> I have just turned 42 and have have about 2,300 grafts on top of my
> head. These were inserted about 19 days ago by Dr Feller. Thats where
> I am today, my hairloss history probably starts about 25 years ago in
> school. I remember guys at school noticing my hair was fine and that
> my scalp was visible when my hair was wet. Its not quite that it
> bothered me greatly, more that I was aware of it, what I did know was that if
> I could keep my hair, I would do what I could to do so. My hair was
> always brushed backwards and stood up so it gave me a little extra
> height, at best I am 5 foot 7 inches tall. Around the age of 30 I
> noticed the hairloss starting. When my first son was born, and there
> were pictures taken of me looking down at the new arrival, a visible line
> accross the top of the skull was appearing. This was not really
> noticable to me most of the time as the hair as the front of the
> hairline was thick enough to hide it. Fast forward a few years, the
> hair is slowly getting thinner, we are lucky enough to have two sons
> now. My wife decides a family of four is nice round number and there will be no more additions. Propecia
> ( I'd think carefully before taking this product, consult your doctor)
> is available, not a threat to my wife or future kids so I start taking
> it and it works...for the time being...there is a slight development
> of moobs which is one of the potential side effects. Around 2010 I
> have not lost much more hair, but it is still fine on the top. In the
> summer I go to a clinic in Dublin where the actor James Nesbitt who
> tell I need 2500 grafts. High definition pictures shock me about how
> much hair I have lost. However the cost would be €25,000 and I
> ultimately decide its not worth it and would put too much pressure on
> our families finances. It was also not that easy or not easy enough to
> find examples of the clinics work. In spring 2011 I did contact Spex
> but did not really pursue looking into a transplant, to be honest I
> was probably confused and did not know what I wanted. My mind was made
> up however as that summer my hairloss suddenly increased, not sure if
> this was related to switching to a generic version of propecia that
> was cheaper and sourced from Spain. It was time to change what I was
> doing or get the buzz cut. There was a gap appearing in the hairline
> above both eyes. I dont like this new look and now it is bothering me.
> I contacted Spex again last sping. He
> advises such products as Rogaine foam 5%, Saw Palmetto and Nizoral
> shampoo. I started using these and recovered some of the hair I had
> lost. Spex sends pictures of me to Dr Feller who suggests about 2300
> grafts. The cost is much more afforadable, about $10,500. Luckily a
> work savings scheme matures and I have funds for the $2,500 deposit
> that are not needed for family matters. Within a couple of weeks of making
> contact with Spex again and after checking out Dr Feller's work, in
> March I book a date with Feller Medical for August 27th and book
> flights that same week.
> I have found Spex an amazing help. At times I was surpised that he was
> so patient and so helpfull in answering all my emails and questions,
> never making you feel like you were asking stupid questions and
> probably responding to questions he had answered thousands of times.
> If I am honest I went with Dr Feller, not so much because of all the
> positive things on the web about his work but because it occured to me
> that Spex, given his growing profile, would only align himself to one of the
> very best surgeons.
> Fast forward to August 27th. I stayed in the Adria Hotel the night
> before and am booked in for tonight, I went for a less expensive hotel
> and treated myself to hiring a Chevy Camaro ( what midlife crisis) hire car .
> The Adria is fine, a little small, the room was clean, had good wifi
> and a lot of movie channels. Breakfast does not start till 7 so I
> missed this as I did not want to be late for Dr Feller. There are however many
> restaurants very close and a Dunkin Donuts and Burger King / Wendys accross the
> road.
> Dr Feller himself exceeded the tales of making you feel at ease and
> being very witty. He made me feel like I had known him for years and
> we chatted for about 15 mins about his hobby of flying. He is a very
> likeable person and just enspires confidence. After 5 mins in his
> company I was sure that I had made a very good choice and was in good
> hands. He told me has been doing this for 15 years and I was really
> surprised by how personable he was.
> I guess the procedure started about 9am. Dr Feller talks you through
> each part. He gave me some meds to relax me and started with shots to
> numb the donor area, the first few shots I could feel a bit, slightly
> more so when he worked on the left, however, as the area became numb I
> would feel less of the shots. He told me some guys dont like the shots
> but said I did pretty good, in general I dont llike needles but knew
> it had to done so didnt mind them too much. After a while I feel
> shivery and cold, the doc tells me why this is but now I forget what
> he said, they give me a blanket. What I didnt mention to him was I
> seemed to find it a little harder to hear.Soon, while I was aware he was
> soon taking a donor strip I couldnt feel anything. The top of my head
> was buzz cut and then shaved. Then there were shots into the
> transplant area. Again I could feel the first few but they were ok.
