Taken4Granted

What @Curious25 said

It’s really hard to say without pre/post. When was it done?

Some hair is better than no hair, but I wouldn’t expect a dramatic change in the crown from 500 grafts. I wouldn’t have bothered with it until I was ready to do 1500+ , like @pre-screened said. I understand the desire to address the problem areas, but those extra grafts might have made a difference up front.

That said, congrats on your HT. I hope everything grows great for you.

Hey Concord, congrats on booking your procedure. I recently had my first as well. I think I’m okay with my hairline design, but I will give you this advice based on my experience. After a month of criticism in the mirror, you will have plenty of thoughts about how you’d change it if you could. Seems like it’s bound to go like that even with a great design, but I wish I had spent my final weeks repeatedly drawing my hairline and taking lots of pictures from different angles. I walked into my surgery with a pretty half-baked idea about the hairline, which could have cost me dearly. I thought I knew what I wanted, but it was clear at 7am that morning that I had never actually drawn it, and there’s a lot you won’t notice until you do that.

Hey @Melvin-Moderator, I’ll tell you in PM. I’m waiting til later to name the surgeon on a more concise thread.

By the way, it’ll be 1 month on Monday, and the shed is finally hitting pretty hard. I’ll be full ugly duckling in a few more days. Fingers crossed for a swift rebound.

Same here. I had FUT one month ago and it was indeed the little singles on the front that went first. It could be that the tissue heals faster in the smaller units.

18 minutes ago, elduterino said:

first ever side effect free

It would indeed be the first without side effects, which is why I’m confident that it def will have side effects. 
 

Thanks for the heads up, though. I’m curious to see how that does for people.

I tend to think artificial hair lines from HT often are too flat. I probably overdo it with the recession going into the temples, so the best is probably somewhere in-between, but here’s what I would ask for in your shoes:

It can look like too much with the hair buzzed down, but those high arches won’t be visible when the hair grows out.

Thanks, @aaron1234. Looks like you’ve done your time in ugly duckling prison, and chose your surgeon very well. It’s comforting to get that feedback from you. You got any work left to do? I see it has been a while. 
 

edit - Just checked out your background, looking pretty good. I don’t blame you for getting it done. MPB with that hair/skin color combo is a hard sell. 😉

@giegnosiganoe

Heard back from the good doctor:

 [1s, 2s, 3s] = [470, 1815, 967]

It totaled 7k hairs, which sounds pretty normal based on other posts I’ve seen. The caliber was not measured, but I’d guess it’s also middle of the road. 

Dunno, but I would worry about harming other grafts nearby. You can always pluck it back intermittently when everything is healed and growing again, in like 6-12 months. You don’t know for sure what it’ll look like until then anyway.

It depends on your particular donor quality and goals. If you truly went to a great surgeon, you’ll probably be pleased, whatever the graft count. I had maybe 2 times as much area to cover, and my surgeon said he could deliver good results with maybe a little over 2k grafts. I decided to go with more grafts using FUT because I wanted a certain density and body on top of coverage. I might have pushed for a little more in your shoes, seeing how dense the hair is behind the recipient, but the right surgeon can do a lot with that. A bad surgeon could use a thousand more grafts and deliver less.

In my own search, I focused on the very few surgeons who virtually never screw up. With cosmetic surgery, esp. above the neck, you don’t gamble. One surgeon mentioned above is known for being the most expensive, but he’s well worth it. In fact, I think he ought to charge more. In the end, it’s cheaper to do it right the first time.

Just got the lady to photo the cut with flash and fresh neosporin. God d*n, that is clean work. I didn’t expect to be able to buzz it after strip, but I think I will. I can hardly find it even with the redness and incipient shock loss.

@giegnosiganoe

Nope, no idea. I’ll e-mail the clinic to see if they have any record of that. The doc convinced me early on to forget about the graft count because it has little meaning for comparison between patients and surgeons. That said, there’s little else to go by in a forum type of situation, and it sounds like you’re actually looking for some of that information that distinguishes my ~3k grafts from someone else’s ~3k grafts. So yeah, I’ll send them a note and see what I get. You know the surgeon from our PM, so this will complete the picture.

