jfally

3 week update with pics in rudest natural light possible. The shedding has been real. Twas nice while it lasted lol! 

Shedding started at about day 12 and a little bit of acne here and there. 
 

Donor area looks great IMO. 
 

Scabs 99% gone. 
 

Haircut at day 18 with a guard (temple fade/taper) to clean up neck line and forward from ears, not touching donor area. 

2 hours ago, CaliforniaLiving said:

Following! Work looks really clean, congratulations!. Since its the crown I wouldn't expect much until after 6 months, but even then 12 months seems to be the standard (vs frontal 1/3rd and mid scalp).

Can you share what the cost was for the 2900 grafts? 

Thank you!

And yep, I'm ready for a long drawn out period of mentally 'clicking refresh' on that mirror for the next 12 months lol.

My pricing was as of Oct '22, I know he's increased since then for the new year, I'm not sure what current pricing is but I know I've seen it posted here on the forum if you search.

13 minutes ago, j_abouassi said:

Ah ok. I reached out to them by email and the consultation from around a few weeks ago close to a month ago and no response just yet. Left the voicemail to the number on their site. What form of communication worked for you when reaching out to them?

My initial email was the fastest to be replied to, after that it took a couple weeks in between.

It's Dr N and Brenda doing all of the replies, and he said they get over 1k emails per week. And he's in his clinic all day every day doing procedures.

Include "Follow Up # 1 (2,3,4, etc)" in Subject Line when sending follow up emails. This will bump you to the top and lets Dr N and Brenda know you are serious and not a tire kicker like many that inquire. This is what Dr Nader himself recommends for those inquiring.

Leave a voicemail once every few days or so, same deal, it'll show your serious.

15 hours ago, j_abouassi said:

How long after your initial communication with his clinic did he respond to you?

Took a few days initially. 
 

1500 to the crown, in that above pic, will offer light-ish density. Is that correct/what you're going for?

The #'s above for crown and mid seem to both offer to help but not provide full density, is this being done with a 3rd HT certain?

Man I hate to see you move forward knowing meds won't be part of your regimen going forward, I think you may really regret it later down the line when nature continues to run it's course.

Worth going to a Dermatologist for peace of mind?

I left not day immediately following surgery, but one day after that, so second day after procedure.

Dr Nader let me know he strongly encourages if at all possible for first day post procedure to be as restful as possible so stress and random chances for head bumps etc are as low as possible.

Flying home on day 2, it was a total non issue.

I was pretty stressed thinking everyone was going to be staring at me constantly and truly, nobody batted an eye. That was for 2 different flight legs and one plane changeover.

Dr N also said airplane lavatories are about the most bacteria-ridden place on earth so highly recommended I spray anywhere other than that during the travel, which I did (very easy to do discretely even right in your seat).

Unreal awesome!!!

A very highly regarded HT surgeon we often see here on the forum is giving speaking on Post Finasteride Syndrome at a conference within the next year.

I'm hoping the slides or even the presentation is made available so we can all read the latest science/findings.

Definitely a polarizing subject seemingly (in my limited research) more full of anecdotes than science.

Day 9  -

scabs all gone  

bit of itching in donor area but seemingly we’re recovered well 👌🏽👌🏽

Now to wait patiently for 4-18 months and “not think about it “ lol 🫣☕️🤳🏼

26 minutes ago, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

@Pelange,

Any non-surgical hair loss treatment that you take will have to be taken as long as you want and expect to continue benefiting from it. In other words, yes, you will have to take oral minoxidil for life unless you want to lose whatever benefit you are acquiring from it.

I will say this however.  In my honest opinion, topical minoxidil is likely far more effective than oral minoxidil.  So unless there is a reason why you don’t want to or can’t use topical minoxidil, I would certainly consider topical over oral.

The reason I feel this way is ultimately, Rogaine/minoxidil is said to “stimulate growth“ of the hair follicles.  Also, one of the cautions of topical minoxidil is to wash your hands and make sure that the minoxidil stays on your scalp as it could facilitate and exacerbate the growth of unwanted hair in other areas that the minoxidil touches.

As a result, I think it goes to demonstrate that minoxidil works best when coming in direct contact with the hair follicles.  When you apply minoxidil topically, it absorbs into the skin directly and into the hair follicle.

But when you take minoxidil orally, it has to go through the digestive system, into the bloodstream and connect with hair follicles on the way through the bloodstream.  In that sense, how does one determine exactly how much minoxidil ingested actually connects with the hair follicles that really need it?

So all that to say, I’m not suggesting that oral minoxidil doesn’t work at all - just that it will likely take more oral minoxidil than topical and that exactly how much connects and interacts with the desired dying hair follicles is unknown.

Anuway, I just wanted to add my two cents. I hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

Interesting sentiment from a Dr.

I agree with your thoughts/reasoning, but I've never seen a Dr. share these til this post.

Anecdotally in myself, and in all my research and browsing, Oral wins out over Top, but for reasons you describe, the lack of precision + no real way of knowing how much is actually working where desired... makes like it seem like it shouldn't be as effective as it sure is.

