ArochaHair

Thanks, David.

Thanks David and 911fan. We love having patients come in for follow up visits because it is such a rewarding experience to see what this procedure does for their confidence and this patient exhibited this perfectly.

Mick50 and KO:

We thank you for your kind words, and taking the time to comment on our patient's result!

MSM will not aid in the recovery process. It simply makes existing hair that is already growing to grow faster. Gillenator is correct about nails, too.

I believe your crown is good with the only area I'd personally consider addressing being the vertex/top of the crown where scalp is more clearly seen. If you've only started finasteride in the past few months however you should stay the course and see how it works for you by this time next year. You may not need anything.

Hello BBReal,

Dr. Arocha is taking a very small strip to obtain the grafts you and he discussed so any issues regarding shock loss in the donor zone is extremely unlikely. Donor shock occurs for two main reasons:

1. The donor strip is taken too wide. Normally, cases you see online of donor shock from FUT involve donor strips that have tissue removed that is 2cm or more in width and in many of these shock cases the loss is around the back and slightly to either side of the donor zone. This area is typically the tightest and if the strip is not narrowed properly to compensate then the tension created will temporarily reduce the blood flow to this region.

2. Peripheral transection from sloppy strip excision. If the doctor is not careful he or she will transect the hairs along the incision line and these hairs can be temporarily, or even permanently shocked.

Recipient shock is also a potential issue but, again, this is a small procedure so the potential for shock loss is quite low. If you do experience shock it would be minor but it would not make it look like you had a procedure. It would, at worst, just look thinner but only temporarily. Dr. Arocha is extremely experienced with performing procedures in areas of existing native hair and he does so without having bad cases of shock loss. Your donor hair will be long enough to cover the sutures until they come out and your recipient area will back relatively back to normal quickly because of your native hair hiding the work. Any areas that are more visible will have, at worst, a pinkish hue a week after your procedure. In other words, in one week your overall appearance will only be slightly different and that is if someone were to be overly critical. You can take two weeks off if you wish to be thorough but we do not feel it is necessary for you. It's your choice however so if that makes you feel better, and you can swing it with your work, then there's nothing wrong with it.

You are also welcome to call the clinic on Monday. We might be able to put you in touch with some past patients and they can tell you about their own experiences.

The number of grafts necessary to do the job depends on your expectations, or rather, what your definition of "restore somewhat thickness" means. If you want the temples to be roughly as thick as the tuft of hair in the front, then closer to 1500 grafts will be necessary (750 each side).

We shared this patient's photos two days ago to show the result he received from 3000 grafts in one procedure from Dr. Arocha. The patient wanted the hairline recession to be corrected with strong density while maintaining a natural frame for his face. This is the result, and the patient's testimony, after his 3000 graft "one pass hairline" hair transplant, without shaving, by Dr. Arocha.

You can see the photos here...

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/186082-1-pass-hairline-dr-arocha-patient-w-3000-grafts.html

This local to Houston patient came to see Dr. Arocha about his receding hairline and to learn more about his options. After careful consideration the patient opted for follicular unit strip surgery to rebuild a strong new frame for his face while taking the future into consideration. Dr. Arocha transplanted 3000 grafts in one procedure.

The result shown is one year later.

Seeing a patient with red hair that gets a hair transplant isn't very common so we're pleased to show you this result.

This patient came to see Dr. Arocha about his eroding hairline and thinning crown so after extensive consideration he decided to have a FUT with Dr. Arocha and the team from Arocha Hair Restoration. Dr. Arocha harvested 3038 grafts in one procedure and rebuilt this patient's hairline and filled the crown region WITHOUT SHAVING. This is one of the hallmarks of excellent hair transplant results by Dr. Arocha as he never shaves the patient's recipient scalp.

This result is shown 19 months after his procedure.

Thank you all for your nice comments.

Mosd,

My apologies but there are no placement photos that I'm aware of. If some do pop up we'll throw them up here for you to view.

