MarkEinstein

Folks, I'm about 7 months in and have been noticing that the hairs on one temple area are coming in curly and the ones on the other side are mostly straight (a bit wavey). I have straight fine hair and these hairs on the left temple are wirey and coarse and well, curly.. They stand out and look strange. I'm becoming quite disappointed and worried but hoping that as they grow they will straighten out. But it doesn't look to be happening. Anybody with that experience? What would cause this? Damage to the folicle during disection? Thanks...

Folks, I'm about 7 months in and have been noticing that the hairs on one temple area are coming in curly and the ones on the other side are mostly straight (a bit wavey). I have straight fine hair and these hairs on the left temple are wirey and coarse and well, curly.. They stand out and look strange. I'm becoming quite disappointed and worried but hoping that as they grow they will straighten out. But it doesn't look to be happening. Anybody with that experience? What would cause this? Damage to the folicle during disection? Thanks...

I also had a 1300 graft procedure done about 5 months ago with Dr. Charles. Yeah, the valium really didn't do anything for me either and I was so nervous that I made it worse than it really was. Maybe 5 valium next time will do it. But Dr. Charles does some really good work. He sutures up the donor site like he could do it in his sleep and the scar he leaves is so hard to find you'd have to know what you were looking for to find it. The ocean water helps and surely doesn't hurt. And plus, heading to the beach with a cap on and taking a few easy dips is relaxing and feels great. Hell, two days later I was at MGM Studios riding the Tower of Terror (although I'd advise a little more rest)

I must say, I originally met with one of the coalition doctors and found numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 ( but didn't really flash the photos at me much ) and 11 to be true. That is what turned me off from this doctor who seemed to have a great reputation and credentials. But my gut told me to run. I continued my research and eventually decided to travel out of town to Dr. Charles in Boca. I'm 5 months post-op and still anticipating more sprouting but have no doubt that things will continue to turn out great. Best scar line ever. Can't even find it. Good post.

You said it Mahair. Once you've decided to take the plunge, as with any surgery, you have to commit to doing the most thorough research you can do. This forum makes it a heck of alot easier to gather information. I feel so much for the guys who have had problems with procedures because I know how freaked I was even though I had picked a well recommended doctor with good training and positive patient results. Once you've narrowed it down to one of these fine doctors, at least you've mitigated most of the risk. At that point, to me, its just a matter of making sure that the actual procedure is carefree and painless and one event that you'll remember in a positive light.

Trachound, I had my procedure done a couple months back with Dr. Charles. The only thing I regret so far is not insisting that I feel 100% comfortable before we got started. I took the valium offered (4 x 5mg) which unless you're a super wuss isn't going to blow your mind or anything. I was super nervous. Blood pressure and heart-rate through the roof! I was not settled down as we got started and nerves only exacerbate things. I think the lidocaine injections were the most painful. The cutting of the donor strip was just, um, kinda nasty sounding. The incicisions for graft placement were nothing (unless the lidocaine starts to where off, then you'll feel a sting or so). Here's my take. You're dropping a few thousand dollars and this is 2005 for Pete's sake! There's no sense in feeling any pain or nervousness and all of that can be controlled easily with meds. Everyone's different. If you're nervous and you don't feel 100% cool with starting, ask for more meds until you get right. You're customer.

I'm 5 weeks post op myself and its not so much been the waiting as it is the second guessing about the decision. It's definitely been a more emotional experience than I would have guessed. I remember being so pumped right after surgery. Seeing the shadow of the new hairline was cool. It was hard to see those pups fall out en masse about two weeks out. The redness is finally starting to blend in. The tightness is gone. The itching donor scar is gone. The weird sensations in remote untouched parts of the scalp is gone. Everywhere there were graft set there was a large amount of shock loss, but I think the worst is over. I suppose I was a nutjob to think that it would all be cleared up in two weeks and then it would be back to normal and I could just forget about it until January. Good to know there are plenty of other folks out there having the same thoughts. And the majority of the folks out there show really good results in the end. Here's hoping for majority status! See you in 2 more months.

Fellas, I have a question on shock loss. I haven't appeared to lose any (maybe a couple) hairs from the grafts (in fact, they are actually longer than the first day they were in) but I'm definitely seeing long hairs across the top of my head come out in my hand/brush at an increased rate. This is day 7. I did not expect to see anything like this til later on. This kinda sucks... any comments?

I'm coming up on 32.

right

left

Here are some day 6 pics. All you guys with experience please let me know if everything looks ok for this timeframe. Does the density look right? To me some areas seem a bit sparse. Is that me overanalyzing again?

