Steeeve

Just incredible work. As always. Especially with a fine hair diameter!! Congrats to both the doctor and the patient!

Pretty incredible transformation.👍🏻

Week 1 down. 51 more to go! Other than some crusts coming off while running a cup over my head and letting the shower start to trickle over my head not much has changed in the las couple of days. While I do have to stay on top of some Tylenol to stave off any annoyance from sutures I’m felling pretty good! As you’ll see some bigger crusts are hanging on but...what can you do? It’s only been a week.🙂 I have my first visit with Dr Arocha today. I’ll come back this evening and talk about whatever we talk about. Enjoy and Be Good People. ✌🏻 Cheers.

Hey, thanks a lot, @harin! They say patience is a virtue. We’ll see how mine holds up! 😂 Cheers!

So I thought I’d share with my fellow forum members what I looked like pre finasteride/minoxidil. Sort of detail my decent into hair madness, if you will. LolSo the above pic is from 2010. I know it’s a bit hard to tell because of how short I kept it but you can clearly see how much stronger my sides are than the top of my head. I was also keeping it this short to hide the dreaded split front forelock.This was August of 2012 so I was about 4 months into my fin/minox regiment. You can see some hairs sprouting up top but those two horns are much more prevalent than the rest of my head although one seems more prevalent than the other. Around this time I started playing with hair fibers which after much practice and a lot of tips from hair and make-up people in the business I became extremely adept at using. This is quite a few years later and I really didn’t step out like this until I had it down pat but I learned after sometime how to really snap it up with a combination of dermmatch and toppik. It Took a little while even with the tips I received, however, I became very good at hiding what was going on whether my hair was long or short.My biggest issue in using these products was that because my crown was so devoid of hair that the result always ended up looking too powdery.especially when I grew my hair outFrom the front everything seemed normal but if anyone were looking at me from the side or if I looked down, as you can see above, the jig was up. There was a definite line of demarcation there. I never went out like that...😂 So typically I would use it only to help fluff up the front. Especially for auditions. I found that dermatch and toppik were really best used when my hair was short. These pics were at my wedding which were taken outside. These pics are untouched by the photographer. They are just the base photos.I’m including this next photo to show you where I’m potentially headed. My father is on the left. While he is pushing 70 he also starting losing his hair around 35 where I started around 18 or 19.My wife often asks why I want to do this. While she supports my decision to start this journey she always makes herself quite clear that she loves me the way that I am. She also says that I make it work with all that I do. She says it’s no different than a woman who goes out before putting on her make up. To some degree I get that but it’s whole hell of a lot of work. Ultimately when I think about it I think about this:And I don’t like what I see when I wash everything out. I see a better self. That’s why I chose to do something about it.

Day 5 A little irritation around the sutures but nothing a couple of Tylenol can’t squelch. Cleaning twice a day and applying bacitracin to parts of the scalp and the scar. Post op oozing seems to have stopped and crusted over. There’s a bit of yellowing on my forehead a right under my eyes which doesn’t hurt at all, however, I’m assuming it may be some light light bruising. I’m not sure if the camera is picking this up... Anyone else have any experience with this? It’s really not concerning as it doesn’t hurt whatsoever. I was just wondering. Overall feeling pretty good. Pics again are immediately after a cleaning. Cheers!🙂

@Gabreille Nelson Mukhia Thank you again for the compliments and I have to say that I am pretty jealous of that mane of yours. 🙌🏻 I personally think that a little thinning throughout the scalp comes across as very natural. That being said I totally understand when someone isn’t completely happy with their own appearance. I, like everybody else here, have elected to have a surgery (or want to) that will add nothing to my life but a sense of well being. I slept through the PRP injections so I can’t really speak to what it was like but Dr Arocha did say that they scattered it throughout my entire scalp, which only makes sense. Well done on that beautiful mop of hair on that head, though. Your doctors did right by you. I would say if you can stand the pain of the injections then go for it. I said a little higher up in the thread that I’ve seen a lot of doctors call it quackery but there are A LOT of reputable doctors who use it and I believe to great effect. All the best.

That’s the hope🤞🏻🤞🏻 I’ve been on fin and minox since since April of 2012. It really helped the hair in my frontal region grow but my crown was still left barren. I was actually pretty bald back then. Most of the hairs on my head were vellus and whispy but I had a split frontal forelock. So it looked like I had two little horns front and center with very little behind it. I have no pictures of it because it was so embarrassing to look at I always shaved it.😊

Day 4. Im going to be honest. It’s a lot of hard work taking care of a hair transplant and twin babies at the same time. Lol Seriously. I don’t regret anything but holy crap...talk about adding fuel to the fire. 😂 I’ve been texting with Blake from the clinic all morning for some help and tips and he’s been more than helpful. I’ve got to apply the bacitracin for my incision also to the oozing spots on my scalp just as a precaution to avoid an infection. I’m not really worried about this tbh. This is just for precaution. So the pics are fresh from a cleaning. I’d also like to add that I’m wearing the tape on my head to help protect my head from the swelling but I feel like I’m past that so while I have one more piece of tape I think today will be the last day to wear it. If I can think of anything else I’ll add to it.

