1978matt

Congratulations mate. I was just wondering if you did any scalp excercises pre op? I did them for about 2 months. Be interesting to know if that was the cause of the discomfort.

Thanks for all your best wishes and comments. I had a good 13hr sleep last night shaking off the jet lag. The swelling is more or less gone. Out of interest I measured the hairline to eyebrows and it's 7cm. The hairline density looks be 50 fu/cm2. He was having his 12 month follow up. It was funny that I got a call to be collected in reception and as I left he was standing there literally about to knock the door! Yeah, I got about 5hrs sleep the night before and combined with jet lag I found it more preferable to watching movies. I didn't use valium afterwards but the first few nights I generally found it ok sleeping at a 45 degree angle. I probably got 5 or 6 hrs sleep each night and set the alarm on my phone at intervals to take the meds. I was applying the ointment earlier and saw how neat and tidy the suturing is. I think on big cases he uses the staples to provide additional support in the first few days and will take them out early if you're healing well. I know he took a lot time cutting the strip and commented I had way more grey hairs than expected! (I dyed my hair a couple of nights before). Yeah it's still one scar. He took the left side out first and the suturing joins together in the middle. It's all very compact and my existing hair covers it well.

lol, yeah. I assumed he means Matt from Rahal but I can't think of any other Nick 6-9 months is probably a good time but they are only going to say it can take 18 months. However, at least you may be able to get some reassurance that there has actually been some growth.

The Comfort Suites This is the preferred hotel for your stay as it is well priced and 5 minutes walk to the office. Konior patients get a discount. The internal of the hotel is quite dated but the rooms appear to have been refurbished recently and were clean. I'd recommend the ground floor rooms near the ice dispenser, vending machine and free coffee facilities. You get a fridge/freezer and microwave in the room. The only downside is that there is no restaurant / room service but there is a basic breakfast which starts at 6am on weekdays and 7am on weekends. Some people complain about the noise from traffic if your room is roadside, however, I barely heard a thing during my entire stay. The free wifi worked well. Local Area You could get a cab to and from the airport and not need to bother renting a car. However, it is not the most pedestrian friendly area. There's a big supermarket, 7-Eleven, bar / pizza place, and a chinese buffet ($7.99 lunch inc drink) all within a 5 minute walk. Walgreens is across the road so you can pick up your prescriptions from there. I drove to the nearest Walmart where everything was about 25% cheaper and also managed to find useful stuff like Aloe Vera 100% Gel and 1000mg MSM tablets, 3 x Generic Rogaine Foam for $29.99+Tax, cheap Ibuprofen and anti-biotic ointment. (Having checked Google, Walmart is actually very close and could be walked in 10-15minutes, i.e. no need for a car.)

