45 year old male with a NW-7 pattern, wanted to start the hair restoration process with a large procedure. Later he will do a second session.

~6000 FU/13,200 hairs

__________________
I am employed by Dr. Arocha as his lead tech at Arocha Hair Restoration.

Dr. Arocha is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

Microscopic Slivers,

6000 grafts is a gigantic megasession. Do you have some surgical details you can provide such as hair count breakdowns, the width and length of the strip harvested, and donor density in FU/cm2?

Also, do you have any top down pictures of the head immediately after surgery like you provided before surgery?

I trust with such a great number of grafts that this patient will turn out with a very nice head of hair.

Best wishes,

Bill

__________________
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

View our hair loss articles on EZineArticles.com

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To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

I just wanted to correct the records as far as the timing of this pictures. My surgery was done on August 15, 2008 and the last pictures were taken on November 15, 2008, exactly 3 months later. There are some pictures in between during the first and 2nd month also.

I am forever thankful to Dr. Arocha for what he has done for me and even since the last pictures, I have more hair now. The procedure was much, much better than what I expected. I never dreamed what can be done with today's technology and hand's of an artist. Thank you again Dr. Arocha!!!

I can't wait for my 2nd procedure soon. And thanks for covering my eyes.

FormerlyBald,

I'm assuming by your comments that the patient above is you? If so, congratulations.

Can you confirm that you've received 6000 grafts? I'd like to see some photos showing the top of the scalp right after surgery and obtain your strip measurements if you've got them.

Happy growing!

Best wishes,

Bill

__________________
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

View our hair loss articles on EZineArticles.com

Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Subscribe to our Newsletters | How We Recommend Physicians

-----

To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

Once again i have to point how how pissed i would be if i didnt agree to show my whole face to the world and they just slapped that tiny bar over my eyes! hahaha

Anybody that knows this guy can easily spot him now. Tons of doctors doing this and it seriously scares me cause i dont want the world knowing my bald troubles.

Do you guys? Sheesh!

Bill,

I don't have my strip measurment but I can confirm that I received 6,058 grafts. I am not a medical doctor and don't know about the exact details that I want. All I can tell you is that Dr. Arocha and his staff were kind enough to show me the count and also everytime they were making a whole in my head, they were counting it. My strip, as you might be able to see from the pictures, started from above my right ear, cover the entire back and then went all the way to the other ear. As far as density, I have pretty dense hair.

These are the pictures that I got from Dr. Arocha after surgery. I do have a top down after surgery that I have posted as well. If I am not looking down enough is perhaps I was a bit sore after the surgery.

Hope that answers your questions. All I can tell you, from other friends of mine that they got their procedure done somewhere else, I happend to be the lucky one and got the best result. My head did not swell up one bit after the surgery and I did not lose any hair after that. Everyone was telling me not to get too attached to the initial hair since it is going to fall out, but it never happend to me. I don't know if it was because of the talented hands of Dr. Arocha or I was extremely lucky. Perhaps a combination of both.

formerly bald, how many grafts does the dr. think he can get from your second session? also, where will you place the grafts?
congrats!

__________________
HT #1: Karamikian Unknown # of grafts Sept.2006

HT#2 Nov.23rd, 2007
Dr.Feller
Almost 3200 grafts via strip

HT#3 April 2010
Fue 200/side into temple points

HT#4 February 2011

My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Feller

Vincehair,

Thanks for your concern but it is not my concern any longer. You should have gotten that from my screen name, "FormerlyBald". Ha Ha??¦

When Dr. Arocha asked me if he could use my pictures as a case study, since I was extremely pleased with his work and professionalism, I said sure. He gave me a choice of covering my eyes or not and I granted him the no eyes covered. However, being as a classy of the doctor as he is, he still chose to cover my eyes.

I have to tell you this... From the very bald pictures of mine, taken on August 15, 2008 until the final set taken on November 15, 2008, you have no idea what pleasure it gives me to see the improvement. Since I look at myself in the mirror every day (several thousand times per day), I have gotten used to it and don't see the improvement. For that purpose alone, I look at the pictures and say wow...

I was hiding my baldness under a hair system for 17 years and I must say that most people did not know about it, but I knew and it was bothering me a lot. Not to mention the fact that I was getting one new hair per month and was spending near $400 monthly so I could have hair that looked, well 'natural'. I am not against hair system now, but it had taken its toll on me and one day, I got up and said I have had. I shaved my head and thought I would be happy just shaving it everyday. Until I found out that I was not and wanted very badly a full head of hair and not just appearance of some hair.

