ZeoRanger

I hear nizoral would help. Check with your clinic before you use it though.

Well you can get a doc's certificate that would allow you to wear a hat. Here's what I did and I wish I would have thought of it much sooner: I bought a wide flesh toned dressing used for sport injuries. I made a very loose fitting head band out of it and stuck double sided tape (for band aids) to my fore head. The head band was not even touching the grafts but it was sitting high enough to hide that red mess. It was much more comfortable than wearing a cap or wearing make up. Whenever someone asked I claimed it was a sports injury. End of story.

The lasting redness was definitely the worst (or only bad) and most inconvenient aspect about the surgery. I would have easily thrown in another 1000 bucks if I would have been allowed to keep the length of my native hair to cover up the recipient site. After the longest 3 months of my life my native hair was finally long enough to cover up that red Batman logo on my forehead... It was such a relief when my native fringe was long enough again.

Strip surgery for only 180 grafts... Rather unusual approach. Did he just cut on side for that? How many grafts did you get with the two procedures? (Not the touch ups I mean)

I'm pretty sure it's just the nerves re-establishing themselves. Pretty common 2 months post op.

I've been on Fin since I'm 22. I'm now approaching 34. I only took it as a precautionary measure - not because I noticed any hair loss. In case DHT affect my follicles, I wanted to beat it to the punch before it even had the opportunity to attack my hair. My sex drive is raging - no complaints here. No moobs either. If my sex drive should slow down I'd blame aging first and foremost.

In Australia I see people go swimming with a baseball cap all the time. Skin cancer can be a b!tch - even without a hair transplant. It may look odd to the uneducated but those who know how to protect themselves will have the last laugh.

I have not read any researched based info on this here. No explicit warning but I've seen plenty of threads that implied that your grafts are still struggling to get oxygen through the bloodstream and they are not as robust yet as your native hair. For this reason I decided for myself not too touch alcohol for a year. I know I'm going overboard but if your transplanted follicles are more frail why would you want to subject them to alcohol? That's my personal rationale... I read comments from plenty of guys who drank and turned out just fine.

I noticed my recipient site is flaking a bit when you rub it. I'm 6 months post op. The rest of the scalp does not flake like that. It's not excessive but as more hair grows in it becomes more noticeable. I don't have any other symptoms like itchiness, pimples or other discomfort. A general practitioner looked at it a month ago and sound she could not notice anything but it was after I had a shower in the morning and the flakes washed off. I do not use mix or any other hair product. Just started using neutrogena 2-1 anti dandruff shampoo Should I be worried?

Fact is that an antiseptic cream is not the same as hair removal cream. Whatever happened to the statement that "you can't damage your grafts after they have anchored" and that you can only remove them surgically? Until light is shed on this issue I recommend you put a cloth soaked in warm water on your pimples. That will drain them out as well.

:confused: Now I'm extremely worried. Please tell you're not all that serious here. If antiseptics are a threat to growth why are they not mentioned in any post op guides?? It's second nature to put them on pimples and superficial cuts/bruises. I had 3 or 4 pimples that filled up with pus. I drained them with a needle. Then I would get a tiny amount (less than a drop) of alcohol free bepanthenum or Betadine on a q-tip, put that on the pimple for a minute and then rinse it all off with warm water. I was too afraid of getting an infection so I thought that would be the lesser evil. These are over the counter medicines so I really did not expect this to be an issue. When patients get an infection they're be treated with prescription only antibiotic creams or even steriods. Surely over the counter antiseptics creams are harmless and less potent. Are you worried they are absorbed into the bloodstream and wipe out grafts? They use antiseptics for the donor area healing immediately post op...

If you lose grafts you would bleed noticeably. The scabs coming off with hairs are shedded hairs that should grow. I'd wait at least for 3 weeks for a hair cut with scissors. Buzzing the recipient area is a controversial subject as some clinics say you'd have to wait up to 5 months.

From what I have read HIV cannot survive outside the human body and you'd expect even the dodgiest clinic would sterilise their stuff... A dodgy GP once misdiagnosed me for positive so I did a lot of research on transmission. After switching doctors it turned out it was just an severe cold/flu that messed up my results. What I'm wondering is would HIV meds affect growth post-op?? They are known to be harsh so patients using those meds may not be good candidates.

I don't think their dead grafts. Just scabs with hairs in them. If your scalpt rejected the grafts (which is not possible) it would have pushed them out with bleeding and oozing.

Thanks that was interesting. I knew the grafts would be in need of oxygen but I didn't know that general anaesthesia could impact oxygen levels. Makes sense now. Cheers.

Just trying to be rational here... If general anaesthesia does not affect a patients native follicles, why should it have an adverse affect to transplanted follicles?? The grafts are said to be secure after 10 days max. It's not like he's subjecting the follicles to hard core chemo meds that are known to cause hair loss. That being said, I recommend simply asking the HT clinic for permission.

While I don't suggest taking any steriods, i found this resource Steroids-and-Hair-Loss Technically speaking the transplanted grafts would come from the DHT resistent safe zone... So it should not be an issue as those follicles are technically not affected by a DHT boost.

