notsosure

Awesome.

Thanks for the update! I'm at 2 months, 5 days now. No growth for me yet 🙂

37 minutes ago, Pablito said:

I'm at 7 weeks post op and I have the same. All day no itching but when I lay my head on a pillow to finally get some rest, the itching starts. I contacted my surgeon and she told me that it is likely that new hairs that are starting to poke through the scalp can cause it.

Wow, new hairs at 7 weeks? Nice!

Looks good to me, man. I'm 1 month and 2 weeks in now. I shaved my head again with the 1 guard, so it wasn't so uneven. Almost all of my recipient hair has fallen out now. Still definitely have that pink coloring in the recipient area like you do. I'm excited to see how your hair looks when you start getting all the tiny little hairs popping up out of the scalp. I think you'll be about 3 weeks ahead of me. I started Rogaine at week 3. Thanks for posting your update and good luck!

6 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said:

Wow looks really good. Yes you can shave but be careful ! Will still be sensitive after a month. You will not mess up the grafts. 
Your shedding will most likely continue. It’s much more likely to shed all the grafts than keep them. 

Got it. Thanks! I'll hold off on shaving then. What I'm finding interesting is I'm concerned about 0% as to people I don't know seeing me with this weird hair cut, but care far more about seeing people I do know, like in-laws, and even my own parents.

Hey everyone, here's my 28 day post op. I'd say 99% of the little scabs are gone. I think I'm losing some of the recipient area hair. Not a ton, but I've noticed some of it is falling out. A lot of the numbness is gone. I still feel a little, but it's slowly going away. I think I have a little bit of shock loss, but it's tough to tell since I've never had my hair this length before.

I'm curious, do you all think I'll keep the recipient area hair at this point (day 28 in), or is this pretty typical where I'll shed it all in the next couple of weeks?

And secondly, I'm considering shaving the other hair down shorter, so it'll better match the new area. Is that a bad idea, in terms of screwing up the grafts?

Thanks.

9 hours ago, icehaid said:

Just to add something about Dr. Konior. I had three procedures with him, the last one being at the end of 2016, so it's been a while. A few months ago, I sent him an email with a question regarding finasteride and minoxidil and and he responded within an hour or two. And that's exactly how he was immediately after a procedure. The guy is utterly first class - a consummate professional who cares deeply about his patients - even one he hasn't seen in years. Plus, he's cool as hell. 😁 I'm not in the least bit surprised he dropped you off at your hotel after the surgery.

A word of advice about the procedure - be patient. It takes a while for the full results to materialize but it will be worth the wait. You had your procedure done by one of the best, and from your pictures, I'm pretty certain you're going to be a really happy guy by the time Christmas rolls around.

So good to hear. Thanks for posting. I plan to start using Rogaine as soon as the little scabs are totally one from the recipient area. They're starting to fall out now (Day 15), but have about 50% to go.

Are you using Rogaine and if so, do you notice any side effects? I've never taken it before and am curious if it's been worth it for you?

30 minutes ago, deeznuts said:

Make sure you get something better than Chipotle though. Chicago has so much great food from all the YT vids I've seen of them. If you go with Konior, make sure he throws in a Chicago style hotdog or deep dish pizza man

Agreed, although Door Dash Chipotle + Hotel is a pretty decent combination. 🙂

3 minutes ago, Parasol said:

I did FUE as well. 

I’m feeling pretty good right now physically. Big difference from where I was a week ago. 

The healing process for me has been a bit of a roller coaster though. I had a pretty nasty wound that scabbed, and for some reason, although I haven’t shed much yet, my very frontal hairline seems like it did just a few days out of surgery, so all in all I guess I’m just hoping that in the end everything turns out ok. Fingers crossed.

Everything for you is looking phenomenal. Hopefully our upcoming sheds aren’t too bad.

Oh man. Sorry to hear that about the wound. I would imagine everything will heal up just fine in the end, but can totally understand being nervous about it. Being that this was my first (and hopefully only) HT, even with just 2200 grafts that I got, and the fact that everything seems to be on track (knock on wood), I'm still a bit nervous and don't know what to expect. Def keep us/me updated on how things are going over the next several months. I guess we have about 3.5 months left before we start seeing new hair.

6 minutes ago, j1mmy said:

Agree, and same day as me too

I did some lifting today  You should limit sweating just to be safe, and be careful where you put your head in terms of bacteria. I just took it easy, lighter weights, longer rest times, and a disinfected mat for lying on a bench. Luckily I didn't wear a cap, that would have made things hotter!

I will wait some more days before I take a jog or something. 

Let us know what you get up to

For reference, my recommendation was "restrain from vigorous activity for 10-15 days", so if you are sensible, you can figure it out. 

