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Showing results for 'Dr. Jerry Cooley'.
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About me: 28 Years old, started Finasteride in early-mid twenties. My crown has been very stable since then, though I'm not sure whether it was due to the medication or not. Finasteride, however, didn't do anything for my hairline, which has been slowly creeping back at the temples over the years. I first started looking into hair transplants in early 2020 out of curiosity. I was prepared to ruefully accept my hair loss since I viewed hair transplants as high risk and unnatural looking. I have to give this forum complete credit for reversing my opinions 100%. Research: I consulted with some popular clinics recommended on this site including H&W, Eugenix, Dr. Bloxham (in person), and Dr. Wesley. All recommended in the ballpark of 1500-2000 grafts. Obviously, each of these clinics and doctors are highly regarded and have remarkable results. During my research, though, I was delving into papers published in the ISHRS journal by Dr. Cooley where he would discuss the conditions ideal for hair transplantation and graft survival down to the temperature and humidity of the room, which he controls during actual procedures. This level of perfectionism and attention to detail, in addition to his phenomenal patient results, really impressed me and in the end I chose him. The procedure: I took an Amtrak into North Carolina and checked into the Hilton the clinic booked for me. All of Dr. Cooley's out of town patients pass through here and they accommodate his patients well with an early morning shuttle to the clinic, as well as a shuttle back after the procedure is over. I barely sleep because of nervousness. In the morning I use an antibacterial/disinfectant wash on my scalp called Hibiclens as suggested by Dr. Cooley, eat a simple breakfast of an apple and a muffin and take the shuttle over to the clinic. I arrived around 7:15. The clinic is located within a modern medical complex a few minutes away from the hotel. Check-in was very fast and easy - they let me choose what lunch I wanted from the local sandwich shop and pick 3 movies (I chose Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, one of the Cloverfield movies, and something else... these ended up being completely inconsequential). Dr. Cooley came in and took pre-op photos, discussed my goals, and drew on the outline for my new hairline. Dr. Cooley's demeanor was very friendly, but here I would say that the pre-op consult was quite rushed, taking less than 15 minutes or so. Dr. Cooley did not volunteer much information that outside of what was completely necessary for the procedure, for example, my hair/donor characteristics, my reserve for future procedures, etc. As I was pretty slide deprived and anxious at this point, I didn't get a chance to converse with the doctor as much as I would have liked. Regardless Dr. Cooley did seem completely present and was laser-focused on the procedure. I swallowed a bunch of pills, donned a gown and was escorted to the operating room. You'll have to excuse my vague level of detail for the procedure itself because the combination of pills and my exhaustion catching up with me hit me hard. I remember lying face down on the chair and hearing Dr. Cooley explain that he was going to begin excising the strip and that I may feel a pinch. I barely felt a thing and hardly noticed the strip being removed or even being stitched up afterwards. The techs went to work dissecting the strip into grafts and some indeterminate amount of time later, Dr. Cooley also made the slits on my hairline (I guess I also flipped over at some point). I had lunch before the afternoon implantation session. During implantation, the movies I selected also played but I was not awake for any of it. The only thing I remember is about 5 minutes of a fight scene from Crouching Tiger. That's it. I slept through literally everything else. I woke up around 5 and everything was done. Dr. Cooley wrapped my head up, went over my post-op instructions, and I took the shuttle back to the hotel. I was discharged around 5:30. Post-op: The week post-op was quite hard on me as I'm not good at sleeping sitting up. In addition, Dr. Cooley's instructions were to use a proprietary liposomal ATP spray every hour or other hour, I forget which. The combination made my sleep very poor. In fact, the night after the procedure, I pulled an all nighter - sitting up in my hotel bed, watching TV, and spraying my grafts as directed. I will say that for me, there was absolutely minimal pain and swelling during this period. The day after the procedure, I was shuttled back to the clinic for a post-op wash, exam, and instructions. Everything went well and they gave me some gentle copper-infused shampoo to wash my grafts with. I thought it was silly at first, but the stuff is actually fantastic. The following week was more poor sleep. I slept so badly (getting only 3 hours or so each night) that I was legitimately worried that I was stressing the survival of my grafts. I also washed the grafts daily, as per Dr. Cooley's instructions, with very gentle motions and indirect water. I continued using the spray as directed (after the first few days, you ease off the spray frequency, but are still asked to use it multiple times per day, sealing it with saran wrap and a surgical cap). Also, though not suggested by the Doctor, I took some supplements such as vitamins C, D, and Zinc. Due to the sleep issues, I was extremely grateful to be working from home during this period. There's not too much else to say about my post-op. As I was back in NYC, I had to go to a local clinic to have the stiches removed. When he was removing the stitches, the doctor remarked that he had done stitch removal for hair transplants before