Stublue

So it has now been over 9 weeks since I had the HT and I would say that my hair is finally back to its pre-HT look (apart from the shock loss in the donor area!). Its taken a lot longer than I thought it would but I was pretty naive I reckon (stupidly thought it would only take around 4 weeks!!). Obviously I am yet to see any growth in the recipient area and I dont expect to see anything for at least another month or so. I'm hoping the shock loss in the donor area will start to recover a little sooner but still no sign of improvement yet. I continue to shave the sides and backs to help hide the shock loss so its not too bad. My greyish hair on the sides also helps disguise the shock loss too. As you can see from 2nd photo attached my hair is now long enough to disguise the unusual loss i have in the centre forelock, which is a very good thing as I am quite conscious of the loss in that area. This area is my major concern and I am still not 100% sure the HT completely addressed this but time will tell. Anyway let me know your thoughts/questions if you have any. Cheers.

Well as they say, "its good to talk", even on internet forums! Use them as much as you can, I know they have been invaluable to me. I feel your pain though, as it is a tough 4 or 5 days to go through. Just be sure that it will subside and all will be well. You are right to check with your doc too. I had great post-op support and it really helped ease any concerns I had.

Yeah I had it myself. As the guys have already stated it kicks in around 5 days post op and lasts around a further 5 days or so. And it gets worse at night. I can definitely vouch for the aloe vera too, it helps quite a lot.

Well it has been 6 weeks now and no real change from the 4 week mark. Just thought id give an update anyway. I thought I would have been back to my pre-op look at this stage but I am still 2 weeks short of that I reckon. My hair seems to be growing very slowly still which is rather annoying!! I just want it to grow a little more so I can help disguise the unusual loss at the front and the redness in the recipient area. In fairness the redness looks worse in the photos and isn't really an issue for me but the loss at the front still is. In the photos attached I have made no effort to hide the loss. I can make it less obvious but a bit more growth would really help. I'm still taking biotin, msm and applying minox so here is hoping. The shock loss in the donor area is obviously still there and I expect that to last another few weeks. As you can see from the photos i am continuing to shave the back and sides to help disguise the shock loss and this certainly helps. I have been out and about with my friends and nobody seems to suspect anything so that's all good. I have been asked about going on a blind date with a friend of a friend but I am not sure I am quite ready for that yet!! Oh well, plenty of time for that stuff in another couple of months. Anyway, I'll update again at the 2 month mark but if anyone has any questions/comments please fire away. Happy Easter everyone.

Yeah I definitely agree about the second thoughts issue. I actually only had my HT a month ago so I am still yet to see my results. I know that my heart has been set on a HT for over 2-3 years but I waited it out and tried the meds. I ended up giving up the fin due to some libido loss but even without fin my loss seems to be very slow. So I decided to go ahead. I actually just started taking Keratene Active, which claims to have simialr results without the sides so we shall see!! I also take 5% minox once a day. I know that when I actually booked it, was when the second thoughts really started to happen. Why I am so vain (I actually dont really think its a vanity issue), this is so unnecessary, the cash can be spent elsewhere, etc!!! But I think someone put it well on another thread. Basically when I decided to go ahead with the surgery that in itself was action taken and it eased my mind. As my mind eased I began to think that the whole thing was then unneccesary and I really started questioning myself. But then I really thought about it and realised hair loss bothers me every single day. Everytime I look in the mirror it annoys me. Now dont get me wrong, I love myself (Im a great guy!!) but this really p!sses me off. Everytime I see someone with a fine head of hair, it annoys me a little. I decided a procedure would definitely improve my life. So I picked a very good doc, went relatively conservative and went with it (luckily I have decent donor hair and wavy/curly hair which helps). I went FUE and got 2,000 grafts to the hairline. So as of now, im happy with the decision but obviously I am yet to see anything. All i have experienced so far is the bad stuff (i.e. surgery, shock loss, weird looks, etc.) and I am fully aware that I will likely need another HT in the future but I am okay with that. Fingers crossed I get good results and that should happen with the doc I picked. Plus there aftercare has been brilliant so far. In your scenario, you seem pretty happy with the buzz look so maybe a HT isn't called for. Just ask yourself will it improve your life and is it worth the risk? Obviously you can minimise the risk by picking a great doc and thats why this and other forums are so good. Good luck with your decision!!

