fortune11

Obviously your surgeons recommendation should take priority , but I am assuming by posting here you want other opinions --- In my view , skiing itself is not the problem but unless you are extremely careful, there is a decent chance of an uncontrolled fall which may strain your neck and donor area which can affect the scar. While most doctors recommend some form of physical activity is fine at 3 weeks (I myself began mild workouts at the 2 week mark) , it is the unpredictable aspect of what may wrong when you are skiing that could be an issue.

Thanks Garageland. Count me as one who had a good experience , but am still anxious to see some growth : ) It never gets easier . But I am very hopeful that it will be a great outcome , just like the ones before !

Congrats on the surgery . Thats a decent number of grafts for the area and hairline looks great as well . Would be eager to follow up to see how it develops. If you don't mind sharing, what were your prior two procedures ?

ATP was very good with keeping my grafted area clean and scab free but not sure if it helped the donor site at all. In fact the donor area used to get irritated whenever the solution would trickle down to it from the sprayed grafted area. I am glad your healing process was that fast. MIne was similar back in 04 when I went through my first, but different (slower) healing this time around with #3 . Was this your first FUT ?

Hairline looks solid, congratulations. If I may ask, what is your age and are you on any meds ? If your hair loss stabilizes here (with meds or otherwise), that would be mission accomplished.

JoeW -- You doctor's instructions are perfectly fine. The flakes or scabs coming off is a natural process that happens with dry scalp and while you can help it along , do not stress over it or be overly aggressive. I would recommend against using nails or scraping them. I would also advise against applying any oils on the scalp unless your doctor has specifically recommended it. I am assuming this is your first HT , I had very similar concerns with mine too. I am now on HT #3 and hardly pay attention to my scabs as I am used to them following the same shedding pattern as before.

Here are some pictures Day 20 post op . I had a follow up appointment at the local Dr Ziering clinic to check on the donor scar and the issues I had mentioned in my prior posts have been remedied . The donor scar is healing alright, width about 2mm right now but that is including all the mild redness etc., I am hoping it will thin down further as it did with previous 2 HTs. Grafted hair has started shedding - if I had to guess, would say 1/3 of them are gone. But some have continued to grow in length . This part is very similar to what I went through during HT#1 and HT#2 . I guess now all one can do now is wait ... and wait ... this should turn out well going by what has happened so far and my prior HT experiences. WIth the mid scalp covered I can then focus my attention towards the back of the crown where the below should help ... PS -- I also plan to give propecia another shot this time around (I had side effects more than 10 years ago which made me discontinue after a few weeks of use back then) . Per Dr Ron's recommendation, planning on just one pill twice a week and gradually upping the dose if things seem normal. Will keep you guys posted on how that goes as well.

Apologize in advance as this comment below is probably off-topic from the patient started thread but for those reading this thread for what it has become , I want to make a few things clear as I see them -- I think the moderators do a pretty good job here on this forum keeping it sane and level headed . When has freedom of expression ever been suppressed ? I cannot think of one example. What needs to be called out is uncivilized discourse and name calling -- that is akin to cyber bullying and people who indulge in such behavior have no place on this forum. The moderators may benefit from the commercial aspects of this website -- but tell me what exactly is wrong with that ? Their time and resources spent in maintaining and running this site are just as valuable as our time and money in our individual professions. And this site's value to sponsors / doctors derives precisely from the fact that it manages to remain objective and thus draws viewers to it. The moment it stops doing that, the forum will lose its audience and the monetary value accruing to the forum owners will go down. -- People who keep lambasting the moderators that " oh, you are just going to support surgeons since they are the ones paying your $$$ " should remember this very important dynamic . No ones viewpoint is ever perfect, and that is why we have open debates but when they devolve into situations like the one here , there is no productive outcome. I value this forum too much to have it become a circus and turn other people off from benefiting from what is in my opinion among the top 3 or 4 resources on hair loss , bar none .

