pkipling

I just got a cheap one from Target as well. The pills don't always cut perfectly evenly, but it's not enough to make a difference. The general recommended dosage is 1mg a day, and since a perfectly evenly cut 5mg pill would be 1.25 mg, you have a little wiggle room. Some days a tad more, some days a tad less - but always right around that 1mg/day mark.

I wouldn't look too much into this, personally. The roots/bulbs on the hairs are totally normal. We tend to overanalyze every little detail when dealing with something that means so much to us (I can be guilty of this as well), but the fact of the matter is that 1 month out, your shedding is completely normal. Not to mention the grafts are securely placed by around day 5 post surgery. So unless you were losing grafts the first couple of days after the transplant, I wouldn't worry about any of the hairs you're losing not being implanted properly, no matter the shape.

On a side note, great job on that diagram....

Congrats man. You're in for quite the journey and we'll look forward to your updates.

Haha. Who doesn't love a good pity party every now and then.... and those really are some very impressive hairlines.

Hi. I have also been to Dr Reddy in Oct '14. 1200 grafts to lower my hairline. It has now been around 9 weeks and I am going through the dreaded 'ugly duckling' phase. I must say it is worrying me a lot.

 

I have shed most of my grafts around the temple region with tiny hairs growing. Some areas are very 'patchy' with gaps and to be honest, it is stressing me out. I am worried "what if these gaps don't grow back"?!!

 

Also the redness has still persisted.

 

Any advise please?

Don't stress. The new hairs won't start coming back in until the 12 week mark, so you're shedding sounds totally normal (unless you're also experiencing shock loss in the donor area - in which case it would still just be a waiting game to see how that resolves itself). But regarding the recipient area, give it at least until the 4 month mark and reevaluate the growth then.

If you're still concerned at that point (or want to post more pictures), start a new thread and someone will help you out. Best of luck.

Taken 13 days post op all redness virtually gone now and shedding has not started yet.

Looking good brotha! Let the journey begin.... :cool:

Set up an appointment with a Dr. and discuss all this with them. This way in the meantime while you're waiting to get a transplant, there are some other options you can consider to possibly slow down the hair loss. I'm not sure how healthy/fit you are, but even something as simple as a healthy diet and exercise regime can help to some degree. You can also see if a doctor would recommend putting you on Finasteride, depending on the severity of your hair loss and its progression so that you potentially slow it down enough before it gets too bad. I never took it until a right before my transplant. If I had taken it sooner, who knows how much hair I could've saved.

Hey gibbsville... Just saw this post. Hope you got an answer to your question. Update us and let us know how the surgery went - and I hope you had everything you needed!

That's some impressive swelling. Make sure you're sleeping slightly elevated, as that should help some as well. Until then, enjoy the "battle wounds".

For those of you interested in the contest, but maybe too hesitant to make a video and submit it, may I present to you Applicant Zero, aka Voxman. He gave us permission to share his video with you guys, and he did an outstanding job. Check it out - and perhaps feel inspired to make one yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFsUaVg6hk4

Yep. You're definitely in the clear and there's nothing you can do to damage them now. So sit back and relax and let the magic begin.

Excellent post! It was very positive and encouraging, so thanks for that. A good attitude goes a long way.

Great to see you had such great success with the first transplant - and I look forward to seeing the results from this second one. Happy holidays, indeed!

Yeah, it varies person to person. I had a decent amount of redness for the first month and a half for sure. By two months, it was much less noticeable and to the point where I wasn't self conscious about it anymore.

And there's no way you can wear a professional looking cap to work, even with a brilliant story about some kind of bizarre medical situation that requires you to keep your head covered? Worked for me...

After 5 days, the grafts are permanently in place and can't be damaged - so wearing the hat doesn't put you at risk of losing the transplanted hairs. Furthermore, you should still be able to wear the hat even before then - though having transplants in the temple area does seem a bit trickier to hide than the grafts in on the top/receding area. I wore a hat (provided by my doctor) home from the office the day of my surgery. The hat had high enough clearance, and it rested on my head without any risk at all of damaging the grafts. The front part rested on my forehead, and the back part rested on the back of my head. I did this successfully myself, but do admit that I was extremely cautious when doing so.

Your doctor should be able to show you better in person if this is possible for you to do depending on your specific case - but like I said, after 5 days it wouldn't matter anyway.

Maybe someone here has experience with how to wear a hat when having transplants on the temple region... I would assume you would just wear it higher on your head. This wouldn't cover it, but would provide coverage for the crown area while not effecting the temple region at all.

For those of you who have questions about the contest, Dr. Mohebi recently updated his blog addressing some of those. Check it out.

Dr. Mohebi HT Contest: Who can enter?

How can a baseball cap not touch the donor graft region. A cap sits right on top of it.

