living_tribunal

7 Day Post Op Update

The pain has gone away and the itching has kicked in full gear. I'm misting my head anytime the itching gets unbearable. I haven't touched the grafts at all and since my hair wasn't shaved, I'm unable to see the grafts themselves. I have been washing my hair by filling a cup with some baby shampoo and pouring it over my head. 

I think I will continue to not touch the grafts for another week just to ensure they are 100% secure. Dying for a real hair wash at this point but better safe than sorry. I also really want to see the grafts.

I will post pictures here when I fill comfortable lifting up my hair and lightly touching the grafts.

I’m not sure how much I bled but I definitely have some gnarly swelling like you did in your thread. I was careful not to bend foreword too much but my face still looks like I was beat with a tire iron.

I have an addiction of collecting live corals/reef tanks which involves changing out large amounts of water. Today I had to lift some buckets that were 50-70 lbs and now my nose is so swollen I look like an elf. 🤦‍♂️

1 minute ago, Mycroft said:

I don't know what it is about Dr. Arocha's clinic but the post ops I've seen from his clinic never have the black dots (unless the patient has black hair in which case you're seeing the hair). It may be that the recipient is cleaned more frequently throughout the surgery because it's unshaven and you don't want blood caking the native hairs and getting in the way? @Steeeve might have an idea about the cleaning. You've also got lighter colored hair, so the implanted hairs themselves shouldn't be super visible if they aren't covered in dried blood or something.

I think it looks good so far. I like the hairline design that was chosen and I think 1,500 grafts should improve your situation nicely. I hope you keep updating so we can see your progress.

I appreciate it man! I agree that 1,500 was appropriate. Dr. Arocha and I discussed 2,000 shortly before the surgery but since I was also doing PRP and that I decided to do a transplant sooner in my balding process, rather than later, keeping a lot of donor hair would probably pay out in the end. Judging from what you told me, the PRP could potentially have a nice impact on my existing hair so no reason to prematurely pack my hair line dense right now.

3 minutes ago, Steeeve said:

I don’t recall experiencing much pain at all but I took the drugs because I didn’t want to. Lol. I slept sitting up for the first few days. Maybe more because I had your very same fear. I, too, tend to turn my head to one side when I sleep on my back so I wanted to avoid that just in case.

I’m happy to help. I’m excited to see your final outcome. It’s definitely a nerve wrecking experience especially in these first few days. I think as long as you follow those post op instructions your golden. 🙂👍🏻

Boy mine was painful, namely the strip incision. That stung bad for the first 3 days. 

8 minutes ago, Steeeve said:

I didn’t use it as he didn’t offer it to me but if you’ve got it then use it. Most everyone else uses it so I don’t see how it would hurt. I probably could have used it as I definitely dealt with the post-op itch. It subsided mostly after the first month.

I was also very weary of one side being more dominant than the other but when the hair is dry if one side is more dominant then I nor anybody else can tell.

I've just always combed my hair over the left side (from right to left from my vantage point). If the dominant side changes I would have to change this. Just praying they both come in maybe equal density. Gauging things by the redness and the grafts I can see, the left side will be much thicker than the other. I guess time will tell. This point in the process is very nerve-wrecking.

Another thing I noted, the PRP injections made it hurt like h*** after the procedure was done. Not sure if you noticed the same!

I'm nervous as I have a tendency to sleep on one side of my face while I'm asleep. I'm hoping this doesn't cause any of the grafts to dislodge. Dr. Arocha said it would be obvious if any of them came out as there would be lots of blood. Keeping my fingers crossed. I'll probably be at ease in a week or so when I can comb my hair a little bit and see where the grafts are and what not.

Thanks for all of the help again! Keeping my fingers crossed everything turns out just fine. 

1 minute ago, Steeeve said:

Did you ask him about spraying with a saline solution and he didn’t recommend it? Or did he just not bring it up?

He never brought it up but I noticed every other doctor recommends it. My scalp also started itching now that things are healing. I thought it couldn't hurt so started misting it a little bit.

1 minute ago, Steeeve said:

I think the work looks great! It definitely looks like you had more loss on that left temple. Very appropriate amount of grafts for your level of loss.

