dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

4 Months Hey guys, I sorry I haven't updated my blog in a while. Luckily I did take some pictures at the four month mark, so here they are. At this point, a lot of the hair was growing in, but it was pretty thin and shorter than the rest of my hair. For these pictures, I kinda messed the front of my hair when it was damp. I think it gives the illusion of it being thicker when it is really wet and slicked back, so hopefully you can see what's going on better like this. As far as healing, just about everything was back to normal at this time. There is still some numbnees right at the front and center of my head. I am not sure when/if this will ever come back, but it really isn't bothersome to me. The donor site in the back is totally healed. The scar is super super thin. I would say it is about the thickness of a heavy pencil mark (maybe a little more). Dr. K did an unbelievable job keeping the scar really thin. I will admit though that due to the pattern of the back of my hair (I have the kind where it comes to a point at the mid of my neck) the fact that he removed a section where the hair was growing at an angle makes the change in hair direction a bit noticeable (to me at least). So the hair is growing straight down and then it quickly changes direction where the hair was removed. I keep my hair pretty short, so it may not be a problem at long lengths. I can mask it pretty well by messing that area with gel a bit. No one has noticed that I had anything done, so for those of you who want to keep it a secret, it definitely is possible but it takes a bit of effort in the earlier months. I will comment more on the fullness of the recipient area in my 6 mo post.

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

4 Months addl As is my custom, here are some pics of my hair at four months after styling it

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

6 Months Ok, here are the six month pics. The implanted hair is looking pretty continuous with my natural hair now. I'll say that it is quite a bit thinner than I was hoping for. Dr. K. says that there is usually some more growth around 8 months, but I am sceptical since the density is pretty consistant thoughout the recipient area. I guess we will have to see. That being said, I admit I was hoping for Brad Pitt hair, so maybe I was overly optimistic :) Overall, I am much less self concious about my hair these days, and styling in the morning takes less time and does not make me depressed for the rest of the day. The people who do know I had work done (my bro and sis) say that it looks noticeably better that before i had the procedure. They are very honest so I believe them. My sis in law knew I had it done but forgot... when i saw her months later, she said "Oh you've been growing your hair a bit, it looks good". Later my bro told me that she told hime she forgot I had it done and just thought my hair looked good. Best compliment yet. So I say if you are thinking about going with Dr. K., do it. If you have the money, just have him do it as dense as you can afford and he will agree to. But keep in mind for those of you who are in earlier stages like me, you will probably lose more hair, so unless hair cloning becomes an option in the near future, you may want to preserve some of your donor stash. Anyhoo... here's the pics.

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

Month 3 addl 2 and some with my hair done

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

Mo 2 3 comparison Just for clarity, here is one from Mo 2 and Mo 3 side by side for comparison

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

3 months Well guys I'm at month 3 and things have been coming along much better than I had expected. As far as I know, the general consensus is that you will not even begin to see any growth until month 3... as you can see from my pictures, there has been considerable improvement since my last update. It has been pretty steady so you can guess about where I was at each week up to this point. The area that has seen the least improvement is the front center, the area where I received the highest density. I am guessing that there was much more shock to this area of my scalp due to the higher density, so it will probably take longer for these to really get going. All in all, I am really happy so far.The scar in the donor area has healed excellently and has barely stretched at all. Dr. K did a phenomenal job with the incision and I couldnt be happier. It is still a bit noticeable to me because I know what I'm looking for, but I don't think it has anything to do with the doc's technique, I think it's more just that two areas of hair that were not next to each other before are now. The grain of the hair is a bit different in the two areas, so it is somewhat noticeable.As far as sensation goes, The donor site is basically completely healed, but the recipient site is still pretty numb. I hope that sensation will return to normal in the near future but it wouldnt be the end of the world if it stayed this way, I really dont notice it except for when I brush my hair. I was told that sensation returns begining week six, and I am at 12 so... maybe it's just really slow and gradual. Anyway, I still totally recommend Dr. K... you can see why in the pics below.Oh, and I still use rogaine religiously so that may have added to my quick recovery. See you guys next month

