EmuSteve

Also, about the scar...

As many of you know, the scar was a huge deal for me going into this. 2 nights before the surgery, Dr. Shapiro called me and chatted with me a bit. He assured me that most patients with virgin scalps end up with a scar around 1mm, sometimes 2mm in about 20% of cases.. he said it really just varied based on the patients physiology.

After we spoke, he was kind enough to send me the following email:

Steve

A pleasure talking to you last night

I hope the conversation helped to ease your fears.

I tried to present what happens in general as well as worse case scenarios

In summary:

In generally most patients get a scar that ranges from hard to find due to hairs going through it to 1-2 mm that is only visible when looking close while combing through hair and looking for it. This type of scar is always hidden if the hair is about 1 cm in length sometime shorter. The only exception is with people that have such fine hair that they can see the scalp even at one cm. We can draw a 2-3 mm red line on your scalp when you come in and cut them hair to a bout 1 cm to see if the red line (which is much more visible than a real scar ) is hidden. If it is than you should be safe. It there is a question of it being see through on the sides at 1 cm we should keep the scar out of that area at least for this session or make the incision less wide in this area.

We will test this all the night before and we would like to start earlier on the Friday...at 7am so we have plenty of time.

If you have any last minute hesitation and want to put things off I have no problem with this as I want you to be totally comfortable

Call with any other questions

Ron

During surgery, he commented about how loose my scalp was (after which Janna said "Yeah, I heard you were loose Steve!" ha ha). He told me directly after surgery that he felt the closure went as well as it could possibly have gone, and he was expecting good things from the scar.

I asked him what variation of the tricho closure he used (marzola, frechet, ledge), and he said he used a "Modified version of Rose's ledge closure"... meaning that he used a smaller blade to score the lower edge and bring the wound together.

Hope I was through in explaining all this. If anyone has any questions, fire away.

Oh, and Dr. Shapiro took those photos, not Matt.

I already bought some emu oil, as well as aloe gel and witch hazel. Can you give me detailed instructions on what worked best for you PGP? I'd appreciate it. =)

Ah, I see what you mean. If you look at the caption for those pictures, you'll see that they are the drawings Dr. Shapiro made for hairline placement, in our consult a few weeks before the HT, not old plugs. lol. This was my first HT. =)

Bill, if Janna says its okay, I'll post the non-blotted pics... but I know that I wouldn't want someone posting my pic on the internet without asking me first, so I was trying to be considerate of her. =)

Wylie, Dr. Shapiro met me an hour before the clinic opened to go through everything with me, took the pictures, explained everything, walked me back to surgery, extracted the donor strip, made the incisions, and supervised the placement of the grafts. From start to finish, the surgery lasted 11 hours.

I don't think I'd want just one lone doctor there placing grafts for that long. Plus, Janna and the rest of the techs were nothing short of amazing. I have no complaints.

In addition, Dr. Shapiro called me himself that night to make sure I was back at the hotel okay and that I was feeling alright.

The next day was Saturday, and not only did Janna and Dr. Shapiro open the clinic specially for me to come back and get a post-op wash, Dr. Shapiro came in again personally on the weekend to check up on me, re-seat 1 or 2 grafts, and then took me back to his office where we chatted for about an hour. He was also kind enough to put all the pics I posted on a jump drive for me so I could take them home.

So, in short, if you are suggesting that Dr. Shapiro shirked some of his responsibility in some way... don't. He was great. =)

Max, not in Minneapolis atm... I flew back home to Tampa to relax for a bit, and I'll be flying out there again on the 11th for staple removal and a checkup.

If anyone else has any questions, feel free to shoot them my way! =)

Old plugs?! Huh?

Whoops. Sorry Janna, you're right. 26 cm, not 26 inches. lol. And you're also right about the meds... that Tramadol is great stuff!

Also, hope you didn't mind me blurring out your face... like Jason said, I am sure you have enough Janna fan club stalkers on here. =)

Thank you again for lending me that blanket! I left it in your office when I came in Saturday morning. First time I've seen snow since I was 7, and I didn't even remember a coat... you are a lifesaver. =)

In case anyone was curious, Dr. Shapiro gave me the graft breakdown:

1 Hair FU's: 685

2 Hair FU's: 1436

3 Hair FU's: 525

4 Hair FU's: 63

Total Grafts: 2709

Total Hairs: 5384

Here's a chart I found a while back that might help illustrate the growth process.

Hi all. =)

So, as promised, here are a few pictures of me pre-op, with the pre-op hair plan Dr Shapiro drew, during surgery, with the incisions, and 1 day post up.

The morning of surgery, I asked Dr. Shapiro if we could use a small amount of grafts for the triangle temple areas on the sides of my head, and he agreed we could use about 50 grafts each.

In the end, the average density on the top was about 35 fu's per sq cm. My donor strip was 26 cm long... 1.4 cm wide for 19.5 cm of it, and 1.3 for 6.5 cm. That gave me about 35.75 sq cm of donor extracted, and an average donor density of 75.5 fu's/sqcm.

