Dr Cole CIT non shaven transplant

[JaySurfs]

Hi all,

Well after years of battling with hair loss I have decided to take the step of under going a HT. By the time of my procedure I will be 6 months shy of my 29th birthday. I am currently a NW3V but will eventuly end up being a NW6 as far as I can tell. I take 2mg of finasteride daily, saw pametto daily, minoxidle every night, low level laser comb 3 times a week. Despite this routine my hair loose continues.

I spent a lot of time researching Dr's and techniques (fue v strip) and settled on Dr Cole in Atlanta for a CIT non shaven procedure. Dr Cole has recommended 1100 to 1600 grafts. I am going for 1300 in this procedure and will consider up to a further 700 grafts in a second procedure if needed.

My decision to head down this path was based around the following:

1) First of all i did not want a liner scar. This procedure is more to maintain my hair over the next 5 years. Post this due to the fact that I am sure my hair loose with continue I will shave my head. I have tried shaving my head down to a number 1 and I am not entirely unhappy with this look. The CIT procedure will leave me with an exit plan. With this number of grafts I should be able to shave my head to a number 1 in the future with out any noticable signs of the HT in the doner area.

2) I am having the un shaven procedure as I am unable to have time off work to conveless or let my hair grow back post shaving. Also with my current loss I am able to style my hair in a manner the concels the loss. If had had the shaven procedue preformed then my current loss would be very noticable.

3) I chose Dr Cole as he has a reputation for being one of the best in his field. He speacialises in CIT(FUE) and has a strong understanding of its benefits and limitations. He also looks to create a long term plan for his patetints. As I stated earlier I am resigned to the fact I will be a bald man, I just don't want to be a bald man in his late 20's.

My procedure is sechduled for the 19th of May 2010. I am traveling to Atlanta all the way from New Zealand. I will update this thread with photo's and progress reports starting the day before the procedure with my own "before" pics.

Wish me luck.


Till next time.

[thejack]

Good luck man

[KeepTheHair]

So you are still losing hair despite using finasteride...?

That seems pretty bad. If you continue losing hair and get a 1600 hair transplant will it not eventually get worse?

Have you tried a topical DHT inhibitor like sprionolactone? Why are you currently not using nizoral? Perhaps you have a scalp issue of some sort. I know ketoconazole makes my scalp feel much better than normal shampoo.

I am really curious to know why your hair loss is continuing. These stories are always frightening to me.

Good luck and glad you chose a good doctor.

[CIT_Girl]

You'll be in great hands with Dr. Cole, JaySurfs. Feel free to call the office or email if you have any questions at all. We look forward to meeting you next Wednesday!

[Delphi]

Best of luck Jaysurfs. It sounds like you’ve done your research. Keep us all updated.
Good travels and good luck!

[JaySurfs]

Hi all,

So after travelling 32 hours to get to Atlanta from New Zealand (had to travel via Australia and LA) it felt great to finally get to my final destination. I had booked a hotel downtown which in hind sight was probably a bit of a mistake as the clinic is a $50 taxi ride away and hard to get to in rush hour traffic. Dr Coles team had recommended some hotels that were closer to the clinic but I choose to stay in a hotel chain that I am familiar with.

The night before the Op I went out to Midtown and got some food and had some beers in a popular sports bar. I had a fantastic night out and meet some wonderful people including a couple of cute girls who had just been at an Atlanta braves game. This meeting resulted in a timely ego boost prior to the Op. I got back to my hotel around 1am, which sounds late but I had slept all day (yay for jet lag.... not!).

I woke up again around 4 am local time and spoke to my amazing girl friend in England who knew what I was getting done. By now I was so unbelievably nervous that I couldn't sleep any more so I got up and had a shower and started to get myself sorted for the day ahead.

