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

[Melvin- Admin]

45 minutes ago, notsosure said:

Check.

Perfect 

[notsosure]

and now the itching begins. lol...

any tips for how to deal with itching 2 days out from an HT? Obviously I can't just scratch the recipient area, but I'd like to just take sand paper to my head right now.

[BDK081522]

In an earlier post you mentioned putting polysporin on the recipient area. Hopefully you meant on the donor area. The ointment would be very difficult to clean off the recipient area at this point without scrubbing. Only put the on the donor. As for itching, just spray saline on the recipient to alleviate. The itching is terrible but this will give some very short term relief. 

[notsosure]

17 minutes ago, BDK081522 said:

In an earlier post you mentioned putting polysporin on the recipient area. Hopefully you meant on the donor area. The ointment would be very difficult to clean off the recipient area at this point without scrubbing. Only put the on the donor. As for itching, just spray saline on the recipient to alleviate. The itching is terrible but this will give some very short term relief. 

Nailed it. You're right. I meant on the donor area. Tomorrow I'll ask the doc to fill my spray bottle with saline solution. Thanks for the tip and the correction.

[notsosure]

While I have you guys, any recommendations for Rogaine use once it's time? So, normally I would wet my hair, then use a towel to dry and spike the hair straight up. Then I'd get some gel in my hand and spike down/style my hair a bit. Then I'd blow dry with one of those diffusers. The main reason was just to give my hair some volume since it was so thin and receding. It worked fairly well. Now that I'll hopefully have decent hair with a good hairline, I'd like to start using rogaine, but is there some sort of smart process for using it maybe as styling gel for the spiking/somewhat messy look? Maybe that's not possible or sounds ridiculous. I'm a noob when it comes to rogaine, but I'd like to do what I can to avoid another HT anytime soon. Thanks.

[BDK081522]

7 minutes ago, notsosure said:

While I have you guys, any recommendations for Rogaine use once it's time? So, normally I would wet my hair, then use a towel to dry and spike the hair straight up. Then I'd get some gel in my hand and spike down/style my hair a bit. Then I'd blow dry with one of those diffusers. The main reason was just to give my hair some volume since it was so thin and receding. It worked fairly well. Now that I'll hopefully have decent hair with a good hairline, I'd like to start using rogaine, but is there some sort of smart process for using it maybe as styling gel for the spiking/somewhat messy look? Maybe that's not possible or sounds ridiculous. I'm a noob when it comes to rogaine, but I'd like to do what I can to avoid another HT anytime soon. Thanks.

Recommendation is to shower and while your hair is still wet apply minoxidil. With wet hair the scalp is more accessible and Rogaine works by absorption through your skin. If you apply to blown dry hair it is much more difficult to reach the scalp. Especially because after the transplant grows in you'll have much more hair to deter the minoxidil from reaching your scalp. I usually apply when I get out of the shower to wet hair, then blow dry, add product and style. Works well for me. 

[notsosure]

8 minutes ago, BDK081522 said:

Recommendation is to shower and while your hair is still wet apply minoxidil. With wet hair the scalp is more accessible and Rogaine works by absorption through your skin. If you apply to blown dry hair it is much more difficult to reach the scalp. Especially because after the transplant grows in you'll have much more hair to deter the minoxidil from reaching your scalp. I usually apply when I get out of the shower to wet hair, then blow dry, add product and style. Works well for me. 

Oh, got it. That makes sense. I've read everywhere else that you shouldn't apply rogaine until the hair is dry, though? Your method definitely sounds best if that actually works.

[notsosure]

Ok, first shower since Tuesday. Success. Only washed body and the back of my head. And face (not forehead yet) in the sink. So far so good. Only somewhat weird thing is the feeling of water dripping down my head when there's not actual water anywhere on the outside. That, and the swelling that seems to be moving to the lower middle of my forehead and temples. Dr Konior said no worries and that it'll all go away soon. I emailed him, and sure enough, he emailed back within a couple of hours. The guy is a machine. When he drove me back from the office after surgery (yes, he actually drove me himself. Great guy) he told me he wakes up at 3:30am every day! Considering the fact that on surgery days he gets home at like 8:00pm, he must truly love what he does. I'm amazed.

[notsosure]

5 full days post FUE. Today I had a little less of the "water dipping down my head" sensation. Head is still very numb to the touch. I believe this is normal. I had some off and on discomfort from all of the various holes in my head, but nothing too awfully bad. Here's how things look currently. What do you all think that have had HTs and know how things should look by day 5? I wish the recipient hair would just stay and not fall out. I'm definitely not looking forward to what things will look like once the new area falls out for those 3-4 months.

[Shah007]

Looks like very neat and clean work. Any before pics to see what it was like before the HT? 