Fellas, I'm in to late day 4 and have very little actual bloody scabs but just a bunch of "crusting". But I've seen a few hairs of the new grafts actually come out. They aren't being pulled out with any wet tissues but have come out clean with no "root" or anything but a clean tip on both ends. Is this normal? Is this just a hair that was nearly time to come out anyway and is going ahead and shedding due to the shock it's taken by being moved? This is quite unnerving. Is this normal or should I be freaked? To late for the second part... thanks.

Fellas, I'm in to late day 4 and have very little actual bloody scabs but just a bunch of "crusting". But I've seen a few hairs of the new grafts actually come out. They aren't being pulled out with any wet tissues but have come out clean with no "root" or anything but a clean tip on both ends. Is this normal? Is this just a hair that was nearly time to come out anyway and is going ahead and shedding due to the shock it's taken by being moved? This is quite unnerving. Is this normal or should I be freaked? To late for the second part... thanks.

You know, I'm sure every one of us has thought the same things about this whole ordeal. I am grateful that we live in a time where the technology has advanced far enough to get down to the folicular level and achieve completely natural results. And I've seen many great pictures and outcomes. But even with all of that, you still have doubts and worries that things won't come out right. That the grafts look too far apart or whatever. Where did all those 1300 go? ;-) But I think its all good and normal to think those kind of thoughts. I mean, we are talking something you'll live with the rest of your life (well, unless you go get laser hair removal) Now begins a fairly long waiting game. Good luck on your surgery. If you're nervous about the actual procedure just ask that they let you get good and ripped on Valium or whatever they'll offer before you get going. You surely won't die from a good 20-25 mg but you'll be good and relaxed. Funny, I wonder if any Docs ever use a little NO2 on patients to get them ready? I know at my dentist, after five minutes sucking on that I'm ready to let them pull out my toenails if they want. Tomorrow will be the third day post-op and I believe things are progressing as normal. The graft sites have started to ooze a little serous fluid. Just a few have actual scabs. Starting to swell again a bit in the forehead and will apply ice shortly. The donor scar is fine. No pain, just tenderness at the corners of the incision. That's where you'll have the most discomfort and scabbing. Like I said, please ask any questions. I'm certainly glad to share. I wouldn't be here in FL if it weren't for the research I did on this site.

We're now at about the 41st hour since the procedure and things are feeling a little more "solid". Meaning the grafts feel alot more secure. A few spots still have a bloody scab but most are all fairly clean. Sorry there's no pictures. I know how much that helped me when folks posted pics. Last night I did have a minor problem. I was trying to move some of my hair out of the way that had plastered to my forehead and inadvertently pulled on a graft. That sucker popped out and bled like a mother. I was pissed but it was just one hair and I certainly couldn't put it back in. Pressure on the bleeding stopped it quickly and the lesson was learned. I'm sure in the next day or two the grafts will be alot more solidly in place and the tippy toeing around them won't be as necessary. I don't have any swelling. Still putting ice on my forehead and donor scar frequently. The scar area looks really good and clean. I really think it will become fairly invisible with time. One more dunk in the Atlantic today should really progress the healing. Please feel free to drop me any questions.

