Tj287

As promised, please find my 5 month update with dry hair. Once again I have stacked the pictures with month 4 at the top and month 5 below it.

Density is improving steadily and I think most of the hair has popped by now. The right hand side is a tad behind the left, but it's still early days. That being said, the right side has improved greatly over the last month and I am hoping it's on the same course as the left, just a little bit behind. I am also noticing that the texture of my hair on the left hand side is starting to change and thicken up. Hopefully my right side is just a little slower and everything should equalise over the next few months. My new hairline is clearly visible and seems to improve all the time. I have to say that sometimes I can't believe that I'm looking at myself in the mirror and that this is really happening - it really is a fantastic feeling.

Any questions please let me know, otherwise I'll see you all next month.

Matt above me is absolutely correct - those hairlines you've drawn in are ridiculous. I would URGE you not to undertake this surgery just yet. He is also correct that there is absolutely no chance you'll get that with 1,800 grafts. I had 4,000 and my hairline wasn't lowered anywhere near that much. It might be worth sending the pictures where you've drawn the hairline to Dr Path to see if that's what he had in mind. I will be surprised if it is.

Despite what you are saying about not experiencing any hair loss, you have had a number of people point out that you very might well be. These are posters on a hair loss forum who are used to scrutinising (sometimes obsessively, I know, I do it too) usually hundreds, if not thousands of pictures. Please listen to them,

If you are absolutely dead set on doing this please at least have someone look at your hair on a microscopic level to determine what is the truth before deciding on anything. I would also say that this is not something which should be rushed into - the mental side of the recovery is NO JOKE. Trust me, I have been through some tough times over the last few months.

The absolute last thing you want is for your native hair to recede and be left with a 'fence' of a hairline with no hair behind it, which will look ridiculous, I waited until I was nearly 27 and I had been on meds for a long time before I decided to take the plunge.

27 years old - is this too young for transplant?

I had mine done just before my 27th birthday.

This was a question I asked David (when he worked there) from H&W before I had mine done. Much like the other posters, he told me there is no 'magic age' and it largely depends on the stability and extent of your hair loss. I had been on meds for over 18 months and my situation had stabilised, plus my hair loss wasn't that extreme.

There was also the factor that I had a good donor supply of sufficient quality, which could come in handy in future if i ever need some more work, although obviously I am hoping it doesn't come to this.

Hey Spidey! Thanks again for your support, it's much appreciated. I'll upload pics of everything dry in the next few days after my haircut. It's actually an odd feeling because I am really looking forward to getting my hair cut for the first time in as far back as I can remember - I used to absolutely dread them!

Oh and I didn't mention in my post, but all pics on the latest update are taken without flash in pretty strong lighting.

I'm 3 days away from 5 months and wanted to upload a picture taken under the same conditions as my previous updates. I am getting my hair cut tomorrow and it will probably be too short to comb backwards and still sit down like the others, hence the update today. They are top to bottom: exactly 3, 4 and (nearly) 5 months.

BTW I realise I am making everything look better than it actually does by wetting my hair. This is just to maintain consistency with my previous posts. As I did last month, I'll post some pictures under normal lighting conditions after my haircut.

Feedback/questions always welcomed.

Hi Justhadtransplant, do not worry, it can really linger unfortunately. In my case the redness was apparent for over 2 months. I also have fair skin, which takes longer to come back to normal.

Yes Ernie! Looking SUPER mate, I am really happy for you. They both look great to be honest, try switching them up and see what you like. To echo ontop, they both look good. I am really looking forward to the next few months to see how mine turns out. If it's anything close to yours I'll be thrilled. Remember you've still got a good bit of maturing to go as well..!

Dr B,

What a great result! It would be great to see some pictures of the back and sides of his head to see the scar (if it can even be seen at all). His hair on the sides and back looks very short and I can't see any sign of it at all! If it's as invisible as it seems, wow!

Thanks for the new update TJ. Looking real solid right now. I'm just curious as I couldn't find it in your original post, when did your hair shafts start to shed after surgery?

Thanks, Panda. You're like my one man cheerleading squad haha - thanks for the support. I started to shed from probably about 20 days in and by the end of the first month 98% of the hair was gone. There were a few lingering strands, but it was literally a few strands.

Looking absolutely incredible! Great results so far!

 

I have to ask, and I'm surprised no one else has...

 

Can you give more details on the progesterone you use? you say you take a 30mg progesterone pill every other day? Can you please provide more details on this...

 

You could help a lot of guys if they could try this before having to resort to getting on finasteride and possibly getting nasty side effects.

 

Thanks!

Fantastic results Tj287!

 

Regarding progesterone, you are still using 30mg (on skin?) every other day?