but had never seen one like mine before. He said that the fine gauge of the stitches used were much more like those used for facial plastic surgery and the stitching technique was excellent. Miscellaneous thoughts: Though I volunteered to allow Dr. Cooley to shave my recipient for the procedure, he refused and said it would not make the work much easier for his team. I insisted and he did end up shaving a small area on the temples for better visibility. Post-op though, I have to say, I was shocked by how indiscernible the hair transplant was. I was meeting people less than a month out of the procedure and NO ONE knew that anything was done. Chalk it up to the magic of no-shave procedures. Because we were at the height of the pandemic it would not have been a huge concern if I had to shave my head since no one would see me. If I had to appear at the office though, the no-shave procedure would have been a major benefit. I am about 7 months out from my procedure as of the time of writing and all I can say is that I am extremely satisfied and am tremendously grateful to Dr. Cooley and his fantastic team. I feel much more confident in my appearance and am genuinely having fun with my hair for the first time in years. Whereas previously I was hyper-conscious about sweeping my hair over my temples and cursing every gust of wind, I feel much more at peace now. I am happy with my results and I am optimistic that it can get even better in the coming months. Photos: I prefer to keep a minimal number of pictures of myself on the internet so here are my pre-op photos as well as my photos about 6 to 6.5 months out from the procedure. I have a few photos of the period between I can share if you are genuinely curious but only via private message. Ironically for a pre-op photo, the temples are a little flattering. Here it is in the worst possible lighting: Grafts implanted. Dr. Cooley implanted grafts in between my native hairs to thicken my existing hairline in addition to reconstructing the temples: 6.5 Months out: Thanks for reading my thread. If you have any questions feel free to reach out via the thread or private message. -
I thought sharing my experience might be helpful to others and to show my progress so far. I am 38 years old and have fine hair. I plan to update monthly for the first year or so. About a year ago I started to think about getting a HT after gradual thinning for several years. I first started Finasteride Oct 2019. I discovered this forum around that time and looked at results and reviews of many of the recommended surgeons. I did not mind traveling or price in terms of limiting my options. I first sent photos to H&W and they said I would be a good candidate for FUT, recommending 4000-5000+ grafts, noting a second procedure for the crown might be helpful. I then met Dr. Bernstein in NYC for an in-person consultation. He also recommended FUT, approximately 2500 grafts. His thoughts were similar to H&W, to start with the hairline, cover some midscalp, and only thin coverage to the crown. During continued research, I became interested in learning more about Dr. Cooley's practice. I found nearly all reviews to be excellent, results to be natural and excellent as well. I also liked the idea that he often seemed to transplant in the range of 3000-4000 grafts, somewhere between the other two recommendations I had received. I spoke to Lollie (an assistant of his for many years) for an in-depth telephone consultation after sending photographs to her. She was very pleasant and extremely helpful with scheduling. Approximately 3500 grafts were recommended by FUT. Also, Dr. Cooley does most of his FUT surgeries without shaving the recipient area, which was a big plus for me. I drove 12 hours to Charlotte the day before surgery because I did not want to get on a plane in the middle of COVID. On 6/10/20, I had the procedure. I had paid for 3,000 grafts in advance but was hoping for 3,500, as we had discussed. First I met Brandi, his lead assistant with many years of experience, to review some paperwork, etc. Then I met Dr. Cooley who discussed the hairline and asked for my expectations. He is friendly and reassuring. I asked that overall he use his judgement for what he thought would be the best in terms of overall improvement, and that I obviously wanted it to be natural. I asked that he err on the more conservative side to account for future loss, and to use as many grafts as he thought would be beneficial. His office is nice. The day was comfortable and the 12 hours (7AM-7PM) went quickly. You are given some conscious sedation at first to help relax (valium and midazolam), which I found helpful. Numbing is mildly uncomfortable for a minute or two. He was able to extract 3679 grafts (1- 1032, 2-1783, 3-714, 4-150). Post operatively, the following two days were mildly uncomfortable, but mostly only the first night. I did take tylenol and motrin regularly for about two days. I did not have swelling. Driving the long distance home over the following two days, starting after the post op visit with Dr. Cooley the morning following surgery, was not uncomfortable. I was first able to feel some growth around 3 months and think I have some noticeable visible improvement now at 4 months. I hope to share the continued improvement over the next many months. I would highly recommend Dr. Cooley and his team based on my excellent experience there. -
