Sunnycoastman

WB, yes the wound is closed. I dont feel it anymore except sometimes some spots are a little itchy but otherwise I dont think about it. I also have trouble finding it by feel as well. Theres just a very slight indent in places which I can feel if I try hard. so its healed up really well so far i think. dont be nervous WB, you are in good hands with Dr P. He has an excellent record of consistently good results and Im sure you'll be another success....all the best mate... sunny

I started back in the gym on day 7 after my HT. I used 50% of normal weights and did 15 to 20 reps and walking uphill on the treadmill. No situps(bad news, I tried them once) and no chins(do light lat pulldowns to the front instead), shrugs, upright rows, deadlifts or squats for a month. Be careful of overhead pressing as that works traps which pulls on the neck. I worked out every day after day 7, did some treadmill work and stationary bike for legs. At such an early stage you get to feel how the exercises affects the donor area. I found that if I kept the weights light, breathed throughout each movement (dont grit your teeth or hold your breath) and was careful, there was no strain on the scar. After 4 weeks I was back to my normal weights and condition. I did get some stinging from sweat on the incision line for the first 2 weeks. I think jogging is ok after a week. I wouldnt do sprinting for at least a month or do sports where you arnt in control of head or neck movement for a month at least. cheers

Hey WB, so youre booked for may. Thats good. dont stress mate it'll be easy for ya. the hardest part is finding the clinic :-) The procedure is nothing to worry about. The first 2 weeks after are a bit uncomfortable but thats expected. I think it takes quite a while for the incision area to fade into a thin scar line. maybe a year or more, Im not sure. someone else can probably answer that. Im pretty happy with it all so far tho and looking forward to the end of these pimples and seeing some actual growth in a few months time. I'll post some more pics in a couple of months time. all the best WB....cheers sunny

Heres what I wrote today (6 feb 2010) in my blog on my HT site. Things have been going pretty good I think. yesterday i had my first haircut. I told the girl hairdresser not too short bcz I had some surgery and theres a scar i want to hide. she took a look and asked when it was and if I was ok. I told her apart from losing half my brain i was Ok...:-) The last 3 weeks Ive had alot of pimples on my crown....really annoying and dont look nice. ive been covering them as best I can with womens face powder.... some are quite big and sore....you'll maybe see them in my pics. But theres less of them now. I cant feel the scar anymore. In fact I struggle to find it to take pics......Its a bit red still i know but I dont think there has been any stretching. No growth yet of course but Im not impatient. Ill start to see something happen in another month or two Im guessing. I grew the front part of my hair a little longer and brushed it forward to try and hide the pink area in front of my current hairline where some hair was transplanted. seems to have worked ok. all in all Im pretty happy and just playing the waiting game now. I use rogaine foam once a day and I take proscar...I cut the 5mg tablet into 6. cheers sunny

Ive come to the conclusion that pretty much everyone is affected when they take propecia, but some more than others and in different ways.....its a drug that affects your hormone levels so its going to affect you in some way i think...My solution. gradually reduce the daily dosage until the effects are something you can live with...Im currently cutting proscar into six ie about .8mg per day but am thinking of cutting it into 8 ie .6mg per day....I seem to be getting thick around the waist but then again it could be all the junk I ate over xmas...altho I have been working out and doing aerobics since xmas with no change so i dont know...

Happy anniversary pretty boy barak...back to the drawing board with the old health care rip off mate...ummm..hang on...youre a liberal, just like you scammed the country giving bailouts to the cheaters on wall street, your health care, whatever it is, will scam ordinary americans who just want a fair deal...but hey, heres an idea...lightbulb moment!!!..why not work with the republicans!!! and get a few on board, you only need a few, then one state election wouldnt matter....would it...Good on ya Scotty.. A kick in the guts to Obama and all democrats. and a fitting epitaph to Kennedy who I hope is now paying for the death of that young women in his care...he didnt pay on earth did he...and he shouldve gone to prison for it...Ok thats it....I tried to be subtle...did it work...:-) Sunny

Hi Ronin, I only have 1 pic attached showing the slight redness i have in the front. I cover that each day with some powder that I brush on. i bought from the womens section at the pharmacy. Its quick. 1 minute and Im done and it works great. I went back to work on 11 Jan with no hat. My problem right now is pimples. All over my crown. And some of them are sore. I cover that with powder too but you can still see the bumps of course. Im sick of them. I had a few in the front as well but not as bad as on the crown. Im hanging out for a haircut but Im too embarrassed to go with all these pimples. So my hair is getting long and I cant feel the scar line anymore to separate the hair and get a good pic. The itchiness is gone and I have to work to find where the scar is with my fingertips. In NZ over xmas my daughter gave me a trim around the edges and didnt notice anything so no-one in my family knows which is good. Cheers Sunny

Hi Ronin, I live on the sunshine coast. I had a HT with Dr Path on 25 Nov 2009, 4100 grafts. The cost is 85 baht per graft if you get more than a 1000 grafts and 100 baht per graft for anything up to a 1000. So for 1500 grafts you would pay around AU$4300 at an exchange of 29.5 baht to the dollar. Allow $1000 for the airfare and $500 or so for hotel and food. also you might want to do some shopping while youre there cz clothing especially is really cheap. Cheers Sunny

Hmmmm,youre right Scotty...I really dont want to say anything....I might just get her to trim the edges. I kinda want to tidy it up a little thats all, it just looks unkempt if I dont keep it tidy. so i'll keep quiet and hope for the best. hope she dosnt see the scar....Im worried she'll feel the ridge with a comb. anyway thanks. It'll be weird without the hat for a start tho, its kinda becomes part of the public part of me. I wore the same hat every day at work so I didnt draw attention to the damn thing...went to a xmas get together at a pub here one day. not allowed to wear hats in the pub tho, so every 10 minutes I had someone telling me to take it off, the bar staff telling me, one old geezer complained to the pub staff.....anyway Im sure theres a few hat stories to tell.

Ive been wearing a hat for nearly 4 weeks now since the HT and Im sick of it.....how do some of you guys do it wearing it for months and years...would drive me crazy...I went to the gym today and took it off for a minute and it felt strange without it...It feels comforting having it on in public. Tonite for the first time I went out to a takeaway to get some curry without my hat.It was good to be without it. Some gal looked at me while i was waiting and i had to look away,all of a sudden wishing I had my hat...I thought she was staring at my pink forehead... tomorrow I get my daughter to cut my hair...shes a hairdresser. No-one in my family knows. First cut in 8 weeks. I'll have to tell her, make her promise not to say anything.....hope she keeps her mouth shut about it...lol.

Im 3 1/2 weeks since my HT too. Pinkness in the front as well. Its slowly going but still obvious. Ive been wearing a hat since the HT but Im thoroughly sick of it. so I went and bought some mineral foundation powder from the chemist today. I told the girl there that i had some reaction to a hair product that left me with pinkness. she said to avoid making it worse to use a non irritating mineral powder. So I got some. works a treat. just brush it on with the brush...pinkness gone quick as...easy...no more hat for me. My crown is probably pink too but that could just look like too much sun so Im not worried. Also tried a new hair colour for men today. Its called naturstyle and is much better than just for men Ive used in the past. Its ammonia and resourcinol free and includes a shampoo that lengthens the life of the colour to about 6 weeks. I used the blonde which came out light brown but a very natural look. So Im all set to go for xmas. still bald but those new little suckers will be starting to grow....:-) Happy xmas to all who are reading......cheers sunny

