Paulygon

I will post pics as soon after my 10-day followup, I promise!

Cool! Also, you guys can see me on Dr. Mohebi's' June 28th Snapchat story. I was featured right after my surgery, which consisted of 3200+ grafts in crown / front / top..

i have a lot of black dots too.. i believe they are scabs I am about a 8 days post-op right now... the new hair looks great but i know they will fall out soon

1) I noticed a hairless line behind his head (it was much higher than where the normal eel-shaped slice would have been taken out. So I'm not sure if it was FUT or FUE. 2) his hair which was receding is now uniform density. It looks very good. These 2 points made me conclude Lebron has recently had his hair restored. Now, I found this video which confirms it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwQzNb1Gozk

I haven't really had a chance to update you all on last week's HT #2 procedure, but I've been keeping notes to eventually share. Here is roughly what I've been going through and my overall feeling at doing a second procedure with Dr. Mohebi. I will polish these notes and upload alot of photos when I get a chance. Review of Parsa Mohebi - 2nd Hair Transplant (3238 Grafts) I elected to have the entire Recipient region shaved. Dr. Mohebi said that he could work on me whether I choose to shave or not, but there can be a 10% difference in results. I figure if shaving the Recipient region can improve results by up to 10%, I WILL DO IT. The timing is very bad for this really wierd shaved head, but I am thinking of the longer-term. Dr. Mohebi was very smart about the way he shaved my head. He provided me with a very cool LA-style trucker's hat and kept my recipient region long enough to come out of the trucker's hat to appear as if everything was normal. Amazing! My hair stylist (girlfriend) came in and worked with Dr. Mohebi pre-op, gave her opinions on how she thought my hair needs improvement; gave ideas of weak points of my hair; told the Dr. how my hair parts and how she prefers to style my hair (the types of styles that look good on me). Dr. considered all her opinions and in the end came up with a miraculous design that seems to have put very good density in the crown region and also filled in the frontal region. Very surprising, since the original purpose of this surgery was to address the crown region that we did not touch 4 years ago! I am so impressed that he was able to attack non-crown regions The staff WAS GREAT. I absolutely loved the technicians at Dr. Mohebi operating room. During the transplant operation, I had great conversation with the technicians. A couple technicians were separating the grafts from my strips under a microscope.. A couple technicians were implanting the separated grafts into the regions the doctor created. While the techs were busy doing their specialized tasks, I genuinely felt like I was "hanging out with friends." We talked about pop culture, tv shows, relationships, travel. The experience is like going to a barber or hair salon, except that a hair transplant takes about 18X more time to accomplish than a hair cut, and requires 5X the manpower Also, its much more nerve-wracking because a bad haircut can be fixed in a matter of months.. but a hair transplant is Do-OR-Die.. YOU HAVE TO GET IT DONE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. I got there an hour late because I did not account for LA traffic.. Do NOT ARRIVE LATE TO A PROCEDURE since there is a whole team waiting for you.. The entire staff stayed late into the evening because they had to ensure that each graft was treated with equal respect as every other graft. First day ALOT of pain Was driven home in an uncomfortable sports car in LA traffic. I felt so sick. It may have been the Percocet making it worse.. but I recommend you either stay at a nearby hotel or have someone drive you home in a very comfortable and quiet car. Try to avoid traffic the day of surgery. Neck pain was worse than scar pain. 9 hours of surgery. I think my neck must have been in a very bad position while they were working on me. Only slept for 2 hours of the surgery. 