Positive results with Dr Cole 1200 FUE

[SteveDT123]

Hi I just wanted to share my story in case it helps anyone.

I noticed slight loss in the crown of my head when I was 22-23. I started taking propecia and had no negative side effects. I think that it helps slow the loss in the crown, but it's hard to tell. I did not experience any regrowth from propecia (as far as I can tell).

When I was 27 I started looking in to HT procedures, because I noticed a fair amount of normal recession on the sides and a little thinning on top. I always retained a nice tuft of hair at the very front center of my head, which was nice. My hair is blond -- wavy or a bit curly, and on the sides and back it is very thick. I submitted pictures to Dr. Coles office and they recommended between 1000-1500 grafts. I did not have a lot of loss, but my thinking at the time was that I would catch it before many people noticed. When I decided to do it, I had a fair amount of thinning -- when I would get out of the shower it looked very thin -- outside of that little tuft of hair. with moose and thickening gel I think I covered it up pretty well, but it was very obvious if you ran your hands through my hair. There was a growing asymmetric area of slow balding receding my hairline.

I went to Dr Cole's office for 1200 FUE non-shaven (he calls this the CIT-to-go procedure). I did get Acell and PRP as well. I did not have him pull down my hair-line much -- I was more concerned about thickening up the top and the side that had really receded a lot (the side where I didn't part it had receded much further than the side where I part my hair).

When I got there I was greeted by his staff, who were very friendly. They seemed a little put off by the fact that I didn't want pictures of my procedure used for marketing purposes, but overall very friendly. The novocaine injections hurt less than I expected, but I also told them that I was very nervous and pretty wimpy when it comes to pain, so maybe they took it easy The procedure was quite long. Dr. Cole came in to do all of the extractions and all of the placements, but his assistants actually managed the follicles and places them in to the sites he made. At one point I started experiencing a bit of pain and they had to put more novocaine, but outside of that it was pretty painless. I was very nervous about a few things during the procedure (1) they still cut some of my hair in the back to make room to extract follicles. I was nervous that my head would look like swiss cheese -- but it was fine. Completely unnoticeable. (2) they really work on your scalp. Theres a lot of washing a lot of pressure. I was thinking shock loss would be terrible -- but to be honest I noticed no shock loss. (3) my biggest concern was showing up to work and people noticing. I was having to see clients a week after the procedure so I knew I would be cutting it close, but to my surprise it was fine! I had the procudure thurs afternoon, took off friday, and by monday I returned to work. I couldn't yet wash my hair in the shower or use products, but I made do -- and no one noticed. I work with people who would've loved to have made fun of me or point it out -- so to me this is the biggest test! I didn't have him lower the hairline much so the small scabs were well covered up by the other hair I had. And that thick little tuft in the front didn't receive any shock loss so that covered it up nicely.

The recovery pain was a little worse than I expected, but like I said I'm a baby. Basically all day Friday I had the worst headache ever, and thursday evening I didn't realize that the back of my head would ooze so much, so I ruined the hotel pillow case. The oozing stopped by the third night though. After the procedure I didn't really notice any results for the first 3-4 months. I wasn't discouraged as this is what they told me. Now that I'm in the 10th month, however, things look great. When I come out of the shower now-- it looks like I have a full head of hair! The slight thinning in the crown is still there, but the most important part -- when I meet people and they look at me from the front -- looks great.

I would say overall that the procedure has exceeded my expectations, and I'm very pleased that I went with Dr Cole. He really knows his stuff, is very professional, and I can tell that he really cares for his patients. I am also VERY glad that I went with the CIT-2-go procedure. I was back in the office on Monday and no one noticed. Certainly part of this is that I didn't have placements in noticeable places, and part because I still had some hair to cover up the scabs. The cost for my 1200 grafts was around $10k, which I think is worth it. I was very stressed out about my hair beforehand, and while I still experience some stress -- I still check it all the time -- really I am extremely happy with the results. I don't really plan to have another procedure, but all things considered I would keep it in mind if I received significantly more thinning in the next 10 years.

Please let me know if I can answer any questions for anyone.

[clandestine]

Pics or it di

[SteveDT123]

I don't know where my before pictures are and I don't really care to spend time trying to find them. I don't really care if you believe my experience or not.

I just know that when I was researching these forums last time, I didn't find too many people who had experienced CIT-2-go w.r.t. pain, recovery time, and cost. So I'm trying to contribute. If anyone wants to message me with specific questions, I will try to answer, but I have no "skin in the game" to try and convince board trolls of my experience. kthnxbye.