First post ever. I was all set to finally start getting serious about booking an appointment for my first transplant after 13+ years of hair loss hell. Research over the last 6 months was wild. I'm a NW4/5 with a highly recessed hairline (hello huge forehead!), badly receded temples and thinning throughout the rest. I've tried basically every medication there is except for Fin(Would rather not get into why, just know it's a decision I came to a long time ago). Currently using Minox and dermarolling. If my Father's family history is any indication I'll be a NW6 later on in life. Naturally my brother has every speck of hair left having been blessed with my Mom's side's amazing hair genetics! The one thing that always kept me going towards the transplant route and somewhat "happy" was that I always had decent sides that were very "squared up" leaving only the traditional rectangular oval thinning shape in the middle which would be ready for the transplant. That was until recently. When to my absolute horror I began noticing something funny everytime I'd come out of the shower with my hair wet. As you'll see in the photos with my hair now dry, it appears 100% that my sides are now "dropping" a bit at what I would assume is called the very often unspoken about "lateral hump" upside down U area. I was horrified and devastated. Forget about my transplant plans I thought. Now I wouldn't even be able to pull off a hair system!!! Not to mention based on all my knowledge of hair loss it seems as if these lateral hump areas only seem to become a problem much later in life for men. There was a good horror story on these boards about a guy who got a transplant young and was then left with an awkward island of transplanted hair as the humps went and there was no longer any connecting hair. I am almost certain it was @Dr. Jerry Cooleywho did the repair which came out amazing. Maybe if he's out there he can provide insight on my situation... I am most wondering and concerned just how difficult of any area this would be to even perform a transplant on. Anyway, I'm now lost, deflated, and feeling as depressed about my hair loss as I did when I first discovered it at 23. For so many years it didn't bother me much anymore, and when the time came to start getting serious about a transplant I was more than comfortable looking into some of these top clinics overseas. I live in New York btw, and don't even want to tell you about some of the prices in Manhattan. ($4,000 for 500 grafts anyone?? Insanity.) As a side note - the doc DID say I had amazing quality donor hair, though it is a very narrow area of about 4500 grafts max in his opinion. So now what I wonder. My ultimate original plan was this: Transplant #1 in 2022 - Restore the hairline and temples with a rather high/conservative hairline to simply reframe my face and get me my confidence back. Estimate of 2,000 densely packed grafts to create a lifelong nice frame. Transplant #2 years down the road - after the rest of the forelock and front scalp goes, get another 2,000 grafts into that area for what would end up being a final result of a good frontal region of transplanted hair and face framing. As far as the crown goes I have no problem not caring about that. Fibers and dermatch have been a very good friend to me and would continue to be. Also I'm just not up for anything more than two surgeries/two trips overseas for this. I would be over the moon to have something that Rolandas has right now for example. Zero hair greed here. But now with this disaster that looks like lateral hump thinning, EVERYTHING is off the table and I don't even know where to start. What I DO know is that even if I ever wanted to try a hair system, I would have to get a surgery to even repair the HUMPS so they could connect to a hair system's hairline. That alone could be 1,000 grafts at least. Bottom line is I am not in a good place right now, at all, with my hair. I feel stuck, and almost hopeless. I've never seen a guy my age dealing with lateral hump hair loss. Any advice or thoughts are very appreciated. Also, before anyone thinks I have so much hair still on my head please understand I absolutely do not. What you are seeing is a combover of terribly thin hair with a few fiber still in it. My hair is shot and on top of that, the hairline and temples of course are completely gone. No medication could ever bring them back as we all know.
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While I didn't create an account on this forum over the last couple of years it was invaluable in my research process and I want to pay it forward, especially since I seem to be seeing fewer patient posts with recent dates, at least for Dr. Cooley. Thus I will try to be thorough here in describing my process. Apologies in advance for the length of the post and the variability of the quality of the photos. I know they aren't the best. I am still only a few days/weeks out and will update this with before photos and after photos from the clinic and exact graft count(s) when I get them and try not to disappear throughout the process. My Past Situation I had an ill-advised FUT procedure when I was 21 to address temple recession. I wasn't on meds, it was premature, and I went to a cheap chop shop. CLASSIC, young guy being really stupid. :sigh The procedure (unknown # of grafts) involved putting grafts on the temples and unfortunately also some around the front of my hairline. It did very little cosmetically unless you count triggering massive loss of existing hair (most of which did grow back in fairness). The only saving grace here is that we were talking about a fairly minor temple area and because of my light hair/skin contrast I've been able to get away with a forward brush hairstyle that hid really poor work. Oh and it wasn't big plugs and the scar wasn't horrendous and avoided being in any disastrous region(s) thankfully. No matter what you do STAY AWAY from Samson Hair Restoration in Los Angeles regardless of what doctor they currently have cycled in. Why now Now, 11 years later at 32 with some additional thinning and some recession the previous work was becoming harder to cover, especially when swimming or my hair was wet. Plus, I just wanted it fixed to open up different hairstyles and to get ahead of managing what