I finally did something about it and if you are in the same boat, I would say do your homework, find out where you are at with regards to your baldness pattern (Norwood') and then find the right doctor. I spoke with 8 doctors on the phone and consulted with them after sending in my pictures. Was not happy with 5 right of the bat and then took the time and actually saw three of them in person, one in Dallas, one in Oklahoma and one in California. I don't want to name the ones that I did not pick because I don't want to destroy their reputations. To give you an idea, they either fell in the category of "used car salesman" that would tell you anything to get your business, or way too conservative that would not help me. Two of the doctors told me that the best they could do for me would be 1500 graphs which would only cover the very front. They said that I did not have enough donor hair but in about 8 months to a year, they "may" be able to get another 1500, which still would leave me showing bald.

Now, imagine, I did not go under the blades to still look bald. I wanted full coverage and needed someone who can realistically look at me and is technically and artistically talented enough to want to do at least 5000 or more. Well, after about six months of search, I found the right doctor. He was unlike the other 8 that I had seen before and gave me some realistic hope. That would be Dr. Arocha in Houston. He operates out of his Houston office but also does consultations in his Dallas once a week on Thursday.

I met with him and one of his assistants, Craig. The difference from the beginning was night and day compared to others that I have seen or talked to after sending in my pictures. He was extremely professional, kind and understanding since he was hiding his baldness for several years under a hair system before he went under the knife himself. So we instantly clicked. He is very trusting, very knowledgeable in his field and really truly an artist. I think the doctor that you choose has to have all of the above and more importantly there must be the element of trust from the beginning.

After a full examination of my hair and scalp elasticity, he assured me that he can address my concern and get 6,000 graphs in one session. And he did. All in one day. We started on Saturday at 8:00 in the morning and the doctor and his three assistants did not quit until about 10:30 at night. You would figure during the whole time I was in pain and uncomfortable but on the contrary, after the first shot or two, I never felt any pain. They kept me entertained, fed me and took care of all the way. When they were done with me, I could not help but to give each of them a big hug and yes, as much as it hurts my manhood, I was in tears from the joy. I feel like I have found friends for life and I will gladly help anyone who has been in my boat to find what is right for them. I feel that I owe it to them.

I certainly help that you find the right doctor if you choose to go the route of transplant.

Best of Luck man...

P.S. Don't worry about what people think of you. The hell with them. Be yourself and do what's right for you. If you are bald and don't want to do anything about it, then be comfortable with it. If you are shallow like me, then do something about it, but again, don't do it based on what others say necessarily, do your homework. After all, you only have one head and if the job does not come out good, then what? If you are worried about people finding it about now, imagine how much worse it would be if your plugs carry a sign that says, 'look at my cornfield'. Yeah, I saved some money by going to so and so and look at my hair now. Take care man??¦

Hairthere,

After Dr. Arocha examined me about 3 weeks ago, he mentioned that he can easily get at least 2000 or even 3000 from my back area, just below or above the initial strip (not as long or as wide of course) and I am planning on place it on my crown. I never added any hair to the crown, except for shrinking the boldness of it by using the initial 6,000 plus graph.

I have a lot of hair growing there and I think it is because of Rogain and Propecia that I have been taking since couple of days after the surgery. I was told Propecia takes about 6 months or so to work so it must be Rogain for now.

At any rate, I want full density on my crown so there is no trace of thining hair anywhere. I think if you do this, you should do it the right way or go all the way. Nothing is worse than having a patchy hair.

I do work full time and travel (software sales executive), so I am trying to find some time that works for me and Dr. Arocha can fit me in. Once I do that, I will post additional pictures from my crown, from day one all the way to now, the day of surgery, a month from then, 3 months from then and so forth. I even authorized Dr. Arocha to use my pictures at his site to show how a mega session of 6000 plus is possible in one day and yes, for a very bald Norwood 7. And believe me this is a big step for me since I am constantly in the public eyes and would never imagine that I would want people to see my baldness. But the issue is that I am no longer bald and won't be. Plus, it is not detectable at all. So, if it helps some people in my boat, why not?

I am just thrilled to have hair once again at 45 and I owe it all to Dr. Arocha and his staff. There is not a thing that I would not do for him because to me, no amount of money can pay him for what he has done for me.

Best of luck

The below response is from Dr. Arocha directly.

This patient has a very large head and he is a NW7, so he had >300+ cm2 of area to cover. I focused on raising his lateral humps, to anchor his hairline(HL), the HL which took about 1800 FU, then I employed DFU's in the frontal core and behind the HL (1000 DFU). The remaining 1800+ FU were employed to thinly cover the mid scalp to the frontal core. He received only a light dusting in the crown to take the shine off and decrease the size on this session. We will address the crown later on, if need be. Regarding the strip 38 cm long( 20 cmx 2.2, 18 cmx 1.5), density 79.7 FU/cm2. You are correct the post surgery jpeg was taken on the day after. If you are interested I can have Craig post the same day jpegs when we have some down time.

__________________
I am employed by Dr. Arocha as his lead tech at Arocha Hair Restoration.

Dr. Arocha is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians