Modenese

@Bonkerstonker: Thank you. Not enough guys photograph the donor area in my view. Your photo at 4 months (showing the donor), where you still have shockloss evident, helped to reduce my anxiety a lot as I could see you got a great result in the end.

Hi Guys 4 month mark to the day for me - 4800 strip procedure by Dr Bisanga in Brussels. My original post from October 2012 is here. And here I am at the 4 month mark. It's been a stressful 4 months. I really reacted badly to shockloss, enough to make me regret doing the entire procedure. Despite reassurances, I felt that the hair would never grow back and that I was scared for life. I was one of those people that was 'should-I-or-shouldn't I' regarding a HT, and simply considered shaving it all off. I have an aversion to hospitals and doctors generally, so I guess this kind of reaction is understandable. In the event I've healed quite nicely, with some healing left to do I guess. The last week or so has been different though - I just can't stop smiling. The growth has finally started to kick in, and there's not really any sign on the scar I've had anything done unless you lift the hair. The right side is amazing, the left side is good but there may still be some shockloss there which is fading. For some reason, I had massive shockloss on the left when compared to the right. But like I said, I can't stop smiling. Or looking in the mirror. To think I've only started growing in the past 2 to 3 weeks, and have loads to come, is just great. Overall very pleased with Dr Bisanga and don't regret the choice, but will reserve final comment for October 2013 when I will assess final results (I would class myself as being difficult to please). BHR have good aftercare, which is something we should all think about when choosing a doctor. I've just got back from the hairdressers - so my hair is really short in the photos below.

As far as I'm concerned, the only decent UK surgeon is Farjo in Manchester. Cosmetic surgery in the UK is like the wild west - lots of cowboys. Go abroad. Brussels is a centre of excellence with something like 3 (depending on your opinion) really good clinics. Bisanga, Devroye, Feriduni. Don't walk away, run. The price issue should be telling you something.

I can't find the link now, but I found on an American university website (it looked like a good source to me) that scar tissue has only got about 60% of normal skin tensile strength by 3 to 4 month, rising to 80% after 12 months. The graph didn't go beyond 1 year, so I'm left wondering if it ever reaches 100%. This is why many surgeons do a 2-stage closure (my surgeon Bisanga is a case in point). External stitches (epidermis) you can see, and internal stitches in the dermis that dissolve over a 3 to 4 month period (so although I'm 3 to 4 months out, I may actually still have stitches). The fact is that what people do at the gym varies enormously, so it depends in my view. I have recently had a large FUT procedure and have kept away. I'm about 1 week away from 4 months. I will probably gently go back, with caution, at 5 months. When I do, I will be careful to monitor the exercises I do. In the meantime, I walk 8 miles per day. FUE patients are totally, totally different. Go back when the wounds have closed - purely because gyms are places that have a lot of bacteria.

That looks nice and should give a great result. I've seen a few great results from HDC recently. Who was the surgeon?

What do the drug manufacturers say about taking these two drugs together. Is it safe?

Not my experience at all, absolutely not. He very much listened to what I wanted, but within the confines of what was achievable (which he worked out very precisely). It was a 2-way exchange.

Hi RMLove As spanker says, it's just not dense. However, I think you've got a nice head of hair and have a good, natural result. My opinion is do nothing. You may lose further hair in the future, and may want a procedure later on. I'd wait a while to see how your crown develops, and what happens to your hair as you move through your 30's.

Good question. Everyone should ask that question beforehand. I'm 47. For 3 years before the transplant I monitored my hair loss by taking photos every 6 months, and trying to work out where the hair was fading. I really took my time over getting a HT. Looking at old photos, most of the damage was done to my hair age 27-35. In the end I concluded I was losing very little, but some of the hair was fading and of poorer quality, and I could identify where it was and where the 'safe' hair was. I can do that with confidence I think because of my age, and how hair loss in other members of my family has progressed. When I went for the op, I told Dr Bisanga 'ignore this hair' because I thought it would fade out within the next 5 years, and I just can't be ar**d to go back for loads of procedures. So my transplant goes up to where I think my safe hair is, covering the area where I think I will lose hair. I had 4,800+ grafts (about 11,000 hairs). If all goes well with this procedure, I'll be going back to Dr Bisanga for a FUE session to address the crown, and that should be me for the rest of my life - or for the next 20 years, whichever comes first As an aside, I'd say look to Belgium for your transplant. There are 3 excellent surgeons in the Brussels area. I had consultations in person with Dr Devroye and Dr Bisanga on the same day. I met the surgeons, there were no salespeople, it was as it should be.

