latinlotus

foundation: Congratulation for HT. Thanks for sharing your results with a weblog. Did you have any grafts behind the hairline? As for the pain, ask dr. Feller to prescribe you valium before going to bed. During the day, you may take Tylenol or something stronger like Emprecet (prescription required). This is what my doctor recommended, although i did not need anything as my HT was painless.

PGP, Eman, Dakota: thanks for the encouragement. Bill: we all know many factors affect healing. One thing that i am pretty sure that did NOT help with my healing is my body characteristics. Based on my health history the last 3 years, I would rate my health (healing ability) as worse than average. As for Platenet Rich Plasma (PRP), Dr. Cooley did notice quick healing with his patients who got that treatment. More research (data) are still being gathered (by dr.Cooley) though to isolate the impact. In the meantime, i would recommend all Cooley's patients to try PRP (if offered by dr. Cooley) as there is really no drawback, (apart from minor pain from the needle to draw blood and some immaterial extra cost 250$-500$). Dr. Cooley does not really offer that for the money, but rather it is a plus, in his opinion, for his patients. In any case, healing is one thing. What really matters will be the final result.

I don't think you would make a wrong decision with either Cooley or Feller. I had HT with dr. Cooley, but you can count on Dr. Feller being a straight shooter and who takes great pride in his work. He got amazing and consistent results as well. As for dr. Cooley, you can check my weblog for reasons why I went with him. Ask some of dr.Feller's patients, I am sure they can give plenty of reason why they went with him. At the end of the day, your decision should be based on how comfortable you are with each doctor's approach.

nishnash: congratulation and good luck with growth. Please share with us some pictures in the weblog, it will certainly help future patients.

Mochi: Thanks for sharing. Good luck with your growth phase, hopefully you will be satisfied with the result. In the meantime, i do agree with Bill that 1673 grafts may be a little thin. What kind of density did you aim for? Thanks.

thanks Dhuge for sharing your update, especially 3 years post-op. Most patients don't come back after so long.

Hopefull and Lost my swagger: Welcome to the club of banned on HLH! I knew it was just a question of time. It is also about time that dr.Armani is getting away from online marketing. While there are many less potential patients on line (when compared to patients that can be reach by say TV commercials), these internet savy users are too sophisticated to be fooled by dr. Armani's hype and marketing machine. Even his favorite servant Farrel & HLH can't save him. Another words of advice for dr. Armani: forget about lawsuits against HTN also, because it just make matters worse. I hope that over 10 pages of the thread regarding dr.Armani lawsuit against HTN is bad publicity enough.

Hi All, I just updated my weblog with week 2 pictures. Please check it out. Not much change since day 6. I had my first regular shampoo on day 8, using my fingers tips (not nails) to massage recipient sites to remove the little remaining scabs. I could not remove all the scabs at the scar as they are stuck to the sutures. I noticed some native hairs loss. Maybe due to my imagination, maybe due to shock loss, but in any case, there was not much. Just went for my sutures removal with Dr. Kohn, an experienced local HT doctor referred to me by dr. Cooley. It is about time as the scar became a bit itchy in the last 3 days because the stitches compressed on the skin. The nurse did an amazing job removing the sutures as well as the remaining scabs. The experience was painless. I feel bad for those who had staples, who had to endure them at night and who had to go through an uncomfortable process of staples removal. For those who travel for HT, I highly recommend to go to a local HT doctor (or plastic surgeon) for suture/staple removal. It is simply too complex to have it done by a regular doctor, or by yourself/spouse. On the pic, the scar looks as good as I can hope for. Just hope that it will not stretch. Most redness surrounding the scar is caused by the sutures. Otherwise, I would say it is pretty clean. The transplanted hairs are still there and are growing. I think about 30%-50% shed so far.

GLH: you are way too self conscious. Just think that in 9 months you will have new hair. Actually I think surgery Bennie looks pretty good, some may confuse you for a doctor. Dr. Cooley put saran wrap over my head, then put an oversize baseball cap over. However, following your doctor's instruction is more important.

