baldlivesmatter

Frontal shot is looking good, especially for three months.

Happy growing!

Lookin good!

Super jealous of your hairline. Hope the crowns comes in just as nicely!

Hello fellow baldies,

Good news -- I've began sprouting hairs. I counted 10 the other day, which obviously have no cosmetic value, but are encouraging nonetheless. You can (maybe) see them in the below picture as a little wall (no trump) on my hairline.

Bad news -- I was one of the unlucky ones to experience donor shock loss. My girlfriend pointed this out to me about two weeks ago as we were talking and she kept staring at the side of my head with a "WTF?" kind of look. The shock loss is above my ears on both sides, though the right side is worse. I buzzed my hair down to 3mm which made it much less noticeable.

Hi hsrp10,

 

Maybe you misread my comment. I was referring to "negativity from some users of this Forum..... such as making judgments on the outcome of an HT for a Patient who is just 11 days post op".

 

Why would forum users need to wait 12 months to comment on whether a hairline was placed too low? The frankness of this forum is invaluable to the readers and hundreds of people who "ghost" the forum daily who may be in the decision process. That being said, I think Vermaj will have a good result and wish him the best of luck.

Those docs look good, you've obviously done your homework. I would definitely recommend pushing harder for Propecia/finasteride, especially if you're going to go ahead with a procedure. Maybe give it a few months before the surgery to ensure you won't get side effects.

Good luck with your decision!

Excellent result. You're lucky your hair is so thick!

I was giving myself my bi-weekly buzz cut today when the guard on my clipper slipped from 5mm to 1mm! Although not initially pleased with my Mr. Clean style trim, I decided to make lemonade out of the lemon that life handed me and document how my scarring is doing at about 4 weeks post-op. As you can see from the pictures the scarring is virtually invisible.

One of my professors at business school said that it was important to always ask yourself "what if I'm wrong?". In my decision to have a transplant the answer to my "what if I'm wrong?" question was that if I'm wrong, and my grafts don't grow or provide a good result, then I will accept defeat and shave my head. I guess those student loans were worth it after all

I paid more so they would not throw away the grafts, which totaled to be 1400+ supposedly.

That can't possibly be true is it??? If so, that's terrible! Graft preservation is so critical to long-term results.

Congrats on your procedure gijedi! Dr. Harris is the man so you should have an excellent result. Smart move on going the FUE route as well.

No need to contact doctor as this is the stage where things look uneven.

BTW how was the job interview? Did they notice your HT or not?

Heal well and keep the updates coming

Hey Rawkerboi,

The interviews went well, thanks for asking. I was a little nervous as several of the interviews were either second round interviews or interviews with people I've met before at various networking events, but I'm 99% sure no one even noticed my reappearing hairline. I'm assuming this was because of two factors. First, the transplant was fairly subtle. Second, and likely the more significant factor, I'm not sure that most people outside of these blogs/websites really notice hair loss as much as we do!

Once I realized that no one noticed the transplant, the extra hair gave me a little more confidence in the interviews. Hopefully, like Samson from the bible, the hair gave me a little extra strength to secure an offer lol.

I wouldn't be worried at this stage. Things are going to look uneven for a while moving forward as hairs won't necessarily shed and regrow at the same pace.

Thanks for the encouraging words David. The left side actually started shedding the next day so I think you're right and it was just a coincidence.

Hi all,

Day 15 and I think I've started shedding already. Noticed probably 30-40 hairs come out in the shower while shampooing. The odd part is that they seemed to have mostly shed from the right side of my hairline, which was a little concerning. The right side is now noticeably less dense than the left side. Does anyone know if this is normal, or should I contact my doc?

Me personally, I would only ever go to a surgeon who exclusively does ht's and with a proven record. We've only got limited grafts that can be moved.

^^^^This

I am extremely happy at this point, is there more to come?[ATTACH]102525[/ATTACH]

Some better pics would be helpful but if you're happy at 5 months then you will likely be even happier at 12 months when you see all growth (you're probably at like 50% now). The hairline looks solid. The top-down shot doesn't look great to me, though it will likely thicken in the next 6 months or so.

Good luck with your growing!

I have family in India, so I went to see them and on the same trip I had my HT.

Also the main reason was cost. I consulted some doctors here (like Bosley) and they gave me an estimate of $5/graft for FUE. Dr.Bhatti is really renowned for his work and is being consistent in producing results. His cost was around 1.32$/graft, so was much cheaper.

 

Btw just out of curiosity, do you know what rates the doctors you mentioned offer or the one you went to ?

I've heard India is a good place to get FUE as balding is a fairly big deal culturally over there so the demand is high. Not sure if that is true though.

Good call avoiding Bosley. $1.32/graft is incredibly cheap so I'm assuming that even with flights yours was less expensive than mine. I hadn't heard of Dr. Bhatti before but I only looked at docs in North America as travelling abroad seemed like a pain in the butt. From looking at his website I'm pretty sure I actually watched one of his YouTube videos at one point. Not that many results on his website, but he uses the Harris SAFE system with a .8 mm punch which is what was used in my procedure too.

My doc was $7/graft which was consistent with the other coalition docs that I contacted for quotes.

 

I believe he is the best surgeon in India

Ha, I probably should have read more carefully. I was just curious why you went to India as opposed to choosing a closer surgeon (e.g., Bernstein, Rahal, Feller/Bloxham, etc.)? Looking forward to seeing your updates in the coming months.

Looks good vermaj! I've never heard of Dr. Bhatti, is he in Boston?

Attached are my 9-day post op pics.

I'm excited as, per the below chart from Dr. Bernstein's website, my grafts are fully anchored and I didn't lose any during the post-op period

My recipient area was a little dry a few days ago but a combination of gently washing (to remove the dead, flaky skin) and applying argon oil helped to alleviate this dryness. The recipient area is a little red (as seen in the attached pics) though this is less noticeable in person and I have been able to go out without anyone staring or making comments about redness or scabbing. I'm hoping I keep my grafts through at least next week as I have a few job interviews. Then onto the ugly duckling phase where they all shed....

2 weeks Post Op

 

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas break. It has been 2 weeks now since my procedure at Asmed. The confidence I have felt in the past 2 weeks with my new hair line has only reinforced the decision I made to have this done.

 

It does look like it is starting to thin out a little bit now and I did notice a few hairs in the shower this morning. The next 10 weeks are going to be a struggle.

 

The redness has all but gone now and I have no pain at all. I have noticed a few pimples and I still feel itchy in different areas at times. The aloe vera gel is a god send and you can also use it as a styling product.

 

Will update in a few more days when more hair will have shed no doubt

Looks awesome DEB1982, 5500 grafts is gonna make you look like Fabio! Could you post a pic of your donor area at some point? I'm curious what the scarring looks like for that many grafts.

Here's an updated pic of the donor shock loss at the one month mark. I'm not worried about the top of my scalp, but I'm discouraged by the donor area. I was completely blindsided by it, and it seems it could've been easily avoided if we were a bit less aggressive with the strip on the sides. Had I known the strip would've been so traumatic on the sides -- pain, severe shock loss -- I may have reconsidered.

Hi Haircharity34,

Not to pile on, but that scar is pretty brutal. You made a good call in going with H&W though (IMO the best strip surgeons in the world) so it may end up healing just fine. Can I ask why you didn't decide to go FUE? I had an FUE about 10 days ago and my scars are practically invisible.

Looks like clean work. Happy growing!

Attached are my 4-day post op pictures.

Everything appears to be healing nicely. I'll be on vacation next week so I'm hoping things look better so I don't have to wear a hat (or surgeons cap) everywhere.

One thing to note is that on my 3-day post op I experienced very bad itching on my scalp. I read online that this is usually a good sign and indicates healing. Does anyone know if this is true? Anyway, a few benadryls and I was able to sleep it off.

Hey man! Congrats on your surgery and just wanted to let you know that your handle is an absolute winner!

 

Stay clever :-)

Thanks Richter101, glad you like the handle.

How was your experience with the ARTAS? I almost went that route but decided in favor of the SAFE system due to slightly smaller extraction sites (though I'm not sure there's any cosmetic difference). Your front looks good, how does your donor site look? Would you recommend the ARTAS?