There are loads of Farjo results around the web (including this site) - just search. Google 'farjo strip results hair transplant' and 'farjo FUT results hair transplant' Farjo has also been featured twice on the BBC recently, with the cameras there whilst he worked. As for why there are almost not posted patient results - ask them. Some clinics make you sign a clause saying you will treat your relationship with them as confidential. I don't know if this clinic does this, but some do, you can ask them. Ask them why there are little or no patient stories outside of their control. Draw your own conclusions for good or ill. Ultimately, it takes patients to be motivated to do this. I chose a great Doctor not recommended by this site, but with a great reputation and work I liked personally. I posted pictures immediately after, and will be posting an update sometime soon - but that was all down to me. The clinic didn't ask me to do it, or help, or get involved. It was just something I wanted to do having consumed so much information posted by others. BTW, I don't think Rooney's HT has achieved a good cosmetic result. Feller, Bisanga, and many others would have achieved a better FUE result in my view. All the best.

Hi I'm just approaching the 3 month mark and still have redness. There seems to be no pattern to this, as the results vary enormously from patient to patient, and from patients of the same Doctor - some patients looking good within 4 weeks, others stretching it out to months. Skin tone seems to be a major factor - I have light to medium skin tone, with a red-ish hue at times. The number of grafts seems to matter as well (I only have anecdotal evidence for this - the more you have, the longer it takes to go away). In me, it is fading, but slowly. Maybe in another 6 weeks it will be back to normal for me. Just something else we have to tough-out.

My closest friend at work I told. Everyone else I said I'd had an allergic reaction to a shampoo or conditioner.

Hi Carrotman It won't harm to have a few consultations, but you are asking for opinions so in mine you shouldn't go ahead. You are very young and have lost a lot of hair already. It's hard to see how you could get decent coverage using either strip or FUE, and may end up losing even more hair. If you look OK buzzed that's a great positive, and a HT might put that in jeopardy. I stood behind a guy at the airport a couple of weeks ago. He had very little donor left, and his scars were clearly visible - even though he'd tried to cover them with a tuft of hair. The transplanted area was separated from the rest of his hair at the front by about an inch either side, as his natural hair had continued to retreat - leaving him with no choice but to buzz the lot. Overall, he'd have been much better not to do anything. I felt very sorry for him. To say something positive, have a look at SMP. The BBC ran a documentary (BBC3?) about 2 months ago about cosmetic procedures in young people, and there was a professional dancer who was losing his hair. He also looked good buzzed. He did not go down the transplant route, but went SMP. The SMP gave him a good look, like a man with a full head of hair who shaved it off. It was cheap, and there are non-permanent versions around today which I would recommend (i.e., you can change your mind). All the best

Hi Winchester You've had some great advice here. What people are saying is this: if you cannot afford a surgeon you can trust, whom you know to have a proven track record, then do nothing. The reason is you can be left badly disfigured. Some of the posters on this board (and others) have shared their experiences with us, and frankly some of them have been to hell and back. You don't want to be them. When you have a HT, there is no place to hide. It's not like you can cover it up, in advanced Western societies men generally don't wear headwear, particularly indoors. However, it is perfectly acceptable to simply buzz your hair - lots of guys do it, it's quite normal. If you have a bad HT you loose that choice. So what you have to do is: 1. Chose surgeons you are willing to be cut by because you are totally confident in them - remember they will be wielding a scalpel. These days, we have a choices we can make, you should be able to find more than one you are confident in. 2. Find out the cost, based on what they recommend. 3. If you cannot afford it, suck it down and walk away. Look for HT stories that involve repair, get a feel for the danger.

