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

[zerafian]

I have seen some transplant cases have this redness for quite a while, it doesn't mean your yield will be comprised, just something that might be a good idea for the doctor to look at. Try to avoid direct sunlight for a while until the tone gets more to your original skin color.

oh for sure. Even taking the trash out I put a hat on. I've been wearing one every day, any time I step out of the house. Its good to have the reminder though

After using precious follicles and spending all that money, Im being as safe as I possibly I can.

 

[justinbieberscombover]

Your skin still seems inflamed, which may be normal if you are fairer skinned which it seems you are.

Did you ask Dr. Cole if that is expected at this point?

I've had that after each transplant including the current one. Took way more than 3 months to completely subside.

 

[TanDoc]

Quick question - which doctor did you use for your topical prescription?

 

[zerafian]

Quick question - which doctor did you use for your topical prescription?

Went through Dr.Coles office for the prescription. A pharmacy that he uses as well as he recommends for others that get transplants. I forget the specific name of the pharmacy though. Im actually getting them to rewrite it to drop it from a 1% finasteride to .25% finasteride.

 

[zerafian]

Quick update on my daily hair loss when Im in the shower and when I use my topical.

Before my transplant Nov 11 2020 and before, I was taking 0.5mg of propecia, once a day and rogaine twice a day. On a daily basis, I would get over than 10 hairs in my hands and noticeable hair on my shoulders and chest, while in the shower. When I would comb my hair, I would also get hairs in my comb. I RARELY shampoo'd my hair as well.

Starting December 2020- currently, I began my .25mg finasteride / 5% minoxidil blend topical and ONLY that. As of today, I have had less than 15-20 hairs TOTAL since december, that Ive seen in my hands, during a shower or when adding my topical to my head. I also use baby shampoo) once every 3 days, in my hair and might see 1-2 hairs in my hand after decent rubbing with my fingers(something I would have never attempted before my transplant because I knew a lot would potentially get pulled out)

I've removed propecia and rogaine from my daily regime and only used the prescribed topical blend.

One big factor is possibly because my hair is still getting longer and is only about 33-50% of my normal length. I may start to pull more out once the strands are longer. Ill update on that as well.

 

[jamesbooker1975]

Quick update on my daily hair loss when Im in the shower and when I use my topical.

Before my transplant Nov 11 2020 and before, I was taking 0.5mg of propecia, once a day and rogaine twice a day. On a daily basis, I would get over than 10 hairs in my hands and noticeable hair on my shoulders and chest, while in the shower. When I would comb my hair, I would also get hairs in my comb. I RARELY shampoo'd my hair as well.

Starting December 2020- currently, I began my .25mg finasteride / 5% minoxidil blend topical and ONLY that. As of today, I have had less than 15-20 hairs TOTAL since december, that Ive seen in my hands, during a shower or when adding my topical to my head. I also use baby shampoo) once every 3 days, in my hair and might see 1-2 hairs in my hand after decent rubbing with my fingers(something I would have never attempted before my transplant because I knew a lot would potentially get pulled out)

I've removed propecia and rogaine from my daily regime and only used the prescribed topical blend.

One big factor is possibly because my hair is still getting longer and is only about 33-50% of my normal length. I may start to pull more out once the strands are longer. Ill update on that as well.

 

[zerafian]

View attachment 158808

lol...more like a gif of a single mouse with a spear, fighting off 100 cats(DHT). Winning....for now!

 

[zerafian]

New pics from Jan to yesterday. Flash on straight at my head!

 

[zerafian]

to reiterate, my first transplant zone stopped at the green line. My second will go down to the red line. Thats what Ill be pushing for since I have a round face and square head so lowering it and getting closer to the squaring off my hairline is aesthetic to my face shape.

 

[zerafian]

So heres a 6 month update of my hair. I figured I would drop a video this time around. Also, the picture below was taken the day before the procedure. My hair is the same length in the video and picture.

My hair now stands up on its own, actually has resistance when I press down on it and I dont see through my hair, to my scalp, half way up my head. Im staying optimistic that there is still more progress to come, over the next 6 months.

 

[Vinc2097]

Quick update on my daily hair loss when Im in the shower and when I use my topical.

Before my transplant Nov 11 2020 and before, I was taking 0.5mg of propecia, once a day and rogaine twice a day. On a daily basis, I would get over than 10 hairs in my hands and noticeable hair on my shoulders and chest, while in the shower. When I would comb my hair, I would also get hairs in my comb. I RARELY shampoo'd my hair as well.

Starting December 2020- currently, I began my .25mg finasteride / 5% minoxidil blend topical and ONLY that. As of today, I have had less than 15-20 hairs TOTAL since december, that Ive seen in my hands, during a shower or when adding my topical to my head. I also use baby shampoo) once every 3 days, in my hair and might see 1-2 hairs in my hand after decent rubbing with my fingers(something I would have never attempted before my transplant because I knew a lot would potentially get pulled out)

I've removed propecia and rogaine from my daily regime and only used the prescribed topical blend.

One big factor is possibly because my hair is still getting longer and is only about 33-50% of my normal length. I may start to pull more out once the strands are longer. Ill update on that as well.

why did you stop oral ?

 

[zerafian]

why did you stop oral ?

potential for side effects as I age. Without going into a ton of details, thats about it. Knowing there was an effective topical, it was kind of a no brainer. Pill that effects a chemical my prostate creates vs an external cream that stops the DHT at the roots is just a safer method, to me.

