Berba11

UPDATE - 1 Month/4 weeks/28 days Post-Op Hi All, Today marks exactly one month since the HT. As you can see, the main change is simply more shedding. Redness remains and the temple point work has completely vanished from the right side and 90& from the left. Not worth showing the temple points really! The hair in the recipient area feels a bit softer than it did a couple of weeks ago. That might just be because there's less of it. The shedding has slowed a little - there's less hairs in my hand if I brush my palm through the hair and less visible hairs when showering or applying E45 cream to the area. Some spots keep popping their ugly little yellow heads up every so often. I guess I'm now officially in the early stages of the ugly duckling phase!

Hello mate! Looking forward to following your progress. Having seen seen your post op HT in the flesh, it’s going to look killer for sure!

Best to check with Dr Bisanga but I imagine this shouldn't be a problem at all from here. I know there is some debate about whether to start using hair fibres too soon on newly transplanted areas. So when the new hairs start popping through, there's maybe some considerations around using product on them too soon or too heavily. Different Docs will be have different takes but Bisanga is one of the best about so I'm sure he'll have an authoritative take on this as you move forward.

For the record, I had my first HT exactly three weeks ago. I fully understand the anxieties & concerns that arise - I’ve been documenting my own journey which includes initial concerns (since subsided). So I get it fully. I believe I’m also older than the OP and my own hairloss is more extensive. I wasn’t “nitpicking”. What the OP said is extremely serious and I’m the only one who has mentioned it in the replies up until this point. There’s obviously an enormous chasm between the seriousness of that statement and the seriousness of the HT issue (which is a bit of very minor corrective work in all probability). I don’t think trying to impart some perspective upon the situation is “nitpicking” at all here. You’re dead right about everything else in terms of feeling upset & it being outside of the OP’s control etc…

Some opinions are more correct than others… In any case, you’re reading what you want instead of what I said. I said the scale of the problem is objectively small. You require a very small touch up to bring this result up to the level you desire. It’s not far off as it stands. You’re in a better place, aesthetically, than before. Those are the *good news* facts of the matter. I apologise if I sounded condescending. That wasn’t my intention. If I’d been saying what you’re saying, I’d very much hope someone would come along and give me a good slap (virtually or otherwise!) and a shake. I’m just trying to get you to think about this more rationally & calmly in the same way that I would want someone to do to me. If you’re seriously suggesting that you might take your own life because of a small patch of hair that hasn’t grown in, I really don’t know what to say other than to urgently recommend seeking professional help. Please don't do anything silly. You won’t find anyone else on earth (certainly no one actually worth listening to) that thinks or wants you to end things - certainly not over this. I don’t know your life or your circumstances beyond your hair, but this is a super supportive & welcoming community here. We all want you to be doing well and care that you’re ok (regardless of your hair). Im sure there’s many more people in your life that would agree, even if it doesn’t always feels like it. Please stick around on here and let the members help you through the journey - the hair side of things at the very least.

I’m not “deciding” anything. It’s a couple of hundred grafts that haven’t taken. You’re not going to die as a result & although you’re disappointed, this is nothing to agonise over to point of invoking “death”. That’s the objective reality. You’re already in a far superior position than you were before the surgery. You haven’t been butchered, over harvested, developed an infection, had a bad HT design, wrong grafts used or developed necrosis or all of the genuinely nightmarish outcomes that can happen as a result of a HT gone bad. It’s only going to be a very small touch up required to bring this result up to a very excellent one. I fully appreciate the frustration, but being overly dramatic (“life or death”) is neither helpful nor healthy. If you’d have come to this forum prior to getting a HT and said that you considered a HT to be a matter of life or death, most people would rightly see that as a massive red flag. Your next steps should be to maintain a dialogue with HLC with a view to a small touch up to the area of concern. Everything will almost certainly resolve just fine, albeit things may take a bit longer than you hoped. Please don’t panic or get in a funk about it.

No it absolutely isn't. Why would you say this? For whatever reason some grafts haven't taken. It's no big deal and will probably just require a small touch up. Frustrating? Sure. But not the end of the world, about as far removed from "life or death" as you can imagine and is surely a potential outcome you knew could happen from your pre-op research...? HLC should, if they're an ethical clinic, have you back in for a slight touch up to improve the lagging area.

