Kelly

Hi Arod77ld Yes I did see some shock loss but not very much. Maybe I was lucky, only about 10% - 15% of my new hair ever fell out, the rest continued to grow from day 1. So that was a nice surprise. As far as healing and new hair growth, as you know hair grows slowly, so it took about several months for the new hair to lengthen to the point where it started to blend and 'fill in' the new areas. In truth, it was at least 6 months before I realized one day, "Hey! This looks great!" But everyone's hair growth rate and expectations differ, and how you wear your hair will be a huge factor in how you experience your own 'results'. Just remember, once it grows out (and it *WILL* grow out!) it's permanent and forever...it's your own hair. If you can maintain your focus on that fact, the time it takes for the hair to fill in will be more endurable. Best of luck to you with your temple fill-ins...you're going to love it!

Hi Julia, This may not be real helpful but I have very thin (i.e. sparsely spaced) eyebrow hairs at the inner ends of my eyebrows which I must enhance with an eyebrow pencil to provide visibility; if I don't they seem invisible from a few feet away. Anyway, when I had my hair transplant surgery I asked my surgeon about the feasibility of doing eyebrow transplants (fue method). That was a year and a half ago and I'm sorry to say I don't recall exactly how our conversation went or what, exactly, he said other than I do remember he confidently said that yes he could do that. Might be worth inquiring anyway. He's in Portland, OR which isn't too terribly far from LA. Dr. Steven Gabel at Northwest Surgical Hair Restoration. (It's actually in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland). Best of luck to your son, I'm sure you will find someone who can restore a natural looking eyebrow. Kelly

A few years ago my mother and I were talking about our hair. From an early age I had a very pronounced (call it 'pointy') widow's peak, and I was complaining about the incremental hair loss along each side of that peak over the previous two decades. I was really upset about it and my mother asked to see what I was talking about. I pulled back my hair and mom just laughed, "Well, you come by it honestly enough!" She then pulled her own hair back and showed me a mirror image of myself. I was mortified! Yet at some level I was also relieved...I no longer felt alone, and my mother and I grew even closer in our shared hairlines. Well by 2004 I had become a slave to my hairline, the anxiety I felt had become unbearable. If there are any women reading this, perhaps you understand what I mean. Well I finally decided to do something about it. I began researching hair transplant technology. Boy did I!! As soon as I saw it was a viable alternative I also began saving money. All throughout 2004 I researched, educating myself on the latest techniques, learning the 'who's who' in the hair transplant field, made phone calls, wrote letters, had consultations. By early 2005 I felt I was ready to choose, but events conspired to delay my decision. I was living in Idaho at the time and in early 2005 I moved back to Oregon, my birthplace and home. By then I had already chosen my surgeon: Dr. Paul Cotterill in Toronto. I chose Dr. Cotterill for three reasons: 1.) a better monetary exchange in Canada, more bang for the buck so to speak; 2.) I had a wonderful in-person consultation with him that totally sold me; and 3.) I met with a former female patient of his with a similar hair loss pattern as mine and saw with my own eyes the results of his handiwork. I was happily impressed, to the point I almost peed my britches, I could hardly wait my turn. I felt that he was my best choice. I had also had a virtual consultation with Dr. Wong (of H&W) in Vancouver, B.C. (another Canadian) but they wanted 1/3 again as much $$$$. I had consulted via internet and phone with the Stough clinic too and wasn't impressed. Then an unfortunate turn of events forced me to relocate back to my home in Oregon. Hillsboro to be exact. (This is where the plot thickens!) I put my hair transplants on hold temporarily. Towards late 2005 I was once again in a position to pursue hair transplant surgery. Out of sheer curiosity I thought I would leaf through the phone book to see if there were any practicing hair transplant surgeons in the Portland area. After all, Portland is a pretty big metropolitan area, surely there must be someone. Well as it turned out, there was someone. Emphasis on the 'one'. There was one, and ONLY one clinic listed: Dr. Steven Gabel in Hillsboro, Oregon, a Portland suburb. Hey wait a minute, I lived in Hillsboro! Needless to say I was very curious and had to have a consultation with him. I made the appointment. We had a consultation. We talked. I went home and did as much research as I could about Dr. Gabel. I also studied his diplomas and credentials while I was in his office. I was pretty impressed. Really. And his price quote, while a little higher than Dr. Cotterill's when I factored in the exchange rate, was very attractive. I thought and mulled and thought some more. As if reading my mind, Dr. Gabel gave me a website of a former patient of his where I was able