zerocool

The surgeon I’m booked with says my donor is sufficient for the repair and the crown. I also have a great beard and hope to use as much as possible of it. Fingers crossed.

You can find the before pictures earlier in this thread in my posts from Sept 30th 2022.

I’m now 20 months after my transplant. Overall things haven’t improved much since I last posted. The area that was wounded had zero growth. Overall, behind the hairline I look quite patchy considering the number of grafts that were transplanted so while I do look better, I consider this transplant a failure. I’m booked for a 3rd transplant with a top tier surgeon for January in order to get my crown done as well as repair the area behind my hairline. Planning to start topical min to get my crown under control before the transplant as I believe there is hair to save there and my donor is almost fully depleted. Here’s how it looks now. My hair is slightly longer than usual here which helps a bit:

I stared using toppik. Of course it helps a lot but it’s disappointing that I need to use it. I did. They said wait until 12 months and they’ll do a repair if needed. I doubt I’ll go back there for a repair tbh.

6.5 months: Things have been pretty much stagnant since month 5. While I do get complements thanks to a new hairline, the top is patchy and there’s a significant bold spot where the infection was. Overall, a poor result and I will obviously need another a repair. Not at all what I was expecting.

Thanks 😊 Yes, it looks good from the front. Not using fibers yet, as I don’t want to apply it daily so soon after the HT.

5 months: Continuing to improve but still very patchy. Area that was infected is very bare. It’s still early so hoping it will even out.

4 months: Definitely improving on one hand, but still very patchy. The center of the scalp is lagging and the area that was infected (about 2 sq/cm) is almost completely bold. 4 months is still very early so I’m continuing to wait patiently for a more uniform/dense outcome. Bold patch where the infection occurred: Before (top) and +4 months (below) under sunlight:

Does shock loss normally recover more slowly than the growth of newly transplanted hair?

Immediately pre op: Immediately post op:

Another pre op under direct sunlight:

Procedure was with Dr. Maras at HDC. Here are a couple of pre-op photos. These were taken with less harsh lighting conditions compared to the one above.

3.5 months: Things are continuing to improve, but I’m not sure if the shock loss area will ever catch up. I still look worse than I did before this procedure.

It was 3800 grafts. You can see pre and post op pictures earlier in the thread. I wasn’t thinking it’s slow. I think it’s as expected. 🤷🏻‍♂️

3 months update: I’ve been using Minoxi on the shock loss area for the last 6 weeks and it’s beginning to recover. Also seeing some initial signs of growth in other places. Hoping that the main boost will come in in the next month or so as it does for most people.

8.5 weeks update: I began using Rogaine at 6 weeks to speed up the resolution of the shock loss I suffered to the center of my scalp. I plan to apply it 2Xday only to the shock loss area and perform a very gradual withdrawal in about 4-5 months once I've achieved most of the growth. I'm also taking MSM 2g (as per @Melvin- Moderator's shock loss post), Biotin 750mg, and other vitamins I know I'm deficient in like B12, Vitamin E, and Folic Acid (unrelated to the HT). There remains minor redness in the places that were infected, as well as ~20 grafts that didn't shed because I believe they are just too thick and got lodged in the scalp (possibly in the slightly scarred skin tissue). The infection caused my scalp to heal differently compared to my first transplant 6 years ago. At this point I don't see any growth (as expected), but when zooming in you can see lots of small hairs that were initially white and wispy and are gradually turning black. I believe that this is either transplanted hair, shock loss hair, or both, that's now starting to grow (this could also be native miniaturised hair, but I doubt it would have survived the shock loss). If that's true, these hairs will become more visible in 2-4 weeks. Fingers crossed.

I've searched the forum and saw that this question was posted in the past, but without a conclusive answer on what should be done. I seem to have about 20 grafts that are neither growing nor shedding (now 8 weeks post my 3800 FUE). The explanation I found are that these are telogen-phase grafts that are lodged in the scalp and are unable to shed. Should I pull these out to make room for the new hair, or leave them be? "Stuck" grafts marked in green:

Did this work out? I have the same issue.

@Yan bio - here's what worked for me: I got a macro lens for my iPhone (you can probably find one for $10 online). The lens magnifies the scalp and allows me to see the hair growing before it is visible to the naked eye. I'm at 7 weeks post op and already seeing some hair sprouting. First, it was white & wispy, but I can now see that it's gradually turning black and thick. Again, it's very subtle only visible through the macro lens and not to the naked eye. I was looking for this reassurance since I suffered from infection and major shock loss and now look much worse than I did pre-op. To see these signs of life was reassuring and I feel confident that the growth will start being visible in 1-2 months, as expected. Hope this helps.

Can you post pictures before and after the buzz cut?

Anyone?

At 6 weeks post op, I'm seeing (via camera only) a lot of vellus hair primarily in the same area that had shock loss. Could this be shocked hair that is now re-growing, or transplanted? If so, how soon until these become visible to the naked eye?

I only plan to apply it in the shock loss area, which has no more than 40 hairs. I'm not concerned about a shed as I don't think it could look much worse than it does right now. More concerned about what would happen to my transplanted hairs one I stop minoxi in a few months. Btw, @Gatsby - thanks for your involvement and support. I see you're very active in the community, and it's really helpful.

What would happen to transplanted hairs once I stop minoxi? I know that any gains to native hairs will be lost, but is that true for transplanted hairs too?

5 weeks update: I've experienced shock loss to previously transplanted hair (i.e. hair from HT #1 has now shed). The growth is patchy overall (which is fine, I guess), but the center of my scalp is quite bold, and it seems to match the same area that had the infection. Below are photos from 7 days post (infected), from today, and before the 2nd transplant. Q: I'm ok with temporary shock loss. This is something I was aware of before the procedure. However, how likely is it that the infection caused permanent shock loss? 7 days post: . 5 weeks post: Six years after first transplant; before second transplant: