TheTallGuy

No, not a smoker. Intrigued by the thought it may have been applying make up to cover the redness that could've caused a problem. Although I only really put it at the front and it hasn't grown further back either, so unlikely that's the cause.

No, not a smoker. Intrigued by the thought it may have been applying make up to cover the redness that could've caused a problem. Although I only really put it at the front and it hasn't grown further back either, so unlikely that's the cause.

Hi Didn't do any blood work but everything's fine as far as I know. I take quite a lot of vitamins anyway and have a very healthy diet so I'd be very surprised if I had any major deficiencies.

I have no qualms about the Dr. at all. He's been great whenever I've contacted him, and as he says he wishes as much as I do that things turn out. He did his best work, the result is in the lap of the Gods. As you say I'm just down about it. Nothing more, nothing less. (or maybe I was secretly hoping for lads of examples of people with sensational late growth!)

Hey Just to clarify, my post wasn't at all intended to be a criticism of the process, or certainly of the Doctor's work. I understood the risks when I went for the procedure and Dr L did indeed try and convince me that strip would be a less variable option. I'm not looking for anyone to blame, nor to start a debate about my procedure. It's not an exact science, and it seems I'm just one of the unlucky ones. The only reason I posted was I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself and as I kept the procedure from everyone but my wife there's no one really to discuss it with, and this seemed the logical place to get it off my chest!

Hi everyone Sorry it's taken me so long to update this thread. But the main reason I haven't is because I've just been waiting and waiting for something to happen... and, well, it just hasn't. I'm at 13 months now and as you can see from the pictures I'm really looking no better than before I had the transplant, other than the hairline in the middle being slightly further forward, and a few disparate hairs dotted around the temples. If anything it actually looks worse than before because there are just hairs in random places which obviously looks unnatural. I've been clinging on to the hope that FUE is sometimes slower to grow than FUT and that a growth spurt was just around the corner. Constantly checking my hair in the mirror, looking for any signs of life, driving myself a bit crazy to be honest! But I'm pretty much resigned now and telling myself to accept reality -- that the transplant has been a failure. There are some wispy hairs just above the surface which you can't really see in the pictures so I was hoping if these were to mature it might look better -- but tbh they're been like that for months so there's no sign that any maturing is taking place. I've been in email contact with Dr. L who is as mystified as I am why this is (not) happening. The procedure went well, I didn't lose any grafts in the recovery process and I'm a healthy guy in his mid 30s so I don't know what to put it down to other than rank terrible luck. Obviously I'm extremely gutted and somewhat depressed that all that time, effort, etc looks like coming to nothing. Does anyone know of any examples of people who've been very late growers? Or should I just accept that it's not happening? It's the hope that kills you.

Yes Doc the redness has improved in the last month. I think it's on its way out now. I hope all's good with you in McLean.

Greetings and Salutations Here is the 4 month update. Not an enormous amount happening that's visible in these pictures. At this stage it's quite hard to tell the difference between new hairs on their way in and old ones on their way out. There are a few hairs sprouting up in areas I definitely had nothing before, and if you look very closely (as I spend far too long doing) there's a number of tiny, very blond hairs poking through. I'm presuming / hoping these are the precursor to the HT hair coming in. Obviously it's still early days. It would be nice to have a bit more growth at this point but it's all about the end result. As you can see there's still a bit of redness in the recipient area. This is pretty annoying but there's not an awful lot you can do apart from wear your Missus's concealer. Likewise the donor area is a bit pink still, although the actual incisions have healed fine. I'm just a pasty English white guy who's susceptible to redness! I think I've undergone something of a shed since starting the Regaine foam after the HT. Hopefully some of this will return. I'm also on the Biotin, B complex, Nizoral and MSM. Hope all's good with everyone else, thanks for the comments. Tall Guy

Hi everyone Sorry I've been a bit remiss in updating my progress. In truth that's because there isn't an awful lot to report. I still have a fair bit of redness in the recipient area. I've been wearing make up to cover it up which isn't something I thought I'd ever say but it works! The donor area has healed fine although I still have red dots where the incisions were made. I guess I'm suffering ongoing redness on both counts from my pasty English complexion. There is actually a fair bit of hair growing in the recipient areas, but I'm pretty sure that's just my old hair that's clinging on for dear life rather than any crazy early growth to get excited about. I don't appear to have suffered any shock loss although I'm aware that could still happen? Onwards and upwards. Here are some pics at 11 weeks (last friday)

So this is 4 days after. Pics taken under v bright spotlights.

Hello everyone. That's me in the photos. Thought I'd post a little write up. I'm back safe and sound from the States (obviously), as expected the Doc and all his staff were really nice all the way through. I asked them to shave my whole head instead of just the donor / recipient, as I just figured I might as well have it all the same length and then grow it back at once. Basically the only complication I had on the first day was that for some reason no matter how many injections I had into the front / top of my head it just refused to go numb. Weird! It worked fine on the back for the donor but no dice at the front and I could feel everything that was going on so the Doc had to inject a nerve numbing agent which went in through my eyebrows. Once that went in it was a breeze really. They did the hairline with 1100 grafts on day 1. The Doc said that was a record in a FUE day for him which I guess goes to show the care they take because you read reports of other people doing more than that. The second day was obviously a bit harder as the back of my head was hurting a touch, and my body isn't built for lying still for long periods. At one point I was actually in quite a lot of pain as the back of my head was throbbing and I could feel the slits being made on top of my head. I was trying to avoid having the nerve injections again as I had a really important meeting on the tuesday (today) when I got back and the Doc told me I'd get bruising around my eyes. However the pain got bad enough that I had to cave in and as soon as I had the injections I wished I'd had them earlier! I've since managed to move the meeting to Friday, so all good, as I've got quite a bit of swelling in my forehead, temples, eyes area. Basically I look like I've gone 12 rounds with Manny Pacquiao! As Doctor L says he was reluctant to put grafts further back on my head but I thought I might as well since I'd gone all that way. I realise this isn't going to be an all encompassing one time hair victory for me. Anyway he agreed and actually said once he looked through the magnifiers that there were some pretty bald bits with no hair, so hopefully it'll all lead to a good result with not too much shockloss. Anyway the flight back was cool - Doctor L kindly tried to get me upgraded (I'm really tall) with no success but fortunately I managed it anyway. Having a clearly post op head will do that for you!. I've since washed my hair a couple of times, today I poured some water with a bit of shampoo from a cup onto the recipient area. It's looking fine, I've got a few yellowy looking pimple type things but I gather that's pretty normal. I've been sleeping using my aeroplane pillow so quite upright. The doc's post op instructions are pretty simple and just involve keeping it all clean. I guess it's just a waiting game now! Thanks again to Doctor Lindsey and his staff. I'll post a couple of photos once I work out how.