Dr. Bloxham ~3700 FUT August 2022

[FormerFutureKrillin]

Hi all!

Been lurking on this forum for a while, and yesterday finally had my FUT surgery with Dr. Bloxham and his team. As is a theme with many others who have posted their experience with Dr. Bloxham, I only have positive things to say about him, his team and the experience. 

The day started with Dr. Bloxham checking to make sure nothing had changed with my hair from my in-person consult about a year ago, and then he began drawing on the lines. My goals were focused on getting the maximum reframing effect for my face and to rebuild my frontal third, which was basically gone. To do this, I asked that we rebuild the corners and lower the hairline a little, but nothing too crazy, as I’ve always had a fairly high hairline. We decided that we did not need to do anything to my temple points on this surgery, as they still have some shape to them (it may be hard to see in the pictures below, as I wore my hair forward prior to surgery and the temple area was trimmed in order to make the incisions).

We agreed that I would probably need 3500 grafts to do it properly, given the corner rebuild would need a good number of grafts. In the end, we managed to get around ~3750 grafts (but only charged for 3500) which I was thrilled to hear!

Surgery itself was mostly a breeze. I felt absolutely nothing while the strip was being taken or while the incisions were made and I was renumbed whenever needed. There was only a brief 10-15 minute period right at the end of surgery where I started to have some pain, as my body seemed to be metabolizing the injections very quickly at the end, but it was bearable and I was numbed again before I left.

Prior to leaving, we went over the post-op instructions, Dr. Bloxham checked in with me one more time to make sure everything was good, and then I was on my way.

Will do my best to update this thread regularly - previous threads on this forum were invaluable to me during the research phase and I want to be sure to pay it forward.
 

Some pictures below:

Pre-op hair styled:

Pre-Op hair spread

 

Surgical Lines:

 

Immediate post-op in hotel (quite a bit of swelling)

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Looks dense-packed! Awesome, thanks for sharing your journey with us. I’m excited to follow your progress 🙌🏼

[stephcurry30]

ANy photos of the scar?

[FormerFutureKrillin]

3 hours ago, stephcurry30 said:

ANy photos of the scar?

So far from what I can see it’s looking good (like a razor blade line), but still some areas with dried blood I need to clean over the next few washes. I’ll try to get a picture up soon.

[John1991]

He really packed out the front very densely.  If it grows well, I think you'll be pretty happy with this.  

[johndang]

Any new pictures?

 

[FormerFutureKrillin]

Below is a picture after washing on Day 9 (yesterday evening). After the wash, there were some areas of skin on the front left hairline that were a little more red/pink than usual where some scabs came off, but no blood or hair came out with the scabs.

I asked Dr. Bloxham about this during staple removal today and he said it was probably just a few scabs that weren’t quite ready to come off and that everything was looking great. He said those areas might re-scab a bit, and if so to let the scabs run their course, but otherwise he said it’s relatively normal and will not cause any issues.

Planning to buzz my head later today, after which I will post again and also add a picture of the scar.

 

[FormerFutureKrillin]

Day 10 post op after buzzing my head. Already really happy with how well the corners blend into my natural hair. In person it appears to match the hair behind almost perfectly. Last photo has the incision line. Let me know what you think!

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

The work looks exceptional. Happy to follow your progress 🙌 

[stephcurry30]

Looking good. curious as to why you didn't shave  or let the doctor shave your head on the say of operation?

[FormerFutureKrillin]

29 minutes ago, stephcurry30 said:

Looking good. curious as to why you didn't shave  or let the doctor shave your head on the say of operation?

In my case, we thought it might be possible to cover up the transplanted area with my hair long, but I tried it and I just couldn’t make it work. I think Dr. Bloxham also generally recommends for people to grow their hair long/to have some length for surgery.

[FormerFutureKrillin]

Hit the one month mark today. Have shed most everything in the last week and a half, but starting to slow down now.

Otherwise, I think things are on track. Some pictures below:

~2.5 weeks post op, just beginning to shed. You’ll see that a few spots did re-scab as Dr. Bloxham said they might, but hair continued to grow through.

 

 

Pictures from today - redness still present but getting better. Have been applying aloe vera gel which appears to be helping already.
 

 

Pictures of the scar. On my left side, the way my hair is growing/minor shock loss is making it look a little wider than it actually is. When I separate the hair it still looks very thin and hair already appears to be coming through the scar.

 

 

[johndang]

On 9/8/2022 at 12:19 PM, FormerFutureKrillin said:

Hit the one month mark today. Have shed most everything in the last week and a half, but starting to slow down now.

Otherwise, I think things are on track. Some pictures below:

~2.5 weeks post op, just beginning to shed. You’ll see that a few spots did re-scab as Dr. Bloxham said they might, but hair continued to grow through.

 

 

Pictures from today - redness still present but getting better. Have been applying aloe vera gel which appears to be helping already.
 