As I said in my other post... pre op I felt like I was going to pee myself I was so nervous, but Dr. Shapiro and Janna made things a lot easier with their friendly and professional beside manner.

Looking forward to hearing everyones comments! Thanks =)

Thanks guys. =)

During the surgery, Dr Shapiro asked if Id like to see the donor strip after it was taken out. I said "No thanks." Then he asked if I wanted to watch as they cut it into FU's. I said "No thanks." Then he was like "Dont you even want o see what a single FU looks like?" And he had to talk me into it. lol.

The reason for all that is that after a year of researching everything I possibly could get my hands on, I was convinced that I had learned enough to make an educated decision, and then went beyond that to learning enough to scare the pee out of myself. Does that even sense?

The poor tech at the end was trying to get me post op instructions, and I was rattling off everything before she could because of all I've learned on the boards.

At this point, I am just glad its over. Bill, I was trying to sleep upright, and that wasn't working so well, so I finally took 2 more Tramadol (the stuff the subbed for Vicodin) and just slept on the back of my head.

Now comes that hardest part... sigh.

=)

lol @ NN for the "pain tolerance" comment. =)

All joking aside though, I have pretty high pain tolerance (I am on a paintball team... hoo ah!). I think that anyone who thinks surgery is a walk in he park is sorely (get it?) mistaken. It is surgery after all, and they are cutting a portion of your scalp out.

I planned ahead and brought a gel ice pack (which airport security confiscated), but Doc supplied me with some and I am icing right now. Hopefully that'll help a bit.

Thanks for the comments all. And Bill, I will def set up a weblog asap, and I was thinking about even setting up a Joetronic style website (being a web designer and stuff). Ill keep you posted.

By the way, we went for 3000 grafts, but ended up getting 2700. 26 cm strip by 1.4cm. Got about 75fu/sqcm.

Just got back to the hotel room after surgery with Dr Ron Shapiro.

While I don't want to make judgments on the outcome of the surgery, since its about 12 months too early for that, I do want to mention a few things.

First, Dr Shapiro and his entire staff are amazing. Dr Shapiro showed up early (7 AM) to go over everything with me.

The donor scar removal scared the living !@#$ out of me, and through the anesthetic, all I did was shake uncontrollably. I am usually a pretty tough guy, but after seeing pictures and videos of donor strip removals, and hearing stories about the awful tearing sound as its pulled out, I was just not able to stop shaking.

Dr Shapiro gave me Valium, and then some more, and then some more, and they kept waiting for me to stop shaking but after a while I think we all just understood that it wasn't going to happen. I have to say that Janna is one of the most amazing human beings I have ever met, because she held my hand through the entire thing (and let me cut off circulation to her fingers in the process).

Dr Shapiro told me what was happening every step of the way... he told me when he was injecting, when he was cutting, when he was removing the strip (while I had a death grip on Janna... lol). Once that was done, we moved on to the rest of the procedure.

Everyone was great... the injections sucked, and I guess I was one of the unlucky ones because they injections seemed to wear off REALLY fast on me... they had to keep going back and re-numbing different areas.

Once everything was done, Janna ran out and got me a special pain killer (because I am allergic to Codine, which, according to Doc Shapiro, is a cousin of Vicodin, which is what he normally prescribes). And get this... she brought be a blanket too, because I am a retarded Florida guy who didnt bring a coat to Minneapolis where its 8 below wind chill. She let me take it back to my hotel room with me, and told me I could return it to her tomorrow for my post op wash (which, by the way, they opened specially on Saturday for me).

As I was writing this post, Dr Shapiro called my hotel room just to make sure I got back safe and that everything was okay. If anyone ever doubts that SMG takes care of you, let me attest to the fact that they go above and beyond.

I also want to thank Jason (Bspot) and Robert (NervousNelly) for calling SMG just to check up on me. Holy cow guys, that was very thoughtful. I talked to Jason briefly, but I dont think I'll be calling anyone tonight because I am not feeling so hot.

Speaking of that... and now that I have talked up SMG to th max... my donor scar is hurting pretty bad. Took some of the pain killer Janna ran out and got me, and Im waiting for it to set in now. Dr Shapiro (when he just called) said that now is th worst that it will hurt because its still fresh. Im hoping the pain killers will take care of some of it so I can sleep (seeing as how I got a whopping 3 hours last night because I was so nervous).

Anyway, I brought my camera so I could document everything, but it broke in my luggage. No worries though, Dr Shapiro took lots of pics, so as soon as he gets those to me Ill be sharing.

Still pretty nervous, but its not a scared !@#$less kind of nervous...its the kind that lasts 4-6 months. =)

As always encouragement is always appreciated. Due to circumstances, I had to come up here alone, so its gonna be rough till I can get back home to the family tomorrow.

Hope this post helped. If anyone has any questions, fire away! =)

Just what I wanted to see the morning of surgery...