I had the money problem too. It was august 09 and I had $3000 in the bank. Just come back from the USA where i'd spent 3 weeks and 7 grand taking 3 of my kids to California and disneyworld in florida...I'd saved for 6 months for that. I live in australia by the way. Anyway, I needed $12000, so i calculated how long it would take me to save up the other $9000 with the maximum amount of cash I could save if i saved every cent except the rent. I worked it out to be end of november. Then I found the two cheapest rate credit cards I could, one was at 4% for a year up to $5000 limit, so I booked my HT, paid the $1000 deposit and I put all my living expenses, as much as I possibly could, food , everything for the next 4 months on the 4% interest card and saved up every bit of cash I could. I was super frugal and there was no luxuries whatsoever...except beer......to keep me sane........:-). I maxed out the cheap rate card to $5000 just before the HT and needed $1000 more for expenses like hotel, food etc in Bangkok so just before I left i used the other card and made a cash withdrawal with that for the $1000. So I had my HT on 25 November and came back with $700 which I put back into the card account. Now i have to pay it back but at 4% for most of it, thats easily do-able and thatll be paid off over slowly at 4% over the next 6 months. Trick is you have to have the income to pay off the cards without being hit with big interest payments long term. I wired $9000 to Dr Path the week before I went (exchange rates were the best then co-incidentally) and only took a couple thousand cash over with me. That was my solution. cheers Sunny

Hi Mich. I look forward to seeing some photos. Im glad you had a good experience with Dr Paths team. I know what you mean about the massage. very nice!! I reckon the prick for the blood test was what hurt the most...:-) It sure was a relaxing day for me I know that. I loved Bangkok and the food there is delicious and cheap. Wish I couldve stayed another week or two. So congrats to you, all the best. Sunny

I added some pics today. Pics are at the 3 week mark showing scar, pinkness in the front, and the crown. You can see the hairs in the crown that havent shed yet. I feel pretty positive about it all right now. I know my hair will always be thin but thats ok for my age. I just wanted a bit of coverage. Ive been back at the gym for 2 weeks now and am pretty well back to where i was but using about 80% of my normal weights. Still wearing a hat to work and when Im in public. No-one says anything anymore. Looking forward to xmas but I guess I'll have the damned hat on cz of the pinkness. The crown could just be a bit of sunburn but the front looks obvious. I meet up with my gf in nz in 5 days. she lives in the USA so havent seen her for 5 months. Shes been supportive of my HT. cheers Sunny

Baldie42 you have a really good attitude. The battle is coming to terms with balding, and it looks like you have even tho you dont like the fact. We all dont like the fact Im sure. i disagree with Bill when he says hair loss sufferers are embracing it. I dont think they are. shaving right down is one choice of the only two choices they have...look balding or be totally bald so you dont look balding...neither is ideal or what you want but you can only work with the choices you have, the money you have, the risks you want to take, and the passion you have to change it. how many balding men would shave down to zero if they had a nice full head of hair...About 1 in 100 maybe and probably only to look tougher, make a statement, or perhaps their head actually suits it, or they just like the look. B42 also makes a good point about the hardman look. I think hair, albeit short or lack of, softens your face, so i think a number 2 or 3 for bald men looks better and dosnt make you look like your trying to disguise that youre balding. I also think if youre greying that if you dye your hair darker youll actually look younger with a short cut than totally bald...just my opinion of course. And if you dress smartly, and are trim and fit, that will be a big boost for confidence. I am interested in the psychology of all this. seems that its acceptable for men to now partake of improvement surgery like women have been for a long time. Cosmetic surgery including Hts is a booming business..its huge now... and seemingly getting cheaper as we earn more. Is it the influence of society that makes us want to look better, to try and look younger than we are, is it that divorce rates are so high that we want to look good to get a new "more attractive" partner.... Hair loss sure hurts our egos. Hurts our confidence with women. makes us feel less desirable, its an identity thing, how we see ourselves and how we think that others see us. especially after having hair then losing it. Sucks big time...I was a Nz bodybuilding champ when long hair was in...look at me now....Ok, so we feel that way becz we know most women would prefer us with a head of hair. If all men were bald at 25 we wouldnt care would we. sure our gals will love us still if we are going bald but they would prefer we had hair I bet, just like we wouldnt want them shaving down if their hair was getting thin. I asked my gf if she would mind if i shaved it off. she said she would prefer not...just go bald naturally was her words..so i had a HT.:-)shes supportive...if it makes me happy shes with me...awesome. So this explosion of shaved heads around the place is interesting..I still think its a way of trying to cover up the balding "look" with another "look" that is trying to be a "fashion" but its only balding guys who seem to be part of this new "fashion". I understand it, I thought about doing it myself but Im a soft person and the harder look is just not me even if my head shape was right. when you have a Ht youre not really trying to be part of a fashion that trys to look like its a choice, youre wanting to slow the balding process down so its gradual and it looks appropriate for your age whatever that is....anyway cheers and to all those shaved guys no offense meant. Bottom line is if your happy with your head thats whats important... Sunny