 

[trialAcc]

Lookin good man! Keep up the updates!

 

[zerafian]

Heres an additional pic with my hair wet. My hair is not as long as the before pic though. Maybe 1-2" shorter. My hair didnt want to go straight back so this as good as I could get it to compare. The white circled area is just a reminder of the transplant area.

 

[Wolf Pack]

I hope the topical mix helps you thicken it up mate, it's not too bad when dry, main thing is the next transplant will give you your younger lower natural frame and a good front goes some way to compensate baldness, especially with age. This transplant is also coming along nicely.

 

[zerafian]

I hope the topical mix helps you thicken it up mate, it's not too bad when dry, main thing is the next transplant will give you your younger lower natural frame and a good front goes some way to compensate baldness, especially with age. This transplant is also coming along nicely.

yeah, as Ive told people, "Im happy with the progress but for the money I spent, its not meeting my expectations yet" Granted, when its dry, I dont see through to my scalp and I dont actually have to try to style it to hide thin areas.

Im definitely looking forward to the next one and dropping my hair line down to that lower "tuft" of hair thats further down on my forehead. Its gonna be a lot of work for sure.

 

[Wolf Pack]

yeah, as Ive told people, "Im happy with the progress but for the money I spent, its not meeting my expectations yet" Granted, when its dry, I dont see through to my scalp and I dont actually have to try to style it to hide thin areas.

Im definitely looking forward to the next one and dropping my hair line down to that lower "tuft" of hair thats further down on my forehead. Its gonna be a lot of work for sure.

Money doesn't matter in the sense 2000 grafts is 2000 grafts anywhere in the world and you have fine hair, that is also a pretty big area of implantation and you were close to bald there before...so with that considered the fact you don't see the thinning when it's dry it means the job is done surgically. To not be see through wet requires normal density/thick hair calibre, I doubt you even had 50 grafts per cm2 behind the hairline.

Rahal put almost 6000 grafts into this result for barely half his head, tells you what you need with fine hair. That may withstand a fair bit of wetness the way you wish.

 

[zerafian]

Money doesn't matter in the sense 2000 grafts is 2000 grafts anywhere in the world and you have fine hair, that is also a pretty big area of implantation and you were close to bald there before...so with that considered the fact you don't see the thinning when it's dry it means the job is done surgically. To not be see through wet requires normal density/thick hair calibre, I doubt you even had 50 grafts per cm2 behind the hairline.

Rahal put almost 6000 grafts into this result for barely half his head, tells you what you need with fine hair. That may withstand a fair bit of wetness the way you wish.

agree with you on all of that. I honestly never really worried about dense looking hair, when wet. Of course, 2k is 2k grafts thats the most important part. Though I suppose the follicles per graft is a big big factor and where those are going on your head. Thats a whol different discussion though, right! Could have paid anywere from $4k to $16k, depending on the price per graft. I also know that I need to be super patient because it can take 6-18 months to see the full effect of the procedure.

Im definitely not ignorant when it comes to expectations. I definitely prefer lower hairline, looking good dry, then density when wet. I think most would say that, unless they are a swimmer or life guard. At the same time though, looking down the road, focusing in a smaller area could be beneficial to aesthetics once your older.

 

[Wolf Pack]

agree with you on all of that. I honestly never really worried about dense looking hair, when wet. Of course, 2k is 2k grafts thats the most important part. Though I suppose the follicles per graft is a big big factor and where those are going on your head. Thats a whol different discussion though, right! Could have paid anywere from $4k to $16k, depending on the price per graft. I also know that I need to be super patient because it can take 6-18 months to see the full effect of the procedure.

Im definitely not ignorant when it comes to expectations. I definitely prefer lower hairline, looking good dry, then density when wet. I think most would say that, unless they are a swimmer or life guard. At the same time though, looking down the road, focusing in a smaller area could be beneficial to aesthetics once your older.

A lot of of the time with transplants, quality of hair matters more than the surgeon, provided one at least goes to an average approved one. For those are higher norwoods, sometimes seeing a mega specialist is best but of course this doesn't apply to you. You would have had a similar result in Europe/Turkey for the same grafts but you would have paid less... and perhaps got 4k grafts in one session so actually a better result. But I recall you wanted to divide the surgery up like this with Dr. Cole anyway. You have some really high prices over there! It's 6 months, you'll get another 30% at least in terms of thickness from maturation of the grafts.

 

[zerafian]

A lot of of the time with transplants, quality of hair matters more than the surgeon, provided one at least goes to an average approved one. For those are higher norwoods, sometimes seeing a mega specialist is best but of course this doesn't apply to you. You would have had a similar result in Europe/Turkey for the same grafts but you would have paid less... and perhaps got 4k grafts in one session so actually a better result. But I recall you wanted to divide the surgery up like this with Dr. Cole anyway. You have some really high prices over there! It's 6 months, you'll get another 30% at least in terms of thickness from maturation of the grafts.

Dr. Cole did tell me that I did have really good donor hair, it was just a bit fine so it would take more grafts than it would someone with dark coarse hair, to get that good dense look. Im paraphrasing but he was honest with me on that. Prices seem to go up and down at his office. It could be $4/graft up to $10/graft. I try to get in there when its lower though...obviously. I appreciate your posts Wolf, thank you!