2249 FUT grafts - Dr. True - NY

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hello everyone. Well, I'm at it again. I decided on Dr. True of NY for my second surgery. My surgery is actually tomorrow 7/28/2005 and I'll be doing a 2000+ graft session in the front region of my scalp, to further define the hairline and frontal thickness of my hair. After a lot of research and careful consideration, I decided to select Dr. True. He seems to be an excellent physician and has had great results with other patients.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I journey off tomorrow to NY. I'll be getting up very early, like 4am, leaving by 4:45am so I get there nice and early. The surgery starts at 8am, but I want to get there earlier so I miss traffic rather than later.

For those of you who know me on this forum, Dr. Katz of Philadelphia performed my first surgery. I personally think for 1600 grafts that he did an excellent job. If you look at my other photo album, you can see that 1600 grafts all over my scalp made an all around difference, though not extremely noticable. I chose Dr. True for this session over Katz for the following reasons

1. Dr. True will do more grafts in a session that Katz, and although 1600 is a decent number, many people do surgeries with much more grafts than 1600 and have excellent success.

2. Dense packing, though controversial has been shown with much success in Dr. True's office as well as other highly reputable physicians such as Feller, Shapiro, and other Drs. Katz is not against Dense packing in specific cases, he is just more conservative, which is not a bad thing, he is working ethically according to what he thinks works best for him, and as I said, he did a good job with me

3. Similar to number 2, Katz didn't feel comfortable putting 2000 grafts in the front in one shot due to the amount of dense packing. Other physicians have had much success in doing this including True

So in short, though I am satisfied with my first surgery, I decided to go see True for my second one based on the above reasons

If people show interest, I will do as I did with the first surgery....I will post monthly results. Comments are always helpful as well.

The one thing I have noticed is unfortunately, I have seemed to lose a little bit more native hair. I'm not positive about this, but when I look at my 8 month pics compared to my 10 month, it seems like I may have. I don't know.

I have attached a few pictures of my 10 month post op AKA before second surgery pics. Remember...I am only getting work done on the front half of the scalp this time....so I am hoping, if all goes well, this will be my last HT in the front.

Please, do offer your comments and/or support. Those Christians on this board....please say a prayer for me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Bill

 

 

 

[terry mitchell]

Hey Bill, good luck and Godspeed tomorrow! You are in my prayers. You'll be fine. Terry.

[Robert_]

Bill,

 

Congratulations on your decision and your well-laid plans for success. I believe that you are on the right track and I am positive that you will be satisfied with your procedure from True & Dorin at the hands of Dr. True.

 

-Robert

[Bill - Seemiller]

Thanks Terry and Robert. I appreciate your support. I will be posting some direct post op pics tomorrow evening or Friday depending on how tired I am tomorrow night. Long drive there.

[Mike1651]

Bill:

Best of luck...I'm sure everything will turn out well...keep us posted as you recover from the surgery...when your feeling up to it, please post some before/after pictures...looking forward to hearing about your experience with Dr. True.

 

Mike

[HairHope]

Dear Bill!

 

I am looking forward to following your second HT as I did the first one. It is great to see others experiences so we can make better decisions of our own.

 

I think we need a Patron Saint of HT, how about St. Peter? I pray everything goes perfect for you.

 

HH

[baldcasanova]

damn, made it seem like you were going off to war!

 

 

good luck.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hi all. I just got back from my surgery in good old Manhattan with Dr. True. The experience was a good one....Dr. True is very professional and showed a lot of care with me. As you can see in the pics, comparing these to my first op pics, the hairline has been slightly redefined, there is more of a dip down that blends in with the sides now rather than the slight receeding look from before. I am happy with the way the hairline looks, though it will be much easier to tell when growth starts in 3 to 4 months. I posted a few directly post op pictures. From what it looks like, I should have some awesome density when all grows in, though I don't doubt that it will be a long waiting process....which is usual.

 

Please, do comment and tell me what you think? Thanks!

 

Bill

[markcia]

THANKS FOR THE PICS AND PLS KEEP THEM COMING.

I AM BOOKED FOR 1200FU (9/15) IM TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH TIME I NEED OFF FROM WORK.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hi Markcia. After my first HT, I went right back to work...though I have a desk job...though this time, I did mine on a Thursday and am taking off today, and I'm normally off Sat and Sunday. I'm already experiencing a little bit of swelling.

 

 

What does everything think based on the way the grafts were placed? Looks like a pretty good job at high density...what do you think?

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

What does everyone think about the placement of the grafts? Does it look like I should get a pretty dense front?

[terry mitchell]

Bill, looks like you picked a winner. I'll bet you're going to have great results. Terry.

[JacobS]

Rock on Brother Bill!

[Bill - Seemiller]

Thank you Terry and Jacob. I'm excited about the next 6 months, or at least the 3 to 6 month+ area...when I start seeing growth.

 

Update and question:

 

 

I'm on day 3 now and virtually pain free. I feel a little bit of tightness around the stiches and a small bit of itching on top of my scalp. The scabs have gotten a little smaller but still have a long way to go. The one thing I'm experiencing a lot of though is swelling....ugh. It started in my forehead and then spread to the sides of my face making my head look out of proportion. Today it's down toward the bottom of my forehead and my eyes, making my nose and inside of my eyes puffy. If this normal? I was warned that due to my skin type and the high level of density that I would probably swell up pretty good. I have been icing a lot, though it doesn't seem to be helping. Is this normal? And do you have any suggestions? Thanks.

