Another great example of a great physician at work

[Robert_]

I had the opportunity today to witness a 2,000 graft follicularr-unit transplant session performed by Dr. Jerry Cooley and his wonderful staff at The Hair Center in Charlotte, NC.

 

As you may know, Dr. Cooley performed my hair transplant procedure in June of 2004 as well as others that post on this discussion forum. The list includes Brando, NC30, Hair Apparent, and just this past month, Nashville Kat. All of us have had very similar experiences with Dr. Cooley and his very professional and skilled staff. You can view my personal thread regarding my experience here.

 

I arrived at around 10:30 am in Charlotte. It was about a three-hour drive so I was too late to watch the donor area excision. When I walked in I met the patient. He was sitting comfortably watching a movie while Dr. Cooley was laboring away making graft incisions.

 

The patient was nice enough to lean forward so I could see the donor area closure. As with all other donor areas I have seen from Dr. Cooley, it was immaculate. The closure and stitching was beautiful.

 

I then saw where the incisions were being made. Dr. Cooley showed me the transition he was creating that flowed from the subtle 1-graft incisions that would make up the front of the hairline back toward the thickening with 2-graft incisions and further back to the 3-graft incisions. He implemented lateral slit incisions using a needle.

 

He explained his use of the needle to me in that when the incision is made, there is much less of a risk of transection because the needle will actually push surrounding hair follicles away from the recipient site. Dr. Cooley does not shave the recipient areas of his patients.

 

When he reached the top of the patient's head he utilized the sagittal-slit method due to the hair characteristics in that it stands more vertical at that point. That is not to say that the incisions are not angled. The angulation matched perfectly with the patient's existing hair that he was working around. This goes to prove that any one method is not the final answer and the implementation of several methods can be used to create the ultimate refined hair transplant.

 

Behind us, no less than 4 technicians were hard at work splicing and separating grafts. All worked intensely under microscopes. Ms. Ailene Watts (the lead technician) let me sneak a peek at the separated follicular units through the microscope. Don't worry, I never touched a thing. I know my limits and I know that I will never be delicate enough to perform this kind of work.

 

Shortly after, the graft placement began. They only perform one session per day at The Hair Center. This is so they can devote their full attention to the one patient. Dr. Cooley was never far from the patient, either. He was placing grafts along side Brandy, another technician there.

 

I had to leave before the patient got up, but I did get to witness the bulk of the procedure. The experience only went to reinforce what I had already known and lived through; that Dr. Cooley and his staff perform nothing short of world-class hair restoration utilizing the absolute best techniques in dense-packed follicular unit transplantation.

 

For more about the newest revolutions in hair transplantation procedures visit The Hair Restoration Network.

 

-Robert

[Robert_]

I had the opportunity today to witness a 2,000 graft follicularr-unit transplant session performed by Dr. Jerry Cooley and his wonderful staff at The Hair Center in Charlotte, NC.

 

As you may know, Dr. Cooley performed my hair transplant procedure in June of 2004 as well as others that post on this discussion forum. The list includes Brando, NC30, Hair Apparent, and just this past month, Nashville Kat. All of us have had very similar experiences with Dr. Cooley and his very professional and skilled staff. You can view my personal thread regarding my experience here.

 

I arrived at around 10:30 am in Charlotte. It was about a three-hour drive so I was too late to watch the donor area excision. When I walked in I met the patient. He was sitting comfortably watching a movie while Dr. Cooley was laboring away making graft incisions.

 

The patient was nice enough to lean forward so I could see the donor area closure. As with all other donor areas I have seen from Dr. Cooley, it was immaculate. The closure and stitching was beautiful.

 

I then saw where the incisions were being made. Dr. Cooley showed me the transition he was creating that flowed from the subtle 1-graft incisions that would make up the front of the hairline back toward the thickening with 2-graft incisions and further back to the 3-graft incisions. He implemented lateral slit incisions using a needle.

 

He explained his use of the needle to me in that when the incision is made, there is much less of a risk of transection because the needle will actually push surrounding hair follicles away from the recipient site. Dr. Cooley does not shave the recipient areas of his patients.

 

When he reached the top of the patient's head he utilized the sagittal-slit method due to the hair characteristics in that it stands more vertical at that point. That is not to say that the incisions are not angled. The angulation matched perfectly with the patient's existing hair that he was working around. This goes to prove that any one method is not the final answer and the implementation of several methods can be used to create the ultimate refined hair transplant.

 

Behind us, no less than 4 technicians were hard at work splicing and separating grafts. All worked intensely under microscopes. Ms. Ailene Watts (the lead technician) let me sneak a peek at the separated follicular units through the microscope. Don't worry, I never touched a thing. I know my limits and I know that I will never be delicate enough to perform this kind of work.

 

Shortly after, the graft placement began. They only perform one session per day at The Hair Center. This is so they can devote their full attention to the one patient. Dr. Cooley was never far from the patient, either. He was placing grafts along side Brandy, another technician there.

 

I had to leave before the patient got up, but I did get to witness the bulk of the procedure. The experience only went to reinforce what I had already known and lived through; that Dr. Cooley and his staff perform nothing short of world-class hair restoration utilizing the absolute best techniques in dense-packed follicular unit transplantation.

 

For more about the newest revolutions in hair transplantation procedures visit The Hair Restoration Network.

 

-Robert

[mr invisible]

how come the doc didnt use the new utlra fue method isnt this the cutting edge in hair transplants today, i thought all top docs are doing this?

