Drybones Dr Pizarro 700 graft (supposed to be 1300) $4000 procedure

[drybone]

Hey folks.

My name is Tom. I am a 47 year old man who thought his hair was falling out so slowly he didnt need to do much about it. Time and familiarity make excellent bedfellows of denial. We get so used to looking at ourselves we eventually only see what we want to see.

At age 46 and many years of research and skepticism I finally found a lady who was in Orlando and was fairly cheap . I figured I only needed 1000 to 1500 grafts to rebuild my hairline in the front 1/4 inch . She seemed very nice and she charged $3.50 per graft. Her saleslady tried to upsell me using a laser comb from the $4000 to $7000 but I refused.

She took me into the room and drew a hairline that I wanted. She froze my head , took the grafts and two assistants went to work. They took about 4 hours in total from the first cut to make the donor site to the final hair in the recipient.

There are good and bad about most operations. I will start with the good. I am trying to be as objective as one can muster about a highly personal matter such as this.

Her staff was extremely friendly and laughed at my jokes. The Dr was very good about the meds. She went the extra mile. Her saleslady even ordered me fin 2 months later when I called to ask about it.Dr Pizarro was very friendly and said she gave me about 1300 grafts and extra Shampoos and supplies for my $4000.

Here were the drawbacks. Two weeks after the surgery I came to this site and joined up. Much to my chagrin, Dr Pizarro did not have the best of reputations from others. So I did some research and found out she has a horrible reputation. I paid it no mind as each case is different.

However, it was painfully obvious that she did not put in 1300 grafts. My hairline looked like a picket fence but I assumed would thicken as the hairs matured. The doctor made no attempt whatsoever to check back with me. The saleslady wanted referrals and I even got two for her. When I went to have my stitches out, they did a good job but the whole staff acted in a condescending manner like my existence was irrelevant in their world. The Saleslady was being such a jerk I told my friends to look elsewhere .

Months went buy with no word from the Doctor . I tried calling all to get an answering machine. Then after 6 months I did I tried to contact her via email and indicate that the grafts she put in did look healthy so in that sense she did a good job. I never mentioned the lack of grafts or the horrible customer service.

She ignored that email as well. I have since found out she harvested only 700 graft and used an old school needle which caused my picket fence hairline and bubbling at some points on my head. I would not recommend her to anyone because of the above.

However, I want to move on and look at the positive of the hairs she put in. Here are the photos from start to finish.

[drybone]

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[drybone]

[drybone]

At age 46 I decided to take the plunge and start my journey to a happier hairline . In hindsight I am glad the guys in their 20s now are doing something about their hair loss to stop it from falling out so they may never have to do a transplant.

Here is my wishes for a hairline



I just wanted to shrink my forehead really. I still had hair on the top but my forehead was twice the size as it was when I was 18

[drybone]

Dr Pizarro never gave me the photos of my head right after surgery , in spite of my request. So I must start 5 days post op

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Here is me at home a week after . You can see how high my hairline is , and how red the area is...........and I am naked.

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[drybone]

After a week I had shaved my head down to 1/4 inch to match the grafts .I am self employed so I can get away with this. It was recommended to me by many on here that I keep my hair long to act as natural camouflage.

These photos were taken after 1 month. I was shocked to see how little hair I really had left. I was a diffuse thinner all the way, and I needed rogaine, finasteride and 2 , probably 3 surgeries.

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[drybone]

By this time I was taking finasteride, with only mild side effects. I was also taking 'biotin' which definitely sped up my hair growth (and nail growth too)

As you can see, there is a huge difference between my NW3 full area and the diffused thin front .

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The good news was at 46 I was never going 'bald' with this amount of hair. The bad news was to get my front area to match my back was going to be way more work than I originally thought

[drybone]

My FUT scar is healing nicely for 4 months. The indent is still there but the line is quite small. I am happy with it.

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The bad news is that after some shock loss and initial shed from fin , it was obvious that I had not resolved my hairline nor was it probable that she implanted even 1000 grafts .

[drybone]

After 5 months I can clearly see where Dr Pizzaro had done the work. It is thin on top and barely any temple hair on the sides to shrink my forehead. However, the good news is the procedure works. My hair survives and grows.

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The amount of grafts that were in place after surgery are virtually identical to the ones that grew out. 99% survived I actually had about 100 hairs that never even went into the resting phase.

[drybone]

After 6 months the hairs are not fully mature but this is basically what we have received. It looks great for the hairs that were put in.

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Unfortunately, the best estimate I can come up with is she only put in 700 grafts. Her follow up was non- existent. She used outdated needle methods because it was cheaper. Her salesperson was self absorbed. The final result was nowhere near what I had expected when I shelled out the $4000 . My final analysis is that she is far more concerned with running an assembly line rather than having happy customers.

I am grateful to Dr Pizarro for the good aspects of it but I do not consider it good value for the money. It ended up being about $5.70 per FUT graft with a needle.