Dr. Cooley: Thank you for taking some time away from your busy schedule to inform and help members of this forum. I had first hand experience with PRP as a recent patient of Dr. Cooley. While many factors may affect healing speed and growth, I believed PRP may have play a role in a very quick healing and recovery i had just experienced. As described in my weblog, by day 3, most of the redness in the recipient area was gone, and by day 6, my HT was undetectable. My scar? as clean as it can be immediately after the surgery. Best of all, no pain whatsoever. Note however, dr. Cooley admits that the impact of PRP is very difficult to be measured scientifically. Please check my weblog for more details. PGP: Dr. Cooley is a stranger here because he spends so much time in the operation room!

Hairnow: Another great result from dr. Bernstein. It would be nice to have some more information on the procedure as well as additional pictures, different angles as well as immediately post-op. Thanks for sharing your results.

yup, so far so good, and i think you are an early grower.

-How soon can i go back to the gym? I would not risk it before at least a month, cardio is fine though after 2 weeks. The point is not to put strain on the scar. Some exercises like squat, crunch, shoulder shrug should be avoid for maybe an even longer period. -Do they have to shave my head or front of the head? Some clinics require shaving, others don't. Ask your doctor. -How noticable is the HT after 2 weeks? If you shave, it is noticeable for around 2 months. If you don't shave, maybe 10 days, when the scabs are gone. In my case, it is not noticeable by day 3, and all traces of HT are gone by day 6. Maybe it is the skill of the doctor, maybe i was lucky, maybe because of PRP. -What are some ways to cover HT? Toppik is a good way, but i would not put on the recipient site until it is healed, meaning when the scabs are gone. -I noticed some people took Rogane after their sugery?? Does this apply to all patients?? I don't believe in Rogaine whether before or after surgery. It is messy, it is pricey and its effectiveness is quite debatable. Propecia seems to work though for quite a few of people. Me too, i have never had doctor recommend me Rogaine.

Sando: You mean many people opt for FUT? HT is not a quick fix, and considering the cost and impact HT does on your image (and confidence), it is great that you are taking your time and doing your homework. Bill gave you a well balanced explanation of advantages for both methods, he is quite diplomatic. In my opinion, the answer is black and white (there is not even a shade of gray). Apart for small sessions of touch up say less than 500 grafts, FUT is overwhelmingly better. Also apart from a certain (in)famous FUE doctor, with questionable ethics and great marketing skills, and who hypes the FUE method on the other hair forum, I have never ever met an elite doctor who would recommend FUE over FUT. Don't take my words for it. Do some research, consult with some HT doctors and you find out about the huge drawbacks of FUE. The latest technology does not necessary mean it is better, and here in this case, it is definitely not better.

cenanuff: Before going for a consultation with a HT doctor, you need to consult a dermatologist regarding your scalp issue, as your doctor already told you there is some problem. If your scalp problem is limited to Male Pattern Baldness, then ask the dermatologist for a prescription of Propecia, which you should take at least a year to see any result. Only then, that you should book a consultation with a HT doctor. I have met with Dr. Rahal and you should be assured that he is a very caring, receptive and most of all, ethical doctor. He will give you a straight answer (he has plenty on his plate already, according to his rep Adrian). Note that one of the main criteria to be admitted in the Coalition is ethics of a doctor. Good luck.

You worry too much. I don't see anything ressembling HT. If asked, just say you had a new shampoo or sunburn. Why don't you share with us some pictures?

