My story.
This website has given me a huge amount of information, and to be honest I wouldn’t have gone through with my recent hair transplant surgery if it wasn’t for this forum. Therefore I feel obliged to give back to the community and tell everyone here about my story. I have split this up into 2 parts and several chapters. I suggest that any new comers, or people who haven’t themselves had a HT read the whole thing. The more experienced members on this forum are probably better off picking out the parts of interest as I admit it is long winded.
DISCLAIMER - Just to point out, that I am not a doctor, I don’t represent any doctors, and I have nothing to gain whatsoever from writing this (other than alleviating the guilt of taking so much from this website and never giving anything back). I take no responsibility at all for any decisions anyone makes from my post (or any future post), and I mean no offence where my comments get controversial. I also have another user name on this website that I am not using now as some of the HT surgeons I refer to anonymously below will be revealed by doing a simple search under my old user name. So yes I created this account now, and this is my first post. If anyone wants to ask me a question by all means do, but I won’t be checking this very often so please don’t get offended in my delay in answering.
Here is the breakdown in case you want to pick and choose what you want to read.
PART 1 – MY STORY.
A – ABOUT ME.
B – HOW I CHOSE MY HT SURGEON.
C – SHAPIRO MEDICAL GROUP.
D – THANKS TO…
PART 2 – LESSONS LEARNT.
A – MY THOUGHTS ON THE COALITION LIST AND THIS WEBSITE.
B – WHAT CRITERIA WHEN CHOOSING A HT SURGEON.
C – THE PYSCHOLOGICAL CHALLENGE ** MAYBE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART TO READ.
D – RESEARCH.
E – OPERATION ITSELF.
F – TIME BEFORE GOING OUT INTO PUBLIC - GROW YOUR HAIR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
G – THINGS I SUGGEST YOU BUY PRIOR TO SURGERY.
H – INCONVINIANCES AFTER SURGERY.
I – OTHER THINGS.
PART 1 – MY STORY.
A – ABOUT ME.
I am a NW 2 – 3, and am now in my mid 30s. I have been receding slowly all my life and it wasn’t until November 2010 when out at dinner that a very close friend made a innocent comment about my hairline. I had always thought to myself that one day I would have a HT to rebuild my hairline, but you never really expect that day to arrive when it does. I went to my dermatologist and he immediately prescribed propeceia. I absolutely ruled it out from day 1 for two reasons. 1 – I know myself and I don’t want to take a pill every day for the rest of my life that wasn’t originally created for hair loss. 2 – I have heard too many horror stories about propeceia.
(Now I have so much that I want to share with this community that I really don’t want to go into the whole Propecia debate!! If any of you want more info there is loads of it on this forum and also there is a website called propeciahelp.com which is a totally biased appraisal of propecia and seems to be the Mecca of all disgruntled propecia users, but at the same time it left an impact with great enough effect on me that I will never ever take it. To conclude, propecia was more of a physiological decision for me as the slightest underperformance in the bedroom would have had me panicking that it was the meds.)
Instead I went on Biotin on a daily basis. My recession from November 2010 to the date of my HT surgery was very minor but this of course could be coincidental.
B – HOW I CHOSE MY HT SURGEON.
At the time I made the decision to go for a HT I discovered this web site from a Google search and there is an absolutely HUGE amount of information here. It actually became a bit of an obsession. I spent about an hour at the end of every working day reading stories and educating myself. For all newbies, I suggest you click on “today’s posts” and go through them every day. It’s amazing how much you learn (make sure you read my Part 2 – A below though).