I believe will be future loss. Almost a gradual "replace" strategy I guess. In terms of meds, I had been on finasteride w/ no side effects for 4 years but then went off for 5+ years (don't really know why). I went back on 6+ months ahead in prep for a procedure and plan to stick with it this time. Not on finasteride or any other shampoos etc at the moment. Picking the surgeon In terms of research this time around I did a lot more homework using this forum as the basis for creating a smaller list of doctors. Ultimately I narrowed my list and research to consults with Lindsay, Bernstein, Cooley, Bloxham, and Nadimi. I felt these were really great doctors that didn't necessarily require a flight based on my East Coast USA location (I was intrigued by Rahal, Hasson/Wong/Kronior and some of the other staple of well regarded doctors as well but with only so much time felt good with my short list). I did not consider India/Turkey etc., not because I don't believe quality results can't be achieved there, but because I didn't want to take the risk and conduct an extra level of due diligence with respect to many of the practices and I was willing to pay $ for that peace of mind. Notes on my Consults During my consult with Dr. Lindsay I felt like he just didn't think I needed a procedure yet. He cited 1200 grafts and it was all relatively cursory. So not a fit for me Dr. Bernstein was a good consult (worth the cost) where I learned a bit and I felt comfortable with him and his work, but ultimately I wasn't blown away by the results I've seen from him either on his website or on this and other forums My consult with Bloxham was really terrific and I got a great feeling from him. He was ultimately my #2 but I did not choose him mostly because he is just relatively newer with fewer posted results. And right or wrong, some of the (rare/older) negative comments about customer service/interactions from Feller put me off. I did NOT have any of this sense from Dr. Bloxham and have never met Feller but the posts are there nonetheless. I will also say, they need to upgrade their facility. Not the medical side hopefully, but the rest of the place was old and run down feeling. Dr. Nadimi was also great (via Skype) and matter of fact but I got the sense she did more FUE than FUT. Similar to Bloxham there are just fewer patient accounts out there that I could find, but based on what I've seen and this consult I was very comfortable and impressed with her Why Cooley Ultimately, I went with the only doctor I didn't meet/ have a convo with directly in Dr. Cooley. I appreciated the consult with Lollie and a deeper understanding of their procedures and liked what I heard about use of Acell, how he preserved grafts out of body, his hands on approach, the tenure of his techs, and so on. But most importantly Cooley's track record of consistent results and patient experiences tipped me over (including one detailed repair write-up by a Blonde haired individual, of which there are relatively few results). I also literally did not find a single negative review (of outcomes) for Cooley in all my research and I valued that apparent consistency. Procedure - Why FUT I knew I wanted FUT as I (a) already had a scar I felt could be improved, (b) wanted to maximize future grafts and survivability, and (c) wanted to minimize recovery time. I am lucky enough to have a lot of Donor and existing hair that can be used to hide a procedure. Pre-Procedure and Day of All things posted about Cooley experiences were true for me. I followed pre-op instructions for scalp laxity. I think this helped as I could feel the sides definitely loosen up, and while the back still felt tight Cooley said it was great and helped with suturing (+ sutures out at 2 weeks vs. 3 weeks). The hotel they set you up in is excellent, easy, convenient and they already know why you are there and what you need. Shuttle drivers, check-in staff, and others there were helpful and discrete and the breakfast and gym is open early enough for day of eating and a last workout. On the day of the operation we met at 7am, had a calm and not rushed discussion where any other questions I had were answered, and re-affirmed my choice of 2500 FUT + PRP/Acell. In terms of hairline we were on the same page to opt for a conservative/mature hairline though Cooley jumped straight to the need for work on the temples which he said he does not always do. This process of agreeing on this was FAST as a lot of it was bridging existing hair and the past work plus a little bit of pulling temples out/down. In terms of PRP, Cooley was candid that for me he didn't know if PRP would make much of a difference as he didn't see a ton of minituraization but (a) I'm paranoid and think there is more than there is/I have very fine hair already, and (b) I am hopeful that it will help somewhat with avoiding shock loss or speeding up recovery. I know there's no real scientific evidence to back that up, but I was willing to spend the $ on the chance it helps. I will say that to make sure you get what you need before surgery begins you should 100% come prepared with your questions. For example in my consult with Bloxham he indicated that my past FUT scar had a small area branching into the danger zone for donor and advised forking the scar near my ear. I really did NOT want to do this, so asked Cooley about it. He decided to implant 10-15 hairs in the end of the old scar as part of the procedure and end the new scar in a safer location. I do not think we would have ultimately done this if I had not asked. H/T to Bloxham for noticing it in a really thorough, caring consult. I also asked about a few grafts poorly placed in the front of my forehead below the 7CM mark we agreed to for the new hairline. He said if I was OK With it that he would remove those with electrolysis which I agreed to and am