Well I thought I’d start by describing how the day went as that’s what most people are interested in and will talk about some other useful stuff in another post… So my procedure day had finally arrived and I was collected from the hotel by Tom (the office manager) at 6am. On arrival I met Lisa who is the lead technician and has worked with Dr Konior for years. With Tom I went through some paperwork, basically signing up to the number of grafts, consent forms and checklists etc. Lisa came in to check my blood pressure and was shortly followed by the Dr. I’m a bit hazy on the details but basically he said we would essentially be doing 2 x 2,000 graft strip surgeries one after the other because the stick and place method of grafting would take a lot of time. The entire strip would be cut in the morning but half would be left in place until the afternoon. It was also suggested that if any sensations above a ‘pinch’ were felt during any stage of the procedure I should make him aware of it. That way we could keep on top of any discomfort. We then moved on to the hairline design. I was handed a cotton swab and asked to outline the shape of where I’d like it. I went pretty conservative. I’m almost 35 and would rather have a solid front 1/2 than a solid front 1/3rd…Anyway, the Dr then got the marker out and drew something way better which would reduce the size of the corners but still covered the front half. It looked great and I couldn’t have made it any better however, I did suggest using some grafts to improve the temple points. They have faded away but not moved since I was in my teens. Next up I had to stand next to the famous green screen for the pre-op photos. I was also given the first couple of shots of valium. One of the techs gave me a disposable shirt to wear so I put that on and was given a restroom opportunity and then led into the surgical room. After the valium you don’t really feel any nerves. First up you lie face down with your head on a donut shaped head support. I was awake for the strip removal but not sure how long it took. It must have been about an hour. There was obviously the shaving of the site and a lot of masking tape to hold adjacent hair back. The numbing shots were sharp but not that bad. My ears were covered with pads as part of the prep by the techs but I could hear the suction device (Spanker told me what that was for the next day) and I think I heard the strip coming out though it didn’t really bother me at all – I’ve seen it done before (the wonders of YouTube). The only minor problem I had was a lack of circulation to my left arm but managed to shift my shoulder into a better position. I got another break and some Gatorade and a snack for 10mins while the room set up was changed, plus another valium pill. It was now time to lie on my back for the planting of the grafts. It must have been about 9am but the next thing I remember is the Dr telling me where I was. It had now fast forwarded to 1:45pm. It was around this time I had the Turkey sandwich lunch that Tom had mentioned in the morning (you can choose alternatives). From then on I can just remember being in a daze, hearing some discussion about needle sizes and grafts, and mentioning to the Dr and Lisa when I started to feel ‘pinching’ sensations. Eventually we broke again for the second part of the strip removal but that only took 10 minutes. I can remember the tugging of the sutures and sound of the staples going in. Everything was well drilled and efficiently done. The last thing I can remember is the temple point work which must have been completed just gone 12. We were all done and dusted and I remember being back in the consultation room being handed a mirror to look at the work and given instructions for the medications. I was driven back to the hotel by one of the techs.. (There was no time for post op photos so they were taken a couple of days later instead.) So that’s all there is to it really. It wasn’t until the day after Dr Konior said it was a really tough day getting the grafts to stay in properly. From my perspective I didn’t know any better so if that is as bad as it gets for the patient then let me tell you you will have nothing to worry about. I came in the following 3 days for a clean up and ended up changing my flight home to a day later. I had a tough time with the swelling but with constant icing I kept it away from my eyes. Apart from that there was no significant discomfort at all. You just have to make sure you follow the medication regime. I have to say that everyone at the office was extremely nice and hardworking, even coming in on their days off. Overall the Dr was very pleased with the healing the following couple of days in both recipient and donor – very little redness or scabbing and some small signs of growth. The staples came out on Day 2 and I didn’t feel a thing. Additional thanks to ... aka Spanker for his special guest appearance! Nice to meet Aaron1234 as well, albeit briefly.

Here you go. A preview before I write a thread next week. Excuse the swollen forehead!

I've had the pleasure of spending some time with Spanker yesterday and later today and I can tell you that if he filled in those corners he would look like a 15 year old. That's not the look you want when you're 35 or above!

Speaking to the doc post-operatively I just had one of those physiologies that made it take longer than usual. Graft count was 4,300+!

He only left during the breaks while the techs prepped everything (usually 5-10mins). there may have been a short period he left the side of his lead tech. I was fairly out of it though!

Thanks guys. I did fall asleep from about 9am - 2pm. The valium works great in passing the time We took 6 or 7 breaks at least

It went great and am very pleased with the hairline! If anything the one I suggested he made more aggressive. Somewhere inbetween aggressive and consevative. Similar to SamSpade I reckon. I'll start a thread in a few days once I've got through the slight swelling etc, We started surgery about 730am and ended about midnight. Don't know about the graft count but will find that out later

Indeed. As I was reading it I was expecting the next line to say "..wearing a hat makes you go bald..."

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/170615-best-hairlines.html

I haven't researched him at all but from the posted results he clearly knows how to do hairlines.

This chap wants to go for a transplant in front of a hairpiece and to continue wearing a hairpiece for the rest of his life. I know this can be done but Drs won't do it on anyone hasn't proved their lifelong commitment to wearing a piece. It's not the same as doing several HTs in your 20s and continually chasing it: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/145324-*photos*-placing-grafts-front-hair-system.html

Indeed. I would suggest concentrating on finding a decent hairpiece. There are some good ones out there but I wouldn't know where to start. Only after a year or two of use then maybe go for the HT.

Here you go: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/171815-dr-hasson-5919-grafts-one-procedure-6-5-months-22-months.html

When you said full coverage I assumed all the thinning and bald areas (inc crown) would need a full appearance. I guess that isn't the case if 3000 is enough!

I'll go for 6000 grafts. It looks like you have fine but dense hair so I would not be surprised if it is even more!

Bravo

Two are world class, not sure about the others!

That's not the Shapiro I would choose but at least his name isn't Larry...

Here's a good example. I have heard before that sometimes a 2 stage approach is used to minimise shockloss due to the desire not to shave the head, as described in the thread: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/136577-raymond-konior-m-d-2338-grafts-female-pattern-hair-loss-restoration.html

Probably Folliculitis. Go to your GP who will probably suggest antibiotics.

Looks like you have had a seamless recovery and it will be all positive from now on. Looking forward to the updates.