Regular Member chiadude Posted June 30, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) Hey y'all, I just want to post some pictures of my progress for my 2nd procedure using the strip method done yesterday June 28th. The forums here were a great source of information for me taking the dive in the first place, so I'm just looking to give back a little. I've always had a high widow's peak, but never worried about hair loss because no one in my immediate family has any real hair loss. Around 18-19 I stopped liking the way my hair looked in pictures and realized it might be a problem. Looking back now at photos 8-10 years ago, it doesn't seem like my natural hairline has changed too much since then. (About 2 years back, I got my first procedure with a completely different doctor and was unhappy with the results I received. I'm not here to bash him. I can't remember exactly how many grafts I had back then, but it couldn't have been more than 500 or so. The doctor was very conservative with what he wanted to do even though I requested more. Also, I was unaware of the need to wear a hat/cover up when in the sun for the 3-6 months following the procedure which may have contributed to some grafts not taking as I work outdoors in a sunny climate.) I'm 31 years old and paid $11.5k for this procedure of 2000 grafts using the strip method and an A-cell injection. Dr. Diep shaved a patch off the front of my head in preperation to thicken that area. I made an appointment about 11 months in advance and so far am very pleased with Dr. Diep, his staff and the hairline he created. Anywho, I'll try to update as much as I can. Sure don't have whole lot else to do for the next couple weeks except pop these pills and wait for my swollen head to return to normal size. Edited June 30, 2019 by chiadude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Lennney Posted June 30, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 Clean work done, now you're on your way! Was there a particular reason you chose not to shave your hair? I was always curious about the partially shaved requests. From my perspective, it doesn't seem to help, and only makes washing/caring more difficult. Anyways, I know you had a rough time with sun and such last recovery period, I wish you the best this time around. If you're thinking of traveling abroad, consider this read: Airfare guide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted June 30, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 Thanks Lennney! I guess I figured that I could cover up more during the ugly duckling phase. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Greg_Swanson Posted June 30, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 Looks really good, mate - very clean work. Fingers crossed for another great result my Dr. Diep. 2 hours ago, Lennney said: Clean work done, now you're on your way! Was there a particular reason you chose not to shave your hair? I was always curious about the partially shaved requests. From my perspective, it doesn't seem to help, and only makes washing/caring more difficult. Anyways, I know you had a rough time with sun and such last recovery period, I wish you the best this time around. I can only say from personal perspective, but I always considered it as my current hair style hides my recession. I figured I could keep it as is, and just let the new hair grow underneath. Do you think it would be best to do a full shave, Lenney? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted June 30, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 Day 2 - my face is officially the size of a watermelon lol. I must've been so out of it yesterday that I took every pill EXCEPT the anti-swelling one. Anywho, feeling good and enjoying my mini vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyGraft Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Don’t worry swelling will go away soon. Make sure to drink plenty of water and if you can go on a light 10-15 minute walk to get the blood moving Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member shookwon33 Posted June 30, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 Look forward to your journey my friend. I am currently 1 month post op with Dr. Diep. Things seem to be coming along. I had the a-cell as well, do you recall it being administered to you at all anytime during the procedure? Or were you too knocked out? Because I don't recall it being administered. I actually paid 1000 for both a-cell and amniofill. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted June 30, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 34 minutes ago, jj51702 said: Don’t worry swelling will go away soon. Make sure to drink plenty of water and if you can go on a light 10-15 minute walk to get the blood moving Thanks for the suggestion jj, will do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted June 30, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 4 minutes ago, shookwon33 said: Look forward to your journey my friend. I am currently 1 month post op with Dr. Diep. Things seem to be coming along. I had the a-cell as well, do you recall it being administered to you at all anytime during the procedure? Or were you too knocked out? Because I don't recall it being administered. I actually paid 1000 for both a-cell and amniofill. Hmm I was awake for at least 8 hours or so, but they stuck so many needles in back there, it's anyone's guess haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyGraft Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 27 minutes ago, shookwon33 said: Look forward to your journey my friend. I am currently 1 month post op with Dr. Diep. Things seem to be coming along. I had the a-cell as well, do you recall it being administered to you at all anytime during the procedure? Or were you too knocked out? Because I don't recall it being administered. I actually paid 1000 for both a-cell and amniofill. I thought diep only knocked out fut patients. Why does he do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member shookwon33 Posted June 30, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 @jj51702 Who said I was knocked out lmao. I was awake. I just thought the a-cell injection was injected in the arms, but i think its actually in the scalp so i have no idea when it was administered since yeah there were so many needles poked during the procedure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Lennney Posted June 30, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2019 11 hours ago, Greg_Swanson said: Looks really good, mate - very clean work. Fingers crossed for another great result my Dr. Diep. I can only say from personal perspective, but I always considered it as my current hair style hides my recession. I figured I could keep it as is, and just let the new hair grow underneath. Do you think it would be best to do a full shave, Lenney? I only experienced a HT with a shave, but I would recommend it. 1. It made it easy to wash my hair. I lightly tapped the medication on my recipient/donor during the initial few days. It was nice to also rinse the medication off my scalp without having the long hair block the water/ hold onto the medication when it was intended for the scalp. 