 

Pictures of the scar. On my left side, the way my hair is growing/minor shock loss is making it look a little wider than it actually is. When I separate the hair it still looks very thin and hair already appears to be coming through the scar.

 

 

Any updates?

[FormerFutureKrillin]

Hi all! Hit the 2-month mark today. They don’t call it the “ugly duckling” stage for nothing! Pictures are below.
 

I have stopped shedding and have seen some small growth starting, but not much yet. My recipient is still red, but fading significantly each week. There are some spots on my left side that are slightly more red, those are where the scabs came off slightly early and re-scabbed. Those areas are getting better too but just slightly behind the rest of the recipient.

I do have some hair growing in my forelock, I think this is mostly native but I do see some transplanted hair mixed in. This is also the area that I applied minoxidil pre-transplant, and I have continued that routine. I don’t want to start applying minoxidil to the entire recipient (just too much of a hassle and I don’t want to have to do that forever) so I’m only applying it where I did before the transplant.

No pictures of the scar this time - it is about the same and now covered by my hair.

[John1991]

Things look normal for this point in the process.  

[FormerFutureKrillin]

Hi all. Now at 3 months. Finally started to see some hairs beginning to surface over the past 2 weeks - fingers crossed for some good early growth this next month.

Redness still lingering. Hoping it will fade this month.

Scar:

[Gatsby]

@FormerFutureKrillin you are healing very nicely. That FUT scar is already way on the mend. Looking good. 👌

[FormerFutureKrillin]

Hi all. Been a while (crazy busy). Here are some updates from the 4 month mark, and some additional pictures from today (~4.5 months). Overall things are progressing but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous. I know it’s still early but have you really had a HT if you don’t get a little nervous during the growth phase? 😂

4 months:

Today:

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by FormerFutureKrillin

[asterix0]

Normal to be nervous during this phase, just trust the process and don't worry 🙂

[gxm100]

hey @FormerFutureKrillin - definitely normal to be nervous during this phase I completely understand. I also had my procedure with Dr Bloxham - you could check my thread for reference if you want. Around 3.5 to 4 months I was feeling very nervous. I feel I was in a similar spot to you at that point. The hair could look good from certain angles but was definitely still completely lacking density, but then my lord from month 4 onward it was just getting better day by day. At month 5.5 I didn't think it could get any better honestly but it's kept going and I'm almost 7 months now. Personally, I got really nervous because I couldn't easily see any 'new' hairs poking through my scalp between the thin ones, but nonetheless the improvement kept on coming.

[FormerFutureKrillin]

11 hours ago, gxm100 said:

hey @FormerFutureKrillin - definitely normal to be nervous during this phase I completely understand. I also had my procedure with Dr Bloxham - you could check my thread for reference if you want. Around 3.5 to 4 months I was feeling very nervous. I feel I was in a similar spot to you at that point. The hair could look good from certain angles but was definitely still completely lacking density, but then my lord from month 4 onward it was just getting better day by day. At month 5.5 I didn't think it could get any better honestly but it's kept going and I'm almost 7 months now. Personally, I got really nervous because I couldn't easily see any 'new' hairs poking through my scalp between the thin ones, but nonetheless the improvement kept on coming.

Thanks man. My improvement from month 4 has been steady but no “explosion” yet so to speak. Definitely think I also have a lot of hairs that are basically invisible (but I can see some of them in close up pictures) that I imagine are all over and will thicken up. Fingers crossed I’ll be looking as good as you in a few months!

I’ll post an update soon (either at 5mos or 5.5 months)

[MikeJohnDaDon]

Looking good man. Nice progress.

[FormerFutureKrillin]

Hi all. It’s been ~5.5 months so I thought I am overdue for an update.

The good:

• I see continued progress from my previous updates
• The corners, while still a little odd from the initial wire-y-ness of the immature hair, are already looking good and I think will look even better in a few months.

The bad

• Growth on the top is very slow and not where I would want it to be at this point. Given the length of the new hair, I think it’s pretty certain I am a slow grower.
• My right side is still particularly weak, and forces me to essentially use the same hairstyle I was using prior to the procedure. Haven’t been able to cut my hair yet because I still need to cover large areas. I am hoping to be able to have it cut in a few weeks.
• I still think about my hair, a lot, and my worries are progressively getting worse.

Keeping my fingers crossed given there is still a long way to go, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t getting more nervous each week.

I recently started oral minoxidil at the beginning of this month - so perhaps I will see some benefits from that soon.

At exactly 5 months:

 

Now:

weaker side:

Corners:

Unflattering (and unfair) angles - only showing to give a sense of the weak/lagging areas.

weaker side:

[stephcurry30]

Hang in there. I am hoping you are a slow grower and your result jumps to 100%% in months 6, 7 and 8!

[ht4me]

Only 3 weeks later but any changes?