Son of a Plug

I thought I would post a couple pics of my donor scar at the 4 week mark following my 3,313 FU strip with Dr Jones on 6/24/03. So far I think it has and is healing very well. It still has some scabbing which I am letting shed at its own pace, and it is still quite pink. This pic is a couple days after my first hair cut using a #4 guard in the back and sides. It is very hard to see through my hair when combed down.

Another coincidence.... Not only was I born and lived in DE for 29 years, I now live in AZ. So, yes, uncjim is correct.

After 3,313 FU strip 6/24/03 it took me 12 days before every scab was gone without one bit of manipulation with my fingers. I took the hands off approach and just sprayed with Graftcyte and soaked in the tub twice a day for 20 minutes each. I had two weeks off work and plenty of hats. I personally didn't see what the big rush was about. Let those FUs rest and heal.

Without revealing too much about myself and also to be fair to Sen Biden, I know the family and met him several times. Yes he has had HT dating back way before FU technology. All the work is done at the hairline and midscalp and he grows it long and combs it straight back. I'm sure he would have continued to finish the work but his donor area is a very low strip in the back now. Not to say the donor area has been depleted from HT, but rather it may be that his NW scale just pushed the MPB down low in the back. On t.v. it looks fine from the front and the grafts along the hairline are very small looking in person no plugginess.

I am sure this will be appreciated by many here and hopefully read by the clinic too. I am convinced these places couldn't care less about microscopes or the fact they are charging way above what's even ethical in my opinion. Just like car dealerships....for every person that walks onto the lot with tons of reasearch under their belt there are a dozen others that walk in and blindly accept whatever they're told and sold. The sad thing is that if you buy a car that's a lemon you can get rid of it easier than a bad HT.

Obviously I am not an attorney, so what is the reason for not naming the Dr's name? I mean, if you can post before and after pictures that show no growth or very poor growth for the number of grafts you supposedly received, what is the fear? Now if you just don't like someone's personality but the work they did was acceptable, I imagine you could have problems. In my opinion, the bottom line is that you are here getting help/advice from all of us, I think you could reciprocate the favor and provide some advice in prevention that would be VERY much valued by anyone considering this clinic.

Yeah...I noticed more than ususal shedding around 7 months too for about two weeks then it stopped. But consider the fact that my hairloss basically stopped after month 1, so it had been 6 months since I had seen anymore hair loss. I think that after seeing nothing falling out in the comb or pillow for 6 months made seeing some loss in month 7 even more traumatic. I recommend riding it out a few weeks.

I see your point where MAYBE FU and minis mixed together may appear more dense in SOME cases. Don't forget that these are repair patients that spent many years, tears, and $$$ battling a botch job. We are talking several HTs more than the typical patient who now only needs maybe two FU mega-sessions and one touch-up HT (this is considering they have used top HT Docs from beginning to end). I feel the big dinger with minis is that even if you went thru the battle described above, you still need to worry about when you reach your 50's, 60's, and beyond when you'll likely lose more non transplanted hairs and possibly be left with those "chubby grafts" you described above standing out looking awkward and out of place. When you reach your 60's it's likely your entire head will have thinned more to include the donor area no matter what pills you pop. I'd rather stick with all FU and later in life have an evenly dispersed and maturely thinned head of hair rather than worry about possibly having "plugs" standing out of a less dense head of hair.

You probably are at an early thinning stage where water or styling gel make any thinning more apparent. Remember that most men can't even tell they have thinned until their density has diminished to 50 FU per cm/2. Most likely you're not there yet and with Proscar you may hold on to what you have way longer than if you were not on it.

I don't think you should judge the work based on historical threads about Bosley. Yes, Bosley is famous for promoting small sessions to "stay ahead of your hairloss". You'll read here about top HT Drs that promote dense packing and limiting the number of times you disturb the donor area by removing strips. You're young and had a small session performed. Let your donor site heal while you spend more time here reading and interacting with people who have been in your shoes. Did you have the best HT or the worst HT? Most likely no on both accounts. Relax, I am 17 days post HT and know that only time will tell the results (usually a year!). Now that you're here you will be best equipped to plan for the next HT, 24 is very young, you will most likely need another down the road anyway. Relax.

