New user; 7-weeks post-procedure

[win200]

Eight month update

Hey guys,

Just wanted to post an eight month update. No pics tonight, but I'll post some soon.

If you read through the thread history, at a few intervals I was really freaking out about shock loss. Well, no more. I decided to cut my hair short, and was frankly terrified about it. I thought a short cut would reveal tons of thinning, and that the front would be incredibly sparse and see-through. Well, I chopped it all off a few weeks ago, and it looks incredible. The transplant has really thickened up in the last two months, and the density in the hairline is incredible; there is zero--ZERO--evidence of thinning. I wear my short hair styled up, so the hairline is fully exposed and the hair is pulled back--the easiest way to expose a thinning hairline. It's undetectable. I simply don't look like I have hair loss.

I got a relatively low transplant; the tip of the widow's peak touches just a millimeter or two above my juvenile hairline, and the temples are just a little more than a centimeter above the juvenile line. Essentially, I have a mature hairline that isn't even fully mature at the widow's peak.

I've come to appreciate how relatively lucky I am. I hadn't looked back at my pre-transplant pictures in awhile, and looking at them now, I realize I really hadn't had much loss. And that's my level of loss at *30*, not 25. So I'll tentatively hypothesize that I dodged somewhat of a bullet and inherited fairly minor loss. My poor brother, who's four years younger than me, got hit much harder--he's 26 and has a rapidly thinning NW3. Just to be on the safe side, I've been on Propecia and minoxidil for 5 months now, and they seem to be working. My shedding has reduced a lot, but it's tough to tell how much is due to the meds and show much is due to loss from the surgery subsiding. (I had a scalp biopsy that came up positive for TE, so it looks like the surgery induced a heavy shed that's recovering.)

I'll update more later.

[win200]

wow!

7 months and only 1450 grafts?!

fantastic transformation

hairline now frames your face great!

you can always add more to beef up if you want more density

but really great use of such a small amount of grafts in the hairline

congrats

Thanks! I'm appreciating every day how resourceful my surgeon was. There's a very visible different in my hairline that frames my face well, but wasn't so drastic that people noticed; I don't think one person figured out I'd had work done. (Of course, I was barely a NW 2, at most, so most people couldn't tell I was losing hair anyway.) I got what I wanted, which was a different hairline, but he didn't blow through lots of grafts and he left me options moving forward. I also like that the edge of the hairline is relatively straight; everyone has their own opinion on this, but I prefer the straighter, more "fixed" hairline over the jagged, varriegated types that have a more "natural" look. There's something incredibly clean about the edge of my hairline now; straight and even.

[rev3]

wow!

7 months and only 1450 grafts?!

fantastic transformation

hairline now frames your face great!

you can always add more to beef up if you want more density

but really great use of such a small amount of grafts in the hairline

congrats

[Getsome]

Win,
You have had good results! Do you think it is all from new transplanted hair filling in bald spots and shock loss areas? Is there a way to tell the difference between shocked hair that has come back or if the new hair is transplanted hair?
What makes you think your shock loss has not recovered even to a small degree? Thanks,
Getsome

[win200]

Win,
I am three months and one week post op. I had a substantial amount of shock loss in my hairline. I was wandering did your shock loss recovery and if so around what month post op did you notice? I can feel a lot of stubble in my hairline. Thanks.

I don't think my shock loss has recovered, for the most part. I was under 30 when I had my procedure, which is the age most susceptible to shock loss, and I wasn't on Propecia. So I think I lost a fairly extensive amount of hair that was going to be lost eventually, and at 7 months, I doubt it'll return.

[win200]

win200,

And just think, after the regrowth has fully completed, hair shaft maturation will improve the appearance of coverage even after 12 months!

Hair shaft maturation can continue up to 18 months post-op for some patients.

If you are ever in the greater Washington DC area, let me know as I would like to see your matured result in person. And if you have not toured DC, there's lots to see.

Plus my wife is an awesome cook!

Thanks for that offer! If I'm around DC, I'll definitely take you up on it!

[Getsome]

Win,
I am three months and one week post op. I had a substantial amount of shock loss in my hairline. I was wandering did your shock loss recovery and if so around what month post op did you notice? I can feel a lot of stubble in my hairline. Thanks.

[gillenator]

win200,

And just think, after the regrowth has fully completed, hair shaft maturation will improve the appearance of coverage even after 12 months!

Hair shaft maturation can continue up to 18 months post-op for some patients.

If you are ever in the greater Washington DC area, let me know as I would like to see your matured result in person. And if you have not toured DC, there's lots to see.

Plus my wife is an awesome cook!

[win200]

win200,

At only 6.5 months post-op is awesome. You still have a way to go my friend!

Again, thanks for sharing these updates.

Thanks, gillenator! It's amazing how your results can turn a corner relatively quickly; about 1.5-2 months ago, I was really disappointed and considered the surgery a relative failure. But now I'm happy with it, and I know it'll only improve in the months to come. I actually think it looks even better in person.

[gillenator]

win200,

At only 6.5 months post-op is awesome. You still have a way to go my friend!

Again, thanks for sharing these updates.

[win200]

Damn Win, looks incredible...really natural...you have a winner...!

Thanks! I'm pretty happy with it. After having that soft / ragged type of hairline that you get with recession, it's awesome having a defined hairline... you know, that's an actual LINE. That's the most visually striking part of it for me.

[inspects]

Damn Win, looks incredible...really natural...you have a winner...!

[win200]

Just another update. The recipient area has really grown in / thickened up in the last month (I'm at 6.5 months now). I really hated what my hair looked like when I last posted pictures; it was wispy and didn't integrate with my native hair. At this point I'm fairly positive that I had a decent amount of shock loss, which is NOT growing back, and at this point I don't expect it to. However, based upon my balding pattern and looking at my brother, whose loss is more extensive, I'm pretty certain that this loss was going to occur anyway. Essentially, I've traded, at least in the hairline / frontal area, a more defined, lower hairline for some density. That trade is fine by me. I can now, for the first time since my surgery, wear my hair "up" with the hairline exposed and feel comfortable doing so. It's a little thin, but not thin enough to be noticed. It falls in that realm of things that no one but me will realize exist.

I've attached three pictures; these were taken with sunlight streaming in onto the hair, so the hairline is relatively "lit up."

Love to hear feedback.

[win200]

I'll push through the minox shed.

Also went to the derm today, and she checked my ferritin levels, which she said were low. She put me on an iron supplement, so hopefully that will help a bit.

[rev3]

I started finasteride exactly three months after my surgery, and minoxidil four months after. I've been on the finasteride for two months and the minoxidil for one, and no slowing in the shedding yet, I'm afraid.

totally related to minox

minox causes shedding of native hair in the first few months of treatment

this will all grow back even thicker

you will see