Hey guys, Thanks again for all the replies and advice. Really appreciate it. Just thought I would give a quick update. I decided to shave the back and sides to help hide the shock loss and it has done the job nicely as you can see from the photos. I have a bit of a 2 toner but I think it looks fine. So I am far more confident with the loss now and will continue to shave the back and sides until I see some recovery. There is still a small bit of redness in the donor area but its only really noticeable if its examined very closely under bright light so I am not concerned. Went for a few drinks last night and nobody noticed a thing. So that's it for now but I will update when I start to see some recovery.

Hey all, So it has been just over 4 weeks since the HT and things are continuing as expected. I have lost the majority (80% or so) of my transplanted hairs but there are still a few soldiers holding on. The redness is fading and is not really an issue for me at all. The shock loss is obviously still there with no improvement but I don't expect that to recover for another month or 2 at least. So you could say I'm in the ugly duckling phase but my hairloss was not to severe to begin with so its not too bad bar the shock loss. Its amazing how slow the hair seems to be growing but I reckon I am only 2 weeks off my pre-HT look. As you can see from the photos I decided to shave my sides and back to help disguise my shock loss and it has definitely done the trick as you can see from the difference between the 2 photos. I have a bit of a 2 tone as I cut it myself but I am far more relaxed about the shock loss now thankfully. There is still a bit of redness from the op on the donor area but its only noticeable if its closely examined under bright light so I am not concerned at all. Had my first few drinks last night and nobody noticed a thing (well I'm pretty sure they didn't!). The ladies like the short hair too!!! So spirits are up as I am pretty sure it wont really get any worse that this and I am comfortable with how i look for now. In a couple of weeks I will be able to style my hair a little more and I will continue to shave the back and sides until the shock loss has recovered. I probably wont be updating as much now as not much will happen now for a few weeks (well i don't think it will but will update if anything does). Cheers, and let me know if you have any thoughts/questions.

Cheers guys. Really appreciate the call Steve and spex those photos really help. Looks very similar to my shock loss and great to see it all came back within a relatively short time. I'll make sure to update this thread just so others can see the impact of shock loss. I read about it but obviously didn't think it would happen to me. I'm sure it will all be fine as you guys have said. Im on minox, msm and biotin so hopefully they will help speed up the recovery.

Hi Mickey, cheers for the reply. I suppose its just matter of time I suppose. I also seem to have some shock loss right beside the recipient area too. How is my luck?! Just have to try and get over it and bide my time. My social life is taking a beating - another good few wkds at home alone ahead. I should focus on how good it will be in a few months instead though.

Hi all, So I had a HT (FUE, 2093 grafts) just over 3 weeks ago and I have suffered from shock loss on the left side. The transplanted area is healing nicely but as you can see from the photos the shock loss is pretty obvious. I'm actually not bothered at all about being seen in public with regards the recipient area (probably because not all the hairs have shed yet!) but I am very conscious of the shock loss, especially as concealers don't seem to be effective in the back with very short hair. For those that have had a similar experience, roughly how long does it take for the hair to grow back? I have been advised that it takes up to 3 months. Also as its only been 3 weeks since the op can the shock loss get worse or is this as bad as it gets? I would really appreciate any advice as its getting me down a little. I realise it will grow back and it will all be worth it but 3 months seems a long way away!!

Hey fitnessjunkie, I actually read your log this morning. A good read!! I know my 2 day op was a lot tougher than I thought it would be (naive on my part) but your surgery sounds very rough given the infection you had. Hope the healing is coming along nicely and you dont have any shock loss unlike myself. Entering the ugly duckling phase now so that will be fun!! Oh well, its a small price to pay i suppose. Hopefully the existing hair will grow fast and the shock loss will recover.