The ultimate test is how this patients transplant turns out to be in say one year from now . I for one, am big proponent of conservative hairlines . If the doctor felt 2,000 was enough then he may have good reasons for doing that . If the transplant is a botched job, the patient is free to tell-tale in the future and the doctors' reputation stands to suffer more at that point than it is now . A cursory look at posts, the cost variability and lack of transparency issue does seem to come up a lot in that region, although it still turns out to be a lot cheaper than anything one might spend in US / Canada / UK . Now, people have every right to express concern but I really don't understand the need to use crass and immature language to vilify the surgeon .

+1 that . In my opinion very few men can pull off nw1 in old age unless they have facial structure similar to certain hollywood movie stars .

Congratulations on the procedure. That is a solid number of grafts that should serve you well , esp since the back of your crown is still somewhat intact with decent native hair density. Would look forward to seeing your progress. Are you taking any meds ?

thatoldchestnut -- Everyone here is giving you sound advice . Let me give you my perspective , since I had my first HT when I was your age , ~ 30 more than a decade ago. Receding hairline was a concern for me back then, and I would often long for the hair I had back in my college days. However, as I have aged , I now find that a slightly receded hairline gives me a more professional and mature look especially in my line of work. If I actually had a low "college boy" like hairline, I would probably look a little silly and would be taken less seriously -- I know some people may find that hard to believe. In my opinion, what is considered "good head of hair " does change with age. A small bald spot may crush someone's ego when they are 25 but is perfectly alright on someone aged 45. Same goes for hairline . The operating word being how well your face and personality is "framed " by your hair . Besides getting on meds etc., one good investment you could make right now is meet a personal stylist and see if they can find ways to make you look the part you want using your existing hair.

Great result and that time lapse video is really cool. Taking that must have required some effort and perseverance on the patient's part ! His donor hair is much thicker than his thinning hair on the front scalp (in pre op photos) which also makes him an excellent candidate for HT from that angle alone. But as sheraz104 asked, is the patient on meds as well and was he was on meds before the HT ?

I started light workouts this week (body weight only) , I am week 3 post op FUT, HT #3 . I expect to progressively return to my normal routine within a month from now.

Dr Lindsey --- Nothing but "Wow" comes to mind on seeing that video. Kudos. You probably changed that person's life trajectory from the 10x confidence boost that he will get going forward.

Petey99 -- for what its worth -- not knowing anything else about how your face looks ---- just seeing that hair makes me think I am looking at someone with age in his early 30s at max . So, if you were able to shave 10+ years off your actual age , thats a pretty good return on your investment . What other cosmetic surgery can compete with that : )

Thanks , I have been looking for something like this for a long time. Interestingly, I clicked that link to the manufacturers website and it is out of stock !

PharmD --- If meds are having no effect on you, and thats my assumption given your post , then it is VERY important to first ascertain the hair loss pattern before jumping into a transplant and that's where an experienced surgeon can guide you as to long term expectations. If you are a NW5+ to 6 type progressive, diffuse thinner like me (check out other HT experience posts under my name) -- it is indeed tough as even if they took ALL your donor supply and transplanted it , your hair will eventually look not that much different than how it does now and a conservative approach would be warranted . On the other hand, if your hair loss stabilizes at a lower NW level then you have more aggressive options with respect to hairline placement etc. if you are in Ohio , I consider you lucky as you are a short flight away from two excellent clinics -- Shapiro Medical Group in Minneapolis and Dr Konior in Chicago, as well as the NY based surgeons. Good luck !

Wow just saw that -- what a scam His posts all makes sense now ... its actually hilarious at so many levels

I think Dr Karadeniz made very balanced arguments . Not sure why this thread had to get so heated. I have the highest degree of respect for the techs who performed my hair transplants and I still thank them when I can for their meticulous attention and focus on my procedure. But interestingly, someone else mentioned that FUE is getting commoditized -- I think that is the real reason behind people defending techs as being fully equivalent to surgeons -- it all comes down to $$$ involved. Some day you could have "botox-like" HT sessions performed by techs, with just the surgeons name and face on the (chain) clinics . That is why I am actually thankful for the laws we have in this country that still maintain some semblance of respect for patient rights and dignity. Not the case across the world.

