SparkPlugs

morehairwouldbenice, With much anticipation, looking forward to see your posted photos.(whenever you’re ready) Nicely composed thread.

Dear a, My recipient area was never shaved or trimmed by Dr. True, on pre-op preparation. If that is your wish as well, talk do Dr. True about it. I’m quite sure he will be more than happy to accommodate you. Good Luck.

I may be an old timer but it gets me sick to my stomach any time I hear of any member of our community who resorts to the use of drugs with sever sexual side effects. (especially after a recent FDA confirmation). Anouar, believe me when I say, that both you and Hariri have a beautiful head of hairs (thanks to the brilliant work of Dr. Rahal). At least for the time being, in my opinion, you DO NOT need to perfect it any more. Just be happy and enjoy life. In case anyone still have an uncontrollable urge for additives, please let them go to the nearest Home Depot, get some Miracle Grow and water their hair twice daily.(LOL) (it worked perfectly on my front lawn and my gardener have reported NO side effects whatsoever….)

JustOne, Now that the healing and shedding are behind you, your recipient area looks great and the only thing left to do is to wait for it to grow. (some times the waiting part seem to be as hard, if not harder, than the healing itself). Dr. Lindsey did a superb job in re-creating your hairline. The old micro grafts will be easily blended in and concealed once the new hair will start to grow in. How does your donor area feel and looks two month post-op? Wishing you a speedy and quality growing. Thanks for the update.

Well, the needle piercing pain that I was experiencing two days ago, apparently had nothing to do with my donor area scar. It seemed to be the first signs of a nasty cold I was coming down with. I know what you’re probably thinking. Poor Spark, not only he has to cope with the discomfort associated with being five days post-op, now to top it all of, he is got to deal with a nasty cold too. Yeah, what can you do about it. I’m quite sure in a couple of days my nose will dry up and a new me will emerge. JustOne, Looking forward to your update next week. I think Dr. Lindsey did a phenomenal repair job, in creating your new hairline.(modest Dr. Lindsey most likely, wouldn’t feel comfortable with the word phenomenal). In the early days, did you used to moisturize the newly planted grafts, and if so. What did you use ? Have a nice and speedy growth.

Hi everyone, It’s the fifth day after the procedure and the healing and waiting period is in full swing. The punch scars from my beard area, healed almost completely, and the redness in my recipient area subsided significantly (please see photos). I still feel soreness along the linear scar in my donor area and some times get like a needle piercing pain that lasts a second and goes away. Is this normal? I took prescripton pain killers for two days, but now I take only two extra strength Tylenol before bad time at night. Hariri, BHT is yet to be considered a major part of Dr, True’s practice. He will only do it on rare cases (severely depleted donor area) and by his on admission, a give and take of five to eight procedures annually. This part of his work has not yet been acknowledged, neither on his Web site nor on any of the varies hair restoration discussion forms.(spreading practically on a word to mouth bases). I genuinely hoped that my case could shade some more light on Dr. True’s BHT work and eventually get it “out of the closet” (sort of speak). Originally in my case, two third of head hair (1300-1500 grafts) were to be used to create my new hairline and one third of beard hair (400-500 grafts) to be used as “filler” hair. Unfortunately, this was not materialized and only 137 beard hair were used in the process. Aaron1234, thanks for your nice words and wishes.

I apologize for rushing to post the new thread and neglecting to attach the link to my initial story. So here it is : http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/165537-large-grafts-removed-distributed-dr-true.html 　 　 Bachstrad, I followed your story as well. On all the discussion forms, you were the only one I could fine with large grafts (not mini or micro). If I remember correctly, you first tried a repair job to camouflage the grafts but eventually decided to remove them. My large grafts are in good quality and I hope that the repair will conceal the “pluggy” look. From now on, I will have to rely heavily on beard and body hair to complete the repair. Ej, thanks for your comment. Will have to get back to you on the punch size used to extract the beard grafts

