Dr. Umar -18,745 graft SFET surgery completed

[Guest]

Hello Everyone,

 

I just wanted to start a "before" thread on some of the various forums. I am a Norwood 6 that hopes to return to the best place possible with my donor supply. I have worn a hair piece for years and would like to be rid of it if possible. I have done my best to research the options through the forums, through the web, and by meeting with some of the doctors. I also met with a patient as I was considering options. I would like to post some of my "before" pictures here. Then in 6 months I will show my progress and then continue from there. I am not an expert and not a doctor. I am hoping to learn from everyone else and if anyone can learn from my experience that would be great also.

 

After meeting with doctors it became apparent that my scalp hair was not enough to get to where I hoped to be. My estimate of scalp donor hair was in the range from 2500 to maybe 4000 graphs from the different doctors. I then considered my options concerning SFET. My body hair supply was considered average. So my case was a simple one. The good news was that no repair work from previous surgeries was required. The bad news was that I was an average case from a donor perspective considering scalp and body.

 

I researched the options for about 2 years. I have just concluded 2 and ?? weeks with Dr. Umar in Redondo Beach, CA. We completed 18,745 graphs of head, beard, and body hair. We made a complete first pass of the entire scalp. Things seem very good so far, but now only time will tell. I may request a much smaller second pass in 6 to 9 months to continue toward my final goal of 22,000 ??“ 25,000 graphs which was always the plan. But we will have to evaluate the results from now until then.

 

I am very impressed with Dr. Umar and his staff at the DermHair Clinic. They are very professional, very serious about their craft and very caring towards the patient. I honestly don't know how things will proceed over the next several months. But, based on all of my research and experience so far, I am hoping for the best and I appreciate everyone's support.

 

At this point I know the following; 1) I feel very confident that there will be no scarring or injury from the extraction sites, 2) the pain from surgery was minimal in my opinion and 3) so far things are looking positive.

 

I will be posting pictures and I will keep everyone updated. In addition, I am sure that Dr. Umar will keep current pictures as time allows.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hello endhairpiece and welcome to our community.

 

Wow, 18745 body hair grafts? That's a lot of grafts! From what I gather it took about 2.5 weeks to accomplish. How many sessions did it take to complete such a task?

 

BHT is still younger in development as compared to Strip or FUE so I'll be interested to follow your case to see how everything turns out. I hope you'll take the time to post pictures of your pre-op condition, and then your post op pictures (recipient and donor areas) when you have a chance.

 

I look forward to seeing your pictures. Thanks for posting.

 

Bill

[Guest]

Thank You for the "welcome"!

 

Yes, it took 2.5 weeks exactly. Surgery Monday through Friday. Then rest on Saturday and Sunday. Then surgery again Monday through Friday. Rest again on Saturday and Sunday. And then surgery Monday through Wednesday. For a total of 13 sessions.

 

Here is picture Day One 1:

[Guest]

Another picture from Day 1.

[Guest]

Picture from Day 3.

[Guest]

Another picture from Day 3.

[Guest]

Picture From Day 6.

[Guest]

Another picture from Day 6.

[MrJobi]

Wow

 

That's a great deal of work and I'm sure it was not cheap..I hope everything works out for you..How has the yeild from BHT historically been?

[the B spot]

I raised the question of excessive scabbing and redness as a result of Dr. Umar's bht sessions, to which he replied that his patients heal very quickly.

 

Seems a bit excessive to me, IMO.

 

A couple of questions:

 

Where there any wet zone extractions? (pubic/arm pit)

 

What size(s) extraction tools did Dr. Umar use?

 

Did you do a test "patch" to determine if your body hair will grow?

 

Are you planning to use any scalp donor at some point?

 

Were you instructed to post your results on HLH, Hairsite,HTN, HLA, etc...?

 

NOT that there is any problem with this, but I am trying to ascertain the level of internet saturation patients of Dr. Umar are attempting.

 

Again, I fully understand the mentality and perspective of the bht patient, but not the efficacy of the treatment program.

 

I say again, Heliboy is the only person I can say looks good after major bht sessions.

 

I hope this is not another post of immediate surgery pics without follow-up.

 

Happy Healing and Good Growth,

J

[Tha Joe]

WOW!!!! That is some serious dedication! Are you worried about hypo or hyper pigmentation from the donor areas?

[Bill - Seemiller]

B Spot...

 

Great probing questions as always bro. I'll be waiting for the answers to these as well.

