truewiz

Thanks Steve, I'm currently taking some antibiotics after seeing my GP and it seems I had some nasty folicultis all over the place. After 8 days on the meds, its really calmed down and now Im praying to be trouble free to usher in the new stage of growth starting with month 3 of my journey. I think I might start a blog to keep you all up to date. I also hope that FUE can deliver the goods. You just never know with FUE!

Anybody? I'm still looking for hair docs or others to chime in. I was hoping some other respected members of the community would chime in ? I can provide oodles of info. Cheers

Thanks guys for chiming in on the redness. However, im still worried if its folliculitis or cobblestoning at play? I was under the impression the skin would go smooth within 3 months? Or is that just some people...

Hi, About 5 weeks ago, I posted some pics of my hair transplant with 2700 grafts (or 6150 individual hairs made up of singles, doubles, triples, etc). It was quite an undertaking being my first HT experience. Well, now its 10.5 weeks and I'm little concerned from all the redness still present. But I most worried by the bumps and little black spots where the darker hairs are sprouting from. Being a HT virgin, I have no idea if this is normal or not. Also, there are loads of pimples/red spots that look like folliculitis. I can't get this checked by a HT doc, because he based in another country on the other side of the world where we really dont have any decent ones. The best I have are all of you to help me. Perhaps some hair docs can chime in? I feel like I may need to see a dermatologist to have a look and see if i need any antibiotics or cortisteroid/cortisone creams prescribed to fix the inflammation? For the redness, I am using distilled witch hazel, aloe vera (from the plant direct) and rosehips oil. I'm also looking into vitamin e oil too. You can see in my pics that I have very sensitive pale skin and lots of little bumps. I hope this is not cobblestoning. I havn't had any other issues; no donor shock loss, etc. Your thoughts would be most helpful at this difficult time for me. How long should I expect this to last for? I appreciate your thoughts and responses. Thankyou to a wonderful forum! Truewiz P.S I have attached one pic that is 5 days post surgery to give you an idea what I looked like with very little redness or bumps. The bumps all started after the hairs shed at the 3 week mark.

