Hi Everyone,

I traveled to Ottawa, Canada on January 6th for a FUE procedure with Dr Rahal. I am going to try to post a very thorough write-up of the experience, and will be, uh, borrowing forum member Sean's template as I was impressed with his detail-oriented organization and posts.



Experience: I have been following hair restoration doctors since ~2005 when I was 32 years old, on forums similar to this. I was not really sure I wanted to do anything then, but then took a greater interest in 2008/09, when I began following a few doctors more closely. I had an online consultation with Hasson and Wong in early 2009, however after learning that they do not perform FUE, I lost interest.

In summer of last year, I began to get serious in my search for an FUE doctor and began viewing cases and talking to patients online. I would estimate that I viewed several hundred restoration cases (both Strip and FUE) and spoke with about a dozen patients online. In mid-October I had an online consultation with Dr Rahal's people and Dr. Feller's people, as well as one or two others. Representatives from both clinics were quick to get back to me, were very professional, and did not attempt to really pitch me anything, rather came back with a recommendation as I asked.

Dr. Feller's people recommended around 2000 grafts for me, and recommended strip surgery - for two reasons. First he stated that Dr. Feller could not do FUE for me "...due to the number (of grafts) required and doesn't do back to back days." And they also recommended strip due to my hair characteristic.

I admire Dr. Feller for his principles. He could have easily told me that he would do FUE for me, over two sessions, and quoted an expensive price for me, as we all know FUE costs more than strip surgery. There was no way I was getting strip surgery however, so I chose to go my way.

Dr Rahal's people, during my online consult, suggested that I would be a "strong" candidate for FUE and recommended 2800 grafts, and quoted a price for both FUE and strip.

Due to my budget for the procedure, I asked if we could lower the number of grafts slightly, without impacting my goals very much - and we ultimately settled on the number of 2500 grafts, with the option to agree to more once I arrived. (For whatever reason, the cost of 2500 grafts ended up being slightly higher per graft than the cost of 2800, but at this point I had reached my decision, and I didn't really want to quibble over what was ultimately a few dollars.)






Experience: I flew from California, to DC, to Ottawa, as there are no direct flights from anywhere in California to Ottawa for whatever reason. I left a day early in case there was a weather issue, and took my work laptop so I could work as needed a few days after my procedure. The Ottawa airport is small and well laid out and it was very easy to get my bag, go through customs and get a cab to Foxbar. The cab driver even accepted American money (as does the drug store across the street from Dr. Rahal's office.)

Consent forms: About 8 million implied consent forms to fill out. In summary - you understand that hair transplants have varied results, and any disputes you might later have must be settled in Ontario.

Design/Meeting:

I walked to the clinic (3-4 mins walk from Foxbar) and met Dr. Rahal around 4:30pm on the day before my procedure. One of the first people I saw when I arrived was Mike the head nurse and it was nice to see him. He has a very nice manner with people and has of way of making you feel comfortable. Mike smiled at me when he saw me, and it made me feel good about being there. After a short while I met Dr Rahal, who was also very nice, and we talked about what I wanted to do. I showed him a few photos, of both people I know and of work he's previously done. Dr Rahal took some measurements and did an initial design, and mentioned that he would want to do the final measurements and design in the morning.

I asked Dr. Rahal about a million and a half questions and we discussed some details like the fact that for a small % of people FUE extraction is problematic (I think he said 5%) and that if I was one of those people I would have to decide whether to stop, or whether to consider a strip procedure at that time. He said that he didn't anticipate that for me after feeling the donor area. I guess he can get an idea about this from touch. I noticed Dr. Rahal has a good sense of humor outside the operating room, and I remember him saying one or two things that made me laugh although the details at the moment escape me. I also met Chad my patient advisor at this time, and I was happy to meet him after talking many times on the phone.


Future: Dr Rahal estimates that I would lose more hair in the future through the top-center region, but that I would likely never lose it all. He said this was based on my age and current hair / characteristics.



Before Procedure: As discussed, Dr. Rahal did much more thorough measurements and drew a bunch of rectangles on my forehead and head, taking into consideration my needs. Basically, I said I wanted to be modestly aggressive, but not foolishly aggressive. Dr. Rahal came up with 51 cm2 area to implant and mentioned what my varying densities would be based on 2500 grafts. He mentioned around 60 cm2 at the hairline, although I pushed for 65. Dr Rahal said that no 60 is good, and that it is even more dense than his own native hair. This made me content, because Dr Rahal has a full head of hair as far as I can see. We agreed that he would try to get more than 2500 grafts, but that a) I would have to pay for them, and b) we couldn't go for too many more, because 2500 is a lot and we do not want to risk donor shock loss and the other things that go along with taking too many grafts from a donor area my size.

Procedure FUE Day 1: Got my gown on, took some pictures, and then went in the procedure room. At some point I was given a valium-like sedative but I don't remember what time exactly.



Duration: Estimated procedure time from 7:50AM to 7:20PM

Experience: We began with some shots to numb the donor area, and these are not very fun. Imagine being stung by a bee, except in your head, and about 10-15 times more painful.

