ScottishGuy

Happy new year everyone! I've just posted my 4 month update - let me know what you think. I'm feeling fairly optimistic - I am hoping for more new growth since the density is a little low/patchy, but overall I think my progress looks good at this stage.

I'm not a diffuse thinner so I can only answer based on what I've read elsewhere. If your hair is as weak as you say, then there is a higher chance it will suffer from 'shock' and won't return after surgery. Hopefully some diffuse thinners can answer with their experience. Note that if you do suffer permanent shock loss of this type, then it usually means the hair was on its last legs anyway. One way to reduce the risk of shock loss is to take finasteride for at least a few months before surgery - this should strengthen the hair. The other important factor is to go to a highly recommended surgeon. Proper surgical technique is essential to minimise the risk to existing hair.

Oh, I'd also like to add that you may still see a little shedding in the coming weeks. Most of my grafts had also shed by the 4 week mark, but I did still see a small amount of shedding up to week 6.

This is all normal I think. I also had a few grafts that neither grew nor shed (you can check my close-up photos from 1.5 months onwards for comparison). In my case they aren't exactly like dots - just very short hairs. The theory is that these hair stubs will be pushed out when new hair eventually grows so don't worry about them. Since these hairs never grew at all, it is also possible that they didn't survive the transplantation process. It is rather difficult to tell if that is the case though since new hair will soon start to grow all around them. When I do my next update I'll also be looking to see if I have any of these little stubs remaining - I'm hoping they will mostly be gone.

I'm pretty sure that finasteride is the ideal treatment to take pre-op to lengthen the growth phase...

From a few days after my procedure to around 1 month post op I was shedding from all over my head and this did worry me because I thought I looked thinner on top than ever before (this was a crazy amount of shedding that I hadn't ever experienced). This was all outside of the recipient and donor areas. However, since then the shedding has stopped and my hair seems to be back to normal thickness. I won't be able to fully judge this until I have a short haircut again though.

IIRC the DermMatch information booklet says that if you have trouble getting the powder to stick to your scalp it could be because you live in an area with hard water. Could that be the case? If that's so then any soaps/shampoos you use may not be fully rinsed, leaving a thin film on your skin. When this happens the DermMatch doesn't stick to the skin. I've used DermMatch a few times, but I tend to use it only for the thickening effect, and not so much to coat my scalp (I only use a small amount so can't say that I've ever seen it clump up).

Wearing the hat drove me nuts and I've just stopped wearing it at 3.5 months post op. Having a range of hats to choose from can help. If you are worried about keeping your HT secret I'd avoid telling anyone - these secrets have a habit of leaking out once you tell someone. Why not delay the haircut for a while? I've not had a haircut for 3 months and I kind of prefer having the extra coverage that provides. I'd probably still be under the hat if I'd kept cutting my hair. Another option is to buy a set of hair clippers and cut your own hair...if you want a short cut that's perfectly possible to do yourself.

The Q&A is here: http://www.regrowhair.com/hair...ter-hair-transplant/ If you have had a HT then your clinic should provide detailed post-op instructions. Some clinics are more cautious than others. For example, patients of Dr Rahal are told not to put their head under the shower until 3 weeks post op (if I remember correctly).

It's pretty likely that not all the hairs will shed. Typically 10% or so will continue to grow as if nothing happened. To combat the pinkness you have two strategies: one is to actually try to reduce the pinkness and the other is to conceal it. I was suffering from pimples in the recipient area from around 5 weeks post op so I used polysporin to combat those. I did notice that the pinkness also reduced after a few weeks of this treatment, but perhaps this would have happened naturally. I also started using aloe vera gel more recently (this is easily absorbed by the skin so it can be used twice a day) and noticed further improvement. Many people swear by this for reducing pinkness so I'd recommend it if you don't already use it. To conceal pinkness I used a light face powder. This didn't completely hide the pinkness but gave me enough confidence to leave the house The one downside is that it tends to wear off as the day goes on (this will be more noticeable if you have oily skin). In that case you should probably take some with you to apply more at lunch time or whatever. If you have female friends/gf/wife that knows about your HT, then they can probably give you better advice about how to conceal it

I've seen this asked a few times on the forum and the answer was always that it should be no problem to shave the recipient area 4 weeks post op with a razor. I shaved a small part of my recipient area around 7 weeks post op, although that was just a one-off event that I couldn't avoid. Obviously make sure you use a new and clean razor - you don't want to get an infection at this stage. You should also feel free to send questions to the clinic that performed the work since they should be there to help you.

Dre>There's some related info in this thread: http://hair-restoration-info.c...35105172?r=165105172

The result could well be the best possible for 1800 grafts, and the Dr has pointed out a few facts we weren't aware of at the start of the thread. However, I also had the same thoughts as Chavtastic to be honest. Look at the crown pre and post op photo in particular. Is it just coincidence that the post op is taken at an angle that reduces the amount of scalp visible? Based on the post-ops it does look like there was a massive improvement, but how much is due to a difference in hair length and styling? Dre> Regarding dandruff, I recommend Polytar AF shampoo - much better than Head & Shoulders. Other guys may have other recommendations too.

I asked the same thing about dermmatch a while ago but didn't get any replies. Perhaps we're all too self conscious about our hair to go to such places

The 11 month pics show a definite improvement in the shockloss areas. I'm very glad to see this, and hope that it continues to improve.

