ratt57

Thanks for the responses, hoping I'll see those hairs again, lol...

I had a procedure done on 7/13 in two areas on the top of my scalp. The grafts shed about two weeks after the surgery, which I expected, but I'm also noticing that my existing hair seems to be almost half as thin as it was before the procedure. Is it normal to shed regular hair along with the grafts, and if so, does it eventually grow back??

Ponchik, do you mind posting how much the trip and the procedure cost you, in comparison to having it done here in the U.S.?

Definitely tell her. You had some hair moved from the back of your head to the top, that's basically it. I've encountered some strange reactions after I had my HT that surprised me - mostly from women who didn't feel men should be concerned about their appearance (but it's okay if they are) and other bald men - but now that it's grown out they've accepted it and a lot of people are saying they like it. As far as "using it against you," how? By telling people you had a hair transplant? Not a very big weapon...

Thanks very much for the input...

Thanks for your input, Bill. The "before" picture is pretty low-res, but I took the recent pictures yesterday with a fairly high resolution camera and reduced them about 50% in order to lower the upload times; they seem pretty clear to me when I click on the thumbnails. (???)

If I could grow 60% more, that would be awesome...

These are some pretty poor resolution/goofy pictures, but will give you an idea of the growth so far. The first picture is, obviously, a "before." I was pretty much a Norwood 6 (expression is a little sinister, sorry, didn't have a big selection of pictures). The others are current. Looking straight ahead, I'm really liking the results; looking down, it's still fairly sparse, and I'm wondering at week 22 realistically how much more growth other members might think I can expect? I'll try and continue to post photos during the next few months.

I had my procedure with Dr. Diep on September 9, 2012, consisting of 4,200 grafts using FUT. As he and his staff can attest to, I was considerably anxious waiting for the results, mainly due to some confusion re: the early use of minoxidil and concerns that I had, as a result, killed grafts using it. At almost exactly the three month mark I started showing some fairly impressive hair growth, and today, at 6 months, I'm a little incredulous at how realistic and well-done my hairline looks. I am continually being told by friends and co-workers that they can't believe how different I look and how impressive the work is. It looks completely natural. Due to my hair being very thin, it's still lacking real thickness, but at 22 weeks now, I'm expecting to see more in the next few months, as I continue to see a slow increase in the density every day. Unfortunately, I've not been taking pictures each month to chart progress, but I do have a "before" shot I can use to compare to today, and will post them in the next day or so. IIf I have any regrets whatsoever re: having a hair transplant - and it's a small issue compared to the great results I feel I feel like I'm having - it's the scar and having to wear my hair longer or use a concealer to hide it. I'm hoping FUE grafts will be able to reduce or hide it in the future, as I can't seem to buzz my hair any shorter than a 3.5 guard right now. In any case, without sounding like a spokesperson for the doc, if you're considering a transplant and you're in Northern California (or even if you're not), I can't recommend him highly enough. The procedure took 12 hours, but as of now at only six months the results are amazing and much more than I'd ever expected. This man definitely knows what he's doing re: hair transplant surgery.. And I'm hoping he added "no use of minoxidil for at least two weeks" on to his post-op instructions. I will post photos later. Right now I need to get a decent picture of the current growth.

I had an HT almost four months ago and started on propecia - and Rogaine - almost immediately; after reading some of the postings on this board as well as others, I've stopped it. I'm experiencing some pretty substantial early hair growth which my doc has told me is unusual, and am wondering now if it's from the surgery or the medications... I guess time will tell. I'm going through some major job changes and looking back over the last month, have noticed that I'm a lot more easily stressed/frustrated than I have been in the past; in addition, I'm noticing some slight gynecomastia and have stopped doing chest presses at the gym because it seems to be making it even more pronounced. Sexually I was starting to experience partial erection problems, but the desire was certainly there. The prescription is also pricey. It's been a little over a week since I've stopped it, and I'm already noticing a change in my mood as well as sexual side effects slowly diminishing. I am concerned I'm going to lose a lot of hair, however; I'm curious if anyone has ever seen a major amount of hair loss after coming off the drug. I'm staying on the Rogaine foam, although it does tend to dry my scalp out a little.

