jackfera

Hey Everyone!

As with many people, now the procedure is done, it is easy to move on in life and not focus on your hair.

Here are some quick notes I have taken over the last 5.5 Months:

• Took around 5 months for most of the numbness to go away. I would say I am at 90% of feeling back in my scalp.
• Mont 4 is where the magic happens. From there density really increases quickly.
• My opinion is Oral Minox allows the grafts to mature and thicken faster, giving the appearance of fast growth. 
  • For Minox to work to help decrease/eliminate shedding, you need to be on 5mg to achieve. 2.5 seemed to lead to more shedding where 5mg has given me good stability. Still more shedding than when I was on 1mg fin, but much better with the sides.
• Lots of pimples! Man those things popped hard. Went away around month 4.

Here are photos from the last few months.

Month 3: 

Month 4:

Month 5

Month 5.5:

8 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Can we see pictures?

Can you not see ny comparison photos? 

I will take a photo at 1 week and upload. Nothing new to show thus far.

Day 4 Update:

Some swelling the last 2 days but overall was minimal. There was some itching in the area behind the donor site, but nothing that was too unbearable.

I am still taking ibuprofen and tylenol semi frequently, about 400mg ibu 3xdaily, and 500mg tyl 2xdaily.

With the swelling, I had difficulty in moving the muscles of my forehead but that has all returned. I have worn a "trucker" style hat a couple times (that avoids touching any of the grafted area and rests on middle of my forehead) which seems to work well for not giving the I have cancer look of a surgical cap.

Now in terms of whether I recommend keeping hair past the recipient site like I did, or going full shaven, looking back I probably would have just shaved the area. Keeping some hair to comb forward is not a bad idea if the grafted area is small, but in my case there is little way I am going to make it look good with the space my native hair would need to cover. When I hit 2 weeks I intend to shave everything and rock the bald head for a bit while the grafts shed and grow back in.

Here are some more recent before photos for comparison. 

Here are some day 2 post op photos. Some swelling of the face but noticeable. I ran a few errands with a loose fitting hat and no one seemed to notice a thing.

Donor area looks good and should be ready for me to go back to work with a surgical cap (I am a doctor).

9 hours ago, Surf said:

This is going to look phenomenal. Congrats in advance!

Thank you very much!

Here are some before albeit from 2019.

I will say my hair hasn't changed much, though better thickness from oral minox. If I find current photos on my computer I will upload them.

I

Prior meds.

I forgot to talk about my current regiment.

Supplements: B12, Vit D, MSM, Magnesium, Fish Oil.

Meds: 7.5mg Minox daily, .5mg Finasteride (Propecia name brand).

Now as far as finasteride, I have been taking on and off since 2016 twice I have gotten significant low libido and had to stop (was taking 1mg). I came back with .5mg and find no side effects. For anyone looking to start finding, I recommend starting at .25mg and if there are no sides after 3 months, go to .5. I would stop if any libido decrease happens and you should be able to take the med without issue. Also bupropion can help with the decrease in sex drive which I have taken for 6 months. I also have bad anxiety and it does help with that as well.

About a 24 hour followup to the surgery before I get on my flight.

Some additional thought

Dr. Bisanga will give you tylenol, but I recommend bringing some ibuprofen. I need 400mg before bed to be fully comfortable and to sleep well.

I wore a surgical cap through the airport and was never asked to remove through TSA. Some looks from people but nobody really cares.

As far as when to fly back, I would recommend next day to allow some recovery and be rested for a flight. I chose domestic business class for the way home, but don't really feel it's all that necessary. Coach with early boarding window seat would be fine.

As far as swelling nothing to write home about yet. I feel good and look forward to the future growth!

After many years of researching and planning. I have completed my hair surgery with Dr. Bisanga.

A big shout out to Ian who coordinated the experience and was super helpful along the way.

Procedure was completed in Maryland at the medical office owned by Dr. Bisangas wife. Much easier for me than to fly to Brussels.

Procedure started at 8 with the evaluation. We discussed the hairline and total grafted needed. I mostly let Dr. Bisanga design the hairline and went with his recommendations. My goal through the surgery is to be able to wear my hair spiked and Dr. B stated that wouldn't be an issue. 

I did request that the area behind the recipient be left unshaven and he was fine to do that.

Procedure took about 9 hours with a short lunch in the middle. Being someone with a high pain tolerance, all I can say is DAM those shots hurt!

After the procedure they applied a bandage to the donor area, Dr. Bisanga gave me post op instructions, and I was on my way.

Great experience and I also want to compliment the techs who were exceptional.

Hey Dr. Bisanga and team!

I would like to get some recommendations on when oral minox becomes ineffective.

I have been using for around 9 months (first 3 at 2.5mg and the rest 5mg). Over the last 2 months my density has greatly decreased and imo 5mg is no longer effective.

I will add that while in the beginning I used to get tachycardia for a little bit after taking my daily dose, I no longer have any physical sides except a slightly faster heart rate.

Do you all have many studies of people using oral minox only over 1 year with continual results?

That is even better than I thought it would be. That may have made my mind up about unshaven with ASMED.

Thanks Marky!

-J

Work looks great, and I believe this is the first case of unshaven fue that I have seen by ASMED on this site.

Any chance you could post a photo of covering up the recipient site?

Thanks

-J