Thanks for the reply Steve, Yeah I have gotten a bit of abuse from work colleagues alright but in general its been friendly banter and as far as I am concerned nobody suspects a thing. The canoeing infection story has actually worked a charm with work and friends. I recommend it!! Not looking forward to losing the majority of the HT hairs over the next week but I suppose its par for the course and its a sign that time is moving on and growth is only a few short months away. For some reason I thought my existing hair would have grown a lot more by this stage and that I would have been able to cover any redness/thin areas but alas that has not happened. Hopefully in another week or two it will be better. I'll make sure to keep updating.

So it will be 3 weeks tomorrow since the surgery. As expected I have shed a significant amount of the transplanted hair in the last week and I expect to lose the rest over the next week or two (everytime I rub in some aloe vera I see a good few hairs in my hand). Its a little disappointing but expected to be losing bits of my new hairline on a daily basis and as I lose the hair the loss right at the front centre is becoming a little more obvious. I just really want my existing hair to grow faster so I can disguise it. I have started applying minoxidil again to the area and am taking msm and biotin supplements so here is hoping but it seems to be growing very slowly although I realise its probably all in my head!! But anyway short term pain for long term gain I suppose. I have also started taking Keratene Active Alpha Retard (1 capsule a day) to help maintain what I have as I am not comfortable taking finasteride. Healing wise, the redness seems to be fading nicely but it's difficult to tell through the remaining transplanted hairs. The right side of the donor area has pretty much healed and I dont think anything is noticeable at all. The left side is a different story unfortunately. I have some shock loss as can be seen in the photo so it does look a little strange. Concealer doesn't really cover it either so its all pretty obvious. A work colleague blatantly walked up to me in front of everyone and just said "whats going on with the back of your head?". Needless to say I went bright red. I stuck with the story that I got an infection from dirty water while canoeing, which affected the front and the left side. Nobody in work questions me but I'm not sure they all buy it. Another guy even asked, "have you done a Rooney?". Again I batted this off and said that I wish and that I couldn't afford one (everyone seems to think they cost €30k). In fairness, he was only joking and was sympathetic to my made up story. I may be being naive, but I don't think anybody actually suspects a HT, especially as the industry is very unknown in Ireland. Anyway as I said short term pain for longer term gain. It's tough and I expect it to get a little worse in the next week or two as I lose more hair and my existing hair isn't long enough to help cover the unusual loss at the front. I haven't had a drink for 4 weeks and would love to have a few for the rugby match this wkd but think ill remain a bit of a hermit for the moment but I shall see. I am back playing football and working out a little in the gym, which is great so I remain positive. Onwards and upwards!!!!

I was on generic finasteride for 12 months and as far as i could tell it did help maintain what I had. Having said that my hair loss is very slow so not sure if it really made much of an impact or not. I was also using minoxidil (and still do). Since quitting i havent noticed any new loss of note. With regards sides, I suffered very mild effects. Basically my libido reduced. In all honesty I didnt even notice the reduction at first but soon realised that I had very little interest in pulling on nights out (and that's not right!!!). I have been off it for around 5 months now and while things have improved im not quite back to where I was before I started it. I have read it can take up to a year for the full libido to return. I actually have morning glories again though, which definitely stopped when I was on the drug! I suppose i just dont really like the idea of putting man made chemicals in my body (I study nutrition). I have actually just started taking Keratene Active Retard as an alternative. The ingredients are all natural and it claims not to have hormonal side effects. The proof is in the results though so I will monitor closely. Thats my 2 cents anyway.

