NewB2HT

I've had three HT's done and the pain of injections is horrible. Much worse the 2nd and 3rd time, probably due to scar tissue? The nurse who injected me wasn't very sympathetic.

I've had 3 HTs and everytime the pain from the injections has been intense. My Dr. does not like to do them himself...he has his nurse do them and even with all of the above tips on how to reduce pain (Valium, Demerol, Ice, etc...) it still is VERY painful. I wish there were some way to knock me out for that part!

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the HT was done by Dr. Quatela and his excellent staff.

Here are my pictures (before and after) of my 1600 graft HT. I wanted to concentrate on the frontal and temporal areas first, then in HT#2 do the crown area. What do you think?

Here are my pictures (before and after) of my 1600 graft HT. I wanted to concentrate on the frontal and temporal areas first, then in HT#2 do the crown area. What do you think?

Well, I had my HT three days ago and it went well (1600 FU). Dr. Quatela was very understanding of my anxiety and gave me sedation (valium) before the procedure started. The injections did hurt a bit at the beginging and when they started to wear off during placement of grafts, they gave me more. For some reason, the sedation (several pills of valium) and injections of demerol during the day did very little to ease my anxiety. I couldn't relax and kept jumping at every little sound. I brought in a DVD and even that didn't help. I guess I'm such a high strung individual that drugs don't do much for me. Anyway, I got through the day (10 hours) and the HT looks great. Dr. Quatela and his staff were very professional and did a great job. I'll post pics in a separate post tomorrow. Thanks for all the encouragement and insights I have gained on this site!

Hairbank, Thanks for the reply. I'm 46 years old and my hair loss would be classified as a Norwood Class 3V or 4 with mostly frontal and temporal loss with a small crown area loss. Don't most patients receive some type of sedation prior to the injections and strip removal? I can't understand why the surgeon told me he doesn't sedate his patients until after the procedure. Is it just to keep his patients comfortable during the boring part of disection and graft placement?

Hi, I'm new to all this, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. My HT Surgeon, Dr. Quatela (Rochester, NY) tells me that he doesn't give his patients sedation before the injections or harvesting the donor strip. I told him I was nervous about the procedure and he said "he would give me a little sedation before the injections if I wanted", but wasn't willing to give me his usual 20 mg until after the donor strip was harvested. In his written instructions, it states "You will be given light sedation following the harvest of the donor site". I'm very nervous about having a panic attack during the injections of local anesthetic/donor strip removal. Should I be concerned about his approach? BTW, he recommends 1600 FU grafts. My surgery is coming up and I want to know if I should cancel or go through with it. Thanks!

Hi, I'm new to all this, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. My HT Surgeon, Dr. Quatela (Rochester, NY) tells me that he doesn't give his patients sedation before the injections or harvesting the donor strip. I told him I was nervous about the procedure and he said "he would give me a little sedation before the injections if I wanted", but wasn't willing to give me his usual 20 mg until after the donor strip was harvested. In his written instructions, it states "You will be given light sedation following the harvest of the donor site". I'm very nervous about having a panic attack during the injections of local anesthetic/donor strip removal. Should I be concerned about his approach? BTW, he recommends 1600 FU grafts. My surgery is coming up and I want to know if I should cancel or go through with it. Thanks!