RockZ

So yesterday the count was 1161 grafts. Today they fined tuned my hairline and the right temple area with about 181 additional grafts and placed the remaining number of grafts in the center, frontal section behind my hairline as a preventive measure as this area was thinning. This brought the total number of grafts to 1578 which was well within everyone's expectations. ACell was also used again today and from I understood I was one of the first patients to have it used on as part of their new regular protocol for FUE patients.

Here are a few stats:

1's - 445

2's - 731

3's - 402

Total - 1578 grafts

I posted a few pictures to preview here from today's session. Please see the rest of my post-op session day two pictures in my blog link below and let me know your thoughts. I'm extremely happy with my hairline design right now and extraordinarily excited for future prospects of growth. I'll be going in tomorrow for a shampoo and then I'm home free to recover. I will continue to update my blog periodically. I'd like to thank Dr. Paul Shapiro, Tom, Shelli, Gwen, Matt, Janna, Sylvia and Song and the rest of SMG for making it a top notch experience.

Alright, so I had my first FUE hairline session at Shapiro Medical Group today with Dr. Paul Shapiro and members of the SMG staff. I believe they implanted approximately 1161 grafts and the plan tomorrow is to finish up and fine-tune everything. Not to sound like a plug for SMG but I have to say the experience today was excellent!

The Valium and pain killers made everything basically pain free. The injections to numb the donor and recipient areas were the only things that even remotely stung and even those weren't bad at all. I watched Fracture, Bruce Almighty and The Manchurian Candidate and chatted up with the surgical techs (Tom, Shelli and Gwen), who were very personable and very easy to talk to. Matt Zupan and Janna came in to check on how I was doing as well which was really nice.

I was initially hoping to only shave the sides and back of my head but leave the top a little longer to potentially conceal the work though this was not advised. Since grafts were being implanted behind the hairline to support the thinning area in retrospect I don't think they could have realistically done this without shaving my whole head. Sylvia, one of the surgical techs cut my hair down soon after I arrived. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would and I'm actually glad I had it buzzed like that otherwise it would've looked really odd. I think I'll be just fine going back into the office (work in corporate finance) since I wear my hair somewhat short anyway and it's probably more commonplace for my age group (28) to get by with a buzz cut.

A few interesting things to note today were that ACell was used (I had only initially heard about this in the forum for repair cases) and it's something I believe SMG will to continue to regularly use in the future. My understanding was that this will assist with the graft survival / yield which will certainly be beneficial for FUE cases in particular. Additionally, one the surgical techs (Tom) mentioned during the extraction that my grafts were coming out very well. The FUE grafts were said to optimal because of the extra adipose (yellow fat cells) surrounding them. Please see the close up visual below (third picture). Dr. Harris, as well as the Shapiro brothers and Tom (surgical tech) believe that this extra tissue is better than completely naked FUE's. Furthermore, my grafts were all taken with a 0.9mm punch and around 50% of my grafts were 3's. I had less than 1% 1's. So they had to create a few 1's for my hairline.

All in all, the 'am I really doing this' feeling and nervousness subsided shortly after I arrived this morning and this definitely didn't seem like it was something to lose sleep over and this is coming from a natural anxious person!

I posted some pre and post op pictures in my blog link below. Here a few previews of some post-op pics from day one. I will update my blog with post-op pictures from tomorrow session as well. Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks guys. I'm going to start a new thread in the patient hair transplant results thread here after my first day of surgery here.

I had LASIK two years ago and am going for an HT on Monday.

I am undergoing a FUE procedure with Dr. Paul Shapiro on Monday at SMG. I was originally scheduled with Dr. Ron Shapiro but travel and scheduling plans prevented this from occurring. I am still very comfortable with Dr. Paul Shapiro performing the procedure as he seems to be more than capable of providing an excellent result. Fortunately, I only live about fifteen to twenty minutes away from the clinic. I plan on getting some more pre-op pictures and updating my profile / site accordingly as it progresses.

This is my first one so I'm still nervous and still somewhat at the 'am I really doing this stage.' Thank you to the forum for the continued support and especially to member Levrais.

Cheers

I'm not having a procedure with Dr. Feller, but I do have Asian decent (half Asian / European) and am 28. I am undergoing a FUE procedure with Dr. Paul Shapiro on Monday. I'll keep you posted as to how it goes. Good luck to you.

I'd like to see some empirical evidence in a controlled sample and sound study demonstrating permanent shockloss occurs in a statistically significant amount of patients who were previously NW2 or NW3 pre-op. While I understand this does happen I don't think we are not really going to get an objective picture here in this forum from just a few experiences to make such a broad generalization. I remember before I had LASIK there were the exact same issues in those forums because most of the people who had great results never really followed up but the ones with poor results did as it affected their obviously lives to a greater degree.

And concerning the scar issue, that obviously does not apply to FUE the same way as FUT. There is no strip scar issue with the former and you have a better chance of being able to cut your hair short.

Bosley seems to have the 'greenest' doctors. They have to compensate and pass on costs to the customer for all their advertising BS. IMHO, you're paying more money for a higher probability of sub-par results. Before I researched I went to a Bosley consultation, and it didn't seem that scary, but for the price and the availability of world-class surgeions you would be much better served going elsewhere.

Great post. I have struggled and have been dealing with these issues psychologically too. I would think that most people considering a hair transplant have went through this as well. From what I have seen this is a totally normal reaction from someone who is considering an HT. There are a lot good posts out there about this. I finally pulled the trigger and scheduled a FUE (1200 - 1800 grafts) at SMG this May. I took two weeks off of work and it certainly has the type of culture where colleagues like to 'raz' each other. I was extraordinarily concerned about this and would lying if I said I am not, but the thing is I'm starting to get less concerned as time passes as I'm not going to let these short term issues or potential comments dictate my long term goals and choices in life. I think this only is coming about after scheduling the surgery date as it's now starting to sink in so to speak. I might even tell some of my immediate coworkers beforehand. I'm 28 and have had some recession for over decade and am glad I am finally doing something about it. This forum definitely played a key role in accelerating my decision-making process.