Our latest presentation is this patient that presented with frontal loss in a NW3 pattern with some diffused loss as well. He came to see Dr. Arocha to find out what his hair restoration options were and if he was a good candidate for a procedure with Dr. Arocha. The patient and Dr. Arocha agreed on a follicular unit strip procedure for approximately 3000 grafts.

Dr. Arocha was able to harvest 3017 grafts in one procedure. The result is shown at two years after his visit.

We've shared this result with an update last week showing the result in 4K resolution. We now have an interview with the patient so you can learn about his process and what brought him to Arocha Hair Restoration in Houston, Tx.

We presented this patient before but he returned a few months ago for another follow up and we took the opportunity to shoot a new 4K video to show as much detail on his case as possible. We are very grateful to the patient for allowing his full face to be displayed in our presentations of his results.

The patient originally came to see Dr. Arocha about the thinning and recession of the frontal zone of his hairline. After consideration of the factors involved the patient and Dr. Arocha agreed on a 2400 FUT procedure to slightly reshape the airline but mainly to add a big boost in density.

Dr. Arocha does not shave the recipient area of his patients as he feels that the length gives him a better idea of how the grafts should be placed in order to maximize naturalness. This also allows the patient to return to a more normal routine after a procedure sooner than if the scalp had been shaved.

The result is shown at approximately 1 year after the procedure. The previous thread where we presented a regular HD video is here...

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/184403-hd-video-dr-arocha-showing-2400-fut-case.html

With the 4K video below you can see the increase in detail and sharpness. We hope you enjoy this presentation.

Was there a process during the extraction which enabled you to know what was happening? In my operation every time a graft was taken a little click happened and a counter increased by 1. This has to take place because whoever is doing the extraction isn't obviously expected to mentally count.

1291 of the grafts taken during this procedure were scored by the ARTAS robotic FUE system. We have a flat screen display on the wall that documents each graft. Dr. Arocha then turned to his hand held FUE system to remove another 300 grafts of which all were documented in the patient's chart. Dr. Arocha was not only honest and transparent with the graft count as would be expected he also undercharged the patient as 91 grafts were given at no extra charge.

Dr. Arocha and the patient (as already mentioned) discussed the procedure and the details. Dr. Arocha strives to go above and beyond for his patients and will personally reach out to any of his patients that is thought to have additional questions.

HTX832,

We thank you for choosing Dr. Bernard Arocha for your hair restoration. I think that some clarification must be made regarding your case.

According to Dr. Arocha your donor hair had a significant percentage of single hair follicular units and this was discussed with you prior to the procedure. In fact, Dr. Arocha was hesitant to perform a procedure for you without your agreeing to adopting a regular and consistent medical regimen to keep your hair in the best possible shape. Dr. Arocha estimated that 2000 grafts would be sufficient for your needs but after the procedure commenced and the donor area was more visible with the scope it was determined that the harvesting should be reduced. Dr. Arocha determined that to attempt the full 2000 grafts would be unwise due to the visible miniaturization that some of your donor hair exhibited. Dr. Arocha actually harvested more than 1500 grafts (1591) but did not charge you for the additional grafts. During the examination and trimming of the grafts via microscopic dissection, none of the grafts were "sub-divided". They remained in their natural bundles, which happened to be mostly singles and then doubles.

The confusion may lie in the fact that many of your single hair grafts were placed into incisions with other grafts. This is done at most clinics as doing so helps to counteract the see through effect that too many singles will create. By "doubling up" Dr. Arocha used the same number of hairs in a way that will give you a thicker result than had he simply placed all single hair grafts next to each other. Dense packing is one thing but the density achieved with multi-hair grafts placed closely together is much more desireable compared to dense packing with single hair grafts. In this case, and many others, some of the singles were turned into multi-hair grafts to simulate this effect. This is why the incision count does not match the graft count. Also, about a third of the grafts were placed into your native hair so counting them, regardless of the scabs you can find, is normally quite difficult.

