update on my surgery recoveries

CCS

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It has been just over 2 months since my third surgery. The pinkness is offically gone. I can't tell where the grafts were placed. The skin on my forehead looks exactly link the skin under the old grafts. I just see the hairs coming out. No bumps or anything. Also, I can't tell the difference between the grafts and my original hair, or tell where one procedure begins and ends, even though they were in different areas.

As for numbness, my scalp fells completely normaly when I run my fingers through my hair and over the scalp skin. But if I use my palm to put about 10 pounds of pressure on the recipient site, I can tell that it feels different than if I do this on the sides, indicating that the nerves have not fully recovered yet from the surgery 2 months ago. Also, if I lean back and press my donor area against a hard surface like a wall, I can easily tell that the nerves right on the donor strip area have not yet recovered, since in addition to feeling the wall, I get a very wierd feeling, and can tell by feel exactly where the whole strip is. I can't feel it with my fingers though, since it is flat, though many of the hairs on either side of it did go into shock like they did last time, so I can find the bare skin.

I looked at it in two mirrors and I think I see pores, but my eyes are not good enough to know for sure. The donor strip is still pink, too. The pinkness did go away eventually with the last surgery, but I forgot how long it took. This recent one was 7 months after my 2nd surgery, which was my first with Dr Keene. I'm also starting to think that maybe the hair line she wanted to give me might be better looking than I gave it credit for. But I'm still waiting for this one that I drew to grow out so I can see how it looks. Moving to a lower hair line is not easy when I just see a line on my face and don't know what it will look like. I've always been careful not to go too low, and Dr Keene has been patiently waiting for me to see each and gradually move it down a procedure at a time.
 
G

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one picture > a thousand words ;)

Would you say you are satisfied with the result?
 
G

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CCS,

When you initially said the pinkness is gone now, I'm assuming you meant your recipient area since you later stated that your linear scar is still pink. BTW, that's perfectly normal for the time period post-op. Either way, you sound like a good healer which is good. :wink:

What did concern me was your having this last procedure with Dr. Keene only seven months post-op from the previous one. That really surprises me unless your new grafts were placed in a totally different recipient area. If you did have additional work done in the same previous recipient area, I am just wondering why you and Dr. Keene would do that so pre-maturely. You can still have new growth coming from your previous procedure and transection can occur if new sites are created within the same surface area. That's almost like paying twice for some folks. :shock:

In smaller procedures, the surgeon may just excise a strip on either side of the occipitalis area in the donor zone. In larger procedures, a strip excision can go entirely across the occipital area, so adequate scalp laxity is hard to regain for most patients within a seven month post-op period. This is especially true if the strip was over 1cm wide. That's how some guys ended up with wide strip scars. But again, I don't know the details of your case, but I do know that Dr. Keene would never do anything unsafe. After all, we are not doctors.

Will you be putting up some pics as your procedure grows in? Just think CCS, lots of new growth is on your threshold! :hairy:
 

CCS

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The only thing i'm not satisfied with is it is not as thick a full density hair. Right now it is 30 per cm2, compared to 100 for most non-balding people. When my recent stuff grows out, it will be 50 per cm2. This gets expensive. I'll probably do one more to get up to 60, but I don't know how thick they can go. I'll probably need HM to get the thick locks I want.

I'll look like I have a full head of hair, but it will be as thin as a NW1 50 year old, except the individual hairs will be healthier.
 

CCS

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6-7 months at most. Some grows back in 3.
 

Follically Challenged

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I have 2 bald patches (one quite big) at the sides of my head, around the incision line. I think it was because of the staples..they hurt like a b**ch whenever i moved my head one way or the other, and i think the staples caused the shock loss.
 

Gorpy

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CCS, I know what you mean about the hairline placement. There is so much talk of being conservative. In my case I'm a 50 year old with no crown loss, so I could be a little more aggressive. Even so, what Dr. Keene initially drew out on my head kind of shocked me as being too low. I struggled with the hairline issue for months before my translplant. In the end I decided that I wasn't really good at visualizing where the hairline should go or what would look best. So, to make a long story short, knowing that she was very artistic, I decided to go with her hairline recomendation. I'm SOOOO glad I did. It actually looks perfect from every angle. It is no where close to being too low. It balances and frames my face perfectly.

I too would like more density. Especially with my fine hair. You've seen my pictures.
 
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