Yesterday I wrapped up my first session with Dr. Charles here in Boca. My wife and I flew down and made a vacation of it all. 1300 some odd grafts to the frontal hairline, temples and into the corners. Here's my experience. Hope it helps others. DAY 1 The day started around 9:15am. I was the only patient for the day. Nevertheless, I was NERVOUS AS HELL! Now, I wasn't so much worried about pain but the idea of the scalpel and sissors slicing out chunks of skull skin did freak me out a little. But I was worried about how this would turn out in the long run. If I could comfortably hide the procedure until things came in. Was this the right thing to do? I'm paying large sums of money to have something permanently altered on my body by people who I just met. So let's just say I was in need of seditives.. lots of them. Now that I'm in to the second day, I'm really happy. Strangely enough I'm already looking forward to future sessions that I might need if the hairline continues to creep back. Thankfully it's a fairly slow creeper. I'm 32 and I've crept back about 1cm at the "widow's peak" but probably 1 1/2" in the corners. So this forms deep v-shaped acreage and that pattern of change has kept constant. It's pretty amazing the things they can do these days. The ability to alter your hairline this way is even more exciting to me than I thought it would be. AND IT'S PERMANENT! No more windy day worries or swimming pool fears. This is going to be cool. But anyway, on to the procedure. I was surprised at my reaction to the lidocaine used for local anesthesia. I'd never had problems with that type of local anesthetic before but I'd also never had this much at one time. Either way, lidocaine generally is mixed with a little epinephrin. Epinephrine (adrenaline) is mixed with the lidocaine because it prolongs the anesthetic effects of lidocaine and helps control bleeding. In any case, I was so nervous before the injections I could feel my heart beating and for some reason the 4 Valium (20mg)I was given just didn't seem to do a thing. So I think the lidocaine/epi was just a little much for me. I got a little naseous and dizzy and sweaty and we had to stop or slow down several times. Everyone was really nice about it thought. It was totally unexpected to me but it happens to some people. I think that next time I just need to add a few more Valium to the mix and hope to get to the point where I really don't care. That was the worst part. After I was completely numbed Dr. Charles began to remove the donor strip. That was little strange. Crunching kind of sounds you hear through your skull but you don't feel a thing. During the suturing I felt a little tugging but no pain. Soon the donor harvesting was over and I watched a little TV. (btw, my wife is an RN for a group a plastic surgeons and she was really impressed at how well the suture looked on the donor incision. She is used to seeing them everyday and is certain this one will heal nearly invisibly. Dr. Charles appears to have excellent skills). Anyway, I digress. You'd think that Valium would have put me out but I was wide awake. The team was working on preparing the grafts while Dr. Charles started making the incisions for the new grafts. Again, that was a strange feeling. You don't feel anything but you hear the "crunching" sounds of the knife going into the skin. Totally painless, just weird. We ate lunch and after that the team began placing the grafts. Again, totally painless. By 2:30 we were wrapping up. Dr. Charles came in a placed more incisions to shore everything up and more grafts were inserted. The right side of the donor site started coming back to life and I could feel it. Dr. Charles shot a little more longer lasting lidocaine in there and everything was fine. We consulted for a while to go over the post-op instructions then we were off to the hotel. I started slow on the pain pills once the local anesthesia started wearing off. It wasn't major but you knew something had been done. I took about 2 1/2 total and started to feel a bit sick to my stomach and should have realized this beforehand but I guess I had forgotten. Most opioids (hydrocodone, codeine, oxcodone) tend to upset my stomach. That's probably the most common side-effect most people experience. Itching is another. But we called Dr. Charles and he graciously called in a prescription for Darvocet for me which I have no problem taking. I took one and a sleeping pill and I was out. Woke up in the same position. DAY 2 I woke up today and felt a good bit better. I took one Darvocet and sat around a bit then we went to get lunch. Legal Seafood rocks! We spent the day around the Mall then around 5:30p headed to the Beach. Yes the Beach. There is nothing like good ocean water to heal wounds fast. I had no pain at all. I hit the surf a bit and dunked the ole head a few times and let it soak. The late afternoon sun was low and we caught some rays for a while then headed back. Right now I've taken no more pain medication and feel fine. Just a bit tender in places but certainly not anything you could call pain. It's really cool to see those little hairs. I'm going to have some serious patience problems though as I wait for them to grow. I surely hope they don't all fall out but the odds are probably against me. The waiting game is truely going to be the hardest part. All in all, this was a fine decision. I do believe this will change alot of things for the better. I do hope they do find a way to clone folicular units one day. Then we could all have as much as we wanted and you could get 6000 in a day if you wanted since there'd be no time used to carve up the grafts.. ah, dreaming again.. Thanks again to Dr. Charles and his team. I'm sure I'll be back again.

