kirkland

This is quite an eventful timeline for you!

@GatsbyMerry Christmas and Happy New Year to you! And to all HRN forum members, have a safe holiday season! Here's hoping 2022 is COVID-light and hair-heavy!

if there was an "All of the above" option, I would have chosen it.

@Gatsbyhave you considered dermarolling across the scar tissue?

Following your surgeon's advice is a good idea but that doesn't mean that some of that advice shouldn't be challenged, especially if the advice doesn't seem reasonable or isn't rooted in research. The suggestion that OP might have a sub-optimal outcome if they don't stop smoking weed 3 months prior to surgery is not based on anything scientific. That guideline is an example of an opinion by an expert but not an expert opinion.

Your example is silly because you have changed the context of the original post. OP's surgeon has suggested quitting smoking 3 months prior to surgery and 6 months post surgery. Doesn't take long to see that such an extreme suggestion of 3 months prior and 6 months post is in the minority of HT's surgeons who address the topic on their websites. I linked Dr. Barghouthi's response on this very website to a similar question with his suggestion to quitting a few days before surgery. If OP is asking for advice, and other surgeons are offering a dramatically different guideline than his surgeon, why can't OP consider alternative opinions on the subject. With your logic, if OP's surgeon is cool with a 1.5 mm punch but most other docs are using a 0.9mm punch, OP should stick with the 1.5 mm punch because that is the preferred choice of the surgeon. Does not mean that it is the best advice.

With respect, it shouldn’t have to take a second opinion from another surgeon, to decide whether or not you’re going to listen to your own surgeons advice. OP asked for advice from others on this board. What's your problem with that?

Linking @DrTBarghouthi on this on as he posted last year about smoking before and after a HT.

Great outcome. Love those eyeglasses!

Interesting - I did not know that. Thanks for the info.

Other than that, good luck with your op. As a Canadian who recently travelled to India for a HT, feel free to DM if you have any questions.

Contact the clinic now and ask if they can arrange for a PCR test.

Yes. About every two hours on the flight if you can. And as often as you can when not in the air. It really helps with scab removal when they start separating about a week post-op. Avoid the backwards baseball cap if you can. Avoid the baseball cap altogether if you can for those first few days. Better to have something more loose fitting, like a surgical cap, to cover the area.

Definitely get a neck pillow for travel - it will be helpful for those first few nights where you will have to sleep on your back and keep your head elevated above the pillow. Since you are travelling to and from Canada, make sure you download the ArriveCan app for your phone and load up your phone with your vax status. I assume Canada still wants a neg PCR test 72-hours prior to re-entry? Make sure that you arrange as soon as possible for that test in Turkey. Also, if the clinic is providing you with a saline spray to keep the recipient area moist, get a small empty spray bottle from Dollarama so you can put the saline solution into it and thereby avoid having a larger bottle taken away at airport security. Keeping the area as moist as possible, particularly if you are not intending to wear a cap on the flight back, is going to be helpful. Having said that, ask the clinic if they can give you a few disposable surgical caps to wear rather than a ball cap. Surgical caps are loose fitting and can keep the area covered. The air on the plane is more dry so you really want to keep the recipient area from drying out too much.

Great to see surgeons like yourself and Dr. Zarev going in this direction: if the characteristics are good, more of the donor area can be harvested and can still be esthetically pleasing if the harvesting is done uniformly. I see an opportunity here for tech innovation in the industry: HD cameras and AI showing surgeons the specific grafts to take while maintaining homogeneity across the entire donor area.

That's really an incredible transformation. Great job, Dr. Pittella.

It's a combination of both. That's a lot of grafts harvested from the donor area so it's going to take some time for the redness to subside. Over the next few days, as the donor area grows out a little more, you will have a better assessment. As Melvin and others have suggested, just wait. What's done is done so you will have to be patient with your next steps, if necessary.

The clotting factors provide a more 'sticky' environment as well which could have the advantage of the grafts staying in place sooner.

What fascinates me about the pre-made slit technique is that it can take a longer amount of time for the wound to close than I thought. A surgeon can make slits on day 1 and implant into them on day 2. While I understand that there is no advantage of one technique over another with all other factors being equal (ie surgeon experience, handling of the grafts, etc), I wonder if, again all factors being equal, pre-made slits may have a slight advantage given that they have already started producing a whole bunch of growth factors that come into play when the body is going through its repair cycle.

Really nice SMP work. Demonstrates how it can effectively camo FUE scars.

@MazABCouple of things: - Looks really good and glad that you are well on your way from the grotesque stage to the giddy-up stage. - How do you not have snow already at this time of the year?

I'm not sure if this applies or not but was just watching the video below on hair cycle desynchronisation. While the phenamenon doesn't seem to match your particular timeline (months 5-8 vs 13-15 months for desync), perhaps it could partially explain what you are experiencing?

Really great result. But I feel like 'FUEugenix' was the low-hanging fruit that didn't get picked here.😁

@GatsbyThank you, my friend. Here's to a New Year, New Hair and New You as well!

Well, 'tis the season and in the spirit of giving, I now give you my 7 week, post-op, ugly duckling phase pic. My Christmas colours for this year are: red for the colour of my scalp, which would make Rudolph's nose seem pale in comparison; and green for my amateur emotional preparedness for this really grotesque period of the hair transplant process. Happy Holidays, y'all. For those travelling, be safe and vigilant.