1ainslie> This site has been recommended many times on the forum (about 50 pounds for 4 month supply): http://www.minoxidil-direct.co.uk/Rogaine_Foam.htm I'm not actually in the UK just now so I use ebay, but I'd use this site if I were in the UK.

I've been using minox liquid for the past 3 months, but I plan to switch to using the foam in the next few weeks. For those that have made the switch, did you see any shedding when you did this? To be honest, I think that shedding would be a bad sign since it could indicate that the two aren't equally effective. Maybe I'll start by using the foam during the day and the liquid at night. When I first started using the liquid I saw no shedding - this isn't really a surprise since I was using it on my recipient area which was shaved down. However, I now have quite a lot of native hair there and I really don't want it to fall off.

About 6 years ago I shaved my head to a grade 3 all over and I really liked that look. For guys with a good head of hair I think it looks great whatever shape of head you have. However, I tried it again about 6 months ago and hated it (this is all pre-op). The difference was that I'd lost more hair, and it is much more apparent. I think it was the fact that the central forelock had become weak and see through that really caused me to hate that look. (This is what made me more determined to have the HT). Also, if you have general thinning on top (which most of us on here have to some extent), it becomes very apparent at that length. A small amount of concealer will cover that up though. So I'd say that if you are NW2 or just starting NW3 it will probably look fine. Why not try something a little longer to start with? Leaving the hair slightly longer at the front is also a good move. When my HT has matured I want to try the grade 3 cut again...if that looks good, then the HT has been a success

There is no proof that prayer actually does anything (apart from making you feel better). Would you really choose prayer over medical treatment which has a proven chance to save your mother's life? There have been reported cases of parents who've allowed their children to die from curable diseases because they chose to ignore science and 'let god decide'. Would you also 'let god decide' if this was your child?

When we talk about an average result, I assume we mean a typical result - the sort of result that most patients should expect to achieve. I feel that it is up to the doctor to ensure that the patient's expectations are realistic. One way to do this is to show the patient result photos from other patients with similar hair characteristics, procedure size etc. If a doc chooses to show superstar results rather than typical results at this stage, that would seem somewhat unethical, since the doc is contributing directly to unrealistic expectations - there is a high likelihood of the patient being disappointed in the end result. I've often thought that the only way a prospective HT patient can truly judge a clinic (and determine what is 'average') is if they can see all the results for patients in a given month or year etc. Without that we have only the cherry picked pictures from the clinic, or a small number of patient blogs (many of which aren't updated). In terms of assessing an HT, the result is highly subjective. However, yield is the one thing that can be measured (particularly when transplanting into bald areas). If I was in the situation of having a result that lacks density, I'd want to know the yield of my result. If it is high, then I know the clinic did a good job in preserving the grafts, and I can feel re-assured about having a second procedure with them. If the yield is low, then I'd have serious questions about the competence of the clinic. I'd highly commend any clinic that records and publishes yield figures. However, I doubt they'd ever do this because it could destroy the myth? of 90% average growth.

I'm not sure if this is old news or not, but here you are: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/...ald-cure-ad-ban.html

Welcome to the forum Jarrod587. Probably the only thing you need to remember from my post is: don't give them any more money. Please use the find feature of the forum to research the treatments available - there is a lot of good information here, along with warnings of treatments to avoid. If I were you I'd try to get your money back now and don't even bother with their treatment program. This is simply because the only proven treatments (apart from hair transplants) are minoxidil and finasteride, and you don't need an expensive program to use these. What does their eight month treatment program actually involve? What have they promised you, and how will they achieve that? Money back guarantees are usually not worth the paper they are written on - they are just a ploy to make you part with money in the first place. Unfortunately, you are very likely to lose out - unless you want to start a legal battle with them. To answer the question about finasteride - yes, you can get it more cheaply. Much more cheaply in fact. The absolute cheapest option is to use a generic version of proscar - this costs a few dollars a month. I'd only consider this option if you can actually buy the drugs from a bricks and mortar pharmacy. A slightly better option is to use Merck Proscar which costs about 15 dollars per month. The most expensive option (propecia) is about $45 dollars per month. Are you sure their prices were $35 per week? Daylight robbery... PS. I don't live in the US so my prices may be a bit off, but you can find lots of info in the forums.

As far as I know it's completely normal for most of the grafts to grow a little before they jump ship. You can look at the difference between my 2 and 10 day post ops to see that I had a similar experience (and now I'm in the slow waiting phase, hoping that they'll return soon).

Spex provides some good info on this here: http://hair-restoration-info.c...6060861/m/5261036933 One tactic mentioned elsewhere is to prepare the ground before the op by telling work colleagues that you will be doing lots of DIY or something. Then, when you return to work with a half shaved, pink, shocklossed appearance you can explain that you had some bizarre accident (e.g. spilling paint stripper on your head). Any suggestion that you will look normal after even 3 weeks is not accurate for larger procedures so you do need to have some excuses ready if you can't wear a hat. My approach was to take a career break. I'm now just approaching 10 weeks post op and still avoid social events and wear a hat everywhere. However, I am just staring to consider going hatless so should be OK in a few weeks I hope. Overall I think my recovery has been slightly better than most (apart from lingering redness). Good luck.

I've used a Panasonic DMC-TZ5 for all of the pictures. The close-ups are just a cropped version of the other temple area photos.