2. Showers. I appreciated the same ease in rinsing the medication and baby shampoo while in the shower. I blocked most of the water from the showerhead with my hand, and let only trickles hit my scalp, only with the power of gravity (rather than the PSI + gravity of the showerhead). 3. Not really a pro, but it was nice to keep a consistent look. I looked like ass, but at least the look was pretty consistent (ugly phase). I may have had to field questions of a skin condition if I had hair everywhere but the recipient. It is also easier to see the growth come in. 4. Yours looks fine, but the FUT scar and especially the FUE donor can look wacky with a partial shave. It looks like someone fell asleep at a party and had their "friends" shave a random section of their hair. I would recommend doing the partial shave if someone did the hair transplant behind an already established hairline. Other issues aside, I think it's easier to push hair back than it is to push hair forward (it's why we all get HTs, the hairline!). For me, I just accepted my fate. I've been in compromising situations where I had no control over my appearance. I looked like ass for a period. I just accepted it because I couldn't do anything at the time. (It only lasted a short while, so I knew I could fix it eventually). I just embraced the ugly duckling phase. If you're thinking of traveling abroad, consider this read: Airfare guide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted July 1, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 1, 2019 22 hours ago, shookwon33 said: 22 hours ago, Lennney said: Day 3, Walgreens won't fill my prescription for Norco and wants to speak with the office, who are busy at the moment and told me to email them. Advil it is I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member shookwon33 Posted July 1, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted July 1, 2019 Are you experiencing a lot of pain? I actually feel like I didn’t need to take anything for pain at all post op with Diep. Everything was just super numb still 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted July 1, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 1, 2019 Yeah some pain making it hard to sleep but Advil helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Melvin- Admin Posted July 2, 2019 Administrators Share Posted July 2, 2019 Happy growing my man, everything is looking great. Please consider creating a patient website, it gets linked to your surgeons profile. https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/ I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice. Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey: View my thread Topical dutasteride journey Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog. Follow our Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member CosmoKramer Posted July 2, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted July 2, 2019 Work looks nicely done and you’re healing very well! Looking forward to your progress, happy growing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted July 2, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 2, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted July 3, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 3, 2019 Day 5 Post-op update. Recipient area healing nicely, donor area still tender but covered by my long hair length. Feeling good enough to leave the house. GRAFT # CORRECTION: I was contacted by Dr. Dieps office yesterday informing me that I actually signed up for 2250 grafts not the 2000 I posted. Anyways, they actually transplanted 2400+ grafts and were looking for an extra $1000+ for the extra grafts. Luckily, I remember very well that I signed a form stating I desired no extra grafts, so she apologized for their mistake. It sounds like I got a couple extra hairs out of the deal 😄. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member pkipling Posted July 5, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted July 5, 2019 First off, congrats on the bonus grafts! Christmas came early. Second, I tried that same look when I had mine (shaved the recipient but kept the hair behind it) and I didn't have the patience to stick with it. I buzzed it completely a week or so later, so good luck with this look. Would love to see how you end up pulling it off, because I sure as hell couldn't figure it out. I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My views/opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff. Check out my hair loss website for photos FUE surgery by Dr. Mohebi on 7/31/14 2,001 grafts - Ones: 607; Twos: 925; Threes: 413; Fours: 56 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member shookwon33 Posted July 5, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted July 5, 2019 Shouldn't you not buzz the recipient area at all for least like 2-3 months post op? I hear it could potentially damage the follicle by pulling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted July 7, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 7, 2019 Day 8 post-op Finally touched the recipient area with my hands to shampoo and get rid of scabs per doctors instructions. Everything seems firmly in place so I'm happy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member shookwon33 Posted July 7, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted July 7, 2019 Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Melvin- Admin Posted July 9, 2019 Administrators Share Posted July 9, 2019 Thanks for keeping us updated, everything looks on track! I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice. Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey: View my thread Topical dutasteride journey Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog. Follow our Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member chiadude Posted July 13, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 13, 2019 Two week update. Scabs mostly gone and little hairs remain. Excited to see what happens next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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