ablurker

6.5 months in and it's grown in enough for a haircut. There's still a bit of a bald spot in the middle that shows up if I'm not careful how I style things. Hoping the next six months will fill that in. The donor has fully healed and there's no sign whatsoever of the extraction at all. It's still pretty thick too.

Been a while since my last update. I'm about 5.5 months in and it's still a bit thin for my liking but it's definitely coming in a week or two at a time. It really depends on the angle and lighting, but I'm also trying to let it grow out again after I trimmed it approximately 3 weeks ago. The trim was pretty much essential because the other areas of my head were just so long compared to the new growth. The first pic is a "bad angle" and the second pic is a "good angle". I don't wear a hat out in public because I'm feeling pretty good about how it looks compared to my pre-surgical hair. I'm also struggling a bit with how the new hair is a bit curlier than the old hair, but I think that'll disappear as the hair matures. Both of these pics are unstaged. I didn't put any effort into carefully stying anything, and it definitely looks better if I take a pic right after a shower. I'

Things are definitely thickening up. There's a few patches are seeing as much growth as I like, but I'm hoping those are just dormant a little longer. Considering how much growth there is week-to-week, I'm feeling optimistic about the end results. This is 3 months + 1 week. I'm dying for a haircut but it's going to be tough to get this current mess looking good until it thickens in a few more places.

Finally at the 3 month mark! I'm watching things so closely it feels like it's been longer. You can start to see it thickening around the hairline. The redness is mostly faded but occasionally flares up. I can't exactly put a finger on what triggers it. Lots of ingrowns too. This is one of the least ingrown days I've had the last couple of weeks. I really can't wait to see the hair here grow out more. Every couple of weeks I'm doing a rough buzz of my whole head to keep things from getting too long everywhere else.

I take daily pictures so I can scroll back a few weeks and see the change. This is a sloooow part.

That's looking good for two months, wow.

What a difference two weeks makes... Still too many bald-ish patches to really go hatless or get a haircut yet. I'm occasionally trimming the the hair to keep it from getting too crazy long as well. Redness has dropped quite a bit and it's more of a pinkish hue around the hairline that gets red when I shower. The numbness in the scalp is improving slowly. I expected that the nerves would heal front to back or vice versa, but instead they appear to be healing from the side. The numb patch is basically a strip down the middle of the top of my head now. I am really temped to have a barber do a buzz at a 3 all over to clean up the length but I'm doing my best to stay patient and just "let it grow".

I sure hope I've reached peak-ugly-duckling about two months in... I can understand why you just don't see that many pictures from this phase. 24/7 hat time! Redness is fading quite a bit, but sometimes it's pretty evident as seen below. As the hairs grow in you get this bonus redness as well: like teething for your hair. See everyone in a month!

I thought I read somewhere that hairs can be implanted to specifically soften scar tissue and restore skin function. This small study from 2014 suggests that 65-95% of FUE grafts can survive in scar tissue: https://www.pulsus.com/scholarly-articles/follicular-unit-transplantation-for-the-treatment-of-secondary-cicatricial-alopecia.pdf (it's a small study and some of the patients had beard/eyebrow grafts rather than scalp)

Update from about five weeks in. The shedding started about two weeks ago and all that beautiful transplant hair is popping out with the little telltale J shape. It's officially ugly duckling season for the next few months. I got the go-ahead to get a hair cut (apparently waiting two weeks is all Dr Hasson wants) and I'm considering buzzing it down while things start to grow out. Any recommendations for ugly phase haircuts? The photo below isn't a flattering angle, but it really shows the contrast between day 1 hair (the front), day 2 hair (just behind), and my existing hair on top.

He did the hairline and incisions. The nurses did the remainder, as far as I remember. The staff was excellent: even the nurses doing the hair washes felt extremely qualified.

It's entirely possible that I am too passive of a patient and others who have more active interest in the details of the surgery, and that the pain was just because I'm more sensitive and I'd have that painful experience with any doctor. I don't think that it should discourage anyone from looking at Dr Hasson. In fact I'd still recommend him on my experience. I just wanted a fully transparent review of the good and bad. The results so far have been amazing and I realize it's a lot of money but a high likelihood of an excellent result was part of the reason why I chose him.

A small update from approx four weeks later: no major shedding yet, the redness and skin damage have pretty much entirely disappeared. I think I have about 80-90% of the hairs that were transplanted in place. Not a lot of info out there on why shedding wouldn't be happening yet.

I'm more of a person that finds a doctor that is highly recommended and goes in trusting they'll do an excellent job. I think the clinic could do more with discussing the procedure beforehand (and as others pointed out, would be nice to have a follow-up). We never really figured out the issue with the pain. While it was unpleasant, now that it's almost a month in the past I can look back and say it was worth it. I may have just been an extra sensitive person on the pain scale. I cannot say for sure because this is my only real surgery in my life (aside from wisdom teeth that I was knocked out for). I can say that I'm very happy with the results so far. Looking forward to seeing it further down the line

My updates will probably slow down here as the shedding and regrowth phase starts, but things are looking good two weeks in. The area in front that was transplanted on the first day appears to be growing, but part of me wonders if that's just the graft settling in and and inflammation going down (revealing more of the hair shaft). If it has grown, it's not nearly as fast as the hair on the side has grown in the same amount of time. There's a bit of redness in front, but I've been taking my hat off indoors and enjoying the look of a full hairline and nobody bats an eye. If I had my hair buzzed again I don't think anyone would see anything. Any ideas when I should expect the shedding to start? I keep thinking I'll take a shower one day and it'll just be a hair massacre. Does it happen slowly or all at once?