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

Month 3 addl here's some with the recipient area damp and some of the scar

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

2 Months It's been 2 months and things are coming along as expected I guess. Most of the hair has fallen out, but I am starting to see some new sprouts (started about 1-2 weeks ago) and am starting to get single pimples here and there. You can see a pimple in a couple of these pics. From what I understand this is pretty common and just means that some new boys are poppin' their way through. Usually I think that people start to see this more around month 3, but I have been using Rogaine 2 times a day religiously at Dr K's order, and I have a feeling that Dr K is pretty good at planting the grafts without damaging them too much. There is still a lot of the transplanted hair in the less densely packed areas (toward the temples) that never fell out and is starting to get a bit longer. I am excited to see where I am in another month. Maybe for Halloween I can go as a less balding man. The scar in the back looks really good. I cut my hair too short today so the scar is pretty visible right now (good for you guys bad for me). This is with a #2 clipper. From what I can tell, you really need to be over a #5 for the scar to get into the undetectible range. Maybe I have had some shock loss back there that is adding to it, but you really need a little length to cover it completely. Also I have noticed that, since there is a gap of hair missing, the transition from the hair above the scar to the hair below is not completely fluid. Basically, the hair above grows in a straight downward direction, and the hair below is angled a bit due to the way my hair grows, so when it's really short it's kinda noticeable.

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

2 Month addl pics Figure I'd show you guys how I am able to cover the transplant area as of now. I would suggest starting to grow you hair out and change your style to cover the transplant area well before you get the operation so people don't notice the change. As far as I know, only my siblings and my closest friends know about it because I told them. Not even my parents have noticed that I had anything done yet!

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

Doctor pics before during procedure

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

2.5 weeks Sorry I didnt have a chance to put up the 2 week photos. I took the last of the staples out at day 13 because they were just driving me insane. I read that some doctors prefer to have them left in longer, but I couldn't take it. It is now like 4 days sine the staples were removed and I still have itching and a bit of pain when I rest my head against the couch or when I lay in bed. Guess that's to be expected though. The crusts are like 99% gone. I did my best not to ever pick at them or touch them much at all for fear of losing a graft, and I also used a bit of hairspray to solidify my comb over, so that may have made them stay a bit longer.The rest you should be able to see from the photos. I think the donor scar looks amazing so far, I am going to cut my hair tomorrow so we'll see how short I can get it without it showing. I will keep you all updated with the progress.

dude

Bald class: 2A

Procedure 1

One Week Mark K so today was the one week mark. I have avoided work up to this point but am going to brave it starting tomorrow. I went to Dr. K's office today to get half of the staples removed (painless) and the second half will come out in 5-7 more days. I live out of state so they actually gave me the staple removing tool so I can have a friend take out the rest for me!As for the front, I still have a couple small scabs and crusts and all the stubble. According to the doc I am able to let the shower stream directly hit the graft sites so the shower I just took was pretty sweet... still no messaging the grafts tho.I also did my best job at my coverup hair doo today to see how I will pull it off at work. I have been planning this style for months, growing my hair out just sppropriately for it. I suggest you make a plan for your cover up style and get it pretty solid before the surgery so you are prepped (they will shave a little bit of your existing hair too so beware).The staple site is kind of a pain in the butt 'cause you have to lube it up with a bunch of goo in order to keep it healing well, and that is unsigtly so I tried to blend the nearby areas with some gel and spray to mask it (supposedly it's ok to use product but I try to keep it away from the grafts n junk).Oh, and I'm rockin a bit of a beard too so when people are like "You look a bit different dude" I can be like "Yah, kinda doin the lumberjack-hobo thing"... maybe take away from the hair. So here's a bunch of pics showing the grafted areas and my coverup doo. I dont have anyone to take pics of the back so I did the best I could for ya. I'll throw up another post in a week unless there is some miraculous change inbetween. Oh and pray that I don't experience any huge gusts of wind cause then I'm just completley screwed :)