nobuzz4me

I have heard a few complaints about Giannato, not lawsuits, just patient complaints.

Your endoresment sounds a bit like an advertisement. Without pics, before and after, board certification does not mean too much really. I would rather see some good work posted.

Bill,

Great post, and great vent!

The great thing about the internet in general is that the info is there at a touch of the mouse. For the newbies coming on, there is no excuse for not doing your research.

I do however, feel empathy for those who got decieved in the old days fo HT. Pics were not shown, or those that were showed guys in the "big hair" day of the 1980's with bushy hair. No close up hairline shots, they were hidden. Many of the ads for HT were just newspaper illustrations. There were many people who were decieved back then. I for one did not know what I was in for back in 1982.

Maybe a little fear and anxiety are good for the newbies to wake them up and investigate rather than jumping in "head first".

Thankfully those plug days are over and the current techniques are miraculous compared to older techniques.

Even still with new techniques, it is surgery, it has risks, it is expensive, it takes a commitment of time and planning to acheive an accepatable result. There are no quick fixes and shortcuts.

This forum provides a valuable resource to anyone learning about the procedure. Bill has done a great job with hot links to the commonly asked questions. Another great recource is the additional vets valuable personal insights and experiences.

This combination makes this site the best patient first forum out there.

Brian,

Not sure who has ever been succesfully sued, maybe Bosley. If you had micrografts and minis, they will not be as natural as FU's. I am sure you know this. I hope you find a solution to your hair to bring a natural look. I had some corrective work by Dr. Vogel in MD which while expensive, I am very happy with. Where and when did you have your work done?

Brian,

You certainly have a right to your opinion. It sounds like you had a bad experience with HT. I know I did my first one nearly 25 years ago with ugly plugs. I for one am thankful that the industry keeps improving techniques so that I was able to restore a natural look. Yes, I spent alot of money and went thru alot of time, pain and frustration. But in the end I have restored my hair to a level that is acceptable for my age and it looks very natural. I cannot agree with your assumption that they are detectable, many modern day techniques achieve a very undetectable result. I think that many of us here have had succesful HTs and are satified with our level of expectation.

We know it is expensive, we know it will never replace your hair as it was before. It can be enough to give you coverage enough to be satifactory vs being bald.

I will agree with you the many higher NWs should not dive into this especialy if they are younger. Having said that, there are some high NWs who have great donor hair so I would not make a blanket statemnet that a NW 6 for example cannot get a good result. If he has good donor quality, it is possible. Look up NicNitro, or Jotronic or Bobman or Bill.

To each their own, I agree that you have to have the right shape head for it and not be too pasty white either.

cc,

Just curious how large your plugs were - 3 or 4 mm? Or minigrafts?

Yea, its a real shame people will sell their soul to make a buck.

Cheap at $195?? I have a flashlight I'll sell you for $99.

Good luck,

I know what you are going thru. There is light at the end of the tunnel! I only needed to loose 20 or so and had some additional FU's filled between, major improvement. Are you having additional transplants done after the repair? What are you doing about the open donor scars in the back?

Good luck on Wed!

Great news for this area, hope you put Gianatto out of business. Good Luck.

Originally posted by tranplant_dude:

Originally posted by Dr. Mejia:

Kris Johnson is not a physician. You must have had your procedure done by somebody else in the group. Last I knew, only doctors could perform surgeries.

well..he was the one who cut my donor area and made incisions on my scalp . As a person, he was a nice guy..He took care of me very well pre-op and post-op ..but his procedure was way old . I ended up with what I feared most about HT , a plugged look. You can look at their website and it claims him as the surgeon

I've gone thru a lot in the last two years with that bad hair . I want everyone else out there to be careful when choosing their surgeon and learn from my experience

Glad your are repaired TD, I am surprised a non-doctor can cut your donor. Recipient areas I have heard of but even that scares me. You may want to check State Laws on that and follow up with a nice lawsuit if it is warranted. Remember that not just you but others scalps are at stake here.

Good luck,

Kevin,

I believe you will come out fine and achieve a much more natural result. Happy growing!

Very happy for you LaGrange!

Big difference from where you started. Nice picture documentation too! Good luck with round #2 if you decide to finish off the job. Any plans?

Mrjb,

I do not think it is ever advisable to infer that you can go back to work next day if needed. Bosley and MHR advertise this and I think it is ill advised and misleading. I think it should be a few days at the very least if not more. What if your job involved physical activity - scar stretch anyone?? While agree it is not major surgery, you are still having your scalp cut on and that is scary. Most of us were pretty nervous about going thru with a procedure and rightly so.

All - I think the question of yield is the big unknown and is too vague. I started a thread awhile ago about yield and how it needs to be tracked better. You pay for X amount of grafts to be planted, but how do you really know how many took and grew. Seems to me the technology is there to do super-close up camera shots of a square inch recipient spot - take some before and afters which could prove the yield. We hear numbers about strip yield at over 90%, lets see some documentation to prove it! I am not saying it is not true, I hope it is. I just want to see some proof.

Good question,

It sounds like you have chosen three great Docs which right there minimizes your risk greatly. Any surgery has its risks but if you follow your post op instructions and take it easy for a few weeks, your chances for a nice recovery are very good.

Any post op infection is easy to control with antibiotics.

Chris, you should consult with our resident expert on this matter, poster, B-Spot.

If he can't help I would think Jessica Simpson or Jessica Alba could.

Just kidding, couldn't resist. I am sorry that I cannot help you. I have had not had any problems with Propecia and have never even tried viagra. Then again, I am hornier than the average male.

Hell no man, if I didnt have any HTs, I wouldnt have anything on top to style. I do not like to comb it back, I could now though (could not before due to old plug work 25 years ago) thankfully I am pretty well repaired now. I prefer it parted on the side, I would not call it a combover because the part is not too low.

Everthing I have seen from Dr Gabel makes this call a no-brainer. Dr. Feller's endorsement just adds to the landslide. Great addition.

As far as I know, male sperm cannot survive thru internet travel, therefore, we can rule out NG2GB as the father. Even though he may have tried!

NG2GB,

You been sipping back on the rogaine too much??

You will have to MC the annual Bald Emmys!

This could be considered Hair Porn!

I was a lucky repair patient in that my old plugs were not to placed too low. I did however, elect to have them partially removed and thinned some.

I think camo works well if the plugs are not too thick and stalky (like a lot are!). Putting a few singles around are sometimes no match for those thick stalks and can still show thru. Like Bill said, its kind of a case by case basis, type of hair, placement of the old hairline, amount of donor you want can commit to that area, etc. are all factors which you need to go over with your doctor.

I personaly chose to thin out the plugs some and refine and soften the hairline vs trying to dense pack a lot of fu's in there. Dense packing in the area would hide the plugs but in my case would not leave enough for me to hit the central core and mid scalp harder. That IMO will look more natural than a wall of hair in front and thin behind it.

Good topic!

Danielkiwi,

Yes I had my last HT with him and had repair of old work done too. I can say that I am very pleased with the work. And I think he does great closure of the donor scar probably due to his extensive plastic surgery experience. My scar is very clean and my hairline has been restored.

If you search my story is somewhere in the photo album section. Are you looking to repair old work as well as have additional HT work??

PM me if you like.

If any doctors are still using Minis and Micros - RUN RUN RUN as far as you can.

Steve,

The shower idea sounds good, I kept ice on the area for several days after - I think that not only helps the swelling but kept the dicomfort and itching away too.

Can't really comment on the staples, I personally have never had them and have responded well with the disovable stitches. I really would not go with staples if I had the choice.

Lastly, take your mind off it the best you can. If you say it itches, it will itch more!

Heal well,