Like someone else mentioned elsewhere in this forum, you're just recovering something you lost. I see absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to recover what one once had. Why should we all accept having a shaved head? With the current advances in hair restoration, we have options now and if it makes your quality of life better in the long term I think that's great. Unfortunately the social stigma makes it seem like your overly vain and a loser for going forth with such a supposedly extreme option. And if you can get away with it you don't ever have to end up telling anybody about it.

Alright, here's a newbie question here. What's all this rave about 'dense packing.' I understand your natural hair has a higher density but is it always necessary to go for higher density to achieve a more natural, dramatic effect?

Thanks for your insight Dr. Lindsey. So my other question is this - if hypothetically, there were two identical patients, one having a FUE and the other FUT, where the former only ended up with a 75% yield while the latter had around a 95% yield, how drastic would the difference be cosmetically in a hairline case? Would the end result just look less dense? Perhaps it's not something that can easily be generalized but it piqued my interest.

The general consensus among the community seems to be that FUE yield less than strip. Assuming this to be true, I would like to know if anyone has experienced suboptimal growth and issues with density, specifically after a long period of time (twelve months or more) and how this would affect the overall cosmetic result. For instance, if I had my hairline rebuilt with 2000 FUE grafts and only 70-80% ended up growing, I'd be curious as to how 'even' and noticeable this would be. I'd also assume a second touch up procedure would potentially have to be considered if less than ideal growth was present.

Well folks, after quite a bit of research, deliberation and correspondence, I decided to take the plunge today and confirmed myself for a FUE surgery in May at SMG with Dr. Ron Shapiro for work on my hairline (1200 - 1800 grafts). I'll go into my reasoning in further detail at a late time perhaps. All in all, I am simultaneously relieved, excited, and fairly nervous. I took a few weeks off of work (corporate office setting) which in and of itself was somewhat difficult so hopefully that gives me ample recovery time otherwise I'm just going to have to be a bada** and power through it! I also am scheduled to observe a FUE case next month as well at the office.

The members and administrators and this entire forum in general have been extraordinarily helpful. I am certainly very grateful this invaluable resource is out here. I'll keep everyone posted very closely with my progress as well.

You require higher numbers than that IMHO. Looking at pics i would suggest 2000+ to address the entire affected area at the front.

Thank you Spex.

I consulted with SMG again and after looking further they revised it upward to 1200 - 1800 (mainly because it of the thinning behind my hairline which I think would add another 300 or 400 grafts). I think the initial estimates were probably conservative.

I disagree. I absolutely guarantee I'd lose more hair if I stopped taking it. I experienced shedding an a small amount of regrowth after a few months. Family even commented on this. To attribute this to something else is highly improbable. Believe me, I'd stop taking it if it was so iffy. What is your experience with it?

I appreciate your input. Yes, it would be nice if something better came along.

Actually, I did have very, very slight thinning in the crown area before I took Finasteride and now that seems to have recovered. So at least for now, I know for fact it has been working to some extent in my situation.

You certainly may be right about Finasteride maintaining the crown and mid-regions. One observation I noticed is that my recession mostly stopped when I started taking the drug about three years ago and the front (not the temples but the center) had some regrowth which was noticeable. Needless to say, I am happy with the result for now as it seems to be lasting.

Under that logic then to you it would not ever make sense if there was any further progression in hair loss which is inevitable for most which I don't believe makes sense. If I rebuilt a hairline and the Propecia stops working after ten years and gradually over the next several years the other portions erode, that's at least a decade and a half of improvement. Because something isn't there 100% should not detract from its value.

With regard to no real solution in sight, why couldn't I just have another HT in a few decades? If I progressed to an NW 7 where this is not a good option I'll cross that bridge when I get there but I find that hard to believe for the sake of argument that this is everyone's predicament.

Thanks gentlemen for the responses.

Moses0324, I can see where you're coming from though I have to respectfully disagree with regard to getting a HT for only the hairline area. For instance, in my situation the Propecia is able to maintain the crown and mid-scalp regions and there was only some loss in the crown area in my family during the later years in life as opposed to just the hairline. It's understood that with the typical MPB pattern I will likely have to commit to HT in the future should greater loss occur but that's not necessarily something I'm opposed to.

I do think you are spot on about expecting the total package though.

Update: Here's some pictures of my current situation. I've been quoted anywhere from between 900 - 1200 and it would only be for my hairline. I haven't had any surgeries but am hoping to get something (FUE) scheduled in the Spring at SMG. Let me know what you guys think.

I'd email Janna at SMG.

For those of you who've had hairline work done (either FUE or strip) and are far along the post-op phase, I was curious how much a difference you think it has made to your overall appearance and how satisfied you are with the results. I would think even a small procedure would make a substantial difference as the hairline is big part of someone's look.

Hi Muso. I've been researching for about seven months or so. I've visited a number of clinics and am going with SMG as mentioned in my previous response here. Feller and a few others seem great but given the cost consideration and distance element I chose the SMG. Debating whether to take Minox before a transplant, although it seems beneficial to take it after (to help with growth and shock loss perhaps)...

Shapiro Medical Group here in MN (local for me) charges $6 a graft for FUE (for now) so you'd save substantially on it. Admittedly, they have not been performing FUE as long as some other clinics and they only perform three to four a month of that type of procedure. From what I have seen of their results and given their excellent world renowned reputation I would seriously consider them. I'm trying to schedule something for the middle of May.