ScottishGuy

2 weeks is enough recovery time to allow you to go back to work.

Depending on the size of the surgery you could look very strange for up to 4 months though - it is easier if you can wear a hat.

I have a pretty huge head as well - for example I can never find a cap that fits me (they're all 'one size fits all' these days and they are no good).

If you have good donor density and laxity then that is more important than the size of your head I would say.

Wirey hair seems to be quite common after an HT although most guys say it improves after a year or so.

You could try some of the products mentioned in this earlier post to see if they improve the manageability of your hair:

http://hair-restoration-info.c...66060861/m/978108134

For most people a small % of the grafts don't shed (maybe 5 percent of the grafts), but you should expect shedding to happen up to 6 weeks post op. If you get past that point then maybe you are one of the lucky ones that don't experience much shedding.

Have you got some pre-op, immediate post op and 'now' pics that you can share?

If you've really had zero growth in over 5 months then that is not a good sign, but sometimes we can convince ourselves that nothing has grown when actually there has been some progress. This is why it is a good idea to take pictures each month.

Who was your Doctor? As Dr Charles has said, you should get in touch with your Doctor in the first instance if you have concerns.

I've been following your progress since we are both around the 6 month point (although I haven't uploaded any 6 month pics yet).

One thing I am curious about - how many grafts did you receive? When I look at your 5 day post op pics, the density looks pretty low to me. Perhaps the Doctor always had 2 passes in mind for you?

All you can do now is wait and I hope things improve, but if you get to 8 months and its much the same then it isn't likely to change much after that.

My experience of going to Canada was fine. On the way in I was asked why I'm visiting and I just said 'leisure'.

When departing I managed to wear my hat at all times so it was easy. Of course, security may have gotten a bit stricter since last year so I'm not sure it would be so easy now.

One thing that helped on the way out of Ottawa was the fact that the airport was very quiet - no queues at all, so it is good to try and arrange a midweek flight when things are less busy.

I'm in the US on business for a few weeks so I will probably buy a few months supply of Rogaine foam since it is much cheaper here.

What are the best places to buy it?

I had a look around my local Walgreens but couldn't see it. Is it usually kept behind the counter so I need to ask for it?

Thanks everyone.

I'm happy so far but I want to see things fill in a bit more...I guess I have hair greed

I just posted my 5 month update. Let me know what you think

Originally posted by justincase:

Originally posted by Megatron:

Otherwise, don't venture down the HT road because there ain't no turning back.

Is that 100% true that there aint no going back? My questions before went unanswered but if you had a low aggressive hairline done, isnt it possible use laser hair removal on the hairline to an age appropriate level? Couldnt you just enjoy the low hairline until you hit your late 40's or 50's and then move it back?

I don't think its impossible but there is usually some slight scarring from where the incisions were made originally, so it may look bad. Also, the grafts further back could be 2 or 3 hair groupings, which could look unnatural.

I'm very sorry to see you had such a poor result.

One thing that strikes me is you said you had 1700 grafts? That's really a very small amount given the size of the area that was to be covered. To achieve a good density I think closer to 4000 would be more appropriate (I'd be interested to hear what others think on this point).

I hope you can come to some resolution with the doctor to get this addressed, or you could consider other doctors with experience of repair cases.

You have some slight recession, but honestly you should find something else to worry about - your hair looks great IMO.

If your hair loss appears to be accelerating in the past few months a transplant now could be highly risky. In general, the longer you can delay any transplant the better.

I don't know if there is a relationship, but if there is it's more likely to be the other way around - the faster they shed, the faster they return. I've seen a few people that shed very early with excellent growth at 3 months.

Baby shampoo is what most clinics recommend - I used it until 1 month post op.

For HTs involving the frontal third, I've reached much the same conclusion. There is a 2 month spell (usually months 4 and 5) where most growth happens.

However, I think the thickening phase is very significant so shouldn't be overlooked.

I spend most time looking at blogs of Rahal patients and to be honest most don't look much different after the 6 month point.

It's normal for the foam to dry within a few minutes. I recently switched from the liquid to the foam, and I did have some concerns that it may not be as effective, but I've experienced no additional shedding.

There are many patient blogs created by Dr Rahal patients so you should look for cases similar to yourself. I'm at 4 months post op and happy with my experience and progress so far.

If you haven't started the scalp exercises yet you should do so ASAP. If your surgery is in February you don't have much time to improve your scalp laxity (of course you may have great laxity already, but the exercises should help).

My advice would be to keep taking the propecia if it works for you and you are concerned about hair loss. If you are worried about the cost, you can take proscar instead which is much cheaper.

Taking meds may allow you to avoid a transplant altogether, and believe me that is a far preferable option since transplants don't come without risks.

Additionally, HT doctors will strongly advise you to take propecia if you wish to have a transplant to reduce the amount of further loss you may experience.

Also, taking the meds will buy you time. There may be better treatments in future.

The idea of allowing yourself to go bald just so you can get a transplant in 10 years is a bit insane. Why put up with 10 years of being insecure about your hair if you can avoid it?

The old saying applies - prevention is better than cure.

In terms of composition, there's no difference at all apart from Proscar having 5mg instead of 1mg of the active ingredient. This is why we need to split the proscar pill into 4 or 5 pieces to achieve something close to the recommended dose.

The reason people use propecia is that it is more difficult to persuade doctors to prescribe proscar (prescribing proscar for hairloss is considered 'off label').

I did wonder if splitting the tablet (and hence breaking the outer coating) could reduce the absorption of the drug, but I guess this isn't the case since all HT clinics are perfectly happy for patients to use proscar tablets this way.

A couple of people have also mentioned united pharmacies in the past...I haven't used them yet, but they do have the non-generic propecia and proscar which some may prefer.

This looks very natural...great work by Dr Hasson!

Looks very dense. Was that with 2500 grafts?

There aren't so many examples of Dr Rahal patients who get the temple points fully restored as well so this is nice to see.

Originally posted by Ryan Daj:

Now I'd like to rename this thread, is that possible?

I believe so. If you look at the very first message you posted on this thread there should be three little icons on the right hand side. Select the middle one and you should be able to edit the message or title (you need to be logged in for this to be available I guess).

I don't think you need to worry about dislodging grafts at this stage although it is still advisable to be gentle with the recipient area since it is still healing.

10 days is the time required for the grafts to be fully secured - you'd need some kind of surgery to remove them after this point I believe.

If you have any photos then you should consider creating a weblog so others can keep track of your progress too.