to see up-close photgraphic results of his handiwork. I was as equally impressed with Dr. Gabel's work as I was with the work of Dr. Cotterill. Now, I'm not an expert, nor a doctor, but I know good looking hair when I see it. And this patient had good looking hair. Lots of it. I thought about the expenses involved in traveling to Toronto, i.e. hotels, food, taxi fare, and air fare. I then calculated the cost savings in staying home and driving 3 miles down the road. Hmmm...Toronto or home?...Toronto or home?...HOME!! I called Dr. Gabel's office and set up an appointment. To accommodate me, he made a Saturday appointment, which was awesome. I arrived early, around 7:00 am. We began immediately. First we discussed my desired hairline, which I was prepared for, and he drew a preliminary hairline. He didn't like it, so changed it a little, then I didn't like it and we changed it again. We persuaded one of his technicians to help out by showing us her hairline and we used her as a model to establish my temple origins. Finally, after reaching a satisfactory-to-me hairline, we were ready to begin. We walked into the surgery suite where I would spend the next 8 hours having the ultimate makeover. There was little wasted effort or time. I was settled into 'the chair' to get my head all nicely numbed up. And I should mention that I have a high tolerance for pain, and I'm also an extremely patient and relaxed sort of person, so I didn't take any medication to help relax me. I was medication-free for the entire day. When I was numb, he took me over to the 'donut' table where I lay face down with my face in the donut hole and he excised my donor strip. I have to admit that hearing the slicing and stripping noises of that donor strip being removed was a little icky. I discovered that some sounds are amplified through the skull. After he was done suturing the back of my head, we went back to 'the chair'. Dr. Gabel began the arduous task of placing the incisions that would later receive those precious little hairs of mine. With each incision, his assistant ticked off the number on a hand-held counter. As he was doing this, my donor strip was being dissected by his staff of 3 technicians. By the time Dr. Gabel was done preparing the receiver sites and cleaning up, the donor hairs were becoming available. Dr. Gabel personally placed the grafts for the first hour or so. Then they began a shift rotation between himself and his senior technician and his nurse. While the session was definitely long, it was made less boring by friendly chit-chat (I'm a talker), music (my choice!), and reading (I brought a book). If I was quiet for more than 5 minutes, Dr. Gabel was right there asking if I was OK? We broke for lunch but other than bathroom breaks it was steady work. We finished about 5:00 pm. Where Dr. Gabel had originally estimated around 1350 - 1500 grafts, my final count was 2008!! We took photos, I called for my ride, and I received post-op instructions which I followed to the letter. Thinking back now, it seems like a dream. Looking in the mirror I know it was not. From what I have gathered from other sources and websites and talking to other patients, my experience was pretty normal. I was told to expect all the new hairs to fall out, but I actually shed very little hair afterwards, not more than about 15%. My scalp was pretty tender at the donor site for a couple weeks, but I had no complications or unexpected reactions. My worst period of adjustment was waiting for the new hairs to fill in and grow to a managable length. I'm a very patient person but I had trouble waiting for my hair to grow...is there anything in the world so slow as new hair growth?? I'm now just past my one year anniversary. My hair is now mature, it has been through several trips to the beauty shop (color, perms, trims) and it is ab-so-lutely wonderful!! I can't begin to describe the joy I continue to feel every day when I'm in the bathroom fixing my hair. I know there are excellent hair transplant clinics and surgeons the world over, and of course we have many right here in North America. But to find such a competent Dr., by sheer accident, literally right next door, was surely a stroke of luck. Dr. Gabel is an energetic and vibrant man. He enjoys nothing as much as talking about his work and ensuring his patients have as much information as they want/need. Obviously he loves his work and he enjoys helping people realize their goals. He listens as well as, if not better than, he talks. He seemed genuinely concerned in finding out exactly what it was I wanted. He is not averse to making suggestions, but ultimately it is his patients who make the final decisions...after all, it's their hair, not his. It is not only his enthusiasm and joy, but the pride he displays in his work and sense of ethics that helped me choose Dr. Gabel. All I needed was one wrong answer, one false statement, one crosseyed look, and I would have pulled up stakes and made that trip to Toronto. But I didn't have to, I was able to receive a very high quality hair transplant procedure right here at home. Dr. Gabel's profile is available here somewhere (I'm sorry, I can't find it right now), and his website is www.nwshr.com (scheduled for updating this year sometime). If you're in the Pacific Northwest, you might consider Dr. Gabel...I think he's very good. You can see my photo gallery at http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=154367. Also visit my blog at http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/home-page.asp?WebID=184 to hear some of my other thoughts on how my hair transplant surgery affected my life. My advice to anyone doing research on hair transplants: take your time; use all available resources, not just the internet. Make trips if possible, ask for patient referrals, talk to people, write letters, get informed! Then make your best choice based on your knowledge and circumstances. If you do that, you will have made an unregrettable choice. Thanks for listening, and best of luck to you all. Happy Camper

A few years ago my mother and I were talking about our hair. From an early age I had a very pronounced (call it 'pointy') widow's peak, and I was complaining about the incremental hair loss along each side of that peak over the previous two decades. I was really upset about it and my mother asked to see what I was talking about. I pulled back my hair and mom just laughed, "Well, you come by it honestly enough!" She then pulled her own hair back and showed me a mirror image of myself. I was mortified! Yet at some level I was also relieved...I no longer felt alone, and my mother and I grew even closer in our shared hairlines. Well by 2004 I had become a slave to my hairline, the anxiety I felt had become unbearable. If there are any women reading this, perhaps you understand what I mean. Well I finally decided to do something about it. I began researching hair transplant technology. Boy did I!! As soon as I saw it was a viable alternative I also began saving money. All throughout 2004 I researched, educating myself on the latest techniques, learning the 'who's who' in the hair transplant field, made phone calls, wrote letters, had consultations. By early 2005 I felt I was ready to choose, but events conspired to delay my decision. I was living in Idaho at the time and in early 2005 I moved back to Oregon, my birthplace and home. By then I had already chosen my surgeon: Dr. Paul Cotterill in Toronto. I chose Dr. Cotterill for three reasons: 1.) a better monetary exchange in Canada, more bang for the buck so to speak; 2.) I had a wonderful in-person consultation with him that totally sold me; and 3.) I met with a former female patient of his with a similar hair loss pattern as mine and saw with my own eyes the results of his handiwork. I was happily impressed, to the point I almost peed my britches, I could hardly wait my turn. I felt that he was my best choice. I had also had a virtual consultation with Dr. Wong (of H&W) in Vancouver, B.C. (another Canadian) but they wanted 1/3 again as much $$$$. I had consulted via internet and phone with the Stough clinic too and wasn't impressed. Then an unfortunate turn of events forced me to relocate back to my home in Oregon. Hillsboro to be exact. (This is where the plot thickens!) I put my hair transplants on hold temporarily. Towards late 2005 I was once again in a position to pursue hair transplant surgery. Out of sheer curiosity I thought I would leaf through the phone book to see if there were any practicing hair transplant surgeons in the Portland area. After all, Portland is a pretty big metropolitan area, surely there must be someone. Well as it turned out, there was someone. Emphasis on the 'one'. There was one, and ONLY one clinic listed: Dr. Steven Gabel in Hillsboro, Oregon, a Portland suburb. Hey wait a minute, I lived in Hillsboro! Needless to say I was very curious and had to have a consultation with him. I made the appointment. We had a consultation. We talked. I went home and did as much research as I could about Dr. Gabel. I also studied his diplomas and credentials while I was in his office. I was pretty impressed. Really. And his price quote, while a little higher than Dr. Cotterill's when I factored in the exchange rate, was very attractive. I thought and mulled and thought some more. As if reading my mind, Dr. Gabel gave me a website of a former patient of his where I was able to see up-close photgraphic results of his handiwork. I was as equally impressed with Dr. Gabel's work as I was with the work of Dr. Cotterill. Now, I'm not an expert, nor a doctor, but I know good looking hair when I see it. And this patient had good looking hair. Lots of it. I thought about the expenses involved in traveling to Toronto, i.e. hotels, food, taxi fare, and air fare. I then calculated the cost savings in staying home and driving 3 miles down the road. Hmmm...Toronto or home?...Toronto or home?...HOME!! I called Dr. Gabel's office and set up an appointment. To accommodate me, he made a Saturday appointment, which was awesome. I arrived early, around 7:00 am. We began immediately. First we discussed my desired hairline, which I was prepared for, and he drew a preliminary hairline. He didn't like it, so changed it a little, then I didn't like it and we changed it again. We persuaded one of his technicians to help out by showing us her hairline and we used her as a model to establish