Rhino3

I had about 1,500 grafts placed in my crown a year ago. I'm happy with the results, but my one gripe is that the transplanted hairs stick up a bit. My barber is able to use texture scissors to get it under control, but within 2 weeks it looks like I have a calic again and need to use mousse in the mornings to get it down before going back to the barber. During this time I need to check on it throughout the day and use water to pad it down pretty often. I thought that maybe the hairs needed to mature and would fall naturally eventually, but now that I'm 12 months out I don't think that's the case -- the calic looks like it's here to stay. Has anyone come across this before? Any advice? I'd like to get more work on the crown, but am terrified that my entire crown will be one big puffy calic! Thanks!

I had a ~2000 graft procedure with Dr. Konior about 3 weeks ago in his Chicago office, and am glad to report that my experience was like many of the Konior experiences shared on this forum -- fantastic. I don't want to go into too much verbose detail, but I was a bit nervous going in even though this wasn't my first procedure. I somehow managed to fly out of DC during a snowstorm after a hours and hours of delays, got to the hotel at 2am, ran to Walgreens to get food/water for my recovery stage, and they picked me up at 6am. It seemed like a random part of Chicago with strip malls and run down roads, and I felt uneasy being there by myself and because of the hectic trip and lack of sleep -- until I met Dr. Konior and his staff. His staff is very friendly, personable, and intelligent. And within a few minutes of meeting Dr. Konior, I immediately felt completely at ease. He just exudes intelligence, integrity, kindness, and professionalism. He's also funny and kind of a guy's guy -- the kind of guy you would want to grab a beer with and talk sports, politics, or anything. He is a quick and focused doctor, but patient at the same time and more than willing to answer as many questions as you have and go into as much detail as you'd like. While he's kind and accommodating, he also asserts his expertise and will tell you if he disagrees with what you're suggesting. For example I was adamant about not going near one section of an old scar for my donating strip, and he convinced me that it's best for me to let him find the "sweet spots" for the best results and he could determine whether reopening the scar or going near it would be bad. By the end of the conversation I just deferred to him to do whatever he wanted, not because I was pressured, but just because he was so confident and I completely trusted him. Everything went well and although the day after surgery was a bit rough, I returned to work within 6 days without anyone noticing anything (didn't shave recipient area) and life is back to normal -- I'm just trying to be patient for the long growth process now. Overall, Dr. Konior and his staff are incredibly efficient, knowledgable, and treat you like family. 1 story and 2 pieces of advice for anyone going to Dr. Konior: 1) Woken from Daze: I stayed in the hotel for 3 days after surgery, and was so tired from lack of sleep on my first night and in a daze from the meds, that I guess I just wasn't answering my phone and the doctors office couldn't get in touch with me to check-in and schedule post-op clean ups/evaluations. It had to be highly annoying for them, but Felice came to my hotel, talked the clerk into going up to my room with him, and they got me in gear. They were all very understanding and nice about it. 2) O'Hare Taxi Scams: This may not be unique to Chicago for all I know, but I got a taxi at O'Hare when I landed and was charged $80 to get to the Comfort Suites hotel near Dr. Koniors office. I protested, but the driver said that Chicago airport taxi's are more expensive, and that it was just a long ride. After talking with some folks later it's pretty clear that I was just scammed. The Uber taxi back to O'Hare was something like $25, and the driver said it's common for the taxi drivers to rip off out of towners coming out of the airport. I think he must have punched multiple people into the meter or something. So, be careful and maybe plan ahead if you're on a tight budget. 3) Food and Water for Recovery:: If traveling from out of town, you are NOT going to want to leave your hotel room during recovery, so you need several days worth of food/water to store before surgery (Comfort Suites has fridges and microwaves). Unfortunately there aren't sidewalks on the hotel road, and although there's a Walgreen's and 7-11 within a 5 minute walk, I can attest that crossing 4 lanes of traffic and getting down the road in a new city at 2am to get to Walgreens was not fun. I suggest having the taxi take you to get food and water first, and getting there early to get settled the night before the procedure. I'll try and post updates during my growth process, although I'm not sure if I'm comfortable posting pictures. If anyone has any questions feel free to fire away on this thread or private message me. And thank the lord for this website, its administrators, and members. What an incredible resource. There's no way I would have learned about Dr. Konior's office without this site.