This is not an assembly line set up . Hair transplants have become a commodity but surgeon skill is not. I would rather the best surgeons charge more and get paid for their skill than the mediocre ones. Surgery is a skill first and foremost -- it is not just about cutting up / punching someone's skin -- the important part which people sometimes forget is skill in graft placement , survival and design. thats where the surgeon earns his fees in my opinion -- that is the outcome you are paying for. The outcome which hopefully leads to improved confidence and future earning power as a result. I agree with scar5 that ultimately you get what you pay for . where you don't, those people get exposed very quickly in this day and age. It is difficult for anyone in the cosmetic surgery business to overcharge patients over any considerable length of time.

DonnyJ - Congrats on the procedure and looks like it is coming along exactly as it should so far. You are in good hands with SMG, esp with regards to hairline work. I got my very first HT with them 11 years ago and I didn't really think much about progressive hairloss back then but I am glad Dr Ron Shapiro did and had the foresight -- the hairline he gave me was unbelievable and looks super natural now that I am 40 , also preserving donor hair for subsequent work further back in the scalp --- I can attest to it now given my hair loss has progressed (I ended up getting HT #2 and #3 subsequently) .

I got my sutures removed yesterday at Dr Craig Ziering's clinic (he is a good friend of Dr Ron, and he also did my prior HT , #2 ) . This was day 13 post op. There was some mild inflammation in one small section of the donor area and I was prescribed anti biotics and told to apply Bacitricin ointment on the scar . Dr Ziering and his surgical staff were extremely gracious and took great interest in me , it was as if I had undergone surgery there itself. Regarding concealment from co workers -- everything has worked out well so far in terms of people not commenting (and like I said before it is a tough crowd) although I am pretty sure anyone who went through a strip procedure themselves can figure it out if they look hard enough. I do think I will need to buzz my hair down to a more uniform cut to avoid the "bowl haircut " look on the back and sides. The "fill-in" powder has helped with concealment, but given the sutures are out and the area is still somewhat tender and reddish , I am giving the concealer a break and will take a chance without it tomorrow . See how that goes. The recipient site is generally fine but there are the occasional pimples here and there. I will say this though -- healing for this HT#3 is not as fast as what I experienced for #1 (2004) and #2 (2011) . Maybe it is the fact that I am older now (touching 40), maybe the scalp is too tight after 2 HTs . Dr Ron Shapiro was able to extract a decent number of grafts from a very thin (but long) strip so I am hopeful that it will turn out well. I will try to post some more pictures in a few days.

+1 that. In all my 3 HTs , donor hair was taken from the sides as well as the back. I actually found the sides to be more lax than the back. This is also the reason strip scars in many patients tend to stretch our more on the sides post surgery.

wazaam --- I really don't know much about RU58842 so if thats the next big thing I am all for it . Regarding others , by "nothing else works ", I still think finasteride and minx are the only ones proven to work across a broad swath of patients , and not just work some of the time or for some of the patients (where other factors may be at play as well) . These are all good suggestions from you but I will make one point though --- Many patients continue to lose hair while they keep on trying a wide variety of alternatives (to fin and minox) and by the time they realize "nothing else works " on a consistent basis they have already lost a whole chunk of hair . When I was taking finasteride , it seemed like a magic pill and i could actually see my crown filling in by the week (that was something). unfortunately for me, the side effects were a bigger factor and I had to discontinue it and given that, I can totally see the OP's viewpoint here . I made a conscious decision to use HTs to fill in what I could but at the same time I do realize I did miss out on a whole bunch of hair by staying off finasteride - but that was a trade off I was willing to make.