Hi all, time for another update. It has been 12 days now since I had the HT the healing continues to progress nicely so zero complaints on that front. All the scabs have gone (since day 9) and the donor area is perfect as far as I can tell. The pain at night has also subsided and I had my first proper nights sleep last night. I’m applying aloe vera quite a few times per day to both the donor and recipient area, which seems to be working nicely. No shedding so far but I expect that in the next 2 weeks or so. As you can see from the photos the areas just behind the transplanted hairline (especially in the centre) are definitely weak. I was in contact with Steve from BHR and he reckons it's shock loss as the hair in those areas was already miniaturized and now the HT has caused the shock loss. I am not 100% sure this is the case as I think the centre area in particular needed further treatment and I voiced this concern to Steve. In fairness, Steve has been brilliant and if it’s not necessarily shock loss and I do not see any re-growth in the area then Steve said that BHR would happily address this at no further cost as the patient's satisfaction is of paramount importance. So I suppose it’s just a matter of me keeping a close eye to see if I do get any re-growth (particularly in the centre) or if it the area will need further treatment. But again, I must emphasize that the customer aftercare has been top notch. I suppose for now the most annoying thing is that I am back in work tomorrow and I think the HT hairline stand out quite a bit. I’m going to have to stick with a convincing story to put them off. And as I lose the implanted hair in the coming weeks it might be more difficult but im hoping my existing hair will have grown out a little more to help disguise anything obvious at that stage. The story I’m going with is an infection from dirty water while canoeing that then spread across my hairline due to the helmet. The story has worked on a couple of people already!! But then again I am probably being very self conscious and my work colleagues probably won’t even bat an eyelid, apart from the fact that I have a shorter haircut than usual. Here is hoping anyway. Again, any thoughts are appreciated.

Time for another quick update. It's day 8 and I finally gave my recipient area a wash under the shower. I used circular motions with my fingertips on the grafts and a small number of scabs came off. Hopefully more will come off over the next day or two. The donor area is healing nicely and is hardly noticeable at all anymore. I must say though that it has been quite sore, especially at night. Apparently its called occipital nerve pain and it's a b!tch. Tends to get quite sore around 2 hours after going to bed so I have been popping some pain killers to help me sleep. It's fine during the day as there is no real pain at all. It's just at night, strange one. Anyway as you can see from the photo the healing is coming along. Back to work next Thurs so I reckon all will be good by then. At present I like the shaved head look but I know that when the new grafts fall out my hairline will go back to it's pre-HT inconsistent self (loss right in the middle of the hairline, which you can see in the photos). But hopefully my existing hair will grow quickly so I can disguise it a little. I am due to get some Keratene Active Alpha Retard in the post next week so will be starting them (1 capsule a day) as I don't like finasteride. I will start applying minoxidil again in another week too. Hopefully the meds will maintain my existing hair but its very likely that I will need another HT down the line to address the area right behind the HT (in the front middle mainly) as I still feel it's a little weak. But I am getting well ahead of myself as I have to see how the HT grows over the coming 12 months and how well I react to the meds. I will keep everyone updated. Let me know your thoughts if you have any!!

Well I only had my HT with Dr.Bisanga a week ago but so far so good although its very early days. Everything is healing nicely and I cant wait for the next few months to pass. The procedure itself went well and the aftercare provided by Stephen the rep has been brilliant so from that standpoint I can only recommend.

So I just thought I'd provide a quick update on the healing. Its been 4 days now and its coming along nicely. The donor area is getting better by the hour and will hopefully be unnoticeable in the next couple of days. Still have a bit of swelling on the face and its been working its way down from the forehead and now it looks a little like i have been boxed on the nose! Really pleasant when you combine the look with a shaved head and an angry looking red rash on the forehead! All in all happy with the progress though. I suppose my only area of concern is the centre of my hairline (circled in the 2 photos) as discussed in my previous post but hopefully I will stabilise any further loss with meds and to be fair that area has not got any worse over the last year or so. As I previously said I will be starting Keratene Aplha Active Retard in the next week or so. Has anyone had any experience of this? It seems to be the new thing on the market and it claims no side effects. Some pretty reputable clinics and surgeons are recommending it too, which can only be a good thing I guess. Ill make sure to keep updating. Cant wait till day 8 when I can start massaging the recipient area and try and remove some of the scabs!!