Thanks all. These are the responses I was expecting but was just hoping maybe it would be okay. I should mention that under my ski helmet I wear a polyester/spandex bavacla (sp?) that seems like a similar non-adhesive texture like a medical cap that other doctors send their patients home in. I also would not expose the scalp to any sunlight at all. The helmet is adjustable and I can arrange for it to not touch any of the grafted or donor zones, with the exception of a light grazing of the scar on the back of my head when I take it off. The grafts just feel so embedded now and the donor lines seem almost non-existent -- I feel like the only way I could really do damage is if I had a REALLY bad head collision at a high speed, and I definitely wouldn't be putting myself in that situation. I've been an aggressive skier for 20 years and that hasn't happened so I'm confident it wouldn't happen on a casual outing. That being said, I'd feel like the worlds biggest dummy if I disregarded the consensus here and ended up damaging precious, expensive grafts, so I guess I'll nix the trip. I've sent a note to Dr K and his staff too to see if I can get a quick response from them as well and will share details then. I'll also post a little bit about my surgical experience once I can put together a cogent description that his office deserves. Thanks

I had an excellent procedure with Dr. Konior on Tuesday (which I will post more about later), and am now on day 4. I have a great opportunity to go skiing tomorrow and I'm super conflicted about whether I should go. I know that the post-op instructions are for me not to do anything as intense as skiing for a few weeks, but I wear a great helmet while skiing, I'm an advanced skier, and will go slow and stay on intermediate trails. My donor area and grafts are in amazing shape. I can't really even notice or feel anything out of the ordinary. I had 1,500 grafts on my crown, around 400 on a temple, and around 200 in the forelock region. Would it be stupid of me to hit the intermediate slopes for a few hours, being very cautious? I know skiing can sound like a dangerous sport, but I feel like theres a better chance of me damaging grafts/scars getting in and out of cars, hitting kitchen cabinets, or having my dog playfully swat at my head than me crashing while wearing a fully protective graphite helmet in powder snow. Thanks for your advice!

Nice -- it looks like you have a strong head of hair overall and could just use some work in the temples. I think if you go to one of the recommended doc's on this site you will definitely notice a stronger hairline and will get the temples pulled in. Most of the 2,000 grafts I had placed were in the temples and I'm very happy with the improvement. I think Dr. Cooley is one of the best I've seen on this site.

I was in a very similar situation and had 2,000 grafts placed in my hairline by Dr. Rahal. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Results and expectations can vary of course. Without seeing any pictures, it's hard to tell you more. You should be able to gauge for yourself though by looking at lots of pics and blogs. Also, Dr. Cooley doesn't require shaving down the recipient area, so if your hair is somewhat long no one should be able to tell you had any work done. Over the next year the growth will slowly come in -- it won't be a quick change that anyone will notice. There probably will be pimples sprouting where new follicles are popping out, but it's temporary. not noticeable to others, and goes away. Re: any "nightmare" stories, I think those only come from doctors far below Dr. Cooley's ilk. He's one of the best.

Thanks. That makes sense, although I'd like to think that the best docs won't transect native hairs during the procedure -- the reason it takes so much longer without shaving is because they're careful NOT to do that I would hope. But the increased risk is certainly there. I've had 2 procedures and experienced no noticeable shock loss, although my first 2 were on the hairline where there wasn't much native hair -- it might be a different story for me on the crown but my fingers are crossed. Has anyone noticed a difference in results between patients who shaved and patients who didn't?

Thanks for the responses. I don't quite understand how shaving prevents shock loss -- it seems like it just masks any shock loss because there is no hair there to see disappear. If you get a buzz cut or shave the recipient area it seems like the root of the follicle would be affected the same way... As far as I can tell, it seems like doctors prefer to shave because it allows them to complete the procedure faster and see better, but some are willing to take the extra time to work through native hair and don't seem to think it should negatively impact results.