Hi, My hair journey started about 10 years ago when I discovered that my hair was slowly receding away. I am now in my early 30s and in the last five years, the receding has quickened and then suddenly slowed. Norwood classification: I am now a norwood 3A. No problems in the crown at all, which is a relief. Hair type: I have curly, wavy, dense hair. Dark brown/blonde. A good match for a hair transplant I would imagine. Where I had my surgery performed: After much research and what would be most cost effective, I went with an slightly unusual choice. I decided on a doctor who has a strong history in FUE in Belgium. Belgium doctors have what I believe is the most cost effective and strongest results in FUE that I have seen outside the USA. The name of the doctor: Dr Rudi De Reys. Patient aftercare: However, it has been a particularly difficult after-period for me. I have emailed the dr and recieved less than 50% reply rate in the past 2-3 weeks. I am generally not too happy with the performance of the after-care I have been provided. I will detail this later in the review. I understand he is busy, but he really needs to produce better post-care help in my opinion. I am going to be as kind and fair as possible and allow the DR more time to reply to my questions and any that are posted here that may help me and others. But, to be fair, the patient care during the surgery was stellar and I can't fault that. He used to practice at the prohairclinic. Now he works out of his own private clinic. The price was very competitive. He is very kind , quiet and confident. I really felt apart of his family, as its a family business. But first to the rest of the technicals... Grafts and hair folicle count: 2700 grafts total. Had asked for 3000, told me I didn't need the other 300. A more technical explanation was not given. Apparantly my lower scalp has a roll in it, and it made it hard to extract. However, I don't believe that's a very adequate explanation given my strong density factors. 6148 hairs comprised of: 470 singles 2140 doubles 450 triples 12 quads I have no idea what that density equals, but appears the FUR technique works well with some and produces high yields in cases like mine. FUE punch style: A manual FUE punch. Care was taken with every hair graft and I compliment his team on this result. Recipient area: Total size of the recipient site was not provided. These technical specifics have been requested and are pending. My donor density: My donor density was also not provided. Again, I wish I had this figure. The doctor said that it's impossible to count, but we all know this is not the current medically accpeted opinion among other docs on this forum. During surgery: I bled profusely I was told. And the level of antisethic that I needed was very high. I needed a nerve blocker above my eyebrow at one stage. I could feel quite a bit of the insertions and extractions and continued to need more injections to stop the pain. It wasn't easy. Donor punch: 0.75mm Because of the small instrument used, the donor area after 5.5 weeks shows very little shockloss, minimal scarring and itchiness is subsiding. FUE placement techqniue used: Lateral slit technique. Pretty standard for most docs. Density/dense packing: The doc was conservative with density and post-transplant, this is an area I am not happy with. It is my mistake because I never discussed the issue in enough detail, but from my understanding I had assumed 50 -60cm2, but the doc told me no and instead, this is how he peformed it/counted density in my case: - single hairs at 50cm2 at the first halfcm of the hairline and then 2s and 3s (hair folicles) at 30-35cm2, which the doc tells me is roughly equivalent to 50cm2. Based on my research, I am sceptical that this is the same as 50cm2 all over, but the doc told me he did this so I wouldn't lose grafts to miniturisation during the growth stage. I know other Belgium docs can get density, so i'm annoyed I was at least given the option to try. Procedure: Doc was very professional and his small team very good. Was broken up into a 2-day period. 1500 grafts the first and 1200 the second day. Procedure took many, many hours and I must admit the doc and nurse payed very close attention to me and the grafts. Procedure roughly lasted from 8am - 9pm on both days. But that included copious amounts of time for bathroom breaks, meal breaks and to prevent doctor and nurse fatigue. Top marks. Pain: Lots. Anyone who tells you FUE is painless is either lying to you or basing his/her beliefs on the fortunate results of those who have not experienced any pain. Yes, it's not common, but it can happen. In my case, the pain was shocking. The donor area exploded into a nerve ending all-night party after 4 days. Before that, everything seemed fine and then...whamm! There was constant heat extruding from the donor area and it was agony to sleep at night. Only cold packs helped and massive amounts of over the counter painkillers such as Nurafin (ibrupfoen) and paracetamol. After about 2 weeks, the pain finally started to go away. At 3 - 4 weeks, the pain had vanished completely. But I have to say, it was so bad that at one stage, I lost my appetite, could hardly walk, couldnt sleep and was so ill, I thought I would have permanent damage. Things improved greatly and now I can live to tell that part of the tale. Scabbing: All scabs were cleaned away by the 8th or 9th day, after beginning to wash them on the 7th day with shampoo according to strict post hair wash procedures. After 5.5 weeks: Here is where the problems begin. At 5.5 weeks, as my pictures will show - I have deep red pigmentation in my recipient area. In regular light, the skin appars just 'pink'. Under florescent indoor lighting, the scalp appears very red and looks inflamed. Furthermore, I know this to be true with my skin type as I am fair skinned and get pink very easily. Problems: (pigmentation, pimples, potential pitting/cobblestoning) In the last few weeks I have developed lots of big pussy pimples, bumps and on closer inspection, a 'cobblestoning' effect of the skin. However, I could be wrong about this, but that's what it looks like (see attached pics). I would appreciate any docs on the forum to check out my close up pics and give their most honest opinion. My doc has still not provided me with an answer for my pics. I have been a little depressed lately, as I believe that my recipeient area looks very unnatural and very hard to hide. I wonder how much longer it will take. Also, the skin seems more raised and where the hair folicles are growing, you can see the little raised bumps from where they have popped out. I would like to know people's opinions if this is normal at 5.5 weeks or something that will go away in time as the months wear on? Any kind thoughts/opinions that may help to relieve my fears would be most appreciated. More pics will follow in days/weeks to come. Will update as the doc provides me with requested info. Pics for comparison: Pics at day 3 show placemnent under regular and indoor light. Pics at day 38 (week5.5) show pinkness, redness etc. Compare as you wish. I will appreciate your comments and questions. Thankyou for reading, TrueWiz.