Oh, nice. Here's what Dr. Konior said this morning about the exercise stuff after I asked this "Can I workout 100% normally now without worrying about grafts falling out or being damaged from sweat etc? I'll be sweating a lot. And I suppose I'll have a towel handy and will just pat the towel and not rub. Is that what you'd suggest?"

His response: "Hello Brad, Full workout is fine.  No worry about sweating or towel drying."

My guess is it's a bit dependent on how many grafts and the type of procedure (FUE vs FUT). I got 2200 grafts and FUE.

34 minutes ago, Parasol said:

Looks like you and I had our procedures on the same day! The work looks incredible and you seem to be healing really well. Congratulations, I bet this is gonna turn out great.

I did just want to chime in regarding working out again. Just be sure to get Dr. Konior’s blessing. My clinic is advising absolutely no aerobics or weight lifting for 30 days post op. I know some clinics do allow for work out restrictions to be lifted at 2 weeks though. I’d recommend checking in with your doc if you haven’t (if you have, have fun! Wish I could join you. I put on one of my favorite t-shirts yesterday and I can already tell my chest and arms have gotten smaller  ).

Thanks! That's awesome (re the day of surgery). How are you feeling post procedure, and did you do FUT or FUE? I did FUE, so I'm wondering if maybe that's why Dr. Konior is saying on day 14 I can get back to 100% normal exercise? I emailed him this morning and he replied and said it was totally fine. Yeah, I'm totally ready to get back to working out. I definitely feel like a slob.

Hey guys, I'm officially at 2 weeks post FUE with Dr. Konior. I'm feeling better than day 7. Tingling and numbness is slowly going away. Above I mentioned a strange "water flowing down my head" feeling and that is also going away, slowly. I think the grafted area is looking pretty good (although I don't really have anything to compare to, being this is my first experience with an HT).

I have the little scabs still, and the grafted hair hasn't fallen out yet. I'm hoping to start exercising 100% normally tomorrow morning, which will be the day 14 mark (being surgery day was day 0).

I'm also hoping to shampoo normally in the grafted area, but am a little hesitant on that, still.

When do the grafts become fully part of your body, so that you can't knock them out by shampooing normally?

And secondly, if I did knock out a graft on day 14 (and beyond), how would I know? Given I still have the scabs, and it feels like all of the transplanted hair (it's not fallen out yet), I'm wondering if that means the grafts aren't settled into place yet? Any thoughts on that?

Thanks!

50 minutes ago, Egott92 said:

Everything has shed since like week 2, but I’m about 1.5 months since the procedure and happy to see a few hairs starting to sprout/grow. Nothing major though, that’s why I haven’t posted any updates. 

Dang, new hairs after just a month and a half. This is going to turn ourt great! I'm eager to shed the little scabs and transplanted hairs so I can shower 100% normally and not even think about scratching/toweling off/bumping my head and so on.

On 4/16/2021 at 12:41 PM, Egott92 said:

Looks great. Exactly how mine looked 10 days post-op and I was already shedding lots. 

Looks so good. I’m also curious how the head is looking today?

Ok, day 10 photo below. Starting to get the crusting. Have less pain than day 5. Definitely still pain, but I think it's primarily from the places where the shots went in for numbing. Those things were crazy painful. Head is also still pretty much exactly as numb as I was on day 2. Still water running down head sensation (I assume nerves healing?). Not painful, just annoying (and wondering if this will happen forever, so lots of self talking going on inside my head).

Overall, I think it looks really good. Any thoughts on anything I mentioned above? Thanks everyone.

On 3/29/2021 at 11:59 AM, NM156 said:

I chose Konior four years ago and I'm glad I did. You are in excellent hands and you will love the result..

 

Good luck and happy growing!

Hey, how long did it take for any of the pain in your head to go away? I’m 7 days post and definitely still have pain pretty much all over my head. Not unbearable at all, and I’m likely just a big baby, but am curious what the typical time frame is to feel normal without head pain.

On 3/29/2021 at 1:32 PM, Egott92 said:

Sorry for the late reply, but it looks like you've had great responses from other Dr. Konior patients. I echo everything everyone has already stated - you're in great hands (maybe the best hands). I think it's smart you're staying Tuesday-Saturday. Since you're having FUE, you will likely need far less recovery time than us FUT-ers. 

To briefly answer:

1) I'm happy with everything (pre-op care, post-op care, day of surgery, etc) but it's obviously far too early to tell about final result which is all I care about. I had FUT so the linear scar made it difficult to sleep for 2 weeks. I'm finally (nearly 3 weeks post op) getting an uninterrupted nights sleep with no pain. Your FUE procedure will be far less invasive with significantly less post-op pain.