Looking good! Based on the top and back, and considering age, it seems like there’ll be a lot more work to do in the future. Similar situation here, went with FUT for that reason.

The only thing I’ve experienced that no one has mentioned: the nerves in my scalp. As the cut heals, they start coming back, and for me this was the most painful time after the first couple days when I forgot to take my pain pills here and there.

@FoxtrotChi

Yeah, def NOT looking forward to that. It’s been shedding and looking patchier, but I know better than to hope I’ve seen the worst. It’s actually annoying bc the longer it takes to shed, the later it’ll be when it finally comes out of the dormant phase.

Hey there. I was gonna wait another week for a 1-month update (it’s ~3 wks), but what the heck. 
 

So far, so good. That problem area cleared up and turned out to be strangely thick.

I’m shedding a little but I guess the worst is yet to come. Not looking forward to losing this hair. Still so weird seeing it in the mirror.

The incision is healing nicely. Even after I (carefully) buzzed the hair (not the recipient), it’s hard to see.

So things are good!

My doc gave explicit instructions to stay out of sunlight for the first couple weeks and to avoid headwear and physical exertion for the first several days. Not only that, I spent a lot of attention using saline to clean up the honey-like “serum” beading up from the recipient so that it wouldn’t dry and become crusty cheese. I had FUT, which was also a limiting factor in my mobility and comfort. In any case, I wouldn’t plan on ANYTHING but rest and post-op care. I’m not saying that’s the only right answer to this question, but I can’t fathom playing it any other way.

Great result. I’d wear it pressed down a tad more and with a dash of Toppik. Disappointing that some people can’t appreciate the transformation.

Wondering about the shock loss myself and trying to plan out the cosmetics for the next few months. I got FUT, so I’m looking at a big difference in length between sides/back and top/recipient. I’m more curious how short I’ll be able to cut it. Looking like George Costanza over here.

Hey man, sorry about your hair loss. It’s really good that you went out asking questions. That will save you.

Just got my first HT at 34, and even that felt kind of young. It’s overwhelming in your early 20s, but it’s a long road. It will take years of coping, adjustment, character building and general maturation (physical & mental) before you’re in the right place in life to consider it. I wanted to do it at ~22, but now I know that would have been a mistake. If you’re unlucky, it can ruin your life.

@ruca2

Post-op month 5, eh? Congratulations, man. That’s the corner, right?

Thanks for the encouraging words. I’ve been worried about messing it up with too much moisture, not enough moisture, washing too aggressively, accidentally turning on my side at night in bed, scratching an itch too close to the recipient, and on and on. Everything is yield. Gotta make sure these seeds sprout. I thought I’d be able to just forget about it and be surprised at 4-6 months by the growth, like “oh, that transplant I got back in August!”. I thought getting the surgery would be this turning point that ensured a great outcome x months down the line, and that this knowledge would be a comfort. Funny how I went to the best doc I could find to have that peace of mind, yet here I am stressing about these little things. 
 

Yeah, man. It is an emotional journey for sure.

Thanks, @ruca2. From what I’ve seen, it does appear to be immaculate work. Dunno what set off that bleed, but it’s looking better now. 

But I can already tell the wait is gonna kill me. I’m at 1 week and it’s already getting to me. I can’t even stand to see some of these transplanted shafts come out. I’m hoping to see some early sprouts by Halloween, but I know that would be lucky.

@yesplease

Sure thing. Me, I know I’m gonna lose a lot more on the top and crown, so my surgical work is just beginning. I chose FUT because the long-term yield is better when you start with virgin strip. The other thing is you get more grafts for the money with FUT. I wanted good density in the front, which meant more grafts than I can afford using FUE. That said, my surgeon did mention FUE was a viable option in my case and told me he could deliver great results with fewer grafts (~2k) without the linear scar, but I was greedy for denser hair. We did have a long talk about the options and risks, esp. with the long-term in mind. What’s appropriate for me could be wrong for someone else.