LordBaldwin

So curiosity ended up getting the better of me and I bought one of those digital microscopes to get a closer look at my scalp. I noticed a lot of colorless, fine hair; I'm not sure if these are miniaturized native hairs on their way out, or if they're transplanted hairs that are set to thicken in the coming days. Obviously, I'm really hoping it's the latter, but time will tell.

Yeah, I agree with you; I'm not worried right now since I seem to be on target for three months (or even slightly ahead of others I've seen at this stage). I guess a good way to describe it would be like the "seven minutes of terror" on Mars when a probe is entering the Martian atmosphere and has gone radio silent. Signals sent during initial atmospheric entry were good but you have to wait for the signals that come after landing to know if the probe survived or not. It's kind of nerve-wracking.

Thanks, man! Same to you.

Thank you, buddy. Yeah, I'd agree that the trajectory looks pretty good so far, though I'll admit that, for whatever reason, I do still have moments of paranoia (however unjustified) when I worry that things will just stop improving. I don't think I've ever seen a case where things stalled at 3 months and didn't pick back up again.

Thank you. I had brought photos of what my hairline had looked like before it degraded beyond recognition to Turkey with me and asked the doctor to use them as a reference (which he was cool with). I also asked him to adjust the line a couple of times so it would be exactly what I wanted. My widow's peak is a bit more pronounced now than it was originally, but I like it that way.

Looks fantastic! Congratulations! Out of curiosity, do you happen to have any pictures taken between time zero and seven months, while the hair was growing in? I'd be very interested to see what it looked like each month, leading up to the present.

3 Months Over the course of this month, I've continued to see significant sprouting (many small hairs visible when I spread the longer hair apart), as well as the growth of the existing hair. I should note that I've been having the top scissor cut every 2 weeks or so, so that it doesn't get unruly. It actually feels like the path of my hair loss is in reverse (since I was suffering diffuse thinning since the beginning) -- as though someone is holding the rewind button down and it's moving backward at 12x speed. So far, I feel like the clock has turned back on my hair about 3 years. I'm hoping I can get to what my hair looked like at least 8 years ago as my ultimate result. I've included some additional lighting scenarios to provide a more complete picture of what I'm seeing right now.

Hey, glad to hear I was able to help! I actually live in FL, but my gf lives in LA (and I go there for work sometimes) so I'm there a lot and was there over Christmas. Next time I'm there, maybe I'll take you up on that.

Really informative and well-written piece! I'll definitely be following to see how things go. Good luck, bud!

Ah, that would make sense. Thanks! Guess that just leaves the second question, then...

Hello Dr. Bloxham. Thank you for your very informative post! I had a couple of questions based on what you wrote... First, if all hair would normally go through catagen and telogen phases even when they're not extracted/disturbed, as part of the normal growth cycle, why does only transplanted hair grow back at a smaller caliber initially after it has shed (and thus needs to "mature")? Second, on average, how thick (in terms of diameter of the follicular unit) would you say the hair is when it first starts growing back compared to its final thickness (e.g., 50%)? Thanks!

2 Months and 10 Days The hair continues to grow in and thicken, with numerous sprouts popping through the scalp all around the transplanted area.

I'm glad I was able to help!

No problem, and good luck!

10 days. Until then, you do special washes with a lotion and shampoo that they give you. After 10 days, you can wash your head normally in the shower.

Hey man, glad I could be helpful. As far as my donor is concerned, I haven't buzzed my hair that short (1 or less) since the procedure, so it's a little difficult to say with certainty. Redness of the donor goes down and the punch scabs fall off within a few days to a week (unlike in the recipient area, which takes a lot longer for normal color to return). I did just get a number two on the back and sides the other day at the barber and it looks fine (in fact, I recommend getting the sides and back cut short within a couple of months of the procedure to help blend them with the front); don't use any kind of trimmer on the top (and this is something the clinic will tell you) -- scissor cut that part only for the first 6 months. I've noticed a couple of pimples on the back of my head, but that's really the only issue I've had in the donor area. Additionally, Erdogan uses a small punch size (about 0.7 mm), so evidence of the surgery in the donor area (in the form of scarring) is pretty hard to find.

Yes, I agree. The chart, by itself, is a bit ambiguous and doesn't tell the whole story. I assume it's referring to popping, but I think Bloxham's post paints a more complete picture (this graph merely reinforces the idea that, often times, you're not close to done at 5 months).