My dermatologist recommended a local HT surgeon and told me all the usual words “he is the best there is”, “Hollywood stars have gone to him” etc… I went to visit him (please don’t ask me in private messages who, as I don’t want to discredit him as I chose not to go with him) and to be honest I was impressed with his credentials, but there wasn’t enough before and after photos, and I felt that I didn’t get a chance to ask him everything I wanted as I felt rushed. All round the chemistry was wrong between us. I also went to see another doctor I found on this website (again no names) and who gets a lot of coverage and has a good reputation and I personally wasn’t at all impressed with him or his setup. (more below). So I read more and more and I realized entirely from this forum that I had to go and visit Dr. Ron Shapiro. His description as being very consistent, conservative and good with hairlines jumped out t me. I had 2 more backup doctors to go and visit if I didn’t like him. I happened to be in the west coast for work back in April so on my way home to Europe I flew to Minneapolis and I went and saw Dr. Ron Shapiro and I knew right away that he was the one for me. Well I took up an hour and a half of Matt’s time, 30mins of Dr. Shapiro’s time, 2 further follow up phone calls of 40mins each to Matt and about 40 hours of research to go from 95% sure to 100% sure! Also, when I learned that Dr. Ron has performed more HT surgeries on HT surgeons themselves than any other surgeon out there I knew he had to be very good. To read the continuation go to the below “WHAT CRITERIA WHEN CHOOSING A HT SURGEON”.
C – SHAPIRO MEDICAL GROUP.
SMG all round were absolutely fantastic. There is so much you can read about them on this forum that I won’t be repetitive but all round I couldn’t have asked for anything more. In brief… I got in at 8am and left at 6pm, and I promise you all that I actually had an enjoyable day. I got drugged up on valium, didn’t feel the slightest pain whatsoever (apart from the forehead numbing shots which were about 5 or 6 3seconds long very sharp pains), watched TV and chatted with everyone there. They really looked after me and made me feel very well taken care of. Dr. Ron was calm and I never felt rushed at any point. He even stayed an hour longer to do some final touch ups. For everyone reading this, SMG deserve pages and pages of credit, and all I can tell you is that I never in my wildest dreams (and hours and hours of research) expected things to go as smoothly as it did on the day. That night I even had dinner with no pain at all. The only discomfort came on days 5-12 after as my donor scar healed. I never needed pain medication. I suppose it was a bit like having a slight ear ache. You can get on just fine with your day but its bothersome.
D – THANKS TO…
OK not to sound like I’m receiving an Oscar… Matt (the patient care director) was amazing. How he always listened to my questions and never made me feel crazy for asking them (there were a lot of questions). Dr. Ron Shapiro, is an absolute gentleman/perfectionist/professional. He has a very calming persona and you just feel when you are with him that everything is right. Janna, was also amazing and helped me so much on the day and did a great job placing the grafts. Her after care follow up emails have been amazing too! All the technicians (I think I had 10 cutting my grafts) were really nice and chatty and did a great job all round.
I also want to thank very much HAL and ORLHAIR1 for all their posts. It made my decision making a lot easier and I really enjoyed following their stories!
PART 2 – LESSONS LEARNT.
A – MY THOUGHTS ON THE COALITION LIST AND THIS WEBSITE.
This topic is a little more controversial. Let me first start by saying that this website offers A LOT!! Actually you can pretty much answer any questions and determine whether you are right, or whether you really want a HT entirely from this site alone so long as you use it properly and put the hours in. Although, there is some self promoting, and some propaganda. If something smells fishy, it probably is. The good thing is there a lot of users who will be quick to point out that a surgeon’s reviews sound a little too good to be true. The only issue I have is with the coalition list. I think users have to keep in mind why doctors are on the coalition list. They are there because they meet some requirements and pay the fees. Therefore there are plenty of good HT doctors who are not on the coalition list and some lousy ones that are! I know this is going to open a whole can of worms, but I don’t make this bold statement lightly. I make it from experience.
One HT surgeon (the first doctor I saw) absolutely refused to sell himself online because he argues that his reputation and results don’t need it. He is a top surgeon (some would say the best there is) and probably my number 2 choice. (yes it’s his fault and not the fault of the coalition list that he is not on it but just know where you stand with this list). The second surgeon I saw (who is on the list and gets a lot of positive coverage on this web site) really shouldn’t be considered a top HT surgeon by any means whatsoever. It’s as simple as that and I won’t go into any more details.
