gijedi

Sorry about bad experience. There is no doubt that every single hair transplant MD will have suboptimal results from time to time. Re: Dr Alba Reyes-Sajiv I will say the following: I went to her only after two close friends of mine had had successful transplants with her. I had toured her facility and , as an MD myself, found the facility up to proper standards. Would not have gone there otherwise. I had an FUT. They did PRP and I recall them drawing blood. Anesthesia was propofol based (they gave some midazolam and an IV narcotic prior). The results far exceeded my expectations, so much so that I then decided to do the crown. I should have gone back to her for second procedure but chose to go to Indianapolis , rather than travel again, where results were ok. I wound up going to James Harris for unshaved FUE to finish filling in crown. See my prior posts for pics/details. In summary, my experience with Reyes-Sajiv was flawless and I continue to recommend her.

Yes, it winds up being like a styling gel. I use it once at night and have for 5 years. Tried Kirkland and, like you, didn't like it.

I had a second FUT 10 months after a very successful first. I was told that strip harvested was smaller than expected due to concerns about scalp laxity. I regretted not waiting longer between procedures and suspect I might not have needed a third procedure (600 graft FUE to finish filling in crown) had I waited a little longer, and allowed scalp to regain some laxity. Not sure there's any really good data on what exactly the best timing is between FUT's but logic would dictate that the longer you wait, the better. For what it's worth,at the time of my FUE (14 months after second FUT) Dr Harris felt that my scalp laxity was good. By the way, you mention post FUT discomfort. I agree, having undergone various FUT's I can tell you that the FUE recovery was nothing.I di not want another FUT BTW:Dr. Harris does non-shave FUE for small graft numbers. That made all the difference for me as bit donor and recipient sites were immediately easy to conceal for me. JMHO

Very much so.

I was a NW 6 and with a total of 4,000 grafts (2,400 grafts with first FUT, 900 grafts with second FUT, and 600 grafts at recent FUE to finish filling in crown) I have front and crown very nicely covered. Donor characteristics (density,caliber, contrast,etc). are key. There really is no absolute number. Having said that, I'd think that anyone that gets 7K grafts is going to have a pretty good result regardless, but its a lot of money and many can get good results with less.

I had approx 2,500 grafts for around $4k in Santo Domingo with Dr. Reyes Sajiv. Hard to beat price-wise. Excellent result. She doesn't charge by graft count.

My experience: 1) 2,270 grafts / 4,631 hairs FUT. Early 2015. Dr. Alba Reyes Sajiv, Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic, Frontal 2) 1,081 grafts / 4,445 hairs FUT Late 2015 Dr. Jeffrey Waesche, PAI Indiannapolis. Crown 3) 672 grafts / 1,284 hairs FUE (No-shave of donor or recipient areas!) Early 2017. Dr. James Harris, Colorado, Crown All this has taken me from a Norwood 6 to a very happy Norwood 2. Reason for last procedure being FUE wasn't that I was "stripped out". Just wanted a much easier recovery.FUE is MUCH easier to go thru than FUT. Last procedure was 4.5 months ago so those grafts are just starting to come in, Looks like its going to finish filling in very nicely

I had a "no-shave" FUE with Dr. Jim Harris in Colorado. Great Dr. and staff. The donor site was "no shave". The recipient site, the crown, was already bare. You'd have to contact him directly to see if he requires shaving of the recipient site if there is already some hair there. Hope that helps.

-All manual with Harris's SAFE system motorized FUE device. -Crown was recipient area. -Procedure took 5 hours or so (additional time was needed to shave the donor sites individually prior to the harvesting. That time is included in the 5 hours).

For what it's worth....after two good FUT's I still had a bald spot on crown about 3" diameter. I didn't want another FUT. Went to Dr ,James Harris for a no-shave FUE. Very good experience. Based on prior HT's I think it'll look good. I'm 2.5 months post-op, so, no where near being able to judge final results. Agree with staying away from neograft unless you research carefully. Often times offered by MD,'s that don't specialize in HT's , which are the only ones you should ever consider.

If you want to stay in Colorado, I'd recommend Dr James Harris. He's right outside of Denver. I've had three HT's with different doc's. All went well and I'm happy with results. Last one was FUE to crown with Dr. Harris. First two were FUT's He has an excellent reputation and staff. My experience with him could not have been better. I had to fly there and would do it again.

You D'man! Disclaimer: I am a very satisfied recent Dr Harris patient

Br J Dermatol. 2015 Jun;172(6):1555-61. doi: 10.1111/bjd.13399. Epub 2014 Dec 10. Similar response patterns to topical minoxidil foam 5% in frontal and vertex scalp of men with androgenetic alopecia: a microarray analysis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25204361

Re: Post-op rogaine. The reality is that there is no consensus. Different docs give different recommendations. Some will give you a thumbs up to use after 5-7 days and some say avoid for three months. None of this is based on any really good data. For what it's worth, I have used Rogaine beginning a week after two FUT's and again after recent FUE. I do believe it has helped. I've been very happy with my results.....

MIlo12. That's not a fair comment. I am a states-side physician. Very familiar with operating rooms and surgery centers. Prior to having FUT in 2015 with Dr Alba Reyes Sajiv, I had two close friends (they live there)have very good FUT's done there. I toured her facilities a few years before committing to the surgery, and I can tell you it's a legitimate surgery center that operates, best I could tell, to US standards. I can't speak of other places in the Dominican Republic. I don't know what they may be doing in those places; could be miracles, could be horrors, I don't know. But I do know that there's no horror stories going on at Dr Reyes Sajiv's office. Mind you, bad/suboptima outcomes can and do occur anywhere and everywhere. As I have mentioned before, I do like her model. You are charged a flat fee for services. Her motivation thus becomes to do the best job possible and not simply to crank up the number of grafts...there's something to be said about that.

I researched this quite a bit. The recommendations vary wildly from doc to doc. I've looked at the literature and there is absolutely no good data upon which to really base a firm recommendation. Ultimately ,about a week post op any wounds are "sealed" such that the Rogaine isn't being absorbed any differently than it is pre-op. It's not even clear how exactly it works. Seems to be that increases blood flow is one of its mechanisms of action. If that is indeed the case then I can't imagine anything a transplanted graft would like better than the absolutely best blood flow possible...right? So, for what it's worth, I restarted Rogaine foam 7-10 days post op and have had very good results with the two transplants that were followed by Rogaine use. Hope that helps

You get what you pay for. When I did use the stuff daily I too found Toppik expensive and changed to Xfusion. I couldn't tell the difference. It was usually meaningfully less expensive.

Forgot to add; I only use once a day, before going to bed. After two years can tell you it's been very helpful. Ever notice how shampoo bottles always say to use twice?..well duh, they want to sell more product!! Yes, studies used it twice daily but there was no once-a-day arm for comparison.

Had been using Rogaine foam for a while. Decided to try Kirkland to save $. Wound up taking it back for full refund. I found it to be very greasy. Did not like it at all. I'm sure it works just as well.

No. She did not recommend propecia that I can recall. I must say that at two years out, don't feel it would have helped as I'm very happy with results using just Romaine foam once daily. Have no interest in potential Propecia side effects.

Thanks MH. Will do. I plan on doing whole set of pics in about 6-9 months. For those that are no-shave candidates, particularly after personally having had three strip surgeries, it's the only way to go. It's so much easier. I wonder why more docs aren't offering it (actually, I do know the answer, it's more labor-intensive)...

Yes. Dr. Harris/office/staff, as you obviously figured out, all great! Can't say enough good things about the entire experience. You and I are on about the same timeline as my procedure was just little over a week ago. We'll have to touch base again in six months. From my past experiences, that's when I've really noticed a real difference and gone "wow". I'm currently using Rogaine Foam again, BTW and using a Hairmax laser comb too (who knows if that thing even works!!). I'll probably tire of the laser comb in a couple of months like I did after prior transplant.. but have been on rogaine foam for two years now and plan on continuing indefinitely. Good luck to you and patience! It takes a while!

Strip surgery = 2,270 grafts/4,631 hairs. Finally got to posting some pictures. Will post separate pictures with results of crown transplants from 15 months ago. Hate "replying" to my own posts. Can't seem to find "new post" button...

For anyone interested.... I'm one week post no-shave FUE with Dr. Harris/Colorado.Great experience. Wanted to comment on the my experience recovering from FUE vs FUT. FUE is SO MUCH EASIER ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY. Had have three FUT's. #1: First one, '97, or so , some guy in Chicago, can't recall name Not a name I see here: donor scar was tender and painful and numbness in scalp persisted for a very long time. Probably not back to normal for a year or two. #2: Dr. Alba Reyes Sajiv, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Early 2015. Much better experience. Pain was minimal, discomfort not bad but again, some numbness and head just not feeling right for 6-9 months after. Overall Excellent results. Very happy with results. #3 Dr Jeffrey Waesche, PAI Indiannapolis. Late 2015. FUT. Again, numbness and some discomfort for months at donor site. Initial pain not bad , but again, on and off for months you get a weird , out-of-nowhere shock kind of pain every once in a while. No big but still... Now to FUE... There's just no pain. Minimal discomfort at a few of the donor site. Nothing more than you'd feel from a bad bug bite, if even that. Just a little sore to touch. No bad nights or awkward sleeping to avoid disturbing donor site. Here's the part I like best: no numbness. Sensation is really back to normal in just a week (yes, there's an "itchy" kind of feeling at some recipient sites, but that's to be expected). Haven't had any scabbing (Didn't really with two last FUT's either...maybe applying the avocado oil they gave me in Santo Domingo has something to do with it ..?). To be fair, the FUE was only 600 grafts, but still.. the difference in recovery and post-op discomfort is night and day..

Wanted to share recent experience with Dr. Harris. -I Started as a Norwood 6 -Had FUT 3/15 with Dr Alba Reyes Sajiv in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 2,270 grafts/4,631 hairs to frontal region. Excellent results and experience there. -Second FUT with Dr. Waesche @ PAI in Indiannapolis 10/15. 1,081grafts/4,445 hairs to crown. That went well enough, Crown's tough to fill in in one shot. -Third procedure just a few days ago was a No-Shave FUE with Dr. Jim Harris in Colorado. I just didn't want to go thru another strip procedure and shaving my head was NOT an option. Had around 700 grafts/1,500 hairs to finish filling in small remaining area of baldness. Absolutely the easiest of the three procedures, ZERO pain or discomfort at donor or recipient sites. Great office, doctor and staff. All in all have lucked out with good experience at all three places and good results everywhere (yes, it may be a little early to say about this last one but at this point I think I can tell..).