zeroaffinity

It's interesting to see how everyone has handled disclosing their HT - neat thread. Personally, I have only told my friends since it's kind of hard to hide a bunch of staples, swelling, and a mean "rash" on top of your head. I had my mom pick me up from the doc's office, so she knew as well. I keep coworkers, acquaintances, and perfect strangers in the dark. I suppose if someone point-blank asked me, I would tell them, but that hasn't happened yet. My guess is that the coworkers figured it out. Sort of a funny story, speaking of coworkers: a guy I rarely see at my company was in the office about five months after my HT. By that point I had grown my new hair out about an inch (top of head) and it was pretty dense compared to pre-op. (That's the idea, right??) I was talking to him that day and he said he liked the new haircut, that I looked a lot younger with shorter hair. Meanwhile, my hair was now longer and denser. Memory is a funny thing, but I was glad to take the compliment!

Yep, that's funny and a little bit lame. I am about to embark on phase two of a HT plan I started a year ago, but I definitely noticed a different reaction from girls I approached once I suddenly had hair (forward of crown). Some of it was probably my confidence, too. Of course, it's one thing to react to someone differently, it's another to be openly disparaging. Are you going to tell her you had a HT performed? You know, twist her foot a little now that it's in her mouth.

Great post. I wanted to chime in because I had a HT done with Dr. Griffin in late April 2008. It was the first of what will hopefully only be two HTs. Mayer echoed some of the concerns I had at the time (and continue to have), but I do think the procedures Dr. Griffin uses now are somehow different (or maybe I healed differently) because I haven't noticed any bumps or other unusual features. My understanding was that he would use 1s for hairline and work back into denser areas with 2s and 3s. I can see evidence of that if I take a pic of my scalp, but I think the effect is a natural one - not at all conspicuous. The point of that is to reinforce my theory that I think there are probably more advanced techniques in play today than 6-10 years ago. There are no doubt physiological differences between me and Mayer, too. I'm just a layman, but it sounds like a hard trick to pin down the cause of some of these things. You have to be cognizant of all the variables and try to optimize all of them. Anyway, thanks for bringing up such great points, Mayer. I hope everyone that reads this thread and who is considering an HT will be better prepared with questions for their prospective surgeons. If this forum teaches us anything, it's that there are a lot of variables to consider: patient type, doctor quality, technology used, medications, and probably a few more I'm not thinking of. Good luck to everyone.

Hi Thespian, I began using Rogaine two years ago on a daily basis. About one year ago I started adding six capsules of Avodart to each bottle. I still apply daily each morning after showering. For me, that routine has been effective in arresting my hair loss. I'm not growing any hair, but I don't appear to be losing any either. I don't have any experience with Duprost. If it's generic (i.e. identical), then I don't see why it wouldn't have the same effect on you as Avodart would.

Hi Dewayne, It's possible he didn't mean that and I'm sure he'll chime in, but he did say if I had gone to someone else, then I would have rec'd more grafts and " also would have gone to a top doctor." It just seems like it's his conclusion that I didn't choose that route - maybe I read it wrong. Furthermore, I've never said how much I paid. The $/graft for my session can't be known. Lastly, Bill is correct that Dr. Griffin goes by session size and not graft count. We agreed on a level of coverage, not a number of grafts. I bought a result so let's see how it turns out. Anyway, the point of this topic was for me to share my experience and pix with forum members, not to bicker. Getting back to that, I'm glad to contribute my little part to the collective knowledge here. I'll continue to post and I hope my future messages are helpful to others.

Thanks for the quick cost-benefit analysis Anouar, but insinuating that (1) I didn't go to a top doctor or that (2) I didn't pursue the best treatment option for my goals, budget, and level of comfort with a given physician is just reckless speculation. I'm not sure what foundation you have for these claims, but it's clearly not a knowledge of me, Dr. Griffin, or the treatment plan we worked out. I just hope that your other posts aren't as full of haphazard criticism because you're doing forum visitors a great disservice if so.

Did you meet with Dr. Cooley before the procedure or was it a long distance relationship until you showed up for surgery? As for cost, I'd prefer not to disclose my exact cost here, but Dr. Griffin is in the neighborhood of $10k for 1,700. I hope that helps.

Thanks, Dewayne. I'm in midtown, so Dr. Griffin is probably about halfway between us. How did you like Dr. Cooley? It looks like a number of people here have used multiple (but seemingly good) doctors, is there a reason to try different docs? It seems like you'd stick with the same one if you were satisified with your results? Any thoughts on that?

Another one from three days post-op. This shows the top again. It looks a lot less irritated than on the first day (also posted here). I'm able to wash it now and I've been using the copper peptide spray to prevent crusting.

Three days post-op. This is the donor site. Nobody knows there are staples there unless I point it out. I was surprised about that at first. I couldn't understand how people couldn't see a line of staples stretching from one ear to the other?! Then I took a picture to see for myself ... it's concealed really well in my opinion. The hair in that area is however long you get with a #4 guard.

Thanks, Bill. I do have some extra pix, including a before shot (see below). It's true that finances were a factor, but I think you get what you pay for and I feel that Dr. Griffin does good work, although time will tell in my particular case. So, to clarify, I went with the session size for financial reasons, not Dr. Griffin. Dr. Griffin's rates seem to be in line with what the well-regarded, often-reviewed docs on here charge. I hope that makes sense. Here's that "before" shot I mentioned. It's from about 1y prior to surgery.

And another pic. This one shows how far back the operation came back into the crown - not very. That's why I'll need to have another HT operation, but at least I'm underway.

Another pic. This is the morning after the surgery.

I don't think I've posted here ... just trolled for a while and gathered info. I just had HT surgery on 4/23/08 and wanted to relay some of my experience. Also, since I haven't seen many postings about Dr. Edmund Griffin in Atlanta, I wanted to get his name out there because I think he's a great doctor. I'm 33. About 7 years ago my hair started to thin on top and on the crown. Two years ago I went to Dr. Griffin after I found him mentioned on here. Since then, I found that using Rogaine daily with Avodart added to the solution stopped my hair loss, but caused no regrowth. Pictures taken about a month ago confirmed it. Once I knew how to keep my hair in its current state with Rogaine+Avodart, I went ahead with a 1,700 unit surgery. Oh, I also started using Nizoral daily about two months ago. Dr. Griffin suggested we put all of it on top. I'm sure a bigger operation would have been better, but I don't have that kind of coin laying around! I figure I'll have a second HT in the next couple of years anyway and I'd really feel better about having a good hairline up front. Today is only the third day since the operation and my discomfort has been minimal. Dr. Edmund and his staff were really friendly, confident, and clearly had everything covered. It was obvious that this wasn't their first rodeo. I am impressed, I'm not sure what else to say. My only complication, if you can call it that, is some swelling on my forehead. I was told to expect that and was given a couple of remedies that worked (tape and elevation). I did go out in the sun (with a hat) today for a short while and got paranoid that the grafts were "cooking" under my cap! I'm basically going by the book on this one: no exertion; no manipulation; cool, indirect water when washing; I'm using the soap provided; I take the meds on time every time, etc. I'm excited to get started with this!