Arocha 2357 grafts FUT/FUE combo with PRP 11/1/23: 2nd Procedure

[Steeeve]

Hello all!

Well, the time has come. I’m home and resting after a long day that actually felt like it flew by.

Today I had my 2nd hair transplant with Dr. Arocha and, true to form, it was an excellent experience.

I thought about just adding this to my previous thread about my experience here: 

So if you would like to check out where I started from be sure to check it out.

I was initially going in for crown work but the doc was able to work though my scalp almost completely with the grafts he was able to pull via FUT and FUE so I decided to start a completey new thread.

My day flew by. The team was awesome and caring and helpful. I was constantly being asked if I was okay or if I needed anything at all. I was quick to speak up if my anesthesia started to wear off and when I did more was given. 

Here was my situation prior to this 2nd sitting:

I want to add some pictures here of how I style it on a day to day basis. Back in February I was involved in an accident that really put me behind with my meds and I lost some ground with the amount of coverage in both my previously transplanted area and the part of my head within my vertex which was previously untouched. I reached out to Doctor Arocha and asked to get on oral minoxidil which combined with the fin I’m already taking was a lifesaver. I’ve been on the oral minox for about 5-6 months, I believe, and Fin since April of 2012. I’ve been adding some dermatch into my hairline since February when I lost that coverage and then pull it back into a small bun to conceal my crown. Literally everyone I work with believes that I have a full head of hair. You can see some pictures in my previous thread that are similar, however, I do feel that I’ve been able to get it down something really natural looking:

And here’s that little bun I as referring to:

Here’s my main area of concern:

With that being said I was very specific about wanting to rework though my hairline and strengthen it, especially that weaker spot in the middle. The thing is, there are hairs in the spot in the middle of my hairline, they’re just very fine and hard to see. Even still, I wanted to rework though it to make it stronger and the doc agreed and also felt it was necessary. 

He was able to pull 2000 grafts via FUT and 357 via FUE. I slept a lot during the procedure. I even snored while they were taking the strip out. 😂 I’ve got twins that will be 5 years old in 9 days (who keep me up at night most every night) so this was a welcome break from the craziness within our household. It was kind like a spa day for me. Ha!

There were some hiccups throughout the day, however, the team handled it incredibly. I was bleeding a lot during this procedure and it kept pushing the grafts out so the graft placement part of the day took a bit longer than I think was anticipated. No one ever got frustrated with it, though. They just kept plugging away until the day was done.

here’s a picture of my previous scar that my wife helped me take.which wasn’t nearly as bad as I had made it out to be once shaved down.

Here was the doctor’s design:

And here was the outcome immediate post-op:

Dr. Arocha and his team were absolutely amazing just as they were my first time around. I had some pre transplant jitters just as I did last time but everyone was so quick to put me at ease. I’m so happy that I found him and his amazing team. 

i’ll probably be hanging around the forum more often these days. If you have any questions feel free to speak up and I’ll try to answer to my best ability.

i’m going to try to add a pic or 2 of my current sutures and where the FUE was taken in the next day or so. That area is still a little tender so when it eases up it try and grab it.

Hope all is well with everyone! As always, be good to one another. See you next time. ✌🏻

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Steeeve

[Melvin- Admin]

How many grafts did you get in the crown? Awesome to follow your journey again! You had a homerun first time around, this should be no different.

[Steeeve]

@Melvin- Admin I was awake during the time when the doc was making the incisions and I heard him stop around 275 in the hairline so I’m thinking around 2082, give or take, for the crown.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Steeeve

[Steeeve]

Also, @Melvin- Admin, thank you so much! I’m so excited that this worked out the way that it did. I wasn’t anticipating to be able to get this done this year but the opportunity presented itself and I jumped!

Edited November 2, 2023 by Steeeve

[Steeeve]

So today is 2 days post-op. I haven’t washed my hair just yet. I’ll do it a little later this evening. I dropped my kids off at school @7 am this morning. Came home and popped a hydrocodone. Ate some breakfast. Threw an ice pack on my head, laid back down and slept for a few hours. Im trying to stay off my feet as much as possible today to try and keep the swelling from crawling down the front of my face.

