diamondlight

Bumping an old thread here if anyone comes across this in a search and is still looking for a solid recommendation. In no way affiliated, but I know recommendations can go a long way. I went to Scalp Micro in NYC - Matt lulo is said to be a pioneer in this field. SMP is their profession. Not an additional service meant as another source of revenue. They also have an office in Houston if curious. Matt helped treat my donor area scar and I couldn't be happier. It wasn't so much the scar that needed to be covered up as my Doctor did an incredible job of making this as tight as possible, but more so the surrounding areas of the scar where it was becoming thin. Anyone using dermmatch to help conceal that area? I was. Now a part of the past. A beautiful thing.

Very exciting time here. I had just undergone my third transplant with a highly recommended doctor on this forum and I could spend all day sharing how enthusiastic I am. A lot of donor pain, may need a strong pain med, but excited! We've been working to achieve density in the frontal 1/3rd and with this procedure, I should reach my desired result. Small density touch ups and light hairline/temple framing may be in my future for the record. I can go on and on about how this will restore my confidence, going about my life day to day in an easier more stress free fashion, less cosmetics and struggle, but I thought I would highlight something I found interesting. While this is "extremely" soon and as many of us do, we share our questions/concerns with our doctor and this forum leading up to and following a procedure, I thought this was an interesting topic as I haven't seen much on this. I received just over 1,100 grafts into the front 1/3rd portion and while attached pictures may present a higher degree of a red coloration (lighting/camera?) than what is there to the naked eye, it will at least provide reference (and who doesn't like pictures). In previous procedures, I've had the immediate, bloody scab surrounding where the grafts were planted just as many of us do. This lead to the typical progression of healing, massaging off scabs, some shedding and so on. This go around, I can probably count 100 red/scabs throughout my recipient area. While I'm not concerned as I know I am in great hands with my doc and staff and they all did an incredible job taking their time with me, again I thought this was quite interesting as I haven't seen or read about this happening and figured I would open this up to the forum. For the record, I am using the post ATP spray and blasting the area roughly every hour.

If everyone has to start somewhere, how would you feel about the tech planting your grafts, it being their first time doing so?

This was along the lines of what I was thinking, but in regards to those who have exhausted strip options etc and are cornered with only cloning left as an option with nothing else to fall back on. When you are in that position, you're either paying to play or living with where you're at.

My fingers are crossed that it will be noticed as a "breakthrough" to "help" those suffering from mpb without breaking the bank.

Of course, I guess it was directed more towards a small topic of conversation (which I'm sure there are other threads about) opposed to expecting a definitive answer.

just throwing this question out there but in your opinion when and if this treatment ever becomes available will it be the answer to hair loss for many or only an option for those who are financially wealthy with deep pockets

Make sure to be taking in 3000mcg of Biotin for those that are.

Another point to make mention of is in my donor area had some decent scar tissue built up from my prevous two transplants. It was a bit bumpy in some spots if you were to run your fingertips top to bottom over the scar. Dr. True, as planned, did a great job of removing most of it and its smooth to the touch now. Fingers crossed for things to fill in at the middle portion about an inch give or take behind hairline that I outlined in red above. The hairline is filling in nicely and as I mentioned above at this point, it's coming in quicker on the left than the right.