I know you’re already thinking this but try to stay away from comparing yourself to anyone. Everyone’s transplant grows in its own time. I think you’re going to be crazy happy this time next year! 

I didn’t have any overtly visible stubble either (the black dots you’re referring to).You’ll probably see quite a bit of stubble on that left temple once the scabs come off. You’ll definitely be able to feel what you’re not able to see when you run your fingers through your hair, though.

Congrats and Happy Growing!!

I can definitely see that he filled in the left side big time given the loss. I'm just hoping he still added quite a bit on the right side. I think since Dr. Arocha rightfully uses single hair grafts for the front layer, they are so microscopic and are harder to detect, especially if he only did a thin layer like he might have done on the right side. Just hoping my left side doesn't become my dominant side!

Looks like you have a sixth sense or something @Steeeve! We posted nearly at the same time.

@Steeeve I'd be curious to hear if you kind of noticed the same thing above? 

I suppose I'm in that paranoid phase where you're worried that maybe your pillow nicked a graft while you're sleeping and if anything has been messed up somehow.

Dr. Arocha didn't recommend spraying the grafts with a saline solution but I've been doing it anyway as it seems pretty common elsewhere. Living on pins and needles right now!

So here is an update.

I must admit, the pain from the strip was not very enjoyable. Since this is my first procedure, I'm not sure how things went compared to an average cohort but I think it went well.

I got 1,500 grafts inserted. One thing that's tripping me up is that I don't have any of those black dots like most who get a hair transplant have. Arocha did a lot of work on my left temple which is where I had receded the most. Since there isn't much redness or black stubble in the right temple, I'm nervous that maybe the right side of my head didn't get filled in enough. I called Dr. Arocha regarding this and he assured me that he did fill in the right temple so I guess I just need to be patient. 

I've been trying to compare the initial transplant to others who have had 1,500 grafts and it might just be a testament to Arocha's work that there is a lack of black spots and redness. I'm hoping so at least.

Here are the pictures immediately after surgery:
 

Alright, 1500 graft fut with prp injections completed with arocha! Two days post op now, and aside from the pain, I’m pretty excited to see what happens. Will try and post pictures once Apple lets me edit photos.

I'm officially booked for November 13th. Very excited and a little nervous. I decided to move forward with PRP alongside the FUT treatment.

I had shedding continue for several months after finestaride.

Don't be worried, if you're at the 3 month mark then you'll notice the shedding decrease considerably within a month or so. I've been on finestaride for 10 years now and a key thing you have to remember is it's very subtle. You're not going to have this tremendous regrowth that's going to stick out one day. Over time you just notice your hair has stopped falling out completely. 

Ten years later, my hair is largely similar to what it was when I started. I have maybe lost about a half inch off my hair line and that's it. I know with near 100% certainty that I would have been a norwood 4+ had I not started finestaride early. I'm currently about a late norwood 2 and my hair has hardly been an impediment. 

Thank you @Sean  @Steeeve   & @Mycroft . A ton of very helpful feedback.

From all that I’ve gathered, it seems like an excellent thing to do in tandem with my fut transplant. Steeeve, your transplant looks fantastic and was one of the catalysts that urged me to do prp with my fut. Looking at your pictures, you skipped over that dormant/fall out 1-4 month period and had hair coming in after month 2. 

Y’all have certainly gotten me excited. I’m hoping to have the procedure done next month as Dr. Arocha apparently has availability for November. Will know more after consultation.

Thanks again. 
 

@Mycroft, I’ll let you know if he is coming back to Dallas anytime soon. 

Just now, Mycroft said:

I'm in Dallas myself. I had actually been thinking about going in for another treatment but I've been dragging my heels because of the whole Covid situation.

The treatment is very quick. It takes about ten minutes to "spin" in the machine they use and then it will get injected into your head. While you wait they'll inject your scalp with a little anesthesia. It was quick enough that I was able to pop over to his satellite office in Dallas 5 minutes away from my workplace during unch and go back to work like nothing happened. If you're going for a surgery I believe Doctor Arocha can give you the PRP during the same sitting as your procedure.

