Dr. Rafael de Freitas - 2406 grafts - 14th of December 2023

[Kraki77]

As promised I'm sending some new photos with new haircut. And as you can see it's pretty easy for me to hide hair transplant and weak spots. I think that medicine does pretty good job at controlling the damage.

[EvansLawrence]

This is going to be Epic! Keep those updates coming !

[Melvin- Admin]

Looks really good so far, thanks for updating 🙏

[yus94]

Hey Kraki, any updates to the hair transplant? I have a date reserved this month with Freitas, and as the days are creeping in, I'm excited, but also anxious in regards to the anesthetics, as i've heard they are excruciatingly painful and can lead to toxicity? 

How was your experience overall with the anesthetics, and sorry for very hypochondriac questions, but did you have to sign a death waiver in compliance to the surgery since this is a supposed thing in some clinics? 

[Kraki77]

25 minutes ago, yus94 said:

Hey Kraki, any updates to the hair transplant? I have a date reserved this month with Freitas, and as the days are creeping in, I'm excited, but also anxious in regards to the anesthetics, as i've heard they are excruciatingly painful and can lead to toxicity? 

How was your experience overall with the anesthetics, and sorry for very hypochondriac questions, but did you have to sign a death waiver in compliance to the surgery since this is a supposed thing in some clinics? 

Don't worry about that, pain is almost eliminated with vibration, you hardly feel anything. Most painful thing during operation is implantation but it's completely normal and nothing extraordinary. Plus, they will always ask you if you feel pain and according to that they will administer more injections in order to avoid any pain.

Yes, you have to sign some papers immediately when you arrive into the clinic where you agree that surgery can end up being not completely satisfactory because many factors come into play. Death is not mentioned as possible consequence.

I will update my situation in 9 days time. It's hard to tell if there's any improvement but I'm still believing in the process, some people just don't grow that fast.

[yus94]

Appreciate the answer, are you allowed to chill and pull up your phone and watch stuff during any time during the surgery? And did you decide to take the valium offered, if so was it worth it?

Looking forward for the updates - It was hard to see the growth progression on your last pictures due to the angling honestly

Edited May 9 by yus94

[Kraki77]

5 MONTH UPDATE

Nothing major to report, if there was any growth it's hardly noticeable. It's still too early to draw conclusions, however almost universal lack of sprouts tells me that there's still long road ahead of me. I would be lying if I tell you that I didn't expect more at this point. Clobisdin helps with folliculitis but I'm still in the early stages of that battle.

Lack of progress is slightly concerning because there are many barren areas on the scalp where I don't see anything. Being so much slower in terms of growth when compared with some other patients doesn't bother me that much as lack of visible sprouts that can give you hope and security. Also, some areas have suffered secondary shedding because I've seen some grafts last month that are not there anymore. Right side of the hairline (which was more recessed beforehand) looks to be slightly more developed, but that's familiar story and completely understandable.

Feel free to share some words of advice or comfort, haha.

 

[mustang]

Thanks for posting your pictures and progress man

Dr Freitas is a top 3 for me and always has been.

I have friends that got results after 8 months and were not satisfied until month 7 and suddenly things change. You are definitely a slow grower but someone with great patience and perspective. 

Let's keep that positive mindset and hope that in the next 3-4 months you will see those little ones catch up with the rest 

[Kraki77]

7 hours ago, mustang said:

Thanks for posting your pictures and progress man

Dr Freitas is a top 3 for me and always has been.

I have friends that got results after 8 months and were not satisfied until month 7 and suddenly things change. You are definitely a slow grower but someone with great patience and perspective. 

Let's keep that positive mindset and hope that in the next 3-4 months you will see those little ones catch up with the rest 

Thank you for the kind words that alleviate pressure that I sometimes feel. 

I have seen some cases of slower growth on Spanish forums also and I firmly believe that things will eventually get better. In the meantime, I'm distracting myself with plethora of activities that offer consolation and lift up my spirits.

By the end of summer I should have a clearer picture of this journey and I'll reserve my judgement until then. 

My only regret is that I didn't send my pictures to the clinic exactly 3 months after surgery. They warned me about folliculitis one month later when doctor himself saw my thread here. That's entirely on me, no reason for me to make any excuses.

Other than that I'm doing everything in my power to obtain positive result.

[TheMidnightPoni]

59 minutes ago, Kraki77 said:

Thank you for the kind words that alleviate pressure that I sometimes feel. 

