gxm100

live updates from the docs office. See pre-op lines attached and my super cool pre-op hair cut. Sounds like we got about 2500 grafts. After doc shaved my head he felt we really only need 2300 but my donor was dense so sounds like they got a bit more out. My biggest worry is that doc said my hair is fine in terms of caliber. He did not give me an exact #. I figured this was the case, as it seems generally those with lighter hair have finer hair (just generally).

Yes I am back on now and have been for about a year and a half.

Hi All, I am beginning this thread to track my hair restoration procedure with Dr Bloxham which will take place tomorrow June 14th, 2022. I will update the name of the thread after the procedure tomorrow when the exact graft count is known. For now, I will share some backstory, pre-op photos, and goals. Backstory: I am 29 years old. My visually noticeable hair loss came into the picture when I was about 20 years old. At this point in time, I was working with a classically receding V shaped hairline, but the density in the forelock was still okay to the point that I could make it work, but styling was very difficult. By the time that I was 22 years old, this was no longer the case. While still not that bad, anyone that looked at me could certainly tell I was losing hair. Even my mother said it - and if mom isn't trying to make you feel better, you know it's true! During this period I was trying minoxidil to no avail. At 23, I began using finasteride. Initially I underwent an intense shedding phase where much of the thinning hair in my forelock fell out and never returned. However since then, my hair loss has slowed to a relatively great pace / possibly even fully stabilized while taking the medicine regularly. A few years back, while working on having a baby I stopped finasteride for ~5 months and, unfortunately, saw quite a bit more hair loss in the frontal 3rd. Previously I had been able to make Toppik work quite well for me, but after this most recent shed, Toppik is hard to pull off underneath of direct sunlight. This is when I became serious about a HT (I've been lingering on this forum since I was 23). I decided, after the birth of my child, that I needed to do one of two things. Either shave it off, or get it fixed. I tried to take the less expensive approach and shave it off, but I absolutely hated it so I let it grow back and continued with Toppik. The problem with Toppik is that in certain lights it is great, but it was making me uncomfortable in any social situation where I was outside. There were a handful of times, especially when in and around water, that people commented on a green appearance to my hair. Last year, I had an in person consultation with Dr Bloxham at his office in NY. I felt comfortable with him and had been impressed by results on his youtube channel, plus I remember him as FutureHT Doc from this forum long back, so I know he genuinely cares about this community. At the time, he suggested he would do somewhere between a 2500-2800 procedure. I know this forum, and the industry, has largely swung in the direction of FUE over FUT in the past few years, and I respect that, but given my age and level of loss, I feel that FUT is the safest decision for me and gives me the best possible chance at an ideal lifelong outcome. Goals Truthfully my goal is to take a conservative approach to the hairline and frontal third, but to have enough density to no longer feel the need to use any concealer. Currently, I am very happy with the appearance I am able to create with Toppik in terms of hairline placement and natural recession (not in terms of the green color!) so I will be working with Dr Bloxham to work with the existing outline and to simply add back the density. Probably on my right hand side to slightly slightly lower things. But all in all, if I am able to achieve the look that I currently get with toppik without the user of any concealer, I will be beyond happy. Pre-Op Photos Attaching two pre-op photos with my hair completely dry, combed back, air dryed, no shampoo in last day directly in front of harsh bathroom lighting. This will represent my current state at just about as bad as it can get. The third photo attached will represent the appearance I am currently able to achieve with a styled head of hair using toppik. As for the review of Dr Bloxham, staff, procedure, etc. I will update in the next couple of days! Wish me luck!!!

@Melvin- Moderator - I’ve tried to reach out to several. Most have good things to say about the procedure itself, but it’s about a 50/50 split on satisfaction with results from those who have replied to me through various channels.

I’ve got a HT scheduled with Bloxham next week and I’m really starting to freak as I am realizing several things: 1) there are not many patient posted results anywhere online 2) of those which are available, quite a few are sub par or never provided an update (between here and Reddit) I have also found several great results to be fair, but it was mostly their YouTube channel which sold me. I guess it’s normal to have pre-procedure “what-if” anxiety, but it’s really freaking me out how few people seem to post here about his procedures and post good results. Any thoughts/advice?

@Melvin- Moderator 2 drinks yesterday (10 days out) and 1 drink 2 days prior to that (12 days out). In the pre-op instructions I received it reads: "Week prior to surgery: 1. Refrain from drinking alcohol or taking aspirin, Motrin, or Ibuprofen. Tylenol is OK. 2. If you take vitamins, discontinue them for the week. This also means no protein shakes and no supplements. 3. If you apply Minoxidil, discontinue for TEN days before surgery." There is no other mention of 'alcohol' anywhere in the pre-op packet. And the specific call out of TEN days for Minoxidil made me understand this as a 7 day window. I feel like I didn't do anything wrong based on the instructions I was given. Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

I know this topic has been brought up plenty of times before, but unfortunately even my doctor is contradicting in this regard. The pre-surgery packet they sent me said stop drinking in the week prior to surgery, which I took to mean 7 days prior. Now I was just looking through their website and on there it says to stop drinking 14 days before. Of course I had 2 drinks yesterday (10 days prior). By medical standards, I would certainly be considered above a moderate drinker. Is this something to be concerned about? I'd ask the doctor, but I don't want my procedure cancelled so I am looking for experiences from others and if they had any issues with bleeding during the procedure. Thanks!

Hey Everyone - I have a procedure scheduled for early June. Where I live this is of course the start of the warm and sunny months. I am concerned because I spend a lot of time outside in the summer months and I had not given enough thought to protecting the transplants from the sun. I consulted with my doc and he said you can wear a hat after 4 days but need to protect from the sun for 3-6 months (seems really long to me). This is all fine, but again considering the fact that I’m outside all the time, I’m worried about the sun having an impact. Likewise I don’t want to wear a hat all the time because that just seems worrying like it could also have a negative impact on the new hairs. I know it’s fine occasionally, but if I’m gonna have a hat on for several hours a day every day of the week…I don’t know just seems worrying. So anyway, I’m looking for opinions and for experiences with what others have done with respect to hat wearing after a HT Thanks!

@hairlossPA - that would be great! thanks!

@hairlossPA any update on this? Would be very interested to see!

@BLE123I'd be curious about the same. Could anyone answer that question? Generally, is retrograde loss an indication of very high norwood patterns in the future? Or is it possible that it is coupled with moderate hair loss levels from the top?

Well, unfortunately for the purposes of this thread I just got my hair cut about an hour ago. Here is a photo from the back, though I feel the length at which I get it cut makes it pretty difficult to tell much from it. When it was longer earlier today, I didn't really seem to think it was thinning much. This photo is with a skin fade, so I will have to post another in a week or two. How does this impact the prospect of a transplant? Particularly on the back (if there is any thinning at all), I don't see this as being really a part of the 'traditional' donor area, so would it really limit the # of potential grafts?

@SD1984 - thanks for the input! I just checked your thread...yours doesn't really seem that exceptionally bad to me either, though. Only difference I can really see is around the very very bottom on the back of your head...but grafts (from what I've seen) are not usually taken from that low anyway. Your more 'traditional' donor area seems to be very strong to me - I was surprised that people were calling it fairly aggressive.

Hi Everyone, I've been consulting with Dr. Blake Bloxham about a possible hair restoration procedure. I sent him some photos and he suggested that I would be a good candidate (29 y/0 male norwood 3). When I sent him my photos, my head was buzzed (I did that to intentionally make the pattern clear). Recently, I learned of retrograde hair loss. For almost as long as I can remember (early high school maybe even junior high) the hair on the sides of my head has been different from on top - it's thinner and more wiry. But now that my hair has grown back in, I'm wondering if this is retrograde hair loss (see pic attached). It is only like this on the sides, the back of my head is full and thick as could be. I've never really thought much of it because I usually keep the sides very short, and when it's cut like that, you can't tell a difference at all. I'm wondering if this is a signal that I should not proceed with a HT and am curious to get your thoughts. I think it's important to note, for added context that to the touch, the hair in this region feels notably different from the rest of the hair on my head - not thinner but far more coarse and wiry. I am going for an in person consult with Dr Bloxham and I will raise this concern, but I just wanted to get some opinions. Thanks!

Hey @Retressed have you got any before pictures that you'd be willing to share. Very curious as I'm interested in H&W and they recommended a very similar # of grafts for me. No worries if not, but might be helpful for all to see! Cheers!

