Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted April 7, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted April 7, 2020 After shaving my head for 15 years, I finally decided to take the plunge with HT. I was (am) a Norwood 6. Before pictures. I started growing out my hair two weeks before the procedure. Plan is to update monthly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted April 7, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 7, 2020 Surgery results. The procedure went well. I arrived early in the morning. The procedure took around 9 hours, with a break for lunch. The only complaint I would have is partially my own fault. I was having discomfort during the procedure, but was managing my way through it by breathing. This ended up wearing my down a bit and the stress was causing bleeding. The staff straightened me out and I was more communicative about pain after that. They kept me numb and finished the procedure. The night after was not fun. It was hard to sleep as there was no side of my head to lay on. I tried an airplane pillow, but only ended up with about 4 hours sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted April 7, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 7, 2020 End of week 1. Random details: Only needed pain killers for sleeping the first three nights At the end of the week, the stitches were removed. During the follow up, I was instructed to be a little more persuasive with head massage while showering. This successfully removed the scabs Started fin+min on day 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Melvin- Admin Posted April 7, 2020 Administrators Share Posted April 7, 2020 Thanks for posting, Dr. Alexander is a great doctor you chose a quality surgeon. I look forward to seeing your progress happy growing 😃 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 baldforalongtime Posted April 9, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 9, 2020 Week 2 in the books. Random details: Shedding has started Fin+Min is going well...no side effects to report I knew the thinness of my donor area would be an issue and I need to respond well to meds, so I'm trying to be patient about scar coverage...good thin I can stay home during the quarantine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted April 26, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 26, 2020 30 day update. No side effects from the medication and the shedding is slowing down. I knew my hair was thin, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to cover the FUT scar. We'll see how things progress though. The shock loss under the scar seems to be lessening a bit, but is still glaringly obvious. I also think the hair line is going to end up really high; it seems like I have a lot of forehead still. The plan is still to do two more surgeries, one to fill the crown and another to lower the hairline if I have the donor hair. But wow the donor area is thin. People say the ugly duckling phase is difficult and I'm definitely finding that to be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted May 25, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 25, 2020 60 day update: Supplement routine: Finasteride 1mg daily; Rogaine twice daily. Biotin 10k mg once daily Started microneedling three weeks ago with a Dr Pen A6...I'm only doing the donor areas and crown. The recipient area is left to heal. I'm definitely seeing hairs on the crown that weren't in the earlier pictures. Starting to see hairs come up all over the recipient area Got a fairly aggressive haircut two weeks ago as I wanted to see how low I could go while still working from home in quarantine. The barber said she couldn't see the line, but my iPhone picture definitely showed it. I'm going to grow now with no cuts until 90 days The donor area is so thin below the transplant scar...I know there is some shock loss, but at this point I'm on the fence about any future surgeries. What are your opinions? The hardest part of this process is cutting off all dating. When I go places I always wear a hat. All of my old dating profile pictures were of me completely shaved bald, so I don't have a good set with friends, etc that I can use. Have people found success dating through the ugly duckling phase? My original plan was to wait six months completely off the market, and that is still the plan, but quarantine is getting to me a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyGraft Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 On 4/7/2020 at 7:33 AM, baldforalongtime said: Surgery results. The procedure went well. I arrived early in the morning. The procedure took around 9 hours, with a break for lunch. The only complaint I would have is partially my own fault. I was having discomfort during the procedure, but was managing my way through it by breathing. This ended up wearing my down a bit and the stress was causing bleeding. The staff straightened me out and I was more communicative about pain after that. They kept me numb and finished the procedure. The night after was not fun. It was hard to sleep as there was no side of my head to lay on. I tried an airplane pillow, but only ended up with about 4 hours sleep. Hello how old are you? Did the excess bleeding cause any issues during the surgery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted May 25, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 25, 2020 2 hours ago, LonelyGraft said: Hello how old are you? Did the excess bleeding cause any issues during the surgery? I'm 44. The excess bleeding made the surgery take a little longer and led to a lot of scabbing, but nothing else adverse that I've identified so far. I'm only two month post so the results are still unknown. Since I had a few larger scabs, I was hesitant to remove them after the 7th day. The staff recommended I scrub a little more vigorously when they removed the stitches, so I did in the shower after soaking the scabs in Neosporin for 30 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyGraft Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 1 hour ago, baldforalongtime said: I'm 44. The excess bleeding made the surgery take a little longer and led to a lot of scabbing, but nothing else adverse that I've identified