relieved about as they were definitely not natural looking. Overall, it was a good conversation. I, like most others, felt comfortable and cared for by Dr. Cooley and all of his other wonderful team members. I do think the clinic could get better about having all their pre and post op documentation organized and sent in a big PDF but that's super minor overall and has nothing to do with the in-person interactions I had. One other area that I felt could be improved is in discussing recovery times. The clinic (not Cooley himself) were fairly aggressive in terms of discussing post HT recovery periods and timeline (no redness 5 days, not visible procedure at 8 days etc). It's not that they are totally off, it's just that they are definitely giving the aggressive, "best-case" scenario in my opinion and shaded this as an absolute vs. discussing the potential ranges of recovery times based on patient characteristics. Still thus far in my case it has proven to not be too far off the mark so far (devil's always in the details though isn't it). Procedure itself From the Cooley consult we moved into the procedure. Numbing/valium etc was painless. Unlike others I don't think I really went fully under for the ENTIRE duration of the procedure, I even heard a nice little "ripping" type sound on removal, but no pain whatsoever. By 11:30 the donor was removed, there were 5-6 technicians on the microscopes, I had had PRP and he had done the few electrolysis removals needed. I stopped for lunch and then we carried on. Cooley performed all of the donor incisions, with Brandi hovering nearby, and was present for probably 90% of the graft placement. I know for sure he was doing all the immediate hairline grafts. I believe he left for a little over an hour in the middle of the procedure (basically the length of a movie), but I'm not 100% on whether he popped his head in a few times during that time or not. While he was not actively working on my head Brandi was performing graft placement and I believe Amy also worked on placing grafts. Cooley returned and was essentially there the rest of the day long after many of the other techs had left post dissecting the grafts (easily 4-5+ more hours). It was clear he reviewed and had ample time to change, correct, or ensure any grafts not placed with him in the room were to his liking. Like others have mentioned it was clear throughout the day that this was a well-oiled machine, with team members that had worked together for years (decades even). Everyone was friendly and taking a dedicated and personalized approach to the operation, and I couldn't imagine going somewhere with a doctor doing multiple ops in a day. Throughout the process Brandi was constantly checking Cooley and making sure anything "controversial" about his approach was discussed (a few graft placements here and there, reminders about how many grafts were left etc). All of this was reassuring. I am sure the reverse also happened. Ultimately for the 2,500 graft procedure Cooley was able to get over 3,000 grafts (I will get exact counts later) and we did not finish the day until a bit after 7pm, meaning I was there for nearly 12 hours. This extra time and attention, plus the grafts that were not something I had to pay extra for, all speak to his long-running record of caring about his patients and working tirelessly to get results. I am obviously grateful for this. Post Op - Healing, Pain, and Experience (Week 1) Donor got painful at the end of the day during the operation so I was numbed up again before I went home. I was obviously a bit red and beat up but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting and they had already done a pretty good job cleaning a lot of the blood off. Plus I was wearing Saran wrap + a hat so able to avoid any weird looks. On night 1 I took some Tylenol but nothing stronger--which is good because I didn't get the prescriptions until day-of for stronger meds. Cooley's post-op care uses an ATP spray + saran wrap to increase moisture and prevent any graft damage and antibiotic ointment on the donor scar. You basically spray every hour you are awake and wake up and spray every 2 hours for the first 2 nights along with taking some preventative Prednisone for swelling. I followed the instructions religiously here and I think it really helped calm redness and speed healing. On night 2 I was falling back asleep pretty quickly so it didn't feel too onerous to keep getting up. For sure it kept the itchiness to a real minimum in the first 6 days. I went back the next morning for a post-op clean and got the all good from Dr. Cooley. During this cleaning Amy took time to answer any questions I had about the next week of care and was patient with what I am sure are the same questions everyone asks. In terms of the documentation they gave me to follow, I actually think it could have been a bit more detailed. It wasn't that it was bad, but I felt like an "FAQ" or just more exhaustive detail would have helped. For example, I asked about caffeine / alcohol / ibuprofen which were not listed (Cooley says moderate amounts of both are fine), and it doesn't give you much about how to sleep (when can you sleep sidweays on the grafts) and so on. To give you a sense of how smooth this was, I drove almost 7 hours home the very next day, which was completely fine and painless. Overall I found the post-op regimen easy to follow, the spray and saran wrap seemingly very effective even if I did probably use it too quickly/aggressively to try to get it through the native hair as I ran out a day or two earlier than I think the clinic expects. One curious thing with post-op care from the clinic is that it seems that Cooley's overall instructions,are more aggressive than many other docs (like the timeline to shampoo (next day) and return to regular shampooing (7 days) . I'm sure this is because Cooley is confident in the healing/quality of the grafts and incisions etc and has refined his approach over time but it does make me just a little nervous when looking at the instructions online from so many other places that are much more conservative. But he's my doc and I'm in his hands and so far so good. On night 3 I slept poorly but not really due to pain, I think I just missed exercise. On night 4 and 5 I had more pain when putting the back of my head on pillows (I slept elevated with an inflatable travel pillow partially inflated these nights to help with any potential swelling) and I did take a valium one night and the other pain killer + tylenol combo prescribed drug the fifth night. It almost felt like the donor was a little more stretched these two nights with whatever position I could find that didnt have too much pressure. If this continues I'll call the office to make sure it's normal. Some posters here have mentioned this as the return of nerve sensation but I'm not sure. Otherwise I have had some very very minor swelling which made me break out some ice on my forehead and eye area a couple of times and take ibuprofen periodically as well. It was never uncomfortable or especially noticeable to anyone else however. Last point, I am using the Hair Shake protein. I don't really think it'll do much but I've used protein powder a lot anyway so I don't mind and if it helps at all with speed of growth or minimization of shock-loss, then it's worth a couple months of it for me. I am not planning on using it long term and no one at the Cooley office actually mentioned it directly despite having it stocked there and having it listed as an optional part of the post-op procedure. Post Op Appearance - First Week The scar in the back is perhaps slightly visible with wet hair (first 3-4 days) but completely hidden with normal dry hair. As mentioned it wasn't giving me much trouble the first 3-4 days, although of course everything felt really "tight" there. At night or with pressure on it day 5-6 it actually has felt a bit worse and I've taken some of the prescribed meds just to make sure I get decent enough sleep. We will see of course on final healing and appearance, it is early days. Redness in the recipient has subsided each day, and now at day 6 is not bad at all. It's probably worse in the pictures than in real life. I am fairly pale skinned but had a deep tan going which some say can help. There is definitely scabbing, it is super mild/light and looks like when I return to regular shampooing and rub the grafts a bit it will easily flake off and be gone within the 7-10 day timeframe that they gave. In any case, it's really mild and not that noticeable. I have used their given shampoo and started leaving the conditioner in a bit longer which I think has helped. I have a couple spots of dried blood left but overall it's pretty clean and I haven't noticed anything remotely like grafts falling out. Really, not even many/any hairs yet. The kicker here for me is that I 100% had to hide from the world during this time because I was (a) spraying every hour and (b) couldn't style my existing hair for fear of touching/disloding existing grafts. So you could see the grafts taking hold and small stubbly hair, plus weird caked native hair that was a bit long already awkwardly plastered to my scalp. So all in all, a real lovely mess. Now had I managed this aggressively with a blow dryer on cool or if I was more comfortable touching and styling my scalp in this period I am sure I could have made it look better but I didn't want to take any risks. On Day 6 I did a bit of finger styling and with my existing hair I can make it look decent (see 1 of the pictures). Decent is not invisible however. The temples are harder to disguise and any close inspection things are definitely still visible so I feel I am very much still in hat land. To be fair, my wife says it's pretty hard to tell unless you get up close and personal already. We will see if my extended family at Day 11 notices anything. Summary of first week So far the difference from my first procedure has been remarkable. Basically instead of an immediate "oh shit what have I done" I felt more like a "I'm already looking better than I expected 12 hours later. and everything is going exactly like they said" It's nice to already feel like I made the right choice. The recovery seems to be text book according to their expectations, but I most certainly don't want to be out and about without a hat yet as it would be noticeable. The things I am worried about are (a) appearance at 10 days and masking it, (b) avoiding shock-loss as no work was done in the middle of the frontal third, and (c) continued management of the donor scar pain. All the rest is of course the standard, hurry up and wait, concerns about linear scar etc that we all have but if I can avoid shock loss I feel comfortable looking like I did for 6+ more months. I hope this is helpful and of course any feedback on the pics and actual quality of the work is welcome as well. Again, apologies on the photo quality I will get better ones from clinic later. I will try to post periodically as I hate the posts where people disappear but I also intend to try to live my life and not obsess over the progress over the next few months. -
Dr. Cooley does the no shave technique. He seems to produce consistently positive results. -
Hey everybody. Hope y’all are doing well in COVID-19 times. So I went ahead and did a hair transplant. Thought I’d post my results as the months go along. I lurked this forum for a while before deciding to get my scalp harvested. I appreciated the honest feedback/recommendations here so I thought I’d make a post so others with similar level of baldness/hair type can get an idea of what to expect with the # of grafts I got. I’ll update as things progress. Details: -31 years old -Had the surgery on 17/08/2020 - Started finasteride 8 months before FUE. Seemed to slow things down as I was losing a shit-ton of hair before starting it and ... that stopped once I started. (Still taking it, not using min or Nizoral... fin seems to have had the opposite effect that a lot of guys report. Dunno why but that’s neither here nor there.) - not using hair concealer Photos aren’t the greatest. I’m taking photos under the harshest light I can find in the moment. I’ll post photos from the clinic if/when I receive them! If anyone has questions about the clinic, procedure, aftermath, whatever, I’m happy to answer. I was pretty freaked out before I did the deed, and am still pretty anxious (but hopeful) about the end result. Take care errybody! Pre-transplant, taken the morning of the surgery: Right after surgery: Six days after surgery: -
You’ve got amazing hair so fast, what an artist Dr. Cooley is. -
I understand your concerns - and by the way, I wasn't suggesting you were neurotic or anything, I was just saying if you happen to be the overly anxious, paranoid sort of type then it's probably best to steer clear and not nocebo yourself into a bad state as people like this generally always tend to convince themselves of the worst, even when there's nothing actually physically wrong. Anyway, as I say, I can understand your position after reading that you've had bad experiences in the past. If you don't want to take it then that's completely up to you of course. You don't have to, you just have to accept that you're much more likely to experience further loss than if you did take it. Regarding your pic, you don't have too much more to lose on the top, no. But, you're essentially a NW5 from what I can see, however it looks like your crown doesn't dip down the back of your head at all, and your sides aren't too low, although they are dropping a bit right now by the looks of it. So all in all, based off that pic (would need to see different angles really to judge properly) you're a somewhat less severe NW5 maybe. So, although you might think you don't have much more to lose, go and look up a NW5 vs a NW7, that crown - could - easily drop another few inches deeper into the back of your head. Not saying it will happen, in fact, the fact you're 55 and it hasn't is probably a pretty good sign that you won't go that far, would be best to get examined by a good surgeon. You certainly could just go ahead with a couple of Hair Transplants and forego the meds, yes. With your age, you could well be correct that there is little left to lose, and you very well might not lose too much more hair now. But like I say, you could still progress to a NW7 in say the next 10-20 years, I have no way of knowing. If I was you I would consult with some great doctors and get their take. And get scalp examined for miniaturisation to predict future loss. A good doctor is probably going to advise two procedures a year apart; the frontal third first at probably 3 to 3500 ish grafts, followed by the crown/midscalp at around 2-2500 grafts. After this, you might have anywhere from 0-2000 grafts left for any future procedures. depends on your donor, but you'll probably be looking at being close to your limit (if you go straight FUE anyway). I don't think it is the most irresponsible decision in your case to go ahead without fin considering your age, and I imagine as long as your donor is decent and you're not clearly miniaturising into a nw7 pattern upon examination, most doctors will consider you to be an ok candidate without the fin. I would get in touch with Dr. Bisanga, Dr Bruno Pinto, Dr Ximena Villa, Dr Ferudini, Dr. Bruno Ferreira and Dr. Rafael De Freitas and get their take, but that's just my personal list of my current favourite doctors. Do your own research and come to your own conclusions of course. If you're in the States, and don't want to travel (all of those options will be considerably cheaper than US docs and just as good/better than some, but it is a long way) then look at Hasson and Wong, Dr. Konior, Dr. Shapiro, Dr. Cooley - there's more but that's just off the top of my head as I've never considered doctors over the pond.
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I think Dr. Gabel is another great doctor who trained with Konior. I would also take a look at Dr. Cooley, he had a few amazing repairs. Put his name in the advanced search page and you’ll see.
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Dr. Mohebi, Dr. Gabel, Dr. Cooley, Dr. Charles also perform BHT to strip scars.
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What is the truth behind the ARTAS Robot?
aaron1234 replied to SD1984's topic in Hair Restoration Questions and Answers
I think in a recent interview with Melvin, Dr. Jerry Wong from Hasson & Wong said that the clinic purchased the ARTAS robot years ago but it is now collecting dust in a spare room. He did not seem impressed with its ability to extract good quality grafts, i.e. its transection rate was high. -
What an amazing head of hair man, i'm seriously envious. Thanks for sharing your review of Dr. Cooley, he's one of the best in the business hands down.
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We have quite a few options in the US, Dr. Konior, Dr. Cooley, Dr. Shapiro, Dr. Wesley, Dr. Gabel, just to name a few. I suggest looking at our recommendations and researching them here on the forum. Send multiple doctors virtual consultations, they're free. https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/Consult-a-Physician/hair-transplant-surgeons.asp?sr=HRN
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Look up @HTREGRETS here he had an HT with Cooley. He has a lot of good results here. I think Dr. Bloxham is great, both are good doctors. But Dr. Cooley is definitely more experienced.
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If you’re in North Carolina definitely check out @Dr. Jerry Cooley he’s a member of our elite Coalition group.
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Congratulations man, I hope you share your experience on here, and please tell Dr. Cooley I say “hi”
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Grafts vs Total Hairs. Whats it all mean?
Mthwehwe replied to Mthwehwe's topic in Hair Restoration Results Posted by Patients
I'm a NW 5+ right now or on my way to be? I didn't think I was that far yet. Dr. Cooley suggested the 2500 grafts. Here I am 10 weeks post op. -
Hi everyone, I am 26 and have been on Propecia for a year now. Luckily, no noticeable side effects. I am considering a hair transplant and know that I will likely have to remain on Propecia (or an alternative medication) for the future. Right now, I am taking 1mg 3x a week as instructed by Dr. Cooley in Charlotte, NC. How have people’s experience been with being on Propecia and having kids? Do you stop the medication while you are trying to have kids? Should I worry about infertility? Thanks!
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Dr. Cooley is an excellent choice. You’re in great hands 🙌🏼 Look forward to seeing your updates.
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Hi Everyone, I am newbie to the forum and apologies if any of the questions are repeated. (I did searched previous posts but that raised more questions) Little bit about myself: 1. My Age: 33 2. My hair started thinning about 10 years ago and I used to use Minoxidil, 5% Topical Solution and Finasteride Pills. I took them for over 1.5 years and gave up on them as I noticed hair fall continued as soon as I stopped using them for even a week. 3. Since then I didn't took any care of my hair. (Probably a mistake but I just thought all solutions are temporary and transplantation is the only solution) 4. I have been thinking about FUE for an year now and I finally decided to go for it now (next few weeks). 5. I am planning to spend up to 15,000 USD. Questions: Premise for Q1: I am in halfway between Dr.Vories (South Carolina, USA) and Dr.Cooley (North Carolina). I talked with Dr.Vories 12 months ago and he seemed fine to me. He was recommended to me by one of my friend who went through FUE and his results are just "ok". After joining this forum I learnt about Dr.Cooley and I am in dilemma now. I reached out to Dr.Cooley and still waiting for response from them.(Its been a week now) Q1: Any personal experiences anyone can share which can help me decide between Dr. Vories and Dr. Cooley ? Q2: As I said before I am not using any medicines right now. I have seen some posts in this forum where ppl recommended using some medicines at least 6 months before transplantation procedure. Is it a good practice thing ? or Is it mandatory to yield good results? Dr. Vories didn't talked about this and was ready to go with transplantation almost immediately. Q3: For last 6 months I am being troubled with dandruff. Tried different of the shelf shampoos. (Didn't really took care of my hair properly.) Should I take some serious medicines to get rid of dandruff before going with FUE transplantation ? Q4: For some mandatory ritual, I have to shave off my head in 18 months. Assuming I did go through FUE now, can I have my hair shaved after 18 months or ever in my life ? Am I going to loose any transplanted hair ? Will the aftermath of FUE will leave any spots on my head which will look bad and make me never be able to have clean shaven head or even short hair ? Q5: Are there any other solutions that can help me other than FUE ? Thanks in advance for your time.
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FUE newbie questions
Repairpt replied to baldslacker's topic in Hair Transplant Experiences and Surgeon Reviews
Honestly, worse than the cost of the procedure was the repair and that's just speaking on the financials. It was emotionally devastating to have an enflamed, soon to be cobblestoned scalp with what looked to be doll hairs-plenty of 3s placed in a frontal hairline that looked totally unnatural-in a profession where I can't where a hat. I was 30 years old at the time of my procedure with Dr. Vories, and it was probably the most devastating decision of my life, which I'm paying for 5 years later. I would urge not to make the decision in haste, do your research. I checked out Joe Tillman's site searching for hope after I realized I'd be walking around getting strange looks for the rest of my life, and that's how I found Dr. Cooley-I'm in NC and I have no regrets with him, it was a total 180 from my first experience. -
SMP in DC, Richmond or Raleigh (East Coast)
Melvin- Moderator replied to Volcomander's topic in Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP)
You may want to reach out to Dr. Cooley https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/physician/North-Carolina/Jerry-Cooley/4 -
FUE newbie questions
Repairpt replied to baldslacker's topic in Hair Transplant Experiences and Surgeon Reviews
Hey, I'm a patient of Dr. Vories and Dr. Cooley's. Dr. Cooley repaired the work done on me by Dr. Vories-2000 fue that looked totally unnatural and scarred my recipient zone. My experience with Dr. Cooley was outstanding. -
Good point. I saw a similar situation with a patient of Dr. Cooley and I believe they used electrolysis to remove that patch.