Hey, Hair70, you sound like you're doing a commercial for my doc! How do you know so much about his techniques, are you a former patient? I've also thought the bit of early growth I'm seeing could be from the propecia and minoxidil, but I'm also reading those drugs take at least 3-4 months to show any progress, just like HT. I'm probably imagining it because I'm impatient, but the wierd thing is other people are noticing it too.

Thanks, Hair70, sounds like you've had past experience with Dr. Diep too. He seemed like a really cool guy to me, too, and definitely knew what he was doing (only I wish he'd been more specific about the minoxidil); unfortunately, he also doesn't know the answer to this and is just telling me to wait. Also, he never gave ME his direct line... :confused: Something strange, and I noticed it beginning last week, but thought I was imagining things: it's only been five weeks since the procedure, and not only me, but friends I went to dinner last night are seeing hair growth, particularly in the upper front of my head. Tiny dark brown hairs. I always had a few "spiky" type hairs up there, but they were a lighter color. The grafts shed two weeks after the surgery - and everything I'm reading is insisting that due to the time limit of the dormant stage, hairs won't begin growing for at least 3-4 months. I'm seeing a substantial amount on the top of my head than it seemed like I had before, and on closer inspection, even tiner ones below those that haven't grown out yet (and might not. lol). It's not dense, but it's definitely there. I've been using propecia and have continued the minoxidil, since it seemed like I was out of the danger time zone at this point. Is it possible those two meds could be "speeding up" the dormant stage and the transplant did work, or is that not physically possible and am I imagining there to be new hair where it's just the regular fuzz? Close-up, it's harder to see, but if I stand back from the mirror, I can definitely see what looks like 100% more. I also developed a pimple on the top of my scalp, which I've never had before, and it's clearly an ingrown hair. Very weird. May contact Dr. Diep tomorrow and if he's going to be there make the drive to Los Gatos if he can examine me for a couple of minutes, although I'm not sure he can tell the difference between transplanted hairs and my very sparse former ones. Anybody else have something like this happen this soon, or have heard of it? If this IS the beginning of the new growth I hope it continues... it was pretty thick when I left the doc's office the night I had it done, would be awesome to see that again.

I suspect - actually, I know, lol -that you're right about that last statement, especially when it comes to having to wait for long periods of time (had a rare form of lung cancer four years ago, and beat it after chemo and radiation and have been in remission since January, 2009. I'm learning the internet is one of the worst places to do research... everything I read about my cancer type at that time said I would be dead within six months to a year. Didn't happen, obviously). To be fair, I also spoke with a doctor in Atlanta today, who recommends his patients starting on minoxidil 48 hours after the procedure. He said he wouldn't recommend 24 hours, but it probably didn't do any harm. All I can do is wait at this point, and see what happens. The earliest I can expect to start to see any growth would be by the end of the year (3 months); in any case, cowl, thanks again for your positive vibes...

Hey Cowl: my understanding from doing a lot of reading on the web is that during the first 3-4 days the iimplanted grafts are extremely delicate, and apparently the alcohol/propylene glycol in the minoxidil can cause them to dry out and die. Again, I wish something a little more specific had been said about this before I left the clinic; I have a great doc, and after 12 hours of surgery, we were all pretty worn out, so he probably was just preoccupied. At this point, I'd say it's a long waiting game... :-) Still finding several docs on the web who are recommending starting minoxidil 48-72 hours after surgery, so maybe my mistake wasn't that destructive. At this point, only time will tell. Anyway, again, thanks for the support.