Sorry I don't get it. What is supposedly so bad here? The hairline design or density? At 6 months you're supposed to be between 40-60 percent and there are late growers.

$200,000 are mere peanuts for a successful clinic. That cost would be offset quickly with each patient bringing in a revenue of $10,000 (at least). This is what a recommended doctor posted here re sucking the grafts: Air exposure is likely the number one cause of transplant failure. This is why I cringed when FUE machines that include suction were introduced to pull the grafts from the scalp. At first it seems like a gentler way to remove the grafts compared to squeezing them with a forcepts and then pulling them, HOWEVER, all that air blowing over exposed cells is deadly. The closest thing to follicles that you can experience yourself is your eyeball. Those cells are exposed to the air, however, unlike follicles, there are mechanisms in place to protect those cells to keep them moist. Not the least of which is mucous membranes, tears, eyelids, and blinking. Grafts have no such defense so it's up to the clinic to make sure every graft is constantly kept wet. Not just prior to implantation, but just after implantation as well until a seal is formed. Dr. Feller Great Neck, NY 516-487-3797 I don't know how suction would come into play in Manual FUE... The grafts are cut out and placed in a storage solution.

I believe doctors who voice their concerns over adopting this machine. At the end of the day they could do more transplants for less and it would stimulate their business as they can take on more clients. The Atras reportedly only costs $200,000. That money would be recouped quickly by reduced labor costs. My feeling is that surgeons don't want to compromise quality over quantity here. Also read that the grafts get sucked by air which would put and additional strain on them. It's a fantastic concept in the near future. Not now.

Watch Terminator and then think again if you would let a robot touch your grafts. Jokes aside browsing this forum I have seen poor results and if I'm not mistaken there are even clinics that first got excited and then ditched the robot (or neograft) because the end results were underwhelming. The concept is great but I don't think the technology is quite there yet. I would not volunteer to be a guinea pig. If the machine was that great and cost effective, everyone would use it. It would save costs and labour... Go figure... PS surgeons that prefer manual FUE say it's best because they get actual feedback when extracting and can adjust their technique. The machine will extract in a one size fits all approach

I'm sorry this happened to you. I'd try to take it up with the airline. Maybe they'll provide compensation. It must be very frustrating. If you indeed dislodged grafts there should have been a trickle of blood coming from your head. Sure it's not common scabs? If you lost a few grafts here and there it won't make much of a visual difference. Hopefully a doctor will chime in and provide a prognosis based on their experience. I once read of a guy who banged his head hard on the sealing 1 or 2 days post op and his grafts came out fine. I was actually fearing something like that could happen that's why I insisted on getting a window seat and was very vigilant whenever someone came close to my seat. Next to me was an annoying little girl that kept jumping up and down her seat. I nearly lost it but ended up cowering myself against the window to get as much space for protection as possible. I was so glad to get off the plane with no incident. You should keep eating though... Your grafts need nutrients that come through the bloodstream.

In all seriousness, when you say "lost grafts due to high blood pressure", do you mean the grafts literally popped out with bleeding? Or does high blood pressure mean the "quality" of the blood changed and the grafts died for not getting enough oxygen or similar?

Australian docs seem to be reluctant to go through the screening process of this network. I don't know whether it's just unawareness or if they think it's beneath them to subject themselves to a set of rules. His clinic has a money return policy so that seems to be a good sign. Then again I'd watch out for the fine print... Does Dr Chan offer manual or motorised punch? You should also consider that. I once went to Knudsen because I wanted to lower my hairline and he recommended 700 FUT (?!). I told him I would not feel comfortable having a scar. He recommended if I wanted to shave my head post op I should not have surgery in first place. I asked about FUE and he said it'd be more expensive and FUT is "what I do best". I told him if FUT would really deliver better results I'd consider it. But then it got very confusing when he said the results would be exactly the same. It seemed to me that did not really have much confidence in his own FUE abilities... But if that would get him the job, he'd do it... I then consulted this forum and they told me to RUN. I'm glad I did. The argument was that doing 700 grafts through FUT was crazy. Can't comment on Dr K's quality of work but I'd agree that he has a very strong preference for FUT. HT docs in Europe that offer both methods would strongly push for FUE for smaller jobs.

I think the underlying issue here is that clinics should give way more thought into preparing their post-op guides. A lot of emphasis is given on "common sense" but each patient has their own approach to common sense. In this case it was not made clear enough that the patient wasn't meant to use oils and wigs for a whole year. Detailed instructions could have avoided this scenario. I also feel that the occurance of folliculitis is often downplayed. Clinics should take a more proactive approach and prepare patients for the possibility. It seems like folliculitis is a silent graft killer. When it strikes it's often too late. Post op guides should have pictures and a detailed list of symptoms and recommended medications so the patient or a GP will know what to do when the HT doc is unavailable (often the case with overseas procedures). Many post op guides don't even acknowledge the existence of folliculitis. All too often you'll read that after the surgery the only thing can that can harm your grafts is UV/burns. Clearly not the case. I had a few pimples and was worried sick. Based on all the info I found, I could not rule out an infection. So I saw a dermatologist who assured me all was good.