Day 188 After Hair Transplant Procedure - 6 Month Checkup
I had my 6 month appointment today with Dr. Deutsch to go over my progress. He said everything is looking great and growing in very well and if I wanted to do another procedure he would consider just doing the crown area for now. He said they don't recommend doing another procedure sooner than 6 months since that is how long it takes to fully heal. I told him that when they perfect hair cloning then I may consider it as the suture was the worst part of the whole procedure and I would rather avoid it; especially since my front hairline is restored and the back is no longer skin. It looks great! He said there is 6 more months of my hair lengthening and thickening so it will just keep getting better.
If you have been following my progress, you know that the suture was painful and took long to heal whereas the follicle transplants are just like paper cuts and healed after 2 weeks. When the strip of skin is cut, all nerves were severed with it and I still have numb spots on my head. Dr. Deutsch assured me that they will regenerate.
When I got home a Bosley letter was waiting for me in the mail. The first sentence reads as follows:
"It has been approximately six months since your hair restoration procedure and most likely your newly transplanted hair will now be about 1" to 1.5" long."
I can vouch for that statement. Further down the letter it says
"Even now, at just six months, you're only beginning to see the full impact of your Bosley restoration."
That is great news as I'm satisfied with where I'm at now. I can't wait to see it in another 6 months.
I will get pictures up here as soon as I can get someone to take them for me. You won't believe how much has changed since the ay 140 After Hair Transplant Procedure">Day 140 pictures.
Day 174 After Hair Transplant Procedure
I just had a call from Bosley as my six month checkup is coming up soon and I have some exciting news to share. My hair has been growing in really well, people that know about can't even tell, and I haven't been getting sunburn within 10 minutes like I used to.
But that's not everything.....
I was just told that my hair will be growing in for up to a hair and the follicles will be thickening too. I thought everything that was going to grow was growing but I was told that only 70% of the expected growth will occur within the first 9(?) months and that the remaining 30% will come in the next 3 months.
So what does this mean? It means that all of the great growth I'm seeing is just a percentage of what I should expect over the next 6 months. I'll post some new pictures after my next haircut.
Day 95 After Hair Transplant Procedure
Now that my 90 days has passed I can now go outside for extended periods of time without a hat. So being that it’s Father’s Day and I can do whatever I want, we all went to the beach and I went surfing. I had no problems with the sun or any irritation whatsoever. I’m normal again.
Day 99 After Hair Transplant Procedure
My hair is growing! I ran my fingers through my scalp and lo and behold I can feel little stubble everywhere. It won’t show in a picture yet; maybe in about 2 weeks I’ll post one so you can see.
Day 92 After Hair Transplant Procedure
I am at my 3 month mark so it’s time for hair to grow. Guess what, it’s actually growing. A few of the transplants never fell out and continued growing while I’m starting to see a few hairs over the past week just breaking the surface of my skin. A picture won’t show it so I will spare you until you can see something. The pimples on my head have subsided over the last two weeks and I am getting sporadic feeling back around my scalp. The donor area is also a bit tender in spots.
I haven’t had anyone ask me any questions lately. Feel free to do so.
Day 74 After Hair Transplant Procedure
I’m sorry it has been so long since I have written anything but there is no noticeable growth aside from about 3 new? hairs. Also, a few of my original hairs continue to fall out.
There are only two things worth noticing right now:
1) My scalp has broken out with pimples. It’s like being a teenager again but on the top of my head.
2) M head is still numb with slight soreness in the donor area.
I’ll report more when there is something a bit more to talk about.
Day 45 After Hair Transplant Procedure
Well I finally have some new pictures for you. As you can see, you can't tell I had anything done (nobody I know can either). I would guess that about half of the transplanted hairs have fallen out due to shock loss. Maybe more will follow, maybe not. I do think that my head has at least hit a baseline for comparison, i.e., the hairs that would fall out due to the procedure have done so and my head is healed up from redness and dryness.
So here are my observations for the past week.
- My scalp is still a bit tender in spots similar to the feeling of a light sunburn.
- Most of the top and crown are still numb but some feeling is starting to come back in random areas. What is really interesting is that some areas can feel pressure but not temperature and vice versa.
- I believe I have noticed a couple of hairs just starting to break through the skin. I'm not sure what to say about it at this point since I don't believe it is supposed to grow back this quickly. I'll watch it and report back if something is happening.
