massive shed post HT !!!

[chrisjonesuk]

Hi .. this is my first post on here having just this site a couple weeks ago .. it's great to have it here so many thanks to the founders - I've found it all pretty stressful post HT and seeing peoples experiences has helped no end

 

I'm just over three weeks after my first ever HT now (1700 grafts - Strip) only placed at the front of the head for a receeding hairline ( was NW 3 ish..) and there's a couple things I'd love peoples experience with/comments on if poss

 

Firstly (and most distressingly) I've had a MONUMENTAL shed going on since i started washing my hair properly (day 10ish) that has carried on now for about two weeks everyday !! 8(

I've lost loads of thickness/density all over my head.. feels and looks really thin compared to before surgery.... IS THIS NORMAL?? WILL IT GROW BACK??!!

 

Also, I've noticed that if i bend down... sneeze, blow my nose, etc etc then I feel an immediate tingling/itch all over the recipient area - as if the blood that goes to the scalp makes them tingle --- Is this ok and normal??

 

 

Any comments would be hugely appreciated! Many Thanks - Chris

[Mickey85]

Hi .. this is my first post on here having just this site a couple weeks ago .. it's great to have it here so many thanks to the founders - I've found it all pretty stressful post HT and seeing peoples experiences has helped no end

 

I'm just over three weeks after my first ever HT now (1700 grafts - Strip) only placed at the front of the head for a receeding hairline ( was NW 3 ish..) and there's a couple things I'd love peoples experience with/comments on if poss

 

Firstly (and most distressingly) I've had a MONUMENTAL shed going on since i started washing my hair properly (day 10ish) that has carried on now for about two weeks everyday !! 8(

I've lost loads of thickness/density all over my head.. feels and looks really thin compared to before surgery.... IS THIS NORMAL?? WILL IT GROW BACK??!!

 

Also, I've noticed that if i bend down... sneeze, blow my nose, etc etc then I feel an immediate tingling/itch all over the recipient area - as if the blood that goes to the scalp makes them tingle --- Is this ok and normal??

 

 

Any comments would be hugely appreciated! Many Thanks - Chris

 

It will all grow back Most(easily 90%) of transplanted hair sheds after a week or so only to come back some months later. Any native(original) hair that may shed will also come back. Shedding of native hair from a transplant is called "shockloss" and can happen in the donor area as well as the recipient. You are fine.

[chrisjonesuk]

Hey Mickey 85 ... many thanks for your reply

 

great to hear that! ... I've lost so much hairf through the whole head to shock loss that it can be pretty disconcerting!

 

Cheers for the good news (and breathe..)

[Mickey85]

Hey Mickey 85 ... many thanks for your reply

 

great to hear that! ... I've lost so much hairf through the whole head to shock loss that it can be pretty disconcerting!

 

Cheers for the good news (and breathe..)

 

Alot of people who have had hair transplanted into areas where native hair exists often get shockloss and look worse for a few months than they did pre-op. Rest assured that it will come back. Who was your Doctor?

[chrisjonesuk]

ok great - thanks man

 

i had it done at a UK Clinic called 'Crown Cosma Clinic' under Dr Shahmalak. They have a few clinics around the UK. He's done some work on some well know celebs, a quite famous doctor from a TV show... and he is pioneering some treatments with eye lash transplant etc - so feel pretty confident in his ability.

 

The team were great - fun, professional & seemed very competent.

 

I was booked in to have 1500 done but they ended up transplanting 1700 .. 'piggybacking' the excess 200 grafts

 

I'll post all the pics as time goes on & it grows through

[gillenator]

Chris,

 

Some patients experience higher levels of shockloss than others. And it is the result of your native hair follicles responding to the overall trauma of the surgery that causes them to retreat into the resting (telogen) phase.

 

You are right on track for this to occur. It normally happens anywhere from 2-4 weeks post-op with some variances.

 

Shockloss cannot be predicted so the patient will never know until you reach this point post-op. Most of the hair will grow back, unless it was very diffused and debilitated from the effects of DHT.

 

The shocked hair follicles will rest for 3-4 months and then grow back along with the transplanted follicles.

 

Soon, the regrowth will begin and let us know how you progress. :cool:

[richie48]

Like the guy above have stated , if it is shockloss it will grow back but you will look awful for atleast 4 months .

 

This is know as the "ugly duckling phase" , the recipient area , donor area and strip scar will also stay sensertive for 6 months or more , it varies from person to person , try not to stress or focus on it too much .

 

What does concern me is the UK clinic you went to , was it definatly Dr Shahmalak who performed the surgery or some other doctor working under his name ?

 

If this is the case you may have had work done at whats know as a "hair mill" this is a francise , like mcdonalds , I haven't heard much about Dr Shahmalak and I wouldn't trust all that celebrity bull shit you've read in mags or seen online .

