Ahairdown

Hey Aaron, just looked at your site again.... your hair is awesome! Question... I can definitely see your point that when your hair is wet (pics from third surgery) - some thinning can be seen. But dry, your hair looks flawless. Are the dry pics not showing something that can be seen in person?

Great tips, thank you! Have been eyeing that topikk applicator for a bit now. So, definitely worth the purchase?

Just on the sides... hmm. I can't see how that would be related to weight training either. I usually lift 3-4 times per week (haven't started back up yet). Doc said my closure was really easy with no tension. I created another message thread somewhere with my theory that possibly my weight training before the transplant helped with laxity. What sucks now though is I'll have to give up a lot of my core excercises for a year. Squats, military press, situps, shrugs, rows... all out What does your workout look like at this point? Btw... Arocha told me no weight training until at least two week after, which at that point needs to be very light lifting. Apparently it takes up to a year for the scar to mature.

Good luck on your new procedure! Did the new doc have any theories on why your donor scar was widened (i.e. no laxity, etc)?

Hey logo, no offense man but if you're in a situation where a chick has her hands on your head and she's curious about a possible scar on the back of your head - you might be doing something wrong if you "catch my drift". I'm eight days out and feeling around on my scar as I typed this up. Even though the doc said 6-12 months for the scar to mature, I wouldn't be worried about it if I'm in that situation tonight. Just don't see it happening

Hey Vinny, I'm on my eighth day too. For myself, no pain/soreness and the tightness has dissapated with the swelling. The area itches some, and is tender to touch when shampooing - but no pain. From my experiences I'd say no, having pain in the donor area at this point isn't typical. That being said, it looks like your donor was taken a little higher from the back than mine so maybe it's around different nerves. Who is your doc? Do you live close enough to them where you could drop in a make sure you don't have an infection? Good luck man hope you start feeling better.

Before my restoration with Arocha last week, we talked about post op recovery. One of the topics was limitations on excercise in regards to weight lifting where the skin on the back of the head and neck are under tension. Excercises to stay away from that he mentioned (for up to a year after the procedure): squats, situps, shrugs Have lifted weights for years, IMO you can automatically add the following to the list as well: deadlifts and military press Guess what? These have been some the staples of my weekly workout routine over the past few years. Although I want to cry at this point, one thing caught my attention during the procedure. When he closed up my donor he mentioned there was basically little to no tension on the incision. Obviously my donor hasn't healed, but hopefully this helps my scar width (knock on wood). Coincidence, or could it be possible that adding these lifts prior to a procedure (after your initial scar has healed if subsequent HT) could help donor laxity - or at least augment the scalp excercises I've read about? Personally, I'd rather spend 30 mins working my body out versus doing excercises with my hands to specifically give my donor skin more flexibility leading up to a procedure but wanted to get other takes on it as well

Thanks for the info cardel..... got my script filled at walgreens for the 2%. It's a smaller bottle and they filled it with the generic ket versus nizoral (I have to request name brand with my insurance). Got it filled the day after my procedure. Need to go look at the receipt since I was kind of dazed for a day or two after the surgery from the vicodine, but seem to remember it being north of 20 bucks for the bottle. Anyone know who has the best prices for the 2% (generic/or name brand)? I've heard costco has really good prices in their pharmacy but have yet to make it over there.

When referring to the 'big 3', are they talking about the 1% or 2% though? Just started on the 2% - seems like it's working well but need a good conditioner that can moisturize the scalp a little better.

Congrats on scheduling the surgery. Is he that busy - why so far out?

That sucks! Thanks for coming here and sharing your experience with us. Just because it's such a common name, can you give us the location of the doctor also? TY

You're hair already looks great - going to be phenominal afte this go round! Did you happen to ask him how many grafts you have available after this procedure (for strips not fue)?

Read good things about it, but unable to find it anywhere for sale in the US. Does anyone have any idea on if it's available in the states? TYIA

Haven't been able to find the 1% on the shelves in the Austin area for a couple of months. Recently got a prescription for the 2% and asked the pharmacist if she knew why they've been out of stock of the 1%. She said that they've re-routed the distribution of the Nizoral supply to the tornado stricken region because they've had an outbreak of some sort of fungal infection going on since the storms. Not sure of the validity of that explanation, but that's what she mentioned anyways.... there's always someone on ebay that's going to clean house on a situation like that I suppose.

If you have a limited time that you can hide away, go with a doc that won't make you shave down - and grow your hair out a little longer in the front leading up to the procedure so you can comb it forward for a few weeks after the procedure. Should reduce your downtime significantly..... Was an important factor for me as well, and there are some top notch doctors recommended by this community that will let you take this approach for your HT.

Thanks guys! Should also add that my post op recovery regimine is the Graftcyte kit that I got from Dr Arocha, along with Make Me Heal Post Op vitamin packs which are suppose to work well also. They have specialized pre-op vitamins as well but didn't order them. Just woke up from my second night of sleeping, can't even tell anything happened in the recepient area. Can feel the donor somewhat but not painful, or even discomfortable enough to warrant any meds. Good luck with Rahal, NewHair, the hairlines he puts out are awesome and with your hair characteristics it's going to turn out great!

Had my first HT with Dr Arocha yesterday in Houston TX. Everything from the consultation to the procedure itself went great. Arocha, along with his entire staff are very professional, knowledgable, and personable. Since I was traveling from Austin which is about three hours away, I stayed at a hotel two blocks from the facility the night before and night after the procedure. Craig, one of the hair techs and a patient coordinator, even picked me up in the morning and dropped me back off when we were finished. My priorities for finding a HT physician: 1) One of the top recommended docs that produce consistently good results 2) Doc that did not insist on shaving, working in an professional/office environment, I wanted to be back at work and in front of clients within a week or two looking half way presentable with minimal signs of the HT 3) Doc/facility that had an approach where they are honest on the patient’s current situation (from both a hairloss and donor situation), and want to exceed the patients expectations in their work. The Arocha team met all of these conditions. He only works on one patient per day, and his technicians all have a ton of experience and have been with him for years. For the first HT and since I can still hide the thinning in the back pretty well at this point, I asked to have the front 3rd rebuilt. Given my goals and what I wanted to spend, Arocha harvested 3623 follicular units from my donor area. I’ve got the graft breakdown on a blog that I just setup. All of the pics are off my cell phone as I forgot to ask for a copy of the studio pics that Arocha took. I’ll ask them to be burned to disk when I get the sutures out and update the blog with the better quality pics. Here is a link to my blog, I attemped to add it to my signature area but received a system error page on step one of the instructions so something must be down. Hair Restoration Site for Ahairdown

Awesome hair line and results! Also love that they didn't shave you down for the procedure! Were you able to get back to work quickly undetected? Also, how did the scar turn out?

Keep open please - important to have clear transparency for both positive and negative viewpoints on an individual HT.