Preparing for the transplant

[finnari]

My transplant is in two months. Anything special you can do to optimize the transplant before the surgery?

[finnari]

My transplant is in two months. Anything special you can do to optimize the transplant before the surgery?

[Gorpy]

You can do scalp stretching exercises.

[Bill - Seemiller]

finnari,

 

JoTronic from Hasson and Wong has posted a video and pictorial instructions on how to do scalp exercieses on the Hasson and Wong website. Since number of grafts is determined by:

 

a) The clinic's ability

b) The clinic's position on the "largest" session

c) Individual needs and goals (larger session size doesn't ALWAYS mean better)

d) donor laxity

e) donor density

 

Scalp exercises can help increase donor laxity and therefore, if you NEED and are a candidate for a large megasessions, this will help the clinic get more grafts.

 

Bill

[Scarred4Life]

Finnari & Dazza UK Don't do it. I had HT 6 years ago and have regreted every moment of it. It's not the doctor,it's not the instruments they use, it's not the harvesting method, it's not the wound closure, these are all smoke and mirrors trying to fool insecure usnsupecting suckers like us into getting HT done. If you decide to do it anyway then ask your HT Doctor (Huckster) to give you a written gurantee that you will have cosmeticaly acceptable results with which YOU are completely satisfied or your money back no questions asked. You'll see that he won't do it. They also won't tell you the first time that you are going to need more transplants done in the future but by then it's too late since you are now stuck with having more done in order to get more coverage. I have posted a photo of my scar here for you guys to see which will hopefuly convince you not to go ahead with HT. It is permanent and there is nothing that can be done to fix it. The tranplanted grafts upfront(which I have shaved off) gave me the "porcupine" look. I wish someone had warned me back then when I was stupid enough to do this. Also from reading the posts on this site I suspect that most of the supposed members on this site are paid agents of these hucksters pretending to be satisfied HT patients providing a public service from the goodness of their heart. Take a look at all the celeberties and athletes who have shaved their heads like Bruce Wilis, Andre Agassi,Vin Diseal, Shaque and others who look great. Try it and if that's not the look for you then you haven't lost anything you can just let it grow back. You don't have that option once you are literaly SCALPED, it is permanent. I hope this was helpful to you guys.

[Gorpy]

Also from reading the posts on this site I suspect that most of the supposed members on this site are paid agents of these hucksters pretending to be satisfied HT patients providing a public service from the goodness of their heart.

 

Not true. There are only two agents of clinics that regularly post on his site - Jotronic and Spex. They openly state their relationship.

 

It is true that there are such agents (shills) out there, but Pat does a good job of recognizing them and sending them on their way.

[Tarasilk]

Scarred...I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I don't know of ANY type of Doctor, working in the cosmetic improvement field, who would offer the type of "money back" guarantee you are describing. Why should HT surgeons be held to a different standard that those offering liposuction, laser treatments, nose jobs or the like? Even surgeons who specialize in more essential, non-elective proceudures don't guarantee their results. Wouldn't a HT surgeon offering that type of guarantee ("I'll get your hair on track or your money back") sound like hucksterism too?

 

And every invasive procedure typically requires signing a release of one kind or another. And if the results are bad due to incompetence or neglect by the surgeon, then there is a thriving field of medical malpractice attorneys who might be able to offer some relief during the applicable statute of limitations period.

 

And, personally, as a woman, having a HT represents my best chance of avoiding a lifetime of extensions, hair pieces, or wigs. He's an attractive guy, don't get me wrong, but I really don't think I could carry off the Vin Diesel look very well.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Scarred,

 

Your tactics are getting tiresome. Every single post with the exception of one has been to attempt to scare people with your experience. It's not going to work. Caution people...go right ahead...but you are not objective. You are tainted by your bad experience. I hate to say it in those terms since I sound harsh...but since you really haven't answered anyone's questions and have only posted scare tactics, you are obviously here to cause harm.

 

And Gorpy is right...the majority of the people on these forums do NOT work for clinics...and those who do are obligated to state who they work for in their signature.

 

Bill

[HK500]

Scarred,

I am sincerely sorry you had such a bad HT experience. The overwhelming majority of our membership is true, sincere and dedicated to helping others. It makes sense that you are very upset but you must try to keep the perspective of the big picture. You remind me of the guy who gets dumped by his girlfriend and spends the rest of his life saying all women are whatever @#$%&*. What you are doing here is not helpful, it is negative and counterproductive. This forum is about helping people who want help, it's obvious from your posts that you need help but you do not want it. I wish you to find peace and resolution.

[Guest]

You remind me of the guy who gets dumped by his girlfriend and spends the rest of his life saying all women are whatever @#$%&*. What you are doing here is not helpful, it is negative and counterproductive.

 

LOL HK About the GF part!

And the counterproductive part is true. He hasn't deterred me, I've done my homework.

Now I wish scarred would & move on!

Thats what you do when you get dumped by your girlfriend right HK!