My previous thread was kind of about a step back I had to take, following my hair transplant in the early seventies. The first row of closely placed large grafts were removed by Dr. True via a linear excision. All in preparation for a complete new hairline and a camouflage repair job to conceal the “ pluggy “ look. (please see the link below). Today, after two days repair post-op and with your permission, I would like to go short on the written printed words and rather expand on the visual aspect. (after all a picture is like a thousand words). Dr. True used the combination of beard and head hair in the process (due to a sever depleted donor area). The brake down was as followed : Beard hair- 137 grafts via FUE. 126 singles, 11 doubles. Head hair- 1562 grafts via FUT. 713 singles, 787 doubles and 62 threes. Would very much appreciate your thoughts, opinions and suggestions, and will gladly answer all questions. I can’t conclude without a special gratitude note to registered nurse Jessica, who did a superb job in assisting Dr. true through out the entire process. Believe me guys, had I posted a picture of her here, you would be all lining up to book your next surgery with Jessica (and Dr. True, of course).

Congratulation Dr. Umar, results like these make me a fan too. With not having the luxury of throwing head hair into the mixture (depleted donor area),the combination of body hair (which don’t exceed their maximum length once transplanted into the scalp) and beard hair (coarse), looks extraordinary good. I have noticed the pail circular punch scars, the patient has in his donor area. Have you considered transplanting beard hair into them, or is it too work intensive?

One who follows Dr. Dorin’s work (or Dr. True, for that matter), will come to recognize that the “ zig zag “ hairline has become kind of his trade mark. This technique gives undoubtedly, the most natural looking hair line results. Not so sure if Dr. True will use this technique to re create my hairline.(see attached link) I’ll definitely discuss it with him on our last pre procedure meeting this coming Monday. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/165537-large-grafts-removed-distributed-dr-true.html

wylie, You’re absolutely right. As good as a comb over might look, it goes only as far as covering up bald spots (or in my case, a “pluggy” look). I am eagerly waiting for my new and natural looking hairline and can’t wait to get rid of the comb over once and for all. Once the procedure is completed by Dr. True, I’ll definitely post an update and some photos.

RCWest, Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Dr. Beehner, An impressive large area of coverage for 2799 grafts of fine hair. How is the donor area holding up going in to the third session? Great job

HARIRI, Your hair grows rapidly and looks amazingly good. The elevation of the hair line by Dr. Rahall was a brilliant move and works to your advantage. A punch removal of the lower hairline grafts will eliminate completely the need to shave them. The extraction of follicular unit hair leave a tiny small circular scar that heals in about a week and fades away in approximately two month. Good Luck

Thanks HARIRI, Dr. True is definitely a life saver and I can hardly wait for him to apply his phenomenal skills in creating my new hair line. It also appears that we are neighbors, so why wouldn't you hop in and pay me a visit?.. (dinner is on me).

JustOne, The last 2 photos are of the comb over I use to conceal the “pluggy” look. I know it’s a bit confusing. I should have posted the photos at the beginning, otherwise it might look like the end results.(which is definitely not the case). The procedure, by Dr. True, to create a new hairline and add density to the front , is scheduled for 4-18-12.

