Dr Ekrem Civas, 3200 Grafts FUE

Almost at 5 months and improvement is visible and gaining momentum by the day. I have left the brutal ugly duckling phase behind and my hair is growing. Around the end of month 3 the redness started to subside, and into month 4 the hair I lost from shock loss started to return. This, together with the bit of transplanted hair that never shed, started to grow and give me a bit of coverage. Scalp was still a bit red but a lot better than before. Now into my 5th month, my hair is growing a bit thicker and I look a lot better. The hair seems to come out of nowhere - I don't seem to get any vellus hair first, it just grows normally. I am sure that there is still a lot of growth left, but even at this stage I am very happy and it's a massive boost to my confidence. I no longer look borderline bald, just a bit thin, and keeping the hair short and brushed forward helps a lot. Several times I have caught my reflection in the mirror or a shop window and thought - wow- is that me? I have hair ! Friends and family seem not to have noticed, or if they did, they haven't let on. My dad eyes my head from time to time, as if trying to work something out. I can almost hear him thinking 'i'm SURE he never had this much hair'? One or two friends mention that I look younger somehow, bit, but nobody has come out and said anything about my hiar. Dr Civas has been great throughout, I sent him an update via Whatsapp just a few days ago and he called me straight back for a chat and to give me some advice. Onwards and upwards !

Man, they ain't kidding when they call this the 'ugly duckling' stage. Massive shedding of transplanted hair, shock loss in both recipient and donor areas, and a terribly red scalp that just won't die down. I won't lie to you, some people notice that something is up and their eyes drift up towards your hairline when they talk to you as if to say 'hey, what the hell you got going on up there?'. I'm lucky in that I am a contractor so none of the people I work with right now know what I looked like before the procedure, but if you were returning to work with people who know you very well then I think quite a few will notice. I wear a cap outside work but not in the office as it is fairly formal. Nobody has said anything outright though, and if they do I will just say I shaved my head and got some kind of allergy from using a new foam. I was advised to use Nizoral for the redness and mild itching but after two washes a few days apart it seems to have gotten worse. I can't be sure it's the Nizoral or if it may be something else but I'm going to lay off it for a while. I'm just trying to be patient, I remind myself that these are first-world problems and that this is going to be utterly forgettable within a few months. Despite all this, the support from the clinic continues to be very good and they are on hand for any questions and concerns I may have. It is what it is, I just have to suck it up and hope that I start to look a bit better soon.

So far so good.
I slept slightly upright for the first 5 nights, propped up on 2 pillows. Not too bad and I slept quite well considering. I sprayed the mess on my head with the saline solution the doctor gave me twice an hour and it helped a lot. Scabs started to come out with a vengeance around day 7 and were all gone by day 9 or 10. On day 8 I covered my head in olive oil and let it sit for two hours, then shampooed and most of the scabs came right off. A bit of pain in the donor area up until day 10, mild aching and occasional stabbing pains, but nothing too strong. I took a painkiller for a couple of nights and was able to sleep OK. From day 10 the pain in donor area has been replaced by an incessant itching, again quite mild but slightly annoying. I find that rinsing the donor area gently with cool water helps a lot. Warm water/ shampoo tends to irritate it more. Recipient area is stiff and still numb, but some sensation seems to be returning. I think the grafts have started shedding a bit but I’m not 100% sure.
It still hasn’t sunk in that I got this done after so many years of thinking about it. I look in the mirror and see my hair and think ‘woah’! I hope results will be good once it grows out in a few months.
Back to work tomorrow. I don’t feel all that ready, but hey-ho.