 

Mrjb,

 

Historically, from what I've seen in my research, BHT has not bee consistent. I have seem one or maybe two (Heliboy was probably the one I'm thinking of) that have come out nicely...the rest I've seen to date have been patchy. I'm still following a few cases that aren't mature to date...so we'll see how that goes.

 

endhairpiece,

 

Thanks for posting some pictures. I'll be looking forward to seeing how this all works out and the answers to B Spot's questions.

 

Cheers,

 

Bill

[Taz]

Congrats endhairpiece! Thanks for the pics, and keep them coming as you proceed.

[Guest]

Hello,

 

I will do my best to answer the above questions. All good questions.

 

How has the yield from BHT historically been?

From what I have researched and read on the forums I have heard everything from 0 % yield, to 50 % yield, to 70 to 80 % yield. As part of my research, I did visit heliboy and saw his results. He, of course, gained his results over time and not just in one session. I hoped that if I had roughly the same amount of work done by the same doctor that my results may be similar. His body hair is better than mine, but I did not require any repair work and had some scalp hair available, as well as beard hair. I am also very curious to see how this BHT yield will work out, but I am hoping for the best.

 

There was a question about the scabbing on the head.

I have never had any previous surgeries. So I don't have anything to compare it to whether this amount of scabbing is normal. I believe the scabs should be mostly off at the 10 to 14 day mark. It has been 6 days and the scabs have been starting to come off the last couple of days.

 

Are you worried about hypo or hyper pigmentation from the donor areas?

I did my best to research any problems with skin coloring as well as scarring from the donor areas. I also visited heliboy to check out his donor sites. It has been 6 days now and everything appears to be healing just fine.

 

Where there any wet zone extractions? (pubic/arm pit)

Pubic hair was used. No arm pit hair at this time. Unfortunately, my arm pit hair isn't the greatest.

 

What size(s) extraction tools did Dr. Umar use?

I went to visit heliboy just a few days after one of his surgeries with Dr. Umar to check out scarring and so on from the extraction areas. From what I could see, everything looked great from a scarring perspective so I was satisfied with that from concerning the size of the tools.

 

Did you do a test "patch" to determine if your body hair will grow?

I did not do a test patch, although I would understand if a person wanted to do that first to gain confidence in the procedure.

 

Are you planning to use any scalp donor at some point?

Yes, this session included scalp, beard, and body hair. If there is a future session it would most likely also be a combination of scalp, beard, and body hair.

 

Were you instructed to post your results on HLH, Hairsite,HTN, HLA, etc...?

No, I have been a frequent reader for years to the various forums and I have done my best to learn from everyone else's experiences. Now that I have had some work done, I just posted to the forums so other people may consider their options.

 

I do agree that Heliboy has had great success with BHT. I am just hoping for something similar. Only time will tell.

 

Thanks for all of the interest and keep the questions coming. I will do my best with the answers.

[Bill - Seemiller]

endhairpiece,

 

Thanks for answering the questions to the best of your ability. If you are able to find out the size of the extraction tools that Dr. Umar uses, we'd appreciate the information.

 

That's great that you got to see Heliboy in person before making a determination to forward with surgery.

 

As we have all seen, BHT has had some low success rates generally speaking...but clearly there have been some successes. I do hope you'll stick around and keep us updated month by monthy with your progress. I will add you to my list of people I'm following regarding BHT. Good luck my friend and keep us posted.

 

Bill

[Guest]

Bill,

 

Thanks for your nice reply. I am new out here and I am definitely looking for friends!

 

I promise that I will stick around whether the results are good or bad.

 

If the results are bad then people need to know.

 

I must admit. I am really hoping that the results are good

 

I really do hope the results are good for all of us.

 

For my case, and substantial hair loss, BHT (in combination with scalp) was my only chance. I wish that I was one of those people that had enough scalp donor hair, but that is just not the case for me.

 

I did enjoy meeting Heliboy and he was very honest and did not push one direction or another. He suggested meeting with several doctors before making a decision. He also mentioned that just not doing anything was OK too. I know that we all decided on different approaches concerning doctors and so on. But I know for sure that heliboy is one very nice, very funny, very cool guy that has a lot of knowledge to share. As I am learning is the case with a lot of us out here. We had a fun time swapping hair piece stories. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

 

I will see what I can find out about the size of extraction tools. I can understand that patients want to know these things. And I also understand that doctors want to be careful about sharing specific details about their procedures. I can't give any promises on this one

 

Well, that's all I know for now.

