tommyf

Thanks Bill, eman, all went great, just the long wait now, i know will be hard. Eman thanks for dropping in, we should definitely keep in touch, as I said I should be in chicago within the next month for a few days we should hook up. I am still in ottawa, going to follow up with rahal on tuesday. I guess your as happy as I am, I still can't believe I went through with it. I will tell Adrian to post the pre and post op pics asap, so you can have a look, hope I don't do anything to harm th grafts, Eman when are you going to start using the rogaine, I have read various lengths of time post-op, I guess I will stick with rahals recommended 2 weeks. Anyway, hope all is well and we will be posting as the weeks progress, thanks again everyone here0 tommyf

The deed is done, I am 36 hours post-op, finally had the strip By Rahal yesterday and without hsstitation can say it is probably the best decision I made in my life. At 44 loss of my heariline was consuming me. anyway got 3250 grafts in the hairline and frontal 1/3. Rahal estimates the hairline at 70-75 density I have to say Rahal is a great guy, very reasonable in dealing with even a bundle of nerves that I was 7 am yesterday. I indicated to him that My main concern was the minimal thickness of my hair(very fine) Where he had not seen me previous to this I expalined that if he didn't think I could get reasonable coverage then I would cancel right there and then and not expect a refund. So he could have walking away with my 10,000 and had the day off, but he felt confident that he would give me a very good cosmetic result. This is the one thing that really convinced me of how good this guy must be and committed to his profession. Right up til then i really thought I couldn't pull the trigger and was seriously thinking about bailing, luckily I had my sister also with me who further convinced me, it was the right decision. She did the pre-surgical consults several months ago and saw a handful of Rahals patients and couold not believe the results, no scars noticeable, etc and she is an RN Adrian also was a great help and seeing the work Rahal did on him, i was ready to jump in the chair. Long day, started at 8am and finished up around 5:30. Funny thing I thought th strip removal was going to the hardest thing mentally and physically but I haven't even thought about it much, I had a medium sized scar on the back of my head my whole life from a car accident so Rahal removed most of that with the strip, so I couldn't be happier. His team of young assistants are great and could not treat you any better. They are also meticulous in their work and spent the last hour or so making sure no incisions were left empty. I have the phot0s pre and post to get ready to get up and will keep a monthly update, thanks everyone on this site, who have helped over the past 2 years as I have been researching this. All I can do now is wait the long months ahead, but I have resolved myself to that, hopefully growth goes well. Guys, the one thing I learned here and am so happy I did, as we allways hear on this board, DO YOUR RESEARCH and get to a top sugeon. In the rght hands Guys this is an amazing experience!. Any advice post-op for me now I would appreciate hearing from all you experts, thanks

The deed is done, I am 36 hours post-op, finally had the strip By Rahal yesterday and without hsstitation can say it is probably the best decision I made in my life. At 44 loss of my heariline was consuming me. anyway got 3250 grafts in the hairline and frontal 1/3. Rahal estimates the hairline at 70-75 density I have to say Rahal is a great guy, very reasonable in dealing with even a bundle of nerves that I was 7 am yesterday. I indicated to him that My main concern was the minimal thickness of my hair(very fine) Where he had not seen me previous to this I expalined that if he didn't think I could get reasonable coverage then I would cancel right there and then and not expect a refund. So he could have walking away with my 10,000 and had the day off, but he felt confident that he would give me a very good cosmetic result. This is the one thing that really convinced me of how good this guy must be and committed to his profession. Right up til then i really thought I couldn't pull the trigger and was seriously thinking about bailing, luckily I had my sister also with me who further convinced me, it was the right decision. She did the pre-surgical consults several months ago and saw a handful of Rahals patients and couold not believe the results, no scars noticeable, etc and she is an RN Adrian also was a great help and seeing the work Rahal did on him, i was ready to jump in the chair. Long day, started at 8am and finished up around 5:30. Funny thing I thought th strip removal was going to the hardest thing mentally and physically but I haven't even thought about it much, I had a medium sized scar on the back of my head my whole life from a car accident so Rahal removed most of that with the strip, so I couldn't be happier. His team of young assistants are great and could not treat you any better. They are also meticulous in their work and spent the last hour or so making sure no incisions were left empty. I have the phot0s pre and post to get ready to get up and will keep a monthly update, thanks everyone on this site, who have helped over the past 2 years as I have been researching this. All I can do now is wait the long months ahead, but I have resolved myself to that, hopefully growth goes well. Guys, the one thing I learned here and am so happy I did, as we allways hear on this board, DO YOUR RESEARCH and get to a top sugeon. In the rght hands Guys this is an amazing experience!. Any advice post-op for me now I would appreciate hearing from all you experts, thanks

thanks guys, appreciate the responses!!

Many thanks to all you guys on this site who spend vauable time responding to this site,I have been a member for a while and been researching consistently for 2 years, I am a solid NW3(no vertex loss) , 44 years old, I am going with rahal on September 25th, 2008, mostly looking for dense packing in hairline. I have no problem dealing with the strip and confident that Rahal is among the best. He is suggesting 3000 should do the job. Just wondering if I can now get any last minute advice as to how to avoid jumping out of the chair at the last minute. I have asked to documant the whole procedure to post here, just looking for words of encouragement to get me through the dark days ahead!!!!!

Many thanks to all you guys on this site who spend vauable time responding to this site,I have been a member for a while and been researching consistently for 2 years, I am a solid NW3(no vertex loss) , 44 years old, I am going with rahal on September 25th, 2008, mostly looking for dense packing in hairline. I have no problem dealing with the strip and confident that Rahal is among the best. He is suggesting 3000 should do the job. Just wondering if I can now get any last minute advice as to how to avoid jumping out of the chair at the last minute. I have asked to documant the whole procedure to post here, just looking for words of encouragement to get me through the dark days ahead!!!!!

Thanks Guys, your all great, I am pretty sure then it will be Rahal, as I am in eastern canada, earliest date I can get is March i think, just awaitning emails. So as to my next question, should I start propecia or rogaine as i have never used either. I have been gradually going through the process of determinig whether I should go ahead with the process, now that i have made up my mind, wondering, if i havestabilized at 43, is there a need for the medical treatment also. I don't know how to attach the picasso pics i have to this site, but could email them to someone have a look at the hairline, put them on the forum so i can get some feedback. Rahals rep, said 2500 grafts, strip. help appreciated as i am at the proverbial point of sh.t or get off!!!

thanks man for the reply, I am in canada so essentially looking only at canadian Surgeons. I feel i am going to go to Rahal as i have heard some great things about him. I know there are many great ones around that are members of the colition, I am just close to ontario, so thanks and appreciate the help t

Hi Guys, I have basically done my research and am now trying to make the decision as to who I will get to do my transplant. I guess I am a NW2-3, only hairline loss and some frontal 1/3, no crown loss. I am 43 and guess my hairloss has stabilized. So I need to know, in a perfect world lets say hypothetically, who would it be, Rahal, Jones, Armani, Wong?? I have pictures sent to each and awaiting further information from them. any help greatly appreciated , great site people, really helped me out a lot, I have spent hours here!!!