cloudyhaze

Sorry for the delay. Here are pics sent to me from Dr. Bloxham last week.

1 minute ago, Imez99 said:

Did you make an appointment to get your halfway checkup or did you just walk in? I am just a little over 8 months.

Make an appointment. If you are okay with the progress I would probably just wait for the 1 year mark for you unless you have alot of questions for him. I personally didn't really feel the need to go in, but was just curious what he would say about the current status of my hair.

4 hours ago, M32111 said:

 

This just happened to me, I'm a few months behind you so I believe it's likely normal. How's things going?

On 2/23/2024 at 6:47 PM, chrisu said:

Hey OP any updates? How would you rate your overall satisfaction with results

Just had my halfway checkup this past week (although it's been officially a bit over 7 months). Dr. Bloxham thought I was here for my 1 year based on the results. He said that the mid-scalp section was still waking up and that overall the transplants were still maturing and will become thicker.

I feel like the biggest change was between months 3 and 4 and haven't really seen much more change visually after, as the changes might be more subtle at this point.

Overall Im pretty happy as I didn't think I would be able to do a good haircut knowing that I still had to fill in my crown.
I originally thought I would still need to do a buzzcut because of the exposed crown but then the FUT scar would be exposed. 

I am waiting for the 1 year mark and then decide if I want to go through with a second transplant or not. I'm pretty satisfied that I'm not really stressing about how I appear on video calls at work or going outside without a hat. That feeling alone was worth the cost for me, even if it might not be in the hall of fame of transplant results.

I'll add some progress pics later tonight or tomorrow so you guys can see what he saw.

Is it common to experience dandruff like this? At times, it seems to shed on its own, while on other occasions, scratching my head results in the release of such flakes.

Additionally, I've observed that certain hairs appear to be adhered to my scalp until I scratch, causing the dandruff to come loose. Never had this issue years ago when I used to have hair at this length, so wondering if it has to do with the transplant.

 

7 minutes ago, JoeD said:

Roughly the same timeline.  Hairline started to look good from straight ahead, ie pictures/mirror, around month 5/6.   From above, behind hairline, didn’t look decent til month 8/9.   Overall I’d give my hairline an 9-10/10, behind it 6-7/10.  I’ve seen that written about in several other Bloxham reviews, ie more sparse than anticipated behind hairline. Overall…. I am happy.  2nd FUT for crown and reinforcing midscalp coming up soon. 
 

Scar- based on comparing to the finger next to it, yours is a little wider in that area.  Some of mine is 1-2mm.  One side is 3, maybe 4mm. Covered well with a 3 guard. 

Oh got it thanks for that info. Im curious how some other people got pencil thin scars from Bloxham. Do you think this is due to actions of my own that resulted in stretching it out? And are you going back with Bloxham? or a different surgeon for the second FUT?

5 minutes ago, JoeD said:

I think the red area is scar itself.  May be some shock loss still around it.  That said, scar is still immature and as it matures will become pale and contract to somewhat. 
 

Otherwise, looks on track for 5 months, should really start to take off, fill in/thicken up over next few months. 

Since you also went had yours done with Bloxham, did this timeline match yours? And did the width of your scar appear as wide as mine at any point?

Just now, Gatsby said:

@cloudyhaze you need to give the FUT scar a year and even after this scars continue to improve subtly over the years to come.

Thanks @Gatsby. I assume the redness will subside, but what about the surface area? Im wondering if the reason the area looks wide is due to shockloss or is that just how wide my scar is in general.

152 day update (5 months and 2 days)

I started noticing the hairs filling up my hair line around mid October and have been growing my hair out more and trying out new facial hair style to match since I need to hide my scar. I've been sticking to 1mg Fin a day as well as starting 5mg Oral Min for the past month.

Feelings/concerns:

How different could my end result in 12 months be?
For 5 month results, I would say I'm pretty happy now in that I don't feel the need to wear a hat as often due to my hairline looking decent. But I can still see what parts had native hair before, and the fact that it looks like the grafts were evenly transplanted across the frontal half of the scalp, so I'm still worried that the end result will still be similar to what I have today.

Is the red surface area of my scar, pretty much how wide my scar is? Or is that shock loss?
I can't tell if the scar is just that wide or if that's shock loss. Nor do I know if it's due to me lifting weights 1 month after the transplant and stretching it out myself if so. And when can I expect the redness to disappear?

