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Mr.Wednesday

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  1. No worries. I've had quite a few hospital visits/ stitches so it was apparent with how fast my body breaks down pain medication as well as needing more lido. I usually tell treating doctors/ medics up front now to have more meds prepped.
  2. Yes please, they just seem to busy it up more with no caption. I kept the pertinent timeline ones on there already. Thanks man
  3. Hm last 3 pics won’t delete for me in the edit. Mod, if able, can you delete those? Thank you
  4. I’m uploading from my iPhone so hopefully these show up in correct order/ format. after stopping duta approx 29yo front thinned out approx 30yo went to the shaved head checking growth 3 mo’s using 82f topical fina/minox approx 4 mo’s 82f fina/minox 5mos fina/minox damp hair Preop rough design (yeah I know it looks like a big dick on my head haha) sterile environment I think I was pretty buzzed during this one, no real pain day1 crown coverage into mid scalp (yes bad pic of crown I’ll get more from the dr) still say 1 Day 3 post front hairline to mid day3 cont (Swollen head as previously stated) day6 post op day6 cont Day6 cont approx 1mo 1mo cont Just shy of 2 mos 2 mo wet hair I’ve got about another week before i take month 3 photos, hope these help. I think I’m starting to see a difference so hopefully month 3 pics look decent in comparison. cheers
  5. Hi everyone, Long time creeper across the net just getting around to posting. Been an up and down ride for the last few years dealing with hair loss, snake oils, meds, and ultimately pulled the trigger on FUE at approx 3,000 grafts with Dr. Gabel out of Oregon state. Figured I could share some of my "progress" and what led up to the surgery. Ill try to detail most of this to the point for scanning purposes and if theres any questions just feel free to ask or reach out. This may get long but Id rather type it all out now without having to come back multiple times to add what I missed/forgot. I am currently 31 years old and 3 months post FUE. Started noticing marginal thinning in my crown at approx 27/28 years old (bordering birthday time period). I brushed it off as stress while working overseas (mil), and a possible hormonal reaction (supplements) and let it go for about 6 months until I noticed that my crown was becoming more transparent weekly. My room mate had been experiencing hairloss and I saw that he was using Rogaine so I tried it out for a few months and hated how irritated my scalp got with liquid (yes I now know the foam is a better route, too late) so I discontinued it and had went through back door routes of jumping on Dutasteride without consulting a doctor first. I discovered Toppik and just figured my body would normalize and my hair would eventually come back until I started doing my due diligence/ homework. One of the original supplements used had a straight conversion to DHT inside the body and had lit a wild fire for MPB for me even though NO ONE in my family had a real history of major hair loss.. OOF, I was pissed at myself. The first Doc that I originally sat with requesting FUE run down and prices told me I hadn't experienced enough loss yet and it was too early (he was a straight shooter and wasn’t trying to sell me on anything.. Besides a laser cap lol ((yes I know they work but the money used for that could be money used for FUE was my initial mentality)). As time went on I stuck with the meds and using concealers to keep my (then) long hair looking thick. I got sick of it all.. Sick of the daily hair routine and not being able to just jump out of bed and go, or going for a damn swim without wondering if the crap in my hair was going to wash out. I got sick of the meds making me feel sluggish, lethargic, and having tiny baby loads for sperm production (no libido issues just the fore mentioned). I weened myself down and off the duta and increase natural supps (biotins etc etc), and watched my hair thin more and more and just took the clippers to my head accepting that this is nature and I am a man. This was around 29/30 years old. Fast forward; I'm now financially savvy enough to afford FUE, I'm in a happy place mentally/physically/spiritually, and I'm ok with aging and not worrying so hard about what I look like and my ego. I started growing my hair back out just to see the round about area I was sitting at and sure it doesn’t look great but I saw all hope wasn’t lost and HONESTLY, I got sick of shaving my damn head (some people look great with it, it just isnt for me). Having freewill and the ability to make a choice about how I would like to live/look without boundaries is pretty nice. I did some research, got in touch with Dr. Gabel out of Oregon (better reviews and geographically desirable for where I live) and did a consultation. He understood my concern with ingested/ oral medication and having side effects and had me start a topical Fina/minox (82F), briefly talked about surgeries, and to come back in a few months and see how I feel on the meds and if I wanted to pursue the FUE. I was seeing some results from the 82F thickening and even bringing back some of my front hair line (super thin before/ that transparent look) after 4+ months and revisited Dr. Gabel and discussed an FUE gameplan. I still had a pronounced hairline even though it was thinner than Texas grass in the summer so no lowering was wanted on my end, just density. I still work overseas so I didn’t want to do multiple visits/ surgeries and agreed to do a 2 day operation basically hitting 1500/1500 front hairline and crown with the middle getting the bulk of the front and back stretched over it for overall top density. The doc provided me with plenty of material, references, websites, and emails back and forth leading up to the date to make sure I was ready, presented all the facts, and had a realistic expectation of whats to come and what to expect. Day 1 of surgery: I arrived approx 6 am to the office. Pre-op pictures taken, and road map drawn on my head for gameplan. Walked me through the office and different stations so I knew exactly what to expect for the next 2 days and introduced me to his awesome staff that were extremely friendly, offered me anything to help comfort (drinks snacks etc), and even just chatted with me to keep it a loose environment and not just a medical procedure. They offered me some meds for the pain, got me in the chair, shot me up with lidocaine, and began extracting from my donor area. Lunch time came around and they wrapped my noggin up and let me grub down on the lunch provided for approx 30 min so we could get back to it ASAP. Back in the chair, another pain med, and alotttttttt of Lidocaine and they started with the crown moving into the middle region. Not a lot to note besides they had plenty of music and movie selections. (YES Dr. Gabel did perform the extractions and implanting the follicles himself along with his power crew/ staff backing him up during the procedure). We finished the day up, wrapped my head accordingly, provided me pain meds, a special ATP spray solution to help my head in healing, and other supplies I might need in the following nights/weeks. No questions or concerns were left un-answered. Day 1 ended approx 6pm. Day 2: Same showtime at about 6 am, same meds, and back into the chair for extraction (all generally the same as Day 1). Lunch time, and then back into the chair for implanting the follicles. Day 2 was a little higher on the sensitivity scale in terms of "pain" but it still wasn’t unbearable (reminded me of getting a larger tattoo and having to sit all day). They loaded me with more lido and kept cracking on the front hairline into the midscalp. I don't have the paper in front of me but I believe we finished with about 2,982 grafts done (I even got a small reimbursement for the few grafts we didn’t hit since I paid for 3,000 which I didn’t expect at all so that was nice). Day 2 also ended approx 6pm. Since I was local to the area Dr. Gabel had me come in the following day for a head wash and examination followed by several other visits and washes up to about a week or so post-op. I had one more visit before I had to leave the country for work and he was satisfied with what he covered and my healing so far. My next check up will be around the 6 month post-op mark. We have kept in touch via email and I told him that I would do a thorough and honest review and document what I went through if he was ok with me being open about anything I liked/ didn’t like over public forums like this and he obviously didn’t seem to have a problem with it. *Pictures to follow this post granted its easy to upload from my Iphone or ill have to transfer the photos to my computer so bare with me. ((**note, I am extremely active and have a high/fast metabolism, lidocaine and many other meds run through me extremely fast so I was forced to use an abnormal amount of lidocaine to keep me sitting comfortably, this isn't normal for others so don't mind my swollen ass head pics coming after this post. It has always been like this for me since my teenage years**)) I hope this helps and covers some of the stuff I had questions on while going down the same research road. Cheers
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