After many years of being out of the loop and basically ignoring my situation, I have started to do some research with the intenet of seeing if another go around may be warranted as I am very unsatisfied with my present appearance. I have had two previous hair transplants and both were extremely lacking to say the least, actually I am embarrassed by my appearance. I have been reviewing a number of forums and I like this one very much so I'd like to thank the publisher, moderators, all sincere participants, and doctor's reps. It is comforting to know you are not the only one out there.
I was in my early 30's (I am 47 now) when I started to show serious signs of thinning, The first time I realized I was going bald was playing a round of golf one spring and getting the top of my head badly sunburned. My father was completely bald by the age of 35 so I saw what the future had in store for me and I didn't like it one bit. I have an oddly shaped head with bumps and knots from a former life as an athlete, so the possibility of shaving was never considered seriously, besides most of us pasty white guys don't good with shaved heads anyway! I was probably a NW4 when I started.
My first procedure was done in the late 90's with the now defunct "Elliot & True" here in Chicago. The surgeon was Thomas Wentland. Unfortunately I was reeled in by their late night marketing campaign and some quite nice "smooth jazz" playing in the background. Looking back on the experience I am shocked that I put my well-being and appearance in the hands of a surgeon that I knew virtually nothing about. I met with consultant named Ron at Elliot & True and was booked for surgery. We did not discuss any planning for the future, as I was assured that I would need this one procedure and I would be done. We never discussed the possibility of permanent shock loss or the fact that I may well need another pass to get the results that I wanted. Now for those of you that aren't aware some practices use "dilators" in the recipient sites after they are created. I was told the reasoning behind this was to ensure that the recipient sites didn't "close up" before the grafts were planted and to ensure a "good result." Looking back I think the dilators were used to primarily compensate for the lack of skill in the techs doing the planting and probably also for the surgeon making the sites for that matter. The dilators were finishing nails that were stuck into my head although they didn't use a hammer. I literally looked like a pin cushion or "Pin Head" from the movie Hellraiser during the procedure. Every once in a while one of the techs would place his palm over the top of the dilators and press them back into my head as they would start to work themselves out after a bit. The techs were constantly apologizing to me throughout the procedure, not a good sign.
Dr. Wentland ended up taking the donor hair from very low on my head and ended up with around 600 (?) mini grafts that they proceeded to spread out over the top of my head and into my crown. I was told that this would be the best strategy for my situation (custom!!) In retrospect all the grafts should have gone in and right behind my hairline and none should have come anywhere near my crown. The net result of this painful surgery was that I ended up losing more hair than I gained due to the permanent shock loss of existing hairs that were on their way out anyway. The trauma from the dilators and the incisions simply hastened the dying process of many of my hairs and they fell out over the next few months or so never to return. I also had horrible pitting, that has eased up over the years, and permanent red scarring. I'm not sure how many of the grafts actually grew and I had hairs falling out with the root attached for years to come. Magnification used while making the recipient sites? Reading glasses...
The net result of the surgery was that I now had less hair than when I started and the top of my head looked freakish. I was devastated. I was never suicidal, but believe me when I say I can understand how a guy can get to that point after being subjected to such poor work. You know... you just want a little more hair in order to look a littke better and it turns into this psychologically draining life event that just plain sucks. I suddenly became hyper self-conscious about my appearance. At the time I was the GM of a national chain restaurant and when I returned to work our employees who were primarily teenagers and college students subjected me to snickering and comments behind my back. Not good, I had turned into one of "those guys." I never felt so uncomfortable in all my life and ended up starting a business where I wouldn't have to deal with the public on a day-to-day basis and where I could wear a hat if I wanted. I was always outgoing, laid back, and confident, now I had become withdrawn, insecure, and very unhappy. And not the best company I might add. It affected everything from my professional life to my personal life and everything in between. The whole process was a nightmare. I finally ended up meeting with Dr. True himself about 8 months or so after the surgery, as he never seemed to be in Chicago when I was available, to discuss the results from the clinic with his name on it but since I have nothing positive to say I am going to leave it at that.
Feeling that I had to do something, a few years later in the early 2000's I started planning for another and hopefully better result. The major "for" argument that I heard in favor of the major chains such a s Bosley and MHR was the fact that because they did so many procedures they were extremely adept as repetition makes for a consistent result time and time again... unfortunately I later learned that the "consistent result" was one of consistent mediocrity. At the time this line of thinking made sense to me as experience does matter and once again I allowed myself to make the decision to move forward with the again now defunct (do you think there is a pattern emerging here or is it just me?) MHR in Chicago with Dr. Arthur Katonah. The smaller clinics logically seemed like more of a risk at the time, as my previous experience bore out, and I am sure for many uninformed patients this line of reasoning continues to be used as an effective selling point for the major clinics.
Now compared to Dr. Wentland, MHR was a step forward if you can actually imagine that, especially in pain management during the procedure and I know for sure that some of the grafts did grow. They were more professional during the consultation and took more time, yet strategic planning was once again lacking as I was promised that this would be the last surgery that I would need. One thing that Dr. Wentland did well was to basically leave my hairline roughly where it was and thankfully didn't try to lower it that much, if he had the bad result would just have been magnified that much more. Dr. Katonah also basically left my hairline where it was and worked on the frontal third trying to fill in the dreaded "see through" effect that continues to be the bane of my existence to this day. Again mini-grafts were used and I think they got around 1000 or so. The result was better than at Elliot & True yet the appearance is one of extreme thinness and did not prevent the see through look that I was assured would go away. I also have some multi-hair grafts in a very poorly defined hairline that are just not natural looking. The other major problem resulting from this surgery was that Dr. Katonah didn't attempt to take the donor area starting from the previous scar but rather decided to take a new strip above the old one.
As a result of these two surgeries I now have two rather wide strip scars that are "stacked" one upon the other, what must be a rather depleted donor area, a very poorly defined hairline, and basically diffuse thinning throughout the entirety of the top of my head and crown. In the middle of the back of my head the scars are spaced about 1" apart at their widest and I doubt that they can be merged into one strip scar. I know scalp laxity and donor density play a role and after seeing some of the repair work presented on this site I look forward to examining my options in the near future if I can screw up my couarge, although I have to be honest I am not that optimistic.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as to how I might proceed to get back to a more normal appearance. At this point my goals are modest, I would just like my hair to simply look natural again, it doesn't have to be the greatest head of hair in the world!
As a suggestion to the moderators, I think that if a section dedicated solely to the inspiring repair work done by coalition doctors could be added it would be of enormous help and inspiration to others patients such as myself.
Thanks for reading about my story!
Thanks for the word of encouragement Capelli, I will definitely follow up on your suggestions. I was looking through my pics and realized that the ones I posted were the better ones I had, I think I probably look worse in person. Lol. I'm not on meds and I'm not sure why. I don't think they were offered to me at either place but I will look into them for sure. I checked out your website and all I can say is wow. I think you're going to look unreal when your hair grows in. Congrats on your surgery with Dr. Rahal.
