davidjosepha

God, I'm a moron. I copy/pasted the image from Google Photos into the text editor, which embeds by URL instead of attaching the files themselves, so no one other than me could see them. Let's try that again. If a mod sees this, could you edit my first post to put these in? ---- I had FUE with SMG 2 weeks ago after a year of waiting and I'm making this thread to track progress. Hopeful everything turns out looking good but it's a bit nerve wracking waiting a year before seeing how it turns out. Background I'd met with SMG last summer and got on meds. I'd have liked to have not waited so long for a surgery, but A) they are fully booked 10+ months out at any given time, and B) they wanted me on meds for at least a year to see how they worked and to minimize shock hair loss that doesn't grow back at all. I was initially a bit hesitant on finasteride because of all the 3-letter acronym talk but after a lot of reading I overcame that fear and stuck to it -- happy to talk about that if anyone has questions but otherwise don't want to derail the thread. They also prescribed oral minoxidil, which I'm not convinced is a smart idea long-term but I figured I'd get the best results taking it orally, could see how that worked for a year or two, then post-surgery switch to topical. I'm planning to do that after the hairs at the new hairline start to come in to make it a bit easier to stay stuck to my scalp (I'm worried that I'll just sweat off the minoxidil at the currently-bare patches -- not sure if that's actually accurate or not though). I had been buzzing my head to 1/2 on the sides, 1-1/2 on top for ~4 years prior to setting up the appointment with SMG and I'd basically resigned myself to not having hair. I actually felt good about it at first. I was no longer constantly thinking about how my hair doesn't look the way I want, it was easy to maintain, and I like the feeling when showering and sleeping of not having a big rag on my head. I did think about surgery on and off, but I was a pretty bad alcoholic and hadn't even been to a dentist in 6 years because I kept putting off finding one and making an appointment, so I definitely wasn't in a position to do the research necessary to find a decent hair transplant surgeon. Got sober a year and a half ago and finally got around to making all the appointments I had been putting off, including around a hair transplant. The day before surgery (6/18/23) After first day (6/19/23) Large surgeries they split over two days, first day they make incisions in the afternoon, second day they harvest grafts in the morning and place them in the afternoon. I'm very happy with the hairline Dr. Joe came up with. It was essentially exactly what I was hoping for -- maintained the (imo) masculine recession around the temples while filling in a bit at the corners and extending the hairline down a bit. I've spent a lot of time looking at my hair and scalp over the past year (well, past ten years, really, but especially the last year) and had made an attempt to figure out where my "natural" hairline is (ie where it would be if not for MPB) through looking at the miniaturized hairs around the edges, shape of my skull, shape of the hairs I still had, and so on, and what he drew was almost exactly what I'd come up with myself. Going into the appointment, I wasn't positive whether it was achievable given the finite nature of donor hairs and I know SMG is known for being conservative with their hairlines, especially with younger guys (I'm 29), to preserve donor supply for future touch ups. So I was very pleased that, even without any input from me (I asked him to draw what he suggested first as I didn't want to bias him with my own ideas), this was what he proposed. After second day (6/20/23) The day after (6/21/23) One week (6/27/23) And yes, I did wear the same shirt for a week straight. I was supposed to wear a button up for the first week or so to avoid accidentally dislodging out the grafts, and I didn't want to risk getting blood on any of my non-red shirts (which is all of them, except this one). Two weeks (7/5/23) I'm extremely happy with how things look so far, but it'll be quite a while before I know how much of the transplanted grafts survive and how thick everything looks in the end. I have quite fine hair, so I'm a bit concerned it'll grow in looking thin, but there's nothing to do now but wait. The transplanted hairs have grown a good amount of length since transplant, they just recently got long enough to stop being prickly and feel softer, so I hope that's a sign that they survived but I don't know if it actually is. Some of the hairs have started shedding, I noticed a few falling out when I washed my hair today. That's a bit earlier than I would have guessed from some things I've read online, but others say that's a normal time to start shedding. Going to try not to get too worried about anything as we go. Worst case, I can go back for a second surgery, although I'm hoping this one will provide enough density to be happy with for the foreseeable future. Let me know your thoughts. I'll set reminders to update the thread with new pictures at regular intervals. Next update will probably be at the 3 month mark.

Wow, quite the journey! I had work done with Dr. Josephitis a couple weeks ago and I'm going through other threads mentioning him to admire the results while I wait for my own to grow in. Yours looks amazing. I can see why you're looking for a second smaller surgery just to pack a bit more hair in and lower the hairline a tad; I think it could help just a little with outdoor / direct light situations. But those are just nitpicks that almost no one will notice. I was looking forward to seeing the second surgery results as I clicked through the thread, but looks like you got delayed quite a bit! Probably a lot easier to wait for this one than the first one, since it'll just be an incremental change. Your results are incredible though even without a second procedure, so I'm not trying to take away from that at all. The before/after you posted Aug '21... it's amazing how much of a difference hair makes in how a person comes across. Not only do you have thicker hair, which is big enough on its own, but the surgery allowed you to switch to a more mature hairstyle, which is also a huge improvement. And I noticed you're not wearing glasses in your after pics but you were in most of the before -- did the hair transplant inspire you to wear contacts more? Amazing how improving hair can make one prouder of their appearance and put more effort into other aspects of it. The comments from your blunt friends about the old picture of you must feel good, in a way -- even from a small picture, they could see such a huge difference compared to how you look today. Along with that, the fact that they clearly hadn't noticed you'd had a transplant until they saw the old photo speaks to the incredibly natural work Shapiro and Josephitis did. I imagine it's a huge self-confidence boost. And I'm guessing your wife is happy too; if you met at 19 or around then, you've got a better head of hair than she's ever known you with; not often people get /more/ attractive the longer you're in a relationship with them, but you clearly have. Keep us updated on the next procedure.

Looks fantastic. Just had a transplant with Dr. Josephitis and I'm going around looking at others' results while I wait for mine to grow in. To say you look a decade younger is underselling it; you look a generation younger -- from "grandpa" to "dad". Congrats, and thanks for sharing your progress.

I had FUE with SMG 2 weeks ago after a year of waiting and I'm making this thread to track progress. Hopeful everything turns out looking good but it's a bit nerve wracking waiting a year before seeing how it turns out.