Hi Spanker, I also questioned whether they should have gone back a bit further but was satisfied with their answer/logic. Basically, I have areas with potentially some more miniaturisation but still have a reasonable amount of hair in these areas and as such there was the risk of shock lossing out more than was put in. Also the graft numbers would have to have gone up a lot to treat every potential area and its early days as as i am only 30. In addition, the areas of potential loss (such as the centre where you pointed out) may be stabilised with medication. With regards meds I am not on finasteride due to libido issues but am on minoxidil. I am also considering trying Saw Palmetto or Keratene Aplha Active Retard (anyone have any opinions of this?). Worst case scenario is that I will need further treatment further down the line anyway, but if meds holds then this could be way down the line. And I am realistic enough to know that future HTs are a distinct possibility (even probability).

Cheers guys. Just a matter of healing and waiting now. The healing is already coming along nicely I must say. Yeah the injections are not pleasant indeed but hopefully will all be well worth it, of which I have no doubt. Congrats to you too HappyValley, where did you have your procedure?

So, after 2 years or so of research I have just got back from Brussels having completed my FUE with Dr. Bisanga. 2,093 grafts in total: 519 one graft, 894 two graft, 613 three graft and 68 four grafts (total of 4,402 hairs). Originally they expected 1,500 - 2,000 but we went a little beyond that. It was agreed to go conservative and I am happy with that. I must first start off by saying that while it was far from an horrific ordeal it was also far from a walk in the park! For some unknown reason I thought the whole surgery would be a doddle. Easy and boring as far as I was concerned. Well, that was not the case. I did not expect to have that many numbing injections and they are bloody sore! And lying on your back can get very uncomfortable. But thats just me being a b!tch I suppose.The technicians were great mind you and made it easier than what it really was. Anyway it was 2 days of fairly long days and I am delighted to have it finished. Especially all the travelling. Now its just rest for 2 weeks and I can deal with that! So I could go on but I wont. I have attached my photos from before and the day of the surgery. I will make sure to update fairly regularly early on to show how I heal and then will prob post every couple of weeks to show the growth. I have started a blog too. Let me know your thoughts if you have any!

Hi Hariri, Would be very interested to know how you get on with Keratene Alpha Retard. I too was on finasteride but stopped about 5 months ago due to libido issues. I have talked to a rep from prohairclinic and he highly recommends the product (I suppose thats to be expected!!). I am actually due to have around 2,000 FUE with Dr. Bisanga in 2 days time so I will make sure to ask him what he thinks of it and will update the forum. Would be great to have an alternative to finasteride as I am concerned that I am having a HT without the meds (although I am still using minoxidil).

Hi Magnum, I had the exact same conundrum. It was either Feriduni or Bisanga for me. Both have excellent reputations and i have seen quality examples from both on numerous website. But ill be honest I went for Bisanga solely on the price. I cant exactly remember the figure but there was about a €1- €2k difference. Obviously in general its terrible advice to chose a doc based on price but when it comes to 2 of the very best docs then I think its fine logic. Also Stephen from BHR has been a brilliant help as I have had millions of questions! Im due to have the HT next Thurs (2,000 FUE) so am very excited (and very apprehensive). Ill be posting updates along the way! Good luck with your decision.

Hi Tintin, I had an online consultation with Dr. Bisanga. Also had on line consultations with Dr. Feriduni, Dr. Devoyre, Hasson & Wong, Harley Clinic and Dr. Farjo. I was impressed by the Bisanga and Feriduni the most. Also had in person consultations with Ailesbury and HRBR. Not impressed with Ailesbury at all but was by HRBR. But they charge a ridiculous amount (€10 per graft) and I wanted to go down the FUE route, which they don't perform. So I would avoid Ireland in general as Europe is very easy to get to and there are plenty of good options. Granted im not particularly looking forward to the journey home and all the stares I expect to get but hey. Only just over 2 weeks to go till the big day! Looking forward to it but also apprehensive. I will definitely keep the forum updated as it has been a great help to me and i'd like to give a little back that will hopefully help some others. Plus its a great way to track the journey! Thanks for all the well wishes, really appreciate it.