4,571 grafts with Dr Wong

[carl1983]

Looking good Carl1983 how did you find the overall experience of traveling to and from Vancouver I'm from Ireland too its a heck of a track but I guess its worth it . As far as being on meds how is that working for you I've found it near impossible to get my hands on propeci. Best of luck with the growing btw.

Cheers for that mate.
It's a long trek, no doubt about it, but the whole HT industry is so tricky to negotiate that when you find a clinic and a doctor that you're comfortable with, the peace of mind FAR outweighs any inconvenience of travelling.
The whole experience was really positive to be honest.
As for the meds, no side effects thank god and I got a prescription for fin when I was in vancouver that has a couple of refills on it, so I won't have to worry about that for a good while.

[NeedHairASAP]

So, getting your staples out is no fun...who knew?
2 weeks on now and I'm becoming quite attached to these new little hairs...breaking up will be hard to do, but inevitable, I know.
Hopefully now that I'm staple free, sleeping will be a little easier. It's actually become more uncomfortable as the days go by. Not painful as such, just awkward. That and the scabs are the only unpleasant after effects so far.
Scabs started forming heavily at around day 9. I shampoo'd my scalp for a little longer than usual and massaged slightly more aggressively. I'm basically scab free now, other than my crown which is being stubborn.
Anyway, I know there's not much progress from last time, but here's a few 2 week post surgery pics.

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interesting. i had an HST procedure with Dr. Gho. I'm on day 8 and You can hardly tell I had surgery.The last of some small crust is naturally starting to fall off. I should be able to go in public by day 10-11 and have nobody even know I had surgery. My biggest issue is the hairs regenerating in the back are a little sore breaking through. That isn't bad at all though.

[VictimOfDHT]

I understand that they shave the back of the head to do an HST (or FUE), what do you guys do right after the surgery? Or, what CAN you do to cover up the donor site until the hair is long enough ? I had FUTs in the past and the idea of getting the back of my head shaved is the only thing that's scaring me about HSTs/FUEs.

[carl1983]

Well, it's been two months since my transplant with H&W and I'm approaching something resembling my pre-op appearance. There's still a little redness around one side of my hairline and there's certainly been some shock loss, but all in all I'm comfortable enough with it that, weather permitting, I go hat free most days.
A couple of the transplanted hairs in my hairline survived the big shed a few weeks back and have been growing normally. Nothing significant, but it's a bit of a confidence booster and a reminder of what's, hopefully, to come. Also, I know it's way too soon to start hoping for growth, but I've been finding the tiniest traces of dark stubble just behind my hairline...which has completely destroyed the "Don't look in the mirror everyday" policy I had been (feebly) trying to adhere to.
I've got a lot going on between now and christmas, which I think is going to be a blessing in terms of taking my mind off my hair. I had a pretty quiet couple of months since the HT and that made it very easy to slip into 24/7 hair analysis mode...which, most on here know, is a great way to put the whole process into slow motion.
Apologies for the pictures, they're not great quality. I fiddled around with my camera and lost whatever setting had been working for me before...will try harder for next time!

[carl1983]

Well, the no doubt feverishly anticipated, 3 month update is upon us.
This has officially been the LONGEST 3 months of my life and despite all the sound advice from people here and elsewhere, I have tortured myself on a daily basis with forensic examinations of my head.
Not so much in the last couple of weeks though and that's because I'm finally 100% confident that there's nothing strange looking about my hair anymore (well, no stranger than before the HT), so I'm not agonising over whether certain situations still require a hat, or if I'm likely to be in extremely close proximity to anyone whos eyes might wander above eye level.
I don't think the pictures really do it justice, but there is certainly some growth along the hairline and I can feel (and see, on inspection) early growth throughout the recipient area....that being said, my crown is still pretty sparse, but 3 months is a little premature to be concerned about that.
I took a couple of pictures of my scar this time too. No issues on that front. No itchiness or pain and I regularly buzz down to a 3 blade without it being in any way noticeable (although it's a bit longer in the scar pictures, simply to facilitate lifting the hair with a comb).
Hoping the updates will be a bit more significant as each month passes from now on, but here's where I'm at now (last picture is with flash):

[MrBlonde]

Great thread Carl. I am from Ireland also and currently saving for a HT.

Did Wong do all 4,571 grafts in one day? That's amazing.

I was looking at a hairline restoration HT with Dr.Kesser in Turkey. I've seen some of his hairline work and its very good. He is not too pricey either. 3.5 euro a graft I believe.

Do you plan to get more work done?

[carl1983]

Great thread Carl. I am from Ireland also and currently saving for a HT.

Did Wong do all 4,571 grafts in one day? That's amazing.

I was looking at a hairline restoration HT with Dr.Kesser in Turkey. I've seen some of his hairline work and its very good. He is not too pricey either. 3.5 euro a graft I believe.

Do you plan to get more work done?

Yeah, all the grafts were done in one loooong day. About 12 hours in total.
I'm certainly not even thinking about any more work at the moment...I'll see how this one grows in first! I think I should be in fairly good shape with the grafts I've had to be honest. Time will tell.

[Follicle Death Row]

This is going to be a cracker. At 3 months you're already in a better place than pre-op. I reckon you can get big numbers donor wise down the line should you need them. Did Dr. Wong comment on donor supply? I mention this because it seems that to maximise donor supply a big strip should be taken with virgin scalps when laxity is great. 4600 is a fairly big strip so I think you have plenty more in the tank.

[carl1983]

This is going to be a cracker. At 3 months you're already in a better place than pre-op. I reckon you can get big numbers donor wise down the line should you need them. Did Dr. Wong comment on donor supply? I mention this because it seems that to maximise donor supply a big strip should be taken with virgin scalps when laxity is great. 4600 is a fairly big strip so I think you have plenty more in the tank.

Thanks for that mate. Dr Wong said that my laxity was good and I have good, thick donor hair so, although we didn't specifically discuss further procedures, I think I should be good to go again if necessary.

[carl1983]

The last month's growth has been quite different to the first growth spurt (month 2-3)...there's been some definite thickening throughout the recipient area, but in the hairline it's pretty much just been a case of what had already come through getting longer, rather than any huge amount of new hair. That's my take on it anyway, it's hard to tell when you see it everyday.
The crown is starting to fill in a little now too, although it's still noticeably thinner than other areas...unfortunately, I haven't got any good pics of this area (actually, most of the pics are pretty poor)...I just took a few quick ones this morning before heading out...it's dark when I get home now, so getting decent shots in natural light is proving tricky, I'll stick up a few more at the weekend (also I have a little gel in my hair in these photos, so will put up some no-gel + wet/dry ones too).
I have a feeling that this is a bit of a "four month cliche", but if I was told tomorrow that this was as good as it was going to get, I'd be a happy man...I could live with my hair the way it is now, so to think I have another 6 months + of growth is staggering.
Roll on month 5!