so far. I'm only two month post so the results are still unknown. Since I had a few larger scabs, I was hesitant to remove them after the 7th day. The staff recommended I scrub a little more vigorously when they removed the stitches, so I did in the shower after soaking the scabs in Neosporin for 30 minutes. Was the extent of the scanning shown in those previous pics? Did it get worse cause it doesn’t look that bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted May 26, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 26, 2020 36 minutes ago, LonelyGraft said: Was the extent of the scanning shown in those previous pics? Did it get worse cause it doesn’t look that bad The scabbing wasn't terrible, but on the front left thick enough that I didn't dare scrub them after seven days. Here is the day after surgery: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyGraft Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 1 hour ago, baldforalongtime said: The scabbing wasn't terrible, but on the front left thick enough that I didn't dare scrub them after seven days. Here is the day after surgery: Doesn’t look too bad to be honest. I’ve seen far worse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted June 24, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 24, 2020 90 days...since I'm working from home during quarantine, I got my hair cut short on the sides and back. I wanted to see the scar and how short I could get away with...only to realize not a 2. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member squarepatch Posted June 24, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted June 24, 2020 Hey mate, looks like the frontal third is coming along nicely. Hopefully it goes off over the next couple of months. The scar is not too bad, a bit of smp down the track can hide it hopefully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted June 24, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted June 24, 2020 Looking good and right on track I would say. The scar will become less noticeable over time. But yes it’s all about finding what grade we can get away with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted June 24, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 24, 2020 2 hours ago, squarepatch said: Hey mate, looks like the frontal third is coming along nicely. Hopefully it goes off over the next couple of months. The scar is not too bad, a bit of smp down the track can hide it hopefully Thanks @squarepatch...I've found a good place for SMP where I live and will probably go that route after I'm done having surgeries. At this point, the hair is coming in nicely and I'm hopeful to achieve a satisfactory density. The good thing about a short haircut on the sides is that it gives uniform scalp exposure all the way around and, to me, looks more balanced. Things I'm pleased about at this point: The crown is growing in way better than what I expected. Microneedling+Fin+Min seem to be working a bit Framing of my face...it makes a huge difference Getting to brush hair again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Melvin- Admin Posted June 24, 2020 Administrators Share Posted June 24, 2020 Looks like you’re in for a great result 👍🏼 Keep us updated, and happy growing man, isn’t it nice to see hair growing back 😀 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 ndubya Posted June 24, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted June 24, 2020 Yeah, the crown looks to be responding really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted July 24, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 24, 2020 120 days. Updates of note: Had to stop finasteride for a while. Anxiety and panic started about 30 days after starting it and I held on for as long as I could. There are a ton of other factors that could be causing the anxiety - had a breakup at the end of February, been quarantined since March, selling my house. So I'm going off for 30 days and then will start back up I'm still microneedling the sides, back, and crown weekly at 1.5mm I don't see much new hair sprouting any more. I'm hoping more pops up and that the front third thickens up a bit more, but I'm happy so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicoAustralia Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 I had FUT this month myself, looking forward to following your results mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted July 25, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 25, 2020 9 minutes ago, NicoAustralia said: I had FUT this month myself, looking forward to following your results mate Hope things goes perfectly with your procedure. Are you going to post your results? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicoAustralia Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 5 hours ago, baldforalongtime said: Hope things goes perfectly with your procedure. Are you going to post your results? I've already done a post were I'll update regularly. It's in another section of the forum. Search my username and you will find it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member home1212 Posted August 4, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted August 4, 2020 WOW, really growing in nicely and you can see the outline of a great result! FUT scar in donor is negligible even at very short hair length - congrats and continued success healing & growing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldforalongtime Posted August 4, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 4, 2020 59 minutes ago, home1212 said: WOW, really growing in nicely and you can see the outline of a great result! FUT scar in donor is negligible even at very short hair length - congrats and continued success healing & growing The donor scar has really faded in the last month. That haircut is at a three. I might try a two again and see how it goes on next month's cut. I've started dating again and the confidence boost of having hair is fantastic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicoAustralia Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 How's it looking now mate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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