1 minute ago, M32111 said:

Great, thank you. I'm just trying to get all the little things in place so I have what I need.

Did you feel like you could go out in public the first few days? What was the hardest part? Anything you wish you had? 
Could you leave by yourself?

 

Thanks again.

I left myself in a uber back to my own home which is like 30 minutes away from the office. I pretty much stayed home the whole week resting and watching movies and didn't go out until a week later, but I refrained from any streneous activities like holding heavy objects, etc. When I did go out, I used the hat they provided as I didn't want anything to rub against my scalp. It wasnt until the third week did I go back to wearing a regular hat. 

Hardest part I would say is really just mental, hoping I'm doing everything right. I was being extremely gentle when washing my hair, although the doctor suggested I should wash my hair as I would normally. When I went back into the office 10 days later for staple removal, there was still scabs all over my head lol.

10 hours ago, M32111 said:

Hey @cloudyhaze I'm getting my FUT in about a month and was curious if you had any recommendations, either pre / during / post for Bloxham.

Also interested in if you wore a hat or anything like that when you were out.

 

Thanks!

You are most certainly ok to wear a hat to the office, just know that after surgery they will provide you with a specific hat that protects the scalp from sunlight and doesnt rub against the scalp like some hats do.

I dont really have any other recs besides getting a good neck pillow for post surgery sleeping.

I got this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Cabeau-Evolution-Travel-Pillow-Quick-Dry/dp/B079X4ZR6X/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?hvadid=583782035671&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9004403&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=1901565631763551872&hvtargid=kwd-327589728891&hydadcr=19777_11285476&keywords=caribou%2Bneck%2Bpillow&qid=1697543104&s=home-garden&sr=1-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

Happy Friday everyone! Heres some pics, 65 days post op.

• Noticing hairs sprouting through in the corners of hairline
• I assume everywhere else that was transplanted probably has hairs sprouting, just not noticing since it was transplanted between existing hair
• Started weightlifting at the gym again 2 weeks ago
• Still sticking to 1mg Finasteride daily
• Been lazy with rogaine foam, which i used to do daily 1x at night in 2022. Considering switching to oral minoxidl

Questions I had

• Does my scar look stretced out? cant tell because I think whole area is red from staples still. And my worry is that hairs below actual scar is gone for good. But could be shock loss?
• My right side corner seems to have pimples. Is that something to worry about as it relates to growth?

This is looking great! What is your reason for taking oral min over topical min?

1 minute ago, M32111 said:

@cloudyhaze how's it going? also --- did you stay at a hotel or go there day-of?

I pulled the trigger on a morning session and was curious. Thanks for sharing!

Congrats! I live within a 30 minute distance from the office so I went there the day of.

Im a little concerned that its apparent which general areas were transplanted (the 2 corners and part of the middle third connected through my right corner. Maybe the shedding process has already taken place, but I dont believe I ever saw the whole scalp ever looking even like some other people  when they get their first buzzcut post transplant.  Shouldn't that first buzzcut kinda show what the end result is suppose to look like? Assuming nothing wrong with physiology etc.

Pics taken after 32 days (this past Sunday). Area around scar isn't as shaved as I still had dry blood lingering and didn't want to shave close to it.
 

1 hour ago, JoeD said:

I came across one of his older videos, where he explains about decreasing the density behind frontal band re blood supply. Doesn’t excuse a poor outcome, but is the rationale behind what a few people mentioned  

 

  

Thanks for sharing this. I can get behind the logic of this, but is this controversial? Considering other cases from other clinics that I've seen that seem to be densely packed the same through the whole frontal third.

Yea I agree with the higher density behind hairline after seeing the results of some ppl on here too. 
 

Are you planning on checking in with Bloxham in office now that it's been 12 months? What are you thinking for next steps in terms of potentially getting a second procedure in general?

Thanks for sharing. I had my transplant 3.5 weeks ago with Bloxham and it looks like my hairline will turn out something like yours. Some days I look at it and feel it could have been improved, but other days I feel okay with it, because it filled in the corners that were lost for over 10 years. 

I forgot his exact response when I asked him why it seemed less dense behind the hairline, but when I had my staples taken out he did mention something about competing for blood supply as a reason for not implanting as much behind the hairline.

With the multigrafts' placement near the front, do you think that the technicians messed that up or was it intentional by Bloxham?

