Jim75

I'm not on finasteride or minoxidil. I tried biotin, since it's harmless, but it hasn't made any difference in hair growth.

To answer some PMs, I posted the current donor appearance (above). It's plenty thick, I don't see any redness, and the textured skin appearance from the extractions is long gone. Also, here is another view of the tiny pinpoint and vellus hairs that are coming in. The first photo is from Day 14 (before the grafts shed), and the second is at Month 5. It's from the same spot that was bare pre-op, and I tried to make them match up as closely as possible. The growth only started around Month 4, and although close to 40% have sprouted, most of them are still invisible from a distance. Patience...

Here is the current state of the donor, cut short.

About 40% of the grafts have sprouted. On the one hand, this result is lagging for Month 5. On the other hand, so were the Month 3 and Month 4 results, so it could just be slower growth. There are lots of tiny new sprouts and vellus hairs, and they are continuing to come in. If the progress continues at this pace until Month 7, I could be in decent shape by Month 8 or 9. So the waiting game goes on. The redness persists, with minor improvement. The nerve damage healed a little. The recipient is still mostly numb, but has some dull sensation.

If you think you'll end up a NW7 and want to stay in the universal safe zone, I recommend you look into FUT, not FUE. In my case, based on my age and established thinning pattern, I don't have a problem with the extraction area. If you're concerned about it, though, definitely bring it up with your doctor when you have a consultation.

Meager progress. Only about 25% of the grafts have even begun to sprout, which is much worse than I see on successful HTs at this stage. They are still sprouting here and there, so I'm hoping it's just slow growth. Obviously there's no cosmetic improvement, since very few of the sprouts have lengthened and matured. The redness persists. It's better than month 3, but still clearly visible. The nerve damage has improved very slightly, and there is now some very faint sensation in the front-center of the recipient. The rear-center still has zero sensation. At least there is some hope for a partial recovery here. There's nothing I can do but wait to see what happens in the next 1-2 months, and that should tell me where this is going.

Some hair came off with the scabs when I began washing on days 8-10. Most of the shedding, however, was from day 18 through day 25. Don't worry, it should shed for you any day now.

I'm still stuck at the ugly duckling phase at 3 months. The redness persists, and it has only barely improved since month 1 and 2. I thought it might last 4-6 months but at this rate, even 6 months of redness seems optimistic. At least I'm getting used to looking at it, but it's definitely the worst part of this phase. The donor is about as red as the recipient. It's not visible under the hair, though, even under the very strong lighting of the photo. The density is back to normal. I feel like I could have another 5,000 grafts taken out of there without it looking thin under more normal lighting. The center of the recipient is still numb. I rarely see threads follow up on recipient numbness, but I'm assuming this is not normal and could be a sign of permanent nerve damage, which is something I didn't bargain for. I'll have to wait and see. The crown looks balder than ever because the hair that used to be covering it is still short. But other than the crown appearance, the redness, and the numbness, I'm back to pre-op. :rolleyes: By the next month's update I should know whether these sacrifices were worth it.

Anything that increases blood flow generally (exercise, heat, and so on) will make it temporarily redder, but outside of that, I don't notice a difference at different times of the day. I'm not doing anything to it. Annoying as it is, redness is a part of the natural healing process. On scars I've gotten, it has usually taken nearly a year for redness to completely fade, but it does eventually fade. Also, I don't know of any treatment for redness (other than maybe foundation makeup and a green concealer) that is proven to work and not have side effects.

I'm at the 2 month mark, and still stuck in the ugly duckling phase. Redness is very visible; in fact, looking at the pictures, there has been no progress at all with redness since a month ago. The recipient is still numb in the center, with no noticeable progress there either. The donor regrew fairly well, except for some minor shock loss behind the right ear. You can see through it with the very strong lighting of the photo, but under normal lighting it looks fairly dense. The donor is about as red as the recipient, but under normal lighting it's not visible. Any lingering sensitivity in the donor is now gone. I'm hoping for some improvement in redness by next month, so I can return to more or less a pre-op state, but realistically with a light complexion I'm probably looking at 4-6 months of redness.

Here is the one month (Ugly Duckling) update. Major shedding began on Day 18 and continued until Day 25, when it seemed to stop. About 80% shed and the rest remained in sparse patches, which I may have to trim if they don't fall out soon. There was also some minor skin flaking in the recipient for about a week starting on Day 14. Redness is fading very slowly. It actually looks more diffuse rather than less red, but it's still obvious in harsh light, as in the photo. The donor is about as red as the recipient, and you can see it in harsh light, but it's otherwise not noticeable now that the hair has grown somewhat. Sensation is slowly coming back around the edges of the recipient, but the center is still completely numb. The donor is slightly sensitive but I rarely notice it. I included close-up photos of the donor side and back to show how the one month FUE scars appear on very close inspection. In side lighting (as shown), you can still see a slight texture, with diffuse points of redness. The donor area border is marked with a line, so you can compare to virgin scalp. I will update in one month, when I expect nothing to happen.

No, I've never taken anything. It hasn't been too aggressive, maybe NW 2 or so around age 29-30 when I first realized it and steadily going to NW 4a/5a for 15 years, and I'm hoping for an endpoint of 5a (or 6 at worst). I don't think finasteride is worth the risk in my situation, and Dr. Diep also said it's optional. I'd definitely need at least one more to address the mid-scalp and crown, but I'm waiting to see how this one turns out. If I get a decent result in the frontal third it's going to make all the visual difference, the rest would be a finishing touch.

Yes, instant hair, I'd sign up for that. Thanks to both of you for your threads on Dr. Diep showing the excellent results. They were helpful in selecting him, since, like both of you, I will need at least two procedures to get this all done with FUE. Good observation. But if you're looking at the pre-op photo, that's the result of thinning shears (for manageability) plus lighting harsh enough to show it.

These are the most recent photos. Donor sensation is now at 80-90% and recipient at 5-10%. Redness is fading, although the photos exaggerate it a bit. In softer light it looks semi-normal from the front. No major shed yet. At this point I'll try to post monthly updates, but if I forget, I should get an e-mail update if you post to this thread.

On Day 8 I started to wash the recipient, and it was very hard to get those scabs and crusts off. It took four 30 minute sessions of shampoo, rub 5-10 minutes, rinse, repeat, and even then there were crusts left over. Many hairs shed during the wash too. Donor sensation is now at around 50%, recipient is still numb. Still no major pain, and the one spot that was bothering me was subsiding, so I stopped the pain meds around here.