FUT Female Hair Transplant - Outstanding Doctor and Experience!

I finally did it! I am a 25 year old female who has traction alopecia. From the age of 7-16 I wore my hair in tight, high ponytails and I eventually noticed that it ruined my hairline and made my forehead way too large for my liking. I have very long hair and lots of it and I guess the pressure of supporting all of that eventually damaged the follicles. Unfortunately the damage was done and the hair never grew back. I’ve been bothered by my hairline for the last 8 years and it has truly hindered me in so many ways. I couldn’t part my hair anywhere but the middle, couldn’t wear my hair up anymore with it hurting, I hated swimming, sweating or getting my hair wet, and every single day I would waste an hour and a half washing, blow drying and fixing my hair and filling in the entire hairline with a dark eyeshadow just to conceal it.
I decided a couple of years ago to do something about it and had 3 consultations with other pretty well known New York Hair Restoration doctors before I found Dr. Boden in Connecticut. I’ve done years of research and reading through almost every post about others having this procedure so I am quite knowledgeable. Not that the other doctors are not good at what they do but my gut just told me to hold out and explore other options. Once I met with Dr. Boden last year I immediately knew that he was the doctor for me. He spent an HOUR with me throughly discussing my options and goals at my consultation and I really felt that he took an interest in me as a person. On top of being intelligent and extremely knowledgeable especially about female hairlines in my case, he has a very caring nature about him and he quickly earned my trust. I scheduled the procedure to be on 10/08/2018 about a year after meeting him and yesterday was the day!
I couldn’t really sleep the night before due to being nervous but once I walked in the office in the morning all my anxiety melted away and I wasn’t really as nervous anymore. First off, Dr. Boden and his entire staff are so friendly and nuturing, they were extremely attentive and wanted to make sure I was comfortable throughout the duration of the procedure. I honestly felt no pain whatsoever throughout the entire procedure believe it or not! They give you a massage while they numb you with local anesthesia and according to most people the local is the most painful part but I really felt nothing but a pin prick shockingly enough. I thought the massage to distract the nerves was such a good idea as I had never read of other doctors doing that. I was able to watch movies during the procedure and I actually fell asleep a couple of times! I was there from 8am-4pm and once I got home I didn’t even need any pain medication but I took one around 11 before I fell asleep just in case.
This experience went better than I could have ever imagined and I cannot thank Dr. Boden, Theresa, and the rest of his staff enough. The doctor even gives you his personal phone number which I find to be rare and a testament to how caring this doctor is. I am so excited to see how everything turns out and I will update as much as possible :) I wanted to share my experience because there is not enough information out there about females getting hair transplants so I hope that this helps someone!

Hello All! So I am currently at 10 days post op. I cannot believe how dare I say EASY my recovery went. It went better than I could have ever expected.
Day After Surgery:
I woke up the next day and slept great throughout the night. I had to keep my grafts moist and spray them ever hour but that wasn’t a problem as I gave myself a week off to heal. I spent the day cleaning the house and at times forgot I had just gone through surgery the day before. Theresa called me in the morning to check up on me and made sure everything was going okay and asked if I had any questions. Dr. Boden also called me himself later that day to see how I was doing, if I had any questions or concerns and instructed me how to do my first hair washing since I wasn’t coming to his office to get it done because I am a 2 hour drive away. Honestly the staff and doctor have awesome aftercare and follow up and I am super impressed because they really make you feel special and cared for.
For the first 5 nights I slept with a neck pillow and 2 pillows to keep my head propped up to prevent swelling. Swelling is supposed to come around day 2-3 after surgery but I had very little to NO swelling! I had no bruising, no bleeding of the grafts or donor scar- nothing!
As far as pain goes, I really didn’t have any, it was more just discomfort when my pain meds were wearing off. What I mean by discomfort is that the donor area would get a little stingy and tender when the meds started to wear off. The recipient area had no pain or discomfort. I kept on top of the pain meds and took them every 6 hours. After day 6 I no longer used any pain medication.
I was really worried about numbness and how it would feel or how it would affect me but my donor scar has no numbness. The sensation is completely normal when I touch it. The only place I have numbness is about a square inch in the center at my hair part line. Doesn’t bother me whatsoever as I’m sure that will go away since I’m only 10 days post op. The sides and temples where most of the hair was implanted also doesn’t really have any numbness! Pleasantly surprised!
No shock loss or anything yet in both the donor and recipient area, but I am prepared if it comes later on.
I don’t know if my body is really good at healing or Dr. Boden just has an excellent technique but I think it’s a combination of both :) I definitely followed both his pre-op and post-op instructions to a T.
I came back to the office today to get my stitches out and for a check up and it did not hurt at all. Dr. Boden said everything looks fantastic and we are both looking forward to great results!
So far I am over the moon happy. I can’t even begin to express how good it feels to have a normal hairline again. Even though it’s just tiny hairs I can see the vision and not having the feeling of my scalp being exposed feels liberating. Will update again once some more changes occur! :)

Here is my hair 2 months post op for those that are curious about how it’s growing in! Most of the hairs shed within the first month but bunch of them continued to grow and are about an inch long right now. Hair is usually supposed to start growing 3-4 months post op so I’m assuming I’m on the luckier side! You can see tiny baby hairs beginning to grow and fill in. The numbness in that one inch spot I mentioned at my part is about 95% gone and pretty much back to feeling normal when I touch it. So glad that I really had no numbness or loss of sensation after the surgery except that tiny area which is back to normal now.
I am excited to see more growth in the coming months. I am still so happy that I chose to finally do this procedure.