After that, Dr Rahal and Mike alternated taking turns doing my FUE extractions. I remember sort of feeling the punch (no pain), and then the pause as the follicles were taken out. The sensation sort of reminded me of if you stuck the tip of a mechanical pencil into a watermelon. A few times I had to have additional numbing shots and a few times I felt a bit of discomfort. The main discomfort was from being face down and my face squashing into the pillow. I am a fairly densely muscular person and believe my upper body weight contributed to that. So for a bit, my sinus areas were in pain from the pressure. The clinic made sure I was comfortable though, moving the pillow 7-8 times for me to ensure my comfort. A few times I groaned from the discomfort of the extraction procedure, and Dr Rahal pretty much told me I needed to suck it up. He was a lot more diplomatic than that with his words, but I got the message.

After the extraction process, which I felt like took an eternity, it was time to have a quick drink (Gatorade not Whiskey) and then move on to making my incisions. This was by far the least comfortable part of the process, although there was no pain, it was all psychological. I was given the nerve shots, which hurt like a bitch, but only for a second, and then Dr Rahal began the incisions. For some perspective, I will not even let women run their fingers through my hair or touch the front of my hair where my hairline is. So to have someone, even someone I trusted implicitly with the job, cutting little holes in the front of my head, made me extremely uncomfortable. I definitely breathed a little more heavily here, but I reminded myself that I was here for a reason and Dr Rahal is great and knows what he is doing, so to just deal with it. It helped that the clinic played very soothing music during the extractions/incisions. Whatever Dr. Rahal has on his iPod, it is good stuff.

The last part of the procedure was the implanting. I didn't really understand what was happening at this point, but probably because my mind was in a fog from the events of the day. A hair restoration is definitely a surreal experience. So I picked out a couple movies to watch, and then relaxed for the long implanting process. The movies were good, but in retrospect I would have just asked for continued music, because at that time I just needed to relax, not to get engaged in the movies. In any event, after 4-5 hours we were done. Dr Rahal and Mike let me know we had gotten 2822 grafts, and the technicians had let me know that I had a lot of "3s" and that my donor hair was very thick, so that made me happy.


Experience: What more can be said about Dr. Rahal's people? Everyone in Ottawa is great. Dr Rahal is really easy to talk to, yet is completely focused and on task when in the procedure room. Everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing. Mike is the freaking man. He answered all my questions in detail and really made me feel comfortable at all times we were working together. He just has that innate quality that you can not teach. Chad my patient advisor has been great, too, and has promptly answered all my questions. Everyone else there was great, too. The only drawback I can think of is that I have not received my pre and post op photos yet in email, even though I have asked for them a few times. I left Ottawa on 1/12 and still don't have them yet.

I posted some photos that I took with my iPad on 2 days post op.

Rest assured I do not look like this at the moment, now 26 days post op.

I have shed many of my grafts, and grown about 1/2 inch of my original native hair, but still have the visible sign of my new hairline because of some hairs and the difference in color. More photos to come.

Congrats and welcome to the club!!! The hard part is over and now the ugly duckling mode comes next but soon enough you will have your hair back! Keep us posted!!!

__________________
-HT with Dr. Rahal- December 2011- 4,616 grafts FUT

Check out my website updates: http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com...asp?WebID=2225

My HT write up: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.co...e-up-pics.html

My FOXBAR write up: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.co...4-600-fut.html

Great write up...even if you did plagiarize!! Ha...good luck!! we can all track one another!!

__________________
Newhairplease!!
Dr Rahal in January 19, 2012
4808 FUT grafts- 941 singles, 2809 doubles, 1031 triples, 27 quads

My Hairloss Website

Sugar,

Congratulations on your recent FUE with Dr. Rahal and thank you for taking the time to provide such a detailed account. I checked out your photos ans the hairline looks great. I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Happy growing!

__________________
David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website

Thanks, guys. I will be putting up some threads with 1-2-3 week updates.

SugarHighs I flew in from California from San Francisco to Toronto to Ottawa. I received 3744 grafts from Dr. Rahal to the frontal third on 1/17/12. I actually ran into NEWHAIRPLEASE when we were both getting follow ups. I am 16 days post-op and my grafts are ready to come out as well. Very nice write-up you picked a great surgeon and should turn some awesome results when it is all done. All of us on this thread with the exception of TakingthePlunge are within a months timeframe from surgery with Dr. Rahal so we can definitely keep up with each others results.

Parientlywaiting
I actually got the black eyes the day after I saw you. I looked like I had gone 10
Rounds with Tyson!!!

__________________
Newhairplease!!
Dr Rahal in January 19, 2012
4808 FUT grafts- 941 singles, 2809 doubles, 1031 triples, 27 quads

My Hairloss Website

Sugerhighs, just read your write up. Thanks for taking your time to do that and help others. Can't wait to read more in the upcoming days.

__________________
1st FUE Hair Transplant With Dr. Rahal 8/31/2011: A total of 3016 grafts (1091 singles, 1439 doubles, 407 threes, 79 fours) At least 5,000 grafts remaining in the donor for any future use if needed.
Current Regimen: Finasteride, Rogaine Foam, Dove Shampoo/Pantene Pro-V, NSI MSM 1000mg (1 capsule per day), NSI Omega 3 With EPA & DHA 2.126grams (2 softgels per day), Natrol Biotin 10,000MCG (1 tablet per day), NSI B-100 Complex (1 capsule per day) and etc...

My Hair Loss Website

Congrats!.....Looking forward to following your progress.....I am sure you will have a great result.

__________________
Surgery - Dr. Ron Shapiro 6/14/11 - 3048 grafts

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/orlhair1