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Two week update
Just woke up and I’m 16 days post. I still have a bit of puckering/swelling on one side but it is going down. At one point I was waking up and my eyes were swollen but dr gal said this is normal for the swelling to travel down to your eyes. Icing my eyes in the morning or just sleeping a little elevated helped! Honestly most of the pain was gone by day 8/9. I was already out playing tennis then. I did hit the top of my head with my racket (sometimes when I see a ball going out, I hold my racket over my head, but I should not have done that cause it HURT). There are little bumps on the sides where the staples were. I believe these are the endotines which are anchors that hold the scalp in place. One side is just skin bumps. The other side has a couple scabs. I hope hair eventually grows over this part. So far I don’t have any ingrown hairs. And I’m going to start using a facial scrub on my scar today. Haven’t been looking forward to this part because when I press on my scar I can still feel the nerves shooting back, especially on the part that’s still a bit swollen. All in all, things have really gone back to normal. I usually don’t notice it. I either wear a hat or wear my bangs down and no one has noticed. The only thing I haven’t been able to do is yoga. Going upside down feels really weird on my scalp, so I’ve mainly just been running and playing tennis for exercise.
100% Worth It! So Happy with my New Hairline!
I contemplated not doing a review because it's time consuming, but as I'm in the healing process, I'm pretty bored haha and also I've found it really helpful to see other peoples reviews, so hopefully I can help someone the way these reviews have helped me.
First off, Dr. Gal is so incredible. He's so funny, kind, compassionate, and above all knows what he's doing. I found him at the beginning of April, and was so bummed out because we were in quarantine and knew the offices were closed. But I messaged Faye anyway and she was so so amazing. I said I wanted to wait and do my consultation til he was opened back up, so I could get in and do it right away before he forgot about me! 2 months later I was delighted to hear that he was doing surgeries again, so I booked a virtual consultation for two days later, went in for an in-person consultation the day after (where he threw in a non-surgical nose job cause I wanted the tip lifted for just the price of the syringe since I was getting this surgery too), and had my surgery the next week. It all happened so fast, but Dr. Gal really put me at ease and he was so confident in his skills. I knew that I thought about it and would hold my fingers up at the top of my forehead and look i the mirror pretty much everyday, so I just bit the bullet and did it cause I knew I would want to eventually anyway.
Surgery was super easy. Went in, super nice facility, nurses were so nice. Dr. Gal drew my hairline on and I actually had him make it a bit bigger because I still wanted to keep the integrity of my larger forehead, I just hated my forehead from the side cause it looked like i was half bald haha. After he redrew it once, we both agreed that it was perfect. I was staring at myself in the handheld mirror, so damn excited. They walked me to the surgery room they put "massagers" on my legs and while I was chatting about how I was so excited to have a massage on my legs, suddenly I woke up and the surgery was done! It was amazing because in the past, I had issues with general anesthesia where I would feel paralyzed as I was going under and could hear people talking but couldn't move. But Dr. Gal uses a local anesthesia sedative, so there's no paralysis ever cause you're not going under fully and I didn't remember a thing!
Then the nurse wheeled me out to my friend who picked me up from the surgery center.
The first night was honestly pretty rough. I think it's different for everybody. But I was in quite a bit of pain. My head was so uncomfortable and the bandages were so tight and the chin strap was pushing against my throat making my throat sore. The nurse told me that I could probably get away with taking 1 pain pill instead of 2. So that might be why it was a bit more painful. So I recommend taking the full dosage at least for the first night. Cause at a certain point I could even feel the stinging from the incision area too, where usually people talk about the pressure and the tightness mostly. Icing helped a lot. As long as I had ice on the back of my neck and over my eyes I could almost fall asleep. But then I kept going back to the freezer to switch out my ice pack, so I really didn't sleep much. Maybe 2-3 hours total the first night.
The next day I went in and he removed the bandages, and the pressure was immediately so much better. I looked in the mirror and was so so happy with the results. I obviously looked like Frankenstein because I had a million stitches across my head, but I'd seen so many of his before and after photos and was aware of the healing process. I was just so excited for it to heal cause we really nailed the placement.