Now if I was to reveal this doctor's name (which I won't) a lot of people on this forum would be furious with me, as I am sure some of you out there think this guy is the best in the world. If I had gone to him and had a great experience and perfect results I would be describing him the exact same way.... But more importantly, if I had gone against my gut feeling, and the results were lousy, I would have always said to myself "I knew I should have listened to my intuition". So the point I am trying to make is go with a doctor you are 100% comfortable with, and if you can't find one keep on looking. There are lots and lots of doctors out there. Also one more point to add... If you hear a certain actor or sports personality or famous person has been somewhere, please don't give that place any more credibility. Do you honestly see Hollywood movie stars or sports personalities staying up late at night doing research on this forum??
Back to the coalition list… I consulted 3 HT surgeons… one is on the coalition list and deserves to be. One wasn’t and should have been. One was and shouldn’t have been. Therefore my accuracy ratio was 33%. Yes I sampled a very small amount of doctors relative to the whole list, but in my experience and in my opinion the coalition list is not the be all and end all! Think of the coalition list like OPEC’s representation of oil producing nations. A lot of the members of OPEC have a huge amount of influence on oil’s supply, but not all influential oil producing nations are members, and some relatively small nations are part of it. Saying all of this though, I don’t want to take anything away from this web site. If it wasn’t for its creation I would never have found Dr. Ron Shapiro, nor would I have had the necessary information to proceed with my surgery. So in conclusion, the coalition list is not the be all and end all, nor do the managers of this forum pretend it to be, and nor do the experienced users of this forum think it is. My message is directed towards those who haven’t yet discovered this for themselves. When I first discovered this web site I actually thought it was the be all and end all, and it took me a couple of months to realize on my own it wasn’t so consider this long winded chapter a catalyst in your thinking process…
B – WHAT CRITERIA WHEN CHOOSING A HT SURGEON.
Bottom line is you have to have a good gut feeling. I will go through my basic question list, but I think if you’re sitting in the chair having your questions answered before you have a chance to finish your sentence, or if you have a surgeon who rolls his eyes because you ask questions that are hard to answer like “what are my chances of shock loss” or “how much worse is my hair loss going to be if I do nothing” then you have to recognize that something isn’t right.
This was my basic question list that I found on a piece of paper. I am sure I asked more at the time though as the conversation progressed… There are many other questions that probably should be asked, but this is most of what I wanted to know. In no particular order of importance…
- How long would I need to hide for, post surgery?
- Risk of shock loss?
- FUE or FUT?
- If it’s the right time for me to perform a procedure.
- Whether I will need to shave my head prior to surgery.
- Am I a good candidate to achieve my goals? I.e. Is there too much native hair in the way, and should I wait before deciding to do this?
- Who will be doing the actual transplantations and who will make the actual incisions?
- If FUT, how long will my scar be?
- How long has the whole team worked together?
- How many technicians? Are they employed full time?
- Is there anyone I can physically meet who has had a procedure done by you? (This for me was very important).
- How many grafts do I have in my donor area, i.e. how many HT surgeries can I have?
- Have you ever had a result you considered disappointing?
There are way more questions. Remember to ask absolutely everything. No question should be embarrassing to ask.
Also, don’t let geographic distance and cost be an issue. If you can’t afford the best doctor you have found, then wait until you can. (Sorry if I offend some with this statement, but don’t let cost be an obstacle. If it is, then think again as you should only be going to who you think is the best. Remember that, not who I think, but who you think is the best.) If you can’t be bothered to get on a plane and fly for many hours to get it done, then you will only blame yourself if the closer, inferior doctor, doesn’t do a good job. Really give your decision all the financial and geographic flexibility you can possible afford. This is for life.
C – THE PYSCHOLOGICAL CHALANGE.
