Hi all,
I've done it! After years of contemplation, I've decided to pull the trigger and have my first hair transplant surgery right here in my home town (San Francisco) with Dr. Rosanelli, who is a surgeon recommended on this site. My full hair loss story can be found under my profile.
I'm 29, and the procedure was done on 07/23/13. Got in at 6AM and got out by 4PM. Everyone there was very friendly and professional. I felt very well taken cared of. The only real pain was the numbing injections, which I had to take a few times because both my donor and grafting area started waking up at least twice throughout the procedure. It was also quite uncomfortable to just sit in the same position for such a long time. Other than that everything went smoothly.
As I am writing this, I'm already two days into my recovery period. Following the doctor's post-op instructions, I'm icing my grafted area religiously every 20 minutes with my chin tilted up towards the ceiling. It's making my neck and shoulder really sore but at least it keeps my face from swelling. Most of the pain is coming from the doner area but it's manageable because I'm on schedule with the doctor's pain medicine (which also makes me feel kinda gross). Sleeping is uncomfortable mostly because of the suture but that's OK too because the Valium kept me asleep all the way through morning. Showering is awkward. My shower spray cannot adjust to low pressure so I just use a cup to slowly pour cool water over the grafted area and then pat lightly with prescribed shampoo. Applying the antibiotic cream is also has a learning curve. I was sure the nurse has instructed me to not over use it but I still squeezed out too much cream and made my grafted area really greasy on my first application.
I can't wait to have the first suture removed; hopefully life would be more normal and I'll be on my way to a brighter future *knock on wood*. I'll also need to decide if I want to use Finasteride, but as of now I know I'll be using a 10% monoxidil for sure.
I hope to use this thread to update my progress in the future; hoping this will be a sucess story to be shared in this wonderful community. I've already have some pre-op selfies taken but they are of poor quality so I'll consider posting them for reference if the doctor's photos aren't enough.
Please feel free to comment, recommend anything about post-op care, or share your experience here!
Thanks for reading!!