- Some of the transplanted hairs that did not fall out are actually continuing to grow in their new location. That's a nice bonus.
Day 30 After Hair Transplant Procedure
I received an email from Bosley today. They have been very good with following up and anticipating any questions I may have. I'm just going to reprint the email below as it is pretty good at explaining what I should expect after one month. It's pretty accurate to what I'm experiencing. Also, I promise to put up some new picture tomorrow.
=================
This is your one month update in our after care series as we follow the progress of your hair restoration.
Read below to assess how you are doing.
......
MY SCALP
Your donor area may still be sore and itching may still be present. This is a normal part of the healing process. By this point any crusts in your transplanted area should be gone. If any crusts remain, continue to gently massage your scalp to encourage the crusts to fall off.
MY HAIR GROWTH
New growth takes 4 to 5 months to appear. Do not be discouraged, in a few months time your new hair will begin to appear.
MY ACTIVITIES
You should be able to perform your full exercise routine. If you wish to get a haircut, perm or color your hair or wear a hair piece during this transition period, you may do so.
Day 21 After Hair Transplant Procedure
I received a phone call today from someone at Bosley to see how I was doing. I asked questions about the numbness and was reassured that in another 2 months all should be back to normal. I also asked about shock loss and why my all of my transplanted hair had not yet fallen out. I was told that this can happen over the first 90 days. Most of the transplants are still there with an occasional hair coming out so there should be some shedding down the road. I'll keep you all posted.
Day 18 After Hair Transplant Procedure
Since two weeks has passed, I am able to resume full activities. I just returned from my karate class and it was interesting. When I laid down to do crunches, I put my head back on the ground and couldn't feel anything. The only way I knew it was resting was because it wouldn't go back any further. What a strange feeling. I can't wait for those nerves to regenerate.
Day 20 After Hair Transplant Procedure
I just had my first haircut and it was a bit strange. Since my head is still numb on the top, I couldn't really feel what was going on. Let's just say it had been so long, I had to get the wings on the side of my head trimmed. I look back to normal but with little stubble from the transplants that did not fall off. For the most part nobody can even tell I had anything done; and that's from people than knew about it! I'll put some new pictures up in a few days. I'm off to Catalina Island for the weekend -- can't forget the hat.
As I say on my home page, I am not affiliated with Bosley but for anybody wanting information from the source, Bosley, just click on one of the Bosley banners on the page. This is where you can request free information including a DVD with interviews of real people that had this done. This is how I started my research on Bosley and their hair transplant procedure.
Day 17 After Hair Transplant Procedure
My head is looking fine. The last three days have been great in terms of being able to clean up my scalp. People that know I have had it done can't even tell now that all of the scabs and scaling has fallen off. Also, since I have been able to start cleaning my scalp, my existing and transplanted hair has been falling out like crazy. I'm noticing that these hairs appear to be clumped together within scabs that are falling off so it's probably just looks like a lot as I clean up my head. I say that because today doesn't seem to be as bad. I'm hoping the worst of it is over but time will tell. Just a note that only a fraction of the transplanted hair has fallen out so I'm not looking bare in the transplanted areas.
Since my head looks normal now, I'm going to reduce the postings of pictures to probably once a week to track the progress. Any more, I think, would be overkill.
Day 14 After Hair Transplant Procedure
Today is the last day that I have to pour a bucket of water over my head for a shower. YIPEE!!!
Once my official 2 week ban on touching my head with anything other than the pads of my fingers passed (2 hours ago), I grabbed a comb and gently started to comb out my hair. YUCK!!!
I'm guessing the reason I wasn't itchy these past two weeks is not only due to the Diprolene I put on my scalp but also due to the fact that the nerves in my scalp were cut so I don't feel anything. Actually, I can feel pressure but the pain nerves are mostly hit and miss on my entire scalp. I am told that after 3 months all feeling will be back.
Anyway, back to my story. I was combing out my hair and was not ready for what started to show up in the comb; flakes, scabs, and hair. I then felt my scalp all over and it felt like a thick crusty layer was covering the entire area. At least now I will be able to start scrubbing my scalp to get this stuff off. You notice I said hair was now coming out; not only my original hair but the shock loss has started. The reason I wasn't seeing it fall out yet is that all of the crusty layer was holding everything together like weeds in dirt. Once the crust started flaking off, the hair came with it as it had already released from the follicle but was trapped in the scaliness that is now my scalp.
