SharpTooth

Just uploaded some new pics to my profile.

Patsy -- cancel the appointment now. Dr Boles is their primary/head physician, but I can still feel the slightly raised scar from my HT from him. So if that's from their head physician, I'd look for another direction. Look for a physicial via this website -- I doubt you'll regret it.

A full year for you? Hmm. I'll now shut my mouth and suck it up. But seriously, thanks for the reply. Hope your own post-4th HT is still filling in!

I think a lot of times this is really based on one's PERCEPTION. A friend of mine since 15 yr of age had always had thin/flat hair; you could see some of his scalp in bright light pretty easily. But that's what nature gave him. IMO, to define the perfect HT as an inability to see one's scalp is not realistic. Again IMO, i think the perfect HT is when a patient walks away happy with THEIR OWN results. I think hair greed's fine, but I think problems/fixations happen when I'm constantly comparing myself to what other's have. Julius -- i'm not implying that you are obssessed, just thinking outloud about the trap that any of us self-conscious about our hair can fall into. But I do agree with Matt -- i saw a significant improvement in my own self-confidence as the hair began to fill in! <mad scientist roaring laughter>

Wow --- it's really amazing. I had heard that when chest/leg/beard/etc hair is moved to the scalp, it takes on the characteristic of the scalp hair -- again, I think it's amazing b/c for one-hair'd beard grafts, I think it looks great. Congrats!!

Hey Guys, I wanted to ask a question and see if any of you who've have multiple HTs have shared my own experience. To recap, I had a HT about 20 months ago (800 grafts), then a year ago a 2nd HT (2000 grafts) and finally a 3rd HT 2 months (2500 grafts). After the first 2 HTs, I think the tightness around the donor area was gone within about 6 weeks. But now at about 2.5 months, I can still feel a bit of tightness along the left/right sides of the donor area. It's not painful, but the area's still a bit taut. While I've been told this would not be surprising since I've had 3 HTs in about 20 months, I was curious about any of your own experienes. And if you have any suggestions on what could help at this point.

Hey Platinum, I'm curious as to when your HT was Dr Panine was done.

Hey Platinum, I had 2600 grafts done 2+ months ago and like you, i found the staff great. The grafts in my small thinned area in the back are starting to fill in (most if not all did not fall out). The woman who cuts my hair said that areas looking good. Up front in my hairline Ive seen nothing unusual -- so i guess over the next several months I know more so. But that does make me feel better that Dr Panine is willing to stand behind his work by helping repair such work. It is very expensive and like a lot of other cosmetic surgeries, it takes a long time to see the final results. So Im glad he is willing to work with you. I was in touch with Stuart as recently as this past week - he's always more than willing to take the time to answer any of my questions. But send updates later once you and Dr Panine (if you choose) on future work together.

Wow - where does time go?? I've learned there are so many factors that go into a HT, that can make or break the final outcome --- level of balding, hair characteristics, amount of donor hair, skill of the physician, etc. But I've had nothing but good things to say from my own experience; would do it all over again in a heart beat. But I have come to appreciate the idea of density, that one may expect x-number of grafts to fulfill ones expecations, but that's not always reality. Walking away from Dr Keene's office, I though my hair would be uber-thick once again. And while I'm amazed at the amount of density added, it's not what I ultimately wanted -- my recent HT of 2000 in the frontal area though leaves me confident that I'll finally get what I want. I do want to encourage those of you considered a HT to mull over something I read on a threat sometime ago -- a HT many times ends up (like life) being a process, with multiple HTs to achieve what you would like, not a 1-time deal. By the way, I didn't keep any of my pre-pics before my HT with Dr. Keene (and their office didn't have them), so can't show before/after pics. But if you look at my profile, I posted pics up there from my last HT.

Hey RG -- Dude --- after getting rid of the pluggy stuff, you scalp looks very cool. Congrats on the journey, man!

Hey Aaron --- congrats on getting the hairline back. And congrats on getting out of that ugly duckling phase. Not get ready for the beach/pool this summer b/c you'll have a mop on top of your head.

I agree with hairthere on a HT being a good choice. Bestdecision I've ever made. But I also understand that both quality of physician and donor hair seems to play huge factors in the final outcome.

