Losing my HT virginity!

[gillenator]

Most HT patients are not going to get by with one sole procedure so planning our restoration considering the future changes, meaning further loss, is imperative to say the least.

I had four separate procedures myself and very content that I approached it methodically that way...

[John P. Cole, MD]

Hey, I want to hear about cures too!

[Hoppipolla]

You're not the same Hoppi, as THE Hoppi, are you? The guy who thought he "had just cured it" a few years ago?

How is that cure you found working for you?

If you try being more polite I may give you a response

Passive aggressive sarcasm is not very becoming.

[fred970]

You're not the same Hoppi, as THE Hoppi, are you? The guy who thought he "had just cured it" a few years ago?

How is that cure you found working for you?

[Hoppipolla]

Hey man... you're not the same abc123 I know, are you? From another forum?

You don't seem to be but I thought it best to ask anyway - I'm trying to track that dude down

Feel free to message me here or there or whatever - just wanted to get in contact, if so!

[abc123]

thank you

Thank you to both of you, much appreciated

Im going to update this on monthly basis with pics, personal plans for me now is to research and go on a few training courses to start performing HT myself on others. Will start this journey in the coming weeks.

[John P. Cole, MD]

I agree with Jotronic. Good points. Weighting grafts on one side is a very old technique. I don't agree with it, but one can easily overcome this with more grafting. Also, I agree with him that this will be a minor issue for you. It's a good start. You just need to finish it up about a year from now.

[Jotronic]

ABC123,

I want to just chime in here and let you know that I personally think that in the end your result will be just fine. It won't exactly be super dense and you obviously don't have full coverage but I think that you'll have a nice frame for your face that will give you a big improvement. Don't worry about one side being a bit denser than the other. It's not a massive difference. In fact, your doctor may have intended for this to be the distribution (although he should have discussed this with you). Most guys part their hair from the left side so this is a trick that some docs use to give the hairline along the frontal part stronger density. You've got a lot of scabs on your scalp right now so that also amplifies the issues that Dr. Cole pointed out. I wish you all the best.

[John P. Cole, MD]

I once asked a very experienced physician who wanted to work for me how many grafts he had placed. He said, not very many. I then asked how many grafts he had cut. He replied ever fewer. I immediately dismissed him. The reason is simple. The only way you know what a graft should look like is to cut it yourself. The only way you know if the staff is placing well is to place them yourself. A physician can't properly supervise anything if he has no experience doing it. Rather, he is dependent on the experience of the surgery technicians. Lord knows where they learned it because most physicians have placed few grafts and most physicians have cut even fewer grafts. I prefer to hire novice surgery techs rather than experienced ones personally. With experienced technicians, I have to un-train them first and then train them properly. Good technicians are very difficult to find. Bad ones are easy to locate. Bad ones permeate the field of hair transplant surgery.

You should not worry too much. You have a good start to getting hair back. one can always add to it and eliminate the rows. My greatest concern for you is the high proportion of single hair grafts. Have someone that really understands the donor area evaluate you to see if you have larger bundles and a better density than it appears you have. Regardless, you can make progress with this result once it grows out.

[abc123]

thanks

thank you very much for your opinion Dr Cole.

Prior to the surgery I was told I didn't have an excellent donor area but it was certainly a good donor area. Regarding linear placement and left side being more densely packed, it is a big mood downer for me... I was told during the procedure the technicians had over 20years experience between them.

well I am going to refrain from making to many early comments, am hoping I have at least an average result and will now start posting monthly picture updates. I have decided to restart minoxidil - which I will start after month 1 post op.

[John P. Cole, MD]

The left side is thicker than the right. The grafts were placed in rows. Hair does not grow in rows. You have a much higher than expected number of single hair grafts. With FUE, one should have well under 5% natural single hair grafts unless you have a poor donor area density, in which case anyone with an extreme degree of hair loss is not a candidate for a hair transplant. With FUE, one can also get a larger number of single hair grafts by fractionating the intact follicular units and taking one out of two or three hairs using a very small punch. There just are not a large number of natural single hair grafts in an average donor area.

Strip procedures produce about 20% single hair grafts. The same happens with the Artas, which has an abnormal number of single hair grafts, which makes no sense because it uses a 1.2 mm punch.

Anyway, let this grow out. Eventually, you can add more density and resolve the linear transplants in a subsequent procedure. Wishing you great growth and natural results.

[abc123]

update

back in the UK finally

uploaded some fresh pics, sorry their not great quality but hopefully gives you an idea. personally I'm having big doubts I will have a decent frontal line density - which was my aim! also it appears on the left side the density is much greater than the right side? am I just being paranoid... please let me know your views

pre op (same mirror/location/lighting with post op)






day1 post pics




day5 (today)

[Notcoolanymore]

very little conversation prior to the surgery which i didnt like, maybe that was because he had 2 other procedures on the go at the same time....

didnt like the fact he was answering his mobile phone atleast 3-4times during the above

Not sure if this is the norm, but I would not like this.

Hope your HT turns out well.

[fred970]

Don't let your donor supply get you down. Even if it's only 2000 grafts, it could make a tremendous difference in your looks.

[abc123]

hmmm

Sorry for any typing errors using my phone...

Hey just had the procedure an hour ago....
Wasnt to bad, but being a GP (family doctor) myself its pretty second nature to me being in this kind of enviroment

Had to wait for the doctor to arrive for 30mins, very little conversation prior to the surgery which i didnt like, maybe that was because he had 2 other procedures on the go at the same time....

Well Dr Humayun marked my area, harvested my donor area and made incisions for graft placements.. Thats all i could ask for, didnt like the fact he was answering his mobile phone atleast 3-4times during the above

i must say his team were great. very very plesant had a nice chit chat throughout...

Unfortunately my donor area only allowed 2149 grafts approx 700 singles, 1100 doubles, 300 tripples n only 7 quads!!)

I'll upload picks when i return home to UK in a few days