You're right in that it does depend on the clearance of the hat, though most of my baseball caps have plenty of clearance. I had a bandage on the day I wore a hat home from surgery. The back of the hat touched the donor area (to which there is no threat) and the front of the hat was on my forehead, away from the grafts. There was plenty of clearance to keep anything at all from touching the grafts. I will add though that I was extremely careful. I put the hat on loose from front to back, then tightened it in the back. And when removing it, I would loosen the hat in the back and then remove it from back to front... Very careful, very deliberate.... However, if it's something you're worried about and don't feel comfortable with, I would just steer clear of it altogether and stick with the surgical cap. :cool:

The main thing you need to make sure of is that it's loose enough on your scalp and that you don't touch the grafts at all when putting the hat on and taking it back off. I actually left surgery wearing a hat provided by the doctor. I had a bandage on to cover the donor area that I kept on until the next day, but gently placed the cap very loosely and strategically on top of my head so that the grafts were never touched.

Hi mate thanks for replying. All the info is in a previous thread but I will try and remember.

3300 fut grafts with Dr farjo. I will post the exact hair count again when I find it.

No need, brotha. The number of grafts and type of surgery is the main thing I was curious about. Glad you reached the 3 month milestone. Looking forward to your updates!

It would depend largely on what type of hair you have, but I am quite partial to KMS California Hair Play Molding Paste. It takes just a little bit and it's quite flexible.

FYI: This is coming from a guy who has tried nearly every hair product on the market, and never satisfied. It looks like a sample selection at a beauty salon underneath my sink. But this one seldom disappoints. :cool:

At the 12 week mark, the hair is just now about to start coming in, so get ready! The recipient area seems to have healed just fine and the redness is barely noticeable. Now just let the fun begin.

You mind giving us your transplant info? Number of grafts, type of surgery, etc.?

There's no sure fire way to tell if you're definitely going to go bald or not. The best indicator is to see if it runs in your family (on both sides of your family.... Not just your "mother's father" myth that people tend to throw around). Even then, it ultimately varies from individual to individual and just because you have a history of baldness in your family doesn't necessarily mean you will go bald - it just means that the chances are greater. This is true the other way around as well.

You're still very young, so I wouldn't worry about it too much if you're not seeing definite signs. Exercise, eat healthy, keep your stress level down and just ENJOY being 18. And IF you start to see signs of baldness in the future, you can deal with it then. Worrying about it now won't do you (or your hair) any good. So go have fun and enjoy your full head of hair with a smile on your face.

Are we going to be able to view all the video entries on your FB page?

Yep. All the entries will be able to be seen on Dr. Mohebi's Facebook Page.

Dr. Mohebi,

 

It all sounds fantastic! Keep us updated. Let us know if you'd like any HTN admins/moderators to make a cameo in the video as well ; )

I mean, who doesn't love a good cameo? ; )

Looking forward to seeing all of this unfold! Let Dr. Mohebi or myself know if you guys have any questions.

I experienced quite a bit of the donor area pain in the same time frame as you, and it was definitely the most painful part of an otherwise uneventful procedure. Within a week tops, it should be gone. The only way I was able to get any relief was from putting ice on it to temporarily numb it. Dr. Mohebi gave me an ointment to put on the scalp as well to help it stay moisturized. Also, try avoiding really hot showers - they seemed to trigger the pain for me as well. Check with your doctor and see what exactly he recommends.

I went to my doctor a week after and he explained it to me a bit... When extracting the hairs, they don't go deep enough to do any real nerve damage... However, depending on the person, sometimes the nerves are just slightly "irritated", which is what I was experiencing.

Hang tight. At the time, it seems almost unbearable - but I believe you're almost out of the woods. And in hindsight, it was such a small, fleeting moment in the grand scheme of it all that you may even forget just how painful it seems at the moment.

You should definitely be able to shave your head short if you do FUE. However, if you do FUT, you will have the strip scar showing in the back - which would be a dead giveaway that you had a transplant. Depending on how short you go, it is possible that with FUE you will be able to see small, tiny white scars (like little dots) where the hairs were extracted - but this should only be noticeable upon close examination and if it's cut extremely close to the scalp. And like with any type of scarring, it varies from person to person.

Check out my photos/blog. I had a buzz cut all throughout the main recovery stages and kept it short until 3 months after surgery. My current photos are from 4 months since surgery (and 1 month since I last buzzed my hair) so you can get a decent representation of what a buzzed head looks like after surgery. Browse the photo albums here and I'm sure you'll run across some other ones as well.

Does that answer your question?

* I just realized you were asking specifically about FUE... So ignore the strip scar comment. The only thing you would need to worry about would be the tiny little polka dot scars - and for me, I don't think it's enough to worry about....