Yesterday, I went back in to Dr. Arocha’s office for my first wash/post-op inspection. They said everything looked great and very clean. I do feel like they did a great job cleaning both the recipient and donor after the work was done especially with how much I bled. That had to have been obnoxious for them LOL but, like I said they just kept pushing forward.

I’m a big weenie when it comes to the pain so I’m not going to skip out on the meds. I’ve been prone to higher blood pressure lately and pain of any kind tends to cause it to soar so I’ll keep taking it until it’s done. To be honest, the pain has been very minimal. My recipient has been very itchy as I recall it was the first time around. So now it’s just matter of will power to not scratch it.

This is what I’m looking like today.Thats About all for now. If I can get a picture of my sutures later I’ll post that.

Until then…✌🏻

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Steeeve

[Steeeve]

Here’s a quick pic of my donor 2 days post-op.

[Steeeve]

4 Days Down- All The rest To Go!

These grafts have pretty much crusted over and turned into scabs. It’s been kind of difficult for me to see where all of the grafts were placed but after rubbing my hands across my head I can feel that grafts were placed all throughout my scalp. My wife has been helping me to clean everything this time around as I had a difficult time the first time around-if you go back and read through my first thread you’ll read that I had a pretty nasty infection where the strip was taken.

My strip was pulled a little wider this time around but again the team did such a good job cleaning immediately post-op that it’s been fairly easy to keep up with. I’ve been pouring a cup of water over my head with Johnson & Johnson mixed in it and lightly patting the grafts. My wife has been rubbing the strip just a little more vigorously.

Tomorrow is my last day to take some antibiotics to help fight any potential infection. The pain from strip has been just a little dull but ibuprofen does the trick. Tomorrow is also my last day to pour the cup and then I can start letting the shower trickle over my scalp.

I seemed to get away with very little swelling coming down onto my face. At least compared to last time. Ice really does do the trick. When we got back back into Austin from Houston we had been having some work down outside of our home and and our internet line had been cut so someone had been sent out to our house to fix it. I was dealing with this:however, I threw a beanie on and you couldn’t tell anything was going on at all.i iced it down for 30 minutes and the swelling almost disappeared. Almost.

Great thing about this beanie is that it’s just a stretchy light cotton. So easy to pull on and take off.

I’m looking forward to getting my head under the shower at day 7 and sliding these scabs off. I said it last time I went through this and I’ll say it again. This post-op itch is REAL. It is taking ALL of my will power…

Here are some photos under different bathroom lights:Here’s what’s going on in the crown. I do also have a ring light that I’ll be using once there’s some more progress. Maybe at 2 weeks, I don’t know, we’ll see. Maybe sooner.

Anyway, that’s about it. I’ll be around. ✌🏻 Be good people.🙂

[Steeeve]

8 Days Post-Op

And I feel like I’m already back to how I was pre-transplant. Almost 😅

On day 4 or 5 my wife asked me to take down some Halloween decorations off of our mantle. this treewhich has these spikes on the end of each branch fell on my head and just missed my grafts.I

Got

Lucky.

Yesterday, day 7, the weather changed here in Austin and I got this terrible headache. I hate to say I don’t even touch my head to clean it but all I did was lay in bed and sleep. And I slept all day long.

It doesn’t seem that any harm was done by missing the day. Although, I do still have a headache, I took my kids to school @7am then came home hopped in the shower. I stayed in there for about an hour and a half gently massaging my head to loosen those scabs an pull them down off of my grafts. I’d say about 90% are gone. When I run my fingers through my hair I feel the occasional dry scab but I’ll hop back in the shower this even and work on it some more. Then again tomorrow and so on and so on until they’re gone. I did have my wife put bacitracin on my sutures yesterday as I have been doing so since post-op and will continue to do so until I run out of what the clinic gave me.

Here are some pics of what I look like today in different settings. I busted out the ring light  so I’ll show that first.

