bennyt89

Still crap results. I'll post pics this weekend. Don't worry they won't blow you guys away. I actually was supposed to have another procedure done with the doctor last week but cancelled it bc I felt terribly uncomfortable. I'm going to give a big write up and include the lack of effective communication I felt with his clinic. Zero financial compensation was given as well. overall I'm still very unhappy but can't spend my life dwelling on it. Detailed write up to come...

To be honest I was initially considering a HT with Feriduni when I was fielding potential surgeons, one of the main reasons I decided not to was the lack of communication from their clinic. Took almost a week sometimes to get a response to a simple question and often involved multiple follow up emails.

I really feel for you, wouldn't wish something like this on my worst enemy. Hope you find a competent surgeon and get the result you've been hoping for.

I'm 11 days post op. This was literally the last scab on my recepient to come off, so I'd be a bit peeved if it's a case of a damaged or lost graft.

As pictured, you can see the red dots in the temple area. There was no bleeding or pain whatsoever but I'm still a bit worried as this never occurred with the other scabs. I was not using much force so I'm not sure.

Have sent to my HT doctor for review but keen to get some thoughts.

How long after the HT did you observe this? Have any pics?

Happened to me today. I'm not sure if this is the same as your case? Or just hair attached to a normal scab

In particular running/jogging, taking into account I come from a very hot and humid place so there's a lot of sweat involved too.

Getting a bit restless sitting in my ass doing nothing, prior to surgery I would exercise every day. My stomach agrees as I've put on a few pounds too !! I know it's not the end of the world but I'd like to get up and active asap if possible. All I'm doing right now is exercising my playstation thumbs.

My own doc says 2 weeks for any physical activity but use common sense. What are your thoughts guys?

How long after the HT did you observe this? Have any pics?

10 days, no pics unfortunately

The hairs and structures collected in the image were captured fresh out the shower. I believe the tissue pictured was more "scabby" in texture and form, or even crust-like, but they look clear/transparent because of how wet my head was after a shower. The feel of the structures was more like wet scab attached to hair.

I had something similar looking after washing my hair but it was more soft and basically disintegrated after putting a little bit of force on it. I have a lot of flaky dry skin on my scalp so I'm hoping it's that.

It was here: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/188970-please-help-me-clarify-my-shedding.html

 

They only show a photo of the lost grafts. To me (and apparently his doctor too) they look like the entire transplanted follicle, rather than the normal shed hair with scab/crust attached.

Thanks, what a weird case. And they look like little grains of rice as well.

Thanks for this input. It's encouraging. I was extremely ginger and followed directions. Looking back, I would've not touched the area for 2-3 weeks and let nature do it's thing, but I'm not sure that's the correct care with regard to crusting.

 

I'm far from it having "worked out" for me. I won't really know until a year. And that's the pain of it all, but I'm not gonna count hairs or obsess. I've done enough of that leading up to the procedure to know it's not productive. Whatever happens from here on out, I know I took action on something that's bothered me for a really long time. I've done all I can, so I'm gonna do my best to be at peace with it and exercise patience. All the results I've seen from my surgeon have been outstanding. He's assures me I'll be happy when this is all done, and I believe him.

What did those grafts you posted the photo of feel like to touch? Were they hard?

Excellent write up! The work looks clean!

Any precautionary measure while flying back home?

I did a 32 hour flight (including layovers) to get to Brussels on the Sunday, slept off the jetlag and surgery Monday all day, went in for a wash and final check Tuesday and flew out that night. 15 hours back to Singapore (then spent the night at a transit hotel) and another 5 hour flight the next day home.

It's doable but definitely stressful, but for me I wanted to be at home to recover not in a hotel room. Especially on the long haul flight back I really had to fight the urge to not fall asleep at risk of nodding off and hitting my head on the side, plus just always being wary of people accidentally knocking you on the head since I'm in close quarters economy.

#1 thing I'd recommend is always check in early and get a window seat, even better if it's near the toilet as well. The only annoying thing is getting up every 2 hours to spray the saline in the toilet and climbing over seats and people. Also at the end of the flight when everyone's rushing to get their luggage out of the cabin I just sat back and waited until most people were off the plane.

Apart from that I had no real trouble from security as I was wearing a bandana, and had a bit of swelling on the home stretch but no biggie.

Bleeding is the usual sign, although there was a guy posting last week about lost grafts and he reported no bleeding. His photos did appear to show complete units had been lost and I believe his doctor confirmed this.

Do you remember the thread name? I'm curious what it looks like. Was it just a bare spot?

Looks normal to me. One thing i'd advise is don't pick off the scabs. My doctor advised me to begin shampooing the scalp normally 3 days post op. If the scabs don't come off with normal shampooing (i.e. massaging the scalp with shampoo) they're not ready to come off.

Yep definitely not touching the scabs at all. I'm on day 7 now, post op instructions say to gently wash and massage on day 8 so will be attempting that nervously tomorrow.

It looks normal. The scabs are forming and breaking apart. Sometimes that can look like empty spots. Try not to be so critical of every little spot on your head and whether there was a graft there or not. Let the process run its course for the next few months.

Thanks. And yeah it's a lot harder than I thought not analysing the recepient every day for changes ! Will try my best hahaha

As per the picture you'll notice a small bare spot in the second pic as compared to the first. Where previously it looked like there were more hairs/grafts there.