Im definitely not making fun of anybody. I have no problem with guys shaving their heads. I even briefly thought about it myself but it wouldnt look good on me I dont think. My comment was really about how everybody seems to be doing it becz now they feel like they can hide their baldness along with a whole bunch of guys and not look out of place. A few years ago hardly any one did it...why not?Its an observation about how society changes and influences us, especially in fashion, about how everybody no matter their age or sex or status cares more about their hair/appearance and will do what they can to try and improve it including joining the "shave down" group and shaving down even if it dosnt suit them,and most Ive seen it dosnt, to try and hide what they dont like. Maybe they dont consider a HT becz of the embarrassment, the stigma thats associated with it, like you must be so vain to have it done, the cost too,but probably the embarrassment i would think. I think shaving down suits very few becz of head shape but that dosnt seem to stop anyone. Anyway, I was just making the comment becz every second guy is shaved down now and Im scared ill look weird being the only one left with hair...:-)

Thats true HMO. And I guess many just dont see it as a high priority, but why not just go bald naturally without trying to make it seem like you just decided to go with a new "fashion" that really is a kind of cover up tactic for MBP. I know an HT is expensive but when you see youre going to need it you can save up ahead of time and there are good doctors like mohmand that do a good job at a 1/4 the cost of the most popular docs. It would be interesting to do a survey of women and see what they prefer superficially speaking....the new bald look or a head of hair.....Of course such a survey might prove me wrong...:-)

So many guys are shaving their heads these days. As you get closer you see almost all of them are going bald to some degree. probably 99% of them. Seems to me its just trying to disguise the obvious...youre balding...you have this horseshoe or m shape or other, you dont like it....youll jump at another option...so shave it off and be part of a popular new fashion created by baldies that have no other option...appear balding or shave it off and attempt to mask it under the cloak of " being part of a new fashion". And because so many are doing it, mostly middle aged baldies with issues about their hair I guess, more are encouraged to take part in the new fashion image. no-ones fooled of course. sure some women would chime in and say its sexy and they like it and tout willis etc and whoever, but most of us arnt willis are we. I would say most women, like 80% or so wouldnt think its desirable I wouldnt think... anyway seems like a hassle to me as well, having to shave your dome every few days...

I found a place you can buy dermmatch and toppik in Oz. check out the website of richardshiell. you can also buy toppik easily at the newhair website. I ordered toppik from newhair cz i wanted to try it out before xmas. very easy by credit card online but not cheap. $45 incl postage for the small one. Ill buy off ebay in fiuture i think. cheers

