Monaco

@kaisersosei Hello. No trepidation on my part. It's definitely one oft the best things I've ever done for myself. If there's any form of perceived hesitation about sharing more information, this is entirely to protect my privacy. Likewise, the last thing I'd want is for people to think that there is an unjustified bias on my part. Feel free to PM me any questions you might have

You can just left-click on my name and send a PM. Regarding the hair shock, to be honest, I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary. In retrospect, maybe I was indeed losing quite a bit more hair than usual for the first 2 months or so. So I would say that it wasn't really that noticeable. Some people have it, some don't. By 5 months, the HT was great. I adopted a purely no shampoo routine immediately after the HT, just to try out some things I read online. In fairness, the routine worked amazingly until the 6th or 7th month. By then, my scalp had turned itchy, and hair started falling after light scratching, often with white bulbs at the ends. Small tiny yellow crystals similar to blackheads started to form also. This was probably caused by too much oil or sebum. After maybe 2 weeks of itching agony and some more annoying occasional hair fall, I decided that the routine just didn't work well with me, and I started minoxidil and 1% nizoral on a daily basis. If you ever had any qualms about using sodium lauryl sulfate shampoos, my experience tells me that it has no significant effect on hair other than to make some hairs a little crinkly. You can use whatever you want on your hair. I've since given up on all organic, SLS-free shampoos and similar all-natural programs. Nizoral everyday works for me, so I'm sticking with that. So to answer your question, I started using everything after my operation, when circumstances forced me to take some action. My shedding with minoxidil was actually the scary part of the entire ordeal. By carefully counting hairs on my hands after shampooing and inspecting the drain after each shower, I estimate that I lost NO LESS than 4,500 strands of hair over a 2 week period. You can imagine how frustrating and worrisome this felt after having seen significant improvement with the transplant. This happened probably less than 2-3 weeks into starting minox. The shedding lost some steam after that, but I was easily losing at least 100 strands (40-50+ on the hands, probably the same number in the drain) each day. I persisted in using minoxidil on a daily basis, and thankfully, everything came back after 2-3 months. I have always used it once a day, even if there are studies showing that using it twice a day yields better results. Twice a day is unmanageable and inconvenient on my end, not to mention diminishing returns, higher total cost of money, time, attention, etc. I wouldn't say that the transplanted hairs are falling out permanently, if that's what you mean. They probably grow and fallout in the same manner the normal hairs do, as it's a constant cycle. Touching my scalp right now, I can still feel a lot of "sharpies" of various lengths - hairs that are below a certain length, standing up, and regrowing after having fallen off. As to whether those are the transplanted hairs or not, there's no way to tell. Transplanted hairs are there to stay for life. If after your first HT, you lose even more coverage and have a strong donor area, then by all means, do it a second time. Bottom line is that once you go for an HT from a qualified surgeon, you're definitely going to see results.

@hairlosssufferer Sent you a PM.

Yes, that would be kind of a red flag as you would say, though to give the benefit of the doubt, I think it would be best if you emailed Dr. Manzanares directly to get his response on that. From my experience, searching for information regarding Dr. Manzanares' past work was somewhat difficult because of so many blogs containing the same information. This is usually typical when you employ the services of an SEO company or entity to try to raise awareness about your services. Somehow along the way (this is purely from what I put together), some pictures were used by a forum poster who was paid on commission for website development as well as referrals. Regretfully, it seems this forum poster had little in the way of tact and proper PR skills, doing himself and Dr. Manzanares a disservice by quarreling with others who were posting on the same forum. You don't build good sentiment in that manner. This happened like probably 3 or 4 (?) year ago. To summarize, I doubt anyone here knows the real story, so it would be best to go straight to the source. In my case, my decision to go with Dr. Manzanares was made based on my discussions with him and judgment of his capabilities after personal visits and emails. I would suggest to anyone interested to visit or communicate with Dr. Manzanares directly, and to ask him all the hard questions that you can. In this manner, anyone can objectively gauge how confident he or she would be under Dr. Manzanares' care.

Sent you a PM

Going back to the original question, I'm sorry I overlooked the fact that the OP may have been referring specifically to FUE - with no interest in the strip method. I am aware that Dr. Manzanares does FUE, but I opted for the strip procedure given my circumstances (relatively short recovery time available, no desire to have any part of my head shaved, and desiring the highest possible graft count). Leaving this bit of detail out earlier, Dr. Manzanares closed my donor wound with double edged tricophytic closure. Given the opportunity, I hope that I'll be able to share some results in a year's time or less.

Well, I registered with this forum specifically to answer this question. I just had a (approx.) 2,800 graft strip method transplant procedure done by Dr. Frank Manzanares yesterday. Years ago, I had been in contact with another well-known hair surgeon in Manila, Dr. Andrew Pineda (Dr. Manzanares and Dr. Pineda are friends who go way back), but his clinic's location was way too far for convenience, and the spouse was hesitant at the time because my hair was certainly bound to look worse in a year or two. Doing a search for Dr. Manzanares, I was initially discouraged that there were so many spam blog results in Google, which was probably a sad consequence of some over-zealous resellers sandbagging site after site with the same articles and write-ups on Dr. Manzanares. I decided to visit him personally, and my initial meeting went very well. He answered all my questions and concerns very clearly and in excellent detail. I scheduled surgery, and he advised me take PT/PTT blood tests, and to start taking papayas and pineapples days before the surgery. The surgery went faster than the expected 10 hours. It felt like having a neck lift at the back of your head due to the sudden tightness. In any case, I was able to drive home without problems. Some parts of the donor scar were still bleeding until earlier this morning. By around 12 noon, there was no more bleeding at all. It's now 10PM here and I think I've adjusted well. I didn't appear to have any swelling, and my head doesn't feel as tight anymore. The only thing I can complain of is that my sutures are a bit swollen and itching quite a bit. I wish they'd heal much faster. I found Dr. Manzanares' staff to be solid veterans at their work. The whole procedure was efficient, non-stop, and you could definitely tell that they have had lots of experience. Apparently, 60% of their clientele come from abroad. Today, I passed by to have one graft of 3 hairs that I scratched off by accident, reinserted (stored in contact lens solution). Thankfully, one of his staff was able to assist me in spite of them having another procedure today. I'll be back in Dr. Manzanares' office in 6 days, for him to assess the scar's healing. While I certainly can't say anything for the results yet, so far, the transplant looks good, and I was satisfied with Dr. Manzanares and his staff's work. The cost was about US $1.54 per graft.