hairlossNE

Hey everyone! It’s been around 2 years since my FUT and wanted to share an update.

Hair has come in pretty nicely overall. There are a few spots that are thinner than I would like but I feel like the surgery was worth it in the end.
To answer a few questions:

I chose the FUT to preserve the donor area for a future procedure in case I keep balding. Overall my balding has stabilized with the help from minoxidil and Finasteride. 

Month 5 has come and gone! The hair is starting to grow and thicken a little more. Still feeling and seeing new hairs sprouting. I am still taking finasteride and minoxidil daily along with biotin and dht blocking shampoo. Hoping in the next few months my right side starts to see more coverage!

4 months:

Another Month down! This was an exciting month! I am able to actively see my new hair sprouting and can feel stubbles of hair coming through everyday. I am excited for my left and right side to eventually thicken out and provide coverage. Right now, the hairs are thinner and haven't matured. I'm still taking the oral minoxidil and finasteride every day and using dht blocking shampoo and vitamin enhancing conditioner. I decided not to include a pic of the donor as it hasn't changed from the prior month and the scar isn't noticeable.

Hello Everyone! It's been 3 months since my hair transplant in January. I am finally starting to see the hairline forming and hairs are beginning to grow! The scar is now barely noticeable and I couldn't be happier as I was terrified of experiencing shock loss around the scar. 

I am still on finasteride and oral minoxidil everyday with no sides. I will say that I feel like my hair has thickened in the front "tuff" and that my hair overall feels thicker and healthier. I also noticed that I am not shedding as much as I used to after I shower. Before meds, I would run my hand through my hair and have 5 to 10 hairs on my hand whereas now I don't really see any. I know a good handful of people on this forum prefer not to take meds but I feel it is needed to slow down the progression of balding and to give your native hair a better look.

I am excited to see what the future holds! I feel I am turning the corner and can't wait to see all the growth.

Here are some month 4 photos:

Front:

Left Side:

Right Side:

Back:

@BLE123Yeah I usually keep it around this length but with COVID I hadn't gotten a hair cut in about 6 months when I took the preop photo!

Sorry for the lack in updates! I got pretty busy.

Around about day 21, I had a massive shedding phase where around 95% of all the implanted hairs had fallen out. Trust me, it's not fun watching the hairline slowly disappear after every shower. I believe I am smack dab in the middle of the ugly duckling phase and  just patiently waiting for the growth to occur around month 4 and 5 hopefully. I do feel the implanted hairs poking through and that makes me feel so optimistic! The donor area has healed up magnificently in my opinion. I can barely notice the scar there. The scar itself isn't bad. There is a little numbness still there but other than that it is good. Hoping for the best! I am attaching photos for Month 1 and 2.

Month 1:

Month 2:

Week 10:

@hairlossPA Got the inspiration from you! Couldn't think of a username for the life of me and figured why not put the state I live in.

@Melvin-Moderator I did not. The consultation doctor made out the prescription and it was sent to my pharmacy. 

@Melvin-ModeratorI got my prescription for minoxidil from my local Walgreens!

Day 10 Update:

Swelling has subsided and most of the scabs have been removed. Had a few hairs shed while gently massaging the scabs off but know that is normal. A little redness in the recipient area but no pain or sensitivity of any kind. The scar is looking good! I have a suture that needs to be taken out and will have that done on Friday!

First picture is of recipient area and second is of donor area.

@giegnosiganoe I got it prescribed from one of the doctors I had a consultation with. From what I've seen on the forums, it seems hard to find a doctor to prescribe oral minoxidil so I guess I just got lucky!

@giegnosiganoe  That's my thought exactly. Totally prepared to get another transplant down the road to hit the weaker areas. Oral minoxidil has been awesome! No sides and it doesn't leave a greasy feeling on the scalp. I did notice my hair was thicker in my thinning areas before I buzzed it down so when I'm allowed I'm going to continue using it. 

@giegnosiganoeI am a little worried about that fact but I'm hoping the continued use of minoxidil and finasteride will strengthen the frontal area. We'll see! I have very thick donor hair so the grafts that were placed in that area will hopefully make up for it.