2 hours ago, bigtyivier2k2 said:

Here’s a photo after the first surgery. And a second photo from yesterday. Makes me wonder what was put into the crown lol

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing. What part of the scalp was the second surgery for? And are you on Finasteride? And was it his suggestion to go for the crown? Seems opposite of his usual strategy of fixing the frontal third first on his patients.

3 minutes ago, M32111 said:

You're planning on a second procedure? May I ask why?

I will need a second one regardless to address my crown. I wouldn't have got enough grafts from 1 FUT strip to address the amount of hair loss I had. 

2 hours ago, bigtyivier2k2 said:

The FUE in Manhattan quote was from Carlos Wesley?

My first 3k graft surgery with Bloxham was during the pandemic and I was afraid to go to Turkey for unknown fear or getting stuck or if something went wrong that I would be thousands of miles away from home. In the last 2 years Ive seen 2 friends get 3-4k fue grafts in Turkey with good results (obviously need a 2nd surgery for more coverage) while paying a 3rd of what I paid at Bloxhams and without the FUT scar.
 

However maybe I had unrealistic hopes? Right now I look like a diffuse thinner. Maybe if I never got the 2 FUT’s with him then I wouldve been a completely bald norwood 6/7 by now, who knows. Just feels like I look the same now as before the 2 FUT’s but maybe I wouldve lost all those diffuse thinned hairs completely by now so I dont know. I just feel I could have saved $24k (14k and 10k) and did better research and waited a little

Hmm I know what you mean after I started seeing more results from other members here and seeing the recovery process wasn't as bad as I thought where I need to be home. 

But I think of it this way - I am paying for convenience and I trust the doctor's methodology. Although I would hate to have a scar, I trust his method in preserving the greatest amount of grafts. As long as it turns out the way that's expected when I talked to him, I wont have any regrets over the cost or method. Although I do plan on doing more research around cost, location, and method for my 2nd procedure next year.

Have you considered sharing your journey on here? I think your opinions are valid and members would benefit from seeing your experience as well.

Today is day 19 and I just came out the shower to see some blood on top of my head. I read everywhere that grafts lock in by 5-7 days, and that blood is usually a sign of a lost graft. Is that the only scenario?

I didn't bump into anything before I got into the shower so wondering why there's blood. I'm being cautious and just letting it dry out on it's own. Any advice would be appreciated!

On 7/30/2023 at 8:55 AM, Imez99 said:

Hey I just got a hair transplant with Dr. Bloxham roughly a month ago. Mine was over 3,000 grafts covering roughly the same area as yours. During surgery, the techs remarked that I was also popping grafts even when I was asleep. No idea why.  My scar was sensitive as well but I also have really sensitive skin and there was also dried blood after the stitches were removed. Eventually that came out with regular washing of the area. As for the bald spots you mentioned, I believe that is normal as well as people report shedding even at that time. For me, I didn't start shedding until over a month in. Now, I have probably shedded 30% of the hairs that were transplanted and have several spots that appear to have no hair. So now I am at this awkward stage where some of the hairs are growing long while others are short. I also have dandruff that I am working to keep under control. Will be following your progress.

good luck! hope to see your progress too if you decide to document it in this forum

1 minute ago, A_4_Archan said:

Yeh he is a skilled surgeon with lots of experience ..and even i am planning for my 2nd session for my crown next year...so we both will be in the same ship 

If you need any help or have any queries regarding him than feel free to contact me ..i would be happy to help you brother...

I am curious with FUE procedure, if the doctor gives you a graft estimate, does he then decide in realtime while making incisions how many he will need based on working with the scalp? 

After going through the FUT procedure, Im a little confused as the incisions were already done before an actual estimation of grafts was given while dissecting by the technicians. So part of me is wondering, did we actually use all the grafts? or am I thinking of the logic wrong? (1 incision=1 graft)

2 days ago I got my staples removed (13 days with staples). I had 2 questions if anyone can help me answer.

1. Areas below and above my scar still feel sensitive. I see other people scars around 10 days after seem to be flat and just the skin. Does it look like mine is just dried blood that hasn't fallen off yet? Should I be more aggressive in washing it during the shower? I've been pretty gentle just rubbing suds on the scar.

2. I understand hair falls off with scabs, but I noticed some areas that were all transplants where it just looks completely slick bald now. I assumed I would still see a black dot in those areas, meaning hair will grow from those areas. What would be the reason it looks slick bald?