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Give it time. If it starts happening more, talk to your HT doctor.

Agreed.

Hairmee, Just because insecurities are common--or even rational--does not mean there isn't a psychological aspect to them. You clearly don't deny that your hair loss makes you feel bad. It's totally reasonable that it makes you feel bad. And it's clear that your hair loss affects your daily life in really harmful ways. Whether or not you choose to do something about it, it's really masochistic to believe that there's nothing mental at play here. Getting defensive when people try to give constructive advice only exacerbates the problem. Addressing our own insecurities isn't a sign of weakness; it's a sign of strength.

Everything about this transplant looks good. The scar is subtle and thin. Nicely done.

You could maybe keep your hair on your head by pouring glue on your scalp. But in all seriousness, it's expected and normal for your hair to shed at first. Like Newhairplease said, don't worry about it, they'll grow back.

Nice job! Has the patient experienced any shock loss yet? Or has he passed the window where shock loss can occur?

Rogaine causes hair loss for about a month before it starts kicking in. You'll get peak results at around 12 months of use. So nothing to worry about, it's a completely normal reaction.

Didn't expect to see this sort of thread logging on today, heh. From what's been posted so far, it seems like a lot of this "evidence" linking masturbation and hair loss is just correlational studies. Remember, correlation DOES NOT equal causation. They're are a lot of variables that could be affecting both issues, like time. As years pass, total times masturbated and total hairs lost increase. Even if there were a causal relationship between masturbating and inflammation or malnutrition or whatever, the effect may be so insicnificant that it doesn't really do anything to the body. You can find all sorts of chemical changes in the body by looking under a microscope. Water from the sink is full of impurities under a microscope, but you aren't going to die just because you never bought a Brita filter. Also, anectodtal evidence IS NOT scientific fact. Saying "whenever I masturbate, my hair falls out" is a tiny sample size, biased research, no control group, and ungeneralizable to a larger public. That's like saying "whenever I eat an orange, I notice that I'm a male." That's true for me, but it doesn't mean only men eat oranges or all women who eat oranges become male. It's a self observation, not a universal one. Maybe if someone can point to a published, peer-reviewed study where a group of 20 randomly selected males with MPB masturbated once a day for six months and had their hair compared to a group of 20 randomly selected males with MPB who were absitanant for six months. But something tells me no scientist would waste their time with such silly research. Not to mention who on earth would sign up to be a test subject for that? Sorry, didn't mean to rant. These are just things we should all keep in mind when reading about "science" on the internet.

Such awesome results and so fast, too! Was the patient on any hair loss medications?

I can believe a patient saying their hair became better than before because we take hair for granted when we have it but not once we lose it. It's all relative, and plus, those are some great results. Nice job!

Your doc said it's normal, the forum said it's normal, all signs point to nothing to worry about.

I also agree with the rest of the thread. Very natural results! And I can't imagine that you would want to shave your head ever again! haha. Can you talk a bit about your timeline for scheduling your HT? Particularly around your military services? Thanks and congrats!

Wonderful result! I'm curious as to how long the session took considering the scope of the surgery.

What a difference, and after only 6 months, too

Great seeing such a rebound after a mediocre procedure. Congrats!

As someone who has seen almost the entirety of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, I think it's important to understand Larry David's character to understand what he's saying. In both shows (it is generally accepted that George Costanza is Larry David), Larry creates this paranoid, "everyone is out to get me" character. He acts like people with hair are in a secret club that discriminates against bald people. But in the episodes, it's usually the bald character's own fault for whatever conflict occurs. I think the INTENDED meaning of that quote is people with thinning hair can blow something as little as hair loss way out of proportion. Even though most people don't notice Larry David's hair loss (I don't, unless he mentions it), he takes it so seriously that he'll accuse others of hair discrimination. It's funny because in his shows, the only thing that holds George or Larry back are themselves. And there's the takeaway lesson: we are often our own worst enemy. So if we get HT, we should do it for ourselves, not for others.

I just wanted to add that if you have BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), you may want to take periodic pictures of your hairline every few months. It will give you an objective view of your hair's progression. When you have evidence of what your hair is actually doing, you might be able to lower the stress of guessing if you're balding or not. Let the camera worry about it, not you. And check on this forum how people photograph their hair. There's an art to it.

Harvesting all your DHT resistant hairs would look very odd, and since HTs solve an aesthetic problem, you can sort of define donor hairs as "DHT resistant hairs that won't make you look odd after harvesting." And Levrais is right about scalp laxity. You can only stretch your scalp so far.

Thanks for the post, Dr. Beehner. I learned a lot of good information in there.

Pretty nasty. But 50 years from now, you think people are going to look at the almost invisible scars of modern strip surgery and think the same thing?

Good advice given, except I wouldn't put so much hope into scientists discovering a miracle cure. Be realistic about what's possible and what options you have.

It's difficult to say HTs are permanent because nothing about humans are permanent. Wow, that sounded really gloomy. How about this: a HT will last as long as you need it to last.

I love that, grown in with a vengeance! And looking at your pics, I have to say your friend is right. Congrats!

All of it? Wow, you got some great coverage and still some growing left to make it better. Can't wait to see more down the road

First off, I'm not a doctor, but I think the circulatory system works like a tree. The big major arteries are like the trunk and the tiny blood vessels near the scalp are like the branches. When ht doctors extract the strip, you're gonna lose some blood, but those tiny blood vessels are like tiny tree branches. Cutting them won't hurt the tree, and it won't be long before they regrow. Like trees, us people can regenerate body damage pretty quickly. Of course, damaging a major artery is like damaging a tree trunk, and you could bleed out before your body has a chance to repair it. But again, you don't have major arteries in your scalp, so removing the strip is no problem. But yeah, I'm no doctor, but I'm sure one will get to this thread eventually and contribute something better than a metaphor about trees.