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Thread: Shock loss

  1. #11
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    In regards to Codeman, whom said he felt we were in similar situations, I recommended the strip scar repair surgery. And only because that is what I did and I have found contentment in being able to have my hair at a certain length and not let it be hindrance to my self-confidence in appearance. I may have been a little confusing in my original post. It was getting late and I was typing fast.

    Because my one and only hair transplant surgery so far, transplanted hairs were transplanted in a region that did not need hair and caused thinning that was not thinning prior to the surgery. He indicated he could not afford a major repair job. I found it to be much cheaper to buy some years by being able to go shorter with the scar repair/scar transplant surgery as opposed to going back in and transplanting more hair on the top of my head and possibly causing more shock loss.

    dgman221, did you have shockloss also from strip surgery?

  2. #12
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    Denver,
    I am really contempalting getting strip surgery but after posts I get scared. I'm just so sick of seeing my thinning hair. It's like I'm afraing to take a shower or brush it due to more hairs falling out and more of my scalp being exposed. I just want to thicken it up. I've gotten 3-4 doctors opinions on the IAHRS website and they vary saying I don't need it yet to 600 grafts to 2,000 grafts. I wish I can get over this. I have to fix my hair a certain way so I don't expose my balding areas.

  3. #13
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    dg,

    I am only one person with an opinion, but I wouldn't tell my worst enemy to get a strip surgery. FUE is more expensive but you don't risk the scar. I am young but one day I may have to have chemotherapy. I don't even want to think about dealing with having a scar from one ear to the other on the back of my head knowing my hair would probably fall out...to me, people knowing I had the surgery is even worse than going bald.

    Also, in the event you are not happy with the surgery and decide instead of chasing your baldness for years to come and spending thousands of dollars, now you may be stuck with dealing with your thinning hair, bad surgery and a scar to deal with to determine how you are going to proceed.

    Keep doing research and think about it and you will make the right decision. I am not against hair transplant surgery so I don't want to sway you but it is good to know the risks.

  4. #14
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    Denver mint, How short is your hair right now? And how much did the scar transplant/repair cost you? You say it was worth it so apparently you would recommend it? I am ok with shaving my head as close as I can but need to know if Dr. Cole is affordable and if he gave you good results. I was hoping he could take my donor hairs from either my front hairline where the Bosley "doctor" placed them too low and too far apart. How is your scarring in the donor area? I actually scar little compared to others and have great healing skin. I just don't want noticeable scarring on my forehead, however I also don't want a patch of sprouts on my forehead that is isolated when it starts growing back out because I was too busy to shave EVERY DAY.

    I agree with what you said about not wishing the strip surgery on your worst enemy. It has really turned my life upside down. I have a lot going for me but it makes you CONSTANTLY embarrassed that you went through with it. I DID NOT do my research and sort of rushed into it. How stupid can one be?! I put my faith in other human beings and learned a hard lesson. One that will stay with me until the day I die.

    Scars do get better over time and my hope is to be able to shave my head with a razor and just have the scar which in a # of yrs will be skin color instead of pink. Lots of people have scars in visible places. Mine just happens to be on the back of my head now. I will own it and hope and pray that it is not as noticeable as it could be. I have a wife that loves me no matter what scars I have so I am extremely blessed. Everybody else that sees the scar can assume what they want about me and if they judge me then that is their sin. I don't really care. The people that matter are my family and those that love me and to those people, the scar is exactly that, just a scar! It still doesn't mean I don't want it to be as minimally noticeable as possible ha!

    Thanks for your replies, information, and support DM. I am really glad you feel better about the whole situation and with the way things are only 2 yrs after THE PROCEDURE. If you have any pics you could share I'd love to see them. Really thinking about visiting Dr. Cole because I may could actually afford it. I am in graduate school and have no income for the next 2 yrs but I have some emergency cash put away that might take care of his fee. I sure hope so!