Hey tstan, if you look at my blog, you'll see I keep my hair about your same length. I usually wear my bangs down. And since my last two HT physicians did not shave my receipient, no one could see my transplants or pink scalp. My redness on top was about about a week or so later. That's my own experience - hope it helps.

Thanks guys for the insight. I've read about shockloss in the donor area, but after 2 HTs of no such loss, I just assumed I'd not see it on HT #3.

Think of this -- when people think of their friends/family who've passed away, are the deceased remember for their hair? No. People are remembered by their character, heart, compassion ... and the reverse sadly -- anger, rejection, cheat, etc. But people are almost never remember what what they look like; unless you were Andre the Giant. My point -- people (esp our kids) will not remember us for our hair, but what we did with our lives.

First --- This was more of a "YES!" venting. After 2 weeks, got my sutures out. Local clinic who removed them said the donor area looked very clean and was healing very well. But to get them out is always a GREAT feeling! After 2 HT (800 and 2000 grafts) I never had shedding in the donor area, but I did this 3rd time (2600 grafts). I was wondering if anyone else had similar issue. From what I've read and have been told, it shold grow back with no problems. But found it interesting I didn't have this issue on the other 2 HTs.

Thanks Rapheal -- Saw that you're scheduled for your first HT in March. Best of luck.

Hey Omagic - I've had 3 HTs so far. First 2 (800 then 2000 grafts), I had no swelling at all. 3rd one last week (2600 grafts) a lot of swelling but just on my right side. First HT i had grafts just in crown and right temple. Most - if not all - grafts in crown did not shed but grafts in right temple all fell out within 2-3 weeks. 2nd HT i had grafts put in crown, right AND left temple; grafts in crown again did not shed nor did the grafts in my left temple, but the grafts in my right front/temple did shed. So i'm not sure if the swelling this time around (lot of grafts to filling my much thinner right side) had a direct effect on just the right side of my face swelling. But I stil think it's odd (not that i'm complaining!) that only that one area of my scalp sheds the grafts. Hope that helps.

Hey Qpwoei Both Dr Keene and Dr Panine don't shave my recipient areas. I've been I could have been shaved, making the incision/placements of the grafts easier for the physician/technicians, but it wasn't mandatory; just more time consuming to get in between existing grafts. And I usually keep my hair a bit longer (couple of inches). Dr Panine thought my previous work done by Dr Keene was excellent. He actually did a double take and repeated again that her work was excellent. Again, she didn't shave my recipient area and I got great results. Hope that helps with my own experience.

I never took FEMALE HTs comments as condemning, but just her expressing her personal experience. And having switched physicians myself, I understand sitting through different office environments.

I finally figured out how to upload the rest of my pre and post op pics from Dr Panine's office. See what you think. I had also posted pics I took when I got home. And for anyone considering a HT: I know there are a number of risks involved, not to mention the cost. But for me personally, it's been one of the --BEST-- decisions I've made. And thanks to everyone who's put time/energy/money into keeping this site up and running. You're a life saver.

Just setup a profile with a couple of 3-day post op pics: http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...-page.asp?WebID=1463

Honestly, I think the "hair mills" is really a luck of the draw. Some of those companys will sign on doctors and train them. I think some can do the job fine, but you gamble as to what kind of work you get --- so like Aaron says, avoid them and (like i've read on/off this site for 18 months now) choose a doc from this site. You can't go wrong.

Harry --- You either do as Sparky says or trust. But of course you can't trust everyone, can ya? ha

Hey Harry, I went under his knife over 18 months ago, my first HT out of 3. Both doctors couldn't tell my natural hair from the ones Dr Boles did. BUT ----- Boles did 2 things that I'm not happy with, and both doctors since have commented on. 1 - On the back of your head, some areas for donor have better hair quality to transpant than other areas. According to my 2 HT surgeon's since then, they felt Dr Boles cut me in an area that had less quality than what they took. 2 - Dr Boles told me my scar would be tiny, like the line along his palm, but he was wrong. My scar's not hideously large, but both HT doctors have both commented that it's bigger than it should be. I'm not happy about that, but for now since I don't plan on shaving my head, what's a guy to do. I will add one other comment -- in one area, he averaged about 5 grafts per sq/cm which almost seemed like a waste of my time. Having gone to a doctor not listed on this forum and not getting the best result, I've since used 2 docs from this site and had excellent experience. Stick with a doc mentioned on this site.