therambler

Good news Matt nice to know you have plenty of donor hair in reserve if you ever need it, must be strange looking on from 'the other side'. Grade 1 after FUT :eek: Would love to see a photo of how that looks!

Hi Spanker, Yeah I've been following Dr. Koniors instructions with this. So I went back after 4 weeks and have been avoiding any exercise that pull or strain the scar - Chest press, squats, lunges, shrugs etc. Have been sticking mainly to cardio and resistance machines / light weights for other exercises and ensuring there's no movement of my neck or head area.

I think it helps to find something to pass the time during this long waiting period!

Thanks mate. It's not too bad for me to be honest, I mentally prepared myself for this time so it's not unexpected. I've just kept the social events to a minimum and got into a good gym routine to try keep my mind off my hair

Hey, no that's not hat i meant it's as I expected and have seen on other patients at this stage as well. Very early days yet a lot of healing ahead of me

Got a photo of the back of my head through magic. Here is how the scar looks at just over 5 weeks. Nothing a bit of Dermmatch in the morning can't cover

Yeah mightn't have been a bad thing being struck down with colds at that time then in hindsight!

I was anxious to get stuck into it after a lazy month and zero social life at the moment. Picturing the new me in a years time

Just looking at the routine the trainer done out for me and it includes squats, deadlifts, shrugs, shoulder and chest presses, crunches the lot ha! I'll revise it and go light for another month or so anyway as you suggest and see how it feels.

Hey, so I'm just at a month after my FUT surgery and I've started back going to the gym. As part of my routine I like to do squats, chest press, shrugs etc. Should I avoid these for a little while longer for my scar to heal and not stretch do you think?

The doctors instructions said intense exercise including weights was fine after 14 days. The donor area is a bit sore after the gym though

I'm entering that phase with you, I'm shedding like a dog now! , It'll all be worth it in the end!

Thank you! Best of luck with it, is it with Dr. Konior? At least at that time of year wearing hats will be all the rage. Work is the tricky part alright, I'm not sure when's the optimum time to return. 4 weeks is a nice break though. I went back at almost 3 weeks. I think I was able to get away with it then with a bit of concealer just looking like I had a bad buzzcut which didn't suit me!

It's getting odder looking each day with the shedding though but I don't really care, once your back a few days people don't take much notice

Well 30 days to be exact, a long tough 30 days Been serious shedding in the last week or so, any time I even walk by a shower I lose 20 hairs. Hello ugly duckling stage I've been expecting you!

I've attached a few photos, my hair might be a small bit wet after the shower in these. The scar is still visible but a small bit of dermmatch in the morning does the trick. My donor area is slightly sore, especially after going to the gym but it is getting better every day

You're scared to try finasteride because you read about some side

effects?

Seriously pretty much every drug in the world will have side

effects for a small percentage of people, that doesn't mean it's the

norm. At least try it for yourself with an open mind, that means not looking out

for the first sign of anything strange to blame on propecia and then

give it up.

I've no doubt some people genuinely suffer from bad sides

but I also think some people are too quick to blame natural life events

on these drugs as well.

Washed it off after work so these pictures give an idea of how visible the scar as with my hir short and no concealer after 3 weeks

Just shy of 3 weeks I returned to work today, relieved to get it out of the way and it was a bit of a breeze really. No odd looks or comments to report. It's a good time of year to get it done in one sense as loads of people are out of the office on holidays. In meetings I made sure to get in early to get to the back of the room so no one would be staring at the back of my head and also avoided sitting directly under any bright lights but it was pretty easy to be honest.

I met with a co worker who I'd told about the op before work for a coffee just to gauge how odd or otherwise I looked. He said I looked normal, he'd notice because I've worked with him a long time but the rest of the office wouldn't (I've only been there just a month and a half). He also said the beard is the major thing that stands out so the distraction tactic does work! I only have a couple of weeks growth but I'm usually clean shaven so it helps divert the gaze away from my head.

Shedding begun a couple of days ago and I notice the hairs coming off now when I take a shower or apply rogaine. Redness isn't too bad really (looks worse in the photos then in real life), I've been drinking more water then I ever did in my life and also applying an aloe/water spray to the grafts periodically so this might have helped.

I've attached some pics with dermmatch on the scar. If anyone wants to see what it looks like without it I can upload these later, just being lazy right now

Impossible to compare the before/after shots due to the amount of gel in the patients hair in the pre-op photos

Thanks Phantom Done a quick trial run with some Dermmatch, wasn't too precise as I'm not going out anywhere. I think it works well with my hair colour

Bump - Would also like to hear members thoughts on Revita, is it worth the price

Ran the clippers over the donor and non transplanted areas in an attempt to even it out a bit. Doesn't look even of course and you can clearly see the transplanted areas but it's as low as I can go and hopefully still camouflage the scar a bit with dermatch/nanogen when I return to work in 4 days time, gulp!!

You can also see a spot where i messed up with the clippers above the scar on the right hand side in an ill judged attempt to blend it in Hoping for some maximum turbo charged growth in 4 days and 4 nights

Well the good thing is with joining a new workplace at this stage they won't have seen you much before the surgery so won't have a point of reference of what your hair normally looks like I guess!

Hey phantom, got the sutures out this morning thank god. The nurse done a good job, very professional, she mentioned they weren't used to seeing long 'running' sutures like that, usually they deal with smaller individual stitches. She even took a photo with my galaxy of the back of my head to show me them all removed

The area above is indeed still numb and the suture line itself is tender, i'm still the using the antibiotic ointment on it and can feel the odd lump along the line, feels like a bruise. I'm glad to have them out though I found it uncomfortable sleeping with them and the line was sore in the mornings.

I'll try buzz down a small bit in a few days to match the top of my head but still leave enough hair to use some concealer over the scarline for my return to work. Not sure if it's going to work but it's worth a shot hats aren't really an option!

I'll take pics in a couple of days too once I try that, don't have any shedding and very little redness at this stage although it's early yet. How is yours looking?

Can't wait to get these sutures out

Yup I know he used some of the singles for the temple points because a dense look there would just look weird! The proof will be in the pudding I guess!

Graft Breakdown:

Total Grafts: 3814

1s: 1327

2s: 1972

3s: 515

Total Hairs: 6816

Thanks for the replies, Yup I emailed Dr. Konior and he recommended not to use vitamin e oil but aloe vera is okay. I mixed a small bit of aloe with water and am spraying every now and then, figure it can't do any harm!

Still sticking with the baby shampoo and have resumed using rogaine as well. Did anyone notice it is more difficult to apply at this stage post op? I kept my hair short before and applied rogaine each morning after shower no problem. Since the HT it tends to sit on the scalp more instead of soaking in, just take a little bit longer to absorb, strange!

Looking very clean in first pic, very little redness. Wouldn't it be cool if these hairstyles came into fashion would make the post op transition easier ha - Reply was meant for post above pre suture removal!

These pics are taken just out of the shower. Today I started directly washing the grafts area - gently, prob should be a bit more aggressive to get rid of the crusts in the next few days. Feels weird rubbing the grafts! They feel very secure though. I also started using rogaine today again.

Questions, Did other HT veterans start applying aloe vera at this stage too or any other moisturizers? (I have cocoa butter formula with vitamin E as well don't know if it's any use) If so, Just after the shower or throughout the day?