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RockStoneSteel

Regular Member
  • Posts

    33
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Basic Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Country
    United States
  • State
    TX

Hair Loss Overview

  • Describe Your Hair Loss Pattern
    Thinning or Bald Spot in the Crown/Vertex
  • How long have you been losing your hair?
    In the last 10 years
  • What Best Describes Your Goals?
    Considering Surgical Hair Restoration

Hair Loss Treatments

  • Have you ever had a hair transplant?
    Yes
  • Other hair restoration physicians
    Dr. Dan McGrath
  • Current Non-Surgical Treatment Regime
    None

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RockStoneSteel's Achievements

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  1. I recommend Dr. McGrath in Austin, Texas. I had two procedures there. The pics are on my profile. He did a great job and the scar from the strip procedure is a total non issue. It is not visible, even with short hair. Concerns about scarring were of great significance, a close second to the transplanted hair itself. No doubt skin type plays into that healing process, but not sure that the extra cost of FUE is worth it over the strip process. So McGrath did a good job all around. About the only other clinic/doctors I would have confidence in are Hasson and Wong in Canada.
  2. RockStoneSteel

    Second Transplant with Dr. McGrath

    Photos of my second hair transplant with Dr. Dan McGrath in Austin. 1500 grafts.
  3. I had a second hair transplant with Dr. Dan McGrath in Austin, Texas on Thursday, Dec 19th, 2013. The first was 2,500 grafts in February of 2011, so it has been almost three years. This time around it was another 1,500 grafts. Both procedures centered on the crown area. This time was a second pass for added density. In the future, I hope to get the hair line and temple areas addressed. The attached photos are dated. The first is about 9 months after the first transplant and was taken about two years ago. It is for reference as to what this second transplant is building upon. The recent photos include the sutured donor area. It is amazing how clean the wound is, even a day or two after surgery. The donor strip for this second surgery was taken from the same scar as the first surgery. Day of surgery (Thursday, 12/19/2013): The surgery went well. Professional staff and courteous techs. I arrived at 7:30 am and completed paper work and such. Got a few Valium that really relaxes for the procedure. Dr. McGrath began with the donor strip removal at 8:30am. He buzz cut the graft site, so I now have a somewhat bald spot once again on the crown, but fortunately that is temporary. The techs completed the graft separation by about 11:30 am. The only uncomfortable portion of the entire procedure was the application of the local anesthetic. The actual transplantation of the 1,500 grafts was completed by 3 pm. 1st day after surgery (Friday, 12/20/2013): Went to doctors office for first hair wash and quick follow up. No real pain. No pain killers were needed at all after leaving the doctors office. Minor throbbing in part of the graft site and the donor site. Tried to sleep upright, with some difficulty. Wore paper cap to prevent any minor bleeding onto pillow cases. Put old shirt over pillow just in case. 2nd day after surgery (Saturday, 12/21/2013): Very little pain, only minor discomfort. If anyone is avoiding this procedure over fear of pain, not too worry. Surprised at how the donor site scar is so inconspicuous. Bought some of the paper painter's caps from Home Depot and Lowe's for going out in public. If they happened to get blood on them at all, they are simply disposable. However, there seems to be no further bleeding from donor site, so I feel comfortable transitioning to a standard ball cap for day 3. Day 3 (Sunday, 12/22/2013): Awakened early with moderate pain in sutured area. Suspect that I slept on it wrong or perhaps stretched the wound by accident. It was early morning and I wanted to sleep, so I broke down and took a pain killer. Worked great, slept great. Otherwise, the pain wasn't enough to have taken a pain killer if it happened during the day. Days 8-10 The scabs finally came off. Got the stitches out on day 10. I suspect 10 days may be a bit long to wait for stitch removal as skin started to grow over the stitches, making it difficult to locate and remove them. 7 or 8 days may be more appropriate, assuming the wound is healed strongly enough. I suspect removing the stitches earlier may also reduce the scarring from the stitch themselves.
  4. It has now been a little over 4 months since my procedure with Dr. McGrath and I am still satisfied. The transplanted hair started to grow at about 3 months. Now I have very observable growth and it appears fairly uniform. But it is difficult to communicate without showing photos. Unfortunately, this website offers little information as to how photos must be formatted (size, resolution, etc.) before posting. I will try to post photos of the various stages of progress when I get this website figured out.
