Hair transplant, thought i'd share my experience

[mike_n_herrin]

Some folks may know that I've tried for about 6 years to get my bald spot to stop getting bigger. Used rogain for a while then moved to propecia. propecia worked but i didn't start using it early enough. once the hair follicles are dead they can't be regrown. so if you've just started to notice your hair thinning there is a good chance the follicles are not dead yet and you can get the hair back. not me.

so in november i tried a "bio matrix" fancy name for toupee from hair club for men. it looked great. no one realized it, even when i went home for christmas they didn't notice until i told them. but...when i run my fingers through it, i could feel the base material. and it took a special shampoo, conditioner, and silicon sealant. also had to be removed and cleaned once a week.

so...yesterday i had a hair transplant. it took about 5 hours and i had 1200 follicular grafts. this is a relatively low number. they charge by the graft and it was about 4,600 bucks.

in my procedure they take a flap of skin from the back of my head and then cut it into 1,2, and 3 hair groups. then they poke little holes in my bald spot and stick the hairs in. they sent me home with two perscriptions, one for pain and one to help me sleep. i had no pain, but i took 2 of the pills yesterday at 4 hour intervals as they suggested. but this morning i still had no pain so i've not taken anymore. i also have not had any trouble sleeping so didn't take those either. to be honest at my 24 hour check up today they were very surprised i had not had pain. they said the donner area always hurts. not me first three days i have to wash my hair twice a day with a cup. dab on special shampoo and put ointment on my incision. then i just wash my hair once a day for a the remaining 4 days of the first week. second week i can use my own shampoo but have to use their conditioner. i go back in a week to have the stitches taken out.

hairs will not start growing until about month 4. but they said i might start to see grown in as early as 3 months.

my bald area is mostly just the crown of my head. you can check my gallery for some old pictures of the bald spot, but it's bigger today than it was 5-6 years ago (i stopped using the propecia, it was kinda expensive). anyway i'm attaching photos. they said it will look like a sunburn for the first couple weeks. the picture of the back of my head is where they took the flap of skin from, but you can't see it. i don't have enough hands to hold the hair up, hold the camera, and the mirror. lol

feel free to any questions.

 

[cityboy-stl]

So those are both the after photos? How many more sessions do you have to go through before it is complete? Or do you just have to wait until it starts to grow and that's it?

I've thought about doing Hair Club or Hans Wiemann but I think I'd have to win the Lottery first. I don't know about transplants.

Anyway, very interesting and good luck.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

hair club for men (HCM) i think is expensive. especially if you are doing a toupee. in fact i'd say they are 3x as expensive as a place like hair direct.

i'm only planning on having the one transplant. if i am not satisfied with the density i can have more. but they will only do one per year because it takes about 12-13 months to see the full growth. i saw three surgeons total and two thought because of the density of the rest of my hair that i'd have to have 2 surgeries. The one i went with said it will depend on me and how happy i am with the results. the more dense they go with the grafts the lower the success rate. so they go with a density that can get about 80% success.

thanks for the well wishes and yes those are all 24 hour after pictures.

 

[Nomenclature]

Wow, can't wait to see you bump this thread three months from now!

This is definitely something I plan on doing when I start losing my hair. haha

 

[mike_n_herrin]

48 hour update. still no pain but i think i've figured out why. most of my head is numb. lol back of my neck is a little swollen but not bad. incision seems to be healing ok it's a little red still but not puffy so i think i'm keeping it infection free. i'll add a couple pictures of the incision. they didn't come out well because i don't have a macro on my camera. starting to be a little itchy. wonder how itchy it'll be by tomorrow! lol

 

[cityboy-stl]

I always wondered about this; maybe they told you? What is different about the hair on the back of the head that it continues to grow, while the hair just a few inches up on the crown does not? There must be something. You've transplanted hair from back onto the crown and it is supposed to keep growing so it can't just be the location.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

The hairs along the sides and back of your head are not (generally speaking) susceptible to DHT (Dihydrotestosterone). The hairs on top are genetically susceptible and DHT, which causes the follicles to shrink and over time die, partly due to reduced blood flow. That's why the hairs from the back when transplanted continue to grow normally as they would have in the back. So you should have the hair for life rather than having it fall out in 10 years. But, one disadvantage is if you are still balding then the area around the transplanted hair may continue to thin and fall out. So you would need to take something like Propecia (or the generic Finasteride) to keep the hair you have on top that was not transplanted from falling out. Otherwise you'd have to have more transplants later (or you'd end up with a bull's eye effect).

 

[SoulSearcher]

The hairs along the sides and back of your head are not (generally speaking) susceptible to DHT (Dihydrotestosterone). The hairs on top are genetically susceptible and DHT, which causes the follicles to shrink and over time die, partly due to reduced blood flow. That's why the hairs from the back when transplanted continue to grow normally as they would have in the back. So you should have the hair for life rather than having it fall out in 10 years. But, one disadvantage is if you are still balding then the area around the transplanted hair may continue to thin and fall out. So you would need to take something like Propecia (or the generic Finasteride) to keep the hair you have on top that was not transplanted from falling out. Otherwise you'd have to have more transplants later (or you'd end up with a bull's eye effect).

