Losing My Mind Post Op

[gillenator]

I have wondered this myself as far as the stats however most of these guys move on and rarely if ever post again.

 

BeHappy, you definitely hold the record for total procedures and I also wish you the best in your journey.

[AB2000]

I'm exactly at 3 1/2 to 4 month post op. I had a 2000 graft FUE.

 

My recipient scalp area is badly discolored scarred and reddish. The hairs that are growing in the recipient area look thin and much less dense. It's like 'yes there are some extra hairs growing in an area that was previously hairless' BUT does it look good? HELL NO! It looks bizarre the hairline was not drawn evenly the skin scalp appears permenant lay discolored and disfigured ...and frankly it looks like shit now to put it bluntly!

 

 

At the same period where you are now I also had redness. I hadn't read too much on that being a potential persistent problem, that that's on me for not digging deeper on what having a HT means and all the healing that occurs. The whole procedure was a bigger deal than I imagined going in.

 

In my case, I don't think I had any redness past six months, as that was when the new growth was noticeable. Until the new hairs came out, the skin was indeed irritated, with redness and pimples. But from that 6 month to one year post op period the results have manifested and I am not visibly sporting a HT; it looks normal.

 

When you have your first procedure and the doctor draws in the areas he is going to fill in, you need to look good and hard at it before consenting, and ask for a change if you are not happy. Mine was a big asymmetrical up front, which is fine because I am not going to get a Norwood 0 result and needed something that looks more natural for moderate hair loss. When you recede it could very well be asymmetrical also.

[iwokeuptoabaldpatch]

Guys im on my 5th procedure and 6 weeks ago i was at all your stages.....and it never gets easier......its always the same.....

 

You have the op. (My regular surgeon always cuts donor from under existing hair and places amongst existing hair).and i initially after the op despite receipent area loss......... post op up to 3 weeks u look good .............for 3 weeks.........this 3 weeks gives u a glimpse at what could be....than BOOM always at a few days after week 3 u get major loss of all implanted grafts and more shock loss in recipient....suddenly u look worse than pre op!......and the ugly duckling stage (where u look worst than b4 op ) has begun ,and by week 6 and 7 ur getting impatient....wondering when things will turn the other way... in every one of my procedures bar one..... the ugly duckling phase has lasted from week 3 to until 2.5 months......than b4 u know it u quickly start getting back the pre op hair and by 3 months ur cool with how u almost look like u did b4 the procedure.......and by 3 and a half months your back to your pre op self.....and your thinking well that wasnt too bad after all .

 

Im now at 3 months 3 weeks and i guess now is where the new growth in recipient really starts god willing

 

Ive come out of it but only 6 weeks ago despite my prior experience i was also on these forums looking for other peoples reassurance on the ugly duckling phase.

 

I still have a big bald donor patch but i cover it with a comb over and i havnt seen any real new growth but this is normal at 3 .5 months

 

Hell the last time month 14 up to month 16 post op i saw significant thickening and maturing of the hair from the roughness and perhaps even some new growth im pretty sure

 

So relax guys.

Edited December 5, 2015 by iwokeuptoabaldpatch

[Louisjams]

Great thread everybody-just read the whole thing. It really shows just how much emotion we invest in this, pre, during, post HT. It is just hard. It takes a ton of energy to build up to committing to surgery, doing surgery, recovering from surgery, and WAITING for surgery to work its magic. I think everybody can read this thread and know that they probably share a lot of these emotions along the way.

[thisguy1]

I'm exactly at 3 1/2 to 4 month post op. I had a 2000 graft FUE. I've posted photos if you want to take a look. I hate my results.

Worst mistake of my life was going through with this HT!

 

I've been overall VERY dissatisfied with nearly everything about this abomination that was done to my head. Not a single day doesn't go by that I don't say to myself this was the biggest stupidest mistake of my life!

 

I'd kill to just have my old hair and normal scalp back.

 

My recipient scalp area is badly discolored scarred and reddish. The hairs that are growing in the recipient area look thin and much less dense. It's like 'yes there are some extra hairs growing in an area that was previously hairless' BUT does it look good? HELL NO! It looks bizarre the hairline was not drawn evenly the skin scalp appears permenant lay discolored and disfigured ...and frankly it looks like shit now to put it bluntly!

 

I really wanted desperately to have a discrete FUE HT. Now I look like an odd ball freak!!

I absolutely will NOT go anywhere without a baseball cap on my head. My life and self confidence has been crushed following this FUE HT.

 

The doctor free hand drew on an asymmetrical hair line. The badly discolored recipient area is EXTREMELY noticable and makes me resemble a burn victim weirdo. Plus I have very poor growth in the recipient area. I hate myself for what I have allowed to be done to me all in the name of vanity. Now I'm destined to walk the rest of my days forever regretful only to be reminded of my folly every single time I gaze into a mirror. Such an abject existence!

 

Before this FUE I was merely self conscious about my male pattern baldness....now I'm positively disgraced, angry, dispirited and embarrassed beyond anything I've ever experienced.

A bad HT is 1000 times worse than being bald!!! I wish I could undo the damage that was done to my me and my self image.

 

You wrote this a few months ago so you should now be entering your "growth stage". Curious if your emotions and evaluation of your HT has changed and you are still upset you went ahead with it?

 

As others have said we all need to be self educated (and doctors need to educate better as opposed to showing "best case" as many do I am sure), and month 3-4 is really just inning 1 in terms of actual growth. Thanks to all the reading here I know some will be showing early spurts in month 4, some will barely be growing and most will be somewhere between the 2 extremes. Months 6-7 you can really only begin to judge and even then you are in inning 3-4. So maybe it is helpful to pick a major holiday and then say that is the month for me to really begin judging - I picked July 4th.