Get as many FUs as your scalp will permit each HT. Allow as much healing time between sessions in order to permit another large harvest with proper healing. I think that having an over all goal for total number of FU transplanted is fine, but a good Dr is only going to cut out a strip that can be closed tightly each time rather than risk a wide scar. Multiple small sessions sounds like Bosley = Trouble

My $.02, While meeting with several HT patients of a local HT Dr here in Tucson I met a gentleman who had hairline and temple work done approx 18 months ago. He didn't get more than 20 FU per cm/2 and it was easy to see the freckles he must have gotten post HT because they began and ended exactly where he had the HT work. I asked him about staying out of the sun and he admitted he was a sun worshiper (I ddnt have the heart to tell him the freckles made the low density even more apparent).

At 10 days you'd need FUE to get those babies out. If you don't want to rub/massage them yet you can soak in the tub for 20 minutes and then apply the shampoo with a light fingertip touch. I've been soaking my head twice a day for 20 min in the tub (just lay back under water) and already notice tiny pin point crusts in the water. And I don't even touch the recipient sites. I take Graftcyte shampoo and add a drop into a plastice cup with about 2 oz of water and shake it like a mixed drink. Then I scoop out the suds and put them on my head for 3-5 minutes and then lightly rinse with the cup. And I'm only post op since Tuesday.

JRod, I began using 1/4 Proscar approximately 10 months before my HT and didn't even decide on the HT until month 6. I noticed it stopped the fall out I had been seeing on my pillow and it did thicken up some of the miniaturized hairs in my crown After I scheduled the HT I began to use the Minoxidil for the 45 days before surgery at the suggestion of Dr Jones. It is supposed to increase circulation in the area of use and provide a better environment for the HT recipient site. I am already back on one application of 5% Minox post HT and will continue to use it for approximately 60 days to help promote growth and MAYBE prevent shock loss. I really don't think this stuff does much on its own for noticable results. I think it can have benefits if you're already on Proscar/Propecia, but on its own .... I feel you're wasting time, $$, and energy. One last thing, I actually found that once the Minoxidil dried on my hair it actually gave it more texture. I've read a lot of guys complaining about how it makes their hair look and feel, however I found that once it dried it actually thickened me up a bit.

Arfy, I thought I'd try to be an optomist regarding the net effect after a HT due to potential shock. I do believe that the hairs that have miniaturized are at great risk of being loss for good after HT but that the healthy ones do have a good chance of returning. Once hairs start to miniaturize you're always going to be at risk of losing them for good as a result of a HT resulting in a net loss/gain. But remember, the coverage that 15 FU per cm/2 of miniaturized hair is not going to give as good an illusion of coverage as 15 FU per cm/2 of genetically strong hair. Don't forget, the miniaturized hairs are whispy, lighter in color, and have less texture. Plus the transplanted hairs are there for good and likely to survive the next HT.

JRod, Any amount of hairloss is reason to come here to read and exchange experiences. If you are 16 or 70 and concerned about hairloss it's better to visit here and get involved than to feel you are too early or too late. At 24 you would be well served to read, ask questions, and post photos in order to gain an objective point of view of what degree hairloss constitutes needing a HT. No one said that in order to gather info here you need to have already put a down deposit on a HT. The fact that you have concern that posting photos of a NW 2 and being "disrespectful" to those with "real hairloss" is silly. If you have no hair where you used to have hair, you do have "real hairloss". The only difference is the degree of loss. So, by getting advice now at 24 on how to slow your hairloss, without surgery, you may be able to avoid doubling your loss in 10 years. Following the advice of people here who know what they are talking about actually shows respect.