@Melvin-ModeratorMy surgeon was Dr. Misko. He's located in Lincoln, Nebraska.

@giegnosiganoeThe front was super weak. I grew my hair out to cover that and the balding areas.

Happy growing! Had my HT same day as you (2250 FUT) so it'll be good to compare! Fingers crossed you're happy with the end result!

Day 3 Update:

I've never been so swollen before in my entire life! Yes, I have slept at a 45 degree angle and have made sure to keep my head up... I feel like an over inflated tire! But other than the swelling everything is going well! The scabs are present and the itching has started. Can't wait to get through the shedding phase and see what's instore for me in a few months!

@kramer79Yep! Sorry forgot to post them. 

First is one pre-op

Second is post-op

The scar was a little longer than I imagined but stayed in the safe zone from what I can see.

@Maz_a Thanks man! Keeping my fingers crossed as well!

Hello!

I've been lurking on this forum for awhile now and have just gotten a hair transplant on 1/18/2021 with Dr. Justin Misko located in Lincoln, Nebraska and wanted to share my story and progress. 

About me:

Male, 25 years old. NW III

My dad is around a NW VI and I unfortunately was following his hairloss timeline.

I take orally 5mg of Minoxidil and 1mg of Finasteride every day (No side effects whatsoever) for the past three months.

Consultation:

I had met with a few hair transplant specialist in the Midwest region of the United States and unfortunately with pandemic I decided to limit my search but get answers for every single question I had. I met with Dr. Misko and he answered all the questions I had about the procedure and about the risk involved with a person of my age getting a hair transplant. He was very honest and that's what I loved about him. He let me know he had techs that have 10+ years of experience and that they would take excellent care of me so I decided to do the transplant through him. I was also given 3 PRP treatments (one a week before, one at the 3 month mark, and another at the 4 month mark). I got all of this for around $8,750 for the PRP and FUT procedure. 

Procedure:

I arrived at the facility around 7am and filled out the waiver forms and picked what I had for lunch. I was then brought back to the operating room and met with the lead tech for the team and also the two others that would be assisting. We drew out a hairline that was still conservative and had a little recession but nothing that looked too unnatural. After the hairline, they injected local anesthesia into the back of my head in the area where the strip would be taken. I was taken to another room and was told to lie down on the bed face down. They made sure every point around the strip area was numbed and would inject more anesthesia wherever I could still feel a poke. The strip was taken out without any trouble and everything was sewn up with sutures. I was then taken back to the first room where the techs began working on separating the grafts. This process took A LONG time. (I came to find out my donor area was super dense and they had to be extremely careful when separating as they didn't want any chance of dissection) I fell asleep for an hour and awoke to my lunch for the day. After lunch, the lead tech came in and started injecting local anesthesia into the frontal third of my scalp to numb in for the incisions. After that process, Dr. Misko came in and starting performing the incisions. We both agreed a dense pack at the hairline was best and that we would work our way back with any extras. That process took about an hour and a half as the doctor wanted to make sure the incisions weren't too close to cause the grafts to die from lack of blood flow. After that was finished, the lead tech came to start placing the singular grafts for the hairline. She was super focused the entire time and made sure to take her time. Eventually the frontal middle part of the scalp was packed and it was time to work on the recessed corners and sides. One of the other techs came over and both started implanting the hairs. I was told they had pulled around 2450 grafts and decided to place them within my native hairs and pack more behind the hairline. I finally finished up around 8:30pm and was sent home with a bag of shampoo, conditioner, saline spray, and a calendar of do's and don'ts.

Overall:

I thought the techs were AMAZING. They were calming and were very dedicated to providing me with an excellent hair line. Doctor Misko was amazing and checked in a few times to see how I was doing and thought this would be a home run (let's hope!)

I will attach a few photos:

Two pre-op (One dry and one wet)

One with the hairline design

One with the incisions and hairline packed

One with the frontal middle packed:

One with the final result (bad lighting I apologize)

Let me know if you have any questions and send me lots of luck!

Hello,

I've been looking into getting a hair transplant and am from the Nebraska area. Was curious to see if anyone had any experiences with Dr. Justin Misko or Dr. Daniel Gross? Or if anyone has any good recommendations in the Midwest?

Thanks!