Sounds like I definitely had mixed signals re: what "shock loss" was. Don't think I'm experiencing any of it so far, looks like I have some hair loss below the donor area, but have a feeling that's pretty common. Still waiting for enough hair growth over the scar... it's been three weeks, and it's hardly grown over the side scars at all. I DID speak this morning with my doctor (or at least with one of his techs) and set up a phone consultation with him for Wednesday. She relayed the info re: the minoxidil to him and he relayed back to her that, yes, I "may have done some major damage and should have waited a month." He never told me this, just said, "You need to think about getting on Rogaine and propecia," and handed me a prescription for finasteride, which I promptly filled. The tech is now telling me all I can do is wait a year to see what happens. This is incredible; am wondering now if the minoxidil caused me to shed the hairs within two weeks (I'm reading that a large majority of patients are losing theirs one-two months after transplant). I didn't notice that I lost any grafts,(just one that I could see, when I scratched the back of my head and it bled a little; I could actually see the graft at the end of the follicle) but the shedding seemed to happen very suddenly. Have a phone consultation set up with my doc on Wednesday, but I have a feeling there's really nothing he can say except "Just wait." Wht the hell did I possibly do? Is there any recourse I can take if it doesn't grow? I would imagine it's impossible to prove that the minoxidil caused/didn't cause it if there's no growth. I really wish he would have told me about the waiting process. I may have blown $12,000 of savings and lost a huge strip of hair on the back of my head for nothing. Am reading some docs on the web that are telling their patients to resume Rogaine up to 48 hours after surgery, so maybe it's not an issue; but the majority of them are cautioning to wait two weeks to a month... f***... Cowl: just wanted to say your e-mail definitely calmed me down... hope your predictions are right. According to my doc, it's not looking so good.

You guys have been great... appreciate the advice, Raphael and Blake. Sorry to come off like such a worry wart, but spent a lot of $$$ on this procedure, don't want to screw it up, lol. Blake, I'm a nurse... as I said, I videotaped my procedure, pretty amazing (and kinda grisly) to watch. The incredible thing I realized was just how much tissue is able to stretch; my doc cut a pretty wide strip out, was surprised how easily he was able to suture it closed again. Almost put it on YouTube! :-)

Hey, thanks for the reassurance, Blake. It's a long wait, and I'm doing my best to relax. (Also, are you seriously training to be an HT doc?) I just have one more concern, however, and can't seem to find an answer anywhere... my doc told me he recommended using propecia and minoxidil after the transplant, and gave me an Rx for propecia, which I promptly filled and have been taking. I also happened to have a box of Kirkland minoxidil in the cupboard, which I also began using the next day. I stopped 4-5 days later, as have used minoxidil extensively in the past and had virtually no results; I'm continuing on the finasteride. The problerm here is my doc didn't say WHEN to start using the minoxidil... and everything I'm reading on the web is recommending NOT using it for at least 2-10 days due to possible alcohol/propylene glycol complications with the grafts. I didn't wait, as my doctor didn't tell me to. Have you heard of this happening before, and were there complications (for instance, no growth)? I spoke with one of the surgical techs last week who informed me the doc should have told me to wait 3-4 days before taking it, but that she doubted it was a concern. She didn't sound that convinced, however. My last concern, I promise, lol...

