I'm sorry I didn't post this earlier. I was a little indisposed, I guess. So I underwent the transplant on Monday and boy, was it quite an experience. I went to the clinic at about 10:30 a.m and met the doctor, who had just flown in, I assumed. Asked his name, too. He's been doing transplants for 10 years now and will be moving to Europe for the same in the near future. Anyway, the surgery started at about 11 am, I think. The first process was extraction. They injected local anaesthesia in many sites throughout my scalp and I didn't feel anything. For the most part. By the time we were done, it was about 2 pm, I think. The extraction process was complete, my donor area was bandaged and I had lunch. Then, we started the hole-making process, whatever it's called. We were done by about 5 pm, I think. Not much to say there, except that I think it may have hurt quite a few times. Finally, the process of placing the grafts starts. The procedure starts but the doctor's not there. It's just the nurses. So I ask them why the doctor hadn't joined us. They tell me that the doctor is performing micropigmentation on another patient and that they're the ones who always do the transplants. Now at this point I'm thinking I should probably make a stand and ask for the doctor but with 3000 holes on my head and the nurses holding sharp objects in their hands, I'm in no position to enrage them. So I thought, well, these nurses have done many transplants too. I might as well get it done from them. So I just tried not to get a panic attack and tried to calm myself. But then, they said something that made me feel well, really bad. They said that they were having a lot of trouble planting the grafts because the holes kept oozing (getting filled with blood). Normally, this wouldn't be a problem because they'd inject some ADL (adrenaline, I assumed) into the scalp which would prevent the bleeding but in my case, the ADL was having absolutely no effect. They've never seen anything like it. And on top of that, the grafts they DID manage to plant kept popping out (that's what they actually said). Now I'm thinking, OMG I am so fucked. This has been a disaster. But there's nothing I can do. Just lie there helplessly. And they seem to be making no progress whatsoever. It was almost 8 pm, I think, when I asked them how many grafts they'd managed to plant and they said about 1500. I am full of despair at this moment. But then, a silver lining appears. The doctor, who has now finished the micropigmentation, is surprised to see the nurses still working and comes to check on me. And he explains to them that the reason the holes are bleeding is because they're putting the grafts in the wrong direction and because they're putting too much pressure or something like that. And not only does he fix the 1500 grafts planted so far but he goes on to plant the rest as well. Most of the rest anyway. The nurses at this point are so frustrated they said they were about to go crazy. Imagine how I felt lying there at their mercy. At some point, the doctor leaves and the nurses painstakingly finish the rest. By the time we were done, it was 11 pm. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch, I hadn't drunk anything, I hadn't gone to the bathroom. And yet, I was simply glad that it was finally over. It had been 12 hours. I was more than eager to leave. Looking back, I'm amazed that I managed to go through all that without completely breaking down. When I went home and looked at myself, it was like these little meatballs were sticking out of my head. Although, I guess I didn't see it as well as I could have. It was the middle of the night. And even though I didn't feel anything at the moment, if I saw them now, I'd most definitely throw up. My head was really swollen. I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep that night. Thankfully, I was able to. Although, I kept waking up multiple times with an insatiable thirst. I drank about 1.5 liters throughout the night but surprisingly, I didn't feel like peeing until the middle of the next day. I guess I was extremely dehydrated. I think I might have lost a lot of blood, with the oozing and what nots. Tuesday was unremarkable. They gave me a bottle of saline which they told me to spray every two hours on the recipient area. I did that. And they gave me antibiotics and some other stuff, which I took. On Wednesday, I went to the clinic, as per their instructions. They opened the bandage on the donor area, cleaned it, put some antiseptic cream on it and bandaged it again, with the instructions to open it the next day. Then they said that I could spray the saline occasionally, not every 2 hours but I've been doing that ever since. They also washed the recipient area with baby shampoo and told me to do it every alternate day. By this time the swelling on my scalp had somehow moved down to my forehead and temples. I looked extremely weird. That was Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, the swelling moved further down around my eyes. I looked completely unrecognizable. Today, the swelling on the left side has completely subsided but the right side is still a little swollen. Probably because that's the side I lie on while sleeping. But it's gone down further so my right eye isn't half-closed. That's pretty much it. My donor area feels a little strange, numb I guess. And I can't touch my recipient area so I have no idea what it feels like. I have no idea if those areas will return to how they used to feel. Anyway, that was my experience of a hair transplant. First and hopefully last. I don't care if I have to take finasteride for the rest of my life. I am NOT going through that again. I think i survived this time because I didn't know what was coming. It won't be so next time. If anyone is starting to lose hair, just get on finasteride FFS. Don't count on a transplant. Seriously, don't. I'm starting finasteride and minoxidil again at the two week mark. I didn't want to take it because I wanted to be able to donate blood regularly but I guess it's just not meant to be.