This was by far and away the hardest part of all for me. Getting my mind around the idea that I would be cutting an 18cm incision voluntarily into my head, or even the concept that as a man I am going for cosmetic surgery was seriously the hardest part. The worry, and the fear of all the scary things like shock loss, a visible scar, maybe having to go again one day in the future etc… all these things scared the sh1t out of me, and for about 6 months I went back and forth on my decision about 10 times. All I can say is you have to overcome these concerns on your own. Don’t let anyone tell you it will all be fine. Find out what needs to be done to minimize all the risks involved and go into the surgery knowing that they might still occur but you have done everything possible to prevent it happening, and if it does happen you have done everything possible to cope with it if it does. As far as I was concerned, I was not at the stage of going through with this until I had exhausted my limits to research. It was only at the point that I was truly looking forward to the surgery, and I was all round 100% positive for the day of my surgery and I was willing to accept any consequence that might arise, that I knew that I was ready. I hope for readers of this post your “eureka” moment comes quicker than it did for me, but I urge you to reach that point before going ahead. On that note don’t ask anyone who you are close to if you should do it or not. It doesn’t matter what advice you get, as the decision has to be 100% yours and no one else’s. For me the physiological barrier was by far and away the hardest part of all. But for me though, when I felt ready for my surgery, I went in with all guns blazing knowing 100% sure that I wanted this with all my heart.
D – RESEARCH.
This is pretty self explanatory… if you are serious about getting a HT, you have to research and research and still do more research. Don't delegate this someone else! There are a lot of lousy doctors out there and a lot of mis-information. Whatever you do, don’t read a post like mine describing the whole procedure as a breeze, and think that it will be the same for you too. My point is research as much as you can and know what the worst possible outcome is and what the day of surgery will involve. One last thing, go on your chosen doctor’s website and look at his or her results! If you can’t find many on their own sites, or the ones you can see you don’t find particularly good then that should be alarming. Also if you see members on this forum who are praising someone else’s results and you yourself don’t think they are very good, don’t question yourself as to whether you are missing something… mostly likely you are not and the results are simply not good…
E – OPERATION ITSELF.
I have said it earlier on, but it’s worth saying it again… The operation itself was no big deal at all. I had my girlfriend come with me, which really helped me get over my nerves before the surgery and keep an eye on me that night when I got back to the hotel. I recommend having someone with you if you can but its definitely not necessary. To be honest we both live busy lives and to have 9 solid hours together watching TV, eating Chinese food, chatting and having a laugh with all the technicians was actually a fun experience. The point I want to make is the operation itself (the pain, the inconvenience, the hassle of getting there etc…) should not be a factor in the decision making process. Yes maybe for me (and most people that go to SMG) it was a very easy operation and the only pain I experienced were the forehead injections that lasted about 3 seconds each and there were about 5 of them (not bad for 9 hours!) But the decision making process as to whether to go for a HT should not be focused on the actual surgery. Recovery time and potential consequences and the physiological barrier are way more important to focus on.
F – TIME BEFORE GOING OUT INTO PUBLIC - GROW YOUR HAIR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
Another one of my greatest concerns prior to surgery was how I would look after. I spent many hours trying to determine how long I would need to hide for. (keep in mind I only did my hairline so this may not apply for those doing megasessions). Well I didn’t cut my hair for 5 months prior to surgery. I would say the length of my hair is about 7-8 inches long. My theory was have it long for the surgery and if I can, cut it afterwards… you can’t exactly add it back on after. Well apart from looking a bit scruffy and like I was 18 years old again, it was the best decision I could have made. Two days later I was able to go out for dinner by flopping my hair forward with a centre parting that looked like I had curtains. This look disguised about 95% of all the grafts. Its looks a bit silly, but it enables me to go out care free. I think I should say though that someone who knows me really well, or someone who knows what post operative patients look like would have been able to look at my central hairline (between the curtains) and been able to tell I had done something. I spent parts of the first week out and about… 3 dinners out, my long flight home, an outdoor lunch etc and as people spoke to me I watched their eyes to see if they would look at my front hair line. I only caught one person doing it. After 8 days when all the scabs and ink were gone I didn’t have any fears of people noticing. As for the scar in the back, it’s impossible to see with such long hair. Even on a windy day, 48 hours after surgery I asked my girlfriend to stare at the back of my head and see if could see the reflection of the staples and she couldn’t. Having long hair has helped me a huge amount.
