Had a HT July 31 with Dr. Jones of NHI

[bayareaht]

Hey Guys,

 

After almost a decade of continous hairloss, resulting agony and enormous "expenses" to restore - I finally took a plunge. Last month, I visited Dr. Jones at NHI San Jose and was pretty impressed by his straight talks. I attained a Norwood 4 on his rating. He seemed to me like a very experienced guy who knows perfectly well what he would be doing. We sat together for roughly an hour - this was our first meeting - and he measured my density (donor area was 210 per sq. cm - average is 200) and noted the balding areas. I planned to do a HT on both my temples, forelock area (very thin now) and crown. He estimated a 1200 Grafts for my front and 800 for my crown. Though, and this appealed to me a lot, in spite of my own eagerness he seemed reluctant to do crown on the first time.

 

However, NHI gives you a very informative booklet (over 200 pages! But read this if u r serious) - which I covered all on that very night. I took my appointment on July 31. Dr. Jones himself carries out the surgery. I also attended one of their "open houses" and saw a patient live while meeting with some "patients" who had undergone HT themselves. I must say, the patients on the Open House seemed a bit over-enthusiastic to me. They were all above 44 (I asked each one's age) and some of them seem to be very addicted to getting any type of plastic surgery done. In fact I overheard one of them commenting offhand that he would very much consider implanting some body hairs. Eeeks...However, I got a nice $200 discount and saw a "live process" which didn't look very scary. The patient was watching a movie!!

 

On the day of the surgery --

 

Though Dr. Jones planned a 1200 HT on front, I insisted on getting some on the crown. He was still not ready since any HT on the crown would make future donor supply less in case I go very bald (NOrwood 7 that is). I am 28 and I could well understand his concern. But anyways, I went for 400 HT on the crown. So in total, it was 1600HT - at a special "summer rate" of $4.00 a graft - MINUS 10% discount. I also paid only for 1500 Grafts as Dr Jones assured me that he would do "somewhere near 1600" at no extra cost.

 

Some key points as I've experienced --

 

-- The initial Local injections are *really* painful. I was almost passing out and my pulse had fallen to 45 or so (from a healthy 86). Probably, not eating a heavy breakfast is the casue. But I recovered within seconds. The Dr. was constantly monitoring my BP, Pulse and Oxygen Saturation Level.

 

-- It's fairly easy when the injection is pushed. I couldn't even understand when he took the strip out. He took a 15 inches long and 1.1 inches wide strip along the mid-ear portion from my donor area. I was shown it before they started dissecting grafts off it.

 

-- Since I had a density of around 210 Hairs / Sq. Inches, I had around 3000 Hairs from the strip. It appeared that most of my hairs appear in a "folicular unit" of 2. They had 173 3 hair folicles, 979 2 hair folicles and 491 single-hair folicle. They had a total of 1643 grafts ready from the "donor strip".

 

-- I was bleeding a little too much, so they took off for 20 minutes or so when I had my lunch.

 

-- Dr. Jones himse;f prepared the "holes" on my head according to the hairline he drew beforehand.

 

-- After lunch three technicians started inserting the grafts. They were pretty adept and didn't try to involve themselves in useless banter. Something I really liked since for each graft I was paying heavily and I didn't wanna lose any of it or wanted a bad work up there.

 

Two of the assistants did it on both sides of my forehead while another was doing - simultaneously - on the crown.

 

I was done by 3PM. I was all numb, but wore a blue baseball cap supplied by NHI and drove back home.

 

NHI gave me bunch of medicines, namely, painkiller, Valium, something to prevent Hiccup and Antibiotic Cream. They also gave "GraftCyte" Shampoo and a sponge to "pat on the transplanted area" twice a day for next 3 days.

 

I was also asked not to consume alcohol, smoke or involve in sex for next 3 days.

 

Back home I fell asleep. It was numb all over.

 

Next day --

 

Woke up with my forehead swollen - about 3 inches. Cut off the bandage, took a shower.

 

I was taking painkiller every 4 hours as told by them and didn't go out of my house at all. Today is the fourth day, and my swelling has come down to around my nose - it's coming down everyday. I guess, at the rate its travelling - it shall be gone tomorrow. But beware of swelling - that's the only thing that could cut heavily on your social life. Otherwise, you can just wear a cap and it shall be fine.

 

I could now see the tiny black "beard" on my front. They told me it would be gone in weeks and then regrow. Post-op, I was thinking I should have gone for 2500 grafts or something and got the entire scalp adequately covered. I also wanna see how my hairline stuff comes out to be. I didn't make it too low.

 

I shall say, the way things went so far, I am happy about my decision and the results so far. If the result is permanent I would finally be more confident of myself and would re-consider another session to "touch-up", add density and take care of any progressive balding I might be having in between.