Thanks hairlossPA! You know, the unshaven procedure just seems to be Dr. Arocha’s thing. I didn’t even think to ask for him to shave because it seems that’s what he always does. I went into it knowing it was his thing so I just went along with it. I’m all about what ever makes it easier for the doctor to do their work. Our heads are their palette so if my head needed to be shaved I would’ve shaved it. I said in my initial post but I’ve been on fin since 2012 so I’m hoping to avoid a lot of shock loss but even if I do suffer from it my job allows me to wear a cap or beanie so it’s not really that big of a deal.

Well, I most certainly couldn’t have done it without a local anesthetic!! Lol Thank you for the compliment but I’m not that brave. It was pretty nerve wracking. Just the idea that there was no going back was pretty scary but I’ve been researching this for years and years so I knew that this was the route I wanted to go down. And thank you for the compliments and well wishes. I’m a big fan of Dr. Arika and Dr. Pradeep’s work. They post some killer results on here. So unless I’m mistaken you’ve already had a procedure done with them? All the best!

Hey LaserCap! I did not get a laser but only because the transplant and PRP were in my budget. I did want a laser, though, and Dr. Arocha said he would work out some kind of deal with me. We talked a bit about it. I was really hoping to walk out with one but it just wasn’t in the cards for me that day. We’ll see. Maybe one of these days during a check up I’ll be able to walk out with one. Thanks for the reply!

I don’t mind you asking at all. The donor doesn’t really hurt much. Every once in a while I get a slight ping or pang but I wouldn’t say it hurts. Arocha’s office has reached out everyday to check on me which is awesome. Dr. Arocha himself called me while I was driving back to Austin but I wasn't able to answer as I was napping while the wife drove. I knew from other users that this was a thing some people deal with and the office said that it’s pretty prevalent during that first week. I’ve heard a few people say that they deal with it quite a deal longer, however, by no means would I say that it hurts. If anything, and this is not a knock, my scalp is feeling really tight with these sutures. Not to the point of hurting or anything but I don’t think I’m alone in wanting them to be out already.

It’s really hard to get a good pic of the incision. I had me wife help me comb through and we did the best we could but here it is on day 3. When I go to get my stitches removed I’ll see if Dr. Arocha will take a picture or two with my iPhone.

Day 3 I found it difficult to get some good pics of graft placement on Day 3, Thursday. The hair that Dr Arocha worked around falls in whatever direction in feels like and I’m way too nervous to even try to move it myself. The post op ooze has turned into a crust by now so I supposed when the time comes to start massaging my hair to really get those crusts off I’ll have to work at that. I had some slight twings of pain where the incision was made. I’ve heard other users talk about it before so I’m not worried about it but I’m definitely dealing with it. ...The post op itch is real today...

Here’s swelling on day 3, Thursday. It had really come down the side of my head but mostly I could feel it behind my head this day, especially around and behind my ears.

I wanted to give you an idea of what swelling looked like on day 2, which was Wednesday night. As you can see it really didn’t fall forward onto my face. I really wouldn’t have minded if it had but, again considering my little ones, I’m glad it didn’t.

Thanks Upshall! I appreciate your support! One thing I’ll say is I’ve been with this community since 2012 but I didn’t officially join until 2014 and if there’s one thing that drives me nuts it’s the people that start to post their continuing results and just disappear. This is only the beginning of my restoration journey. I feel good about my choice of doctor and I feel good about where my results are headed but only time will tell. I’m sort of a hair porn addict, if you will 😂 so if there’s one thing you can count on, good or bad, I’ll be here until the end of my journey.

On the first night I propped some pillows up on the arm of my couch and got myself at a 45° angle. Even though I slept with my neck pillow I still woke up the next morning with a little irritation where my incision was made. I took some of the pain medication that Dr. Arocha gave to me to alleviate it. Swelling had started to kick in but had fallen back behind my ears and down my cheeks due to the angle I had been sleeping in. The techs at Dr. Arocha’s office gave me plenty of tape to replace on my forehead after each cleaning. I keep it on there so that the swelling doesn’t fall below my eyes. I much prefer that as my wife is working during the days and I’m still taking care of the little ones. These pics were taken on day 2 with my iPhone and you can see that there is much more post op ooze.

I have a ring light that I got from work so I’m using it to help better light my photos. Right now I’m using my iPhone 8 Plus for all photos but I’ll be switching to a Canon 70D soon. These are still right after my initial drive home from Houston. As you can see there’s already a little bit of post-op oozing.