 

Thanks again for the nice reply. I am just a normal person hoping for the best.

[Bill - Seemiller]

endhairpiece,

 

Thanks again for the nice reply. I am just a normal person hoping for the best.

 

 

And we are all pulling for you brother.

 

Real patients on these forums are what it's all about. Having clinics post photos of patients is nice from time to time, but the REAL evidence of what a clinic can do comes from patients who become dedicated posters to update everyone on their progress. Of course, we all want things to work out for you...but I'm glad you'll stick around and share your results even if things don't go as hoped.

 

You are certainly among friends here bro...keep us posted and feel free to engage in any discussion you'd like.

 

Bill

[Taz]

Thanks endhairpice!

 

FYI, there were some concerns initially about the amount of scabbing from my proceedure also, but keeping the area moist helped out quite a bit.

 

Good luck!

[NervousNelly]

Wow. I keep getting pulled back into the forum with stuff like this. Amazing.

 

I guess my biggest question is why such a big procedure? It seems like the larger of strip procedures at say 5000 Fu is going to yield approx. 12,000 hairs. This would make a pretty dramatic cosmetic difference. A person can then go back later and finish things off if they like when they see the areas needing more work.

 

A procedure of this size kind of seems like you are anticipating a lot of the grafts to not take? Is this true? Just curious.

[Guest]

Bill, Taz, NervousNelly,

 

Thanks for your replies.

 

NervousNelly, my decision was based on a simple man's approach.

 

I met with heliboy and I liked his results quite a bit.

 

I hoped that if I got roughly the same amount of work done then maybe the results would be about the same. My hope was that my graft success / failure rate may be about the same as heliboy if I went to the same doctor.

 

Of course, we are on uncharted ground here. The optimist in me says, well the doctor is even more experienced now so my results should be even better. The pessimist in me says, maybe BHT is driven by the individuals body and heliboy was just a perfect candidate. And heliboy did roughly 5,000 graft sessions one at a time. And I did one big one. I don't know how this will affect the results for sure.

 

So I am not anticipating a lot of grafts won't take. I just simply tried to follow someone who had done it before.

 

Our initial plan was to do 15,000. But we were several days ahead of schedule so we kept going and ended up at 18,745. We still had a couple of days left, but we had made an entire pass of the scalp so it seemed like the ideal place to stop for awhile.

 

Since, I have worn a very full hair piece for years I will have dramatically less hair compared to that. So this was a unique situation.

 

Why such a big procedure all at once. Switching over from the hair piece is going to be quite a mental adjustment for me. And I knew I would go crazy if I did 5,000 for example. Then waited a year to do another 5,000. And so on and so on. Probably having to shave my head in between each one, time off work, and so on. If I didn't currently wear a hair piece, I may have done several smaller operations.

 

I know there is some risk in a procedure this large just because it has not been done or proven before. But I am hoping for the best.

[NervousNelly]

Thanks for the quick response. I can understand your plight. As for me, the next HT is challenging to book because of the time from work, not my hesitancy of the surgery itself.

 

I'm going to be the rude one and bluntly ask what this procedure costs? Ofcourse I respect your privacy and I'm sure that you "swung a deal" for such a session, but since this is an education based site we could all learn a lot.

 

I'm sure its not cheap and you must have lots of "Jack" to afford it; California; wore system-- Hey are you Nick Cage?

[Guest]

I wish that I was Nich Cage - but I am not.

 

But it did make me laugh to read that!

 

The price was in the $ 90,000 neighborhood for the entire process.

 

Is that information enough.

 

I don't mind paying doctors for their hard work, I just hope this is successful !

[the B spot]

WOW!!!!

 

Well, the one thing about a bht procedure is the docs bank account works right?

 

I would just HATE to sign that little disclaimer about no guarantee's or refunds!!!!

 

If you got it, spend it, right?

 

I got my fingers crossed for you bro'!!!!!

 

Happy Growth and fast healing!!!!

J

[Guest]

Most definitely a leap of faith.

 

Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed ......

 

We will find out within the next several months how it all works out !

[Bill - Seemiller]

The price was in the $ 90,000 neighborhood for the entire process.

 

I can't say I'm surprised....actually, in all honesty, I'd think it would have been more, especially since scalp FUE is typically about $10 per graft. So hey...look at the bright side...you got quite a deal financially . Of course...the real test will be if everything grows.

 

Do I dare ask if there is any kind of guarantee with this kind of surgery? What if only 50% grow?

 

Keep us posted bro.

 

Bill