But doesn't propecia have so many sexual side effects? In Sweden, its been removed for usage for hair loss for that reason.

 

[Telstra]

how cum pic 3 is not a top shot .

 

[mike_n_herrin]

picture 3 is a picture of the area where they took the hair from.

i have never had a side effects with propecia at all. there are side effects with all drugs, but not everyone has them. they just have to list all the known side effects.

one week as of tomorrow. itchy itchy itchy. most of the scabs are falling off they were all very tiny anyway. hairs have not been shed yet but they should be in another week or so. i'm still washing my hair with a cup of water and their special shampoo. on day 8 i stop with their shampoo and go back to mine, but then i start with their special conditioner. the suture area is a little stiff, but not sore or anything. what little swelling i had along the back of my neck is gone. have to wear a loose hat when in the sun, but other wise so far so good. =)

 

[thekspot]

thanks for posting this, I am fairly young and am noticing my hair is starting to thin, so this is an option I may consider in the future, thanks for the first hand insight.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

thanks for posting this, I am fairly young and am noticing my hair is starting to thin, so this is an option I may consider in the future, thanks for the first hand insight.

if your hair is just starting to be noticable, the numbers say you've already lost more than 50% of the hair in those areas. That's why a hair transplant works. Because visually you look like you have a full head of hair even if you only have 50% density from the average. So if you are starting to thin you should start taking finasteride. It's cheaper than Propecia (but it's the same drug, but generic and a higher dose). It's the generic form of Proscar. But that's a 5 mg pill instead of 1 mg. so you need to cut the pill into 4ths. Then you have a 1.25 mg dose once a day. That's what my transplant doctor prescribed for me.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

Today is day 10 postop. Most of the scabs and little crusties have fallen off, that started yesterday and has continued today. sometimes hairs fall out with them, but i was told this is normal and that the follicle hasn't fallen out just the hair. also they said like 99% of folks will have most if not all of the hairs fall out by 3-4 weeks. This is because of the lack of blood for a bit and the hairs will regrow in about 2-4 months. this friday i get my stitches out (ps the top of my head feels like a billo pad with all the hair stubble).

 

[future_retro]

Scabs and little crusties??? This thread is just gross. Sorry, but I think you're ridiculously vain and silly. And your transplant will probably be obvious to other people (it's never exactly the same as natural hair growth), which defeats the purpose really.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

/\ you're certainly free to have your own opinion, but frankly I don't care. This thread isn't nearly as "gross" as some of the medical topics in this forum. Whether the transplant will be obvious or not has yet to be seen. i have about 9 months before it will be mostly grown out so we'll see then.

anyway....today is week 4. stitches are just about dissolved. some hairs are starting to shed, but it was supposed to have been almost all of them by this point and i'd say it's only about 50%. so we'll just have to wait and see if the rest fall out or not. the next 6-8 weeks will just be waiting for the hairs to come out of the resting phase and start growing. so...there isn't much to report and probably wont be for a few months.

 

[KaraBulut]

Having seen a few transplants over the years- from the days of the plug method to today's microsurgery, the microsurgery transplants are very hard to spot unless the person develops keloiding. Occasionally, I can tell from the hairline at the forehead but only if the person's hair is combed back.

 

[kallipolis]

Congratulations, Mike

Some four years ago I underwent three hair transplant procedures over a period of twenty months.

I opted for another procedure that extracts hair follicles from the neck, and then transplants in the recipient area.

No skin grafts!

I needed over 3000 follicle implants that cost me Euro 12000.

The procedures were painless.

There have been no complications.

My hair has grown according to plan. All looks natural and I am happy with the result.

I much prefer to use Saw Palmetto, in preference to Proscar. Proscar has created some unpleasant effects with me. No side effects with Saw Palmetto.

Saw Palmetto is effective for those who experience prostate related problems.

This (DHI) company pioneered direct hair transplants, and has franchises around the globe.:

http://www.dhiglobal.com/index.cfm/id/5/lang/english/

 

[mike_n_herrin]

April 25 update:

Had an appointment yesterday. Head is healing well apparently. Scar is fading and most of the transplanted hairs have fallen out. follicles are in a resting stage now and will be for another couple months. so right now i look pretty much as i did before the surgery. I'll update again when hairs start growing back in, but that might not be until july.

oh also taking daily the finasteride.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

3.5 month update. Hair is growing a little earlier than expected. Hair is about an inch and a half long. Thin and not much color, but they said to expect that. Over the next couple months it should thicken and darken up to my normal hair color. I put a bit of color on the new hairs this morning so you can see the hairs that have come in so far. otherwise it's hard to see them. i can certain feel the hair, just not that visible. picture quality is not as good as the ones above 'cause i had to take them with my cell phone (i am out of batteries on my regular camera).

 

[Audio Tech]

Not bad!!