I am a 59 years old who had his hair transplant in the early seventies, done by a well known and established Dermatologist in Manhattan, NY. At that time hair transplant was still in its "diaper" stage (just starting out) and large grafts of hair were extracted from the back of my head and transplanted in to the front making it look like what was called as " the corn field " look. I never considered it to be a bad or botched hair job because at the time this was considered top notch work and nobody knew any better. Forget FUT, FUE or BHT, just the idea of taking hair from the back of the head and distributing it to the front and have it actually grow, was considered nothing short of a miracle. I was in my twenties, still having my native thinning hair that were thinning evenly in the borders of a Northwood 6. The large grafts blended nicely with my native hair and gave it a more dense and still natural look. Through the years, I lost my native hair completely and used the comb over technique to try to conceal the "pluggy" look. Today, with a comb over, added Toppik, and some hair spray applied to lock the fibers in position, it still looks relatively decent. (All achieved with the heavy cost of spending 30-40 minutes every morning to arrange it. Please see the last attached photos). Nowadays, after hair transplant rapidly advanced and I achieved some financial stability, I explored the possibility of having a repair job done that will camouflage the large grafts and eliminate the comb over all together. After consulting with almost a dozen physicians nationally (US) and abroad, I came to realize that I face two major obstacles. 1. A depleted donor area which leaves me with approximately only 1300-1500 grafts that could be still harvested. 2. The large grafts (15-25 hairs) in the front row that created my hairline, were placed very close to each other, which makes it difficult to work around them in order to conceal them. Placing a new row of single, double and even triple hairs in front, will still leave them dominate the hairline and therefore jeopardize the whole camouflage idea (also making the hairline appear a little too low for my taste). The removal of the front row grafts and distributing them to secondary rows would enable the creation of a new and more natural looking hairline. This could be done in two ways.One is a punch graft removal and the second is a linear excision. In both methods the scar(s) will be sutured to remove the underling scar tissue and give a better yield to the new hair transplanted into the scar. In both methods, I will lose some of the removed and distributed hair because the yield decreases to 50-70 percent once hairs are being transplanted the second time around. In my case, with large grafts, a punch removal will most likely brake the roots of some of the hair and therefore reduce the yield percentage. Also, since the grafts were so condensed, a punch graft removal will leave me with a line of large circular scars as opposed to a thin incision scar with the linear excision. A scar that would be easier to conceal when the new hairline is transplanted into it and all the removed hair stay in tact. The task of choosing a doctor was not easy. There are many skilled, talented and capable physicians in the hair restoration field. Some take pride in not using a scalpel or sutures in their practice, others do not advocate BHT all together. I went with Dr. Robert True of Manhattan NY because of: 1. His phenomenal artistic skills in creating the most natural looking hairline. 2. Body and facial hair transplants are part of his practice in cases like mine with depleted head donor area and last but not least 3. I felt very comfortable with him right from the start. The linear excision and the distribution of the front row grafts took place in Dr. True’s office on 7-12-11. Dr. Dorin (Dr. True’s partner and a great physician himself) administered the local anesthesia and Dr. true preformed the excision and sutured the wound nicely (I was comfortably watching TV and did not feel anything). After lunch, the dissected large grafts which produced 142 grafts (mainly singles and doubles), were re-planted at secondary front rows on the left side of my head. I slept well that night and did not need to take any pain killers. Next morning, with no swelling what so ever, I went to Dr. True’s office for a clean up and for the next five days shampooed my head carefully, not wanting to hurt the re-planted grafts in the recipient area. The stitches were removed after 9 days and the new hair shaded off on the 4th week. Today, after 8 months, the scar is completely healed and the blood flow to it returned to pre-operational levels. I’m a bit disappointed though with the growth (or lack thereof) of the re-planted hair. The second stage of the repair job scheduled for 4-18-12. Dr. True will use a combination of head and beard hair to create a new hair line and add density to front secondary rows. Between 1300-1500 grafts will be harvested from my donor area via the FUT method and would be used to create the new hair line. Approximately 400-500 facial grafts will be harvested via FUE to be used as a "filler" to front secondary rows (creating the ratio of two third head and one third beard hair used in the process). I was quite aware that "repair experiences" appeal more to, and are more likely to serve, the older generation of the hair restoration community (to the younger generation we all look like dinosaurs who try to become stallions LOL), but I went ahead and posted my experience because of its rarity and to bring to light again the exceptional skills and talent that Dr. True brings to the table in helping people with cases like mine. I look forward to the second stage of the repair and will definitely post up my experience accompanied by relevant photos. The third phase would be repairing the crown area with anything I have in body and facial hair (anything but the kitchen sink). Thanks so much for bearing with me and I would appreciate all comments and support.