 

I think for us in cold climates it probably also helps if you do this in the winter time. Other than work I rarely get outside during cold months of Jan-Mar so I dont really care too much how it looks. Probably in summer I'd care a lot more so someone who did this in May (or lives in southern Cal where it's always nice) probably is out and about more often. I'm in hibernation mode for a few more months.

[thisguy1]

At the same period where you are now I also had redness. I hadn't read too much on that being a potential persistent problem, that that's on me for not digging deeper on what having a HT means and all the healing that occurs. The whole procedure was a bigger deal than I imagined going in.

 

In my case, I don't think I had any redness past six months, as that was when the new growth was noticeable. Until the new hairs came out, the skin was indeed irritated, with redness and pimples. But from that 6 month to one year post op period the results have manifested and I am not visibly sporting a HT; it looks normal.

 

When you have your first procedure and the doctor draws in the areas he is going to fill in, you need to look good and hard at it before consenting, and ask for a change if you are not happy. Mine was a big asymmetrical up front, which is fine because I am not going to get a Norwood 0 result and needed something that looks more natural for moderate hair loss. When you recede it could very well be asymmetrical also.

 

Do you have plans to update your blog with photos? I see your last one was 4 months in, in early 2015 - curious where you stand today as you started close to where I was although you had more grafts put in.

[hurst]

I'm exactly at 3 1/2 to 4 month post op. I had a 2000 graft FUE. I've posted photos if you want to take a look. I hate my results.

Worst mistake of my life was going through with this HT!

 

I've been overall VERY dissatisfied with nearly everything about this abomination that was done to my head. Not a single day doesn't go by that I don't say to myself this was the biggest stupidest mistake of my life!

 

I'd kill to just have my old hair and normal scalp back.

 

My recipient scalp area is badly discolored scarred and reddish. The hairs that are growing in the recipient area look thin and much less dense. It's like 'yes there are some extra hairs growing in an area that was previously hairless' BUT does it look good? HELL NO! It looks bizarre the hairline was not drawn evenly the skin scalp appears permenant lay discolored and disfigured ...and frankly it looks like shit now to put it bluntly!

 

I really wanted desperately to have a discrete FUE HT. Now I look like an odd ball freak!!

I absolutely will NOT go anywhere without a baseball cap on my head. My life and self confidence has been crushed following this FUE HT.

 

The doctor free hand drew on an asymmetrical hair line. The badly discolored recipient area is EXTREMELY noticable and makes me resemble a burn victim weirdo. Plus I have very poor growth in the recipient area. I hate myself for what I have allowed to be done to me all in the name of vanity. Now I'm destined to walk the rest of my days forever regretful only to be reminded of my folly every single time I gaze into a mirror. Such an abject existence!

 

Before this FUE I was merely self conscious about my male pattern baldness....now I'm positively disgraced, angry, dispirited and embarrassed beyond anything I've ever experienced.

A bad HT is 1000 times worse than being bald!!! I wish I could undo the damage that was done to my me and my self image.

 

Sounds like a Dr. Umar job.

[hurst]

When the doctor draws a very asymetrical hairline because he doesn't care enough to use a tape measurer and has no talent in freehand drawing, and he purposely creates a sparse hairline so you are forced to come back later for more work, no amount of patience or waiting is going to fix that.

[Intoodeep2001]

Hi really appreciated reading this thread, it's nice to know your not alone! I'm 2 months post op with a lot of redness that makes a horseshoe shape around my face, I'm still unsure whether I have made the biggest mistake of my life 3300 grafts only time will tell.

Hopefully I can repair it if it looks funny or unnatural however if I knew more about the post op phase I would probably not have gone through with the procedure, I have withdrawn socially and going to work makes me nervous!,

 

How is the original poster now? It would be nice to hear some light at the end of the tunnel!

[gillenator]

Can you elaborate on the horseshoe shape on your face? Is it swelling or just redness?

 

If you went to a talented reputable surgeon, the results should turn out just fine. In another couple of months you should start to see the regrowth begin, but remember, it takes up to one full year or longer for the procedure to fully manifest.

[Intoodeep2001]

Hi Gilenator

 

The horse shoe shape I mean is the redness from my side burn area to side burn area or temples not really sure what to call it! I have some bumps on the skin where the hair went in any idea what that might be?

[gillenator]

I think you might be referring to the temporal lobe areas on each side of your hairline. That's an area that typically recedes and where grafts are placed to reinforce the hairline.

 

As far as the tiny bumps, do you have any close up photos of the area that you could post? That would give us a better idea of what you are concerned with.

[king100791]

Hah pretty spot on.

 

Month 1 is the honeymoon period no doubt. Like dating a chick... you're delusional at first. You even think she's normal

 

You're absolutely relieved to have moved forward and happy you took back control of your life. Then reality sets back in that you're native hair needs to grow back and you need to figure out wtf your hairstyle is going to be in the meantime. The more hair you have at this stage, the more difficult IMO.

 

Staring in the mirror every 15 minutes is a daily ritual, taking your narcissism to new and unprecedented levels. You maybe even high-five yourself when you see a few hairs peak through.

 

I really think you need to have fun with it. I tend to self-deprecate and mock myself bc some of the things I find myself doing right now are downright hilarious and absurd. Try not to take yourself too seriously while you're stressing and impatient. Its a better formula.

 

this was amazing lmao