Hi Wes, congrats on your HT, 2010 will be an interesting year for us wont it. I had mine done on 25 Nov with Dr Path in Thailand...4100 grafts. Youll find varying opinions on here about doing weights after a HT. Some say wait 3 months or more. What did your doctor say. Did you have good scalp laxity to begin with. The main worry I spose is that it will contribute to a stretching of the scarline. my doc said to avoid sweating if you can to begin with. So I waited a week, for the grafts to be healed in, and was back to the gym on the 7th day(was I brave or stupid??...:-) i wanted to find out whether weights stressed the scarline and the best time to find that out is in the early stages when its tender. I did a light weight circuit for 20 minutes for the first 4 days with some exercycle and walking on the treadmill as well. after 4 days i split my routine and increased the sets a bit but all with weights 50% of what I normally use but 15 to 20 reps. My advice to you. Dont do any weights for 2 weeks after your HT. Also listen to the other opinions on this site. a search will give you more info. Anyway after 2 weeks do light weights only and gradually build from there as you feel you can. the first week I trained I noticed the sweat stung a bit in the wound. I also noticed a little soreness in one or two spots after the workout, thats why I say wait 2 weeks. But I think you can walk on the treadmill and do exercycle work after 1 week from the HT to stay fit and keep energy levels up. I think that actually aids in recovery. we know that if youre fitter you recover from injury faster. I dont do any lying down exercises, dont do situps, deadlifts, trap exercises, chins, dips. dont hold your breath when you exert. I do seated machine bench press, lat pulldown to the front, seated machine shoulder press(be careful of these, they work the traps too which pulls on the neck area)tri pushdown, bench dips, barbell curls, cable pullover for abs and some calf raises. for thighs I do the stationary bike. Thats it. Im 18 days out from surgery day and I feel pretty good. My weights are up to 60-70% now and I can push it a bit.My fitness is back to where it was. breathing is important, dont hold your breath while you push cz it builds up cranial pressure. You have to consciously think about the breathing. Good luck sunny

Sounds like you have it under control Beachy, enjoy Bangkok. Just keep in mind that a HT is pretty full on surgery. A hair follicle can be 5mm deep so they take a real chunk of flesh out of you, especially with alot of grafts like you need. youll have 15 or more retention stitches and a closely packed running stitch for quite a way around your head. Your head and the cut line will feel really tight, some say numb, for a couple of weeks and will gradually feel more normal but it takes quite a while. The cut line will feel different almost every day as you recover. Sleeping is uncomfortable for the first few weeks. has been for me anyway. So be ready for it. The time you are taking off is a very very good idea. Anyway wish i couldve stayed another week there but not enough leave. Its a fascinating place, cheap hotels, awesome curries and the shopping is ok...not as cheap as I expected tho. MBK is cheaper than Siam centre. So best of luck Beachy. Dr Paths team will look after you well. Sunny

Hi Beachgoer. I agree with stingers on this. You should wait for 7 days at least. You dont want anything firmly fitting on the grafts because if you then get movement in the hairpiece or any kind of catching of the grafts on the it they can come out. You will probably be a bit paranoid about damaging those grafts for the first week at least. I was. I wore a baseball cape very loosely and was careful taking it off. I still wear 2 weeks on. Maybe you could arrange your HT timing so that you can take a full week off at home to begin with to allow the grafts to heal in firmly. cheers Sunny

Hey WB, Ok so youve started scalp exercises.Good. I do think they are VERY important. One of the first things Dr Oravan did when I got there was check my laxity. They consider it important so keep doing it. You may not notice any difference for a month or more. Its a pain doing it. I found it best to do lying down with shoulders supported by a pillow and watching tv. Even then it was tiring on the arms. Ill update pics again in another week. I have to take them myself so getting good pics isnt so easy. Do you have a date for your surgery yet? cheers Sunny

Hi mission, I had my HT with DR Path 2 weeks ago today. Another member called HST had one about 2 months ago but havent heard from him for about 6 weeks. Would like to know how hes going. I have some pics so click on my link if you want to check out what i had done. Im very happy with Dr Path. i was a difficult customer, thin hair, fine hair, large bald area and laxity was just ok. My surgery took 10 hours. Im just hoping for some sort of coverage. Itll always be thin and see through but gotta be better than now. Feel free to ask anything you want. cheers Sunny

Thanks champ. I wonder when that will be. Will the product come from America? I was hoping for somewhere close. I just cant believe i cant get it from here. i'll have to get my gf in the usa to bring some over for me. Im meeting her in nz at xmas, but I was hoping it would be easy and I could buy it here somewhere to try it out. Thanks.