cloudyhaze

Yea after seeing your progress so far along with a few others here in this forum, I might consider booking with him for my 2nd procedure on the crown next year.

@A_4_Archanhow long was wait time from booking to actual surgery date with Laorwong?

Yea I wasnt expecting it to grow hair back, but wondering if it was a shampoo thats catered better towards ppl with hair transplants maybe. But from what im seeing on this forum, seems like any shampoos without sulfates would do just fine.

Yea they shaved off just the area they were working off of. My plan right now is just to go the buzzcut route even if scar is showing, as that is better than covering up the sides but the top being uneven or shedding, which looks worse in my opinion. I was pretty much already wearing a hat for the past few years for most events as I was already working with a really low buzzcut. If you go through with it, you just have to pay a $2.5k deposit, and the rest of the payment is due on day of surgery. So I paid 2.5k in january, and paid in full 2 weeks ago.

Mine was $14k flat. Staples are needed for all FUT procedures as it helps the donor area enough in the initial 10-14 days to prevent it from stretching. I just got my staple removal out yesterday. Feel free to ask any more questions you may have.

Has anyone tried any of these products? Over the years before my HT I used to buy anything that was marketed to grow/maintain hair but I felt like it was all BS. But a Youtuber I folllow who seems pretty genuine posted a review on these 3 products so I'm wondering if I should look into it. Does anyone have thoughts on this? https://dslaboratories.com/collections/best-sellers?afmc=iu&utm_campaign=iu&utm_source=leaddyno&utm_medium=affiliate

@consequencehow did you go about scab removal? My doctor's office instructions were that it's ok to massage head with shampoo/water right after the 3rd day, while I see other doctors recommend to not touch the scabs and let it fall out on it's own. I'm currently 10 days post op and just been sticking to dumping water/shampoo mixture on head, and not touching it at all.

What is rough probability of scar stretching a month after surgery? I've been weightlifting for 2 years but I would reconsider how heavy/often I go depending on how it affects the scar.

I'm asian. I just completed a surgery last week with Dr. Bloxham in NYC. Seen some of his youtube videos and pictures of past asian clients. You can check out my surgery photos in my signature.

Nope, the patients he did that one were from the day before..although I wish there was extra left for me haha.

Is that amount of grafts from a single FUT strip considered normal? I'm curious as I just got one done last week but only got around 2500 grafts.

@sven96 how did u go about the hair washing process within the first 10 days? I am 7 days post op myself right now but have only dumped water/suds through a cup.

Background I'm an 36 YO asian male who always had thick hair and noticed thinning in the crown and the sides of my hairline back in 2011. I was on/off finasteride and minoxidl but never really stayed consistent. I discovered this website and posted here with pics of my hair over the years back in December 2020 as I was considering booking with Dr. Bloxham at the time, which you can see below. I was hesitant for 2 years as I was worried that I would need 2 procedures, meaning I couldnt grow out my hair nicely after the first one with a big thinning crown. And if I wanted to have a buzzcut like I have already been doing, it would expose the FUT scar. I decided to just go through with it as the hairline was really important for me and that I can SMP the scar when it comes down to it. I could decide a year later how I feel as I would be in a better position hair wise than I am now. I booked my appointment in January of this year and had my surgery last week on July 12th with Dr. Bloxham. Surgery Day / Pre Op I came in to the office and met with Dr. Bloxham so that he can examine my scalp and agree on game plan. As with most patients, the plan was to densely pack the frontal third and work our way back, with the acknowledgment that a second procedure would be needed for the crown anyway. He said that the middle part of my frontal third was on it's way out so that he would implant grafts there as well. Surgery Day / During Operation Dr. Bloxham made me feel very at ease, explaining exactly how I would feel before feeling it. He mentioned the needles injecting with the numbing fluids would feel like it hurts the most, which was true. I didn't feel much when they took out the strip or the actual incisions being made nor did I even see any blood unless I asked them to take a picture for me. It was funny sitting in that chair and hearing random songs from the 80s and 90s as that's what I recall hearing in past Youtube videos on Bloxham's channel. Some classics that I heard during my operation were Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Mariah Carey's "One Sweet Day", Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go". I was given water, gatorade, gummy bears, and option to order a meal and beverage from a take out menu, which was nice as I was expecting to just eat some protein bars I brought. I was chatting up the technicians and at a certain point one technician said every graft she implanted, 3-4 popped out. I asked if that was happening before I started chatting them, and she said it wasn't so I stopped for a bit, as maybe my blood pressure was being raised. They also mentioned that my scalp was really hard and it was more of a challenge inserting the grafts. I wonder if that results in low blood flow which also contributed to my balding? Looking at the implants placed towards the back, I am curious what the community here thinks, if that rounded arch in the middle will look wierd when grown out? Surgery Day / Post Op Dr. Bloxham quoted me at 3,000 grafts pre op, but we only ended up with 2,573. He said he could have gotten another 500 possibly but the scar would go even higher up on both ends, which wouldn't look good, which I agreed. He gave me a hat to wear for the first three days which helped protect the grafts from touching anything and sunlight. Recovering at home the past week Sleeping with a travel pillow and at a 45 degree angle was not as bad as I thought although I did wake up twice each night for the first 5 nights. I tried sleeping on my actual head the 5th night but feeling the staples was bothering me so I plan on stick with the same sleeping position until after I get my staples removed. I didn't wash my hair until the 3rd day after surgery in which I followed the office's directions and poured water over my head mixed with soap. I would see long hairs in the shower drain which appears to be my native hair on the sides of my head. Some were bunched up together so I assume they were near the staples and fell out due to the tension. There's alot of opinions on how many days it take for grafts to lock in, but I'm still worried so I have yet to actually touch the grafts. I think part of it is due to what happened in the office last week where my grafts were popping out. I have yet to see any blood from any implanted grafts, so I assume I'm safe.