All the dandruff is left over scabs hangin’ out..

Next I’ll show under my normal bathroom light but I want to talk about how I’m brushing this long a$$ hair. I have this thick bamboo bristled brush, I have to pull one side of my head’s long hair up and spray it with a detangler while it still wet, gently brush it out and then do the other side. I’m not going brush it near the grafts, although, they are totally safe and secure by now it’s still scary as he[[ to think about getting my brush near them.

I let my hair air dry before taking the bathroom pics.So when I say that I feel almost back to normal looking, pre-transplant, I do want to add that I am 100% going out with my head covered by a loose fitting cap or beanie. I’m am not that brave! 😂

That’s pretty much it for now. All questions, comments, and criticisms are welcome. I’ll be here to discuss. If not then til’ next time.

As always, be good people. ✌🏻

[Melvin- Admin]

Wow you’re healing exceptionally well. Testament to Dr. Arochas refined technique.

[Steeeve]

17 minutes ago, Melvin- Admin said:

Wow you’re healing exceptionally well. Testament to Dr. Arochas refined technique.

Thanks Melvin! I recall the same pretty much last time. I don’t feel like I suffered from too much post-op redness, no severe shedding of the grafts or natural hair, for that matter, either. There was a considerable amount of post-op ooz that happened on day 2 that took weeks to release from my scalp but I don’t believe that hindered any growth. 

🤞🏻🤞🏻 for the same outcome this go around. 😂 

[Steeeve]

I’m still working on just a couple of scabs but here’s what a first pass looks like 9 days out.

[Steeeve]

Today marks 2 Weeks since I went in for my 2nd procedure, first pass at my crown. Other than a tender scalp and some pings and pangs coming from my sutures (which a couple of ibuprofen and Tylenol resolve easily) all has been going very well, I believe. I’m healing quite well. No lingering redness or bruising beyond the first couple of days post-op. It’s been, generally, unremarkable-which is awesome.

It’s still the earliest days, though, and I’m mentally prepared for whatever comes. There's been no shedding, which I didn’t have to deal with too much during my first pass, but still, I’m ready to throw that ball cap on!

I just hopped out of the shower so here are some wet hair pics.

1 or 2 turned out a little potatoey but I thought it still gave a good idea of the shape of my hairline and the way my face is framed.

If you zoom in you can really get a good look at those grafts!

Here are a few dry pics:That’s it for now. Not much to add at 2 weeks and it all looks the same as it did one week out.

I see Dr. Arocha on Friday for my first check up. I’ll try to get a shot of what this scar is gonna shape up to be around then. I have only seen it from the one picture that I took 2 days out and posted.

I’ll be around. ✌🏻

[hybonix]

Amazing work! The first procedure transformed your appearance and your crown is poised to bloom. I anticipate future updates and love the progress so far.

[Steeeve]

Thanks @hybonix! I appreciate your support! I’ll definitely keep updating…probably even well beyond the final update. Hahaha

[VCA]

Looking good and healing well. Interesting case to follow.

Best of luck!

[Steeeve]

1 hour ago, VCA said:

Looking good and healing well. Interesting case to follow.

Best of luck!

Thanks @VCA I appreciate the support.

[Steeeve]

Yesterday I drove to Houston to see Dr. Arocha for my 2 week check-up. He was very happy with how everything looked. I’ve worked very hard to get everything clean with the help of my wife.

It was 16 days since the HT so the doc went ahead and pulled the sutures out. It was such an immediate relief. The pressure was just…gone. 🙂 So so nice to have them out.

The last time the sutures were pulled out was somewhat painful, however, I did have an infection in the scar. This time around there was no pain at all. Just relief.

Here is what the scar looks like tonight:This is really my first time seeing it. The last pic I posted was the only other time but I  have no feelings about what it looks like just yet. Only the coming months will tell.

I can certainly say that it looks better than it did at this time the last time I had the strip pulled and the scar was still hot with infection, bumpy, and crusty.

Here’s last time at 2 weeks post-op:Drastically different than now.