Dr. Arocha has built a solid reputation for being an outstanding hair restoration specialist but also for being an ethical and caring man. We understand your concerns but rest assured, they are misplaced. You are welcome to call or visit the clinic any time and Dr. Arocha will be more than happy to explain matters further.

I agree with hsrp10. You are young and you should find ways to halt your hair loss first before you try surgery. As a candidate however you appear to have a higher density in your donor area than the typical Asian patient so if you do ever decide to have surgery you might be in a good position with regards to your donor supply. Do not rush into surgery and do not consult with just one doctor. Consult with as many doctors as you can for the next year while you try to slow or halt your existing hair loss.

Hello Lorenzo,

I am sorry if I missed if before but what is your name and do you have a hair transplant?

Yes I have had a hair transplant but I'd prefer to not give my real name, thank you. This isn't my primary job and I prefer to not tell the world.

In my guess its about 12-15. Seeing is believing and as I stated before they were not great results.

Why would patients with great results come to your clinic or any other clinic that did not perform their surgery? It is rare because if they're happy with their previous surgery they either don't have another surgery or they go back to their original clinic. Haven't you seen bad results from strip and other FUE methods including motorized and hand held manual? Should those methods be avoided? This goes back to my point that it is the hand that guides the tool, not the tool itself. Dr. Arocha does not depend on the ARTAS as he also uses manual and motorized punch systems depending on the patient.

As I stated earlier I would love to see results from unbiased posters. I think all the results I have seen on the forum are from doctors and not patients Maybe I am wrong but can you find a poster that research on this site and said I have decided to have ARTAS?

Here is one and he seemed happy. There are more on other websites but I agree there are not many overall. We wish we could change this but Dr. Arocha's patients just want to put the issue behind them and enjoy their hair.

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/171072-920-grafts-dr-glenn-charles-age-21-a.html

Thank you for your time, Lorenzo. I hope you have a great week.

Hi Lorenzo,

I have met a lot of patients that have had ARTAS and NEOGRAFT.

How many is a lot?

I think the result has a lot to do with a doctors skill and a patients donor.

This has been rightfully said of any hair transplant method or tool. The robot is not completely autonomous. It is controlled by Dr. Arocha and he is watching as every graft is scored. The approach and final result comes down to the experience and judgement of the operator, which should be a doctor.

I do not think they ever used it on patient but I guess after seeing some of the patient results from other clinic they decided not to use it.

They purchased the robot without seeing patient results?

The results that I have seen (no recommended doctors) were horrible and the donor was destroyed for a small number of grafts.

Insert any hair restoration method ever created and these same words apply. Like you said, doctor skill and patient donor. In the right experienced hands it is a great tool to have in the toolbox.

Here is a 2500 graft result using ARTAS by Dr. Arocha. The growth is excellent and the donor is just fine.

Here is another patient donor zone, immediately after surgery, compared to a manually extracted donor. The point is to reinforce what you said about doctor experience with the tool being used.

ARTAS immediately post-op

Manual hand held extraction by another clinic

Cloning is still a long way away unfortunately but hopefully topical finasteride will continue to develop and flourish. There is a company in the UK called Follifuel that sells a version for ?40 for a one month supply.

I agree, less isn't always more in terms of small punches .6 is going to transect follicles without a doubt. Personally I think .9mm is just big enough to get multi follicular units without transecting. But .8mm definitely improves scarring significantly, what size punch does Artas use? From the what I remember it was using 1.2mm years ago.

HTsoon,

The latest update uses a .9mm punch with a four pronged tip. The goal is to move to a .8mm in the near future. The four pronged tip helps the robot to work with scalp that has high laxity which has proven to be difficult in the past. Another nice update is that the algorithm allows the punch to go a bit deeper than before and the graft literally rises up out of the extraction point. This means that it has been separated from the muscle and tissue and can be removed with little to no traction necessary. This helps to cut down on trauma to the graft. The articulating head is less limited in that it has more freedom of movement to extract from the parietal zones of the donor scalp. In the past it was limited to the occipital region only.

