well most will think I made this thread and forgot about it. Hell even I did.
As most will see I had a BAD experience with my first hair transplant. Somehow I ended up with folliculitis in the temples and pretty much nothing grew. So how ever many hairs and time gone down the pooper. The Doctor (Tan) was awesome though and communicates super great and is willing to see you on the drop of a DIME and can really put you at ease. I never had a bad thing to say about him. Me and my GF actually have a long running joke about him sitting around in a smoking jacket on a huka everytime I would email or call.
Anyway on the year visit he said "let's schedule for a second to see what happened and fix this".
As apprehensive as I was I jumped in because what could I lose? Well lot's I guess.
Anyway we did the procedure with about 500-600 grafts to fill in the dead spots. After wards there was some grafting left over and we threw them in the crown area because we weren't throwing them out and he didnt want to stuff any more in the temples and cram to much causing problems. Fair enough since Ive read over density in one sitting can cause shock.
It was maybe 100-150 in the crown so not enough to really "do anything" but I wanted to make sure I wouldnt have any reactions there for future filling.
Anyway I was feeling disappointed once again come my first 3 month checkup on the second time around since it didnt seem like anything was coming in still. I had no adverse affects this time around which was nice. The only difference I could say it I am on some extremely high anti histamines now for severe allergies since I had major sinus surgery the August Prior. It keeps my immune system in check so I dont get my quarterly sinus infections. My thought process is my immune system is more stable now and the hair transplant didnt make my body attack the transplanted hairs like it appeared last time.
Again this is a lot of self research and theory. Some of the Docs input to.
Well after the visit he stated "looks great", and was like "are you on meth?" (well not out loud). He said he could see lots of small new hair coming through. The only way I would verify this is because this time around I had lots of new hair bumps in the temple region and even the crown. I was still worried but just took his word for it.
One thing I did that made it really hard to accept was that I decided to shave my head about 2 weeks before the check up so we could really see how it all looked. I could REALLY see the thinning and bald spots and this threw me into such a spiral of depression I didnt think I would ever get out. Watching my hair grow back diffuse and awkward was horrible to almost wrist slitting proportions. On top of that EVERYONE EVERYWHERE let me know that they hated the shaved look on me. Except of course the like 3 old guys with shaved heads at work..... oh joy!
It seemed about 4 weeks later I woke up one morning and it was like BAM HAIR.
Now this isnt dense thick lush hair like my brother but it also isnt depressing no hair like me prior. Its a friggin hairline! I will say I dont think I have EVER had an actual hairline. Its noticeable and looks.... dare I say.. decent?! Its also said that it takes a year for this to come 100% so this is just the 4 months fill in and Im a bit excited to see if any more comes in. Im also wondering if the folliculitis and shock may have stunted growth of the first hair transplant and some may even be that finally starting to be noticable..... yeah I know high hopes.
Either way Im feeling pretty good. Even the crown seems to look better now that hair is growing back and even the new ones are thickening. If anyone saw my crown pic a few weeks ago they can attest to the all time LOW I was in. I have a crown pic today but it was under horrible light so Im not posting it. In fact this hairline pic was under the same HORRIBLE light and it looks this much better. In the right lighting you would think I never experienced real hair loss.
All I can say Is I FINALLY think I made the right choice. Yes it was money spent but it was money hard earned as well.
All I can say to guys who fall into it to deep is get out, get a job, make enough money to try something.
There was one thing I REALLY wanted when I started this. It was to NEVER comb my hair forward over my temples and that connecting line again to cover the fact that I had that "island of hair" in the front. I will hopefully never have to do that again because right now its a GREAT feeling combing the temples BACK and parted to the side. Also in this pic my hair is NO WHERE NEAR as long as it ever was. My hair is MAYBE 1.5 inches long from after shaving.