> What happened next I didnt expect...I started falling asleep. He
> encouraged me to sleep saying 80% of guys do for a while. I'd guess I
> slept for most of the time while he worked on the area to receive the
> grafts as his team prepared them. I woke up when he was finished
> and his team then took over and started implanting the grafts. There
> were two teams of 3 ladies. 1 on either side and 1 at the back keeping
> the transplant area wet. The girls work in silence and seem very
> focussed, I cant feel a thing up top but am aware of where they are
> working.During the procedure Dr Feller shows what is happening to
> someone who I assume is having a consultation, I dont see his face. I
> did however get to meet a nice English guy who had 2 transplants
> already, he tells he had lost all his hair on top, what he has now
> looks really good.I did regret not getting a coffee before we started
> as I feel
> I need one and my neck is kinda killing me...this happens to me when I
> change cars e.g. getting a hire car on hols, and I should have remembered this.
> Its all finished about 2-3pm. They gave me lunch ( you order this
> around noon from a deli menu ) and a coffee which I was really glad
> to get. One of Dr Feller's ladies explains to me what to do for the
> next few days, washing the donor area as normal but only using a cup
> on the new hairs for 2-3 days, very important to keep clean but dont
> touch at all. Then Dr Feller tells me is very happy with how things
> went, shows me pics of my new hair and answers any questions I have.
> While I feel good for some reason I'm a little out of it. I could
> drive back to New Jersey in the mid life crisis mobile where I am staying with relatives but am glad
> I am just going back to the hotel in a taxi with a larger baseball cap that
> the doc gave me. I brought one but its not large enough. The head
> feels numb but not sore at all. To be extra cautious I sleep in a
> chair that night. If you remember I said the Adria is small, not
> fancy, but now I am glad of its good wifi and close proximity to food
> outlets and Dunkin Donuts which I walked over to, I guess I'm back in
> the hotel about 4.30. I didnt sleep really well but it was ok, could
> be the chair, the doc gave me painkillers in case I need them but I
> only take one the next day. There is no pain, more an awareness of the
> 65 staples in the donor area. The second night I wake up as I feel the
> top of my head touch a pillow, it felt like there are very strong
> stalks in my head, luckily no grafts are lost. Over 3 days, this is
> the only time the grafts touch anything. The HT was done a Monday, I
> get home to Ireland Saturday. While you probably need 3 weeks off work if you
> dont want people to know you had a HT, I only took a week as I didnt
> want to impact our family summer hols. Before I go back to work to
> work I get my remaining hair cut down more, I
> have prepositioned a hairdresser who has had guys with HT's before and
> we have a plan for the next few months, the hair on the sides growing
> much quicker so we need to keep these trim. Tuesday I go back to work, my boss is very supportive.
> Up to now I had only told my wife and him about the HT. He has no
> problem with me wearing a baseball cap but points out it might look
> odd with a suit and tie. As it happens we are too busy at work for me
> to worry about what people think so as I think I need to I explain to
> people that I had a HT. I feel I need to do this due to the visible
> line at the donor area, the top of the head now just looks like a buzz cut.
. My wife took out the staples after 12 days,
> these were a bit itchy. The redness and flakyness in the new area went
> in the second week. The grafts are still all there today but growing
> really slowly, if at all. If the new hairs are to fall away as happens
> in 80-90% of cases, that should start this week. Hopefully the visible
> donor line will blend in soon, I am concious about that line and have bought nanogen fibres in case I have a meeting to attend. My wife and I did a test and these do conceal the gap nicely, I am however giving it 3 weeks before I use these fully as I want the donor area to remain clean and heal properly. There are 1 or 2 itchy spots where the staples were and if my head touches the car headrest the donor area is noticeably numb. All par for the course from what I read on the web. So far so good. I will post time and again with pics so you can see how it grows. It may take a while for it to grow but again that's to be expected. I guess you need to patient....my boys don't really like the buzz cut look... I'm stuck with it for a while though!
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