Hey man, try not to worry too much. Remember that at 5 months, only about 50% of your hair has "popped" through your scalp and 30% has "matured," which means you're likely still less than halfway to your result. I think I already showed you the Dr. Bloxham piece, and here's another figure I found online from another clinic saying essentially the same thing: Also, remember that most of the negativity on here has come from only two people, one of whom was banned for creating fake accounts (to provoke arguments and attack the clinic), and the other is a chronically negative individual at best. Almost no one else who has expressed concerns is even close to the 12 month mark. Additionally, there's a bit of a selection bias when people come on these forums to complain. If someone thinks they had a mediocre result and then sees someone else who did as well, they're naturally going to want to connect to feel less alone and less anxious about their situation (plus, people are more likely to be loud when they're angry). I doubt the majority of people who are happy with their results are spending a lot of time on internet forums still talking about their hair (with some notable exceptions) -- they'd probably be out enjoying it and forgetting they ever had a problem.

Hey Craig, As far as timing for leaving Istanbul is concerned, there are different schools of thought. Some people advise leaving the day after the surgery (i.e., as soon as possible) given that a lot of folks swell up pretty badly for days following the surgery. In my case, I opted to stay a couple of extra days in the hotel because: - I didn't want to go through the airport and a long flight when the grafts were still vulnerable; I felt that traveling increased the risk of accidentally hitting my head and damaging grafts (after the first few days, the risk of damage drops considerably). - I wanted the pain to ease up a bit before my 14 hour flight to LA. - I wanted to be close to the clinic for a few days in case there were any complications. - I wanted to give my donor area the opportunity to heal before I pressed my head up against the headrest in the airplane (which so many other things and people touch). The last thing I needed was to travel home and then get an infection. - I wanted my redness and swelling to go down a bit before I traveled so it wouldn't look as bad. - The clinic will do your wash in the morning every day you're there -- I trusted them to do this more than I trusted myself for the first few days. It's very important that the washes be done correctly and that the crusts be removed in a timely manner. I was fortunate in that the worst of my swelling was gone on the third day, right in time for me to leave. I think I made the right decision with respect to timing, and think it would probably not be a bad idea if you did the same (though, again, it's possible that your swelling may last a bit longer than mine did, as I seem to have deviated from the norm a bit in terms of recovery time). I'll also note that you do have to pay for any extra time you spend in the hotel (the first couple of nights are covered in the package), but it's really not that expensive (about 80 USD / 62 GBP per night) and the hotel is pretty nice. You have the option to stay in the clinic instead, which some people prefer. I opted to stay in the hotel for the 24 hour room service and because I thought the clinic rooms looked and felt a bit too much like hospital rooms. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be happy to share my thoughts/experience.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm feeling relatively optimistic about this so far. I'll be updating at least once a month.

Month 2 Just hit my month 2 mark and am already seeing hair starting to grow in.

As the other posters mentioned, the skill of the surgeon is definitely the most important factor when it comes to your results. However, all things being equal, my impression is that motorized FUE is significantly faster and cheaper, but manual punch yields higher graft survival rates and less scarring in the donor area (which I think is what you're looking for).

Did you ever take Fin post-surgery? No. I took finasteride between 2010 and 2014, but had side effects and ended up stopping because I got a girlfriend and needed the southern Johnson to work properly. I got my first hair transplant in December 2018. - If so, for how long? As mentioned above, I was on finasteride for 4 years (but stopped taking it about 4 years before I had my hair transplant). - Did you stopped due to sides? Which kind? Yes, I stopped due to a severely decreased libido, weak erections, and watery ejaculate. - Did the sides stopped too after stopping Fin? You went 100% back to normal? Did it took a while to get better? It took months for the worst side effects to go away (maybe 3 months or so?). It's difficult to say if I went 100% back to normal because I was 4 years older when I stopped taking it than I was when I started. I feel like my libido is now around 60% of what it used to be (it was like 20-30% when I was on the medication), but some of that may be because of age (I'm 30 now and was 22 when I started). - How has not taking Fin anymore affected your hair after the HT? Eh, I'm not sure this will be helpful for you, as I stopped taking finasteride long before I had my HT and did not recommence use after the procedure, but.... Side effects aside, finasteride did seem to be pretty effective in slowing the hair loss significantly. My hair continued to look reasonably good the entire time I was on it, from 2010 to 2014 (although there was still some slow degradation of my hairline), and for about two years after I stopped. There was a noticeable shed within a month or two of stopping, but, still, things were relatively ok for a couple of years. At the two year mark, my hair suddenly started looking a lot worse; hair was dropping off my head like a mofo and I decided to pull the trigger on the HT for a more permanent solution that didn't have side effects. - Are you happy overall with having stopped the treatment? Yes. I need to be able to live up to my responsibilities to my gf. I'm hoping that the transplant will yield good results regardless.

Based on a recent post by Dr. Blake Bloxham (shown below), at 5 months, only 50% of your transplanted hairs have sprouted and only 30% of your transplanted hair has "matured" (i.e., thickened and developed texture like your native hair). In other words, there should be a lot of improvement yet to come for you.

Day 41 (a month and 10 days): When I look at these pictures zoomed in, I can actually see new hairs starting to pop up in some areas.