my temple origins. Finally, after reaching a satisfactory-to-me hairline, we were ready to begin. We walked into the surgery suite where I would spend the next 8 hours having the ultimate makeover. There was little wasted effort or time. I was settled into 'the chair' to get my head all nicely numbed up. And I should mention that I have a high tolerance for pain, and I'm also an extremely patient and relaxed sort of person, so I didn't take any medication to help relax me. I was medication-free for the entire day. When I was numb, he took me over to the 'donut' table where I lay face down with my face in the donut hole and he excised my donor strip. I have to admit that hearing the slicing and stripping noises of that donor strip being removed was a little icky. I discovered that some sounds are amplified through the skull. After he was done suturing the back of my head, we went back to 'the chair'. Dr. Gabel began the arduous task of placing the incisions that would later receive those precious little hairs of mine. With each incision, his assistant ticked off the number on a hand-held counter. As he was doing this, my donor strip was being dissected by his staff of 3 technicians. By the time Dr. Gabel was done preparing the receiver sites and cleaning up, the donor hairs were becoming available. Dr. Gabel personally placed the grafts for the first hour or so. Then they began a shift rotation between himself and his senior technician and his nurse. While the session was definitely long, it was made less boring by friendly chit-chat (I'm a talker), music (my choice!), and reading (I brought a book). If I was quiet for more than 5 minutes, Dr. Gabel was right there asking if I was OK? We broke for lunch but other than bathroom breaks it was steady work. We finished about 5:00 pm. Where Dr. Gabel had originally estimated around 1350 - 1500 grafts, my final count was 2008!! We took photos, I called for my ride, and I received post-op instructions which I followed to the letter. Thinking back now, it seems like a dream. Looking in the mirror I know it was not. From what I have gathered from other sources and websites and talking to other patients, my experience was pretty normal. I was told to expect all the new hairs to fall out, but I actually shed very little hair afterwards, not more than about 15%. My scalp was pretty tender at the donor site for a couple weeks, but I had no complications or unexpected reactions. My worst period of adjustment was waiting for the new hairs to fill in and grow to a managable length. I'm a very patient person but I had trouble waiting for my hair to grow...is there anything in the world so slow as new hair growth?? I'm now just past my one year anniversary. My hair is now mature, it has been through several trips to the beauty shop (color, perms, trims) and it is ab-so-lutely wonderful!! I can't begin to describe the joy I continue to feel every day when I'm in the bathroom fixing my hair. I know there are excellent hair transplant clinics and surgeons the world over, and of course we have many right here in North America. But to find such a competent Dr., by sheer accident, literally right next door, was surely a stroke of luck. Dr. Gabel is an energetic and vibrant man. He enjoys nothing as much as talking about his work and ensuring his patients have as much information as they want/need. Obviously he loves his work and he enjoys helping people realize their goals. He listens as well as, if not better than, he talks. He seemed genuinely concerned in finding out exactly what it was I wanted. He is not averse to making suggestions, but ultimately it is his patients who make the final decisions...after all, it's their hair, not his. It is not only his enthusiasm and joy, but the pride he displays in his work and sense of ethics that helped me choose Dr. Gabel. All I needed was one wrong answer, one false statement, one crosseyed look, and I would have pulled up stakes and made that trip to Toronto. But I didn't have to, I was able to receive a very high quality hair transplant procedure right here at home. Dr. Gabel's profile is available here somewhere (I'm sorry, I can't find it right now), and his website is www.nwshr.com (scheduled for updating this year sometime). If you're in the Pacific Northwest, you might consider Dr. Gabel...I think he's very good. You can see my photo gallery at http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=154367. Also visit my blog at http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/home-page.asp?WebID=184 to hear some of my other thoughts on how my hair transplant surgery affected my life. My advice to anyone doing research on hair transplants: take your time; use all available resources, not just the internet. Make trips if possible, ask for patient referrals, talk to people, write letters, get informed! Then make your best choice based on your knowledge and circumstances. If you do that, you will have made an unregrettable choice. Thanks for listening, and best of luck to you all. Happy Camper

