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FUE at Hair Dr Clinic, Leeds (Dr Arshad) – 2500 Grafts – 13-Jan-2021

H

HT2021

member
Somehow I'm already at the 9-week mark! Here's a few photos from a couple of days ago - from what I can tell, some of the implanted hairs are still continuing to grow and have not been shed just yet, and there are a bunch of stubble-length hairs now that I'm hoping are new hairs coming through, but otherwise not too much has changed lately.

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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Time does pass by quickly.
A small percentage of people do experience continued growth of transplanted grafts and early growth if your stubbles are an indication of that.
Everything looks like it`s returned to normal - pre op stage. Your donor looks good.
Thanks for the update.
 
H

HT2021

member
Thought I'd add another update - these photos are from Day 80. I now have dozens of stubble-length hairs scattered randomly about my transplant area, so it's great to see progress!

I also seem to still have a lot of the original transplanted hairs, which have just never shed. With the exception of the cluster of hairs at the front and centre of my hairline (which are native hairs), all of the longer hairs around my hairline area that you can see in the photos are hairs from the original transplant. They are thin and wiry, but it's definitely nice for now to have the extra little bit of coverage that they offer!

My scalp is often itchy - not hugely itchy, just quite persistently. I assume this is from the new hairs growing through. I find myself absent-mindedly running my hand across the area a lot, which is probably a bad idea as I keep finding small spots or lumps which might be a consequence of the scalp being touched a lot. Other than that, I think all is going smoothly.

The hair is noticeably a little thinner in patches in the donor areas at the back (where there has been a faint v-shape since my hair started growing back) and the sides. I don't particularly mind this if it means having a proper hairline again, but I'm just wondering if this is likely to be a permanent thing, or if it might correct itself over a few hair growth cycles?

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C

ChrisN

Valued member
HT2021
Great to see you’re progressing well - I’m one month ahead of you (will post a 4m update next week) and seems your progress is similar to how mine was.
Although I found the 3m mark a little frustrating (although I was well aware of what little to expect), it has been really encouraging to see some noticeable progress as I get closer to the 4m mark - even in some recent photographs which was surprisingly.
So as everyone says, patience is the key.
Chris
 
L

LondonMayor

member
Thought I'd add another update - these photos are from Day 80. I now have dozens of stubble-length hairs scattered randomly about my transplant area, so it's great to see progress!

I also seem to still have a lot of the original transplanted hairs, which have just never shed. With the exception of the cluster of hairs at the front and centre of my hairline (which are native hairs), all of the longer hairs around my hairline area that you can see in the photos are hairs from the original transplant. They are thin and wiry, but it's definitely nice for now to have the extra little bit of coverage that they offer!

My scalp is often itchy - not hugely itchy, just quite persistently. I assume this is from the new hairs growing through. I find myself absent-mindedly running my hand across the area a lot, which is probably a bad idea as I keep finding small spots or lumps which might be a consequence of the scalp being touched a lot. Other than that, I think all is going smoothly.

The hair is noticeably a little thinner in patches in the donor areas at the back (where there has been a faint v-shape since my hair started growing back) and the sides. I don't particularly mind this if it means having a proper hairline again, but I'm just wondering if this is likely to be a permanent thing, or if it might correct itself over a few hair growth cycles?

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Great write up - keep us posted of how youre getting on!

Month 3-5 you should begin to see some changes, so hopefully we'll see some good progress over the summer
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Your donor should return to a normal look once any shocked hairs and growth cycles all catch up. It is a nice bonus that some of the grafts continued growing, your hairline shape is visible now.
Itching can be bothersome, try a good shampoo like Pura d`or which makes your hair and scalp feel and look good. You could also try Nizoral, it`s very good in eliminating the itch. Use it every 3 days. It`s available for about 8 pounds in Boots, Superdrug etc.
 
H

HT2021

member
Sorry - life got in the way and before I knew it, it had been 2 months since I posted! I'm now approaching the 5-month mark (it's now day 146) so I'll try and dig out some photos that show the progress over that time.

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H

HT2021

member
This is me today (day 146, about a week short of 5 months). It may be clearer if you click on the photos as they seem a little blurry on the page.

The new hairs have been slowly but surely growing, pretty sporadically. There's hundreds of new hairs growing through which is great to see - it's awesome to see the new hairline taking shape, and some of the new hairs have grown pretty long and have needed to be cut back a few times. On the other hand, it is still pretty thin and there's big gaps between the hairs - you can see the contrast between the new hair and the thickness of the native hair behind it.

So I've continued to wear a cap when going out this whole time - hopefully in the next month or so it will start to thicken out and I'll feel comfortable going out and seeing people without a hat!

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K

Kingthin

member
Growth just around the corner, looks like you’ll be seeing most of yours soon. I’m in a similar boat!
 