I have seen some cases of slower growth on Spanish forums also and I firmly believe that things will eventually get better. In the meantime, I'm distracting myself with plethora of activities that offer consolation and lift up my spirits.

By the end of summer I should have a clearer picture of this journey and I'll reserve my judgement until then. 

My only regret is that I didn't send my pictures to the clinic exactly 3 months after surgery. They warned me about folliculitis one month later when doctor himself saw my thread here. That's entirely on me, no reason for me to make any excuses.

Other than that I'm doing everything in my power to obtain positive result.

What from these pictures gave your clinic the idea you may have folliculitis?

[Kraki77]

2 hours ago, TheMidnightPoni said:

What from these pictures gave your clinic the idea you may have folliculitis?

They didn't specify anything. I was informed that I have folliculitis upon inspection of pictures that I have posted here after 4 months. And they immediately gave me prescription for Clobisdin.

It was obvious that I had few pimples here and there but that didn't look worrying to me. I was surprised to hear that I have folliculitis but I'm not going to question doctor's advice.

Since I've started to apply Clobisdin redness has subsided to some extent and inflammations on the scalp are becoming less visible. 

[mustang]

On 5/16/2024 at 1:51 PM, Kraki77 said:

Thank you for the kind words that alleviate pressure that I sometimes feel. 

I have seen some cases of slower growth on Spanish forums also and I firmly believe that things will eventually get better. In the meantime, I'm distracting myself with plethora of activities that offer consolation and lift up my spirits.

By the end of summer I should have a clearer picture of this journey and I'll reserve my judgement until then. 

My only regret is that I didn't send my pictures to the clinic exactly 3 months after surgery. They warned me about folliculitis one month later when doctor himself saw my thread here. That's entirely on me, no reason for me to make any excuses.

Other than that I'm doing everything in my power to obtain positive result.

Any folliculitis at 3 months won't have any impact on the survival of your grafts or outcome of your surgery. A course of topical antibiotics won't make the difference.

Once grafts are extracted without trauma and reimplanted it takes them 48-72 hours to reconnect to new blood vessels and supply. By day 10 after your HT there is pretty much nothing you can do to dislodge or harm a graft, much less when you shed them. Follicles are 4mm beneath your skin. Your surgical outcome is pretty much sealed after 2 weeks unless you get massive infection

[Kraki77]

47 minutes ago, mustang said:

Any folliculitis at 3 months won't have any impact on the survival of your grafts or outcome of your surgery. A course of topical antibiotics won't make the difference.

Once grafts are extracted without trauma and reimplanted it takes them 48-72 hours to reconnect to new blood vessels and supply. By day 10 after your HT there is pretty much nothing you can do to dislodge or harm a graft, much less when you shed them. Follicles are 4mm beneath your skin. Your surgical outcome is pretty much sealed after 2 weeks unless you get massive infection

I'm not that worried about folliculitis, it's a common condition and I don't think it can be named as cause for unsuccessful hair transplant. 

What certainly gets my attention are visible bald areas in the first few rows of the hairline, especially in the middle. Incisions are visible where grafts were placed but sprouts are not present. 

It doesn't mean that I'm being stressed about it but I can see that pattern for quite some time, lack of life in comparison with the rest of the rows.

There are positives however. My area to cover wasn't that big and I can hide signs of surgery pretty well. And because of good scalp and hair ratio current state does not look that bad.

Let's hope that next update will show more progress uniformly across the hairline.

[Al - Moderator]

You could be a slow grower. I'm more concerned about the area behind the hair line that didn't get any grafts. It looks like you are thinning there and you may need another HT if that area gets worse.

 

[Kraki77]

18 minutes ago, Al - Moderator said:

You could be a slow grower. I'm more concerned about the area behind the hair line that didn't get any grafts. It looks like you are thinning there and you may need another HT if that area gets worse.

 

That's inevitable later down the road. All the medications are doing wonders on my crown but my midscalp is still being silently attacked by DHT. We left that area for now because it still looks somewhat decent. I genuinely believe that I can live few more years with midscalp that is thinning.

Since the last update I have again inspected older De Freitas cases on Spanish forum recuperarpelo.com. By memory, I was able to find a couple of cases that are similar to mine or even worse at this stage and they ended up being satisfactory. One of them saw biggest changes after 8 months. Everything is under control and things can only get better in the next few weeks and months.