I started it EOD and after 4 months or so moved to daily. 
 

No sides. 
 

Paired with 5mg Oral Min daily it’s a super effective combo in my experience. 

Day 8 post shower, little bit of Aloe/Vit E Oil hence the shine 

Scabs 99% gone, shedding def already started which had me worried but reading seems to be not uncommon. Zero bleeding so no fear of any lost grafts. 

(not a Dr)

That seems higher than where your lymph node is, but I could be wrong. An in person checkup would most def be recommended.

I had a couple cysts randomly pop up on my head in HS, no fun at all, sorry dude.

I'm one week post FUE myself so I know how much stress there is already, dealing with this on top seems unfair, especially if it's just a totally random unrelated thing.

2 hours ago, RTC said:

Retweet - does anybody have any thoughts on this? Particularly for wrestling

Having done far too much research/reading over the last couple years, currently one week post FUE, and having grown up wrestling....I'd likely wait at least 5-6 weeks.

Knowing the grafts are secure at 10-14 days can def have us feeling ready to get back to life, but between the financial and emotional investment a procedure entails, I'd def err on the side of caution/patience to get max return.

Depending on what you were drilling you may be perfectly fine with zero issues 3-4 weeks post, or it could be the one time you end up doing a bridge or certain roll where you put torsion directly on your scalp just right and end up compromising something that was in the later stages of healing but not quite yet 100%.

Also, if it were me, I'd probably be hyperaware of my scalp/favoring it, so it'd impact my movement, and any time in a situation like that I usually end up hurting myself awkwardly bc I was favoring something when I should've just not been training. 

(I'm also a worst case-worrier, so do with that what you will)

I can't speak for HCM/no experience, but I'm a week removed from my procedure with Dr. Nader.

I will say persistence pays off with Dr. Nader.

He gets hundreds and hundreds of inquiry emails weekly, and he and just one of his assistants work thru them.

The advice I read, and what I did last year, was to put "Attempt # 2 (3, 4, 5, etc)" in the subject line.

This will get noticed easier, it'll show you're serious and following thru so not a potential tire kicker like many others, etc.

I went that route and after 3 emails a couple weeks apart, Brenda replied and we got things firmed up.

I'd also consider leaving voicemails in the same manner spread however far apart.

As of last week, he let me know he's booked thru Sept '24, if that matters to you.

1 hour ago, JacobScrim said:

Thanks so much! I feel abit like I'm firmly in that "fear" stage I've read about where you just keep convincing yourself it won't work! Reassuring to know it's looking okay.. appreciate the response! 

I'm 6 days post procedure, promise you I know that fear emotion well right now haha!

Your donor looks thin/sparse, in my opinion.

You've got alot of real estate up top to cover and very limited donor supply.

If you relocate hair from the donor into the hairline and then all the way back, sure you could get some up there, but I feel like density would be so low you'd wonder why you chose to do it.

Devil's advocate though, you have ideal contrast between hair/skin color so that you can likely get by with much much less than someone like me with very fair complexion and jet black hair which would make my density in your situation post HT look like nothing.

It's like relocating and planting an annual flower at the end of season.

May be able to enjoy it for a very short time, but that's not the 'real thing', and it'll soon wither. 

Next season will begin growing the real thing, you'll lose the current flower quickly.

Stay faithful though as the bulb (graft) has been planted

Looks like it'll be terrific man!

Between immediate post op pics really showing placement, and your 10 week pics already sprouting, I think you're going to be sitting pretty, and early.

Density should be killer with that # into that area based on the pics.

https://gxsciences.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/TrichoTest-Brochure-GX-Providers-v06-digital.pdf

https://gxsciences.com/trichotest/

I don't believe this indicates whether Px needs oral/topical, moreso their issues and recommended solutions on the whole.

Day 6, 20, mins post shower. 
 

I have a double cowlick in the crown which Dr Nader invited the challenge of recreating. You can kinda see one of the whirls he created in crown pic.

If you click my name and check out my surgery report post, you can see what almost 3k grafts all to my crown looked like density-wise.

Granted my crown bald spot was much barer and larger than yours, but the visual + #'s for reference may be helpful. 

1 minute ago, Squid3456 said:

FUE.  ~1,700 grafts.  A few hundred on hairline.  The rest sort of throughout my head.  Have been thinning for the last 5 years.  Have been on fin for a little over a year

Fin for a year + is great news man.

Highly encourage you to consider Minoxidil, it really may help beef up some of that thinning native hair.

I'd agree with others that what we can see dispersed mid/rear/crown is likely going to be negligible visually, but the great news of them having them done so little back there is your donor should still have a decent amount left. That said, we don't know your donor situation.

How's it look and what did they tell you about your donor for this procedure and for future procedures?

If this were me, I'd hop on Min (ideally Oral if tolerated) and start researching very game surgeons for diffuse thinners if goal was a 2nd HT done the best way possible.

-

My fear for 1700 spread between hairline and then all the way back is that by trying to spread a little everywhere, they did no real justice to any of the areas.

Details on your procedure

Graft count?

Px history?