Hi Eric and Over-Rated - thank you both for your kind words of encouragement. It has been tough but the worst is now behind me, which is a nice feeing. Unfortunately I got the details wrong on my original post. I take 100mg progesterone, not 30, my mistake. I use Utrogestan 100mg and it is oral, not topical. I take it in the evening as the hormone has a very mild sedative effect and relaxes you, helping you to go to sleep. As such it should not be taken in the morning. I take it every other day as the half-life of progesterone is such that I do not need to dose daily in order to maintain an effective level of the hormone in my body - less is always better than more when it comes to these things IMO.

Eric - if you have a look at my post history you will see I was discussing progesterone with some other forum members, specifically the side-effects. A few members were of the opinion that the sides associated with fin are not cause by the fin itself, but rather by the process by which DHT itself is blocked, while others thought it was just finasteride that causes the sides. Obviously if they are an inherent part of the DHT-blocking process, the sides would be inevitable for some no matter which route you took. Unfortunately none of us were able to come up with an answer, so you'll have to make up your own mind. However, in my case, I have had no sides whatsoever and it really did help my hair.

Devious,

My head swelled up like a balloon after surgery, and one eye was completely shut for a few days becuase the swelling was so bad. Don't worry about it, it will go down in 5/6 days.

I didn't wear any kind of headband. I just gently helped the fluid on it's natural passage down my face by massaging downwards lightly over my forehead and nose.

Right side

Left side

TJ, definitely an improvement from month 3 to month 4. Thanks for the side by side pics, it really helps show the difference. I'm jealous you are out of the ugly duckling stage, I still have a few more months to go. Keep us updated, looking great so far!

Hi Panda, thanks again for your kind words. Yes, thankfully no more ugly duckling for me, I would say it probably lasted until just after 3 months in.

As promised, I have some pictures taken inside under normal lighting conditions. I am on mobile at the moment so have to upload them one at a time - apologies for this! Here's the front:

I'm going to be honest with you - I think you've pulled out the grafts. I do not understand why you would go through the hassle, pain, trouble and cost to do a surgery and then jeapordise it by picking off your newly planted grafts.

There have been studies done whereby it's been shown that grafts are permanent from day 10 onwards. Forcibly removing them prior to this point resulted in a lost graft and no growth. You can clearly see that where you picked in pic 3 correlates directly to the areas where hair is missing in picture 4.

i sincerely hope for your sake I am wrong, but that's my honest opinion. Best of luck and keep us updated.

So would I be correct in interrupting your comment as its a good idea to spray as I was told to, but I would be unlikely to have done any real damage?

 

The peace of mind is crucial to me, thanks.

Devious, don't worry, you're golden. You've hit the nail on the head with your comment. Yes, it helps in terms of keeping stuff moist and the scabs soft and the ATP spray may help with redness, but you've done nothing to harm them by not spraying. I didn't spray mine at all post surgery.

Thanks for all the positive comments guys.

 

Thought I'd post a few more at 7 months, just for you Taurusrisen:

Looking great, Ernie! Your strong temples really do finish it off and your face is framed really well. I am also a fan of Rahal's hairlines - that chevron shape looks great when the hair is combed up or back. You've got a super result there, and to think you've still got 5 months left - you must be chuffed!

What months would you say were your highlights? Did your density only arrive in the last month? I saw a previous post where you said the density hadn't quite arrived yet, which I think was a month ago. I've just hit 4 months myself and would be interested to hear how it progressed from months 4-7 for you.

It's been 4 months since my HT, or 17 weeks and 4 days to be more exact. The past month has gone well and there is definitely progress. My right side is lagging a little behind my left (as you'll see in the pictures) but it's no big deal at this early stage. My hairline is definitely visible and i have to say i'm very pleased with it! Dr Hasson does a great job with his zig-zags and I am a fan of his chevron shaped hairlines, which are rounded off just enough in the middle so as to not be pointy at the front.

On the mental side it's a very strange feeling because it feels like time is going both quickly and slowly. You want to see good results and they seem far off, but at the same time i can't believe it's already been 4 months.

My pictures have all been taken with flash except one, which i've labelled as such. They are side by side with my 3 month pics which are on the top (hopefully that's pretty obvious!). I've tried to get the angles and lighting as similar as possible.

I'm getting a haircut tomorrow and will post some pics in good lighting without flash when i can in the next few days. Autumn is definitely here and it's usually too dark to take photos outside by the time i get back from work, but i will try get some on Sunday.

As always, happy to answer questions and hear feedback

Please do not humour this guy by responding to his ridiculous questions. Everyone has given detailed answers to everything he has asked.

This is a very interesting case as you can see the scarring results from three different doctors side-by-side. I am personally of the opinion that the H&W scar looks the best, although Rahal's is also very good - it's just a pity about the stretching.