Here are some updated pics. The small black spots at the base of each transplanted hair are little scabs that will fall off over the next few days. 
Day 10 After Hair Transplant Procedure - Suture Removal
A few hours ago I had my sutures removed. The last few days they were really bothering me when I laid down on a pillow. It was more of an annoyance than anything along the lines of an ingrown hair. So they take out the stitches which are very thin blue threads. It's amazing how irritating something so small can be.
I was told that people that heal quickly are usually finished healing at day 10 but slower healers take 14 days which is why Bosley says to wait at least 14 days before any activities. I think I'm healed but I can wait another 4 days. I can't wait for a regular shower and to be able to comb my hair!
If you have read the previous entries, you will notice that I didn't complain about a lot of itching. I forgot to mention that the day before the procedure, I applied Diprolene, a topical steroid that eliminates dermatitis, on my entire scalp. I figured it would be a way to alleviate any itching that would occur. I think it worked. Now, I can't prove it worked, but a symptom of this procedure is a lot of itching during the healing process. I had almost none. I recommended to Jose, my suture remover, that he pass that along to the doctors as it might be a good thing to include as part of the standard regimen if they can show it to work.
One other observation is 99% of any pain I had was related to the suture itself and not the transplanted hair on the rest of my scalp. When Bosley perfects the hair cloning process that they are working on, this procedure should get a lot better as the donor hair won't be required except for a little spot for the donor hair to be cloned. This small piece of skin and hair will be taken and healed way before your actual procedure. The real pain of this procedure will be with the initial anesthesia injections and that is about it.
Day 4 After Hair Transplant Procedure
Last night I tried sleeping in a bed for the first time (with Vicodin). I did it but a couple more days in a recliner will be a bit more comfortable. Not much to report today except that I'm feeling better. My head isn't red anymore and the transplants are now looking like little dried up scabs. Hopefully, they fall off soon.
I just thought of something that may be interesting. Throughout the day, I have been feeling slight tingling of and on where the new hair is. It almost feels like somebody lightly touching my head. My guess is it has something to do with the nerve regeneration. If anyone knows what I'm talking about please drop me a note with a little explanation.
On a pain scale, I'm at a 1.5 out of 10 at the worst. It's more of a discomfort than anything else. No Vicodin anymore. I have one Methylprednisolone to take tonight and then one more tomorrow and that's it for the drugs.
Day 3 After Hair Transplant Procedure
Today was a great day! I woke up after my first full night of sleep and there was minimal pain. As a result, I didn't need to take any Vicodin today. I did take the Methylprednisolone before breakfast and after lunch as directed. I have two more days and then it will be gone.
I am experiencing a little more itching as things heal up. I can't scratch but I was told that I could gently touch the area but don't rub it. It seems to work pretty well. When I touch the transplanted area, I feel all of the little stubble from each hair. It feels pretty neat.
Today, my scalp doesn't look any worse than a bad sunburn. It does, however, feel tight since the skin was stretched slightly to close up the donor area. For the last two days, my scalp has been getting very oily. It's probably just a by-product of the healing process. I definitely need to wash my hair every night. It's a delicate process where I mix the shampoo with water in a cup and then gently pour it over my head. I then pour clean water to rinse it. It doesn't seem like much but it actually removes that oil. The problem is, I can't really comb it too well for another 10 days. That will be a great day!
Time to take my last Methylprednisolone for today. I'm going to try the bed tonight so I need to take the Vicodin. I want to at least lay my head down without any pain.
Day 2 After Hair Transplant Procedure
I almost made it through the night. At 5:30 AM I woke up in pain again and had to take another Vicodin. After about 20 minutes it started to kick in and I slept for about 3 more hours. When I awoke, I turned on the TV and my doctor, David Deutsch, was speaking in a Bosley infomercial. I thought the timing was quite funny and felt lucky that I was worked on by one of their lead doctors.
The first thing I noticed today is that my head isn't as purple as yesterday. I took a Vicodin at 10 AM and that was it for 8 hours. I wanted to see if I could last without any pain medication. The answer is definitely no. Without the meds, my pain went up to a 5 out of 10. I took the Vicodin at 6 PM and the pain went away; it also made me tired.
