Jotronic/ 8 Years/ 7917 Grafts/ 3 Sessions/Repair/Dr. Wong

I post today as a patient like I first did 8 years ago when I was a butchered, scared repair patient looking to show the world what I had just gone through. On March 18th, 2002 Dr. Wong saved my life.

In early 2002 the forums were a very different place. There were no real stand out clinics at the time and no patients were showing detailed albums of photos. Megasessions at the time were rarely more than 2000 to 2500 grafts. There were only a few patients that had actually shown their before/after pics but no one was showing the actual journey of what it is like to go through the development after surgery and certainly no one was showing the surgery itself, donor scar healing, and other issues that you are all so used to seeing now.

My first surgery with Dr. Wong was performed with the singular goal of making me look normal. For nine years I had lived with two stacked donor scars and progressively more visible mini grafts for my hairline as I continued with hair loss to the point of being a NW6 plus. No one had ever told me about Propecia. In this surgery I had 2406 grafts.

A year later I had 2425 grafts to rebuild my temple points, give me light coverage for part of my crown and to slightly lower my hairline and build up the density in the frontal third.

Another year later and I was working for the clinic and had my last surgery for 2488 grafts. This was to basically thicken up some of the areas previously worked on. I have had some smaller sessions as a guinea pig that added a few hundred grafts.

Today, eight years and three weeks later, I am happy to report that my transplant still puts a smile on my face every morning as I get ready for work and I don't have to worry about having obvious pluggy work or being a NW6+ when I go out.

The first indoor photos were taken in mid-March, 2010 in my washroom with my hair styled normally. The second set of photos that are outdoors were taken Easter weekend by my girlfriend when we went up to the top of the Space Needle overlooking Seattle at 520 feet up in the air. The wind was very gusty that day so high up and sometimes would gust up to 50 mph. Super glue couldn't hold my hair in place much less normal hair spray! Thus, some of my photos are slightly less than flattering but it shows you that transplanted hair gets messed up in the wind just like native hair does;)

Life is good.

Looks fantastic Joe!

I can't believe you had to live with the "doll's head" look for 9 years!

How did you do it?

Were you able to wear a hat, use a concealer, or did you just live with it?

Words like wow, fantastic, crazy, or ludicrous cant sum up my opinion on how great your hair transplant turned out! That is some seriously, ridiculously good looking results amigo! (again an understatement)

Your hair looks great. Most importantly, you look happy and that is what it is all about.

Red,

I simply dealt with it because I never had a job where I could wear a hat and no concealer on the planet can work with so little hair but I had regular reminders on nearly a daily basis of what was on my head. Mostly it would be in the form of someone looking at my hairline instead of my eyes when they would talk to me but I'd occasionally have some smart ass ask me about it in front of others as if it was a joke. I consider myself stronger for it though as I can handle myself in pretty much any sort of debate or discussion no matter how awkward it gets so my past experience is now considered to be a blessing.

Mack and Rob, thank you for your comments. It still feels great!

It does look absolutely amazing! Have you considered pitching your story to Disney? ;)

Seriously though, thanks for posting, it is great to read such an uplifting story.

Clee,

I have not considered it actually but if I did I'd be afraid they'd pick Goofey to play me in a film;(

Seriously though, thank you for the comments. I've had a few people ask for overhead shots so I added some as well as a crown shot for good measure. Check the album above.

Jo -

Did you ever consider having the plugs removed through laser hair removal and just go back to being bald? I am on a similar path that you were, but I am completely done with hair transplants and more interested in just shaving it and dealing with scars, instead of plugs.

If you did look into that, any info or anything you dug up? Or were you always set on more hair?

Thanks

Hindsight,

I think I considered it at one time. I know I first thought of just shaving but the thought of those ten hair grafts sprouting up the first few days afterward sent shudders down my spine. The scars, two stacked, I could deal with. I think when I first considered it I decided to check into repair first and once I did that I obviously never looked back and I don't regret it at all. In fact it changed my life for the better, much more so than shaving or laser removal would have.

From the pictures it looks like you've had great results... thats really exciting. To bad not all people can get the same outcomes. It sucks that everyone is created differently!!

On that note, I am excited to go back to being bald...

=)