Speegs

20 days post op your hair is settled, but I'd cover your head with a warm cap to protect it. No sense risking scalp damage from sun exposure or cold exposure. Truthfully, you need to keep your head covered outdoors for several months now.

I assume by permanent you mean they are grafted into your body and can't be dislodged. 10 days is a safe number, truthfully after 6 it becomes difficult, after 10 near impossible, and after two weeks or so it would take a surgical procedure to move them. Whether or not they'll now grow is another matter, assuming they took root and weren't damaged during the surgery or in post op then you should see 90 to 95 percent of them yield hair in their transplanted location. Consult your respective surgeon on the timeline they want you to observe for your grafts.

I disagree with Dr. McGrath on this, I think he is rebranding the mini-graft, even if he thinks it's a well-utilized method for density, I think the language is a little misleading.

It's highly unusual, and very unlikely you had 500 plus 5 hair grafts at your surgeon's disposal. You could be very unique, but I feel that is highly irregular physiology, especially since I think I just watched some youtube videos of that music guy that touts McGrath essentially say he had mini-grafts placed in the back to punch up the density. It's wait and see time for you now, what's done is done, let's see how it grows in. But in a year's time if you don't like it you may have to get a doctor to remove those, cut them under a microscope and replant them somewhere on the scalp. I don't want to cause you undue anxiety, I know this is a nerve-racking time so let's just hope for the best and take things as they come. We'll cross those bridges when we get there if we have to, so keep us posted.

Off the top of my head (no pun intended) I don't know, I'd have to ask my physician. But I know nothing on me exceeded three hairs per unit, and the lion's share was one and two hair grafts.

Those 500 plus 5 hair grafts he put in you for density are not found in nature, he just didn't separate a group of hairs as they grow. A true follicular unit cut under the microscope has 1 to 3 hairs on average, two being the most common, seldom does nature create follicular units that yield 4 or 5 hairs in them. For the reasons I stated in my earlier post, it isn't widely practiced anymore in western medicine. I'm not trying to alarm you and I'm not saying he butchered you, I'm saying evidence suggests he did use mini-grafts by another name to bulk up your density behind the hairline, at least that's what 500 plus 5 hair grafts infers.

He means they're mini-grafts or micrografts, an outdated procedure. "Mini grafting and micro grafting is an older form of strip surgery, which is where a "strip" of hair-bearing flesh is removed, dissected, then re-grafted onto the recipient scalp. In the early days of hair restoration, technicians would have to wear jeweler’s loupes when dissecting the hair bearing tissue, which only allowed a limited range of magnification. This meant less refinement, higher transection rates as well as "chubbier" grafts. This describes grafts that have a substantial amount of tissue surrounding the follicle and hairs. The resulting micro-grafts would contain one to two hairs (micro-grafts) but the amount of tissue left behind would be more than that found on properly dissected follicular units with the same hair counts. Mini-grafts, which are larger than micro-grafts, would contain as little as three or more hairs but many of these mini-grafts containing six to ten hairs." "What are the Side Effects of Micro Grafting and Mini Grafting? The side effects of mini grafting and micro grafting can include: Necrosis – if enough blood pools under the skin due to too many mini-grafts placed too close to each other then the size of the incisions to accommodate the larger nature of the grafts can be too traumatic for the skin causing subsequent tissue death. Infection – Again, if the skin is traumatized excessively from attempts of dense packing then infection can easily take hold. Ridging – This occurs when excessive tissue is inserted into a concentrated area and it cannot be absorbed by the body. This potential side effect is one of the main reasons why multiple passes are required to achieve cosmetic density when compared to follicular units from FUE or FUSS." Timeout, have you or have you not had a procedure with Mcgrath, you use past tense in some of these posts like you've had a procedure already.

I really hate the marketing he does, it's so used car salesman, even if he is a competent surgeon he does himself no favors with his presentation.Coining terms like "Ultra-Density" and trademarking it is a huge turnoff to me. Peruse this site, take a bunch of consults and compare and contrast them. No need to rush, and since you're willing to travel your options are great. Like I said, I live in McGrath's backyard and traveled from Austin to Portland twice for Dr. Gabel, and it's worth it to travel for the right surgeon.