I also noticed something else today, I have a completely numb area in the back of my head just above the center of the donor area. I'm guessing when the strip of skin was removed, some nerves went with it. I am told that they will fully regenerate within 3 months.
I can definitely see a difference in the transplant area. When the hairs are transplanted, they are very short like stubble and give the area a filled in look. These hairs will fall out within the next two weeks when they go dormant. Three months later they will start to grow. I can't wait!
I am going to take a Vicodin and a Halcion before bed tonight and I just noticed I forgot to take the Methylprednisolone yesterday (5 pills) and today (4 pills). I will take one of the 4 pills and resume the schedule per the directions on the box.
Day 1 After Hair Transplant Procedure
Last night was not a great night. I started in a bed but at about 2 AM I woke up in pain (Mike's pain scale 5 out of 10). Surprisingly, the 3002 holes in my scalp for the transplant don't bother me, but it's the suture in the back of my head. The strip of skin from the donor area was 25 cm long (10 inches) by 1 cm. Two large stitches in a cross-stitch pattern (similar to a baseball glove) are pulling the scalp back together. The local anesthesia must have worn off completely while I was sleeping as well as the Vicodin because it hurt to lay my head down on a pillow. I went ahead and took Vicodin for the pain and Halcion, a sleeping pill. I then went to a recliner chair for the rest of the night. After about a half hour, everything kicked in and I was able to get comfortable by putting a pillow under my chin and leaning my head forward. This kept all pressure off the back of my head. Once the Vicodin took hold, the pain level went to 1 out of 10.
This afternoon I went back to Bosley to get my hair washed and also to get instruction on how to wash my hair. After my hair was washed, they blotted some of the blood clots to clean me up. They told me to mix a tablespoon of Bosley shampoo in a cup of water and pour it over my head gently so as not to dislodge any of the transplants. I have to do this for 2 weeks until the hair is set.
Here are a few pictures after my hair was washed. It's purple but it doesn't look too bad.
While riding in the car to and from Bosley, I was feeling a bit nauseous and very tired. I think I might have been hungry and not realized it. Hopefully this is a one-time event; I'll make sure to eat more regularly while I'm healing.
Today's drug schedule was as follows:
Vicodin: 2:30 AM, 10 AM, 4 PM, 10:30 PM
Halcion: 2:30 AM, 10:30 PM
This time I took the Halcion before going to sleep along with the Vicodin to see I can make it through the night. I'm also sleeping in the recliner chair to start.
Day 0: The Hair Transplant Procedure
I showed up just before 7 AM at the Beverly Hills office. I checked in and signed a form that allows Bosley to take a small, 'fresh scalp' sample for research and I get $100 back. Bosley is currently trying to clone hair so that in the future only a small sample will need to be taken from a person instead of a long strip. I figured that since they were already in there, they could have it.
I was taken back to my room for the day. There was a reclining chair similar to one in a dentist's office. A flat panel TV was right in front of it and 4 microscopes were located around the edge of the room.
I now understand why the costs for this procedure are so high. There was a doctor, David Deutsch, a registered nurse, and 4 medical assistants. The roles are very well defined and they worked together like a well-oiled machine.
To start, I was given Methylprednisolone. A second dose was given at lunch time.
First, Dr. Deutsch came in and sketched a hairline on my head. He also marked the donor area on the back of my head.
A collar was then put on to prevent any fluids/blood from dripping down past my neck.
Next, my hair was tied up in 3 pigtails.
The donor area was trimmed very short.
The RN then started with the local anesthesia. This was the only painful part of the process (5 out of 10). It started with 3 rows of about 10 injections along the donor area to numb the entire area. Some people can tolerate pain but I'm not one of them. I let out a couple of screams in there. Once numb, all was good. The doctor then came in to remove the donor strip.
The 'headband' is there to prevent any fluids/blood from running down into my face. It was there for the entire procedure.
For those of you that have had surgeries under local anesthesia before, this is probably old hat to you. During the removal of the strip, every cut sounded like crunching. It was a bit unnerving but it was over in about 10 minutes. Two sutures, were put in to tie everything up. During this short process, the doctor brought in an iPod and asked what I wanted to listen to. We listened to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise and he was done. This picture show everything sewn up. It was very clean.