I went back home and once side of my head was bleeding occasionally, right at the beginning of the staples. But I just put a lot of neosporin onto it which seemed to stop it for the most part. I put some nonstick gauze on the part that was bleeding when I slept so it wouldn't get on my pillow. I emailed Faye the next morning cause I was worried about the bleeding. There was so much that clotted in the spot under the gauze. Dr. Gal facetimed me within the hour and he stayed with me on facetime while I pulled the clot out. I was nervous to do it but once I did it, it wasn't painful at all and the bleeding had stopped. He said I could start wearing hats, which surprised me. So anytime I walked around the first week, I just wore a loose fitting baseball cap. It got easier to sleep, but still some pressure especially on the back and sides of my head. Couldn't feel the top at all. He also said I could start taking advil/ibuprofen. I only took the pain pills again that night so I could fall asleep. But by the next day i went off them completely and was just taking advil. I encourage everyone to do this because it does constipate you.
6 days in, I went back to Dr. Gal's office and he took out the stitches and staples. Everyone said the staples hurt, but honestly for me, the stitches kind of stung at certain points and I didn't feel the staples at all. He was like, 'all done' and I didn't even realize he took out any staples yet haha. Thank god for numbness. I looked in the mirror and was so amazed. I couldn't even see the actual scar. Maybe it'll come out more in the following weeks, but in that moment I was so stunned. There was redness, but I couldn't see the actual line. The sides were a bit more swollen. That initial place that bled was bleeding again. He did say my blood seemed thin and that makes sense cause I was kind of going crazy with the advil, I thought it would help with the swelling. But he said I should stop taking advil if the pain isn't too bad because my blood was thin. So I went home and didn't take anymore advil. The pain is tolerable. Some people say it's completely gone after the first week, but not for me. It is still sore and a little uncomfortable to sleep. The main part that's annoying is the corners above my temples where the staples started. It's very tender to touch and seems like it's taking the longest to heal. But at least that part is buried under hair. The actual hairline looks great. There's still a bit of puckering/swelling on one side but he said it should go away within the week. It is virtually unnoticeable though. I parted my hair in the middle and had a zoom call and no one suspected a thing. I've only told one person - my friend who picked me up - so I'm curious to see who does notice. I cut myself some bangs the week before surgery because I wanted to have bangs for the healing process. Honestly everyone loved the bangs (probably cause they're YEAH COVER THAT HUGE FOREHEAD haha), but I think that if I have them for the healing process, once I'm healed and I grow them out, I don't think anyone will notice! Cause I look pretty much the same from the front (obviously a little different), but from the profile, it looks way less receded.
I'm on day 7 now, just woke up. The corners are a bit less tender but I'm still gonna be gentle when washing those areas. I'm excited to wash my hair and not have to apply ointment cause my hair has been so damn greasy for the last week cause of it. I'll keep updating as I move forward in healing!
ONE MORE THING I want to normalize. The first week, I would touch my forehead and as I got closer to the stitches, I would feel this liquid type thing shoot back into my head. I was looking this up everywhere and found nothing about it. But once I talked to Dr. Gal, he explained that nerves start from your eyebrows almost and go back so it's just the nerves freaking out because they were cut during the procedure. And he said it would go away. So for anyone wondering the same thing, there ya go!
Also, apologies for any spelling errors or awkwardness in this post. I'm not re-reading since it's so long and I went back and added a bunch of things here and there, so it might be jumbled but I hope it helps!
First off, Dr. Gal is so incredible. He's so funny, kind, compassionate, and above all knows what he's doing. I found him at the beginning of April, and was so bummed out because we were in quarantine and knew the offices were closed. But I messaged Faye anyway and she was so so amazing. I said I wanted to wait and do my consultation til he was opened back up, so I could get in and do it right away before he forgot about me! 2 months later I was delighted to hear that he was doing surgeries again, so I booked a virtual consultation for two days later, went in for an in-person consultation the day after (where he threw in a non-surgical nose job cause I wanted the tip lifted for just the price of the syringe since I was getting this surgery too), and had my surgery the next week. It all happened so fast, but Dr. Gal really put me at ease and he was so confident in his skills. I knew that I thought about it and would hold my fingers up at the top of my forehead and look i the mirror pretty much everyday, so I just bit the bullet and did it cause I knew I would want to eventually anyway.
Surgery was super easy. Went in, super nice facility, nurses were so nice. Dr. Gal drew my hairline on and I actually had him make it a bit bigger because I still wanted to keep the integrity of my larger forehead, I just hated my forehead from the side cause it looked like i was half bald haha. After he redrew it once, we both agreed that it was perfect. I was staring at myself in the handheld mirror, so damn excited. They walked me to the surgery room they put "massagers" on my legs and while I was chatting about how I was so excited to have a massage on my legs, suddenly I woke up and the surgery was done! It was amazing because in the past, I had issues with general anesthesia where I would feel paralyzed as I was going under and could hear people talking but couldn't move. But Dr. Gal uses a local anesthesia sedative, so there's no paralysis ever cause you're not going under fully and I didn't remember a thing!
