maddmaxx

I had a session of approximately 2,200 grafts with Dr. Haber in late June, 2010. No pics. I posted a synopsis of my situation in another thread, but to recap, in my late 20's I had a bit of recession then thinning throughout the front and top, worse on top. In the early to mid-90's I had a total of about 1,000 micro and mini grafts done in my front in three procedures, spaced about a year apart. Nothing to the top/crown. I had a fairly good head of hair as a result throughout my 30's and early 40's, but in my late 40's, felt like I could use some augmentation and ended up with the session with Dr. Haber. I thought after the procedure I was due for a good result, just eyeballing my head with the new grafts in. By September, my hair was as thin as it has ever been. It seemed that all the transplanted grafts had yet to grow and had long shed their hairs. Plus I believe I had some shock loss. By December, however, a lot of it had grown back and I was feeling pretty good about it and looking forward to more filling in in the upcoming months. Then, surpisingly to me, it worsened starting in February so that my top is very thin and the front isn't that great either. I'm pretty much back to where I was in September, with as bad a hed of hair as I've ever had in my life. I guess there's little to do at this point but to wait it out and hope for the best. Since it seemd as if I had improvement in December over my pre-transplant condition, I am hopeful that this is just a temporary phenomenon. Additionally, since I had good results from the procedures in the early to mid 90's, there is every reason to expect this will turn out well given that the art of transplanting has clearly moved forward in thos 15 years. It's just been frustrating and anxiety producing because, "whi knows?"

My case is/was probably unusual, but I was back 2 days later and, as far as I can tell, no one noticed. In fact, the day after my procedure I was hanging out at a public coffee shop surfing the internet. I could have gone back to work except that you're supposed to be spraying your head every 20 minutes or so with saline solution. I had a fair amount of hair in front, so the grafts placed in there were not conspicuous at all, especially as I had grown my hair a bit longer than typical. As for the top, which was rather thin, the area was not that pink and the hairs within the transplanted grafts, slthough short, "hid" things pretty well. I worked in a small office at the time and could keep the door to my own office closed most of the time and did try to limit contact with others for the Thursday-Friday period (my proceure was on a Tuesday). By the following Monday, I wasn't too concerned about appearances. If anyone noticed, either at work or socially, they never siad a word. Ironically, my head of hair now, some 9 months later, appears worse, i.e., thinner, than immediately after the procedure. It's causing me a fair amount of consternation, although reading the various posts here, I guess I have to be patient for everything to normalize and the transplanted grafts to start producing good, terminal hairs. A couple weeks back, I took the Con Air home clip set to my head in frustration and gave myself close to a "buzz cut" due to the thinness I was experiencing. I wish someone could assure me that this is just temporary and my hair will be thicker and fuller than last May when everything normalizes.

Huh, I must be a freak. Didn't use any of the prescribed post-op medication at all, can't recall now whether I used any of the over-the-counter type, either. The following day, I "recuperated" at a local coffee (hitting the bathroom to spray the scalp, as directed) shop and was back to work two days later.

Perfectly normal. If you had an opportunity to see the grafts as the techs were implanting the grafts, you'd see the difference between what was put in and what is shedding now.

Back in the early to mid 90's I had three transplant sessions, spaced about a year apart, of, as they were called then, mini and micro grafts. I had about 1,000 total grafts implanted, all placed in the frontal hair zone, this despite the fact that I was also thinning on the top of my head. The combination worked rather well and restored a great deal of my natural thickness but, with me in my mid-to-late 40's, I had experienced a bit more thinning that I finally decided to address late last June. I ended up having a mega-session of approximately 2,200 grafts performed by Dr. Haber in Cleveland. The grafts were apportioned approximately 50% in the front and 50% covering the top of my scalp, and I believe that the grafts on top were exclusiely 2-hair grafts. With the short, transplanted hairs in, I could tell in the aftermath of the transplant that I should have nice coverage over the top of my head. Of course, the transplanted hairs fell out and I'm rather certain I also experienced some shock loss so that by mid-to-late September I had never had a thinner head of hair. Nevertheless, by December, it seemed that a fair amount of the transplanted hairs had started growing in and quite likely the shocked follicles were now growing, too. I could also tell that the coverage on top was pretty decent and I then had a thicker top than I'd had in quite some time. About a month ago, I started noticing that my hair seemed thinner than previous. I started wondering if it was simply a product of it having grown too long but, after a hair cut, it was quite clear, I had thinned out once again, primarily on top. My front looks pretty nice, thicker than prior to the transplant, I'd say, but my top is back to where it was in September - seemingly thinner than prior to my transplant. My guess is that this is a temporary phenomenon. After all, if the transplanted hairs had grown in in he fall, I can't see why there would be some form of permanent damage or dysfunction in the transplanted grafts. Nevertheless I figured I'd register here and ask others who have gone through the newer hair transplant sessions if they have had similar experiences. So, please share your experiences with respect to the growth cycles of the newly transplanted hairs. Is my experience normal?