Esteworld apparently uses 0.6mm punches

This is counter productive. The risk of full transection is very high and partial transection nearly guaranteed.

There is also the ARTAS robot which has come a long way. It too used to use much larger punches but with the most current updates to the algorithm and the punches it is putting out donor zones indistinguishable from the "best" manual punch work and growth that is very good as well. With any tool, it is only as good as the doctor that uses it, but with the right hands it is quite effective.

Well I dont want to use propecia for that. My concern is if I start using it, and have side effects, or I stop, and I still have side effects (possibly permanent). Feels like I'm like gambling (like eventually the effects will come, and the way my luck has been, I'm usually the 2% ha).

 

Here's what I'm planning as a strategy for my thinning:

 

- Biotin 5000mg everyday

- Take Saw Palmetto every few days

- More water intake/exercise/better diet (more greens and vegetables)

- Nizoral Shampoo every 2-3 days

- Coconut oil twice a week

- Rogaine 5%

- Laser Cap or Laser Comb

 

I have a few questions though for everyone:

 

1.) Whats your take on the strategy above. Would I be able to maintain most of my hair, and regrow a good percentage of it?

 

2.) Is it best to start with a month supply of rogaine or 3 month supply?

 

3.) I'm African American (my hair is coarse, but very thin), would the laser comb be as effective as the cap, or would i need the cap? I'm just curious cause $2700 is quite expensive if doesnt work compared to around $200.

 

4.) An op posted I should consult with more professionals. Why is that, I thought Dr. Arocha was one of the best professionals on here?

 

Thanks for all the advice!

HouTx88,

Thank you again for your interest in Arocha Hair Restoration. Regarding the Propecia side effects, there is not a single documented case of "infertility". The side effects have to do with decreased sex drive, sexual function and in rare cases a reduced semen volume. It is your choice to take Propecia or not but you have to be aware of the facts before you make a long term decision that WILL affect your hair.

1.) Whats your take on the strategy above. Would I be able to maintain most of my hair, and regrow a good percentage of it?

Your strategy is fine except for two points. Replacing Propecia with Saw Palmetto doesn't help for two reasons. First, you have to take a LOT of saw palmetto to get any quantifiable DHT fighting benefits that come close to mimicking Propecia. Second, it's the action of lowering DHT that causes side effects, not the manner in which it is lowered. If you are thinking of "going natural" to lower DHT it won't make a difference.

2.) Is it best to start with a month supply of rogaine or 3 month supply?

Probably one month is best to make sure you can tolerate it. It may irritate your scalp so you don't want to waste money on a three month supply if you can't take it.

3.) I'm African American (my hair is coarse, but very thin), would the laser comb be as effective as the cap, or would i need the cap? I'm just curious cause $2700 is quite expensive if doesnt work compared to around $200.

It is expensive, yes, but the comb is weaker and less effective. The cap uses more diodes and is more consistent with energy delivery and. Will it work? No gurantees but if you aren't going to take finasteride you should do everything else in your power to stop your loss and to potentially turn it around, even a little bit.

4.) An op posted I should consult with more professionals. Why is that, I thought Dr. Arocha was one of the best professionals on here?

We appreciate your faith in Dr. Arocha. He is indeed one of the best professionals around but there is nothing wrong with getting a second opinion. What you need to know is that if hair loss is affecting you on a daily basis you really should consider all options before surgery. You may be surprised to see the results especially with a comprehensive approach such as Dr. Arocha suggested. You are also welcome to call the office anytime and Dr. Arocha would be happy to see you again as well. This is not something to be rushed but rather time should be taken to make the right decision.

It is too early to tell but I can say this. It will get better. Just try to be patient and maybe consider applying an ointment such as polysporin to help with the healing.

Photos of this result can be found here...

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/184654-dr-arocha-3005-fuss-two-years-after-surgery.html

911fan,

Thank you for your comments. We hope your work brings you to Texas soon:)

NHP,

Thank you as well, for your comments.