Then the nurse wheeled me out to my friend who picked me up from the surgery center.
The first night was honestly pretty rough. I think it's different for everybody. But I was in quite a bit of pain. My head was so uncomfortable and the bandages were so tight and the chin strap was pushing against my throat making my throat sore. The nurse told me that I could probably get away with taking 1 pain pill instead of 2. So that might be why it was a bit more painful. So I recommend taking the full dosage at least for the first night. Cause at a certain point I could even feel the stinging from the incision area too, where usually people talk about the pressure and the tightness mostly. Icing helped a lot. As long as I had ice on the back of my neck and over my eyes I could almost fall asleep. But then I kept going back to the freezer to switch out my ice pack, so I really didn't sleep much. Maybe 2-3 hours total the first night.
The next day I went in and he removed the bandages, and the pressure was immediately so much better. I looked in the mirror and was so so happy with the results. I obviously looked like Frankenstein because I had a million stitches across my head, but I'd seen so many of his before and after photos and was aware of the healing process. I was just so excited for it to heal cause we really nailed the placement.
I went back home and once side of my head was bleeding occasionally, right at the beginning of the staples. But I just put a lot of neosporin onto it which seemed to stop it for the most part. I put some nonstick gauze on the part that was bleeding when I slept so it wouldn't get on my pillow. I emailed Faye the next morning cause I was worried about the bleeding. There was so much that clotted in the spot under the gauze. Dr. Gal facetimed me within the hour and he stayed with me on facetime while I pulled the clot out. I was nervous to do it but once I did it, it wasn't painful at all and the bleeding had stopped. He said I could start wearing hats, which surprised me. So anytime I walked around the first week, I just wore a loose fitting baseball cap. It got easier to sleep, but still some pressure especially on the back and sides of my head. Couldn't feel the top at all. He also said I could start taking advil/ibuprofen. I only took the pain pills again that night so I could fall asleep. But by the next day i went off them completely and was just taking advil. I encourage everyone to do this because it does constipate you.
6 days in, I went back to Dr. Gal's office and he took out the stitches and staples. Everyone said the staples hurt, but honestly for me, the stitches kind of stung at certain points and I didn't feel the staples at all. He was like, 'all done' and I didn't even realize he took out any staples yet haha. Thank god for numbness. I looked in the mirror and was so amazed. I couldn't even see the actual scar. Maybe it'll come out more in the following weeks, but in that moment I was so stunned. There was redness, but I couldn't see the actual line. The sides were a bit more swollen. That initial place that bled was bleeding again. He did say my blood seemed thin and that makes sense cause I was kind of going crazy with the advil, I thought it would help with the swelling. But he said I should stop taking advil if the pain isn't too bad because my blood was thin. So I went home and didn't take anymore advil. The pain is tolerable. Some people say it's completely gone after the first week, but not for me. It is still sore and a little uncomfortable to sleep. The main part that's annoying is the corners above my temples where the staples started. It's very tender to touch and seems like it's taking the longest to heal. But at least that part is buried under hair. The actual hairline looks great. There's still a bit of puckering/swelling on one side but he said it should go away within the week. It is virtually unnoticeable though. I parted my hair in the middle and had a zoom call and no one suspected a thing. I've only told one person - my friend who picked me up - so I'm curious to see who does notice. I cut myself some bangs the week before surgery because I wanted to have bangs for the healing process. Honestly everyone loved the bangs (probably cause they're YEAH COVER THAT HUGE FOREHEAD haha), but I think that if I have them for the healing process, once I'm healed and I grow them out, I don't think anyone will notice! Cause I look pretty much the same from the front (obviously a little different), but from the profile, it looks way less receded.
I'm on day 7 now, just woke up. The corners are a bit less tender but I'm still gonna be gentle when washing those areas. I'm excited to wash my hair and not have to apply ointment cause my hair has been so damn greasy for the last week cause of it. I'll keep updating as I move forward in healing!
ONE MORE THING I want to normalize. The first week, I would touch my forehead and as I got closer to the stitches, I would feel this liquid type thing shoot back into my head. I was looking this up everywhere and found nothing about it. But once I talked to Dr. Gal, he explained that nerves start from your eyebrows almost and go back so it's just the nerves freaking out because they were cut during the procedure. And he said it would go away. So for anyone wondering the same thing, there ya go!
Also, apologies for any spelling errors or awkwardness in this post. I'm not re-reading since it's so long and I went back and added a bunch of things here and there, so it might be jumbled but I hope it helps!
Provider Review
Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon
436 N Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, California