Now the tedious work started. The medical assistants took the strip of hair and started to separate it under the microscopes. They were sorting it into one hair, 1-2 hair, and 3-4 hair follicles. The low number hairs go along the hairline while the denser follicles go towards the inside. It took several hours to do this separation.
At around 11:30 AM, the RN numbed up my whole head the same way she did the back. Again, it was painful but only for a few minutes.
Now the fun starts. The doctor used an instrument that looks like a miniature spear to place the openings for the new hair. He used a stabbing motion as the assistants counted the number of punctures all the way up to 3000. I asked the doctor what that crunching sound was followed by a solid thunking sound. He said the crunching is the puncturing of the skin and the thunking is the point hitting the skull. The only way I can describe the crunching sound is it sounds the way I would think a termite eating wood would sound under intense amplification. Nobody else could hear it but me.
Once that was over, a movie was put on while the medical assistants proceeded to place the hairs in the newly created slits. They were done with all 3000 a few hours later at 3:30 PM. They were very efficient. The doctor came in occasionally to inspect the work and praised them on the good job they did.
One of the perks for having this done is that I got a great hat out of it. I like to think of it as 10-gallon ball cap. I was told that I must wear a hat for the next 3 months if I am outside more than 15 minutes to avoid freckles at each of the transplant locations.
I left the office at 4 PM and got home at 5:30 PM due to LA rush hour. I was exhausted but still numb so no pain. I took a Vicodin around 6 PM and again around 10 PM before bed. I hope I feel good tomorrow. We'll see...
Initial Consultation
Today I went in for my free consultation in the Beverly Hills office. I met with Frank Richards, a Senior Counselor with Bosley, who filled me in on all the details of why men lose their hair, where my hair loss was on their scale of 1 to 7, and what my options were.
DHT, or Dihydrotestosterone, is what causes hair loss in men who have been unfortunate enough to have inherited the genetic susceptibility to hair loss. In general, the hair on top of your head is affected by DHT but the sides and back are not. That is why you see many bald people who are only bald on top and not around the sides or back. The good thing about having DHT-resistant hair on the back and sides of your head is that you can move this hair to the top and it will continue to grow normally.
So how does my hair rate on the Bosley scale? It is gone in the back and receding fast in the front so I was around a 4 in the front and a 5 in back.
Here is the chart showing the Norwood-Hamilton scale that Bosley uses.
Dr. David Deutsch then came in for a consultation with me. We discussed the same things that I sopke with Frank about and we got into a little more detail on my options.
The options given to me were
Mens Rogaine, Propecia, laser light, and hair transplant. I explained to Frank and Dr. Deutsch that I had used
Mens Rogaine
and it seemed to grow my hair back when I was in my late 20s but the last time I used it about a year ago, it didn't seem to be doing me any good. I also didn't like the idea of having to put something on or take a pill every day for the rest of my life. That ruled out Propecia too. One option I tried about 2 years ago was laser light. For one year I sat under a hemisphere that looked like a hair dryer. Red lasers would pulse for a 20 minute session while I sat and read a book. I did this twice a week for a year and I didn't notice any growth or slowing down of my hair loss. Dr. Deutsch explained that the laser light only has the effect of retarding the loss but it won't stop it completely.
That was when the clear option to me and them was the hair transplant.
To make sure I was a good candidate, Dr. Deutsch checked the back of my head for hair density which he said was very good. He also grabbed the hair in back and moved it up and down to check the elasticity of my skin. During the procedure a strip of skin is removed and he wanted to make sure it would be easy to close up. He said my elasticity was very good. I asked him how many grafts it would be and he said 3000 would be good. 3000 is about as much as they can do in one day. Dr. Deutsch asked when I would like to schedule an appointment which is when pricing came up. He left the room so Frank could go over pricing with me.
Getting a hair transplant is not an inexpensive proposition but it was the best option for me as nothing else was working and this is a permanent solution. Bosley has a graduated scale that starts at $9 per graft and goes down to $5.50 per graft. Due to the number of grafts I would be getting, I would be in the $5.50 per graft category which brought my base price to $16,500. Luckily, they offer financing through Capital One so I signed up for a 12 month, 0% interest payment plan.
My procedure is scheduled for March 14th.