That's absolutely horrendous to watch. Looks too fast, imprecise and messy to me. @DrTBarghouthi, what's your expert assessment of this video clip? Would be interesting to hear your professional opinion.

You should make sure to stick to one thread (this one!) and update only that one. Otherwise anyone following your previous thread(s) might potentially miss out updates if you start a new thread each time. Your extraction area looks a bit small, which might be a concern. It's too soon to say at the moment though. I'd have expected a 4,000 graft extraction to wrap around the head more with more extractions above the ears/on the sides. With such a large session, you may of course experience some shock-loss, so getting a firm idea of where your donor is at could drag out for some time. If you haven't experienced much shock loss, I'd expect you to have a much clearer indication of how things are in a couple of weeks. You're about 10 days post-op, right? I'm 3 weeks post op and my donor was looking pretty good after 3 or 4 days, and 21 days on it's basically spotless save for a little bit of patchiness on the right hand side. 99% of people would never notice - only those that are looking for it/know what they're looking for. My surgery was smaller however (2800 grafts), so you shouldn't expect such a quick recovery. However, like I say, in a couple of weeks your donor hair should have grown out to the sort of lengths than will test the extraction quality in a more indicative way. Everyone will have their own sweet spot for donor length in terms of making their HT look undetectable. It may well be that yours just needs a bit of extra length given the scale of the surgery, whereas my smaller surgery can look comparatively untouched at say, grade 1/2/3 etc... So hang in there for a few more weeks and see where you're at. No need to worry at this stage.

Hey Gatsby, I think the scar looks pretty hard to spot to be honest! Certainly nothing that draws the eye. What I can see of it, kinda looks pretty badass to me! Your upcoming HT in combination with the SMP you've had (which works well for you btw!) will totally detract from the scar from what I can tell and a bit of length on the fringe should see it off completely. Like I say though, even with your current circumstances it doesn't look noticeable or bad or anything at all negative.

It mostly just looks like his finasteride/minoxidil use has worked. The HT itself doesn't seem to have done a great deal & the follow up video is very careful not to actually show any good close-ups of the hairline.

That’s brilliant & very interesting! Thanks for taking the time to respond - much appreciated! 🙂

Eugenix have provided an interesting response here and to be honest, the shedding has kicked in and made everything a lot less clear the last couple of days. Ultimately I'm only going to know for sure when everything takes shape a few months from now so there's no use in me worrying about it too much. I'll be sure to get some good close ups when things are kicking off and we can better assess what's really going on!

UPDATE - Day 17 Whilst I was killing time I thought I'd add some comparative progress photos. The main update is that the shedding is hitting pretty hard and fast! I can noticeably feel how much thinner and softer my frontal third is by running my hand over the tops of the recipient area - it's a hell of a lot less bushy than just a few days ago! Fingers crossed that a quick shed = quick regrowth! I can dream, of course! Now that there's a lot more shedding, I can also get a clearer view of the redness. Things are a little more red than I'd realised though I'd been slack on the E45 the last couple of days. Applied some this evening and had a ton of shedding. Will try to be more regular with the E45 from now on to aid the redness. Noticing a little more itchiness the last day or two having previously not really experienced any/much. Part of that seems to be because I'm gradually getting a little more sensation back in the frontal third whereas just a couple of days ago things were still very numb in the recipient area. Everything seems to be more or less on track though. It looks likes there's a bit of shockloss on the left just behind the transplanted hairs (on the right as you look at the photos next to the number 17, but my left hand side), and the remnants of the forelock look to have been shocked out. Whether or not those areas will recover will require some time. I'm not overly bothered - they're weak areas that were always going to be susceptible to going anyway. We'll see what happens - maybe finasteride will help them in the long run, otherwise a touch-up will be needed which I'm fine with.

Good write up and good luck! I sincerely hope the beard transplant works out. Personally I've not really seen very many cases from anyone doing good and natural looking beard transplants so I'd be keen to see your future updates on this and I hope it's comes out well!

Thanks for the info 🙏

The work looks great. Just two points on your 'bad' list... The work isn't supposed to be completely symmetrical. The fact he made your hairline asymmetrical is good and should be on your 'good' list. It's rare for doctors to do the implantation - the main thing is the incisions, and after that maybe some of the extraction work. Demirsoy does both himself, so probably not fair to mark not doing implantations against him! Should be a killer result though.

I've been told any time after 3 weeks and there's a few people on here that have buzzed down after 3/4 weeks without issue also. 2 months should be absolutely fine - the grafts are anchored, they aren't going to come out! Length is up to you but as a precaution I'd make sure you're using a plastic guard to protect the scalp, particularly if you still have a bit of redness in the area.

I will get the missus to do get some close ups - I keep forgetting/have been busy this weekend. Also attaching a picture of the donor area in bright indoor lighting. Angle of the picture is also a little from below which presents things harsher than most will see the donor from. Looks fine - I'm completely happy with how well the donor has healed up.

Why don't you try it and see for yourself? If it gives you bad sides, stop taking it. You can try taking it at a smaller dose but using a pill cutter to split the tablets, or try a topical solution. Having more than one transplant is certainly doable, but it seems a bit daft to go down that route without first having tried other options first.

UPDATE - 2 WEEKS POST-OP: Nothing much to report after two weeks. I'm noticing more and more hairs shedding but I'm not really seeing too much difference up top yet. I've been surprised at how long the transplanted hair has gotten though! The redness has come down quite a lot. It's not completely gone, but greatly reduced. I've been applying E45 lotion to the recipient area to try and reduce redness. I can't compare how red it would have been had I not applied it - maybe the E45 hasn't done anything - but the redness has come down so I suspect it's helped. I've not experienced very much itchiness in the donor or recipient to be honest. The odd tingle or itch but nothing bad or bothersome. I know some people get a fair bit of irritation post-op but I've been largely fine. The recipient hair feels almost beard-hair like and indeed looks a bit different from the native hair. From a distance or in certain lighting it's not noticeable but closer up or in harder lights things start to look a little weird at this length. Some lingering doubts about the hairline design remain although I'm sure once it's all grow out long it'll be fine. The shortness of the hair right now exposes a lot. I've not succeeded in getting a close enough picture, but there definitely are some multi-graft hairs in the first/second row - especially the second row. How much of an issue this will be will reveal itself with time so. I feel as though transitioning out of the shedding phase and into the new hair will be an easier and more gradual transition than the pre versus post-op transition. I'm actually quite looking forward to the shed, as weird as that may be, as I've found the change in look to be quite drastic and harder to comprehend and accept than I ever imagined I would have. There are certain angles & lighting that I really like what I'm seeing and other angles where I'm less keen and doubtful. I've attached a few [slightly ropey] pics from today which marks the 2 week anniversary of the surgery.

I’ll try and get a photo tomorrow morning in natural lighting as I can’t get a good shot right now in the indoor lights. But you could be right!

Unless you had hair transplanted onto your face, you'll be fine! You may just want to be sure not to put too much product too close to the hairline areas though just to be safe - especially if you still have some redness in the recipient area. Just be sensible, basically.

This will look killer by month 4, never mind months 5/6/7/8!

Thanks mate. Would love to see some pics of your journey. Do you have a thread? I should say that I'm slowly but surely coming to terms with things and starting to get used to the new look a bit more since my mini freak out. Natural lighting really helps things and my hair seems to be growing fast. The sides already look a bit fuller and it's balancing out the hairline itself. It sounds pathetic but I mustered up the courage to go the supermarket last night without a hat on. Nothing happened. Nobody died. Tonight I'm going out for a meal with the missus and on Sunday visiting family. I think part of the process is actually being seen by others rather than hiding away. I know all of this intuitively - I've said it to others often enough on this very forum - but actually being in the hotseat is a little different! Dr Arika's original hairline on me was about 2-3mm higher. Not much at all, so the actual height of the hairline that she envisioned and my own thoughts were virtually the same really. Subtle moves, nothing major. Everyone's comments have been massively helpful so thank you all