    Codeman

  5. #15
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    Right now my hair is at a 3 guard with a Wahl razor. I shave it about once a week. As I said before, I have actually had it down to a one on top and 2 on the back and sides. It sounds wierd to have the top shorter but a 1 and 2 guard are so close that it doesn't look bad...however, I cannot go any lower than a 2 guard on the razor without the scar being noticeable.

    Info on the scar correction: The transplanted hairs do not cover the scar completely. Dr. Cole indicated it takes two or even three surgeries to get the scar where you want it to be, but he and is and his office staff told me not to expect to ever fully conceal it. That is not to scare you away from getting the scar repair done. I had one surgery and it has done wonders.

    Dr. Cole did tell me if I wanted to have the implanted hairs taken out he can do that in the front. There is however risk of minimal scarring but nothing like the strip scar. Give them a call and get a consultation.

    My repair surgery was $2,000.

  6. #16
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    You are my Godsend DM. Thanks so much for the information. I actually have approximately that amount at my disposal. I live a good ways away from Georgia so I'm wondering if he could do an online consult and get adequate information to assess my situation. Did you drive over for a consult, then go back for the procedure. Also where did he take your donor hairs from? I may have a small ridge in one area of my scar but I doubt that changes whether or not he can help me. The Bosley "doctor" that did my surgery is a board certified plastic surgeon so I figured I didn't need to worry about him leaving me with a bad scar and that he would do his best to make the scar as minimal as possible. However, as rough and quickly as he sewed it up, I now know that he definitely could have put more care and effort into it. Oh well, what is done is done.

    Codeman

  7. #17
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    Default Same Shock loss

    Quote Originally Posted by Denver Mint View Post
    Codeman:

    I can feel your pain and sorry you are going through this. My anxiety was like a roller-coaster for a long time. With that being said, there is hope. I actually quit taking propecia and haven't done so for about a year and half. My shedding slowed down significantly and I don't really notice much shedding anymore...even less than before I had the procedure. I think the shedding prior to the surgury was my hair pattern finishing out my "island patch" in the front.

    That being said, I can share with you what I have went through. The back 2/3 of the top of my head still looks worse than before the surgery and I have come to grips with it. It was a long emotional journey and I still feel the emotional remnants of it and I just passed my 2 year anniversary of the procedure. My hair was too thin to wear any longer than a 5 guard without feeling self-conscious.

    In May of 2009 I really started researching strip-scar revisions because I came to the conclusion I could not afford another surgery so my decision was to go shorter...ironically the reason I had the surgery in the first place because I didn't want to shave my head. The problem is, you can't shave your head with a huge scar covering the back of your head. The scar was concealed but I couldn't go lower than a 5 guard without it being noticeable. So I was stuck with overly thinning hair on top or risk everyone seeing the scar and knowing I had the surgery.

    I am not sure if I can recommend surgeons on this site but I will mention who I went to. I researched and found Dr. Cole in Atlanta. I believe it is IHTI. From what I read I had to put faith because I had nowhere else to turn to resolve it. I went and had an FUE procedure which pulls individual grafts out without scarring. There is supposedly a little scar that is left but unless you shave your head completely you will not notice it. I had 200 grafts placed in the scar area...doesn't sound like much but it has made a huge difference.

    I am now able to shave my head all over with a three guard and the scar is undetectable. With it down to a three, the thinning on top is not nearly as noticeable. If you can get strip scar surgery I really think it can buy you some time. It costed me $2,000 for the surgery but it was worth every penny, imo. It is not perfect, but I can go anywhere I want without people seeing the scar.

    Another thing I discovered while I had the surgery was Toppek. You may want to look into this. The Toppek fibers work pretty well. I used it when my hair was longer when I was still nervous about shaving my head and it really gives pretty good coverage. It is a fiber that sticks to your hair. The one thing to keep in mind is that it usually doesn't match your hair perfectly. I have dark brown hair and if I over-applied it, it looked closer to black. Because of fighting with putting Toppek on everyday, I decided to shave it. I still use Toppek to fill in some thin spots with my 3 guard shave but I use a little spray nozzle which makes it very easy. I have been able to shave the top of my head as low as a 1 guard and my side and back I can go as low as a 2 guard but I have to use Dermatch to put on the scar area. Don't get too bogged down in the dermatch stuff, I was just experimenting with ways to see how low I could go.

