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Let's Go! Just hailed an Uber for my drive to Dr. Konior's Chicago office. First HT ever...


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Drink lots of water 💦 Sleep on your back... and ok if your going to use a ice pack (short periods) be very, very careful. The risk of accidentally hitting the grafts is high. I have always had swelling after my hts but it does usually subside within a few days... week at most. 
I agree with the clinic, don’t use ice packs is the best advice really. 

Edited by JohnAC71
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8 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said:

Drink lots of water 💦 Sleep on your back... and ok if your going to use a ice pack (short periods) be very, very careful. The risk of accidentally hitting the grafts is high. I have always had swelling after my hts but it does usually subside within a few days... week at most. 
I agree with the clinic, don’t use ice packs is the best advice really. 

SUPER helpful. Thanks a lot. Water it is then. I'll also sleep on my back with 2 pillows and also 1 small one wrapped around my neck like an airplane pillow so I don't turn my head one way or the other.

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13 hours ago, notsosure said:

That's a great idea. And if I was home, I might do that... but no way am I taking a bath in a Hilton hotel. Hard telling what's going on in there. lol...

Just dont let the shower touch your scalp for the first few days at least

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On 4/6/2021 at 6:36 PM, notsosure said:

Thanks guys. Well it’s 8:30pm and I’m back. Dr Konior actually dropped me off at the hotel. Shocking, but very cool! Here’s how things look right now. I think he ended up doing 2100 grafts.

I look depressed because I had 3 Valium and feel like a zombie after laying on that table for 12 hours. 😂 

I have a paper thing taped to the back of my head and so am hoping I can sleep ok. Waiting for my DoorDash Chipotle order and then trying to sleep. Will be heading back at 1:00 tomorrow for cleaning. Fingers crossed I don’t bump me head on anything or sleep weirdly.

66B629BA-382B-44F0-8A75-D07E22E013E1.jpeg

EF59FCBC-FFBB-42C4-AF54-675B51015F63.jpeg

Wow do you mind taking close-up pictures of the graft placement? The refinement looks absolutely stunning. Dr. Konior is such a nice guy, few surgeons would give rides. 

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17 hours ago, notsosure said:

If you mixed water and soap, how did you get the soap out of your hair/head? Did you replace the soap/water mixture with only water and then spray again? And then how did you dry? Blow dryer on cool and low setting?

I followed the guidelines and looked down while pouring a large cup of water over my crown allowing the water to run down over the recipient area. This rinsed the shampoo out.

The other method I used was spraying saline over the area and letting it drip down into the sink.

I was buzzed down like yoursel so no blow drying needed yet.  Congratulations by the way for having a "normal" enough shaped noggin to pull that look off.  It was my first buzz cut as well and didn't know what to expect so I was pleased with the positive feedback.  Doubt it comes to that for either of us but I felt better about my follicular worse-case scenario from the experience.

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13 minutes ago, AlBrown said:

I followed the guidelines and looked down while pouring a large cup of water over my crown allowing the water to run down over the recipient area. This rinsed the shampoo out.

The other method I used was spraying saline over the area and letting it drip down into the sink.

I was buzzed down like yoursel so no blow drying needed yet.  Congratulations by the way for having a "normal" enough shaped noggin to pull that look off.  It was my first buzz cut as well and didn't know what to expect so I was pleased with the positive feedback.  Doubt it comes to that for either of us but I felt better about my follicular worse-case scenario from the experience.

Thanks a lot. So far since the procedure on Tuesday morning I've taken a whopping 0 showers. lol... I guess that means I have 3 layers of deodorant on at the moment. Gross. But I'm not taking any chances and would rather be gross than knock out a graft. I go back for another cleaning today at noon. It's raining today so I'll have to figure out if the hotel can loan me an umbrella OR if I can somehow manage to put something over my head while I walk to the car... or better yet, it could stop raining sometime in the next 2 hours. Funny about the blow drying. I guess you're right... none needed. I have never had anything even close to a shaved head before, so I guess the scalp dries as fast as the skin. Hilarious. As for the shape of my head, I sent a picture or 2 to my wife and she seems to think I look good bald, but truth be told, I'm still thinking it's the magic of the iPhone angles or something. The full story will come out when I drive home on Saturday and she sees my tiny little bald head in person. But meh... I just want to fast forward the next 4 months without doing anything stupid, which I tend to do. haha.

One other question for you, if you don't mind. When did you start noticing the "shock" loss stuff that everyone else seems to mention? Like month 2 or so? I'm wondering if by month 3 I'll have somewhat of my regular looking hair style back (just no new hair yet) or if I'll look absolutely ridiculous at that stage. I'm honestly not one that wears hats ever, and although I did buy a few hats, I'd rather not mess with yet another thing.

