RECOVERY: DAY SIX AND SEVEN

Days six and seven have been pretty much the same, a lot of itching but unable to scratch.

I began adding vitamin E oil to my scalp at night ( as recommended by the doctor ) and the scabs are beginning to falloff naturally after the oil is washed off in the morning.

I am still very careful not to rub my scalp at all, nor wash my head directly under the shower; Instead , I have been drizzling the oil on my head and in the morning just rinsing it by pouring baby shampoo and water over my head with a soup bowl.

Day seven hair transplant picture shows decreased redness and swelling.

RECOVERY: DAY FIVE

I finish my antibiotics today and stopped taking any pain medication, the swelling moved down to my eyes and temples, and the scalp looks less irritated.

pictures of the hair transplant from day one to day five shows a lot of improvement in a short while.

I am still weary and don't feel comfortable touching the implanted area.

Please see all previous posts to see the difference in improvement from day one of the hair transplant to day five.

RECOVERY: DAY FOUR

Today I woke up and saw the swelling had moved from my forehead to my upper nose and eyebrows.... Goodbye unicorn hello Neanderthal . My Wife made a comment about it looking like a Botox and a filler combination.

The drainage which in now at my sinuses, is making me tired but I feel great overall.

Most of the swelling on my scalp has gone down and I noticed some small hairs attached to the scabs. I was told that this hair shafts are likely to fall off, but will leave the root or bulb behind which will eventually grow new hair.

RECOVERY : DAY THREE

Today I had to do some errands ,so I put my baseball cap tilted forwards as to not disturb the seedlings, and went about my business.

I am not someone who wears hats , so people felt compelled to ask about the hat.

Like many other humans who would rather be though of as terminally ill instead of ugly, I decided to lie and tell people I had some "skin cancer thing removed", which worked great because people stopped pursuing the subject right away and almost looked embarrassed for having asked.

Once home, I went about the business of watering the garden on top of my head , pill popping , and laying on my back .

I also had to wash as in the previous day and just dripped dry.

The swelling moved from the top of my forehead to Right above my eyebrows, concentrating on the middle of your forehead...

This does two things : 1- gives you a wrinkle less forehead

2- the profile of a unicorn.

Since I never found single horn horses appealing, I kept icing the area every few hours for 5 minute intervals, making sure i did not touch the grafts with the cold compress.

the transplant area looks less irritated but still abnormal and freaky

RECOVERY: DAY TWO

Today the swelling moved from the top of my head to the top of my forehead.

I cleaned using baby shampoo mixed with water, I gently poured the combination on my scalp and rinsed. You should not go under the shower because that could damage the new hair. instead I used a cup and gently poured over my head.

more of the dried blood was rinsed off and my pre-existing hair began to un-clump.

I rested most of the day.

RECOVERY: DAY ONE

As mentioned I felt good enough to drive home, I was sent with instructions for care, a squirt bottle filled with a saline solution, and two prescriptions one for the pain and an antibiotic.

I was able to drop off the prescription off at my local Walgreens and my wife picked it up an hour later.

Once the prescription arrived, I took both pills and went to rest for most of the day.

1-The instructions of care were basic, squirt the saline solution on the new grafts once an hour(the bottle is set to mist).When misting a lot of the excess blood runs down.

2- DON'T TOUCH OR PICK AT THE SCABS....you might pull out the entire $3,500 dollars worth out of your dome.

3- Sleep on your back with extra pillows to prevent too much swelling.

4- Don't do any strenuous activity (exercise, heavy work, sex, etc)

5-cleaning instructions.

After sleeping and watering my new hair like a garden, I took a picture.

My scalp looks irritated but I felt no pain . there was some swelling to the transplanted area.

The area where the donor hair was taken from , was only uncomfortable when laying on my back, but besides that, it felt fine.

STAGE FIVE: THE PROCEDURE

After some small talk and introductions to the 3 assistants , The Doctor marked my forehead with what looked like a sharpie , this will be guideline where the edge of my new hairline will be.
Meanwhile ,the assistants proceeded to to shave a strip on the back of my hair.

Soon after, the Doctor injected some local anesthesia to the back of my head ,and within minutes began to cut off the strip of scalp that contained my future hairline.

The assistants took the strip to split and separate into individual shafts.

Individual hairs would line the edge of my hairline and groups of two ,three and four would follow to imitate natural growth.

The total procedure takes about 3 1/2 hours but lucky for me I slept through most of it.

I woke up as they were putting the last grafts towards the back of my hair loss.

I asked to make sure I could wear a hat and the Doctor reassured me and said as long as it doesn't touch the transplants a hat would be fine. That basically limits you to baseball caps and maybe a cowboy hat.

I felt fine and actually drove myself home.

the following posts will detail the day to day changes of recovery alongside pictures of the recovery.

STAGE FOUR: BEFORE THE TRANSPLANT

The transplants are performed right at the doctors office and since they only use local anesthesia and a Xanax , so you can eat even hours before your appointment.

My appointment was at 9:30 , so I woke up at 7:30 had breakfast, stopped by my local Walmart (to pick-up a baseball cap so I could hide the evidence), and headed for the doctors office.

Once at the office , I filled out some last minute waivers , they made sure the my payment cleared, and they offered me some water to swallow the Xanax.

I also managed to take a picture of my hair before heading out of the house. I posted the picture so you can follow the day to day and eventually month to month process.

After seeing the picture , I was sure there would be no backing down.

STAGE THREE: THE CONSULTATION

The day of the consultation , I told myself that if it was too expensive ,I would just leave my hair alone for a year or two and then shave it.

I had heard horror stories on pricing as well as doll hair results.


The doctor was pleasant and mentioned that I would only need one session because my loss was only on the front. He also mentioned that the average session would transplant 1000 to 1500 hairs ,depending on the density of the donor hair which they take from the back of your head.

The cost was expensive but not outrageous : $3,500.00 would do the trick.

To my wife's surprise I scheduled the appointment ,without discussing it with her, for the very next week.

STAGE TWO; THE DECISION

After the denial was over , I gave myself two choices :

1) Shave and hope my head had an adequate shape.


2) get a transplant.

It seemed easy enough but when I tried to do some research, no website showed any definite answer or most importantly ...cost.

My wife who I am sure would prefer to see some hair on my head made my decision easier by scheduling a consultation with a local doctor.

STAGE ONE : LOOSING HAIR

After several years of denial that my hair line was pretty much the same as it always was,
I began to admit my hairline was receding at a rapid pace.

Not only was it receding but it was begining to thin out at a rapid rate.

I descided to document my hairtransplant because there is no real information outthere.

I am hopeful my ordeal will be of assistance to someone else outthere.