Again. I have no feelings toward this. I have always maintained that once I feel that I have met my goals I would throw 200-300 grafts in the scar to help conceal it and in the meantime I’m just going to continue to wear my hair a little longer.

I guess I do hope that with better management of the scar, this time around, it will be a little slimmer and I can cut my hair at the same length that I was cutting it pre 2nd HT. We’ll see, though. The next month will tell me what I should expect moving forward.

I’ll post again at 1 month.

Until then, be good people. 

[Steeeve]

I wasn’t planning to update until 1 month but on Tuesday, Wednesday would be 3 weeks post -op, I noticed some shock loss in the hairline and also behind the previous frontal work. At first I thought the grafts were shedding but upon examination…nope. They’re still hanging on.

Here is a pic of my hair I posted earlier in the thread while working on getting the scape to loosen. The arrows indicate where the hair I believe is also letting go causing it to be harder to disguise.Hairs letting go here.

Causing this:Where previously I was able to pull this hair back and easily hide my barren crown.

This might only be the beginning…

The pictures are from Tuesday. It is worse today. It’s not too bad, tbh. I’ve seen worse.

Oh well. Thankfully, I can put in a hat.

The small price we pay for beauty.

Hopefully, the regrowth of these lost natives will present itself at 3-4 months and then I’ll see some growth from the transplanted hair soon after.  Hopefully.

🤞🏻

✌🏻

[Melvin- Admin]

Try some volumizing powder, it’ll help. It’s not that bad tbh. Better than shaving that’s for sure.

[Steeeve]

@Melvin- Admin I was thinking about Slick Gorilla. I already use their sea salt spray and I love it!

Its the perfect time of year to treat myself 🙂

[Steeeve]

So Wednesday, Nov. 29th, was 4 weeks post-op. Tomorrow, Dec. 1st, will be one month.

Time flies.

I’m not sure if the shock loss has stopped but it’s really not so bad so far. I do believe I’ve shed some hair in my crown and maybe a little in my hairline. I still feel a ton of stubble, though, so maybe the pics I’m taking are just potato??

My donor scar is still a little tender as is my recipient in my crown. Tylenol still does the trick if I just feel like not dealing with it but most of the time it’s just an annoyance rather than painful. My scalp is still numb somewhat-I don’t know why but I kinda like that feeling🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

I’ve some pics of my recipient in different lighting. Lighting at work is very harsh.

I took @Melvin- Admin’s advice and got some volumizing powder and it really helped with not only covering my crown but keeping it in place. It also holds for pretty much the entire day.

I don’t even have to pull my hair back (I still do pull my hair back but I don’t have to)

Because there’s so little hair in my hairline it has become extremely difficult to conceal that. It’s very obvious if I put too much dermmatch in that spot so I have to be very careful. Here’s the hairline with some dermmatch.

And more of my entire scalp with volumizing powder and pulled back

Really does the trick.

These are under bathroom light without any concealer.

Close up of the middle of my hairline:You can see that those grafts are still holding on. Some look like they may have shed. I just can’t tell, though.

Here’s my crown.It looks like some of the hairs have shed from the crown but I still feel So Much stubble when I rub my fingers across my head back there. It looks like some of the dying hair back there has woken up due to the prp, also.

The powder is really interesting. I got home really late from work last night and just crawled into bed. When I woke up the powders were still holding my hair in place. My crown was a bit tussled but this was how I wore it out this morning to run some errands. There is a little concealer in the hair line.

My scar is extremely difficult to get pictures of. Thankfully my wife is extremely patient with me and helps me out the best she can.

The hair that was shaved down is difficult to move to try and get a good look but I do feel it looks better than it did at one month post my first procedure. Here’s a picture of that for reference.To me that 👆🏻 already looked much wider with a fair amount of shock loss below the scar that never returned.

Overall, I feel like I look mostly like how I looked pre-op. Mostly. 🙂 Other than a little tenderness in my donor and the slightest bit in my recipient I feel perfectly fine.

