martek

Hi To answer your question, there was no battle at all. at the 18 month mark after the 1st procedure, the doc came straight out and said that he would place more in free of charge, this was in mind that I was going to get the crown done anyhow, I could never of got the whole lot done at once due to the area that needed to be covered, I only paid for the 600 grafts for the crown amd the other 1955 grafts were free during the second procedure, but they hardly thickened the original area, mainly cause I wanted to drop the frontal line on both sides by an inch, graft placing was focused on the frontal fringe below the existing line and at the crown slightly towards the mid section I am satiisfied with what the doc did, the scar heals well and three months after the second procedure, which is now as I write, I look worst off than I did in October last year, I blame this on shockloss from the second time round, shockloss is temporary and can tale a good six months for the lost hair to come back, the scalp does get more traumatised in successive procedures, I am still a bit numb at the rear too, which I never experienced after the first procedure, it is good to wait a good 18 months at least before getting more transplants done to let the scalp recover, Im lucky in respect that I have excellent scalp flexibilty, I may also add that I am not totally satisfied with the 4743 grafts that were originally placed in, I took digital camera shots closeup three weeks after and it clearly shows that the grafts were spaced apart a bit further than they should of been and the left frontal line was left thinly done, the girl that done the right side did ok, but the other girl that done the left was below par, it was a big area to do though as you can see in the photos, thats why there is a high frontal line, which has now been lowered by an inch in the second procedure, Ill guess Ill have to wait at least another 6 months to see what happens because at the moment Ive gone backwards (more than likely due to temporary shockloss), I think the doc at NHI who I dont mind is supportive if unexpected results are seen and he will help you like he did with me, I met Barry White for the first time when he pulled the staples out and I found him to be nothing like the doc. Ill post progressive results later on.

The two photos show progress, the ones on the right (oct 2 2010) are at peak density 18 months after transplant 1, 10 months on dutasteride seems to have an impact in the area at the bottom of the crown going down towards the neck, hair though is just a tad longer in the right hand photos, crown is done in tranplant 2 March 2011, still waiting on results which is a few months away. Sorry about image quality, it is a photo taken of a hard copy which is all I have.

Mike I have some hi def photos from both transplants but they are on hardcopy, I did take a couple of my own at the time, Ill include them here, see what you think, there is one that I took 13 months after transplant one with 5 weeks on dutasteride. Ive always had doubts that there were actually 4743 grafts in place, thats a lot in one go, but the surgery time took 11 hours, this may suggest in favour, not sure! the surgery photo isnt the best but it gives you an idea of the area that needed coverage, it is a large area, disregard the crown , it was agreed by NHI and myself that this would be done in a second procedure, I forgot to add in the original thread, that I do still have some numbness in the rear right side 13 weeks on from the 2nd procedure, doc says this should go away in the following months. if anyone can take a look at the 13 months post op photo and comment on the number of grafts, I dont think there is 4743, but I could be wrong, the doc did agree and done a 2nd procedure at the fairly good discounted rate. Mike... If you post your email, I can take a current photo and send it to you...thanks

Hello Everyone I would like to post a thread on my personal experience as a patient at NHI I have had two transplants (fuss)done now by NHI in Melbourne 1st one in April 2009, 2nd in March 2011 I would like to say that Barry White did not do mine, I understand that he is retired now, another doctor did the scalp cutting and the anaesthesia ,with the same two transplants, There were about six female technicians that done the follicular separation and implanting. I must say that I feel that this doctor is very good in what he does and is very helpful with everything. (I withhold with naming).The doctor supervises but does not do the implanting and follicle separation, this laborious work is done by the trained technicians. This would explain why NHI can do large numbers in one session. The doctor does all other aspects of the operation. I am still waiting for the results to show from the second procedure since its only been three months. I would like to comment firstly on the 1st procedure. Total Grafts:4743 (Approx 9500 hairs) Surgery Time (11 Hours) I would like to say that I have mixed feelings on this. Firstly the scarring had healed very well and I was much pleased with the end result, no problem there with what the doctor did, but I was not satisfied with the final density result, I took in consideration of what the area size of coverage was and how many grafts were available to fill the frontal hairline and mid scalp region, I thought that 4743 grafts should have provided more coverage considering there was only 219 singular follicules and the rest were 2s,3s and maybe the odd 4 follicle, after 23 months, the doctor agreed that the coverage should have been better, so NHI did the majority of the second procedure free of charge (approx 75% of the cost) and the doc would extract as many grafts from the donor area that was physically possible.The reason for the unexpected result was not determined or blamed on any thing in particular. 2nd Procedure: Total Grafts:2478 (Approx 5200 hairs) Surgery Time (6 hours) The purpose of the second procedure was to cover the crown region and to drop the frontal hairline on both sides about 1 inch and to help fill in any gaps that were visible from the first procedure. Although it is only three months out, it is still premature to comment on any final result, but I would like to say that although the new hairs from the second transplant have fallen and have still yet to start growing, that my current look from what has been done in the area of the first transplant is still not totally to to my satisfaction. I clip my own hair to a number 3-4 on top and 2-3 on the sides, I have a very high lateral hump so I am lucky to have most hair on my sides and back, When I clip my hair to number 4 on top, the transplanted area still looks thin and some scalp visibiltyis seen, the only shockloss from the second procedure is slighty noticable on the right frontal hairline, I feel that after approx 9500 hairs from the first procedure that it should have covered the frontal and mid scalp area and not show any visible signs of scalp, and I also had and still have about 100 or so original hairs on the peak at the front. But when the hair is longer say about 2 inches , then there is no scalp showing where the grafts in the first transplant were placed. I will have to wait an see what the end result will be from the second procedure after a total of 7200 grafts (approx 15000 hairs) will look like from both procedures, but at this time as I write, it does not seem to be that number of grafts in the recipient region, although the surgery time was 11 hours and 6 hours for both procedures. The shockloss in the donor area at the back from the second procedure is still fairly visible, but I am confident in time this will return to a normal look just as it did in the first procedure. I am also on avodart 0.5 mg since three months to help keep any existing DHT affected hair, avodart is now covered under the PBS scheme and is very affordable at $25 AUD a box of 30 tabs. I thought that is was very considerate of the doctor from NHI to carry out the second procedure at a fraction of the cost. I only paid for the crown to be done approx 600 grafts and 2478 in total grafts were extracted. I will post more comments when the second prodecure results come to show.