 

The Doctor seemed to have a huge confidence on Propecia. I have started it for about a month. I will have to see how it goes. I was using Rogaine for about 3 years now and it's plain BS as much as my experience says.

 

Hope this comes to any help to you. Feel free to ask any question. I would be happy to share my experience.

 

Thanks,

 

N

 

P.S.

The Doctor's office told me they would send the pics to me in email. I am still waiting for those. I would post those as soon as I get them.

 

[This message was edited by bayareaht on August 14, 2003 at 10:45 AM.]

[bayareaht]

Hey Guys,

 

After almost a decade of continous hairloss, resulting agony and enormous "expenses" to restore - I finally took a plunge. Last month, I visited Dr. Jones at NHI San Jose and was pretty impressed by his straight talks. I attained a Norwood 4 on his rating. He seemed to me like a very experienced guy who knows perfectly well what he would be doing. We sat together for roughly an hour - this was our first meeting - and he measured my density (donor area was 210 per sq. cm - average is 200) and noted the balding areas. I planned to do a HT on both my temples, forelock area (very thin now) and crown. He estimated a 1200 Grafts for my front and 800 for my crown. Though, and this appealed to me a lot, in spite of my own eagerness he seemed reluctant to do crown on the first time.

 

However, NHI gives you a very informative booklet (over 200 pages! But read this if u r serious) - which I covered all on that very night. I took my appointment on July 31. Dr. Jones himself carries out the surgery. I also attended one of their "open houses" and saw a patient live while meeting with some "patients" who had undergone HT themselves. I must say, the patients on the Open House seemed a bit over-enthusiastic to me. They were all above 44 (I asked each one's age) and some of them seem to be very addicted to getting any type of plastic surgery done. In fact I overheard one of them commenting offhand that he would very much consider implanting some body hairs. Eeeks...However, I got a nice $200 discount and saw a "live process" which didn't look very scary. The patient was watching a movie!!

 

On the day of the surgery --

 

Though Dr. Jones planned a 1200 HT on front, I insisted on getting some on the crown. He was still not ready since any HT on the crown would make future donor supply less in case I go very bald (NOrwood 7 that is). I am 28 and I could well understand his concern. But anyways, I went for 400 HT on the crown. So in total, it was 1600HT - at a special "summer rate" of $4.00 a graft - MINUS 10% discount. I also paid only for 1500 Grafts as Dr Jones assured me that he would do "somewhere near 1600" at no extra cost.

 

Some key points as I've experienced --

 

-- The initial Local injections are *really* painful. I was almost passing out and my pulse had fallen to 45 or so (from a healthy 86). Probably, not eating a heavy breakfast is the casue. But I recovered within seconds. The Dr. was constantly monitoring my BP, Pulse and Oxygen Saturation Level.

 

-- It's fairly easy when the injection is pushed. I couldn't even understand when he took the strip out. He took a 15 inches long and 1.1 inches wide strip along the mid-ear portion from my donor area. I was shown it before they started dissecting grafts off it.

 

-- Since I had a density of around 210 Hairs / Sq. Inches, I had around 3000 Hairs from the strip. It appeared that most of my hairs appear in a "folicular unit" of 2. They had 173 3 hair folicles, 979 2 hair folicles and 491 single-hair folicle. They had a total of 1643 grafts ready from the "donor strip".

 

-- I was bleeding a little too much, so they took off for 20 minutes or so when I had my lunch.

 

-- Dr. Jones himse;f prepared the "holes" on my head according to the hairline he drew beforehand.

 

-- After lunch three technicians started inserting the grafts. They were pretty adept and didn't try to involve themselves in useless banter. Something I really liked since for each graft I was paying heavily and I didn't wanna lose any of it or wanted a bad work up there.

 

Two of the assistants did it on both sides of my forehead while another was doing - simultaneously - on the crown.

 

I was done by 3PM. I was all numb, but wore a blue baseball cap supplied by NHI and drove back home.

 

NHI gave me bunch of medicines, namely, painkiller, Valium, something to prevent Hiccup and Antibiotic Cream. They also gave "GraftCyte" Shampoo and a sponge to "pat on the transplanted area" twice a day for next 3 days.

 

I was also asked not to consume alcohol, smoke or involve in sex for next 3 days.

 

Back home I fell asleep. It was numb all over.

 

Next day --

 

Woke up with my forehead swollen - about 3 inches. Cut off the bandage, took a shower.

 

I was taking painkiller every 4 hours as told by them and didn't go out of my house at all. Today is the fourth day, and my swelling has come down to around my nose - it's coming down everyday. I guess, at the rate its travelling - it shall be gone tomorrow. But beware of swelling - that's the only thing that could cut heavily on your social life. Otherwise, you can just wear a cap and it shall be fine.

 

I could now see the tiny black "beard" on my front. They told me it would be gone in weeks and then regrow. Post-op, I was thinking I should have gone for 2500 grafts or something and got the entire scalp adequately covered. I also wanna see how my hairline stuff comes out to be. I didn't make it too low.