I'm kind of thinking to just keep shaving my head at like a 1 guard until the new hair starts growing in, so that everything stays fairly even. Just a thought from someone who has no idea what he's doing (i.e. me). Thanks man.

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1 hour ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Wow do you mind taking close-up pictures of the graft placement? The refinement looks absolutely stunning. Dr. Konior is such a nice guy, few surgeons would give rides. 

Hey, here’s as close as I could get. (I'm still waiting to drop my phone on my head one of these times) My poor shiny head definitely looks like I haven’t showered since Tuesday at 5am. Lol... which is 100% true. Also, I don’t have a clue how things are supposed to look 2.5 days post surgery. Hopefully things are looking ok? I think you can still sort of see his marker along the hairline area, behind the grafts. And I really have no idea what those other marker lines are. Any idea what that stuff is? Clearly he was marking something. Thoughts from someone that knows something would be much appreciated

Brad_Bald_2.jpg

Edited by notsosure
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2 minutes ago, notsosure said:

Hey, here’s as close as I could get. (I'm still waiting to drop my phone on my head one of these times) My poor shiny head definitely looks like I haven’t showered since Tuesday at 5am. Lol... which is 100% true. Also, I don’t have a clue how things are supposed to look 2.5 days post surgery. Hopefully things are looking ok? I think you can still sort of see his marker along the hairline area, behind the grafts. And I really have no idea what those other marker lines are. Any idea what that stuff is? Clearly he was marking something. Thoughts from someone that knows something would be much appreciated

Brad_Bald_2.jpg

Looks absolutely normal. However, you can still take body baths, and I show how to wash your hair for the first couple of days here

 

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Thanks for the video. Ok, so here's my thought. I'm here at the hotel until Saturday. I think tonight I'll take a "body shower". Nothing on my head. Just so I don't feel as nasty tomorrow. I'm assuming the doc's assistants will clean my head (recipient and donor areas) today. When I get home on Saturday, I'll do body showers for the next 7 days and then will follow it up with mixing dial liquid soap and luke warm water into a big cup and pour it over my head. And then take regular luke warm water and do it a few more times again, just to rinse out any residual soap. I'm scared to death to actually tough/pat the recipient area, so I'll probably just let the water run over it. Later in the week (Those 7 days) I may wash the back of my head with my hand and soap in the shower like normal. Just gently, and will try really hard to not get anything on the front recipient area.

Is there some good method for putting the neosporin onto the recipient area? Sounds like I have to dab/rub it on and that's scary 🙂

I bought something called Polysporin, which is what Dr Konior recommended, so I'll use that.

More tips are welcome at any time. Thanks so much.

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Just now, notsosure said:

Thanks for the video. Ok, so here's my thought. I'm here at the hotel until Saturday. I think tonight I'll take a "body shower". Nothing on my head. Just so I don't feel as nasty tomorrow. I'm assuming the doc's assistants will clean my head (recipient and donor areas) today. When I get home on Saturday, I'll do body showers for the next 7 days and then will follow it up with mixing dial liquid soap and luke warm water into a big cup and pour it over my head. And then take regular luke warm water and do it a few more times again, just to rinse out any residual soap. I'm scared to death to actually tough/pat the recipient area, so I'll probably just let the water run over it. Later in the week (Those 7 days) I may wash the back of my head with my hand and soap in the shower like normal. Just gently, and will try really hard to not get anything on the front recipient area.

Is there some good method for putting the neosporin onto the recipient area? Sounds like I have to dab/rub it on and that's scary 🙂

I bought something called Polysporin, which is what Dr Konior recommended, so I'll use that.

More tips are welcome at any time. Thanks so much.

Just follow your Dr's post-operative instructions. Top doc like Konior won't have bad instructions ;) Body bath every day, showers have adjustable head heights, no need to be a caveman buddy :D Dr. K should have you covered, you picked him for a reason, so trust his instructions. 

Typical is washing the donor every day, avoiding the recipient, and after e.g. 4-7 days you are allowed to wash the recipient twice a day as Melvin demonstrates. You are ENCOURAGED at that point to gently massage the shampoo on the recipient area with the weight of your palm. The alternative is not having the scabs removed at a positive point of 10-15 days, and you don't want that. 