I joined this site some time ago and have logged on pretty frequently to get info re: hair loss/transplants, and it would also come up in Google searches quite a bit as well. About sixteen days ago I finally went ahead and had the procedure. I was pretty high on the Norwood scale (between a 6 and a 7), and did a lot of research before settling on John Diep in Los Gatos, California as a doctor. He seemed very genuine, honest with what to expect, and experienced upon meeting him, and I even went as far as to check out references with Dr. William Rassman in Los Angeles, who he apparently worked with. Rassman e-mailed me back almost immediately with a very good recommendation, so I went ahead and chose him. The experience was long and I'm hoping, going to be successful. I was in surgery for about 12 hours and received approximately 4190 grafts before walking out of there at 8:00 and checking into a hotel down the street for the night. The staff and Dr. Diep were great, very concerned that I wasn't in any pain, and incredibly patient (I work in the medical field, but can't imagine being a surgery tech. placing grafts into tiny holes in someone's head all day like that. I was really amazed at how they took such a tedious job in stride). I have to also confess I tend to videotape a lot of experiences in my life, and they allowed me to tape the removal of the strip as well s the suturing up of the lesion (Dr. Diep was very cool about it, but thought it was "a little wierd." He's right). I'll tell you that after watching the procedure a few days later, I had no idea what was going on behind my back and it was pretty amazing... I couldn't believe the amount of blood and the fact that the Lidocaine injections alone kept me from feeling anything. It's a pretty amazing procedure. The hair has all pretty much fallen out now, and started about 10 days after the procedure (that's normal, isn't it?). The scar actually blew me away when I got a look at it later. At first I I couldn't see it from the side and thought my hair was covering it up, but after looking at it with two mirrors three or four days later and and reaizing I'd been walking around in public and had no idea what it looked like to others, I was pretty mortified. It's still slightly scabbed over and red, and I'm wearing a baseball cap to cover it up. I'm returning to work tomorrow and not looking forward to the barrage of questions from co-workers and patients as to why I'm wearing a cap throughout the day. I'm hoping by another two weeks my hair will have grown over the scars enough so I can dispense with it. I still have some soreness and slight redness around the scalp due to the amount of grafts I received, but it's subsiding daily. My question is this: I looked great when I walked out of there after the surgery and for several days after. However, I'm reading that densely-packed FUT grafts often have a high "death rate." Has anyone on the site ever experienced this after having that many grafts placed at one time? I've spoken with two of the surgical techs who worked on me and have worked with Dr. Diep for quite awhile now. They're very familiar with shock loss, but are both telling me that they've never seen one patient who hasn't responded to the procedure in a positive way. They said losing some percentage of the grafts always happens, but the majority remain. Anyway, any feedback you guys might be able to give me would be very appreciated. The wait is definitely anxiety-provoking. I'm also wondering... does the scarred area shrink as time goes by, because I think that's going to be my next concern. I've been wearing my hair short for so long now due to being a "chrome dome" that I'd like to be able to keep it maybe a little longer, but not much. I'm also checking out FUE procedures and am feeling like they have a ways to go, not only in success rates, but price per graft re: fixing up the scarred site. I'm also curious that if a scar shrinks approximately how many grafts it would require to cover it up, but I'm sure that differs with every individual. In any case, I'm assuming it's normal to be anxious that the shock loss will result in no hair coming back at all... if it is, I'm definitely there already. Dr. Diep has informed me it will take 3-4 months to see any growth, and right now that feels like a couple of years. At this point, we're looking at the end of the year at least. One more topic I've never really seen addressed here: I knew this wasn't a procedure I would obviously not be able to keep secret for too long, so told a few co-workers about it before I went on vacation. I immediately started being "judged" re: why I would want to spend $$ to do this, as well as the usual "You look fine just the way you are." This was something I wanted to do for me after many years of being bald, and am not sure just what to say to people if they start giving me disapproving comments (and the scars will only add on to it). Has anyone else dealt with this? Hey, thanks for any advice, suggestions, etc....

