Scar Grafting with Dr Cole

[northeastguy]

I am at Day 30 today and other than the slight redness which is taking it's time, most everything is going as planned. Photo's include the upper and lower scar as well as a shot of the back to show a little of the donor area. After a couple more weeks my hair should be long enough to hide the scars again.

My plan is to still go as short as I can with my haircut once this is completed. Realisticly I am looking at a 2nd session and possible Laser to smooth out the texture and blend color between my scalp and scars. I haven't ruled out the use of SMP in the far future if others outcomes continue to show positive results.

[northeastguy]

Thanks Ron.... Feel free to ask me anything you'd like. Sorry your in the same position I'm in. Hopefully this turns out the way I hope and it will be a good alternative to many of those in our situation. It's not a quick path but with the right help and a little patience I'm feeling quite confident.

Today is day 21... sheading much of the hair at this point. I've included a few photo's including inside and outside light. Top scar is still slightly raised but improving each day. Bottom scar is being a bit stubborn. I've started adding a little antibiotic ointment and hydrocortizone cream 2%. Working close with Dr Cole and seems it's going to be a wait and see approach at this time. Keeping a close watch on it and as long as I see a slight improvement each day I'll be fine. Just wasn't expecting it to be this red and raised at this point post procedure. Donor still looks very good and areas along hairline and top where he grafted looks very natural as well.

[ron solo]

Good luck buddy! Your story is VERY similiar to mine, so if you don't mind..I'm very interested in this process. Hopefully I'll be doing it soon myself and could use any advice or knowledge that you have gained from this experience. Take care!

[CIT_Girl]

Northeastguy,

Thank you for your nice comments. Your scar area is healing well and looks fine for the first week post-op. We are glad that you had a pleasant experience here at our clinic. We look forward to seeing more photos in the next few months.

[northeastguy]

7 Days post-op.... so far so good. Bottom scar is a little angry as you can see. Both are very raised compaired to the pre photo's. Obviously way to early to evaluate the donor area but there's a good look at a large quantity of them. Have to say it's nice to actually feel hair in the scar areas.... To bad I'll be saying by to them shortly.

[Winston]

Looks good, you’re in good hands with Dr. Cole. Thanks for keeping us posted and I look forward to seeing your progress.

[ejj]

looks good , look forward to the updates , the aloe defo helps i got a plant and break the leaf off , really helped the donor area heal
now just the long wait !

all the best

ejj

[northeastguy]

Thanks Guys. I'll update with some pics at Day 7. Gotta say the PRP leaves a mess. Now that most of the stuff is removed I can really see the scars. He really packed them in. Little raised and red at this point which is to be expected. I started using Aloe gel today on all the grafted areas to help with the redness and healing....I'll be using that going forward. For the last few months I've been taking Biotin 5000mcg, tocomin suprabio Vit E, and MSM. I did stop 10 days prior to procedure but started back up few days ago. Sorry Top, no liver for me! I will say my hair is growing outragously fast. it's already at 1/8" and its only been 4 days post. Once I get to 1/2" I'll be all set till the grafted hair grows. man if there was only a way to bypass the 3 month dormant stage.

@ gillenator.... I did inquire about doing a revision but the answer I got was it may be 50% smaller or 50% bigger. Plus I have 2 scars. If I did them is sections which was suggested by the NY doc it would take me 5 sessions with 8 months between revision. A lot of people are getting great results with grafting so it seemed the best approach for me. Besides, I just didn't want to go through the strip healing again. Been there 5 times. I was done. I had a good donor supply for FUE plus can always tap into Beard for filler if I need.

[gillenator]

I wish you the best as well NEguy. Your scalp then did not have the laxity for a revision or did you just not want to risk the same thing happening?

Getting 40cm2 into the scar is a great start. Hopefully, most of the grafts will survive. I agree that two sessions of FUE will be needed. Please keep us in the loop.

Thanks for sharing your case with us and I personally wish you the very best in the results.

[Spex]

well done and all the very best - Heal and grow well!

[topcat]

Look forward to seeing your updates, best wishes on achieving the outcome you hope for.

[El Nino]

Good luck with the results NEguy.

I don't blame you for not trying and risking a scar revision.

[northeastguy]

On Monday I began repairing the two large scars I have from prior Strip surgeries. My research to repair them started back in December. I simply wanted to buzz my hair short but had the issue of the scars being visible. In my opinion, someone who is going bald looks very good with a short buzz cut. I felt like I had come to terms with my every thinning scalp and just wanted to move on with this chapter of my life. So I looked into Micro-pigmentation, Revisions, and finally FUE into the scars which ultimately I felt was going to give me the most natural look. I met with numerous physicians and spoke with many others via E-mail and phone. Dr Feller, Dr Bernstein, Dr Charles, Dr Wasserbauer, Dr True, Dr Shapiro, H & W, Dr Basanga, Dr Umar, Bosely, Dr DiStefano, and Dr Cole. Most if not all the other folks I mentioned were extremely helpful in my research and I personally want to thank them.
Ultimately I went with Dr Cole. Once I ruled out a revision, I felt I had the best chance of successful scar grafting with Him. Since I was going to do FUE I wanted to go with someone who primarily focuses on this technique and had consistent success grafting into scars. I also had an interest in using PRP and Acell to increase the survival rate of the grafts.

From 1993 to 2000 I had 5 total strip procedures leaving me with 2 large scars on the back of my head. Top scar was 19.5cm x .5cm and bottom was 15.5 x .5cm. Within the last year, my decision to cut my hair extremely short (#2 clipper) became more and more of an interest. I felt it would be the best look considering I was continuing to lose hair. The shortest I was able to previously cut was a #6. My goal is a #2. Obviously the problem with doing this was the exposure of the scars as you can see in the photo.

This past Monday we began the process of reversing a poor decision I made as a 22 y/o. Most likely to get full effects from the grafting, I’ll need 2 procedures. I’ll know more in 8 months time. The hardest part now is going to be waiting…
Monday’s procedure produced a little over 1200 scalp grafts. About 720 were placed in the 2 scars and 500 grafts were placed along the hairline and top to blend some density into the sides. Dr Cole used primarily a .8mm punch for removing most of the donor grafts. The current hairline was OK but it did need a little softening. Both PRP and Acell were used. Based on those numbers, we have about 40 grafts per cm2 in the scars. At this point (day 3) everything seems to look good. For those who have had a HT, they will probably agree the most difficult part is the local anesthesia. Because of all the scar tissue I have from previous procedures, I was expecting it to be quite uncomfortable. The use of a blunt tip cannula was used to limit the discomfort and I have to say it was a big improvement over my previous procedures.

As for my experience with Dr Cole and his staff, I have nothing but great things to say. My experience was nothing less than what I would expect for anyone going though procedures like this. His staff was friendly, professional, and genuinely concerned for my comfort and care. Dr Cole spent a very large amount of time with me pre-procedure going over our goals and expectations. He does the entire graft removal and recipient cuts. He did do some of the graft placement……how much I don’t know. I was there for almost 10 hours so there was a lot to remember. We spent a good amount of time discussing the HT industry. Overall I received a pretty good education on the science of a Hair transplant.

As time goes on, I’ll update this post with photos of my progress and hope to answer any questions people may have.

Photo 1 - #2 cut
Photo 2 - Pre-procedure
Photo 3 - haircut I'm hoping to achieve and area on top we grafted as well.
Photo 4 - Day 2 donor site.

Thanks for reading…