Cost of the procedure may actually be less for you than it was for me because mine was standalone. It may be discounted if it's part of a surgery, so @Steeevemight be able to give you a more accurate reading on this. 

 

Oh that's great to know. So does Dr. Arocha travel to Dallas from time to time? If so, that works out great. I could get the follow up injections here in Dallas. Do you think there's the possibility that PRP will help my existing hair as well? Also, I've always wondered if PRP is permanent or if you you need to do follow up treatments (not talking about the first 3-4 sessions as apart of the initial treatment) every couple of years or so? I'm sure it's different for transplants but it might be something to consider to maintain what I do have.

Lastly, does finestaride maintain hair re-grown/thickened up from PRP as it does hair normally? finestaride has done an amazing job of effectively slowing down the MPB process by about 80% for myself. I'm curious if the gains made by PRP would hold up that well. If so, it might be something I only have to do every 5 years or so with my current hair.

2 minutes ago, Mycroft said:

Okay, so I will preface my post with the fact that my PRP was a standalone and not an adjunct to surgery. Having said that, I did a fair bit of research on it prior to my first treatment and obviously have seen its impact on my native hairs.

Early growth is indeed something that clinics usually talk about when offering PRP with their surgery. I could definitely see this being a possibility because PRP at its core is a growth promoter. It can kickstart resting hairs into a growth phase and expedite healing of sounds, so you can see how this could be beneficial to your surgical results. There's a very good chance that it could shorten the "downtime" between your initial shed and the growth of new hair. It may also improve survival of grafts and the healing of your strip scar which I would also view as an upside.

If memory serves Dr. Arocha has shared a few early early growth cases here where PRP seems to have induced earlier than average growth in his surgical patients. You should ask if he can show you some case examples of this during your consult.

For me personally I would say the PRP was definitely worth it. If I was going in for surgery I'd almost certainly opt for that add-on if only to hedge my bets in every way possible. I'm happy to answer any questions based on my experience though it's obviously a little different than what you're going in for.

Excellent information, thank you! It seems like prp is a quick and painless injection. I'm kind of working out the logistics of having these post op PRP treatements (would have to drive down to Houston from Dallas).

Was this your experience that it was pretty quick? How soon after they take blood samples were they ready to inject the plasma into your head? Also, if you don't mind me asking, how much was each session?

13 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I believe prp may improve the growth time, meaning the hair may grow quicker. One of our members had prp with Arocha and had excellent results perhaps he can chime in @Mycroft

It looks very promising. I came across this post of someone who did 2,500 grafts & a follow up prp session with Dr. Arocha last year: 

He had excellent results. 

I also came across this study of PRP treated hair transplant patients vs. non prp that was telling: "In PRP treated group, after 1 month 60% of the patients (n = 12) showed >75% density in comparison to none in non-PRP group." ... "After 6 months of hair transplant, all the patients (n = 20) had more than 75% follicle growth, wherein non-PRP group only 20% (n = 4) of patients showed more than 75% growth and rest 80% of the patients had follicle growth in the range on 50–75% [Figures [Figures33 and and4].4]. "

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5064679/

If all goes well with my consultation next week, I'm hoping to have the procedure done in November so I can look good by Spring. Even though this is my first time posting here, y'all have been amazing for advice/guidance during my two year research period.

First time posting on here.

I have been dealing with hair loss for about a decade (since I was 17). I acted quick and have been on fin & minox for a decade at this point which has allowed me to keep most of my hair.

It has continued to thin however, just very slowly. I have slowly become a norwood 2 - 3 at this point. While my hair isn't terrible by any means it's getting pretty hard to hide and I just want to act now before it gets worse.

After researching the subject and thinking about it for the last two years, I have decided that I am committed to having an FUT transplant soon. I have a consultation setup next week with Dr. Arocha that I'm very excited for.

One thing I have been reading up on are people who have a PRP session a week after the initial transplant and then another about a month afterwards. The studies I have come across have displayed amazing results with a very rapid dormant/loss period followed by new hair growth in just 1-2 months time. 

It's one of the main things I wanted to discuss with Dr. Arocha but I also wanted to see if anyone here has done the same thing with their transplant? Did it work as expected? Any considerations? Would you do it again?

Thanks.