 

I always try to tell newbies to research and see through this celebrity crap as they all do it for some kind of monetry gain and there testomonies should not be trusted .

 

Please any newbies reading this make sure you research well and understand this surgery can be life changing for the worst if you make rash desisions .

 

I've said it before and I will say again and again , after 7 years researching this shit and two HTs the best Drs at hts are in North America and Canada , followed by some great work comming from belgium in the last few years .

 

As for your ht chrisjones , you will proberbly be fine , hair will grow in the recipient area ,but I feel they're better clinics out there with less risks .

 

Good luck bud

 

Richie

[chrisjonesuk]

Hey Richie...

 

Yep.. ugly duckling is right .. thin as babies hair mine is right now 8(

 

thanks a lot for your response... feels good to have a few people say it will grow back & i'll worry less about the sensitivity of the recipient site now too ... cheers!

 

As far as it goes with the clinic - yeah, since having it done I have done a lot of research and seen there are some more renound surgeons/clinics out there that do specific and higly praised work ... but as far as I can tell from every aspect of the procedure, from the consultation to the surgery its self ... they were great.

 

I definitely had Dr Shahmalack performing my surgery - He did my initial consultation, the consultation just before surgery & was there performing the op on me.

 

You're right, I know the celeb thing isn't a good way to look for the right clinic - but Dr Shahmalak is a well reputed surgeon anyway, even outside of his hair clinic, working at leading UK hospitals, contributing to universitiy studies and pioneering some new haor treatments.

 

I think, having had the surgery done, that he is a genuine, talented, friendly surgeon.

 

Many thanks for the adive though - it's definintley a good shout to warm people of this stuff as I'm sure there are a tonne out there who dont do justice to something that is so important (and expensive) to the patient.

 

Thanks Richie

 

~Plus, I'll post all pictures as time goes on - with comments - so I'll have good measure of wether the job was done well !

 

Chris

[RCWest]

Finasteride is supposed to dramatically reduce shock loss. Are you on it? If not, it may help you recover sooner!

[chrisjonesuk]

hey man ... yeah i take propecia and its worked for me well for the last year ...

 

but i dont think it was gunna make a blind bit of difference to the shed that happened post HT to be honest.... sure, it has definitley helped slow/stop the hair loss from DHT damage ... but this shed/shock loss wasn't from DHT .. it's from all the damage done to the scalp during the operation...

 

I'll keep taking the propecia and await the re-growth...

 

thanks for your advice though man

[gillenator]

I think the pretense that finasteride is "supposed to dramatically reduce shockloss" is not altogethor accurate.

 

There really is not much of anything that will reduce the overall trauma of the procedure other than the use of less invasive instruments (micro-blades) and reducing the size of the procedure.

 

The whole idea behind taking finasteride is to stabilize the progression of MPB long before the planned procedure. The ideal would be one year. That way, the temporary shed that finasteride and even minoxidil can induce is usually long over before the procedure date

 

Yet I continue to hear about guys starting finasteride "just prior" to their procedure and then they start a shed cycle before the effects of the trauma set in from the procedure. It's like they get the double whammy post-op.

 

I am not suggesting that this happened to Chris but just something to consider to those who are contemplating starting finasteride just prior to a HT procedure.

 

Always consult your physician first. :cool:

[bonkerstonker]

Check my blog in the link below if you want to see proper shockloss and regrowth! It has photos for nearly every month post op up to 11 months.

[chrisjonesuk]

Check my blog in the link below if you want to see proper shockloss and regrowth! It has photos for nearly every month post op up to 11 months.

 

 

hey man... thanks a lot for your post - your surgeries look great

 

I had recipient area soley at front of the head around a receeding hairlne. yet i seem to have lost a great deal of hair .... in fact, tonnes of it... all over my head really - it's very very thin all over & the bath.. my clothes... the computer keypad... you name it are constantly caked in my hairs... 8(( pretty horrible experiance

 

I didnt shave my head for the surgery and am slightly worried that, having not done that, thier may have been damage to the existing hair... what d'you think?

 

Anyway, it was my first HT ... i had 1700 grafts to the front and i'm now 5 weeks later. Looking pretty awful right now and holding out for some regeneration/ growth over the the coming months

 

all the best - Chris

[chrisjonesuk]

Check my blog in the link below if you want to see proper shockloss and regrowth! It has photos for nearly every month post op up to 11 months.

 

 

hey man... thanks a lot for your post - your surgeries look great

 

I had recipient area soley at front of the head around a receeding hairlne. yet i seem to have lost a great deal of hair .... in fact, tonnes of it... all over my head really - it's very very thin all over & the bath.. my clothes... the computer keypad... you name it are constantly caked in my hairs... 8(( pretty horrible experience

 

I didnt shave my head for the surgery and am slightly worried that, having not done that, thier may have been damage to the existing hair... what d'you think?