52 stitches. Dr. Mohebi sent me home with a neck pillow (similar to the ones you would buy at an airport before a flight). This allowed me to sleep in such a way that while my neck has support, the Recipeint region is not being stressed by pillows. It is critical that the first few days there is no stress to the Recipient Hairs. You don't want to ruin 9 hours of Mohebi's work. You don't want to lose a single hair. Like Dr. Mohebi says, "in this indusry, it is a sin to waste a single donor hair". I was very concerned about my sleep position the first night; and I was both nervous and in pain; my dad called Dr. Mohebi's emergency contact number that was provided with my take-home instructions. Dr. Mohebi was so kind to give advice late at night, he instructed my dad that the neck pillow stressing on my sutures is OKAY and I shouldn't worry about that. I just need to be careful not to allow any pressure on the harvested grafts. Day 2 was better but still had some pain. I had already request Sick Leave from work (smart move). Day 3 I felt ALOT better. But I requested an extra day off to get back close to 100% recovery. I notice that just above my ears show more skin than before. Maybe because my scalp has moved up; maybe its psychological; or maybe there is some thinning there. I am not bothered by it; just curious. The sides of my head, where the stitches end, are the most sensitive, painful areas. The middle is not painful at all. First 3 washes done by hair stylist (girlfriend). Day 4 was my first shower (eww, gross). First wash I did on my own. Recipient region has little to no feeling. I dab it with a sponge and Regenix shampoo but I don't feel much at all. Brushed the stitches with the scrubby side of the sponge. No pain but feeling a little sting at the ends of the strip. Regenix is so mild and I see why Dr. Mohebi prescribes it to his patients post-op. All the hairs at this point are NEW HAIR. The old hairs have been shaved off. It will be interesting to see how things turn out when they both come in together (6-12 months from now). Dr. Mohebi underestimated the number of grafts he could obtain (YAY!) I got alot more grafts than we expected!!!! During surgery, I remember waking up to the sweet words of Karen, the technician, saying "his hair is going to be so thick when it grows out".<3 What a great feeling. feel short hairs from sutured wound.. its that interesting type of closure that he only uses now.. where hair grows out of the wound to minimize visibility of scar Day 5 Itchy mom (nurse) says that's a good sign- means strip region is healing Shower, recipient still has little sensation, skin in recipient feels thick and bloated. I can deal with it, been here before. It's all coming back to me now. Id forgotten this healing process as its been 4 years since my last HT. New hairs not falling out yet Day 6/7 Scar itchy, ends are tingly at times, and gets worse when I lift heavy objects or put stress to the area. I exercised a little bit today-- bad idea.. Scar gets too tingly... Maybe i stretched the skin by bending over and im feeling the staples. I was excited for fireworks and kind of forgot that I'm still healing.. Don't exercise until you feel ready! At least don't exercise while you still have sutures. If I had done FUE then the healing time would be a lot quicker (tho less yield and it would have cost more $$). Next time I will do FUE probably cuz I think the first 2 procedures got me a good baseline density (I hope.. We will see in 6-12 months). Girlfriend says my old hairs are starting to come in and mix with the new hairs making it look thicker. Good news. But unfortunately the new hairs are destined to fall out soon (hopefully later than sooner cuz I like the way my hair is looking now some of the thickness that my gf sees is probably due to some scanning (which is normal) so I'm my going to get to excited. I think Mohebi has done a beautiful job in making my hair look natural. He has mastered "hair economics" (see my blog post on this) to use the minimum amount of donor hairs to create the maximum density. After coffee or exercise (anything that increases blood pressure) my recipient region also feels a bit tingly and itchy. Gonna take a shower again (long process cuz I am still washing very carefully as to not mess up Mohebi's work, not stress the region, not rub too hard on any region). Part of me also doesn't want to shower cuz it's a matter of time before the new hairs fall out. Oh well. BAD IDEA - showering and then bending over ... Stretches your scar. Delays healing.. Hurts. Prob makes scar look worse in long run. Day 7 A couple weird nasty things going on in recipient region. Big clear bulb with a hair coming out of recipient region. I see a couple moles I didn't know were on my scalp. Now I worry if it's from driving a convertible in the sun and my lack of density allowed too much sun exposure... Skin cancer signs? I might as well get it checked out by Derma or ask Mohebi at the 10-day follow-up. Recipient still very scabby and unsensitive to touch. Seems like a beautiful job on the crown, really impressed. It looks quite natural even though he didn't want to spend a lot of grafts in the crown. This is truly fine work by Dr. Mohebi. Days 8-9 for the most part the strip wound is healing well but the problem is that at each end, it still hasn't totally healed.. it stings sometimes. scabs and dry skin are starting to come off in the shower. i think the new hairs will soon follow.

Spanker, thanks for asking. This is a photo of the morning after the operation. I was pretty happy and decided to make a simple breakfast for my girlfriend because she certainly passed all the girlfriend - hair transplant tests and took excellent care of me.. she even adjusted my pillows throughout the first night because I had a pretty bad neckache (I think causes by the long hours of surgery). Actually she stayed in Mohebi's lobby and passed time at the Starbucks across the street during my surgery.. we texted back and forth while I was in surgery. Anyway, point is, SO MUCH of my worry about telling her about my HT was in my mind....! What a waste of mental energy it was to hide and worry about disclosing about my hair. "Those who matter don't care; those who care don't matter"

I woke up after being knocked for a couple hours out by Diazepam. Then had some drinks, something to eat, watched a movie ('I love you man'), took some photos, chatted with the techs. A little bored and my buttocks hurts from sitting but I think there's only an 1.5-2 hours left and my 2nd Hair Transplant will be done (yay ) This was a strip procedure again. They took Virgin skin first which came out easily. Then they took skin from the scar tissue (due to HT #1) which came out with some resistance. No problems so far, thankfully. The virgin skin gave 1400 grafts. The scar tissue skin is projected to give a little less. We are projecting 2500+ grafts total. I am just playing with my iPhone, texting my girlfriend, chatting with techs, and generally trying to relax and pass the time as I'm tired of a sitting (it's about 4:10 pm). I got here an hour late this morning due to LA traffic. I feel bad keeping the doc and techs a little late but they are so friendly and just doing great work (I think). I really hope this procedure turns out as well as my first HT came out (also with Dr. Mohebi). Please wish me luck guys!!! I will go home in about 1.5 hours!!! I will most likely not come in for tomorrow's hair wash (a hair wash is standard for HT patients) since my girlfriend is a hair stylist and Dr. Mohebi and staff will instruct on her how to wash my hair.

Hi All, I'm in the middle of surgery and got a little bored. Just figured I will post some fun photos. Just a couple hours left and I will be done for the day !! So far so good

perhaps trauma of transplantation caused the hair to grow depigmented? can anyone else chime in?

This has been my thinking as well,

it seems that toppik on the crown and middle of head is fine, but the front is risky because it can be noticeable

Great question.. I was going to pose the same question but you beat me to it! My theory is that the first week after surgery is roughly a preview of the final results, assuming a low transection rate that is typical of work performed by top surgeons, such as Dr. Mohebi (my doc). FYI- My implanted hairs stayed in up to day 10 and then started falling out. When I talked to Dr. Mohebi he mentioned that generally FUT has 1-2% transection rates and FUE has 5-10% transection rates, which varies from surgeon to surgeon. That being said, the first week after surgery may show a little better than final results, in case a very small percent (1-10%) of the follicles do not regrow hair. it has been almost 4 years so I apologize if I can't remember in more detail regarding how I looked right after and in comparison to 9-12months after surgery. I am up for my second HT procedure in 11 days and am so excited. I just hope Dr. Mohebi does as awesome a job for me as he did the first time. I will keep you posted.. and I will try to update about my case of comparing the first week after to the final results.

I think you should wait a year or two and then go back for consult.. you look great right now. If a HT doc is telling you don't need it yet, I would trust him.

update: I did tell her I'm planning on doing an HT procedure this month. She brushed it off as if it was of little importance to her but mentioned that she thinks its a bad idea because I don't need it as my bald area can be concealed with Toppik and creative styling, like strategic combover (she is a hairstylist). Her having cut my hair, perhaps she has sensed that I've had work done but she's never mentioned it to me outright. When I said I'm going for a HT procedure this month, she didn't make any big deal about it or tell me anything like "so you had one already?". Anyway, point is, it was a much bigger deal in my mind than actually telling her turned out to be. My gf and I decided to take a 2 week break right now due to relationship issues. Conveniently, my HT#2 falls within the same time as our "break." It'll be fun to see her again after my HT#2 because in my experience, the first 10 days after the transplant, those new hairs are still there, filling in the bald spot. That 10 days period gives a good preview of what 6-9 months down the line could look like. <Do you agree?> For now I am back into my weight lifting regimen so I can be strong for surgery. Hopefully the surgery will be successful, as I have complete confidence in Dr. Mohebi based on the results of his first procedure on me years ago.. only 11 days to go for HT #2 !!

I definitely get these some times.. sometimes there are 2 or even 3 hairs connected to a rooth sheeth. I found an insteresting article regarding loose root sheaths, which if we analyse may we may be able to come to a better understanding of how it relates to MPB patients: Loose anagen syndrome . Loose anagen syndrome or loose hair syndrome involves exactly what the name suggests, growing hair that is "loose" and easily pulled out of the hair follicle. Loose anagen syndrome is most often first diagnosed in young children, more so in girls than boys. Their hair never seems to grow, they rarely ever need a hair cut, and the scalp hair is usually thin, especially at the back of the scalp. That the hair is loose and easily pulled out helps explain why the back of the head is most affected. The repeated rubbing of a person's head on a pillow at night pulls out more of the hair on the back of the head, whereas the front of the scalp has less contact with the pillow and so the hair is more likely to remain in place. The remaining hair usually does not grow very long and it can be unruly and difficult to comb and style. Blond haired children age 2 to 5 years are most likely to be affected but loose anagen syndrome can appear later in life as well. The syndrome improves with age of its own accord in children, but development in older individuals indicates the hair loss will be more persistent. Why the hair is loose is not known for sure, but the root sheaths that normally surround and protect the hair shaft in the skin are not produced properly in people with loose anagen syndrome. It seems that because the root sheaths are not fully formed there is a lack of adhesion between the hair shaft and the root sheath and the hair fiber is poorly anchored in the hair follicle. There may be a genetic problem behind loose anagen syndrome and the condition can run in families, but there are also many isolated case reports with no family history. There are no known effective treatments for loose anagen syndrome. is it possible there are times that we all can suffer from loose sheaths? maybe during different phases of hair cycle, like the fallout phase? or stress? or post-operation?