Hello, Apologies as I'm sure I could find good info on previous threads that might answer my questions, but I'm a little short on time and wanted to make sure to get clear opinions. 2 questions: 1) SHAVING NATIVE HAIR (in recipient site): I've been quoted 2000 grafts (maybe 500 in the forelock region and 1500 in the crown) by a great doc, but he requires shaving almost all the way down to the scalp, and told me I would look like a monk returning to work (unless of course I shaved my whole head). I have pretty good coverage from native hair, so I might have to suck it up and shave down, but I'm wondering if there are any reputable docs out there that can work around a good amount of native hair without significantly affecting results. I have an in-person consultation soon with a recommended doc on this site who apparently doesn't always need to shave, but I'm hoping to get some feedback from the community as well. Any opinions/advice out there on the need to always shave for those with some fairly good native coverage, and what options I might have? 2) CROWN WORK: Since I've joined the community I've been mainly focused on hairlines, and have my opinions about which clinics are consistently putting out the best results. Unfortunately I can't say the same for crown work. I know there's a great list of docs on this site that all do great work, but does anyone recommend a certain doc or docs that seem to really stand out when it comes to crown work? Thanks so much...

I think you're fine. A day after having a procedure done by Dr. Rahal, I smacked by head HARD against a low angled ceiling on the top floor of the local bed and breakfast in Ottawa, and immediately went to Rahal's office out of concern -- I was freaking out because I literally nailed the recipient area really hard (not my proudest moment). They took a look and chuckled a bit -- they said unless a graft pops out and there's bleeding, I have nothing to worry about. 2 years later, I can verify that they were right...

They are the same company. My procedure was done in Northern Virginia. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to share my experience any further, but I urge you to read through this thread again, to do your research -- and don't let cost be your determining factor. You'll pay the price for a bad decision down the road... I went to Dr. Rahal to have 2,000 grafts placed on my hairline, directly over where my original 1,500 grafts were placed, and I'm extremely happy with the results.

Amazing results here, congrats. Shadow of the Empire State (or anyone else who might be able to answer), you mentioned that the crown is a black hole for grafts. Do you mind explaining why? I've mostly been focused on learning about hairlines but am interested in the crown. Thanks...

I'm watching Pardon the Interruption on ESPN right now and Tony K and Michael Wilbon are making fun of Rooney for getting "HAIR PLUGS". HA -- they have no idea about the advancements and are still living in the 80's...

GotHair, what dosage of DMAE supplements do you take?

A 'diatribe' hardly describes my posts, and your response didn't answer my question about other HT recipients' experience with shedding/hair growth after a HT either. Rhino, have you had a HT? If so, I would appreciate a cogent response to my question; I bet others on this Forum would learn from such a relevant response from you as well. You seem a font of information, thank you! I wasn't trying to answer your question, my intent was to pour a grain of salt on this "rah rah" session for HGH, and debunk the myth that it is an anti aging agent. I hope that some form of HGH is approved by the FDA as the fountain of youth and I can take it every morning, start dunking basketballs and picking up chicks everywhere, but the facts are the facts right now. There are dangerous side effects and the long term effects aren't known. Sorry to rain on your parade, but I feel obligated to keep people informed of the facts. To answer your question, I have had 2 HT's. The first one was 2 years ago and didn't really work, and I am now 2.5 weeks post op -- I flew to Ottawa from Washington D.C. to see Dr. Rahal, and have nothing but amazing things to say about the experience. I don't want to go into many details because I'll end up writing a novel, but let me just reiterate that Dr. Rahal's clinic is awesome (great patient care, super efficient/professional, and Dr. Rahal and is staff are very down to earth and cool). I had 2000 grafts on my hairline, and it feels strong/dense, and I like the design. I had my sutures removed on Friday and you can't notice anything in the donor area. He also did a scar revision on my previous donor strip and it looks/feels great. I can barely feel anything when I run my fingers across the back of my head. Re: shedding/growth, I can't speak to growth other than what I see at 2.5 weeks (hairs were coming on strong, but it looks like they might be going into the expected shedding phase now). I didn't experience any real shock loss/shedding during either of my HT's, but I have a fairly strong head of hair with the exception of the hairline, only had 1000 grafts my first time and 2000 my second time, and I'm 28 years old. Sorry I can't help answer your question, but I bet if you email a coalition doc you'll get a good, professional response. Good luck... And before anyone starts asking me for pics -- once I get my pics organized and start to see some growth down the road I might start a weblog.