 

I shall say, the way things went so far, I am happy about my decision and the results so far. If the result is permanent I would finally be more confident of myself and would re-consider another session to "touch-up", add density and take care of any progressive balding I might be having in between.

 

The Doctor seemed to have a huge confidence on Propecia. I have started it for about a month. I will have to see how it goes. I was using Rogaine for about 3 years now and it's plain BS as much as my experience says.

 

Hope this comes to any help to you. Feel free to ask any question. I would be happy to share my experience.

 

Thanks,

 

N

 

P.S.

The Doctor's office told me they would send the pics to me in email. I am still waiting for those. I would post those as soon as I get them.

 

[This message was edited by bayareaht on August 14, 2003 at 10:45 AM.]

[PD]

N,

 

thank you for a descriptive post on your HT session.

I was considering visiting NHI myself for a consultation.

Couple of Questions :

 

1. Have you actually seen a patient who had similar session to yours on a virgin scalp AFTER

the grafts were about fully grown(8mths-1yr)?

If you did, how did you like the graft placement?

 

2. Have you not used ice to avoid swelling ?

Is there any reason for not doing so?

 

3. Why were you bleeding heavily? Did the doctor tell you that thats how it is for some people or was tehre any other reason ?

 

Good Luck again and take care!

[bayareaht]

Hey!

 

(1) As I told you, my decision was made more on the 'comfort' level I felt with the Doctor. I did some amount of research - may be spent 10 hours or so and read NHI's "book" (which is pretty darn good). I am 28 and a Norwood 4. I have sufficient balding on my crown (a big circle there). I have eroding temples in front. Actually my front bothered me more, since even a small wind would make the balding visible. Though to onlookers, they often talked about my crown - my front been thinly covered however.

 

Honestly, I have not seen a patient in my age range and same type of balding who got a HT in the open house. Also I noted, most of the 5 patients there had undergone more than one ops.

 

One person, who has blonde hair (I have dark) was 'kind of' like me. He showed me his file and his crown was not much like me (less balding in his case); while his front and temple was very much like me and so was the hair texture. He took 2 sessions totalling 4500 or so HT and looked pretty normal. He didn't seem to be a big believer of Propecia, though he seems to be taking it. He rather wanted to fill in his crown. He is 44 now and took first HT 3 years back.

 

(2) Yes, I did use ice cubes wrapped inside a cloth. I put that cloth (with ice inside) on my forehead and below. But frankly, it didn't help.

 

The Doctor pushed steroid on my left hand before the HT. Noticeably, my right-side suffered more swelling. It started from day 2 and I was able to go out on Day 6 when no one really noticed it. But on Day four, when it was on my right-eye - it was *very* bad.

 

I used 4 pillows to sleep during night for first 5 days..

 

If I ever go for another HT - I will be extra careful about this.

 

(3)Well, the Doctor told I bleed more than other patients. Which is kind of true. But I also heal fast. The bleeding was more than average in my case after he put holes on my head to put in the grafts. But neither recepient area nor the suture bled once since I left NHI.

 

Feel free to ask more.

 

Thanks,

 

N

[bayareaht]

Here's my preop pic with hairline drawn -- I had 1200 HT on front and 443 on Crown..

[bayareaht]

Post-op (front)

[Jupiter23]

Do you know how many FUT/cm2 you got!

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[bayareaht]

The 'required' transplanted density to give a "full" look, as far as I understand, varies greatly depending upon hair shaft diameter; color of skin and contrast with hair color; original hair density; curl (straight or curly) etc. I am not blessed with thick, dark and curly hair. Considering my age (28) and future possible Norwood Scale (VI) I went for a conservative "coverage" and didn't press the doctor too much for high density. Considering the worse (that I am Norwood 6) I will still have another 5000 Grafts to cover my head.

 

But I would say, the "density" appears to be 35 to 40 on my front and much lesser on the crown. This was my own calculation using a square sheet of paper and counting manually.

[Guest]

Someone from the NHI website email to me that Dr. Roy Jones is no longer with NHI. Is this true? Is he still working in San Jose?

 

bayareaht (or anyone with his experience) -

I am interested in this doctor, can you provide me your email so you can share more of your experience to me?

[bayareaht]

I am not very sure about Dr. Jones. I last visited him on September end. But it's a matter of worrying if he is not anymore with NHI. I was planning to go back to him for another procedure.

[poet]

Maybe he's not with NHI anymore because he left too many patients with big scars? I'd like to know.

[bayareaht]

It seems Dr Jones's left NHI. His info is not in website anymore..

 

http://www.newhair.com/info/doctors.asp

[CalJustin]

Dr. Jones did leave NHI. I went there for a follow up a few weeks ago and it was done by Dr. Rasmussen. They would not tell me where he went.