*shudders*

=(

Sure man. I'd love the opportunity to pay it forward. =)

Wow. Talk about Dejavu

A little more than one year ago, I posted a thread saying that I had narrowed down my choices to Hasson or Shapiro. It was my first post ever. You can see it here:

http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/346...831028682#5831028682

Now, as I type this, I am sitting in a hotel room in Bloomington. I just left Dr Shapiro's office... he was super encouraging even though I was bit out of it due to all the flying (I live in Tampa). I am going to be up there at 7 AM tomorrow for my surgery.

I have heard great things about both Dr Shapiro and Dr Hasson. I made the choice I made for a few reasons... the sub follicular FU debate nudged me towards Shapiro, as well as the fact that he and his entire staff have an amazing track record of great results and are super nice (Janna! lol).

I am one of those guys that has always been super responsible and plays it safe, so finally taking the plunge is a big step for me. I own my own company and put most of the money in savings... I've paid off my school loans and have owned 3 Geo Prism's in my life (great MPG, super reliable!). But recently I've decided that if you never take risks, life isn't very exciting.

I tell you that to encourage you. I've been making a lot of good changes recently... I traded in my last Prism for a Honda S2000 Convertible, and I am finally going through with this surgery. I'm scared out of my mind, but Dr Shapiro was kind enough to introduce me to 2 of his previous patients in person... the donor scar I saw tonight was 1mm or less.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM. I have researched both Dr Hasson and Dr Shapiro to death in the past year or so, and I'd be happy to share my perspective. Bottom line though, I think either would be a good choice. Like someone said when I posted for the first time... you have pretty much narrowed it down to the top 2 clinics in the world at this point.

Good luck.

There is a T&D employee that posts here? Who is it?

Steroids to prevent a scar? What the...

I'd get a 2nd opinion if I were you.

By the way, Max, since we are in the same boat, heres something that's helping me out.

When I get really nervous, I start thinking about all the stuff that I'll be able to do when everything is said and done.

Like not turning friends down when they invite me to a water park...

or not feeling nervous when a girl I'm dating invites me over for dinner with her family. No hats there!...

Or being able to jump in the ocean with friends whenever I want to and not worry...

I'm sure I could make this list 17 pages long if I wanted to, but you get the idea. =)

Anyway, hope that helps. And of course, I'd be more than happy to share notes with you bro. =)

Wow. Thank you guys.

I really mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

Reading your responses makes me feel a lot better. I'm still pretty nervous (maybe they should give us Valium for the week leading up to surgery, ya?), but I trust Dr. Shapiro and I know he will do a great job.

I totally hear you on feeling super nervous Bill. I left church early tonight because I could hardly keep my eyes open because of lack of sleep. lol.

But like you said, having a place like this where I can come and share/post makes me feel a LOT better. =) So again, thank you guys.

And to answer everyone who asked who I am going to, its Dr. Ron Shapiro... going for about 3000 grafts.

If you want to know more details, you can read my first post ever on the boards about a year ago here:

http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/346...831028682#5831028682

Again, thanks for the encouragement guys. I really appreciate it.

Would anyone mind telling me how they felt just before their first HT? Kindof a gnawing, nervous feeling... like a "What if something goes wrong" type thing in the pit of your stomach?

Did anyone else ask themselves a million what ifs? Like, what if the scar stretches? What if the grafts don't take? What if I'm about to make a big mistake?

Deep down, I know that years of hiding under a hat and feeling insecure have driven me to this point, and when I think about those times, I know I am making the right choice... because what IF this is the start of something new? Like, NOT waking up and spending an hour + on your hair with concealers trying to get it to look decent? Or feeling insecure without a hat on? Or hiding under a hat ALL the time?

Guess with 3 days to go, I could just use a little encouragement. =/

I say BURN THE SHILLS.

Someone get me a torch.

=)

Amen to that. =)

Man, I can totally relate to you, and I feel your pain. If you want some friendly advice from someone who has traveled your road before, get on Propecia as fast as possible, and STAY on it.

I had a similar pattern at your age (I'm 27 now). I started at 22, stopped at 23, and got back on at 26. I lost more hair in that 3 year window than I can to imagine.

Keeping what you've got > HT to get back what you lost. Always.

All I know is, I talked to some dudes who went for a late 80's hair transplant because they were told that hair cloning was only 5-10 years away, and it was going to solve all their problems.

Now, like Bill said, they are telling us that HM will likely be available in the next 5-10 years.

Be careful getting your hopes up about hair cloning. I'll believe it when I see it offered to the public. No one has a crystal ball, ya?

That said, there is some interesting news on the HM front. Intercytex claims to have accomplished hair cloning in a limited capacity, and have moved to phase 2 trials. You can check up on the progress of hair cloning by Googling "Intercytex" or "Aderans".

Or check out this link:

http://www.intercytex.com/icx/products/aesthetic/icxtrc/