I joined this site some time ago and have logged on pretty frequently to get info re: hair loss/transplants, and it would also come up in Google searches quite a bit as well. About sixteen days ago I finally went ahead and had the procedure. I was pretty high on the Norwood scale (between a 6 and a 7), and did a lot of research before settling on John Diep in Los Gatos, California as a doctor. He seemed very genuine, honest with what to expect, and experienced upon meeting him, and I even went as far as to check out references with Dr. William Rassman in Los Angeles, who he apparently worked with. Rassman e-mailed me back almost immediately with a very good recommendation, so I went ahead and chose him. The experience was long and I'm hoping, going to be successful. I was in surgery for about 12 hours and received approximately 4190 grafts before walking out of there at 8:00 and checking into a hotel down the street for the night. The staff and Dr. Diep were great, very concerned that I wasn't in any pain, and incredibly patient (I work in the medical field, but can't imagine being a surgery tech. placing grafts into tiny holes in someone's head all day like that. I was really amazed at how they took such a tedious job in stride). I have to also confess I tend to videotape a lot of experiences in my life, and they allowed me to tape the removal of the strip as well s the suturing up of the lesion (Dr. Diep was very cool about it, but thought it was "a little wierd." He's right). I'll tell you that after watching the procedure a few days later, I had no idea what was going on behind my back and it was pretty amazing... I couldn't believe the amount of blood and the fact that the Lidocaine injections alone kept me from feeling anything. It's a pretty amazing procedure. The hair has all pretty much fallen out now, and started about 10 days after the procedure (that's normal, isn't it?). The scar actually blew me away when I got a look at it later. At first I I couldn't see it from the side and thought my hair was covering it up, but after looking at it with two mirrors three or four days later and and reaizing I'd been walking around in public and had no idea what it looked like to others, I was pretty mortified. It's still slightly scabbed over and red, and I'm wearing a baseball cap to cover it up. I'm returning to work tomorrow and not looking forward to the barrage of questions from co-workers and patients as to why I'm wearing a cap throughout the day. I'm hoping by another two weeks my hair will have grown over the scars enough so I can dispense with it. I still have some soreness and slight redness around the scalp due to the amount of grafts I received, but it's subsiding daily. My question is this: I looked great when I walked out of there after the surgery and for several days after. However, I'm reading that densely-packed FUT grafts often have a high "death rate." Has anyone on the site ever experienced this after having that many grafts placed at one time? I've spoken with two of the surgical techs who worked on me and have worked with Dr. Diep for quite awhile now. They're very familiar with shock loss, but are both telling me that they've never seen one patient who hasn't responded to the procedure in a positive way. They said losing some percentage of the grafts always happens, but the majority remain. Anyway, any feedback you guys might be able to give me would be very appreciated. The wait is definitely anxiety-provoking. I'm also wondering... does the scarred area shrink as time goes by, because I think that's going to be my next concern. I've been wearing my hair short for so long now due to being a "chrome dome" that I'd like to be able to keep it maybe a little longer, but not much. I'm also checking out FUE procedures and am feeling like they have a ways to go, not only in success rates, but price per graft re: fixing up the scarred site. I'm also curious that if a scar shrinks approximately how many grafts it would require to cover it up, but I'm sure that differs with every individual. In any case, I'm assuming it's normal to be anxious that the shock loss will result in no hair coming back at all... if it is, I'm definitely there already. Dr. Diep has informed me it will take 3-4 months to see any growth, and right now that feels like a couple of years. At this point, we're looking at the end of the year at least. One more topic I've never really seen addressed here: I knew this wasn't a procedure I would obviously not be able to keep secret for too long, so told a few co-workers about it before I went on vacation. I immediately started being "judged" re: why I would want to spend $$ to do this, as well as the usual "You look fine just the way you are." This was something I wanted to do for me after many years of being bald, and am not sure just what to say to people if they start giving me disapproving comments (and the scars will only add on to it). Has anyone else dealt with this? Hey, thanks...

I just had consult with Dr. Diep in Los Gatos and was impressed enough by him and his YouTube videos to book a FUT procedure with him. Unfortunately, despite a lot of searching, I can't find anything on the web with reviews, etc, of him. One of the frustrating things about forums like this (similar to ones about cancer) is that people have procedures/treatments and then stop posting... can anyone else besides Hair1978 post an experience with Dr. Diep, along with results? He appeared to be a very knowledgeble guy with a lot of experience... nothing negative on BBB, and this guy has three different offices in California. I have one more week before I can get my deposit back if I change my mind... getting a little nervous...