Earlier this year, I spoke to a college buddy of mine about his hair transplant.

17 days have passed since his hair restoration procedure in Los Angeles. As he remembers, he had an FUT procedure with bi-lateral trichophytic closure performed for about 650 grafts to reinforce his front hairline. He wanted to make sure to say first off that he’s extremely grateful for the time the doctor took to answer the questions he had in a well-informed and honest manner. Also, he said he’d had a wonderfully positive experience and was treated kindly by everyone at the office. It was a much different experience than the first time he had a hair transplant with someone else.

He showed me five photographs (recently taken) of his grafts about fourteen days after surgery. He got rid of the scabs on the grafts and donor area. He noticed the hair grafts are now growing, and a few have fell off the scalp. He had a few inquiries he asked his doctor:

· One snapshot reveals, at the pinnacle of the front hairline, a red circle and the particular area looks bald and bare. Do you remember planting any grafts in this part of my head. I expected this part to have hair growing on it because the front tip sticks out.

· The donor area feels sensitive and it’s still painful but also numb in other parts. I’m wondering if this is what usually happens after a fortnight.

· The back of my head (donor area) feels stretched and makes it hard for me to look at my shoes or look down when urinating. It’s a bit painful. I don’t think I had this issue after my first hair transplant. Or maybe the pain wasn’t as prolonged as it is now. Maybe it’s because the bi-lateral trichophytic closure is on another scarline? When do you think the pain in my donor site will go away?

His doctor replied by email. It’s posted below.

I’m excited to hear from you. It warms my heart that you enjoyed your visit with us when getting your hair transplant. If I recall correctly, you underwent a donor scar revision procedure to enhance the look of your donor linear scar on the back of your head with a two sided tricophytic closure to ensure hair growth into the scar. About your queries, I’ve written below my responses to them in chronological order.

· Intentionally, we made the frontal area irregular so it wouldn’t appear to look linear and reconstructed. After the hair transplant, you ought to have lost a good number of grafts. The way your hair looks now and is not the way it will look eventually. I’d advise you to wait at least another six or seven months so all your hair will have grown out. It will look much better.

· As part of the healing process, a bit of inflammation is normal and will appear about two weeks after a hair transplant procedure. But, if the inflammation doesn’t eventually go away or if it becomes more inflamed, come to my office immediately.

· You may feel more pain and stretching on the back of your head because you’ve had previous surgeries. There wouldn’t be as much pain in the donor site if you hadn’t ever had a hair transplant. Try not to look down too much or in a jackknife manner for the following eight weeks after surgery because there’s a risk of stretching out the donor scar. On the second month, if there’s still pain, visit me and we’ll take a look at it. In the meantime, if there are other questions you may have about hair growth or other inquiries regarding your hair transplant, call and make an appointment to see me.

I’m eager to meet with you again in later visits.

For other questions and answers, do a Web search on a cosmetic forum. Also, if you’re interested in laser resurfacing , dysport, or botox, check out a Sherman Oaks Laser Hair Removal center.