Coalition Surgeons

Janna · #1 **Top** 05-07-2008, 09:51 AM

Chucky has since had a ht with SMG last week to address his main concern - his crown. Since he still has friends from this site, he asked that I post on his behalf his write up and his pictures from his surgery. Below I copy and pasted his write up from another site.

This is my HT journey.

I flew from Newcastle airport on Saturday morning to Amsterdam with KLM which took one hour. Then it was a direct flight to Minneapolis with NWA which took eight hours.

Arrived at the airport at 3.30pm, went through customs and got the hotel shuttle (mini bus) to the hotel which took about 20 minutes. The hotel was the Country Inn and Suites. This is a nice hotel and is five minutes from Shapiro Medical Group. One extra bonus the hotel had was free use of computers with internet access. It cost me ??637 all in with flight and accommodations for three nights.

There are quite a few sports bars and restaurants a few minutes walk from the hotel and a downtown area which has loads of bars, restaurants, shops etc.

I also visited the Mall of America which is a huge shopping centre full of everything you need. It's one of the biggest malls in the world. The hotel shuttle will take you to and from the airport, Mall of America and to SMG as a free service. The hotel is used to SMG patients and the shuttle bus drivers too. They were all very friendly. The hotel gives discounts to SMG patients. The discount rate is $99 per night.

Met Janna on Sunday for lunch and she showed me around the downtown areas. There are two downtowns. One is Minneapolis and the other is St. Paul. The two cities are close within 15 minutes drive of each other. The center of the 2 downtown has skyways ??“ walkways from building to building above the streets so you don't have to go outside in bad weather. They were both beautiful clean cities.

Monday morning Janna picked me up and took me to SMG. I met Dr Shapiro and we talked about my expectations and he examined my hair. Then I was in the chair. Got my anesthetic needles in my scalp which I never felt a thing as they use a vibrating tool. Dr Shapiro removed my strip and then the techs starting the cutting while I was being sutured up and then Dr Shapiro made the incisions for my new hair. When about 90% of the incisions were made, they used a dye onto my recipient area for them to see the incisions better. They save the other 10% to be used for fine tuning at the end. They were also taking estimates of how many grafts were to be expect every half hours or so.

Janna and the other techs then started to plant with Dr Shapiro checking all the time as my crown planting was not straight forward due to my previous poor work which left plugs in there growing in the wrong directions. My crown work went great and then they proceeded to plant in the middle of my hairline. Janna planted every single graft in the hairline. Then towards the end, Dr. Shapiro and Janna did the stick/plant method to fine tune the hairline. This is where Dr. Shapiro makes the incision and Janna plants straight away after each incision is made. They said once the incisions are filled with grafts, you can see spaces in between, so Dr. Shapiro always asks for single hairs to be saved for this part.

Photos were taken at every opportunity by Janna and Dr Shapiro.

Once finished I was shown the work and asked if I was happy which I was.

Went back to the hotel and logged on the net and chilled out for the night. I took two Vicodin for pain before I went to bed, woke up fine and didn't need any more pain relief meds. I took two though just before my plane journey home to be safe.

Next day Tuesday, checked out of hotel and went to SMG for a hair wash and haircut. They took more photos and a video of the work.

Janna and Dr Shapiro chatted with me again to confirm I was happy. I then hung around and was invited to watch a live surgery of planting and cutting grafts which was very interesting. They were very professional and great at what they were doing.

I would without any doubt say that if you choose to have a HT with SMG that you will have a great experience and receive a world class result.

I flew home at 7.30 pm on Tuesday. I took some valium on the plane and slept most of the way back to Amsterdam. Then the short one hour flight back to Newcastle.

Now sitting at home happy as can be thanks to SMG.

Graft count

1-285

2-907

3-399

4-23

1614grafts =3388 hairs

strip size was 1.3width by 16.5cm length

richie48 · #2 **Top** 05-07-2008, 10:08 AM

WHAAAAHOOOO ! chuckys back

Well sort of anyway hahahaha

For friends of chucky aka bigmac and interested people , he decided to go with Dr Shiparo for his third HT after extensive research .

I have been intouch through another forum and he is happy and upbeat about his shiparo experience , his good detailed write up is certainly one for newbies and veterans alike .

Well done big guy , look forward to seeing your progress and updates from janna and the team at SMG .

I hope to see chucky in person at the next hair geek meet in Birmingham UK so i will see for myself his progress .

Janna question ...... Why does Doctor Shiparo use sutures instead of staples ?

thanks
richie

Janna · #3 **Top** 05-07-2008, 10:20 AM

Richie,

It's Shapiro - not Shiparo.......lol.

Dr. Shapiro will sometimes use staples and sometimes sutures depending on his judgement for each individual case.
Chucky/Bigmac received the inner sutures and outer nylon sutures. I don't think he'll have an issue with his donor scar this time around. Despite extracting the bigger scar he had from his previous ht, he's donor laxity was very good for an optimal result.

flyby · #4 **Top** 05-07-2008, 10:43 AM

Damn Chucky! That's some serious flying within such a short amount of time. Definitely worth flying that far for the incredible results you're gonna get since SMG seems to always achieve incredible results.

From you previous Chucky Icon I woulda thought you were much more of a repair case then you actually were.

Good luck!

richie48 · #5 **Top** 05-07-2008, 10:54 AM

OOPS

I mean SHAPIRO , sorry janna and Dr Shapiro hahahaha

a humble
richie

spex · #6 **Top** 05-08-2008, 02:49 AM

Awesome stuff! Congrats Chucky/Bigmac on your recent HT - Heal and grow well!!!!!! I am sure SMG looked after you and performed their usual top shelf work! - Well done ! Great pics

And everyone had him pinned as a Fellerite...

PLEASE GROW PLEASE · #7 **Top** 05-08-2008, 06:35 AM

Glad to hear your visit was great and the work looks real good.
Im going to have to have a talk with Janna . Ive read countless stories how wonderful she was to guys traveling there and all I got was a punch in the arm for not using the foam and a hug when I left. I feel hurt right now. Wheres my lunch or blanket?
I had a great time in Minneapolis . A couple nights before I went in for surgery I went with some friends downtown and was suprised how many rockin bars they have. There were 4 bands playing on the same block. The Mall of America will drain your account quick so dont go too early.
Anyway good growing to you.
You picked who I truly feel is the best clinic around .
Ive only visited 6 but SMG really blew me away, from the doc to ALL the staff and the aftercare. Its quite amazing.

Janna · #8 **Top** 05-08-2008, 08:52 AM

PGP,

I recall you declining the blanket ;-) You know we love ya!

the B spot · #9 **Top** 05-09-2008, 02:51 PM

Just caught this thread---glad everything went well!!!!!!!

Chucky will be looking good soon enough!!!!

TooThin · #10 **Top** 05-09-2008, 05:45 PM

Chucky:

I echo your postive sentiments on SMG. I recently underwent repair work by Dr. Ron and the team at SMG. It was well worth the flight and expense. I am sure you will be happy with your result

TooThin

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