I arrived at Dr Coles clinic around 7.30 am (half an hour early) and was let in by a gentleman that knew what I was there for but didn't really say too much. He asked me to wait on a chair in a small waiting room which I did for about 20mins before being great by one of Dr Cole’s staff members. This lady took me through all the paper work and made me sign my life away about 20 times over before taking some "before" photos of me. You get shots taken of you from every angle imaginable with both wet and dried hair and with it combed in different directions.

Then one of the "techs" came and got me and took me through to the surgery room. It can best be described as similar to your local dentist. You are placed in a surgical gown and popped up on a chair. I was told that I would need to have my hair dyed at the back and sides because my hair was to blonde. I was not expecting this and not totally happy about it but I was this far into the process so I went with it. The reason I wasn't too happy is that I had elected to have the non shaved procedure so that I could return to normal life in a week or two without evidence of the surgery. Now my hair is kind of two colours!? The tech told me it should wash out in a few days so I will keep you posted as to whether this is the case.

Things felt kind of rushed and before I knew it there were two tech's cutting "every second hair" from the back and side of my head. This is the trick behind the non shaven technique. For me I have very fine hair and the tech cut more than the needed to so the hair and the back of my head looked very thin after they had finished. Again I wasn't stoked but I have to say that my hair is super fine which made the effect look worse.

Then finally it was the moment that has undoubtedly changed my life (for better or worse I am yet to tell). Into the room walked Dr Cole. He comes across like a bit of a maverick but is a lovely guy. He sat me down and looked me over. Straight away I could tell something was not good. He had a concerned look on his face (uh oh!). The concern was based around the area that was thinning on the top of my head and crown. Although this area has thinned, there is still quite a bit of hair there. Dr Cole informed me that I had only average donor availability and that there would be no way that we could keep up with the loss in the crown area in the long term and therefore did not want to do a lot of work there. This was very disappointing news as it was the area that bothered me most. We had a discussion around his thoughts on what I should get done and when I asked what the result of our discussion about the crown was he replied that "we will make a start and see how it goes". This did not make me feel too good. We also discussed how I wanted my hairline to look. I was asked to indicate this with a marker in the mirror. I roughly indicated how I wanted it but indicated to Dr Cole that I didn't really know and wanted his best advice. He kind of passed this off and in my nervous state I said that my old hair line was kind of like a V but outlined on my forehead a curvy more type shape. Before I knew it or really had a chance to digest the news about my crown or the hairline in more detail I was back in my chair and getting numbed up.

The tech that administers the anaesthesia is a lovely lady from the Ukraine. She uses a vibrator on your scalp to try and ease the pain of the injections. This actually works really well. It is definitely uncomfortable but you can easily grin and bear it. From then on its a ball that starts rolling that you can not stop. Dr Cole makes all the incisions in your scalp using a small steel tool. It feels kind of like a pushy twisty motion but doesn't hurt. You soon fall into a pattern of being number up, cut up by Dr Cole, then other tech's come in and pull the hair follicles out. This is pretty much how I expected things to be. The next step involves Dr Cole making incisions into the recipient area using a clever tool that counts the number of cuts he makes. What I didn't expect was the fact that Dr Cole doesn't actually place the grafts himself. He leaves this for the tech's. He does examine their work but I found this kind of concerning as I was under the impression that the placement of the grafts was very important to the final result. Dr Cole is choosing the angle of the incision so I am unsure if the placement of the grafts being done by the techs is just standard.

The whole process is very intense and exacting. You have a lot of people working on you all the time and you are in pretty much mild discomfort most of the time as you are consistently getting more anaesthesia injections. You are getting pushed and prodded and poked. Dr Cole and his team try to make this as comfortable as possible for you but I can't over state how exacting this is (come well prepared for a huge day both physically and emotionally). There will be times when you just want to yell out "Stop, I don't want this... take it all back". Unfortunately once you start there is no taking it back.

I was in the surgery for around 10 hours in total. During this time you are offered snacks and lunch. I found I couldn't really eat due to the anxiety I was feeling so we just kept pushing through to get things done. I had a total of 1172 CIT Non Shaven Grafts, PRP and ACell. Approx 700 in the front and 400 or so in the top on my head.

When surgery is finished you are totally shattered. It wasn't until I was getting the after photos done that I realised the extent of the surgery on my donor areas. I was totally shocked and it actually made me feel physically sick. For a moment I thought I was going to vomit in front of everyone in the clinic. The fact that the scarring from this should be minimal seems impossible right now. I was definitely not prepared for the emotional tool this would take. The thoughts that go through your mind around whether or not you have done the right thing, about being badly scarred, about having badly placed permanent hair if you have to shave you head in the future are crippling. I would really advice trying to bring someone along with you for support. Then there is the pain. Dr Cole will prescribe you with pain killers sleeping tablets, anti biotic’s etc. He said that most people don't get to much pain but my pain was F'ing terrible. Sorry for cursing but it was so bad. My ride back to my hotel took over an hour and I was in so much pain that I started to loose it. I spoke to my sister on the phone and just burst out crying (i haven't cried in years not since I lost a good friend in an accident some years ago). I think everything was just too much. Once I got back and took my painkillers I calmed down a bit.

So far I would say the following about Dr Cole and the procedure:

Positives:

The staff and Dr Cole are amazingly kind people. They make you feel very welcome. Dr Cole even invited me out to dinner in the coming evenings.

Dr Cole is conservative around what he wants to try and achieve and does address long term issues with you.

The staff are caring and professional

The hairline I think looks quite good even though it’s not exactly what I was going for.

CIT girl is HOT! I met her at the clinic and I was like wow!

Negatives:

Once I found out that I couldn't get the crown done (contrary to the opinion given in my online consult) I wasn't really given time to digest the news and decide how I wanted to proceed or if I wanted to pull out.

My final hairline that Dr Cole decided wasn't shown to me prior to starting grafts being place.

The Non shaven procedure has a lot of draw backs that I didn't feel I understood fully prior to starting. I have to qualify this by saying that if you had very thick and dark hair then these may not be an issue.

I was not offered pain killers straight way at the clinic prior to finishing up. This would have avoided a very uncomfortable taxi ride.

You really don’t want to be talking to a HOT girl like CIT girl when you look as bad as you do in the middle of a transplant. Makes you feel a little self conscious. Ha ha.

In conclusion I can't at this stage give an overall rating has I have no idea how things will turn out. But I would say this... Guys make sure that you really want this before you proceed, there is no going back and a shaved head isn’t that bad. Also make sure you use a good reputable Dr. This is way more intense than you could ever imagine and you do not want a Dr that is going to mess you up and believe me this could happen very easily.

I am going to get the staff at Dr Coles to send me all the before and after photos which I will post on here soon.

Thanks to Dr Cole and his staff for being so lovely and supportive. Please don't take anything I have said here personally I am just trying to give an accurate reflection of what it is like to go through an HT.

[JaySurfs]

Hi there Keep the Hair,

First of all I think it is very common to still loose you hair despite taking Finasteride. In most cases Finasteride only slows hairloss. One of the things that I think it is important to understand is that hairloss is part of the aging process. Although things like DHT do not help you hair, it is not the beginning and end of loosing your hair.

When I first started taking Finasteride it worked really well. I was taking Proscar and taking 1mg (1/4 of a tablet) per day. I did this for about 5 years and then i shifted to Fintreal a generic version and found my loss increased. Now I have no idea whether this was due to the change in medication or just hitting a plato with the effectiveness of Finasteride. I have read that other guys have exprienced this as well when changing to Fintreal.

While visiting Dr Cole I got a prescription for Dutasteride (avodart). Avodart seems to have a lot of emprecial evidence suggesting that it does a better job at blocking DHT so hopefully this will help me going forward.

As far as the rest of my hairloss regiem goes I also using minoxidle and low level laser 3 times a week. I have been loosing my hair since i was about 19 so I have no doubt that I have only been able to keep my hair for the last ten years because of these treatments.

Yes you are right about my hairloss getting worse. As I stated in my first post I will probably end up being a NW 6. The reason I have gone ahead with an HT with Dr Cole is that hopefully the scarring will be so minimal that you won't be able to notice it with a Number 1 or 2 buzz cut in the future and in the mean time I can enjoy a few more years of having hair. I didn't want to be the guy that had to shave their head in the tweenty's.

I will let you no how things progress.

[level]

Hi all,

So after travelling 32 hours to get to Atlanta from New Zealand (had to travel via Australia and LA) it felt great to finally get to my final destination. I had booked a hotel downtown which in hind sight was probably a bit of a mistake as the clinic is a $50 taxi ride away and hard to get to in rush hour traffic. Dr Coles team had recommended some hotels that were closer to the clinic but I choose to stay in a hotel chain that I am familiar with.

The night before the Op I went out to Midtown and got some food and had some beers in a popular sports bar. I had a fantastic night out and meet some wonderful people including a couple of cute girls who had just been at an Atlanta braves game. This meeting resulted in a timely ego boost prior to the Op. I got back to my hotel around 1am, which sounds late but I had slept all day (yay for jet lag.... not!).

I woke up again around 4 am local time and spoke to a friend in England who knew what I was getting done. By now I was so unbelievably nervous that I couldn't sleep any more so I got up and had a shower and started to get myself sorted for the day ahead.

I arrived at Dr Coles clinic around 7.30 am (half an hour early) and was let in by a gentleman that knew what I was there for but didn't really say too much. He asked me to wait on a chair in a small waiting room which I did for about 20mins before being great by one of Dr Cole’s staff members. This lady took me through all the paper work and made me sign my life away about 20 times over before taking some "before" photos of me. You get shots taken of you from every angle imaginable with both wet and dried hair and with it combed in different directions.

Then one of the "techs" came and got me and took me through to the surgery room. It can best be described as similar to your local dentist. You are placed in a surgical gown and popped up on a chair. I was told that I would need to have my hair dyed at the back and sides because my hair was to blonde. I was not expecting this and not totally happy about it but I was this far into the process so I went with it. The reason I wasn't too happy is that I had elected to have the non shaved procedure so that I could return to normal life in a week or two without evidence of the surgery. Now my hair is kind of two colours!? The tech told me it should wash out in a few days so I will keep you posted as to whether this is the case.

Things felt kind of rushed and before I knew it there were two tech's cutting "every second hair" from the back and side of my head. This is the trick behind the non shaven technique. For me I have very fine hair and the tech cut more than the needed to so the hair and the back of my head looked very thin after they had finished. Again I wasn't stoked but I have to say that my hair is super fine which made the effect look worse.

Then finally it was the moment that has undoubtedly changed my life (for better or worse I am yet to tell). Into the room walked Dr Cole. He comes across like a bit of a maverick but is a lovely guy. He sat me down and looked me over. Straight away I could tell something was not good. He had a concerned look on his face (uh oh!). The concern was based around the area that was thinning on the top of my head and crown. Although this area has thinned, there is still quite a bit of hair there. Dr Cole informed me that I had only average donor availability and that there would be no way that we could keep up with the loss in the crown area in the long term and therefore did not want to do a lot of work there. This was very disappointing news as it was the area that bothered me most. We had a discussion around his thoughts on what I should get done and when I asked what the result of our discussion about the crown was he replied that "we will make a start and see how it goes". This did not make me feel too good. We also discussed how I wanted my hairline to look. I was asked to indicate this with a marker in the mirror. I roughly indicated how I wanted it but indicated to Dr Cole that I didn't really know and wanted his best advice. He kind of passed this off and in my nervous state I said that my old hair line was kind of like a V but outlined on my forehead a curvy more type shape. Before I knew it or really had a chance to digest the news about my crown or the hairline in more detail I was back in my chair and getting numbed up.