  5. Update - Monday, March 28th - After about day 8 or 9, the scabbing and dead flaky skin has cleared up enough that I can go out in public without a hat. There is no evidence in the grafted area that a hair transplant has been performed other than the new short hairs. But there has been slight unmistakable growth as the hairs are slightly longer and feel softer. It is now day 11 after the transplant and I plan on getting the stitches out today if my doctor will accept a walk-in. I originally thought my hair was wrapped into the stitches for a camoflage effect, but that is not the case. It was probably just an initial tangle of the bacitracin and some scabbing. I'm washing my hair normally now and that feels very good. Can't wait to get the stitches out as they itch just slightly. Looking back on the experience, I'm surprised how much of a non-ordeal it really was. The anxiety of the unknown proved to be worse than the reality. It really didn't shut me down more than a few days, other than for exercising. I look forward to getting back on that tread mill. Fortunately, the transplant was of such a location on my crown and temples that it was easily hidden by a ball cap, so no problem going to work a few days later. More extensive balding, especially hairlines would undoubtedly remain more obvious. But I would encourage folks to not be afraid of being more open with those around them. Initially, some folks kept telling me how unnecessary this procedure was, especially those with a great head of hair, but they were ultimately supportive. It's just too difficult to hide such conspicous changes to one's balding head long term. It's also difficult to withhold the excitement after the transplant and not want to share the news with people.
  6. On Thursday, March 17th, 2011, I had a hair transplant performed by Dr. Dan McGrath in Austin, TX. I am 46 years old and live in Weatherford, TX, near Fort Worth. I have been considering this for the past five or six years as the balding in my crown area has slowly been increasing in size. It was slowly migrating forward toward the temples in the classic male pattern baldness horseshoe shape. I am writing here to share my general experience so far, even though it will be a while until the final result grows out. I researched many various doctors and it was a difficult choice. My priorities in choosing a doctor were artistic/skill level as evidenced by photo results, cost, and convenient location (in that order). I consulted with Hair Transplant Center (HTC) in Tulsa, and while I am confident in their skills, they only estimated about 500 grafts were necessary. I knew that would not provide significant density in the bald area in addition to the other thinning areas. But they were inexpensive at only $3 per graft. The total cost would have been $1,500, at least for the initial procedure. Very tempting, but I did not want to go back for three or four procedures for the desired density. Another drawback, HTC stated they never took donor strips from previous scars. So that would have meant a new scar for each procedure. That is a total deal breaker for me, no matter how well hidden the scar. I then consulted with Dr. Dan McGrath in Austin via photos and on the phone. We spoke for a good twenty to thirty minutes and he answered all my questions to my satisfaction. Dr. McGrath estimated 2,500 grafts and considered it a possibility to get the desired density in a single procedure. The goal was approximately 35 grafts per square centimeter. I estimate I had about about 50 sqare centimeters of outright bald area plus the thinning areas that needed some density. So his estimate of grafts for my case coincided with what I had determined from researching other similar cases on the web with other doctors. Dr. McGrath's typical charge is $4 per graft, but I received a discount for travel distance and for the fact that I was willing to take an available time slot the following week. So the final cost came out to about $3.20 per graft, for a total of $8,000, which I consider to be fairly "reasonable", relative to what some clinics charge. I drove to Austin Wednesday evening after work, the evening prior to the surgery, and stayed in a hotel. I arrived at the clinic at the appointed time, 7:30 am on Thursday morning. Dr. McGrath's clinic is pleasant and in a good part of Austin, which is quite beautiful. I filled out some brief paperwork, they took a few pictures, and gave me a Valium prior to beginning the procedure. I removed my shirt and wore a paper gown, which was replaced a few times during the remainder of the procedure due to repeated wetting of my scalp with saline solution. The procedure started with the introduction of local anesthetic to my scalp and then lying face down in a chair for excision of the donor strip. The donor strip was 22 cm in length (about 8.5 inches) and, if not mistaken, about 1.5 cm in width (roughly .5 inches or so). No pain or discomfort whatsoever from the strip excision, with