[Britanium]

9 hours ago, notsosure said:

5 full days post FUE. Today I had a little less of the "water dipping down my head" sensation. Head is still very numb to the touch. I believe this is normal. I had some off and on discomfort from all of the various holes in my head, but nothing too awfully bad. Here's how things look currently. What do you all think that have had HTs and know how things should look by day 5? I wish the recipient hair would just stay and not fall out. I'm definitely not looking forward to what things will look like once the new area falls out for those 3-4 months.

Looks perfectly on track for 5 days out. Very clean 👌 when the shedding takes place you will basically return to pre ht state. This is the time that all of us spend looking in the mirror often “willing it” to grow.... But unfortunately for just about most people it doesn’t even start to kick off until after month 4. 🙏

[notsosure]

Thanks guys. I’ll post a couple before shots I took about 2 years ago when I initially sent Dr. Konior an e-mail for his thoughts. I don’t have his official before pics pre-procedure, at the moment. 

2 more questions for you all.
 

1. How long does it take for the numb head to not feel like a numb head? 

2. When am I 100% fine to spray the shower head directly on the grafted area with 0% chance of screwing something up? I’d like to get rid of this marker on my head and also take a GOOD shower again 🙂 The thought of knocking out a graft or more is terrifying, given I don’t want to do this procedure anytime again in the near future. Those of you that got FUT and not FUE, are brave people. 

[notsosure]

2 years ago pre-op pic I initially sent to Dr. Konior via email. It receded a bit more in those 2 years by the time I got the procedure.

[Homeerestre]

Your's was done way cleaner than everything I saw here, goodluck on your journey, you'll need that.

[notsosure]

1 minute ago, Homeerestre said:

Your's was done way cleaner than everything I saw here, goodluck on your journey, you'll need that.

Thanks! I'll take all the luck I can get.

[notsosure]

Btw, here's the total graft counts that Dr. Konior ended up doing, in case anyone was curious:

1 – 150

2 – 1,072

3 – 978

Total: 2,200

No idea where which grafts were inserted, or if it even matters. Any thoughts on those numbers from you seasoned HT people?

Side note: I emailed him about 30 min ago to ask, and he replied already. Pretty awesome.

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by notsosure

[AlBrown]

3 hours ago, notsosure said:

1. How long does it take for the numb head to not feel like a numb head? 

 

Six weeks out and still have some numbness and itching.  I am curious about this as well.

[Melvin- Admin]

On 4/8/2021 at 7:31 PM, notsosure said:

Ok, first shower since Tuesday. Success. Only washed body and the back of my head. And face (not forehead yet) in the sink. So far so good. Only somewhat weird thing is the feeling of water dripping down my head when there's not actual water anywhere on the outside. That, and the swelling that seems to be moving to the lower middle of my forehead and temples. Dr Konior said no worries and that it'll all go away soon. I emailed him, and sure enough, he emailed back within a couple of hours. The guy is a machine. When he drove me back from the office after surgery (yes, he actually drove me himself. Great guy) he told me he wakes up at 3:30am every day! Considering the fact that on surgery days he gets home at like 8:00pm, he must truly love what he does. I'm amazed.

He’s a machine. Great guy, you should check out the interview I did with him and Nadimi, you’ll get some good insight on his philosophies. 
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CItfBT8j7KO/?igshid=4vfh52y9me7b

[notsosure]

Hey guys, I'm officially at 2 weeks post FUE with Dr. Konior. I'm feeling better than day 7. Tingling and numbness is slowly going away. Above I mentioned a strange "water flowing down my head" feeling and that is also going away, slowly. I think the grafted area is looking pretty good (although I don't really have anything to compare to, being this is my first experience with an HT).

I have the little scabs still, and the grafted hair hasn't fallen out yet. I'm hoping to start exercising 100% normally tomorrow morning, which will be the day 14 mark (being surgery day was day 0).

I'm also hoping to shampoo normally in the grafted area, but am a little hesitant on that, still.

When do the grafts become fully part of your body, so that you can't knock them out by shampooing normally?

And secondly, if I did knock out a graft on day 14 (and beyond), how would I know? Given I still have the scabs, and it feels like all of the transplanted hair (it's not fallen out yet), I'm wondering if that means the grafts aren't settled into place yet? Any thoughts on that?

Thanks!

[Parasol]

Looks like you and I had our procedures on the same day! The work looks incredible and you seem to be healing really well. Congratulations, I bet this is gonna turn out great.

I did just want to chime in regarding working out again. Just be sure to get Dr. Konior’s blessing. My clinic is advising absolutely no aerobics or weight lifting for 30 days post op. I know some clinics do allow for work out restrictions to be lifted at 2 weeks though. I’d recommend checking in with your doc if you haven’t (if you have, have fun! Wish I could join you. I put on one of my favorite t-shirts yesterday and I can already tell my chest and arms have gotten smaller  ).

Edited April 20, 2021 by Parasol

[notsosure]

34 minutes ago, Parasol said:

Looks like you and I had our procedures on the same day! The work looks incredible and you seem to be healing really well. Congratulations, I bet this is gonna turn out great.