The tech that administers the anaesthesia is a lovely lady from the Ukraine. She uses a vibrator on your scalp to try and ease the pain of the injections. This actually works really well. It is definitely uncomfortable but you can easily grin and bear it. From then on its a ball that starts rolling that you can not stop. Dr Cole makes all the incisions in your scalp using a small steel tool. It feels kind of like a pushy twisty motion but doesn't hurt. You soon fall into a pattern of being number up, cut up by Dr Cole, then other tech's come in and pull the hair follicles out. This is pretty much how I expected things to be. The next step involves Dr Cole making incisions into the recipient area using a clever tool that counts the number of cuts he makes. What I didn't expect was the fact that Dr Cole doesn't actually place the grafts himself. He leaves this for the tech's. He does examine their work but I found this kind of concerning as I was under the impression that the placement of the grafts was very important to the final result. Dr Cole is choosing the angle of the incision so I am unsure if the placement of the grafts being done by the techs is just standard.

The whole process is very intense and exacting. You have a lot of people working on you all the time and you are in pretty much mild discomfort most of the time as you are consistently getting more anaesthesia injections. You are getting pushed and prodded and poked. Dr Cole and his team try to make this as comfortable as possible for you but I can't over state how exacting this is (come well prepared for a huge day both physically and emotionally). There will be times when you just want to yell out "Stop, I don't want this... take it all back". Unfortunately once you start there is no taking it back.

I was in the surgery for around 10 hours in total. During this time you are offered snacks and lunch. I found I couldn't really eat due to the anxiety I was feeling so we just kept pushing through to get things done. I had a total of 1172 CIT Non Shaven Grafts, PRP and ACell. Approx 700 in the front and 400 or so in the top on my head.

When surgery is finished you are totally shattered. It wasn't until I was getting the after photos done that I realised the extent of the surgery on my donor areas. I was totally shocked and it actually made me feel physically sick. For a moment I thought I was going to vomit in front of everyone in the clinic. The fact that the scarring from this should be minimal seems impossible right now. I was definitely not prepared for the emotional tool this would take. The thoughts that go through your mind around whether or not you have done the right thing, about being badly scarred, about having badly placed permanent hair if you have to shave you head in the future are crippling. I would really advice trying to bring someone along with you for support. Then there is the pain. Dr Cole will prescribe you with pain killers sleeping tablets, anti biotic’s etc. He said that most people don't get to much pain but my pain was F'ing terrible. Sorry for cursing but it was so bad. My ride back to my hotel took over an hour and I was in so much pain that I started to loose it. I spoke to my sister on the phone and just burst out crying (i haven't cried in years not since I lost a good friend in an accident some years ago). I think everything was just too much. Once I got back and took my painkillers I calmed down a bit.

So far I would say the following about Dr Cole and the procedure:

Positives:

The staff and Dr Cole are amazingly kind people. They make you feel very welcome. Dr Cole even invited me out to dinner in the coming evenings.

Dr Cole is conservative around what he wants to try and achieve and does address long term issues with you.

The staff are caring and professional

The hairline I think looks quite good even though it’s not exactly what I was going for.

CIT girl is HOT! I met her at the clinic and I was like wow!

Negatives:

Once I found out that I couldn't get the crown done (contrary to the opinion given in my online consult) I wasn't really given time to digest the news and decide how I wanted to proceed or if I wanted to pull out.

My final hairline that Dr Cole decided wasn't shown to me prior to starting grafts being place.

The Non shaven procedure has a lot of draw backs that I didn't feel I understood fully prior to starting. I have to qualify this by saying that if you had very thick and dark hair then these may not be an issue.

I was not offered pain killers straight way at the clinic prior to finishing up. This would have avoided a very uncomfortable taxi ride.