2) 3,200

3) Nothing negative or scary that really is relevant to you since you're having FUE. The valium will really help mellow you out on the day of the procedure. The only negative part was not being able to sleep due to pain (result of FUT strip removal). Even though FUE is less invasive and I doubt you'll have the same donor pain, I'd recommend banking up on some quality sleep the week before the procedure. 

Hey, just a quick update. I’m now 7 days post FUE. 2200 grafts. Back home now. Feeling decent but still have head pain. Honestly I think it’s from the numbing shots. Those things were brutal. I stopped the Ibuprofen yesterday as I didn’t want to get into a habit of popping Ibuprofen every day for minor pain. 
 

I’m nervous showering regularly but have showered and let water run over the back of my head and onto the grafted area in the front. 
 

Are you still experiencing any pain in any area other than the donor scar area? 
 

And are you cool with shampooing etc just like normal or you still nervous/cautious after 3 weeks?

While the procedure wasn’t terrible and things seem to have gone great thus far, I don’t want to screw anything up and have to do this again 🙂 Curious if you felt like that and if that feeling left for you after 3 weeks?

Thanks man.

Btw, here's the total graft counts that Dr. Konior ended up doing, in case anyone was curious:

1 – 150

2 – 1,072

3 – 978

Total: 2,200

No idea where which grafts were inserted, or if it even matters. Any thoughts on those numbers from you seasoned HT people?

Side note: I emailed him about 30 min ago to ask, and he replied already. Pretty awesome.

1 minute ago, Homeerestre said:

Your's was done way cleaner than everything I saw here, goodluck on your journey, you'll need that.

Thanks! I'll take all the luck I can get.

2 years ago pre-op pic I initially sent to Dr. Konior via email. It receded a bit more in those 2 years by the time I got the procedure.

Thanks guys. I’ll post a couple before shots I took about 2 years ago when I initially sent Dr. Konior an e-mail for his thoughts. I don’t have his official before pics pre-procedure, at the moment. 

2 more questions for you all.
 

1. How long does it take for the numb head to not feel like a numb head? 

2. When am I 100% fine to spray the shower head directly on the grafted area with 0% chance of screwing something up? I’d like to get rid of this marker on my head and also take a GOOD shower again 🙂 The thought of knocking out a graft or more is terrifying, given I don’t want to do this procedure anytime again in the near future. Those of you that got FUT and not FUE, are brave people. 

5 full days post FUE. Today I had a little less of the "water dipping down my head" sensation. Head is still very numb to the touch. I believe this is normal. I had some off and on discomfort from all of the various holes in my head, but nothing too awfully bad. Here's how things look currently. What do you all think that have had HTs and know how things should look by day 5? I wish the recipient hair would just stay and not fall out. I'm definitely not looking forward to what things will look like once the new area falls out for those 3-4 months.

16 minutes ago, TorontoMan said:

Make sure there isn’t blood running down your head. I think I may have Experiences something similar, but it’s likely the swelling shifting around your head. 

hehe... No blood running down my head 🙂 Definitely would have noticed that. But it does feel like that sensation. Swelling shifting around makes sense and that's kind of what I'm trying to tell myself. Thanks for the reply.

So I'm 3 days post FUE and I noticed on day 2 that I have this weird sensation as if water is running down my head... even though there is no water. Nothing. It happens off and on throughout the day. It's not painful. Just annoying and super weird.

Has anyone else had a similar things happen?

Ok, first shower since Tuesday. Success. Only washed body and the back of my head. And face (not forehead yet) in the sink. So far so good. Only somewhat weird thing is the feeling of water dripping down my head when there's not actual water anywhere on the outside. That, and the swelling that seems to be moving to the lower middle of my forehead and temples. Dr Konior said no worries and that it'll all go away soon. I emailed him, and sure enough, he emailed back within a couple of hours. The guy is a machine. When he drove me back from the office after surgery (yes, he actually drove me himself. Great guy) he told me he wakes up at 3:30am every day! Considering the fact that on surgery days he gets home at like 8:00pm, he must truly love what he does. I'm amazed.

8 minutes ago, BDK081522 said:

Recommendation is to shower and while your hair is still wet apply minoxidil. With wet hair the scalp is more accessible and Rogaine works by absorption through your skin. If you apply to blown dry hair it is much more difficult to reach the scalp. Especially because after the transplant grows in you'll have much more hair to deter the minoxidil from reaching your scalp. I usually apply when I get out of the shower to wet hair, then blow dry, add product and style. Works well for me. 

Oh, got it. That makes sense. I've read everywhere else that you shouldn't apply rogaine until the hair is dry, though? Your method definitely sounds best if that actually works.