I am a little under 11 months post op. I Did not loose many grafts in my transplanted area. I saw from reading posts that this was rare and I did not fall into the catagory of most of the guys, because there ht grafts did fall out.

I have been staying away from the mirror and I have been allowing nature to take its course.

I have been a bit of a junky in one area and every month I have been shaving my head down to a #1 buzzer or shorter (stubble look) My mind is saying the minox will penatrate better on short hair and my donor scar will heal better with a little more air and aloa vera being supplied to a shaved head. I guess I just want the scar to get healed as soon as possible and to be as thin as possible.

But tonight for the 1st time in 3weeks I took a look to see whats been happening in the mirror. I did go into my bathroom with the bright lights and diagnosed my head!!

I was in shock at what I noticed and thought WoW!! This seems very strange!!! My ht area 1/3rd frontal has not had any significant shedding of lost grafts.

I then looked at my crown area and it looked really thin compared to what I had before my ht. It was thicker and now its lookin pretty bad in that area. I never planned on an ht on my crown because it was not so bad. But know it looks really thin.

So whats up with that guys??? Ht area no shedding of any big amount and looks nice and crown took a turn for really worse. I am on proscar and I was on Proscar and minox only 2 months before my ht. This is strange would think??? loosing my crown fast!!! and not loosing newly transplanted grafts.

I am thinking shockloss at a rapid rate in the crown and middle of the head.

I am not going to shave my head anymore and just let the hair grow out to see what the difference is. I always thought my crown/middle head was pretty strong compared to the frontal 1/3rd.

I hope its just temp shockloss and just curious why the possible shockloss went to the crown/middle of head and not to the newly transplanted hair in front. Has any one ever heard of this type of situation. I would greatly appreciate any input.

The only thing I can think of is that the areas you think are thinner only look this way because you shaved down. If I understood your post correctly you were not doing this before your procedure. Many times, if one has not been shaving then once they do the overall look is thinner.

Let it grow out as you say you plan on doing then check your before pics.

Dennis..

You're 11 months or 11 weeks ??

Dennis had his procedure in Feb of 08, so he's 11 WEEKS post op.

Dennis, with you being on proscar and minox, it does seem odd for you to be experiencing "shock loss" at this stage, however, I hope it is temporary if you are indeed losing more hairs. It would be great to get pictures of your crown to determine if you're losing hairs or if it just looks thinner due to your hair cut. It's also a great idea to grow out your hairs too.

When I first read this post I thought it seemed odd, but now that I know you are only 11 weeks, it makes a lot more sense.

Shock loss is very common around this time period, in fact, the worst times for me were between week 5 and 12. This is why this time period is called the doldrums.

Give it time, these stages will pass and several months from now I'm sure you will look terrific.

Best wishes,

Falc

Another thing to consider is that removal of the strip pulls down on the flesh and makes the bald area a bit larger. Look at the guys who have had many procedures and you will see that this is true. The bald spot is enlongated and runs farther down the back.

Also, much of the surrounding rim hair supplements the hair on top and makes it look thicker.

I have had the same experience as you and originally thought it was just because the hair was shaved down, but now that its grown back, the bald spot is a fair bit larger. This may also be because the doc planted into native hair on the sides, in which case Im still waiting for it to grow back.

Good luck. If the yield is good, you could have a "home run" as you have a good bit of native hair.

Good analysis emperor, that sounds very logical,because I know for a fact my crown area has lost a good amount. I have before pics on my weblog and we will see the difference when I put up my next set of pics. I hope we get our back bro!!! How long have you been waiting?

TheEmperor,

I agree with your analysis but only to a very limited extent.

Removal of the strip (especially only one surgery) will hardly make the balding area appear larger, though multiple strip removals may make a slight cosmetic difference, but probably something only we notice being our own worst critics, not anyone else.

See My observations of how skin works for some more of my thoughts on this.

Falc