Post HT Shed question

[3v_2008]

Hi,

I had a HT surgery with Dr. Cooley couple of weeks back. I had 3000 grafts implanted mainly on the front and top and few on the crown. The surgery went well and was a good experience. Dr. Cooley gave a vasodilator solution, which smelled like Bengay, to spray on the head. That got rid of the initial pain. The recipient region has healed very well and was back to normal in about 9 days. The donor site is healing slowly and I find it slightly painful to sleep with head down and face up. So I sleep sideways. I had couple of questions. Would be happy to hear inputs from people.

1. The transplanted hairs on the crown and top of the head seem to be still intact even after 2 weeks. Whereas, the transplanted hair near the temples fell off after just 4-5 days. Is this something that's normally observed? Could it be because of my sleeping position?

2. I see a lot of shed in the pre-existing hairs on top of my head even though most of the transplanted hairs seem to be intact. This shed started to occur about 5-6 days after the surgery. I thought that shock loss was only for the transplanted hairs and not for pre-existing hairs. Am I right on this?

[3v_2008]

Hi,

I had a HT surgery with Dr. Cooley couple of weeks back. I had 3000 grafts implanted mainly on the front and top and few on the crown. The surgery went well and was a good experience. Dr. Cooley gave a vasodilator solution, which smelled like Bengay, to spray on the head. That got rid of the initial pain. The recipient region has healed very well and was back to normal in about 9 days. The donor site is healing slowly and I find it slightly painful to sleep with head down and face up. So I sleep sideways. I had couple of questions. Would be happy to hear inputs from people.

1. The transplanted hairs on the crown and top of the head seem to be still intact even after 2 weeks. Whereas, the transplanted hair near the temples fell off after just 4-5 days. Is this something that's normally observed? Could it be because of my sleeping position?

2. I see a lot of shed in the pre-existing hairs on top of my head even though most of the transplanted hairs seem to be intact. This shed started to occur about 5-6 days after the surgery. I thought that shock loss was only for the transplanted hairs and not for pre-existing hairs. Am I right on this?

[Dewayne]

'shedding' is the term for the loss of the transplanting hairs, I believe. 'Shock-loss' is the term for losing your own pre-existing hairs - which is temporary.

 

You'll feel much better when the sutures are removed.

[3v_2008]

Thanks Dewayne for clarifying the definition. You had surgery with Dr. Cooley. Did you also experience significant shock loss soon after surgery?

[Dewayne]

Originally posted by 3v_2008:

Thanks Dewayne for clarifying the definition. You had surgery with Dr. Cooley. Did you also experience significant shock loss soon after surgery?

 

Not much yet, and I'm 3 months. In fact, I'm seeing some growth. I must be a lucky one, as I didn't have any of the common effects such as shock-loss, swelling, pain, etc. Like you, the donor area made it difficult to relax and sleep but that was corrected when the sutures came out. Then over the next few weeks the donor felt better and better. I don't feel any effects of the donor now at 3 months.

 

I took all the valiums to aid in sleeping.

[rjb2z]

I also had surgery with Dr. Cooley, about a month and a half after Dewayne. I have had some shock loss, but mine didn't show up until a little over a month after surgery and has progressed over the last couple of weeks. I think everyone's different in that regard. Luckily I can still cover mine up with dermmatch, etc. I just hope it stays that way. As for everything else, like Dewayne, I have had absolutely no issues and couldn't ask for anything better. I don't notice the donor at all and had it shaved to a #2 earlier this week; I can barely make out the scar and I don't think anyone else can. I did eventually shed nearly all of my grafts (it took up until about the end of week 5 for this to complete). I do now, at 7 1/2 weeks, have what feels like a fairly close buzzcut in the recipient area that has to be new hairs popping up. They're still very short, not moving very fast, and barely visible unless you really look for them, but it sure seems like somewhere around 25% of mine are already at least making some small effort at growth.

[3v_2008]

Thanks Dewayne and rjb2z. Spex, the HT tips you have given are awesome. Good work!

I don't have a receding hair line. I am more of a diffuse thinner. Maybe that's the reason I have increased shock loss. Also, this is my first HT. After reading through various posts it seems that shock loss tends to be more for the initial HT. Will keep my fingers crossed and hope that it will stop soon.

Dr. Cooley did not shave the native hair. He worked in and around it. He shaved the donor hair though -not completely but to a small size.

[rjb2z]

He worked around my existing hair too--although I would not say the shave/not shave decision has any real relationship to my situation. I'm a diffuse thinner who had a whole lot of minituarized hair in the area--much of which popped back up after having used rogaine/minox for the last year and a half (just didn't get enough to avoid needing an HT). The shockloss risk was probably very real for me no matter what the surgeon did and was fully explained to me before I signed up. I'm sure in another six months it will be the last thing on my mind, even though looking in mirrors isn't as much fun right now as it has been at other times in life.

[Bill - Seemiller]

3V_2008,

 

It sounds like everyone already answerd your questions, but I wanted to extend my congratulations on your recent surgery with Dr. Cooley. Given his outstanding online reputation, I trust you will be another success story and what has popularly been referred to as "Cooleyfied"!

 

I hope you'll create a hair loss weblog and share your photos and experience with us.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill