Son of a Plug

How long has the Shapiro Clinic, and all the affiliated Drs, been using the lateral slit technique? Have all their Drs employed this technique as their exclusive method of creating recipient sites? I ask because I seem to remember that they had not been convinced of the technique back in spring 2003. Thanks!

How long has the Shapiro Clinic, and all the affiliated Drs, been using the lateral slit technique? Have all their Drs employed this technique as their exclusive method of creating recipient sites? I ask because I seem to remember that they had not been convinced of the technique back in spring 2003. Thanks!

Hugh Jorgan, You are welcome. It's nice to know someone recognized that I actually followed through with my documentation for a year as promised. I committed myself to documenting the entire process for better or worse and letting everyone ELSE be the judge. It's hard not to give an opinion and let photos speak for themselves, however even such an objective approach can still raise debates between forum members who have a hard time agreeing on what they see. I did my best to contribute honorably.

No flash

One year photo of right side scar to be compared to third posted picture on Page 1.

Is there a standard number of FU expected to be harvested along with a 6mm scar excision? I remember reading about guys who were told that they might get 400 FU and then wind up getting a 1,000 FU or more. Can anyone cite recent repair cases where the patient got many more FU than expected? Thanks!

Is there a standard number of FU expected to be harvested along with a 6mm scar excision? I remember reading about guys who were told that they might get 400 FU and then wind up getting a 1,000 FU or more. Can anyone cite recent repair cases where the patient got many more FU than expected? Thanks!

Havhairnow, The scar has not improved any (nor would it) and at over 9 months my growth is all but done except for thickening. I'm going to wait until June 24th to post the 1 year results. I have tons of photos already and may put together a site. I most definately will at least put together a new thread on this forum. Also, I just picked up a new Nikon 5.0 mp digital camera at work today which I will use to document the final result. With 5.0 mp I should be able to count the FU per sq cm on screen!!

"...full strip sutures." Are you saying Dr Jones is back to exclusively using sutures to close strip incisions? I thought he said he was using staples or sutures on a case by case basis depending on laxity, but like you said "I know because I just returned from my 1st HT with him." Good growth and healing to you, hope to see more posts from you over the next 12 months!

You are not going to see stretch in one day or one week, however if you really put stress on the scar line you will feel tension/pain which could mean you may be contributing to stretching. Some scars are going to stretch no matter how cautious you are but there are cases where too much too soon could turn a good job bad.

I think it depends on the tension on the scar. If after the number of weeks recommended by your Dr you have no pain after a full day of regular activity you should increase your activity gradually until you notice some discomfort. I personally did not do anything for 4 months and then tried painting the kitchen (13' walls). Next day my scar hurt! At 5 months I started a tiling project and even had some discomfort on the sides of my head on days that I was working extra hard. I have to believe that 3 months is too soon to be lifting weights and working out 100%. Not worth the risk.

The reason for spreading around the grafts was because of a very weak forelock separating the "patch" or "island" in the front and then a sparse crown. The before pic does a poor job depicting density since it was a little blury and dark from being taken inside (it could be argued I was in the early stages of "comb over" YIKES!). I basically asked the Dr to do what was best with the 3k FU to be honest. The 1,500 future FU will most likely be a combo of strip and FUE. The strip harvest will come as a result of a scar repair and then I will know how many FUE I will need later. No immediate plans on the first step (ie who, what, where) since I want a full 12 months healing before ANY further work.

Hey man, no sweat on the "do". I actually laughed at myself for the mis-interpretation. As far as pics go, the more I look at the 8 month pic the more I see that maybe it looks too well groomed (but I think every poster is guilty of this). Maybe next time I will muss it up a little or maybe finger comb it. Hairline; Over the holidays my father asked why my hairline wasn't lower. I wanted to tell him that his HT was the main reason I wanted to keep some temporal recession. When I do go back for density with the 1,500 FU along the hairline I will leave the shape of the right side but probably blend the left side in another 2 - 3mm. The little one should adjust quickly to all the ruckus created by the 2 & 4 year olds. When we had our first we used to tip toe around saying "shhh" and then the door would squeak and the crying would start. I'm sure this baby could hear all the noise from the womb and feels right at home with lots of racket going on. Thanks for asking

"Better hair style"?....ouch dude. Thanks for all the feedback and hair style advice. I did not force Dr Jones to do the HT 100% my way or let him do whatever he wanted. I did not want a low or flat hairline and did not want to waste much on the crown so early on Proscar. Before I left his office he did say that another 1,500 FU may make a final result (which I am sure would be along the hairline/frontal 1/3. If I had a choice of packing the hairline dense and then using whatever residual for coverage or creating a less dense hairline and creating coverage I would go for the second choice. I would be afraid that a high density hairline would not leave enough donor supply for adequate coverage later in life. As far as my results go, I am confident that 1,500 FU will give me the dramatic results others see from a megasession on the front 1/3 of the scalp. As far as posting pics of a dozen angles and hair styles wet and dry, maybe I'll just take future pics of the same "hair style" but wash out the Minox. Deal?

Arfy & Rooster, Sorry I didn't address the concealer issue. With my 3rd child arriving yesterday I have been doing lots of things but everthing with about 75% accuracy. No concealer no hairspray in that pic. In fact I do use some gel to train the hair direction and that actually works against the appearance of density so I combed it out for this pic. My hair does look less shiny I think because I use 1ml of generic 5% Minox in the morning after I shower. I actually like the way Minox thickens my hair after I let it completely dry HOWEVER I do see that it takes some shine out of my hair especially when comparing photos. Also, keep in mind that the before pic was indoors before I knew how to take better pic. One more thing, the before pic taken after approx 6 months on Proscar and the after pic is about 16 months post inception of Proscar. That's my complete story