[Hair Apparent]

I've got to echo Robert's comments on Doctor Cooley.

 

I've been impressed by his operation every step of the way.

 

"?? By the way I got straight answers from Ailene during my virtual consultation and at my first visit to the office. I wasn't promised the sun and the moon and the sky, but got a realistic projection of what could be done for my level of baldness and condition of my remaining hair.

 

"?? By the way Dr. Cooley, Ailene, Brandi, and the rest of the staff performed minute, painstaking work for almost twelve hours straight--not even a break for lunch. It was arduous for me, and all I had to do was lie there, so I can guess how demanding it was for them. Dr. Cooley was there the whole time, except for about fifteen minutes when something called him away.

 

"?? By their post-op attention. They have been as indulgent with me after the work as they were before. I'm a fretter, and I've peppered Ailene with dozens of questions for the last six months, and she has answered them all with straight information and with good nature.

 

"?? Speaking of indulgence--and I posted on this before--I walked in unannounced once (my dentist happens to have the offices next to theirs) just to see if they would like to take a quick look at my progress. I figured it would be a quick in-and-out, if they had time for me at all. Instead, I was ushered in and spent a good twenty-to-thirty minutes with Ailene and Dr. Cooley, while they took notes and studied my development closely. It was as if they had had nothing better to do--though they did--than to spend time with me. As I said before, when was the last time one saw a physician drop everything to visit with a walk-in patient for anything short of a life-threatening emergency?

 

"?? All of the folks there are genuinely interested in their patients' post-op progress. They are genuinely glad when the patient is progressing well and are as thrilled as he is; and they are just as concerned when the patient isn't feeling things are going as they should.

 

"?? The quality of the work performed by Dr. Cooley and his staff is top-drawer. I have read many posts about poorly healing scars from the donor area, enough to know that that is a real concern. But even though I had a pretty long scar--from ear to ear--it is virtually invisible now; just a razor's edge of a slightly brown line. The hair has grown back all around it and even I have trouble finding it, and I know where it was.

 

The pattern of the hairline that Dr. Cooley devised is perfect for my age and shape of my head, and the transplantation of the hair was perfect. At this immature stage, it looks simply like the hairs remaining on the head of a balding man--and more are sprouting on a weekly basis.

 

So far, the only negative aspect has been my concern that, after a strong initial development, my growth has slowed. I'm a week away from the six-month point, and I had expected to see a bit more than what I do. That's not a reflexion on Dr. Cooley's work; I have no doubt that he maximised my gain. But I have a sneaking fear that I was not as good a candidate as I hoped I would be, even with my modest expectations.

 

The thing is, I don't know how much of my self-evaluation is emotionally based--from the natural impatience--and how much is logically based, from comparing my development with that of photos on line of others with similar degrees of baldness and a similar number of grafts. And I don't even know if my logic is accurate--this is one of those cases in which I don't know what I don't know.

 

I brought up this concern to Ailene six weeks ago and she told me that most of their patients expressed the same doubts at the same time-frame in their HT's. She counselled me on the same thing I have counselled everyone here--patience and give it to at least the ninth month. Next week I have another dentist's appointment, and Ailene invited me in to their offices afterward, to have a look at my progress. I'm sure I'll get the straight scoop then.

 

Let me add, to make things clear: I've experienced steady, increasing growth of the new hair all along, with new hairs continuing to sprout. I'm just beginning to wonder if the amount of baldness to cover and the quality of my hair was such that it won't make much of a difference. I wasn't looking for, nor did I expect to have an Elvis head of hair, but I was hoping for a significant change.

 

Most likely, though, I am just over-worrying, as I am a worrier by nature.

 

In any event, none of that reflects poorly on Doctor Cooley or his staff. His work is top-notch and his dedication and loyalty to his patients is even greater.

 

And to go on record again, no, I am not associated with his office or compensated by him. My comments stem strictly from my experience with his office as a patient. There are many good HT surgeons out there, and I'm in no position to rate who's better than whom. But I do know, it would be difficult to find one better than Dr. Cooley.

[Franklin]

Hairapparent you should expect to see definately lots more growth and thickening. I remember 2 years ago when I had my ht between months 6-9 it really took off. I know how the wait is fustrating. Hang in there.

[Robert_]

Hair Apparent,

 

It doesn't really sound like you are worrying anymore than any other first-time hair transplant patient does. In fact, I wouldn't call it so much worrying as I would "attention to detail."

 

I always enjoy your posts and I would really like to meet up and see your results if we could ever set that up. Perhaps we can schedule a simultaneous check up at Dr. Cooley's office or something.

 

-Robert

[Hair Apparent]

Thanks for the encouragement, fellows. I really appreciate the support. Intellectually, I know you--and Ailene--are right.

 

And you're right about this being typical of a first-time HT patient, Robert. In this case, I don't think "attention to detail" is a matter of my Navy background. Every first-time HT patient no doubt scrutinises his scalp as much and as often as I do.

 

I do know that, whatever my inherent limits are, Dr. Cooley provided me with the best results I could possibly get. As I study the work he did and envision how it will look once it is mature, I am thrilled with the effort. He also has a procedure for eliminating the few scars (from my old, old suture attachment of a hairpiece--a youthful folly) that will still be visible after my hair completely grows in. That will be the next step.

 

I would very much enjoy getting together with you at Doctor Cooley's offices to compare notes sometime, Robert. The logistics are probably easier for me, since I literally live only ten minutes from his offices, and I can work my daytime schedule around any time. So, I'll leave it up to you when we can do it.