H

HTL33

member
Thank you for the update and the pics. Would be interested to know how you feel in general with your progress vs expectations?
 
H

HT2021

member
Thank you for the update and the pics. Would be interested to know how you feel in general with your progress vs expectations?
I suppose this is pretty much how I expected it to be at the 5-month stage. Even though I was conscious of the importance of staying patient throughout the process, I've still found myself a little impatient at times despite my better judgement (for example, when shock loss caused my hairline to be even worse than before in the early stages). I knew that would happen, and yet when it did happen I couldn't help but fret a little!

I had it in my head that at the six-month mark my hair would look 'normal' enough that I could go out and not feel self-conscious about it, even if there would still be plenty of density still to come after that point. At the moment, a month short of that milestone, I'm still not at that stage yet - the transplant area is noticeably far less thick than the rest of my head, so I'm eager to get to the stage where it all blends together more naturally. On the other hand, there are literally thousands of hairs at the front of my head that weren't there before, and the hairline itself is now very visible, so it's exciting to see that it's coming along!
 
H

HTL33

member
I suppose this is pretty much how I expected it to be at the 5-month stage. Even though I was conscious of the importance of staying patient throughout the process, I've still found myself a little impatient at times despite my better judgement (for example, when shock loss caused my hairline to be even worse than before in the early stages). I knew that would happen, and yet when it did happen I couldn't help but fret a little!

I had it in my head that at the six-month mark my hair would look 'normal' enough that I could go out and not feel self-conscious about it, even if there would still be plenty of density still to come after that point. At the moment, a month short of that milestone, I'm still not at that stage yet - the transplant area is noticeably far less thick than the rest of my head, so I'm eager to get to the stage where it all blends together more naturally. On the other hand, there are literally thousands of hairs at the front of my head that weren't there before, and the hairline itself is now very visible, so it's exciting to see that it's coming along!

Appreciate the reply. I feel as though I am with you with the whole 6 month mark, it’s hard not to get impatient isn’t it?!

I look forward to seeing your month 6 pics!
 
H

HT2021

member
6 months update!

It feels like I've had a lot of growth in the last 4-5 weeks or so, so hopefully the growth is now starting to accelerate. I've found that at this stage, it's hard to judge how much it grows (compared to the early days where every new hair was noticeable) but someone told me yesterday that it looked like it had filled in a huge amount in the last month, so that's certainly promising.

It's clearly fallen short of the vague target I had in mind, of it looking 'normal' by the 6 month mark - as you can see, there are still big gaps and an obvious lack of density compared to the rest of my hair. However, I think it does at least look like 'normal' hair thinning (i.e. it could pass for natural balding and doesn't look unusual or artificial), so I will take that for now! As a result I've been going out and about without a cap for the last month or so, which has definitely been liberating.

I saw the below guide on this forum before - I don't know where it originally came from or how verifiable it is, but that feels probably about right at this stage for me - perhaps I'm a little short of 60% at the moment. But it does all seem to be coming along, so hopefully in a few months it will all blend in a lot more neatly.
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One thing I've noticed is that the hairs at the very front are growing straight up (sort of like a quiff), as opposed to forward like my fringe used to). I don't mind that right now, as that's probably how I would want to style it anyway - but I'd be interested to know if this is normal? Does the hair just need to go through a few regrowth cycles to start growing 'forward'?


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alex5

alex5

member
Hey!

I hear what you are saying about expecting more growth by the 6 mark point but it will come. I know everyone uses the word patience and it really does apply to Hair Transplants!

When you look at your pre HT photo to now you can see a huge difference and the hair line forming. All you need now is to wait for density:)
 
H

Hoping_for_hair

member
Starting to fill in - hopefully the next few months should see it keep filling in!
 
H

HT2021

member
These pictures are from yesterday - about 50 days after my last pictures, and about 7.5 months in overall.

Since my last post, my hairline has filled in quite a bit, though the scalp is still very visible (as you can see in the 3rd and 4th photos).

The hairs along my hairline are also still growing straight upwards (this is clearer in the 6th photo) - hopefully once there's a bit more volume it will start to grow a little more naturally.

Overall, it feels like there's still a long way to go until the front blends in naturally with the back, but it's coming along!

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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi HT2021.
These last set of pictures aren’t as clear as the 6 month update but I can still see you’ve had more growth since then.
The coverage is there, just not the density but you’re only at 7.5 months with at least another 4.5 months to go.
As for hair direction, I’ve just posted about it here Hair angulation Some styling product could help until the hair fully matures.
 
H

HT2021

member
Thank you very much for sharing that link - that's reassuring, and makes a lot of sense.

I've just had another haircut so thought I'd share some (hopefully slightly clearer!) 8-month photos.

It's definitely coming along, and it's great to have a proper hairline again! Hopefully come Christmas time, the bigger gaps will be filled in, and I can start to think about hairstyles again for the first time in many years!

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