7 months Post Op After feeling rather pessimistic about things, I emailed Dr. True about things and sent him some pictures. I know waiting is the name of the game, but I was really starting to have some doubt about placement, amount and will it really fill in. The reason it worried me so much is because I have (realistic) high hopes for this procedure and its outcome. Dr. True assured me there is nothing to worry about and things look to be right on track. Come the next stretch of a few months is where things should start to really pick up. If I'm to go by a respected graph timeline of growth on the forum, at this point I'm about 70%. Obviously so many factors play in and you can't take this for granted but, if to play along, I hope this next 25% really shines!!! Thoughts at this point? Where do I stand? Donor Area/Scar From a little to the left past the middle point of my donor area and all the way to where the scar ends on my right has filled back in nicely. You can barely notice any scar at all when running my hands through looking for it. Yes my hair is a little longer at this point but, it's looking good to me. Now going to the left, there are points where the donor area is still a bit thin, but I feel it is coming along and am still left with that one bald spot which I'm still praying fills back in. Dr. True reassured me that over the course this should slowly fill back in. Recipient Area Things are without a doubt coming along. I have to say I am pretty happy at this point, but some concerns can't seem to escape me. Do they ever? The left side is definitely ahead of my right side in terms of growth. If I push my hair up when it's dry, you can still see it's rather thin and see through. However, I can wear my hair down with nothing in it and everything looks pretty good. However, if I move the hair a bit out of place and push it back in certain areas, you can see it reveal a lot of thinness. I would think this is telling me the amount hair is there that when pushed down they fall on top of each other creating thickness. However, it still needs its time to thicken up to not look so see through, thin and scarce when pushed up. Another (if to say silly) reason I see things are shaping up and coming along is that each month I'm able to use less dermmatch to cover things up. The growth is doing its job and filling areas in, now we just need some thickness My fingers are crossed that I'm a "late bloomer" and that post op growth graph is completely inaccurate in terms of growth for me and I still have a lot more progress to be made and many more smiles to be had! The pictures are a "tad" misleading and you can see the illusion is there. A picture from the side makes my hair look pretty darn good but, when I tilt my head over you can see it's rather thin and spotty still. The pictures I attached are of my hair wet and then dry, no concealers we're used in these pictures. What does everyone think?

Holding tight for the both of us! It's definitely coming along and am gaining more confidence in my growth every few weeks.

As far as recovery and looking "normal" again, yes you should be good to go. You obviously wont be sporting any new hair styles, compliments of your new growth at that time though as I'm sure you're aware.

Is there a way to determine whether a hair that has fallen outis from dht/permanent or just seasonal shedding ? I thought I remembered reading something about if the hair that came out can still be seen with a bulb attached to it, then it's dht dead?

6 Months Post op (the 6th of October) Ok, so where am I at this point. I have to say since my last update, nothing has really happened. I haven't noticed any additional growth or any noticeable difference in the way my hair looked. Yesterday I got a fresh cut, well...given what I am allowed to get with what my scar in the back now holds me too. I'm still waiting on my hair to grow back into my donor area where the scar is. Even at one spot, there is an actual patch of loss. Six months later and I've seen it fill in some but, it is still very noticeable if I sweat a lot and the hair gets wet or if I were to cut my hair to low. You can just see a strip of almost...no hair. This is "not good" and I really hope this turns around for the better over the next course. At this point, I am praying that the months from here on out take a turn for the way better. I'm expecting to see more density behind the hairline and back (where is marked off in red) to where I can back off of dermmatch which was our plan of action. We aimed to further increase a polished and natural look while adding density to areas marked out, but also to finally get me away from using dermmatch. I can say however that there is an obvious change at this point because when I use dermmatch now, I can apply it so much quicker, I can use less and my hair looks thicker than it did using dermmatch previous to my recent hair transplant this past April. If no more growth is to come from here out though, I would have to say I would end up very disappointed. If all that is to come from here out is what I have just thickening up (and no more growth), unless the thickening up is to make a drastic difference in scalp coverage, I can't see how I could be content with everything I just went through. BUT, I am not quick to judge and will try to remain staying positive as I know it's no where near the time to judge the outcome. I have plenty of time left before I can properly assess the good and the bad or what I did or didn't achieve. I've attached some pictures below showing my current look: The first 5 pictures are after my hair has been blow dried. The view from the top can be a bit misleading because of the camera not being capable of capturing a crisp image. In the middle how it looks thin and a bit patchy if to say that, that's how it looks closer up to the hairline as well. I also outlined where we added 2000grafts for my second transplant with Dr. True. The last two pictures are with dermmatch in, still a bit wet and the hair spiked up.

That's about what I gathered.