For $hits and giggles I’m going to post a picture from 2010. I was 30 and wasn’t on any meds at the time. That’s my bald noggin facing the camera. I was working on a horror film and helping to apply makeup to another actor.While the picture is very dark you can see that I have very little hair. At that time I never even dreamed that I would be where I am now.

So that’s all for now. Like usual, I’ll be around. Unless something happens I’ll post again at 2 months.

Be good people. ✌🏻

Edited December 1, 2023 by Steeeve

[Steeeve]

So I know I said I wouldn’t post again until 2 months but I feel so much stubble in my crown. I went searching around my house trying to find the best light to catch what was going on back there. I probably took 50 pictures trying to get one where I was in frame and where the picture wasn’t out of focus. I came up with these 2.Grafts have definitely shed but some are still hanging around. Look at that hair that has come back to life from the PRP, though. Primarily on the sides and toward the bottom and top.

I guess I’ll be investing in more PRP sessions. LoL Later on once I notice it subsiding, though. My first time around I noticed that I responded really well to the PRP. My grafts held firm and my natural hair blew up!

I just thought I would document this here as I didn’t really know what I was looking for the first time around. 

I also took these and thought they might come in handy later on down the line.

I know I’m still months away but…I’m looking forward to better times. 😂

Happy growing everyone! 

[Steeeve]

Well, here we are at 2 months. In just a few minutes it will be 2024. I will also be 2 months post-op.

While I’m extremely confident in my doctor and my end result, it is truly impossible not to think about my hair. My hair transplant. It’s impossible not to obsess over what I have done and ultimately my own impatience in wanting to get to the finish line or even just see some early results. It’s impossible not to sneak off and steal a moment away for myself  to assess my hair like something would have changed from whenever the last time I snuck off to look at it.

The process of emotions that one goes through after doing this, after having a hair transplant is, by no means, for the faint of heart.

I know that where I’m at, going into my 2nd month, is exactly where I’m supposed to be at. I might even be doing a little better because once I throw a little concealer in my hair I look completely normal.

I’ve got stubble throughout my scalp. The grafts placed in my hairline have mostly shed but a few stragglers remain and while the camera doesn’t quite pick them up, they are growing. Not much, though. Just some stragglers. 

So here I am. I get up and go to work. I play with my kids. I spend time with my wife. I twiddle my thumbs…impatiently waiting for these grafts to grow. 😂 And reading the threads of many other guys here, I’m not alone.

Right after my one month post I started getting some acne in my crown. So far there has been significantly less acne than there was throughout my first transplant. That’s been a blessing. I did deal with some further shock loss, however, it’s not so bad and very easy to conceal.

I haven’t cut my hair since before the procedure and I’m not sure when I’ll cut it. My initial thought was to wait until the 3 month mark but I maybe let it growth for a couple of more months beyond that. I guess it just depends on how well I’m able to put up with it.

On to the pictures. Per usual,  I’m trying to get as many pictures from as many angles with different lighting.

There’s no product in my hair. It’s straight after a wash and air dried.

Bathroom lighting.

Ring light.

Here’s my crown in regular bathroom lighting. 

Compare that to my crown 9 days post-op

I still feel like the majority of it is the PRP doing it’s work but it is pretty hard to tell if there are any grafts growing in there.

Either way I’ll take it.

Here’s my scar.

I do feel like the scar has stretched a little bit. This is of no concern to me as once I’m done with strip I’ll move into FUE and have some grafts placed in the scar. I also don’t feel like it’s currently any worse than my previous scar.

Thats pretty much it for now. If anything else pops up I’ll add to this but if not I’ll still be around for any questions or comments.

Be good people. ✌🏻

[Gatsby]

Two months has to be the hardest point post op. But your hair looks incredibly soft and natural @Steeeve. Going FUT was smart as the hair surrounding the strip scar is the same density as before. Scars continue to go on healing and softening for many years. This is going to be a stand out killer result in 2024. 💯👌

[Steeeve]

Thank you @Gatsby! I appreciate your support. It’s hard for us baldies out here!