I took a rookie attempt at posting a couple post op pics in the photo forum taken on Tuesday 6/24/03. Here's the history in a nut shell. At 33 yoa I thinned to a NW 5 with thin crown coverage. I wanted to keep a natural widows peak and restore as much density in front and on top as possible in one pass, thus the choice of Strip over FUE. I started out looking at MHR and Bosley until finding this site, and then hit the brakes hard. I researched several Drs from the list at HTN and began consults in person and via e-mail. I greatly valued all the experiences shared here and find this forum to be the friendliest, especially to the choice of strip. I'm happy to report that my decision came down to Dr Jones and two other VERY popular clinics recommended and favored here. Once I knew I was going to pick between the three clinics and go throgh with the HT, I actually started all over in my research and matched my goals against each clinic's technique and style. Thanks to direct correspondence with past patients of each clinic, I met here, I was able to select Dr Jones. When I first started seeking HT consultations I never guessed that I would travel from AZ to Toronto for a HT. In the end the travel turned out the be the most painful part of the process, because the procedure was exactly as Dr Jones described and I am recovering well at home with no pain or discomfort. My travel was a direct flight from PX to Toronto, 3.5 hrs, a 20 drive to the hotel, and a 3 minute trip to the clinic the next morning. Piece of cake!! Dr Jones and his staff are so incredibly caring and considerate I felt silly being so nervous. From the video consults Dr J estimated 2,500 FU's to reconstruct my hairline and increase density on top. Thanks to a good scalp and good donor supply everyone was surprised when we finished with 3,313 FU's planted. Don't be afraid to travel to match yourself up with the clinic of your choice. This is a large financial investment and permanent commitment that you can't afford to regret. Take your time and do your OWN research on the Drs who have been proven here, you are so much further ahead of the rest of the world that thinks hair mills are their only choice.

Hello all, Just wanted to give share some of my pics of my 1st HT performed by Dr Jones in Tornoto Tuesday. I gained a great deal from viewing many of your photos and feel that I should pay the favor forward to other 1st timers or future repeaters. I am NW 5 and 33 yoa and chose a strip to get maximum coverage and density for my first HT. Dr Jones was able to harvest more than the minimum 2,500 we initially expected from earlier video consults due to good scalp and density. The process was exactly as he described and I even got called into work today for a few hours sporting a baseball cap and gotee. No swelling yet, just a bit tight in the corners and scabby all over.

Hello all, Just wanted to give share some of my pics of my 1st HT performed by Dr Jones in Tornoto Tuesday. I gained a great deal from viewing many of your photos and feel that I should pay the favor forward to other 1st timers or future repeaters. I am NW 5 and 33 yoa and chose a strip to get maximum coverage and density for my first HT. Dr Jones was able to harvest more than the minimum 2,500 we initially expected from earlier video consults due to good scalp and density. The process was exactly as he described and I even got called into work today for a few hours sporting a baseball cap and gotee. No swelling yet, just a bit tight in the corners and scabby all over.

That is exactly what I wanted to know. I hope you are healing well and growing fast. I wasn't even sure that #3 would cover a healed scar let alone a fresh one.

What length should I cut down to on the sides and back before my HT next week? I want to avoid the Bozo look as much as possible afterward since Dr Jones will need to buzz the top to perform the lateral slitting. I was thinking maybe a #4 on the back to help cover stitches on the strip and a #3 on sides. I'm afraid if I cut the back down to a #3 there won't be enough growth to lay over the scar by the time I return to work in two weeks. Pretty silly thing to worry about in the grand scheme, but I won't be goin to the stylist for a trim while I'm sewn up like a football.

What length should I cut down to on the sides and back before my HT next week? I want to avoid the Bozo look as much as possible afterward since Dr Jones will need to buzz the top to perform the lateral slitting. I was thinking maybe a #4 on the back to help cover stitches on the strip and a #3 on sides. I'm afraid if I cut the back down to a #3 there won't be enough growth to lay over the scar by the time I return to work in two weeks. Pretty silly thing to worry about in the grand scheme, but I won't be goin to the stylist for a trim while I'm sewn up like a football.

Jim I'll be a couple days after you. 2,500 grafts Keep the staff happy for me

Dr Rob Jones advised that he is directing his patients to dunk their head in the tub also. I think he advises a long soak (maybe 20 min per day) to help with recipient scab removal. I'm getting a list from him in the mail this week of after care directions. I'll be sure to add some more ideas here.

If you guys are so worried about touching grafts for up to 3 weeks, how do you manage to wear a hat or sleep on a pillow? Is it because you're afraid that the combination of water and touching/patting may damage the grafts? I thought after 8 days the grafts are so well healed you would need a surgeon to remove them.