 

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36 minutes ago, notsosure said:

Thanks for the video. Ok, so here's my thought. I'm here at the hotel until Saturday. I think tonight I'll take a "body shower". Nothing on my head. Just so I don't feel as nasty tomorrow. I'm assuming the doc's assistants will clean my head (recipient and donor areas) today. When I get home on Saturday, I'll do body showers for the next 7 days and then will follow it up with mixing dial liquid soap and luke warm water into a big cup and pour it over my head. And then take regular luke warm water and do it a few more times again, just to rinse out any residual soap. I'm scared to death to actually tough/pat the recipient area, so I'll probably just let the water run over it. Later in the week (Those 7 days) I may wash the back of my head with my hand and soap in the shower like normal. Just gently, and will try really hard to not get anything on the front recipient area.

Is there some good method for putting the neosporin onto the recipient area? Sounds like I have to dab/rub it on and that's scary 🙂

I bought something called Polysporin, which is what Dr Konior recommended, so I'll use that.

More tips are welcome at any time. Thanks so much.

Use baby shampoo not dial soap. They should wash your head today and remove the markings. 


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

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Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

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10 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Use baby shampoo not dial soap. They should wash your head today and remove the markings. 

Weird. Ok. Dr. Konior mentioned liquid dial soap. But maybe he just mentioned to use that PRE surgery? Is there a specific baby shampoo I should get? I can pick that up today. And do you have any guesses on what those extra markings are?

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15 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said:

Johnson’s baby shampoo 🧴 

Second that


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Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

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Dr. K's staff advised me not to use the Dial instead of shampoo post-OP.  My guess is maybe it would dry out the area too much.

I am considering keeping my hair short until ~ 3 months as well.  I'm only a little over 1 month in but do see the shock loss more and more as the length increases.  Keeping it shorter for uniformity seems like sound logic.

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3 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Looks absolutely normal. However, you can still take body baths, and I show how to wash your hair for the first couple of days here

 

Melvin: 

Good stuff in this video.  What is your personal opinion on grafts being securely anchored?  I have read many different views anywhere from 9 days to 1 month.

Also, with summer quickly approaching what are your thoughts on poolside sun exposure with sunscreen?  4 months minimum?

TIA!

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6 minutes ago, AlBrown said:

Melvin: 

Good stuff in this video.  What is your personal opinion on grafts being securely anchored?  I have read many different views anywhere from 9 days to 1 month.

Also, with summer quickly approaching what are your thoughts on poolside sun exposure with sunscreen?  4 months minimum?

TIA!

According to @Bernstein Medical  grafts are secure at 7 days, if scab-free. If there are scabs present, they’re secure by day 9. They have a study I shared in this video. sunscreen is a good idea until 6 months.

 


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Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

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Another question for you all. Today I noticed that it feels like I have water dripping down my head (even though there is no actual water). I guess it's under my scalp. Just started happening earlier today. Is this a normal sensation?

 

And secondly, I've noticed more swelling over the course of the 3 days. Started high and is moving downward towards middle bottom of forhead and temples. From what I've read, this is 100% normal. But my question is, other than icing (which they suggested I not do yet, so I wouldn't accidentally bump the inserted grafts) is there anything else I can do for the swelling? Drink more water, take ibuprofen?

Edited by notsosure
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Also, for those that get FUE and are nervous about sleep afterwards... I posted my Oura ring (it tracks sleep) results above on night 1 and thought the deep sleep hours were a result of the valium, but my night 2 scores were almost exactly the same (with no valium in my system). I'm chalking it up to sleeping on my back, which I never ever normally do. If I get 2+ hours of deep sleep tonight then I think I might make the "back sleeping" a new habit once this whole HT stuff is over 🙂

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Keep your head elevated when sleeping in the first few days;

    Avoid wearing hats;

    Drink a lot of water;

    Avoid alcohol;

    Avoid exercise and excessive physical strain;

    Don’t use any medications that cause blood thinning (aspirin, ibuprofen, etc.);

    Apply a cold press to the forehead only, not to the recipient and donor areas!

    Massage your forehead

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2 hours ago, notsosure said:

Another question for you all. Today I noticed that it feels like I have water dripping down my head (even though there is no actual water). I guess it's under my scalp. Just started happening earlier today. Is this a normal sensation?

 

And secondly, I've noticed more swelling over the course of the 3 days. Started high and is moving downward towards middle bottom of forhead and temples. From what I've read, this is 100% normal. But my question is, other than icing (which they suggested I not do yet, so I wouldn't accidentally bump the inserted grafts) is there anything else I can do for the swelling? Drink more water, take ibuprofen?

They can give you steroids to reduce the swelling, as for sensations, it’s nerve endings that are being repaired. You may experience some discomfort in the donor too, that will be normal.

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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.

 

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