I know I havnt dislodged any grafts and have been following all post op instructions to the letter pretty much. Is this beginning of the grafts/crusts dropping off? Any input appreciated as I thought 5/6 days is a bit early for any shedding.

Some pics Day 5 post HT. Noticed this morning that a small crust has already come off, which seems quite early, was thinking this would happen more after 10 days.

If you're wondering what the blackish dot is in the centre left. About 20 minutes after I left the clinic and took off the bandana and saw that spot which was more red and naturally freaked out. Luckily Dr Bisanga examined and it was just a small clot, and the grafts underneath were still in safely in place (phew)

So almost at the end of Day 4. The swelling has gone down a bit and I'm now allowed to sleep flat on my back rather than upright. Also noticed the recepient is not as red and starting to develop some scabs as well.

However my donor is incredibly itchy which is not helping with getting quality sleep .. will keep applying the saline as often as I can. Definitely sucks though.

Anyone who's had itching know how long it generally lasts?

I understand the paranoia, and it's best to be better safe than sorry. I'm a pretty rough sleeper and I was so afraid of doing damage to my grafts in my sleep that I made a cocoon out of my comforter and slept with gloves on my hands and fastened them together like a crazy person so that if one hand moved towards my head, the other one would stop it and I'd wake up before I could bust myself in the face - which believe me, has happened more times than I can count in my life. Lol.

 

I realize now in hindsight that while taking precautions is fine and good, I think it's probably more difficult to dislodge a graft than most of us think and I could've probably been a little less paranoid. Be sensible and careful and follow your doctor's instructions and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Thanks good to know I'm not the only one, feel like I'm going crazy over here. I was thinking of using mitts at the very least to give me some peace of mind so I can fall asleep

It depends on the size of the incision, regardless of how many hairs are in the graft. Smaller grafts means smaller incisions which in turn do not bleed as much if irritated or if a graft is lost.

 

The itching is part of the healing process. If your clinic did not provide one, you can consider a spray bottle with saline water to spray on the recipient area. The result is a cooling down feeling that helps to deal with itchiness. Always confirm with your clinic before you do this as no clinic instructions should supersede those of your own clinic.

But the smaller ones would still bleed to some degree? Even a little.

And yes I have been given the saline spray which I use every few hours.

Isn't it true there are smaller single hair grafts that don't bleed if dislodged or aren't as obvious? Or is that BS.

I woke up early this morning to find myself beginning to scratch my head at the recepient I stopped myself but I felt like I touched some grafts. No blood as far as I could see. I'm almost 4 days post op

Any thoughts on pre and post op pics guys??

On a side note even though I tried my best to avoid, my face looks like I've gone 10 rounds with a prime Mike Tyson. Lucky I've made it home after the big flight from Europe so time to relax and guard these precious grafts

Will it always bleed and do you feel any pain?

I'm asking becuase I'm fresh off a HT a few days ago. And I'm incredibly paranoid about losing any grafts (I know you're bound to lose one or two), any time there's a change in appearance to my recepient area I start to freak out a bit and assume perhaps I've lost some grafts.... for example this morning I did the washing with betadine spray and gently pouring water over there, afterwards I noticed two small reddish dots that's weren't there before, no bleeding or pain at all. Just things like that.

Even to the point I'm afraid to fall asleep in case I roll to my side and rub my head against the sheets. So any clarification is is appreciated

I took a (very long) flight from Singapore to Belgium which ended up being about 35 hours in total after layovers etc. once I finally got to my hotel room i was in full zombie mode. I responsibly decided to just basically have a good dinner and rest for the big day the following morning.

Pre Op: I arrived at BHR Clinic at 7am, there was a very friendly nurse waiting for me at reception. I filled out the usual consent, waivers and legal stuff before I went to see Dr Bisanga. Super friendly guy and his demeanour puts you at ease straight away, but at the same time you can really tell he runs a tight ship and holds all his staff to a very high standard.

We went over my goals to restore the temples and lower hairline, he took some photos and did the examination of donor strength etc.. He drew a hairline that was basically exactly what I was after, after one minor change it was action time.

The procedure: So as for the hair transplant itself, basically painless start to finish like others have pointed out. The only painful bit is the local anaesthetic shots, they sting like a mutha.. but still bearable. Dr Bisanga does the punching of the donor site and incisions in the recipient. His technicians will harvest the grafts and do the placement in the recepient, Dr B will come in and out at this stage to check it's up to standard. The whole procedure felt smooth start to finish.

Post Op: we finished quite late, so was given instructions for that night and then a follow up appointment the following morning to go over the longer term care. Which I just got back from then. All up I am very very happy with my decision to go with BHR and Dr Bisanga. The level of professionalism and care really goes a long way when you're going through such a massive event.

I have a tiny bit of swelling but not much in the way of pain yet. So far so good!

Now to prep for the long flight back home

Just got back from the clinic and good news, no grafts lost. Dr thinks perhaps it was a small blood clot but no area for concern.

And finally some donor pics post op. Will write up a bit of a summary of my experience soon

Post Op photos. In total we went for 2,309 grafts.

Graft Breakdown -

1 Hair - 552

2 Hair - 640

3 Hair - 856

4 Hair - 261

Some photos pre op