Yesterday I wrapped up my first session with Dr. Charles here in Boca. My wife and I flew down and made a vacation of it all. 1300 some odd grafts to the frontal hairline, temples and into the corners. Here's my experience. Hope it helps others. DAY 1 The day started around 9:15am. I was the only patient for the day. Nevertheless, I was NERVOUS AS HELL! Now, I wasn't so much worried about pain but the idea of the scalpel and sissors slicing out chunks of skull skin did freak me out a little. But I was worried about how this would turn out in the long run. If I could comfortably hide the procedure until things came in. Was this the right thing to do? I'm paying large sums of money to have something permanently altered on my body by people who I just met. So let's just say I was in need of seditives.. lots of them. Now that I'm in to the second day, I'm really happy. Strangely enough I'm already looking forward to future sessions that I might need if the hairline continues to creep back. Thankfully it's a fairly slow creeper. I'm 32 and I've crept back about 1cm at the "widow's peak" but probably 1 1/2" in the corners. So this forms deep v-shaped acreage and that pattern of change has kept constant. It's pretty amazing the things they can do these days. The ability to alter your hairline this way is even more exciting to me than I thought it would be. AND IT'S PERMANENT! No more windy day worries or swimming pool fears. This is going to be cool. But anyway, on to the procedure. I was surprised at my reaction to the lidocaine used for local anesthesia. I'd never had problems with that type of local anesthetic before but I'd also never had this much at one time. Either way, lidocaine generally is mixed with a little epinephrin. Epinephrine (adrenaline) is mixed with the lidocaine because it prolongs the anesthetic effects of lidocaine and helps control bleeding. In any case, I was so nervous before the injections I could feel my heart beating and for some reason the 4 Valium (20mg)I was given just didn't seem to do a thing. So I think the lidocaine/epi was just a little much for me. I got a little naseous and dizzy and sweaty and we had to stop or slow down several times. Everyone was really nice about it thought. It was totally unexpected to me but it happens to some people. I think that next time I just need to add a few more Valium to the mix and hope to get to the point where I really don't care. That was the worst part. After I was completely numbed Dr. Charles began to remove the donor strip. That was little strange. Crunching kind of sounds you hear through your skull but you don't feel a thing. During the suturing I felt a little tugging but no pain. Soon the donor harvesting was over and I watched a little TV. (btw, my wife is an RN for a group a plastic surgeons and she was really impressed at how well the suture looked on the donor incision. She is used to seeing them everyday and is certain this one will heal nearly invisibly. Dr. Charles appears to have excellent skills). Anyway, I digress. You'd think that Valium would have put me out but I was wide awake. The team was working on preparing the grafts while Dr. Charles started making the incisions for the new grafts. Again, that was a strange feeling. You don't feel anything but you hear the "crunching" sounds of the knife going into the skin. Totally painless, just weird. We ate lunch and after that the team began placing the grafts. Again, totally painless. By 2:30 we were wrapping up. Dr. Charles came in a placed more incisions to shore everything up and more grafts were inserted. The right side of the donor site started coming back to life and I could feel it. Dr. Charles shot a little more longer lasting lidocaine in there and everything was fine. We consulted for a while to go over the post-op instructions then we were off to the hotel. I started slow on the pain pills once the local anesthesia started wearing off. It wasn't major but you knew something had been done. I took about 2 1/2 total and started to feel a bit sick to my stomach and should have realized this beforehand but I guess I had forgotten. Most opioids (hydrocodone, codeine, oxcodone) tend to upset my stomach. That's probably the most common side-effect most people experience. Itching is another. But we called Dr. Charles and he graciously called in a prescription for Darvocet for me which I have no problem taking. I took one and a sleeping pill and I was out. Woke up in the same position. DAY 2 I woke up today and felt a good bit better. I took one Darvocet and sat around a bit then we went to get lunch. Legal Seafood rocks! We spent the day around the Mall then around 5:30p headed to the Beach. Yes the Beach. There is nothing like good ocean water to heal wounds fast. I had no pain at all. I hit the surf a bit and dunked the ole head a few times and let it soak. The late afternoon sun was low and we caught some rays for a while then headed back. Right now I've taken no more pain medication and feel fine. Just a bit tender in places but certainly not anything you could call pain. It's really cool to see those little hairs. I'm going to have some serious patience problems though as I wait for them to grow. I surely hope they don't all fall out but the odds are probably against me. The waiting game is truely going to be the hardest part. All in all, this was a fine decision. I do believe this will change alot of things for the better. I do hope they do find a way to clone folicular units one day. Then we could all have as much as we wanted and you could get 6000 in a day if you wanted since there'd be no time used to carve up the grafts.. ah, dreaming again.. Thanks again to Dr. Charles and his team. I'm sure I'll be back again.

Spursman, Since you are a patient of Dr. True (if I were you) I would call his office and get the details on writing and filing prescriptions internationally. I'm sure they know all the rules and have done this before. They may be able to mail you a paper prescription that you can take to your local pharmacy to have filled. I would ask that he write you a prescription for Proscar and not Propecia. Doctors can write prescriptions "off-label" meaning they can prescribe a medication to treat something other than the drugs usual intended use. Proscar and Propecia are identical chemically. Proscar is a 5mg tablet of the chemical Finasteride while Propecia is a 1mg tablet of Finasteride. You can get a 30 day prescription (30 pills) of Proscar for approximately $85 (according to Drugstore.com). Then go to your local drugstore and buy yourself a $3 pill cutter. You can cut 1 Proscar pill into quarters and make yourself 4 1.25mg pills of Finasteride out of each Proscar. That gives you a 4-month supply of "Propecia" for $85 ($21 a month). NOTE: if you have a girlfriend or wife who may become pregnant, keep her away from the cut pills. Finasteride will cause birth defects in male babies if the woman is exposed through handling/consuming. Proscar and Propecia are coated with a protective layer than keeps them safe. Once you cut them, you expose the raw chemical. Just make sure you keep that in mind. Also, you should/could start using a coal-tar based shampoo like Neutrogena T-Gel. It is an over the counter shampoo that helps with scalp itching and inflamation. It smells like asphalt but works well to control inflamation and is easy to find at the market. In any case, science has identified many of the culprits of male pattern hair loss. Don't fall for the scams. Keep up your research here on this forum and you'll go far. Post any questions you have.