Hi Brent.
I did in fact have the transplant on Jan 24th as scheduled. I had 3006 all FUV grafts. I decided to go with Dr. Seagre's associate Dr. Cam Simmons because I was able to save over $5000 when you factor in taxes. Simmon was trained by Seagre. In addition, since the same technicians plant all of the grafts using the same equipment and method perfected by Seagre, I did was fairly confident that I would get equivalent results going with Simmons instead of Seagre personally. I was also told this by the sales consulatant when I asked whether or not the result would be any different if I went with Seagre as oppossed to Simmons. In any event, the procedure went smoothly. I watched a movie and remember very little of the procedure due to the amnestic effect of the sedatives used. The procedure took abot 12-13 hours in total. I was in some pain the first night but only had minor throbbing for two days therafter. I stopped using the pain mediaction after 3 nights. The swelling was very minimal although I did experience some. It took about 12-13 days for all of the the scabs to fall off. I would highly recommend taking at least 2 weeks off of work. I returned to work exactly two weeks later and no one noticed- at least they did not mention anything. However, the recipient area was pink which I was able for the most part to camouflouge with my existing hair. I did not experience any shock loss- or at least it was not noticeable. This was notwithstanding the fact that the grafts were transplanted not only to my temples (which were bald) but also between and around my existing hair. I am now almost 6.5 weeks post-op and not one of my friends has mentioned anything to me (I did not tell them I had the procedure) but they are the type that would mention it if they noticed something odd. At this point I would say only about 50% of the FUVs have falllen out. The others are starting to grow or have remained a similar length. In addition, there are some dots on the surface of the skin which suggests that the FUV's are already starting to grow. I will keep you posted. I'm looking forward to the spring and summer.