matt3480

Can't say I've seen anywhere that says you can take Minoxidil 3 days after. Your grafts are not secured until 7-8 days and that is the earliest I've seen docs prescribe. The last thing you want to be doing is rubbing your scalp when the grafts aren't even secure. Trust me.....starting at 2 weeks versus 1 week isn't going to affect anything. I didn't start Minox for a good month or so after my surgery and I still seem to be a quicker grower.

The shock loss will indeed subside....it took probably 3 months from when I noticed it to when it subsided. There is a rather large amount of time (I believe) that shock loss can occur.....so it may have occurred later in time for you as opposed to me. Mine was present within a month.

You are only 5 weeks post-op......it's very normal to still have redness/pinkness at this stage. It's going to be even more noticeable because you look to have blonde hair and there is going to be a bigger contrast. Some people are going to be red/pink for many many months due to their complexion. I am still a bit pink but my new hair is growing out to where it's covering it (I'm 4 months post-op). It does go away eventually and it does gradually get better....I've noticed improvements every month. One thing I can tell you is not to irritate the area. Use some aloe vera on it...that worked well for me. Not all grafts shed.....if you did your research on this, you would know most of what you are experiencing is normal, especially at 5 weeks.

Yeah, I think I do remember them monitoring bloodwork back then while I was on it. I don't remember exactly what they were looking for.

David, looks awesome.....let alone for only 5 months. Big difference between 4 and 5 months...and you looked good at 4. Odd that you would start breaking out at your age, has to be the Fin. I used to have really really bad acne up until 20 or so. I took Accutane 2 times (first time was a low dose for a short period of time)....the last time was several years later for about 3 months (and a high dose). The acne stopped immediately. Granted, this was 15 years ago when Accutane was still relatively new....I do wonder if that may have contributed to my hair loss. Hard to say. I do remember my lips being ridiculously dry the whole time I was on it (dry enough to crack). It actually reminds me a lot of Fin....in that it does work pretty well but some people have very serious effects (and which the severity wasn't necessarily known the first few years it was on the market). Obviously, I think people do think twice now in terms of taking either drug as opposed to when they first came out.

Agreed.....700 was not enough for that area. 700 is normally something you do to restore temple points, not lower the hairline from temple point to temple point. You seem to have good hair behind it....the good thing is you can get more grafts to thicken and match that pretty easily (another 1000-1500 max).

Take some Vitamin B6 pills.....they are for nerve growth and health. I also had some bad pain in the donor for a couple weeks after FUE and read here on the forum that someone had taken B6 and it helped them a lot. It helped mine a lot, too. The tough part was sleeping. In my opinion, you want to take pressure off the painful area (so the nerves aren't firing) and that's impossible almost if you are a back sleeper like me. It's odd that it reappeared but I wonder if you aren't irritating it enough nightly while sleeping (which isn't letting the nerves heal).

Some dry pics of the top.....not too bad for 3 months and 3 weeks I'm thinking! I didn't really start Rogaine, either, until probably a good month after my surgery (surgery was March 31 on the top but I figured since I had my temple point surgery coming up April 17 that there was no use in starting and stopping for a week...plus I was quite red for a bit after so I didn't want to go to Rogaine 2 times a day until I healed a little more). If this is only 20-25%.....I think I'll be looking good by the end of September or October. Temple points will make such a huge difference once they are in grown in.....hoping for some good growth on those in the next month. There are definitely hairs growing in there (temple points) but not enough that it's really showing in pics, yet (as you can see). I don't know why the pics are coming in sideways on here....that is just how they are uploading. Also, this is with my hair cut down to 8mm or 9mm....which is a #2 or #3 guard. I'll never wear my hair this short once it grows out on top (normally I wear it 1-2 inches long). However, it gives me a better idea now of where new hairs are growing.

That isn't redness.....remember, those pics were taken extremely close up and are high-def. The color is going to be distorted. I took some better pics in normal light so you can see....I definitely still am a little pink....but not red, at all (when I get a pimple up there...you can see a distinct difference in color). I am also quite fair skinned and pale right now. I've heard of many members being pink for 4-6 months after. The color is definitely getting better little by little. Naturally, it's going to be a bit pinker after I get out of a hot shower, etc. At normal light...I doubt you would notice it much. As you can see, the shock loss is pretty much non-existent at this point. I would say 90% gone. I think I'm making good progress for 3 months and 3 weeks on the top and right at 3 months on the temple points. I'm hoping for an explosion of growth over the next month or so. Won't do a 4-month update but will come back around 5...

Thanks buddy, your hair definitely is looking good!

Windjammer......actually, the shock loss has improved a lot the last few weeks. I mean you probably wouldn't even notice it if you saw me. Dr. K (and most other people who experienced this) said it normally takes 4-5 months to fully heal.