 

Anyway, it was my first HT ... i had 1700 grafts to the front and i'm now 5 weeks later. Looking pretty awful right now and holding out for some regeneration/ growth over the the coming months

 

all the best - Chris

[chrisjonesuk]

Check my blog in the link below if you want to see proper shockloss and regrowth! It has photos for nearly every month post op up to 11 months.

 

 

hey man... thanks a lot for your post - your surgeries look great

 

I had recipient area soley at front of the head around a receeding hairlne. yet i seem to have lost a great deal of hair .... in fact, tonnes of it... all over my head really - it's very very thin all over & the bath.. my clothes... the computer keypad... you name it are constantly caked in my hairs... 8(( pretty horrible experience

 

I didnt shave my head for the surgery and am slightly worried that, having not done that, thier may have been irreperable damage to the existing hair... what d'you think?

 

Anyway, it was my first HT ... i had 1700 grafts to the front and i'm now 5 weeks later. Looking pretty awful right now and holding out for some regeneration/ growth over the the coming months

 

all the best - Chris

[chrisjonesuk]

I think the pretense that finasteride is "supposed to dramatically reduce shockloss" is not altogethor accurate.

 

There really is not much of anything that will reduce the overall trauma of the procedure other than the use of less invasive instruments (micro-blades) and reducing the size of the procedure.

 

The whole idea behind taking finasteride is to stabilize the progression of MPB long before the planned procedure. The ideal would be one year. That way, the temporary shed that finasteride and even minoxidil can induce is usually long over before the procedure date

 

Yet I continue to hear about guys starting finasteride "just prior" to their procedure and then they start a shed cycle before the effects of the trauma set in from the procedure. It's like they get the double whammy post-op.

 

I am not suggesting that this happened to Chris but just something to consider to those who are contemplating starting finasteride just prior to a HT procedure.

 

Always consult your physician first. :cool:

 

 

hey mate ... wanted to ask what you think about putting sun cream on recipient area 5 weeks after HT..??

 

it real sunny here at the moment and i wana go out and get some tanning in ... i think most suncream has some alcohol content but others have told me it should be no problem..???

 

all the best - chris

[bonkerstonker]

I think you're just going through the paranoia we all do I've been playing ht/medicine game for about 12 years I've had 4 ops and I still get a bit paranoid after a op you've just got to ignore it. If a surgeon is confident enough to work on you with hair then it's likely to be fine the only reason they cut your hair is so they can see the scalp without the hair blocking line of sight I'm sure he will have just moved the hair manually as he went on.

 

Minoxidil has alcohol in it and I always start back on that after 2 weeks but I wouldn't expose your scalp to sun with sun cream I'd just wear a hat for a few months in the sun until the hair is thick enough to shield your scalp from the sun it's not worth risking.

[bonkerstonker]

Oh one other thing, I completely agree with gillenator finasteride helping with shockloss is a load of bs in my more frank wording but I have noticed one thing that does actually help and gave me extremely quick growth and regrowth after my last surgery which is be extremely gentle when washing your hair and keep the scabs until they naturally fall off, I noticed after my 3rd ht huge amounts of hair we're falling out in the bath as I washed my hair as my instructions were to wash of the scabs with the pads of my fingers from day 6 well in return I received huge shockloss so I thought this clearly doesn't work for me so after my 4th ht I washed my head very very very lightly for 4 weeks and did not remove the scabs I just let them fall off whenever and in return I received great growth and zero shockloss.

[jetfan11]

Hey Chris,

 

Did your shock loss recover? i am at 3.5 months and have had a TON of shockloss. I would love to know how you made out.

[gillenator]

Bonkers results look fabulous!

 

Chris, yes it is okay to use sunscreen on the recipient area as long as the epidermis is completely healed, and at five weeks post-op, your scalp surface should be completely healed by now.

 

Also, it is critical that you use the highest block level available and use it every three -four hours depending if your scalp is sweating and weakening the protection. If you are going to be in direct sunlight beyond several hours, I am more of an advocate of using a hat verses sunblock and nothing else.

 

It is important IMHO to use a hat if being in direct sunlight for longer periods. This is important for at least nine months following surgery. We have regrowth continuing through at least nine months post-op and for some slower growers, it can take up to one year for the regrowth to fully manifest.

 

And bonkers is correct in that yes some docs work in sections within the recipient area. They sometimes use hair clips and seperate the layers of hair as they make the recipient incisions. This takes much experience and skill to do with low transection. And this is still more difficult IMHO then cutting the length down to see the true direction of the exisitng hair.

[jetfan11]

shock loss

Hey Chris,

 

Did your shock loss recover? i am at 3.5 months and have had a TON of shockloss. I would love to know how you made out.

 

Jetfan11@hotmail.com