Thank you for the warm welcome, Pat (and...um...for the flattering comment as well). This is a wonderful forum/website/resource that you've put together. I'm happy to have found it. Yes, the predominance of men does lend itself to a particular perspective of hair loss which can make research a bit more difficult for us women. When I began researching in early 2004, I either missed this site or was scared off . I'm sure I would have devoured the info here had I run across it, regardless of the 'men's locker room' theme. This is an excellent resource and now that I'm aware of it, I will certainly recommend it if I ever have the chance. I agree, I would also like to see more of Dr. Gabel's patients post their results. I believe he is an up and coming hair surgeon here in the Pacific Northwest. And btw he just moved into a brand new clinic across the street from his former location. I'm afraid I wasn't prepared for the volume of responses and comments I've been receiving, as a result I'm getting behind in answering some of them. Let me try to do some 'catch up' now if that's OK... To HK500 (2/12): Thanks for your initial congratulatory welcome. As my moniker says, I'm a 'Happy Camper'! To NervousNelly (2/13): Thank you for your nice compliment, I'm glad you like my results...so do I, it really is awesome! Not sure about the 'ugly blokes' comparison but you guys are definitely the most complimentary bunch of 'blokes' I've run across in a long time. And the best looking too! To Bill (2/13): You aren't related to Prince by any chance are you? I took your advice (and btw thank you for suggesting it) and I posted two more photos showing density, one before the fut's are in place and one after the session was complete. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Thanks again for your advice, it was a good idea. To nobuzz4me (2/13 and 2/14): I, too, hope my weblog and photos will be of some help to someone someday. That's the whole point as far as I'm concerned. I didn't post for my own sake, after all I get to see the results everyday. Yipee!! Hey, are you 'carding' me? Actually I AM younger than my posted age which, due to some software glitch I suppose, shows 57. I'm really just 56...hey, one year is important at my age. But thank you for the compliment, that was very nice of you. I'm having a hard time seeing the 'men's locker room' in evidence here. You are all perfect gentlemen. To Mrjb (2/14): Hey JOBI, good luck to you next month, I'm sure you'll love the results. Yes, I know what you mean about thin hair in women, just a couple of weeks ago I saw a woman, probably in her 60's, with such thin hair that her entire scalp was visible through her hair, her scalp was shiny and was reflecting light from the overhead store lighting. I felt really bad for her, but I'm sure she was fine with it. If not, she would probably have been wearing a wig. It served as a reminder though that women have hair loss issues too. I'm glad to have been able to remedy mine. Finally, once again to Pat, thank you for your kind words not only to me, but regarding Dr. Gabel as well. I think you'll be hearing/seeing more of him in the future. Take care guys, Happy Camper

Thank you JOBI, yes it is nice to once again be able to have stress-free hair! :-) And, yes too, I'm verrrrry happy with it, as I hope you are with yours. Take care. Kelly

Why, thank you Bill (previously known as Bill), I appreciate your comments. This is my first, and will be my only, hair transplant experience. It turned out wonderfully, I'm very happy. I posted here to hopefully be of some service to someone else who is researching, like I did prior to my HT. For the record, here's my 'stats': Surgery: 1-29-06, single session, with Dr. Steven Gabel of the Northwest Surgical Hair Restoration clinic in Hillsboro, Oregon. Total Grafts: 2008 Single Hair Follicles: 563 Two Hair Follicles: 1026 Three Hair Follicles: 295 Four Hair Follicles: 124 I also have a blog, accessible through a link attached to my forum name. More info there for anyone wishing to pursue more. And btw, you're looking pretty awesome yourself. Now you're going to have to be spending all your money on hair brushes and mousse and getting it all styled nicely for your lady. Thanks again for your comments... Kelly Originally posted by Bill: Kelly, Welcome to the forums. hairloss certainly is at the very least just as much of an issue as it is for men. It seems more socially acceptable for men to lose their hair than for women, yet at the same time, we are all in this boat together. Your results look tremendous. Any details about the surgery you are willing to share? how many grafts/hairs? When was the surgery? Who was your doctor? Congratulations! Bill

Women have hair loss too! And we suffer for it just like you men, maybe even more. Whereas hair loss is common in men, it's less common among women and we get stared at due to its relative rarity. These photos are a brief, though representative, sketch of my hair transplant journey. Due to a combination of circumstances my hair had become, for me, the object of much anxiety. Heredity, coupled with the results of forehead/sinus surgery, left me with a very uncharacteristic (and personally embarrassing) hairline. This album will hopefully give you the proof of the possibilities of hair transplant surgery, and perhaps the motivation to proceed with your own.