Captain Haddock

Day 16 I've got some outdoor pictures against the clear blue sky. My native hair seems to be growing well. No shedding yet at the moment. Probably any day now.

Took me 10 days to get mine off. Don't rush it, go slow and give soft massages with shampoo when in shower.

Thanks Abhinay. Going to keep calm and trust the process and will wait for the results to grow in. Dr. Pradeep called me twice to assure me of good results.

Update : Dr. Pradeep called me and assured me the temples would blend in and that everything will be alright. I think I'm going to stop worrying about them too much and look forward to healing and growth.

It'll be a long project, as you'll need all possible extractions from your scalp donor, beard and body for good density depending on where you'd want your hairline. Then you could SMP the donor to even the scarring. But there's also the option of rocking the bald look with a long beard (I think you've got a good beard) and getting a gym membership

I think you should get a decent result let's wait and watch.

Way to early to comment on that. You would need to wait at least 6 months. But from initial assessment one can tell that that's a lot of area to be covered with 1800 grafts. I suppose 2800 would've been more ideal. Was there a reason you chose ARTAS and not a skilled surgeon?

Well on first look it appears that the area is too large to be covered with only 1800 grafts, but if they all grow they might give you decent density and later on you can get another manual FUE to fill the gaps in. Don't worry about it now pal, happy growing

Day 14 Update (New Pictures) Two weeks post shower. The top is looking fine, blending in well. I believe the donor will also heal nicely, over the course of the next month even though it may appear slightly moth eaten now. I also notice a lot of bidirectional (intersectional) growth in the left temple. The sides look okay when looked at from the front but, let's say your walking shoulder to shoulder right beside me and you look at me from 180° you could tell my temples aren't blending in and are going the opposite way. Playing the waiting game. Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year. May God give us all strength to go through this journey.

I can see a lot of growth coming in even though it's early! Crown seems to be designed good.

Very well explained and a great natural result too. For the left temple they seem to be going forward from the top and ending inward at the bottom ( 225 degrees to 325 degrees) - a transition of 100 degrees all though it. Oh well. There's nothing I can do now but wait, and see how my result turns out. I'll weigh my options at the 8th month mark or so. Thank you for being brutally honest with me.

Yeah, guess I just gotta wait now and see how they turn out. Is my case peculiar or do we have other surgeons planting the grafts the way I have recieved them? Could you please show me a few good temple cases here? I looked at other Eugenix cases and they seem to be doing the temples more or less the same way. Perhaps one method doesn't fit everyone, with my hair though it's getting a little apparent as they grow. I had been dreaming of getting back my temples for 2 years now. I'm praying they come off good at the moment.

Those temples look crazy good!! Also,I see that its the right temple - this blends in well for me too as when I comb from left to right, all my hair on the right is in sync. That doesn't seem to be the case on my left side as I have hair coming forward and my temples now are going in the opposite direction. That was just my point of concern that's all. I kinda feel better now, so thank you. I hope you're right. Keep me in your prayers!!

Dr. Arika did the slits and extractions and there was a huge team of techs working on loading up the grafts into the implanter pens and planting them. Two techs were simultaneously working on both of my temples at the same time. I had a special request to do my temples well as this was one of my primary goals of the surgery, so I requested that the last 3 or so rows be doubles and the then all the rows at front singles. The right temple looks more okay and seems to blend in well, the left temple is starting to look unnatural and I've had a few relatives of mine ask me what was going on just like you noticed. The clinic has been in touch with me and I've pinged them about the same concern.

Actually I'm concerned about the outline as well. They're all pointing backwards (330 degrees to 360 degrees inwards) right from the top, which doesn't seem to go well with the underlying angulation that I had naturally as you can see in picture 1. I'm not an expert and I hope I'm wrong. I hope everything turns out alright. I'm placing my trust in the process, clinic and will wait patiently.

Merry Christmas and may all our hair goals and dreams come true, I've found a lot of support here as a patient. Special thanks to @JohnAC71 who's been listening to me patiently rant about my fears and doubts. 😅

Day 13 I've begun finasteride 0.5mg alternative days and the top looks very satisfactory at the moment, however I'm starting to get a little concerned about the angulation in my left temple. Picture 1: A reference with hand drawn graft angulations that follows my natural hairline (pre transplant). They seem to go from being angulated at 225 degrees at the top and gradually end at 325 degrees at the bottom. Picture 2: Reference angulations that I have post transplant, as can be seen from my pictures. Starts with a 310 degree angulation at the top and ends at 350 degrees at the bottom. Picture 3: The direction of the hair behind the left temple and above it is exactly opposite to the newly transplanted grafts and it's starting to appear a little unnatural under light/sunlight - a couple of my relatives started to notice something was up. The other temple blends in well and so does the top. I got a feeling that when these hairs grow long, I'll have a hard time styling them as they don't blend in, and they look like they're going to intersect/knot around each other. (This is my assumption based on what I can tell/see, I may be wrong) The clinic has been in contact with me, and they are following up really well, answering some of the questions I have too. Note: By no means am I jumping the gun here, I know these are still early times and this is an observation that was put across to me by someone that I pondered a lot upon. Some of you guys have been my constant support during these days, would love to hear more, thanks.

Traumatizing. Hope things go well for you from here.

Yesterday was my day 11 and I showered with shampoo and warm water. I think everything is pretty much alright at this point and you'd really need a surgical instrument to remove the grafts. Here's a study that says that by day 9 even if you pull the scabs it has zero effect on the root: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16442039/

1 mg 3 times a week is good enough according to many doctors. You can alternate between days and then wean off on the weekend.

This was a good laugh, thought I'd share it with you all. (68) Homer Grows Hair & Gets Promoted - YouTube

Welcome to the club. Took my first 0.5mg dosage last night. Several other doctors are of the opinion that 3 pills of 1 mg per week is also good enough.

Day 10 Update After 3 headwashes 99% of the scabs have come off, a few hairs came off with the scabs too that I noticed in the shower. Right temple has a couple of red spots that I think are boils - I'm not too sure. I've also been told the donor will heal and look better. Looks decent for now, all pictures taken in direct sunlight.

Mate, you look absolutely gorgeous! Don't do anything at the moment. You're way more lucky than other 32 year olds and there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You don't need hair systems - perhaps you could try a hairline and temple correction if you really feel bothered by it.

Anything above 40-45 grafts/cm2 is optimum density. That would achieve the illusion you're looking for. Going for a higher density in cases such as yours (high grade of baldness) is super counter productive.