Before pic just for comparison....as you can see, literally had under 10 total hairs in my temples.

Here are some close-up pics with the hi-def option activated on my iPhone....

Here are some about 3 month pics (I think next Tuesday is technically 90 days). Looks like a good improvement from my pics I posted June 10.....thoughts? I would assume this is pretty good for 3 months. The left side seems to be growing better than the right....

Houtex....I believe Dr. K uses a manual punch and also the Dr. C*** motorized punch thing. As for the shaven thing....I work from home....so I didn't need to conceal anything due to work purposes, etc. Most surgeons prefer the head to be shaved when doing a large number of grafts...it's just easier for them to work. I actually just shaved my head again 3-4 days ago just because it was pointless, again, to have the longer hair with short hairs. I don't believe there is any limitations on that beyond the initial period where you don't want to disrupt the grafts (10 days or so).

Thanks Mav, appreciate it, buddy.

Had the same thing with the pain post-op and it freaked me out at first, too. Went completely away, though, within 1-2 weeks. I believe it might be more normal than reported. I think it's exasperated by the lying down on the back of the head and the pressure on that area of nerve endings. I felt it was more from the numbing shots (since I think those are bigger needles) than the actual FUE holes (I also had to be re-numbed a ways through). Would love to see some pics, though.....I am about a month behind you in terms of my FUE with Dr.K....and I know people have been really wanting to see FUE results from him.

Took some hi-def photos (as much as you can on an iPhone) today to show you what I'm seeing here at approx. 70 days post-op. I'm hoping I'm an "early sprouter"......seems to be a decent amount of growth going on....some thicker hairs, many finer hairs. These are close-ups of both temples....I know I'm a bit pink in the pics but this was taken minutes after I applied Rogaine (plus I'm still just pink from the surgery). I can tell you pre-op I was completely bald in the temples....I think I had literally one or two hairs on my left side and none on my right.

Yes, agreed! I think it's recommended to keep Rogaine on for four hours....I'm going to do that and then wash it off. I was originally putting it on in the morning and leaving it on all day and then taking a shower at night and keeping it on until the next morning. That probably would be normally fine....but I really want to kick the pinkness (the color looks really good in the morning when I wake up if I haven't applied Rogaine the night before).

Yep, definitely expected home1212! Not worried, at all......I heard right behind the ears is actually a very common place for it to happen on FUE. Dr. K said the same....4-5 months or so and it will resolve.

Also.....my final count, for what it's worth, was.... From the March 31 surgery on the temples and front.... Singles 169 Two’s 718 Three’s 858 Four’s 332 TOTAL 2077 grafts (about 5,500 hairs) And for the temple point surgery on April 17..... Almost all singles: 776

Here are the shock loss areas....it's in pretty harsh lighting to try to show a contrast....it's just a bit thinner than the surrounding hair, not bald. In the first pic, it's not the thinning spot in the crown area but the area below it a bit to the left..

Just a quick update as it's been 2 months since I had my temples and front done and about 43-44 days since I had my temple points done. As expected, not much to update right now. I've definitely noticed a few hairs in the temples that have sprouted up (tried to get it in the pics) as I was completely slick bald in these areas pre-op. If I had to estimate, I would say there has been maybe 100 or so that are growing (that I know weren't ones that simply kept growing after the surgery). It's hard to pick up a lot of it in my pics....especially the tiny ones that just broke the surface. I'm still pink as expected.....although the color has definitely improved since 30 days post-op. I have been applying Rogaine 2x a day and this seems to exasperate the pinkness a bit...I'll probably switch to just once a day. Have a little bit of shock loss behind both ears and in a small spot on the back of my head. Definitely not major. I've been able to feel and see stubble in these areas for about a month....so I know the hairs are resting and will grow back within a couple months. Definitely had a few pimples here and there in the recipient and donor....nothing unexpected there, nothing major. Just a waiting game.....

You will likely lose them all (or 98% of them). I had a lot of mine at a month, too.....I am at almost 2 months and they basically all shed.

I would say if you can't see even the slightest bit of progress at 5.5 months that something isn't right. No, you obviously shouldn't be fully matured at 5.5 months....but you sure as heck shouldn't be looking worse at 5.5 months than at pre-op. If it were a known and reputable doctor.....then maybe you give it a few more months. However, based on what you have said about the doctor and surgery (that he wasn't even the one doing it)....it doesn't sound promising. Worst case, let it be a lesson and go to a known and reputable doctor. 2,000 is luckily a rather small amount of grafts...so you should have plenty of donor hair left to get it done again (if this first one doesn't pan out) and be looking real good. Hoping all works out with you.