger sessions it made more sense to me to do FUT than FUE. I think for smaller sessions, FUE is a better option. If you have any further questions please let me know.

*This past month i've noticed some more growth! Not much but progress! *The discomfort of sleeping with the back of my head against the pillow has gone down a bit and I've been able to start sleeping & laying my head back more comfortably. I still do have discomfort but its gone down a bit. *Shockloss is still noticeable on the left side of my head where the strip scar is. Its getting more hidden with time but still noticeable. On the other hand, the right side is mostly covered but still noticeable. Its not as noticeable as the left side. Hopefully in the next few months the noticeability will go down even more!

*I'm slowly starting to see some hair grow at this point, but its very small. At this point I look very similar to what I looked up just before my operation. Maybe I'm a slow grower...Grrr! *The shock loss is still visible but it has become less noticeable as time goes on. Its still more noticeable on the Left side than on the right. I can't really tell if hair is regrowing back there. *I still have discomfort sleeping on my back, with the back of my head against the pillow because of the scar line. I have been able to start sleeping on my side more comfortably, the discomfort of the scar along the side is a lot less. But I usually still sleep on my stomach (my preferred method anyway). *For the first few months the top and back of my head were pretty numb because of the trauma of the transplant, but I've started to get a lot of my feeling back on the top and around the area where the scar is. When I was showering I couldn't feel my head as I was shampooing/conditioning. But more recently I have getting a lot of my senses back in those areas. *I have been going to the gym and exercising more regularly now, about 3 times a week. I still avoid workouts that involve me applying pressure to the scar line, like bench press, etc. But I accommodate myself by altering my seating position to prevent me from applying pressure back there. *Overall, I can't say that I'm satisfied yet because its still early and I feel I still have a lot more room for growth! More updates will be posted along the way! Picture qualities may not be as good because I'm living on my own now and don't have someone to take pictures for me.

Yes i do! I have not forgotten about y'all! I'm currently just very busy at the moment but I have taken pictures of myself in the meantime. I will post my 3 month update later next week!

I just went running outside. Thank you for the comments, I will be very careful from here on.

9/8/2014 *So far I think my recovery has been going ok. I look about the same as I did before the transplant now, some of my native hair has grew back. But I still have noticeable shockloss along left and right side of the scar line. *All the scabbing has came off by now. And the redness has gone away completely in my opinion. I still have some numbness around the area around where the scar is and the area's near the transplanted areas. *About 2 weeks ago I just started applying Nanogen again to help cover up the top as well as the shockloss along the scarline. Dr. Diep said it was ok for me to start applying it after the 1 month mark but I waited too about the 1.5 mark to start using it. I make sure after each time I use it I wash it off that following evening. Using it hasn't bothered me head nor have I noticed any irritation. It hasn't bothered me in any way so I will try to use it but I plan not to use it every day. About 3-4 days a week I use it. *I have been getting out and exercising more. I feel more comfortable now working out. I started playing soccer last week and I felt fine, the top of my head got slightly sun-burned. *I don't have much discomfort anymore along the scar line. The only discomfort that I have there is when I am lying back on it, like when I'm sleeping on my back and the pillow is applying pressure on the scare or when I rest my head on a head-rest in a car seat. Its discomforting in those situations so I try to avoid those. *I apologize for the smaller pictures, I'm living on my own now and don't have someone to take pictures of me. Hopefully next time I will.

No I haven't tried dermmatch! I will look into it. I have just been using Nanogen and its doing a good job too.

I appreciate the kind words. Yesterday was the 2 month mark and I took pictures and I will be posting a 2 month update later tonight! As far as FUE, I think its a really good option as well. I'm not too familiar whether or not FUE is a preferred technique for people of asian decent. That will be a good question to ask Dr. Diep. Dr. Diep is asian too and I believe he is vietnamese. I would definitely recommend just going in for a in-person consolation and he will educate you the pro's and con's of each procedure, FUT & FUE. Each procedure has their pro's & con's. If you think you will need a large number of grafts then maybe going with FUT may be a better option but it also the type of hair you have can play a factor on what method is better for you.

8/11/2014 *So far I think recovery has been going ok. I have been able to sleep really well and back to normal this past week. No more troubles for me sleeping. *I noticed a lot of the transplanted hairs now have already started to and have already fallen out. *Only disappointing thing that I have noticed so far is that I do have a good amount of shockloss along the scar line, especially on the left side of my head. I contacted Dr. Diep and sent him and a picture and he confirmed it was shockloss. His staff mentioned that shockloss hair could take up to 12 months to grow back and I hope it does! It looks really bad! The shockloss has gotten a little worse from last week, thats when I first start to notice it. I have been disappointed about this but I will continue to stay positive as I am still in the early phase of the transplant. *I still do have some slight discomfort in the back of my head because of the strip but it has been getting much better every week. I can still do my normal activiites but I still try to avoid looking too far to the extremes with my head, I try to turn my body in those situations. *Since its been 1 month, I am cleared now to start exercising and lifting weights again! I love to exercise so its been really great getting active again. Exercising was a bit of learning curve too because I try not to move my head to much to avoid streching the scar. The staff warned me about exercising too much because it can delay the healing of the scar and so I exercise with caution.

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