Tommy gave you a very good advice. I also would recommend to go on Propecia a full year before considering HT. Maybe FUE will be better then. But at this time, FUE is not a good method because: -it provides unimpressive results (and those are best results cherry picked by the clinics to show you) -more expensive -much much less yield -leave scars...yes there are scars even with FUE contrary to what some clinics claim. I have seen also numerous examples of almost undetectable strip scars. Personally, i would consider FUE only once my scalp laxity is gone. That way, i can thin out the sides and the back so that the density can better match the density of front and top.

starman: There is a debate between doctors regarding this issue. Some say that shaving helps to reduce risk of damages (transection) to native hairs when planting grafts between them. In addition, these doctors claim that it helps to follow the angle of the native hairs. On the other hand, doctors who do not require shaving don't see any risk and leave the choice to the patient. During my research, i formed an opinion that shaving only benefits the doctor as it saves him time (and costs). I don't buy the claim regarding the risks of not shaving. With magnifying loupes, if the doctor is still afraid of damaging natives hair and/or can't see the angulation of the unshaven native hairs, then i think he has a big problem. Dr. Cooley said that he has no problem with shaving or not. He does admit that he would save time, and as in my case, he would have save about 2 hours of surgery time if i was shaven. However, he feels his patients are paying an already high enough price for HT, that he does not want to subject them to another few months of ugly duckling phase awaiting for the (native) hair to grow back. Personally i don't have any preference before going into the HT. I just wanted a good result with the highest possible yield. Now that HT is done, i am so glad that my hair was not shaven because by day 3, most traces of HT already gone and by day 6, my HT was undetectable (apart from stubbles from new implanted grafts - check my web log for more details and photos). There are a few tiny scabs left, but they are mostly hidden by the native hair and best of all, my donor scar is completely hidden. It is true that my healing process was unusually quick but the average HT patients would have the scabs gone by week 2, thus all they need to hide is 2 weeks max. Compared with the shaven patients who would usually have funny looks at them for 2 or 3 months. Some doctors not requiring to shave: Cooley, Keene, Epstein... Some doctors require to shave: Hasson and Wong, Feller, Rahal...

I think there is an issue of healing as well. The quicker you remove the scabs (once grafts are secured), the quicker your recipient site will heal, and the quicker/the more blood will flow to nourish the grafts. It is a great balancing act.

when can one start using hair spray and gel after HT? Thanks

Dr. Cooley said at day 7, you can wash normally. use finger tips (not nails) to massage and try to remove the scabs. Like Tommy said, follow your doctor instructions. Note that keeping the scabs and baby treat your grafts for a longer period than required do not necessary mean it is better.

Great story! I just want to chip in the fact that your hair is just one of many things that make you look young. Your confidence (probably gained from the hair), diet and exercise can also play a big role.

Karibb: Thank you for providing some additional details on grafts placement. I was worried for you that all of that 4500 grafts were put in front. Like many had said, it is still very early, so i hope you get an amazing result. Keep us posted.

I dont take it as a dig. I never considered Bosley but I know the people on these boards are just a minority of the actual number of people getting HT's. Many people that get HT's have no idea about these boards and are deluded with Bosleys TV advertisements. When I decided to get a HT I told one girl friend of mine that I was thinking of getting a HT. She told me Bosley is the best. That is what good advertising does to some people. It is obvious it works since those ads costs a ton of money to be running 24/7 for decades. I so agree with Wantego. Never underestimate the power of marketing. Rational personality like an accountant or engineer, would not be fooled by marketing, but unfortunately they are only about 15-20% of the population. Sorry for being brutally honest, but the rest of the population are sheeps waiting to be slaughtered by the marketing gurus. I work as a mortgage broker, and you can't believe what people are willing to pay extra in order to deal directly with a well advertised bank. Who cares about the reputation of bank, you are dealing about a freaking mortgage here, the bank is LENDING you money, not the other way around. The ironic thing is that if they deal directly with me, i can then send them back to their own bank, and they would save 1000$/year... Hey, if some sheeps can be saved on this board, I consider my due to HTN is done.

I think it is way too low. You are talking about less than 1% of loss. Dr. Cooley, who is usually brutally honest, when i asked him about the yield topic, told me that for the average FUT case in the best hands, the average survival is probably 70-90%. If you want a more detailed answer you may contact him directly.