I think starting at 3 weeks is okay. Do what you feel your body can handle. Start slow, and progress to your old routine over 3-4 weeks.

and some Brendan Frasier action (actual photos)

Excellent point of view. Thanks!

I like the second point. This could be a good test to see how she treats me when I'm down or in need of care. Actually, it's scary to know that's There's a possibility she is a brat and only likes me when I'm attractive and fun to be around. There's a problem with that, if it's true, right? In terms of keeping a secret she is pretty good with that. I'm the one with a big mouth generally. Ya I've thought about taking my picture down. I will do that soon. I used to be more open when I first got involved but after the 1st procedure my confidence a Came back up and I started to get social and have made many friends in my city. Now I'm at a point where it's best for me to be a little closed regarding my deeper feelings (ie hair). Regarding point 3, the sex wouldn't be a motivator for me telling her. I'm more interested longer term attractiveness (by Means of an undetectable hair transplant), which may lead to more sex in the longer term, than in pity sex (not Saying that was your case cuz obviously she likes you if she supported you thru it) or short term sex. Anyway, point 2, testing her supportiveness and caring was a golden point you made. Damn!

I've heard that it is easier for doctors to access the hair when the head is shaved. It just more time for the doctor if there are other hairs around the donor or recipient site.

Spanker, My work life is such that I actually don't see anyone at all. I work from home all day. Skype conference calls with my boss about 1x/month. That part is fine. I wouldn't wear a hat for the 1x/month call, and I'm actually okay telling my boss about my hair transplant. Told him about the last one and had no problem giving me time off for it. The procedure will focus on the crown and some of the grafts are intended to fill in frontal areas that have had progressed hair loss since my first procedure 4 years ago. It will be 2500-3000 grafts. It will be a strip procedure. Ya, I'm mostly looking for the support and I do appreciate the support I've gotten on this thread. In fact, I'm very surprised all the replies with so sympathetic.. I was expecting people to shun me and tell me to get over it. In response to one of the replies, I think keeping it from my family won't be that difficult, but keeping it from my girlfriend will be very tough because of the amount of time we spend together (You're right about that).

My thoughts: I would think about 4000+ could provide good coverage all over0. 2500-3000 would restore the hairline. I hear the crown is a like a black hole, just taking in lots and lots of donor hairs. My next procedure will be about 2500-3000 mainly for the crown. My first procedure was 2710 just for the front but it restored the hairline very well. I wasn't far from the way you look. Anyway, for me, starting at about your point: HT #1 2500-3000 (exactly 2710) to restore hairline (avoiding the crown) HT #2 estimated to about 2500-300 to focus on the crown (and maybe filling some, in bad or progressed areas of the front and hairline)

Dr. Mohebi offers something called Celebrity FUE Hair Transplant where a patient can go in one morning, come out at night, and nobody would be the wiser that he/she had a hair transplant. There is no shaving of the hairs in any region, minimal or no pain, and it can be kept anonymous if that is what the patient wants. Although I can't afford "Celebrity FUE Hair Transplant and have already decided that I will proceed with an FUT/strip procedure for my upcoming hair transplant.. I am interested in keeping this procedure a secret from friends and family. I have the type of family that makes a big deal out of everything and I am sure if they know of my HT procedure, it will be a subject of discussion for a very long time.. this is uncomfortable to me so I plan to keep it under wraps. Based on my experience with the 1st FUT/strip procedure (almost 4 years ago) was that after a few days I was back up and running, and life was generally back to normal. So I am hoping for the same thing. A difference in my circumstances now is that I am in a relationship (whereas at that time I was single, post break-up). Is there any way I could keep this from my girlfriend and her family as well? I would prefer not to a tell a soul this time around... This may sound immature, but I am tired of my culture's incessant yapping and gossiping, especially when I have such deep feelings about something (ie. hairloss) and they use it as just something to entertain themselves and make conversation about... sorry for the long post... i'm probably venting.. but I'm seriously considering keeping this a secret from Everybody if possible.