2098 grafts with Dr. John Cole (1st of potentially 3 procedures)

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zerafian

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10 months in, heres how Im looking( Camera flash is on to show thinning as best as possible). Ignore the red dots, thats from micro-needling.

One thing I have noticed in the past few months is the fact that the hairs on the back of my head get curly at a shorter length than the natural hairs on the top. My hair use to be some what wavy-ish at this point but it starts to curl quite a bit. Not a big deal to me, just something I notice.

Also, you clearly cant tell by the picture but the redness on my scalp was 100% gone by about month 6-7.

the small clump of hairs in the front, still kinda blows my mind, they use to flow into the rest of my hair like it was a smooth gradient. Now it just looks like a kinda misplaced grouping of hairs. Along with the face that the center of my head has no sign of hair loss anymore. I look back at pictures from 11-12 years ago and could see the middle thinning. I feel pretty certain I have more hair in the front middle of my head, than I have since I was 25. Ill be 37 in November, hopefully I can get it just a little bit better when I se Dr.Cole again.
 

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Z

zerafian

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Scheduled my second procedure with Dr. Cole, Jan 2022. He's said hes good to fill the temple area a bit but advised against lowering my hairline, at my age, due to not being 100% sure what my 40s and 50s holds. He believes I could go full norwood 6 and I should save follicles for that potential end. That way I can potentially have a decently even head of hair, instead of a large clump in the front.

Im looking at 1000-1500 to reinforce the front and about 5-6" back and slightly fill in the temples. Then do 1200 or so on my crown. Super excited for the next round.

With the way my hair gets wavy/ curly quicker on the sides, it will bring so much more fullness to the top, once 2500-2700 more grafts are placed on the top.
 
Wolf Pack

Wolf Pack

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Ethical from the Dr but it's expected from him, absolutely correct not to overdo the front because as you said you'll be left with thinning behind = bald territory. Grafts don't grow on trees and can leave you bald in the donor too. You just need a mature hairline, those corners need to be brought in a bit and you're a full head if you maintain decent density behind it.


A useful guide above to getting it right hairline wise the first time. Because your centre point is lower and a rounder face, you probably need to make the corners and centre measurements almost the same in terms of distance for a flatter look. Narrower face usually has an arched hairline.
 
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zerafian

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Wolf Pack said:
Ethical from the Dr but it's expected from him, absolutely correct not to overdo the front because as you said you'll be left with thinning behind = bald territory. Grafts don't grow on trees and can leave you bald in the donor too. You just need a mature hairline, those corners need to be brought in a bit and you're a full head if you maintain decent density behind it.


A useful guide above to getting it right hairline wise the first time. Because your centre point is lower and a rounder face, you probably need to make the corners and centre measurements almost the same in terms of distance for a flatter look. Narrower face usually has an arched hairline.
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oh yeah...I told him, when we briefly spoke, he did a good job of saving me from myself. We all want more and more, I think its just natural, for me especially.

The past four months I've definitely come to more of a realization of the maximum potential hair has.
 
Wolf Pack

Wolf Pack

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zerafian said:
oh yeah...I told him, when we briefly spoke, he did a good job of saving me from myself. We all want more and more, I think its just natural, for me especially.

The past four months I've definitely come to more of a realization of the maximum potential hair has.
Click to expand...

Good way of putting it "saving me from myself." At times, we can forget the goal of the surgery in the first place and it's to give you a normal hairline for your face and as much hair as possible behind it to give you a natural fullish look. Also everyone will always have different opinions on forums.


This result for 2800 grafts is nothing short of breath taking on a guy close to 50, DeFreitas is an ATG with hairlines especially, yet on another forum I read a comment saying isn't it too perfect for someone middle aged? Shouldn't there be some such recession beyond the mature hairline. Of course the answer is NO but you get the idea, there will always be differing opinions, Dr Cole knows his work very well, trust him and science to get an appropriate hairline without wastage of additional grafts.
 
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zerafian

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abovedagame said:
@zerafian- what is your regimen? How often do you use Nizoral? How long after surgery is it safe to use?
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sorry for the late response! Dont get many comments in here :)

Ive seen varying information on when topicals are safe to use. I waited 2 weeks before restarting any topicals. That or maybe a day or two longer. Until ALL the scabs were off my head.

I use topical finasteride .25%/ 5% minoxidil blend in the AM and rogaine at night. I havent actually used nizoral 2% for at least 5 years. I didnt find it very useful so I just stopped. I dont actually shampoo or put any cleaning product on my scalp or on my hair. I dont think Ive shampoo'd my hair in over 8 years, maybe longer. Not counting the baby shampoo I used for a couple months, after my first transplant. I also dont take any vitamins or minerals for the purpose of my hair.

I do Micro-needle once a week. One week at .5mm depth and then 1.3-1.5mm the next week. The deeper penetration causes my scalp to be sore and spot bleeding, like youll see in my newest pics. So thats only once every 2 weeks.

In the end, I rely 100% on my topical and micro needling. This is based off my experience and what has actually shown results. A lot of people experience different outcomes of course!

I hope that helped!
 
Z

zerafian

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abovedagame said:
What size punch did he use?

prp in the donor area? What does that assist?
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I believe he uses .75mm to .9mm. I know that the scarring was very minimal if not really visible unless looking for it, after my first transplant. Also, I got things backwards, the prp was for the recipient area, not the donor.

Heres a link to what crp and acell are useful for. Better than what I could explain any day.

www.forhair.com

CRP + Acell Treatments

Cytokine Rich Plasma (CRP) is an advanced version of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), a product derived from a patient’s own blood cells and injected into the scalp.
www.forhair.com www.forhair.com
 
Z

zerafian

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abovedagame said:
Nice. How many grafts did he say you have left?
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I was between 100-110 follicular units per sq/cm when I first got the test. When I went back and they tested the same areas I was between 95-110 follicular units in the areas they tested. Now that I think back, Im not entirely sure what the actual number was. Id need to check.
 
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