Day 5 After Hair Transplant Procedure


Last night was awful! I tried to go the whole night with no pain medication because my head didn't hurt yesterday during the day. In fact, it didn't hurt today either. The reason is during the day my head isn't laying back on a pillow. I started in the recliner and went to the couch in all sorts of positions but just couldn't get comfortable. I think I may have slept off and on between 5 and 6 AM! So this morning I got up and took my last Methylprednisolone and a Darvocet in case I wanted to lay down. That chance never came.

No need to be a hero, I'm going to take the milder Darvocet for my night pain. The Vicodin is overkill at this point.

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 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...