My experience was the same as Cueballs. I was thinking of staying a few extra days at the hotel but was glad I flew back the next day for the same reason. Days 2-6 after the procedure I had an amazing amount of swelling, and became virtually unrecognisable. I would have got a lot of strange looks, but more importantly might not have got through passport control. Flying home 24 hours after there was little swelling. It was the way to go for me.

Hi Shabbs It sucks doesn't it? I'm about 11 weeks out, have a similar scar, but was lucky enough to get 4800 grafts and a large area covered. I looked slightly better than you at the back at the same time as you, but almost identical at the sides. Improvement is happening, but it's slow. The best thing I've learned is: be patient, and if you are looking in the mirror all the time then stop. That was me until I decided to stop a week ago, now I check things out once a week. Just tough it out, remain positive. Modenese.

I've 8 weeks out, and still have redness on the transplant area. I suspect it will still be there in another 4 weeks, though it's fading out. Regarding the spots, my hairdresser told me this was 'ingrown hairs' and advised my to massage my scalp with a moisturiser - I'm using baby oil. This has been brilliant advice. By doing this, the spots have gone away pretty much. When one comes up, it's cleared by the massage. I do this twice a day at weekends, and once a day during the week when I come home from work. At other times, I apply a little witch hazel gel to the spot to take away the redness.

HI Lisa I've not heard of those products, but I have used some. Dermmatch is excellent. It's amazing actually. Totally waterproof, and it really bulks up your hair. It needs hair to attach to, but if you have some hair it makes that hair go a long, long way. I used it to cover my shockloss after a HT. It is also good value - a single tub lasts months. The only disadvantage is that it can get onto white clothing if you are not gareful. I've also tried Nanogen, an alternative to topik. It's not waterproof, but looks good. Overall I prefer dermmatch.

You can take it immediately - it occurs naturally in many, many foods, and is considered safe. I had a HT 2 months ago. I've taken a lot of MSM, and think it did nothing. If you have a poor diet it may help. If you have an excellent diet, as you should after a HT, then I think it will make no difference. However, it comes into the category of 'it will do you harm, and may do you a little bit of good' so I take it along with biotin and a bunch of other stuff.

I'm 7 weeks out and have suffered massive shockloss. Nothing beats Dermmatch in my book, and absolute godsend. It last for ages and is waterproof. I could not have gone back to work without it.

Genuinely heartening to see this result - it's obviously much tougher for females facing hair loss, as society places so much pressure on women to have a pleasing appearance. As noted above, it's more like a mother/daughter than a before/after.

I'm going through it right now, in the donor area. Started 24 hours after surgery. It seems almost impossible to predict.

Hang in there Spanker. 2.5 months sounds a lot, but it's only 10 or 11 weeks, no time at all really. Try to relax, have a good diet, sit tight. You have had an amazingly neat job, it'll come.

Hi Myjax I'm at day 7 as I write, my pix and experiences on this site. 4800 grafts, strip. I have noticed a similar pattern as I'm healing, not quite as pronounced as yours but definitely the same thing. All I think is happening is slightly uneven healing, that's all. I wouldn't worry about it. I'm not worrying about mine. I think the issue in this period is we just have to be passive and wait - the meantime whenever we look in the mirror what we see is strange, and worse than before the procedure. Perfect circumstances for paranoia to develop. Hang in there.

Thanks for the comments guys. A couple of things to add: From the Photo Album I have pictures from Jan 2012 and Oct 2012 immediately pre-op. In the interval between the two sets of photos I started back on Finasteride. It looks like I gained a bit of density on the front in particular. Hard to say for sure without counting the hair though. I've got a lot of swelling. During the procedure the anaesthetic kept wearing off quickly (Dr Bisanga said I metabolised it quickly) and so had to have a lot of injections. Let me tell you, these hurt - a lot. As a consequence of this I now have a lot of swelling and look like a mekon (virtually unrecognisable).