I did just want to chime in regarding working out again. Just be sure to get Dr. Konior’s blessing. My clinic is advising absolutely no aerobics or weight lifting for 30 days post op. I know some clinics do allow for work out restrictions to be lifted at 2 weeks though. I’d recommend checking in with your doc if you haven’t (if you have, have fun! Wish I could join you. I put on one of my favorite t-shirts yesterday and I can already tell my chest and arms have gotten smaller  ).

Thanks! That's awesome (re the day of surgery). How are you feeling post procedure, and did you do FUT or FUE? I did FUE, so I'm wondering if maybe that's why Dr. Konior is saying on day 14 I can get back to 100% normal exercise? I emailed him this morning and he replied and said it was totally fine. Yeah, I'm totally ready to get back to working out. I definitely feel like a slob.

[j1mmy]

45 minutes ago, Parasol said:

Looks like you and I had our procedures on the same day! The work looks incredible and you seem to be healing really well. Congratulations, I bet this is gonna turn out great.

I did just want to chime in regarding working out again. Just be sure to get Dr. Konior’s blessing. My clinic is advising absolutely no aerobics or weight lifting for 30 days post op. I know some clinics do allow for work out restrictions to be lifted at 2 weeks though. I’d recommend checking in with your doc if you haven’t (if you have, have fun! Wish I could join you. I put on one of my favorite t-shirts yesterday and I can already tell my chest and arms have gotten smaller  ).

Agree, and same day as me too

I did some lifting today  You should limit sweating just to be safe, and be careful where you put your head in terms of bacteria. I just took it easy, lighter weights, longer rest times, and a disinfected mat for lying on a bench. Luckily I didn't wear a cap, that would have made things hotter!

I will wait some more days before I take a jog or something. 

Let us know what you get up to

For reference, my recommendation was "restrain from vigorous activity for 10-15 days", so if you are sensible, you can figure it out. 

Edited April 20, 2021 by j1mmy

[Parasol]

1 minute ago, notsosure said:

Thanks! That's awesome (re the day of surgery). How are you feeling post procedure, and did you do FUT or FUE? I did FUE, so I'm wondering if maybe that's why Dr. Konior is saying on day 14 I can get back to 100% normal exercise? I emailed him this morning and he replied and said it was totally fine. Yeah, I'm totally ready to get back to working out. I definitely feel like a slob.

I did FUE as well. 

I’m feeling pretty good right now physically. Big difference from where I was a week ago. 

The healing process for me has been a bit of a roller coaster though. I had a pretty nasty wound that scabbed, and for some reason, although I haven’t shed much yet, my very frontal hairline seems like it did just a few days out of surgery, so all in all I guess I’m just hoping that in the end everything turns out ok. Fingers crossed.

Everything for you is looking phenomenal. Hopefully our upcoming sheds aren’t too bad.

[notsosure]

6 minutes ago, j1mmy said:

Agree, and same day as me too

I did some lifting today  You should limit sweating just to be safe, and be careful where you put your head in terms of bacteria. I just took it easy, lighter weights, longer rest times, and a disinfected mat for lying on a bench. Luckily I didn't wear a cap, that would have made things hotter!

I will wait some more days before I take a jog or something. 

Let us know what you get up to

For reference, my recommendation was "restrain from vigorous activity for 10-15 days", so if you are sensible, you can figure it out. 

Oh, nice. Here's what Dr. Konior said this morning about the exercise stuff after I asked this "Can I workout 100% normally now without worrying about grafts falling out or being damaged from sweat etc? I'll be sweating a lot. And I suppose I'll have a towel handy and will just pat the towel and not rub. Is that what you'd suggest?"

His response: "Hello Brad, Full workout is fine.  No worry about sweating or towel drying."

My guess is it's a bit dependent on how many grafts and the type of procedure (FUE vs FUT). I got 2200 grafts and FUE.

[notsosure]

3 minutes ago, Parasol said:

I did FUE as well. 

I’m feeling pretty good right now physically. Big difference from where I was a week ago. 

The healing process for me has been a bit of a roller coaster though. I had a pretty nasty wound that scabbed, and for some reason, although I haven’t shed much yet, my very frontal hairline seems like it did just a few days out of surgery, so all in all I guess I’m just hoping that in the end everything turns out ok. Fingers crossed.

Everything for you is looking phenomenal. Hopefully our upcoming sheds aren’t too bad.

Oh man. Sorry to hear that about the wound. I would imagine everything will heal up just fine in the end, but can totally understand being nervous about it. Being that this was my first (and hopefully only) HT, even with just 2200 grafts that I got, and the fact that everything seems to be on track (knock on wood), I'm still a bit nervous and don't know what to expect. Def keep us/me updated on how things are going over the next several months. I guess we have about 3.5 months left before we start seeing new hair.