D
DonnyJ
Valued member
New here, but you may have also seen my recent postings elsewhere.
...after several years of debate, and many struggles with propecia (extreme mental sides -- brain fog, migraines, terrible vision problems, anxiety, etc.) I recently decided that now was the time to pull the trigger and to undergo surgery. After much research, I landed on Shapiro Medical Group in Minneapolis (Bloomington), MN. My FUE procedure took place roughly 12 days ago with Dr. Paul Shapiro -- here's my experience thus far:
Heading into my surgery date, I had a whole plethora of emotions -- nervous, anxious, hoping for the best, etc...My biggest concern at the time (and still today), however, was "what will people think of me if they knew I underwent a hair transplant?" Because of this, I've decided to keep this to myself. It's been a struggle having to keep to myself these past couple weeks, but it's something i'm working through...small sacrifice for hopefully great long-term results.
Along these same lines, this is why I chose to not shave my entire head (to leave the recipient area unshaven -- the "goal" of mine is that after a few weeks, I'll be able to pass my haircut off as just being a shorter cut.
All of that said, SMG did an excellent job of making me feel comfortable upon arrival. Dr. Paul Shapiro was able to go through my history, answer my questions, and work with me to determine a surgical plan. I believe that my goals were realistic -- for me, this procedure was equally (if not moreso) pro-active/preventative as it was corrective. I only wanted a slight increase to the hairline (I'm still fairly young, so I wanted to consider having a mature hairline moving forward), and the rest of my grafts I wanted to use to increase density & to prolong my current aesthetics.
I've documented my progression, which I'll use the next couple posts to bring this up-to-speed with where I stand today. Please let me know your thoughts on how things appear to be going.
My absolute biggest concern right now is in regards to shock loss -- I've been trying to do some reading on it (without scaring myself too much), but I haven't come across an answer of a.) how often extreme shock loss occurs? b.) at what point shock loss starts at, c.) what (if anything) I can do to prevent it? ...I'm concerned mostly because I have existing hair in the transplanted region today, and because I've been off propecia for roughly 9 months now, so I may be susceptible to loss as it is. Just yesterday, I began noticing shedding starting to occur when running my hand through my hair in the bathroom...can I owe this to the fact that I've been off of my rogaine/s5/nizoral for 10 days now, or is this potentially shock loss starting already?
Another FYI: I've been taking biotin 5000mcg 2x's daily as well as MSM 1000mg 2x's daily to help increase the donor region hair growth. I also plan to start using rogaine in that area starting next week (once my scabs have fully healed). Let me know if this is advised/ill-advised. Thanks!
One last note: I was in heavy contact with Matt Zupan this past year and a half and if you've had the opportunity to speak with him, then you'll know that he's super easy to talk to and I couldn't be happier with my communications. Likewise, Janna Shafer has been very helpful post-op, taking my texts/calls in the evening & weekend hours -- if either of you two happen to read this, then I thank you very much for your hard work.
...after several years of debate, and many struggles with propecia (extreme mental sides -- brain fog, migraines, terrible vision problems, anxiety, etc.) I recently decided that now was the time to pull the trigger and to undergo surgery. After much research, I landed on Shapiro Medical Group in Minneapolis (Bloomington), MN. My FUE procedure took place roughly 12 days ago with Dr. Paul Shapiro -- here's my experience thus far:
Heading into my surgery date, I had a whole plethora of emotions -- nervous, anxious, hoping for the best, etc...My biggest concern at the time (and still today), however, was "what will people think of me if they knew I underwent a hair transplant?" Because of this, I've decided to keep this to myself. It's been a struggle having to keep to myself these past couple weeks, but it's something i'm working through...small sacrifice for hopefully great long-term results.
Along these same lines, this is why I chose to not shave my entire head (to leave the recipient area unshaven -- the "goal" of mine is that after a few weeks, I'll be able to pass my haircut off as just being a shorter cut.
All of that said, SMG did an excellent job of making me feel comfortable upon arrival. Dr. Paul Shapiro was able to go through my history, answer my questions, and work with me to determine a surgical plan. I believe that my goals were realistic -- for me, this procedure was equally (if not moreso) pro-active/preventative as it was corrective. I only wanted a slight increase to the hairline (I'm still fairly young, so I wanted to consider having a mature hairline moving forward), and the rest of my grafts I wanted to use to increase density & to prolong my current aesthetics.
I've documented my progression, which I'll use the next couple posts to bring this up-to-speed with where I stand today. Please let me know your thoughts on how things appear to be going.
My absolute biggest concern right now is in regards to shock loss -- I've been trying to do some reading on it (without scaring myself too much), but I haven't come across an answer of a.) how often extreme shock loss occurs? b.) at what point shock loss starts at, c.) what (if anything) I can do to prevent it? ...I'm concerned mostly because I have existing hair in the transplanted region today, and because I've been off propecia for roughly 9 months now, so I may be susceptible to loss as it is. Just yesterday, I began noticing shedding starting to occur when running my hand through my hair in the bathroom...can I owe this to the fact that I've been off of my rogaine/s5/nizoral for 10 days now, or is this potentially shock loss starting already?
Another FYI: I've been taking biotin 5000mcg 2x's daily as well as MSM 1000mg 2x's daily to help increase the donor region hair growth. I also plan to start using rogaine in that area starting next week (once my scabs have fully healed). Let me know if this is advised/ill-advised. Thanks!
One last note: I was in heavy contact with Matt Zupan this past year and a half and if you've had the opportunity to speak with him, then you'll know that he's super easy to talk to and I couldn't be happier with my communications. Likewise, Janna Shafer has been very helpful post-op, taking my texts/calls in the evening & weekend hours -- if either of you two happen to read this, then I thank you very much for your hard work.
