HT#2 w/ Dr. Wong -- 2037 Grafts

[TheEmperor]

Just returned from my second hair transplant. Dr. Wong was friendly and professional and we were able to come up with a good plan of attack for #2.

 

There was a consensus that the front could use more density. He also seemed to be in tune with my desire to thicken the top on the side of the part. Approximately 1500 grafts were placed in these areas, with an additional 500 or so in the crown.

 

Dr Wong softened up the jaggies in the hairline by adding additional grafts. He also used calipers to measure from the corner of my eye to the points of intersection between sides and top. He found that my right side had receded more and he used some grafts to balance things out.

 

It was good to see Joe again. (He is probably the one responsbile for my mad HT journey. Anyone remember his early blog entries? I followed all his updates on the internet while my hair slowly disappeared through the years. ..)

 

One of the options Dr. Wong gave me was in the harvesting of the strip. He said that instead of excising the old scar completely, he could take the new strip up to the edge of the old one. The new scar would be wider, but given that I am plsnning to return for a third session, this would maximize the graft count in #2.

 

I decided to excise the old scar, because I did not want to take any risks with scar visibility. He measured the old scar at between 2-4mm, so this might have "sacrificed" 500 or so grafts, but I know I would not be happy with a wider scar. As it was, we got 2037 grafts, which brings me to around 6500.

 

Not much was different between this surgery and the last. THe actual strip excision and surgery took a good 2+ hours. Because there were fewer grafts, I was only in the chair until 3pm or so.

 

Surprisingly my face has swelled a bit more this time than last. I am currently 3 days post op and the incision pain is starting to go down. Sleeping the first few nights after the surgery is not comfortable.

 

THere appears to be less redness in the recipient. This may be because of the special shampoo I was given this time, or perhaps the grafts were not packed as tightly, thus less trauma.

 

Going through customs was a breeze -- they didnt even have me remove my hat! Going into Canada, they asked me the purpose of my visit. "Hair transplant surgery." "What?" "Here..." I showed them the custom letter provided by Hasson and Wong and they ushered me through. (As a point of comparison, I was detained in customs for 3 hours for HT#1. Make sure to print out the customs letter!)

 

On the way back into the USA, I told the guy I had a Hair Transplant and he said alot of people are getting that done. None of the security guys asked me to remove the black ball cap. None of them even looked at me for more than a few seconds. Painless.

 

 

I am hopeful that the additional grafts in the front and top will improve density and contribute to the illusion of density. I also hope to have more options in styling.

 

I cant say if I will be "finished" after this procedure, but I feel I am a few steps closer. 6500 grafts is a good chunk, although my hair quality is fine, so I will probably always want more. I will say that things generally look more balanced and "correct" to my eyes now.

 

I would like to thanks Dr. Wong, his staff, and Joe for a great experience!

 

(Check out my blog for updated pics.)

[aaron1234]

Emp,

 

Wow! Your second surgery just came up so fast. I thought you still had another couple of months ahead of you. Well, congratulations my friend. I think you and Dr. Wong had a sensible plan of attack, aiming at the weak spots and filling in the gaps.

 

Good luck the next few weeks and months as you push your way out of the 'ugly duckling' phase. As I mentioned before in another post, I don't think the doldrums this time around will be as bad for you as with your first procedure. You now have more hair that will quickly grow back and you will be able to disguise the recipient regions more effectively.

 

On the flipside, the difference when HT #2 grows in won't be as dramatic as with your first procedure either. However, I do believe that you'll start noticing a considerable difference in the hairline as soon 4-5 months post-op, much like I'm experiencing now.

 

I know your HT experience hasn't exactly been a walk in the park, but I'm optimistic that in 12 months when you compare your pre-1st HT photos with your post-2nd HT you'll be glad you did it.

 

Looking forward to your monthly updates!

[Fingers Crossed]

Emperor,

 

Congratulations! You're going to have an excellent result! Just out of curiosity, how long after your first surgery did you begin performing the scalp laxity exercises? Congrats once again.

 

My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Hasson

[Megatron]

Emperor,

 

I too would have been dissapointed with your first procedure. Your results weren't as impressive as some of the megasession results on H&W's website. That said, perhps it's partly due to your hair characteristics and because of the large coverage vs # of grafts.

 

Your road may be tougher than some, but it looks like you're headed in the right direction. I wish you the best of luck!

 

Keep us updated.

[TheEmperor]

Originally posted by Fingers Crossed:

Emperor,

 

Congratulations! You're going to have an excellent result! Just out of curiosity, how long after your first surgery did you begin performing the scalp laxity exercises? Congrats once again.

 

My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Hasson

 

About ten months after the first surgery I was going to schedule for #2, but decided to live with the result for the time being. Because I could still feel the scar healing, I decided not to do scalp exercises. I wanted to keep the scar small.

 

I scheduled for #2 in December and did the exercises for a couple months before hand. I was able to generate laxity over where I was initially.

 

Something I learned is that the size of the scar greatly impacts the number of grafts.

 

Given that my scar was 2-4mm (figure an average of 3mm along the length), and 30cm long, that represents approximately 10cm^2 of tissue without hair.

 

If each cm2 has 90 FUs (or is that hairs?), then I got ~900 less FUs.

 

SO if the scar had been pencil thin, I may have gotten closer to 3K grafts.

 

I may have been able to generate more laxity had I done the exercises for a longer period of time, but devoting 30-60minutes a day to wrenching on your scalp is time that could be spent doing something else, like a normal all-body workout.

 

 

 

My first strip was 1.6 cm wide and netted approx 4500 FUs. Doing the math shows that my native density is somewhere around 93 FU/cm2.

[TheEmperor]

Originally posted by Megatron:

Emperor,

 

I too would have been dissapointed with your first procedure. Your results weren't as impressive as some of the megasession results on H&W's website. That said, perhps it's partly due to your hair characteristics and because of the large coverage vs # of grafts.

 

Your road may be tougher than some, but it looks like you're headed in the right direction. I wish you the best of luck!

 

Keep us updated.

 

Thank you. I am not expecting any miracles from #2 and have resigned myself to the probability of a thired. However, if the scar is thin and everything grows well, it should make a good "strategic" difference in the areas that looked thin and I may be happy enough to stop.

 

Ultimately I would LOVE to be able to lower the hairline slightly, but realize that is easier said than done...

[Bill - Seemiller]

TheEmperor,

 

It really is a beautiful view from the surgical chair isn't it?

 

Congratulations on moving forward with your second hair transplant with Dr. Wong. I trust this will help refine the hairline and thicken the areas behind it and the crown.

 

Keep us posted on your progress,

 

Bill