    All that said, I decided to put grafts into my scar and go shorter. If nothing else it has bought me time to if and when I would like another procedure. If I do decide it will be with FUE procedure, not Bosley. If I wouldn't have had the scar in the first place, at least I would be able to shave it and move on. I regret the decision to go and if I had it back I would've rather flushed the money down the toilet...that stinks to live with that kind of regret but I have to move forward. My regret is because I have the scar, not for the hair thinning. As I said before, the hair did stop falling out. I would have had an FUE...if only I had done a little more research prior to them putting the knife to the back of my head.

    Hope this helped. Hang in there and stay strong. Alot of men have been through what you are going through and we have survived.

    I wanted to add that the front portion that really needed the implant looks pretty good. It is not as thick as I would've liked but I can't complain about it. I actually have turf over my entire head and nobody knows or at least has looked at my funny or made a single comment about my hair looking different.
    I have experienced massive shock loss from my recent HT in 11/2010. All my native hair in the HT area are now gone. What left on my head (front and temple) are now those pin-hole from so the HT. Can you please let me know if any of your shock loss hair came back and how long did it take? Is your HT grow at all? Thx

  8. #18
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    Shockloss:

    As far as I can tell the schock loss hair did not come back. As far as the HT hair, it will fall out but it should come back. Surpisingly I never really experienced my transplanted hair fall out all at once.

    From my experience, it was true that it takes at least 6 months but closer to a year for the hair to finally achieve the result you are looking for. Try not to get too panicked about the transplanted hair until at least May. It seemed by about month 4 things started to dramatically fill in and by about 9 months I was pretty happy with the transplanted area.

  9. #19
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    Codeman:

    Dr. Cole's office actually encourages online consultation for those out of the area. I was going to do that but I was traveling through Atlanta so I went to the office and had a consultation. I will say this in case you decide to look into it further, the consultation staff seems a little quirky but Dr. Cole is very good...just in case you get scared away if you meet them for a consultation.

    They took my 200 hairs from the back (non-donor region) and sides of my head. As far as the scar itself, I don't think that will be an issue because Dr. Cole was able to quickly assess what he needed to do to implant at the right place.

    Again, if and when I decide to have another procedure with Dr. Cole, I will also have him put a second round of hair in my scar region. I think another 100 or so will "seal the deal" for my scar. I am hopeful that at some point I can shave my entire head to a 2 (I posted previously I can go as low as a 2 guard but I have to use Dermatch). Dermatch is actually cheap and goes a long way but it is messy and you will leave a dark spot on a pillow when sleeping through the night if you don't wash it off before you go to bed. The problem is that when you go too short, the lightened color of the scar does become exposed. He told me that I would probably need about 1500 grafts to repair the shock loss area on my head and fill in some areas where Bosley could have done better. If I remeber correctly, he charges $10/graft for non-shaven surgery and $8/graft if you shave your head...needless to say 1500 grafts is about double what I paid at Bosley for my initial procedure. If it were cheaper I would probably have done the repair surgery from the Bosley botch.

    Considering all of the horror stories from HT and websites like this, it won't surprise me to see a TV special about Bosley procedures and future lawsuits.

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Denver Mint View Post
    I just looked over my post and wanted to clarify if I had to it over again I would not have transplanted in the thicker hair. I indicated it wasn't for the thinning but obviously that is what concerned me.
    That's why for most of us, it's better to wait it out and get as much benefit from effective hairloss meds so we maintain as much natural hair as we can for as long as we can.
    "Gillenator"
    Independent Patient Advocate
    more.hair@verizon.net

    NOTE: I am not a physician and not employed by any doctor/clinic. My opinions are not medical advice nor are they the opinions of the following endorsing physicians: Dr. Bob True & Dr. Bob Dorin

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