G – THINGS YOU SHOULD BUY FOR YOURSELF PRIOR TO SURGERY.
- An in shower shaving mirror. I never found anyone here recommending this and I am probably the first… the first week of shampooing is a bit challenging. You have to gently pat the shampoo onto your grafts. As its important to clean all the grafts well on a daily basis, I would physically have get out of the shower every day and stand in front of the mirror making sure I did this right. Of course I would make an absolute mess in the bathroom, so an in shower shaving mirror would have really helped.
- A travel neck pillow. Lots of people mentioned it and I went out and bought one and it really helped. Mostly for sitting up in bed while reading or watching TV as it cushions the suture line.
- Lots of ice gel packs. For the first 3 days it was very soothing to have an ice pack on my sutures and forehead.
- A small empty spray bottle. To better describe this… when you go to a pharmacy and they sell those small (less than 100ml) see through bottles so that you can carry your liquids in your carry on luggage, usually you will see next to it a similar looking thing with a spray top on it. For the first few days (at least with Dr. Shapiro) you have to spray your grafts with grafcyte every 30mins. (It's actually not as inconvenient as it sounds. Set your cell phone snooze delay interval to 30mins, set your alarm, and keep on “snoozing” all day long.) Well as the grafcyte bottle is about half a liter big, it helped me a lot to go out with a miniature version in my pocket, rather than lugging that massive thing around.
- A loose fitting cap. Yes you all know about this already, but don’t go trying on your loose fitting cap for the first time post surgery as pressure on the suture line really hurts if you get it wrong.
H – INCONVINIANCES AFTER SURGERY.
Best to list these in bullet form…
- After day 5 my suture line became bothersome. It did make me lose sleep, but not terribly. You can’t really get comfortable lying on your back in bed. You find throughout the day you get a random tingling sensations, followed but a small thud of pain. It’s like the nerve endings are all firing off randomly. Nothing bad enough that I had to take meds but it was an inconvenience. This all stopped when the staples were removed.
- Forehead swelling. I was warned about this so fully expected it. Day 2 it appeared. It was its worst on days 3 and 4. By day 7 it was gone. Basically my whole forehead swelled up (despite lots of forehead icing). I noticed it most in front of the side burns. Also you don’t get any wrinkles when you frown. There is a bit of jaw pain, and also your cap will feel a little bit tighter. No big deal but something to note.
- The whole 2 week shower procedure is a bit tricky but again if you are aware of it prior to surgery then it won’t be a big deal when you have to do it.
I – OTHERS THINGS.
- The staples came out on day 12 and it was much more comfortable after that.
- I came down with a severe (the worst I have ever had) case of strep throat on day 10 and started Amoxicillin. From all the research I did, from consulting with SMG and from this forum, there are no antibiotics that will affect the outcome of your procedure.
- I started shedding my new hairs on day 10, and it was heavier and heavier every day.
- Sorry for not posting photos. When I am 6 months out I might put some up and let you know how I am getting on I think the main message I wanted to get across is all above.
So that’s about it as far as all my notes and thoughts that I have gathered and the many lessons I have learnt. I have passed on absolutely everything I possibly could from my experience and I really hope this helps a few people out there. It certainly would have helped me a lot had I read this 10 months ago. Good luck to everyone out there and feel free to ask me anything you want. Even if you want hotel advice in Minneapolis. I may not be that quick in responding though. Lastly, thanks to everyone for all their input on this forum and for the creators of this forum. Without it I would never have gone through with my decision.
I logged back on my account after 6 years now... I would love to know from the community how relevant my initial post still is as I am thinking it might be time for another session...