I took these immediately when I got home after the drive from Houston to Austin.

The incision

Immediately post op

Hello all, I finally bit the bullet. To give everyone a rundown I’m 39 years old this year. I live out of Austin, TX but I’m from closer to the Houston area. I started thinning when I was 18 and I tried everything to slow down the process, admittedly without a lot of knowledge back then. This was 1998 and I didn’t know much about propecia or minoxidil. I tried shampoos and all kinds of gimmicks. I did try propecia and minoxidil liquid but because I didn’t know enough about it and didn’t see immediate results I just stopped and got on with my life. It all started in my crown and then over the course of a decade marched its way forward toward my hairline. While my crown was very noticeably thin my hairline and frontal third stayed noticeably strong until my mid to semi late 20’s. At 24 I went and had my first consultation at a Bosley clinic in Houston and the whole experience made me feel uneasy. The doctor wasn’t really concerned with my crown which is where all the thinning was happening and wanted to lower my hairline which was still a teenage hairline. It was less than four fingers down on my forehead and still really thick. Ah, how I miss that wall of hair... lol. I politely passed but they called me every single day for two years straight trying to get me to come in for the transplant. They wanted to charge me 20K to lower my hairline and sprinkle some grafts in the crown. Knowing what I know now I think back about how they didn’t even bother to mention propecia to help slow loss. Bullet. Dodged. I got married in 2010 which ended really badly very soon after and my hair really started to go after that. Around 2012 I went to Dr Brad Limmer and got on Propecia/biotin/minoxidil foam to slow things down. Sadly he passed away the next year almost to the day of my consultation with him. I’m an actor and I was staying in Houston with a friend in 2014 while filming a movie in Louisiana when someone mentioned Dr. Arocha. I scheduled a consultation and we immediately got on very well. I loved his attitude, how much knowledge he wanted to share, that he was very honest about what we could achieve. I was traveling a lot though and it just wasn’t the right time to pull the trigger. While I traveled around the states for jobs I would schedule consultations with other doctors. I spoke with Feller and Bloxham, Gabel, Hasson and Wong, and others-some through email, FaceTime, in person. Ultimately it came down to me feeling the most comfortable with Arocha although Gabel was pretty close. I’m a diffused thinner and if my father and maternal grandfather are any indication I’m going to end up a 6 on the Norwood’s scale. I was going to go ahead with the procedure last year but my wife (I got married again in 2017) and I found out we were pregnant with twins so I decided to wait until things settled down with them. Side note: I did not stop taking finasteride when we found out we were pregnant and our babies our beautiful and healthy and at the time of this post almost 6 months old. The Big Day! I got to Arocha’s office a little after 7:30 am (traffic in Houston sucks) I signed the paperwork. We took some preop pics. Dr Arocha designed the hairline basically within my existing one. The plan was to work through the existing hairline, fill in the temple corner recession, and bulk up the frontal forelock. We discussed what we would do next year, reassess the front or go ahead and work on the crown. Everybody was really nice. I was visibly nervous and my blood pressure was a little high due to my being a little antsy. The Valium quickly helped out with that. When they were injecting the numbing solution into the back of my scalp I noticed I started shaking and feeling queasy so I spoke up immediately. They turned me over and raised my legs and put ice on my chest. I almost immediately felt better. Dr Arocha was there and cracked a joke about how I was his first patient of the day but probably his 7000th patient altogether so there was really nothing to worry about. TBH I wasn’t nervous about his ability to help me as much as I was just nervous about this giant step I was taking. After this procedure there was no going back. I turned back over when I was ready and they took the strip out. They kept complementing me on how good my donor was however I never got a number from them. I asked but they were just like, “don’t worry, it’s really really good.” I believe I heard say as they were looking at it that it looked like 80 to 90. Dr Arocha started to make the incisions and we talked for awhile before I dozed off and the next thing I know is I’m waking up to salmon kabobs, a killer salad, and potato and black bean soup. I eat up and then I go back to the chair where the techs start to insert the grafts. We chat for quite awhile. Dr Arocha was there for quite a bit of it as he would interject in our conversations. Every once in a while he would remind them about this or that concerning my grafts. I dozed off again and when I woke up we were basically done. They informed me that while I was out they put PRP all over my head. They went over cleaning instructions and we took some post op pics. My wife came in to pick me up and everyone came out to meet our twins. After that we were off and back to Austin. The ride back was pretty rough. There was a lot of pressure in my head and I got a pretty bad headache. Even with the pain pills. It didn’t even last the entire three hour drive though. I’m attaching some pics. Some preop through day two. I don’t have any pics with the design yet. I’m going to speak to Arocha’s office and see if I can get my hands on the hairline design.

That Is Incredible! So natural.