I thought you can nod off and go sleep naturally by lying down asleep.

 

 

Also coming back to the anesthetic i it true there is such thing as microcopic needles that are used to inject the anesthetic like mosquitos bite. I think some where in india are they all that pain free?????

Please stop repeating redundant, stupid questions. Yes, you will need anesthetic and yes, it will hurt briefly. You will not find a route whereby you can be given local anesthetic painlessly - it simply is not possible.

If you're working yourself into this much of a state before you even lie on the table you SHOULD NOT proceed with a HT. The post-op recovery period is no joke and takes a fairly heavy mental toll. You are clearly unable to even deal with brief physical stress, and the mental stress post-op is a much heavier burden to bear, and also much longer lasting.

Thanks for the feedback on the witch hazel product guys. I think I will hold off on using anything and just be patient.

 

Here are my 4 weeks post op pics. I would say 90% or more of the hair shafts have shed and the hair that Dr. Hasson shaved along my hairline in the recipient area has started to grow back. I'm due for a haircut this upcoming Sunday to even things out. Still wearing a hat everywhere I go, but if I have to I can get away with a similar hair style as I had before the HT. On my next update I'll include a pic of my hairstyle that conceals the recipient area.

 

These pics are right out of the shower and the redness seems more intense than it actually is. I also popped a small pimple in the recipient area right before the shower, which looks enflamed in the pic but is unnoticeable now.

Hey Panda,

Looking like you're right on track! I must say your native hair looks to be in fantastic shape - I am sure this will be a stellar result! FYI, in my experience, I found the next 6 weeks from where you are now to be the hardest part of the whole process. From 3 months everything starts to get much better as that was the point where I could take my hair back pretty short and the difference in lengths became much less noticeable.

Happy growing

EDIT: I have a tip for you - do not count how far along you are according to weeks. Use full months instead. It's easy to frustrate yourself if you're at 8 weeks (which is technically 2 months) but things are looking a little behind what you see on the forums. Work from one full month to the other and trust me when I say a week or 10 days starts to make a big difference in terms of how everything looks once you're further down the line.

Thanks for the updates, it looks very promising at this stage. As for the redness you can try some aloe vera to bring that down but in your case of pale skin and so many incisions into that area it is just going to take time.

 

Worth giving aloe vera a try though.

Hi David,

Thanks for the tip. I did get it cut pretty short in the end. Turns out it's hair and not redness

Hi, it seems Angle of exit of transplanted hair on left side is not natural. Secondly i have impression some grafts in the frontal line contain 2 hair which will give artificial look. However keep us updated till final outcome. Your donor area also seem over harvesting.

DrChaudhry, I have seen you (on more than one occasion) being overtly negative and critical of people's results or opinions. Whilst I am sure everyone appreciates honest feedback, there is absolutely no place for abject negativity on this forum. An HT is a very significant undertaking (in terms of time, money, and mental/physical energy) and frequently patients overthink everything to the degree that it can impact negatively on their mental health. Negative comments such as yours above do nothing to help. This forum is for people to share their experiences and learn from one another. If you've not got anything constructive to say then it's probably best you don't say anything at all. The day you're regarded as a world-class surgeon who is putting out consistently good results feel free to pipe up, but you're not, so perhaps keep your opinions to yourself for the time being.

Additionally, the patient is clearly happy with his results and, at the end of the day that is all that matters.. Whilst for some cost doesn't even factor into the equation, for others this is an important part of the decision making process and 2k EUR is very cheap for that number of grafts, As long as the patient is happy who cares if there are minor imperfections - this gent is thrilled. Besides, it is his head and not yours,

Congratulations on your procedure, Burlam, It's a great improvement from where you started and I hope it makes you happy

The first few pics look better than it really does and the last pic is more accurate. Let me know thoughts on redness!

Looking awesome TJ, by the time the transplanted hair reaches the length of the hair behind it and you get a cut to blend it in, everything is going to look as you probably imagined it before surgery. Congrats!

Thanks, Panda! I'm seriously considering shaving it to a 3 or 4 guard like Ernie did. The new hairline is pretty far forward and it shows in certain lighting and looks quite silly with two such different lengths. The only problem is I'm chicken - I've never shaved my head in my life and I'm worried how it's gonna look. How good everything looks is also very dependent on the lighting - it's still pretty sparse in reality.

I'll upload pics from my computer in a sec - I'm on iPad and can only go them one at a time here. You'll see what I mean about the lighting. I'm also not sure if I still have lingering redness - even 3+ months later - or if it's just the base of all the new hair coming through. I know redness can linger for a very long time, especially if you're fair skinned, but it is a long way in by now. If it's redness, this will also be so obvious if I shave my head as the rest of my hair is pretty thick.