You really don’t want to be talking to a HOT girl like CIT girl when you look as bad as you do in the middle of a transplant. Makes you feel a little self conscious. Ha ha.

In conclusion I can't at this stage give an overall rating has I have no idea how things will turn out. But I would say this... Guys make sure that you really want this before you proceed, there is no going back and a shaved head isn’t that bad. Also make sure you use a good reputable Dr. This is way more intense than you could ever imagine and you do not want a Dr that is going to mess you up and believe me this could happen very easily.

I am going to get the staff at Dr Coles to send me all the before and after photos which I will post on here soon.

Thanks to Dr Cole and his staff for being so lovely and supportive. Please don't take anything I have said here personally I am just trying to give an accurate reflection of what it is like to go through an HT.

JaySurfs, thanks for sharing your experience. It kind of sucks that you weren't able to have work done on the areas that were discussed in the online consultation. However, I think you picked a good doc and I'm sure you're going to have excellent results.

Hang in there man. I tried putting myself in your shoes and I can sort of imagine what you're going through. I'm sure it's nerve wrecking, but stay positive and make the best of it. I'm sure you'll eventually look better than you did before the surgery.

I'm around your same age, going through the same frustrations you've had, but at least you're doing something about it. You did the right thing. Look at it on the bright side-at least you're buying yourself sometime to allow other products like Histogen to prove themselves.

Best of luck!!! keep your head up!!!

[Delphi]

Thanks for the detailed write up about your experience with Dr. Cole. Wow, what an emotional ride. I hope you end up happy with your decision and I would love to see some pictures of your progress. I had a feeling CITgirl was hot Good luck!

[JaySurfs]

Hi all,

Well its now day 5 and I am safely back in New Zealand but not after a gruling 31 hours of travel that included 3 hours stuck on the tarmac at LA while paramedics attended to a poor lady on the plane (i hope she is ok now).

As far the HT is progressing it is all good news really. The pain has completely gone and most of the feeling is starting to come back to my scalp. The scabs in my donor area are already starting to fall off and the bruising and swelling are starting to subside. Unfortunately I have to go back to work this Thursday (not tomorrow but the next day which will be day 7) instead of the following Monday (which would have been day 11). Aesthetically things are on the improve as well. The hair dye that was used in my donor area is slowly fading (emphasis on slowly... I think it will take about 2 to 3 weeks of daily washing before it is completely gone) and the hair that had been trimmed down in my donor area is already starting to grow back. I would say at the rate things are going I will pretty much be back to normal in by about day 21.

Dr Cole and his team have been amazing post the Op. One of his team came and picked me up and gave me a ride from Downtown Atlanta back to the clinic the Day after the Op to have a check up and also took me out for lunch and gave me a ride to the airport on my last day in town. Dr Cole has also agreed to help me out with getting some further work done if the result of this procedure is not quite what I was after. We have taken a very conservative approach that at this stage leaves me with a clear exit plan which is exactly what I wanted but it does leave risk that we might come up a little short of the mark.

I think the best way to some up Dr Cole and his team is with a comment he made before we started the surgery. He said to me that he "likes to treat every patient like it was his brother sitting in the chair". The amount of care shown by Dr Cole and his team in simply put first class. As of yet I can't speak for the results but as far as the care you will receive visiting Dr Cole and his team I would say it would have to be as good as it gets. Going to Dr Cole assures that you will get someone with your best interests at heart.

All in all I am feeling far more positive. Now it’s just a waiting game to first off get fully healed and back to what I looked like pre surgery, and then, for the hair to start growing in. All going well I should have some 2000 odd new hairs for Christmas (7 months should = 70% of hairs re-grown, I had a total of 1172 grafts or approx 3000 hairs transplanted)

Here goes some of the before and after pics taken at Dr Coles office. I will also post some of the donor area when Dr Cole’s team send them through. I will also post some of me on my first day back at work.

Take care all.

Jaysurfs