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7 month update, not sure if there’s much point in continuing these as it seems like I’ve pretty much gotten near to what will be the final density. Overall very happy with my results from Dr. Nader! Planning on continuing to grow my hair out now that the hairline is solid enough. 

Thanks for the response— sorry that I took a minute to get back with an update! Here’s what it looks like at a little over 6 months, both inside and in sunlight. Nothing much to update beyond the pictures. Haven’t trimmed my hair at all in about 2.5 months. 

A little late but here’s my 5 month update. Hair is continuing to grow out as expected, not much to say really. My transplanted hairs are shorter than my preexisting hairs, so I may have to get a haircut at some point to compensate for this so the length is more uniform. 

Looking great so far, especially in the pic from a distance. 

4 month update: the transplanted hair has been growing in pretty well lately. It’s definitely shorter than my other hairs since it took some time to recover whereas they immediately started regrowing, but it’s thickening up and the hairline looks a lot better throughout the day. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get super high quality pics with my front camera but hopefully you can see the hairline design a bit better now that it’s long enough for me to style/pull away with a comb. 

Looking at my last update makes me realize how much fuller it is now haha— it’s hard to tell day-to-day. 

3 month update: redness is gone from the transplanted area, and I’m starting to see regrowth there over the last week or two. I think applying aloe vera and hydrocortisone helped a lot with reducing inflammation. Not fully dense in the transplanted region of course but a lot of new hairs sprouting. 

3 hours ago, SoonToBeThomasShelby said:

Looking forward to your next update. Did you do or apply anything to your scalp to help with the scalp texture? Did you have dandruff in the area too? I wonder if it's cuz I have been applying coconut oil and rosemary oil once a week. 

 

And yeah you're right re: dermarolling. Def won't be doing that anytime soon. Maybe at like the 6 month mark

I used a combination of aloe vera (super cheap, you can buy a while leaf for like a dollar and it lasts weeks) and hydrocortisone to reduce redness and mitigate the texture. I’ve also been shampooing with Nizoral every other day which helps with the dandruff for sure. 

I’ll post an update today or tomorrow— I think the 2.5 month mark is where my regrowth really started 😄

I got a transplant with Nader about a month before you so I’m a few weeks ahead. I did experience a weird texture on the transplanted skin which only went way within the last 2-3 weeks. 

RE your dermarolling comment: I’m 3 months in now and I cannot imagine dermarolling anywhere near the transplanted hair right now. Seems like it would be very painful and counterintuitive while it’s healing. 

That said, everything looks great from your pics so far! You have a lot to look forward to in the next few months. 

2 hours ago, BTBizz said:

Result looks good so far. Hairline design looks staggered and natural.

Any safety concerns in Reynosa? Although it sounds like you might've just hopped across the border for the procedure and then hopped right back.

Not OP but I also had a transplant with Dr. Nader recently and his driver is with you the whole time in Reynosa, so it’s totally fine. Takes a bit of time to cross back into the US depending on what time you finish surgery but other than that it’s pretty easy. 

9 minutes ago, SoonToBeThomasShelby said:

When did your shedding start?

Looking back at my pictures, I'd say about four or five weeks in is when the shedding started. I'm still seeing some hairs fall out now, but it's all part of the process.

(Nearly) 2-month update: The ugly duckling phase is definitely in full swing now-- I've shed a decent amount of the transplanted hairs and now I think the disparity between the slow growth of the ones that remain and my previously-existing hairs makes this more noticeable. There's also some lingering redness and a few pimples, which I've been using hydrocortisone 1% and/or aloe vera to address. I also recently (carefully) got a fade on the sides and back, so you can see how the donor region is holding up (pretty well I think; the lighting and angle make it look worse than it is). The last photo is in more normal lighting.

14 hours ago, Mike10 said:

Looks clean and I like the design. How old are you  now?

25

Hey all, after a lot of research and time spent lurking these forums I decided to go with a FUE with Dr. Luis Nader in McAllen TX / Reynosa MX. I would say I was probably a Norwood 2.5 and had noticed hair loss since high school/early college, hopped on Finasteride about 6 years ago and Minoxidil 4 years ago which both pretty much stabilized my loss. Tried a variety of other things like Nizoral, microneedling, and essential oils to no real discernible result. I really just wanted to fix my hairline which had already receded before I decided to get on Finasteride and was pretty asymmetrical in its recession.

I'm located in Texas so after reading all the great things about Nader on here, I opted to go with him as I could just drive down the day before and then drive back the day after (versus sitting in a 14 hour flight from Turkey with a swollen head). After filling out the form on his website, his assistant Brenda contacted me within a few days (I was surprised since it seems like many have had a ton of difficulty getting in contact with their clinic in the first place-- not the case for me). I will say the communication was a bit asynchronous and there were a few times where I had to send an email twice, but for the most part it wasn't necessarily hard to get a response from them. I did leave Nader a voicemail one time on the number he has posted to his website which got a pretty quick response.

Once you actually get to the day of the surgery, everything is great. The hotel is included in the cost of the HT, as well as a ride into his clinic in Reynosa from Mr. Santos (he doesn't speak much English-- he was surprised that I lived in Texas and wasn't conversational in Spanish haha). Getting through the border leaving the US is a breeze. After arriving at the clinic, you meet with Nader for about an hour just to talk about everything regarding your hair-- your reason for scheduling the HT, your history with your hair and things you've tried before, your lifestyle, and hair goals for the HT. We worked on designing the hairline, and he does a great job making sure you're happy with it but it's something realistic that's going to look natural. After that was done, they prepped me for surgery, buzzed my head (he actually said we didn't need to at all, but I preferred it), and began the extraction. This was the easiest part; I honestly fell asleep for the majority of it. Then they break for lunch, which is also included, and afterwards begin with the implantation. He has a TV with Netflix set up and hands you the remote, so despite the slight pain of injecting the local anesthesia (and the pain of implantation when it starts to wear off before you ask him to put in more), this time goes by pretty quickly as well. He's there the whole time extracting the grafts and implanting them into the regions behind the new hairline you've designed.

My graft breakdown:

1s: 317

2s: 209

3s: 666

4s: 172

Total: 1364

Cost: $4224 (about $1500 less than he originally quoted me at, but we ended up going with fewer grafts and this takes into account the 10% discount when paying with cash)

Nader commented that I was pretty lucky with my donor hair and I agree-- he was able to grab a lot of juicier grafts to use. Excited to see the final result. I'm now at the two week mark since my HT and was able to get all the scabs off by around day 10 or 11. Now just some redness remains, but the donor area has recovered pretty well already. Preparing mentally for the shed that will occur in a few weeks.