Hi All! Looking for advice from anyone who has taken finasteride while trying to have a baby. My wife would like to start trying to conceive in the next year and i have been taking 1.25mg (5mg split into 4ths) of finasteride per day for the past 4 years. I can't seem to find much in the way of solid studies out there on the internet about possible negative effects. There are certainly some scary ones that hint at potential birth defects. I will talk to my doc about this, of course - but I am curious to hear from anyone who has run into this and what you did/how you handled it. Thanks!

Well I guess that answers that, at least as far as Dr. Rahal is concerned. Thanks for the article Spex, that's really great and honestly what I would love to do, but I also don't want to sacrifice the ultimate outcome of the procedure in any way. With all that said, does anyone think it is truly possibly to cover up with the hair behind if you are having your hairline done? I can't decide if I'd rather possibly look a little silly trying to cover up in the front, or make sure that everyone knows by shaving down and letting the scar show in the back

Yeah I'm not going to listen to that haha I've seen and talked to quite a few Rahal patients who are very pleased years after. @Ernie/newhair - I've followed your results and both look awesome! Do you think Dr. Rahal would not do the surgery if I requested to not shave the recipient area? It's not a lot of hair there, but enough that Toppik is certainly effective and would really help me get back to work/be social during the recovery period. The way I see it is that it at least gives the chance of being able to cover it up, if the hair gets shocked out anyway, than nothing you can do, but at least there's the chance.

Hi Everyone, Dr. Rahal says that for my procedure he will shave down the recipient area, which is about the from 1/4 of my head. Right now I have enough hair there, and enough practice with Toppik, that I can make it look pretty good - I've never had anyone say anything to me. Anyway, needing to shave that area is what scares me the most about the procedure because I just can't see how I would cover it up without looking something like Donald Trump and people would notice an obvious and odd change in hairstyle. Do you think I could request specifically to not shave? I'm sure it probably makes it a little tougher on the doc. I just would like to be able to, after several weeks, be able to use Toppik on the native hair to cover up.

Hey Everyone, So I've just booked an FUT procedure to restore my hairline with Dr. Rahal for Jan 31 2017. Now I'm very excited/nervous. I'm wondering what I can expect for 4 months post op. Dr Rahal shaves down the recipient area. I plan to keep the rest of my hair long at least at first to see if I'm able to style it in some way that can cover up my hairline while I'm at work, as I'd prefer to keep as secret as possible. However, I have no clue if that'll work or not (anyone ever had success with that?) Outside of work I already wear hats pretty much every day so no one will think anything of that. The real reason I ask is because my sisters wedding is on June 2 2017 and I am a part of the wedding party. I do have a native frontal tuft that is pretty thin that will be shaved down. I'm hoping to not experience shock loss but who knows. With Toppik I can make things look pretty good as I currently stand, but idk what to expect in terms of new hair coming in by that point or how much native hair will have grown back. I really just am curious to know if people think I will be at a point where I will be able to cover it up with Toppik as I am currently able to.

just seems odd to me the lack of FUE information on, what I would consider, one of the more prominent docs.

yea I would tend to agree with that assessment. I'm really very interested in Dr. Rahal's FUE work. There doesn't seem to be much about it...I've seen some fantastic results and then I think I've seen two on here that weren't so great yield wise. He really is the surgeon I like because of his approach, and I'd be willing to go for FUT with him because he gets great results, but really I'd prefer FUE since I like to wear my hair shorter.

Do you know if yield tends to be better with ARTAS or using a manual punch?

I feel like I've heard conflicting statements about the graft yield (survival rate) for FUE. Some places I read 95% but then I was just on Dr. Reddy's site and it states that their yield is over 80% which is one of the best in the world - again according to the site. Obviously it depends on lots of factors as always, but 80% seems very low to me.

I'm pretty set on going with Dr. Rahal for my first procedure because I love the results that he produces. I'm not doing anything major - they recommend 1600 grafts. The thing is, being younger I'd like to stick with FUE so that I have more hairstyle choices/have the option to shave my hair down short if I decide to ditch on the whole thing altogether later in life. However, if I'm going to dump $10k into something I'd like to be as sure as possible that it works...obviously there are a ton of variables and no guarantees. What's worrying me is that I've only been able to find about 4 or 5 FUE results from Dr. Rahal posted by patients on here and 1 of those was a failure. Any information/advice?