@gxm100 Finally got my FUT transplant with Bloxham yesterday. I just took off the bandages with the dried blood and wondering if there's any chance of staples coming out or if I should expect anymore bleeding at this point?

Ah great! Thanks for the speedy response.

@gxm100NIce progress! I also booked with Bloxham and paid my deposit. I have 2 questions for you. 1. When do you actually go over the actual hair design? Is it on the morning on the surgery? 2. Did you sign any sort of contract? I paid my deposit and was sent a packet that talks about getting bloodwork done and what to wear.

@alexXx999 im thinking of getting a SMP treatment but worried of having a shiny bald look. Since yours looks so natural, I assume you have geenrally good hair coverage overall that you can shave to a 1 or 2 on buzzer to give a textured buzzcut look?

I recall seeing a bearded member on here that used SMP to address a FUT scar, but I forgot the members name. And I also came across places that do it and it seems like it can hide pretty well. Or is there something Im missing?

Im turning 35 in November and consistently been on Fin since Jan 2020. Might miss a dose 3-5x a month. For reference, I visited Dr Bloxham here in NY,

Ideally I wouldn't go with a buzzcut, I'm just worried that growing out my hair would hide my FUT, but expose the hole in my crown. My thinking is that after a second HT addressing the crown, i would then truly be able to grow out my hair as all my bases are covered. Does that make sense? The point is I still want to move forward with a HT and look my best while avoiding the scar.

I have created a post in the past but wasn't able to get the questions I needed answered, so I thought i would be more concise with this post. This is my hair grown out 1 week after a fresh buzz cut shave all around. I take 1 mg fin daily and 2x rogaine foam. I went for a consultation and was told most likely I would need 2 procedures, with an FUT dense packing the frontal third/mid scalp. And a second addressing the crown. Would love everyone's thoughts on the 2 following questions. 1. After my first procedure, I will have fixed temples and as much coverage as possible in the midscalp. However, I think should stick with a buzzcut as I have now due to the size of my balding crown + the mini dip in the back won't look so great if I try to grow out my hair. To address the FUT scar, I'm thinking of covering it up with SMP. After that, I can take my time in deciding if I still want to address the crown area or stick with buzzcuts. Any thoughts on my strategy? 2. The slick bald temples and sparse areas in my frontal third, I can see how that can be fixed. However, the surface of my crown appears to be covered mostly by miniaturized hairs, which I assume doesn't leave a lot of room for transplanting new hairs, which means I can't really achieve density in the crown unless they fall out, giving way for more area to work with. Am I thinking about this correctly? If not, please let me now.

@deitel130i consulted with Dr. Bloxham. He said with 3k grafts we can fix the front and midscalp, so basically filling up temples and in between the thinner areas in the front. If you look at my first 2 pics, there seems to be a wierd thinning pattern down the left side in the front.

I have been on/off fin/min over the past few years, but have stuck to it pretty much everyday since 2020. I believe it's helping me hold onto hair that is miniaturizing with some minor regrowth in temples. However, they dont appear to be turning thick. I went for a consultation back in Dec and was told that an FUT procedure can extract 3k grafts. The proposed plan was to pack the front and the mid scalp with a future operation addressing the crown. The doctor mentioned that he would plant the grafts next to miniaturized hairs just in the miniaturized hairs die out in the future. My main concern is that there are large portions of my scalp all covered by fine/miniaturized hair. So is it ideal to work around it? I'm worried that there isn't enough bald spots between those hairs to insert grafts to give it the density thats required. Below are pics of my temple. The pink line represents where my hairline was a year ago. I appear to have extremely fine hair sprouting through, but can't tell if it will be terminal or not. I assume if i get a HT now, the doctor would just plant over those. Should I wait a few more months to see?

Hey @Melvin-Moderator! Im trying to understand how I can achieve density with a HT when there are large areas of miniaturized hairs taking up surface area.

@Melvin-ModeratorThanks for posting this. I am new to how HTs work, but I understand the concept of what's explained in the video. However most of the results i see of patients are of scalps with large bald areas to operate on. Im curious how I can achieve density when large areas are well covered, but with miniaturized hairs?