That you inherit hair loss from your mother's side of the family, it can, in fact, come from either side of the family and is not particularly predictable. Though if there is advanced hair loss on one or both sides of the family, you can bet that is the pattern that awaits your own hair if you begin to experience hair loss yourself since the gene is genetic. Another big myth is the prevalence of impotence caused by finasteride, I see lots of young people on this forum needlessly fearful of their sexual performance from finasteride usage. Most people that experience sexual performance issues before middle age are due to anxiety and psychological issues and they may try to assign that to their finasteride when it is not the culprit. And secondly, most men of a certain age who complain of sexual dysfunction while on finasteride are of an age group prone to experience sexual dysfunction without finasteride and once again are assigning the likely culprit to be finasteride without any proof of such. Bottom line is finasteride helps men keep their hair longer, and none of its observed side effects have been shown to be widespread or permanent after discontinuing usage.

So you would pay $8,300 for 1563 alleged grafts making that $5.31per graft. That's more than a lot of elite surgeons on this forum are charging, many are in the $4 per graft range. I hope it turns out well for you, but I think better options exist for you in terms of physicians and finances. Also, that is a bit concerning he's saying you're getting over 500 grafts with 5 hairs, those don't occur that plentifully in nature, and are tantamount to micrografts, a procedure that predates modern follicular unit transplantation.

Have you already paid him and booked? This doesn't sound like a good deal to me. It's very difficult to see what you're getting, I hope he isn't slicing up larger grafts into singular hairs.

First off stabilize the loss. I have a personal bias for Gabel because he did me right, but Konior would be on the short list too.

I believe Dr. Gabel does consults in Seattle and Idaho as a service for Pacific Northwest patients, but his office and practice are in Portland.

Grafts or hairs? McGrath has tried to sell people by the hair and not by graft in the past. Most elite US physicians charge between 4 and 6 bucks a graft, so 2100 grafts for $6k would be a red flag. I have a personal bias for Dr. Gabel because he's done me right and I admire his ethics. He's a little bit more affordable than his highly respected friend and peer Dr. Konior, who I also can only say great things about. I live in Austin and flew to Portland for Gabel, twice. But ultimately do your homework by consulting these guys and I know money matters, but don't let it be the difference between going elite and making a mistake because in the end going elite is cheaper if you do it right the first time. My opinion of McGrath is that he does average work and has a lot of undesirable trappings surrounding him.

Quick flights under 4 or 5 hours are no biggies, but long flights sound like a needless risk, I'd just chill in a hotel for a day and take it easy before embarking on a long flight, you'll need to be careful how you sleep on the plane for such a long journey, you don't want to dislodge grafts.

Could be a seasonal shed. Or the loss of native hair around the transplanted hair, both can lead to the hair looking thinner. Seasonal sheds affect a number of HT recipients, there are few times in the year where your hair just isn't as thick.

Guys, I live in Austin and know Dr. McGrath's practice. He isn't a bad surgeon but he isn't an elite one and he entertains a few things from his Ziering/ MHR background that should give you pause. He has a sales consultant for one thing, a practice straight from the hair mill playbook, and the guy is a perfectly nice guy, but he's still in sales. Secondly, this perfectly nice guy was hired to come over to McGrath from a Floridian based doctor who lost his license after going insane and thinking he was Jesus Christ for a spell and who is not mentioned by name on this forum for legal reasons, but the now unlicensed physician (at least he was for a while) is a problematic hack that is prevalent on youtube. His previous consultant had an MHR background and worked for Dr. Carlos Puig, a very controversial physician who has been sued many times for his work in the 70s and 80s...he's a bit of a dinosaur, came up in an era of hair flaps and genuine plugs. That consultant has moved on to try and become an actor... He also doesn't offer grafts but hair count, which is a bit of a dicey way of trying to gauge what you're actually getting from him. So although to his credit, I think he is not a butcher, I do not think he is elite and he employs some questionable sales tactics manned by guys that have had undesirable affiliations with quacks and hair mills. If it were my scalp, I'd investigate other options.

Be mindful of TSA during travel, it would be acceptable to cover your head with a bandana, or to be wrapped by the doctor's office before you depart for the airport. I did so in one occasion in order to avoid having to get a private room and explain myself, I had a doctor note and a wrapping around my donor area to dissuade TSA from asking me to take off my bandana or hat, which they are prone to do.

Hard to say just yet, will know in due course though. Not unusual to need a second procedure for density...but if you had 4800 hairs in just the temples, you either have fine hair or else did not appear to get the full 4800 you were told.

Probably a non-issue, ask your physician.

Why do you think you're balding?

Permanent damage to sexual dysfunction? No, simply not likely. https://healthunits.com/news/finasteride-is-not-causing-sexual-dysfunction/

Contact your physician.

Get on finasteride immediately, especially since you appear to not have the budget to pursue a transplant just yet. Stabilize your loss and take preventative action against progressive hair loss continuing.

Some do in certain special cases, but it isn't usually necessary, and I've never seen a responsible surgeon do it if the donor is deemed depleted.