 

Bill

[terry mitchell]

Bill, this swelling may be perfectly normal, but I would get in touch with Dr. True, just to be on the safe side! Terry.

[JacobS]

Usually a headband can contain it however it sounds like it's too late for you. You'll have to suck it up for a couple of days.

[tkerr22]

Originally posted by Bill:

Thank you Terry and Jacob. I'm excited about the next 6 months, or at least the 3 to 6 month+ area...when I start seeing growth.

 

Update and question:

 

 

I'm on day 3 now and virtually pain free. I feel a little bit of tightness around the stiches and a small bit of itching on top of my scalp. The scabs have gotten a little smaller but still have a long way to go. The one thing I'm experiencing a lot of though is swelling....ugh. It started in my forehead and then spread to the sides of my face making my head look out of proportion. Today it's down toward the bottom of my forehead and my eyes, making my nose and inside of my eyes puffy. If this normal? I was warned that due to my skin type and the high level of density that I would probably swell up pretty good. I have been icing a lot, though it doesn't seem to be helping. Is this normal? And do you have any suggestions? Thanks.

 

Bill

 

 

I had the same thing happen to me my first transplant, looked like the elephant man for a couple of days and got some black eyes. This last transplant I had they had me wear the headband for the next day and I didn't have much swelling at all. It is totally normal what you are going through and in a couple of days will go away.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Thanks guys. I'm glad to hear it's normal. I was warned by Dr. True that this could happen, though I am comparing to my last HT, where I only got a little bit of swelling. But then again, my last HT, I only got 800 grafts in the front instead of 2000 which I am sure where the difference lies.

 

Oh, a headband actually sounds like a great idea, of course now, it's a bit too late, but I know for next time...lol. Oh well. Well, yes, I do look like Elephant man right now...lol.....and I have to go into work tomorrow. At least, I can wear a hat...I'll use an excuse saying I got a bad sunburn on my head and I'll say I got stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction. Crazy! And here I was hoping that all swelling would be gone by tomorrow...well who knows....the swelling did change a lot from yesterday to today...it moved from the side and top of my head to my eyes and nose...maybe I'll be lucky and tomorrow it will be almost gone. Well, here's to praying .

 

Any more comments would be helpful. Thanks.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Added an 8 Day Post Op pic....scabs almost gone...but still some to go. I'm trying to get them all off, but delicately by following the instructions of the doc. Seems to take some time to get these all to come off though.

 

Stupid thing....I was told to use for a post op cleaning 3/4 saline and 1/4 peroxide on the scabs with a gauze pad....and what do you know....as I wasn't thinking...the existing hair got much blonder....you may be able to tell in the pic. Unfortunately, since my hair is thinner to begin with up top, it's going to look even thinner now a lighter color. Eh....once another 2 or 3 weeks go by, I may just shave my head until the hair grows in. I am not sure yet though.

 

Comments...let me know. THanks.

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

Just added day 9 pictures (even though I'm day 11 post op). All the scabs are gone, so todays pictures would look the same as Day 9. Still some pinkness in the recipient area...

 

Stitches were removed yesterday....feels much better now...not as itchy, though still experiencing occasional soreness and or itchiness. I remember this takes a while to go away.

 

Please leave Comments and/or questions if you have any. Thanks

 

Bill

[Mike1651]

Bill:

The HT looks great...I know you must feel great knowing that you'll have 2249 more grafts adding great density to your previous HT...like you said, the long wait has begun, but, you'll be a different person in 6 months...good luck with your healing & I look forward to more updates as time goes on...take care!

 

Mike

[Bill - Seemiller]

Thaniks Mike. Yeah, I'm excited by it....though I have a long waiting process now, so off to the waiting process I go. I will definately keep you posted. Did you have an HT? If so...who was your doc?

 

Bill

[arfy]

Good luck Bill, I hope this works out for you the way you hope.

 

You mentioned in your original post that dense packing is controversial. I don't think that at this point, it can really be called contoversial any more. Higher graft counts are the norm at the so-called better clinics. A 2000 graft procedure is considered normal (not high) and anything less might be called on the low side (if the patient needs lots of grafts).

 

The only issue with density, is finding a balance between "area of coverage" and "density"... you can't have a large amount of "both".

 

You still have a good amount of hair remaining... high sides and some remaining hair in the crown and vertex (I think). Do whatever you can to retain your high sides!!! It makes a huge difference. Every little area you don't have to graft, is to your advantage.

 

Good luck and good healing.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hey Arfy,

 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I know what you mean about the dense packing thing. It does seem like it's pretty standard today which is good. I guess my treatment wasn't very high density because a larger area was covered, but it should bring about much more density than I had, and I'm hoping to notice a significant difference. I'm trying to go for as much density I can in a large area if that makes sense. I recognize I can't have a lot of both which is ashame....but I'm working with what I can and at least hoping to improve my hair to look much more "normal" if you will.

 

Right now I'm doing what I can to keep my native hair. I'm on Propecia, about 10 months now, and also using Minoxodil, though I don't believe the Minoxodil is doing anything for me. I was using just minoxodil for awhile and I was losing a lot of hair, so I am thinking about not using it anymore.

 

Thanks for the comments Arfy...and I'll keep you posted.

 

All comments/questions welcome!

 

Bill

[kg007]

Hello Bill -

 

Thanks for your comments in PM. I've seen your pictures, it looks pretty good so far. I think you're going to have amazing results with 2000+ grafts. Keep your pix posted.

 

Thanks,

 

KG