only minor discomfort from the pin pricks of initial administering the anesthetic. The remainder of the procedure was upright in a chair similar to that in a dentist's office. Three female techs (not sure of their formal title, so I'll just use "techs") dissected the donor strip into follicular units while Dr. McGrath made the incisions to receive the grafts in my scalp. It is my understanding that these incisions not only determine the location of the grafts, but also the orientation. I wasn't watching the clock carefully, but I believe this all took a few hours. At approximately 11:30, the techs started placing the grafts into the recipient sights on my scalp. That took between five and six hours with a short break for lunch. During the procedure, there is no real pain or discomfort. They would occasionally spray the scalp with saline solution to keep it moist and it would run down my back, but that's about the extent of my "discomfort". And they were very responsive when notified that was happening. I had taken a book to read during the procedure, but was so out of it from the Valium, I simply relaxed and instead surfed channels on tv. I actually fell asleep briefly during the procedure. The staff was friendly and were willing to converse throughout the procedure. That is a nice little benefit, especially when spending the entire day so intimately close to people you don't know ahead of time. At the end of the day, they wrapped my sutured donor site in gauze and gave me a shot of some pain killer in the upper arm. Admittedly, that shot was the most "painful" aspect of the entire procedure, but by no means unreasonable. They sent me off with a few disposable doctors caps, antibiotics, prednisone for swelling, and hydrocodone in the event of pain. That night I could feel a slight throbbing in the donor site and crown recipient site, but would by no means describe it as painful. More like a minor sunburn. I took a few hydrocodone and slept well. The next morning at 9am, I went back to Dr. McGrath's office and they washed my hair gently and described how I should do the same for the next week or so. I then drove home and slept most of Friday afternoon. By Saturday, day 3, all throbbing was gone and there was no real bad sensation in the scalp that a procedure had been performed. Some patients on these blogs mentioned a slight tightness or tension when tilting the head forward due to removal of the donor strip and resulting loss of skin laxity. Not a problem for me. Saturday I returned to work without a problem since much of what I do is sitting behind a computer. Doctor's orders are to avoid exercise and strenuous activity until the stitches are out after 10 days. On Sunday, day 4, there started some slight itchiness in both the donor stitches and graft sites. The doctor provided some antibiotic ointment for use on the donor wound site. It is the consistency of vaseline and is a bit messy and it's difficult to actually work it through my hair and sutures. Apparently, Dr. McGrath used a dark, hair colored suture, and wrapped it on top of some of the existing hair to help hide the donor site. It is very effective at concealing the wound. I'm wondering if there is an antibiotic spray available over the counter that may be more effective in penetrating through the hair and sutures to the wound. Tuesday, day 6, the itching around the stitches has hung around for a few days, but nothing unbearable. Surprisingly, there has been no swelling, no bruising, and only very slight redness. I have been wearing a loose ball cap to work, and so no one even notices the procedure was done. The sutures on the donor site are not covered by the cap, but still, no one has noticed those, or at least mentioned it. There are still scabs on some of the grafts and what is apparently dead/flaky skin in the area. I'm still using the saline spray on my scalp every few hours which eases the itching and to hopefully speed the loss of the scabbing and flaky skin. I purchased a tube of Mederma scar revision cream to reduce scarring at the donor incision site. I plan to start using it about one week out from the transplant procedure (it's not to be used on an open wound). While Mederma and other scar revision creams cost a salty $20, it should be a good investment if it can reduce visible scarring. In summary, the hair transplant process has been a good experience so far. The biggest hassle is simply trying to be gentle with the new hair and not accidentally lose any grafts in the first few days. My concerns of being "exposed" in the office or excessive down time during recovery were unfounded. I could have returned to work the next day if I so desired. The people in the office I have shared my experience with have been very supportive and happy for me. The biggest pain so far has simply been parting with the cash. But no regrets yet and I'm satisfied with the selection of Dr. McGrath. Ultimately, the results are the most important judge of success and only time will tell...
  7.  

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