[Scarred4Life]

Tarasilk,Vin Diesel look not for you hahaha,funny. I am not the only one who has had a Bad experince but I am one who is out here talking about it and trying to prevent others from ending up with my fate. Have you had a HT or are you getting one? If not then you have no right to give advice to those who have been disfigured by it like me or are going to get it. I would never give advice to someone who is going to get Botox or lip augmentation (it's not attractive & not the look for me) or nose job or liposution since I don't have any personal experience with them. So I suggest you stick to what you know and have personal experince with. I would recommand to potential victims of these hucksters to video tape their consultations in order to have a record of what they are promised verbally. Tarasilk you surely wouldn't have any objections to that idea, would you? I would think that the first HT angel of mercy who makes such an offer would give his potential victims more assurance that he is on the up and up and has nothing to hide, right? Think about it like the video cameras that they have on Police cars which is actualy more for the protection of the cops from wrongful accusations of police brutality than for the good of the

offenders. This way the HT angel of mercy will be able to categoricaly prove that he never failed to tell his victims that they are going to have scaring,many many more procedures in order to get acceptable results(not likely)or that there will be little pain,no swelling of the head,face, nose, eyes for 2 weeks or more.

[Bayer]

Scarred,

 

C'mon man, give it up. We feel bad for you, but you are not being of benefit here. I can't figure out your shtick. You aren't advocating hair systems, so the only thing you could be plugging is razors - and that dog won't hunt in these forums.

 

Please make better use of your time (as well everyone else's) and move on.

 

Best of Luck

 

Bayer

[Tarasilk]

Scarred....to respond...yes, I have had personal experince with HT. I'm 8 days out from my surgery. I'm hopeful that it will make my hair better, but I'm aware that it could make me look worse, and I'm prepared for that too.

 

I'm sorry you weren't warned by your Doctor ahead of time about the possible negative effects of your surgery. I certainly was, and would have been aware of them anyway from my research, videotaped consultation or not. I can understand your anger at being misled, but your experience does not curse the entire profession.

 

Best of luck to you.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Tarasilk,

 

Nice reply to scarred4life. Tactful and to the point

 

Bill

[Scarred4Life]

You are absolutely right that I am here to scare people into not having HT. That is the only thing so far that you have said that has any truth to it. Since I started posting on this site I have had just one simple request and that is to show me postop photos of the donor area that has no or minimal scarring as it is so many times claimed here is possible by supposed happy patients and the HT angels of mercy. I have not seen one yet. Now that begs the question, What is the reason? After all wouldn't you agree that with the thousands of supposed successful HT surgeries done by these recommended Dr.'s that just one such case can be produced. Now I'll be the first person who would be estatic to see such a photo because then I would know that I can get my disfiguring scar fixed. Show me and I will shut the hell up otherwise you and the rest of those who make such claims should shut the hell up. Deal?

[Al - Moderator]

OK. I just have to make some comments. This is not directed to any one person. Just members of the forum in general.

 

While I think Scarred comes across as too angry and hateful of all HT docs, I do think some of his points need to be said. If you read what he's saying minus the anger and hate he is right. He says you'll end up with a scar. There's a big chance it will be much worse than you are led to believe. If you're thinking about getting a transplant, maybe try shaving your head first and see if that style works for you. Don't believe it if they tell you that you only need 3000 or x number of grafts because almost surely you'll need much more down the road as you keep losing hair. All of the things he says are true.

 

Some people here are saying the scar is worth it. That may be true for THEM, but that is not so for everyone. Some people if given the option would rather have the thin hair and cut it short instead of having a long scar and never being able to really cut it short and look normal.

 

It's easy to say after the fact that you accepted the risks if it came out looking good. But did you really accept the risks? How would you feel if you looked like me? Let me put it another way: Suppose someone told you and I that he would give us a million dollars to jump out of a 3 story window, but only if we land on our feet. I jump and land on my feet with no scratches. Instant millionaire. You jump and break an arm, break a few ribs, and injure your spinal cord and can never walk again and don't get a dime. I would be telling everyone that was the best decision I ever made because I turned out fine and got a million bucks for it. You on the other hand would spend the rest of your life wishing you never did it because maybe you THOUGHT the worst that could happen was you'd maybe break a leg, but a chance at being a millionaire was worth it. You can't really know the full amount of risk until AFTER it's over.

 

This site is definately pro HT. I do think the other side needs to be shown more. Let's face it there are a LOT of people who get HTs who haven't visited this site to know to go to a coalition Dr. Even if you do that, you can end up in a bad situation. There was a few posts by someone a few weeks ago who went to a coalition Doc and ended up growing very little hair. The Doc was then removed from the coalition, but that didn't do anything to help the guy. He still had the same bad experience. What if that was you? He did everything right and still turned out bad.

 

I see so many posts by some of you saying HT is the only real way to go and nobody ever tells you to shut up and move on. Why is it when someone says NOT to get a HT done, he is told to shut up and move on? OK, I know the anger is there, but I still think what he says is needed to balance it out when someone comes here asking for real experiences because he is thinking about having it done. If you are pushing away the bad experiences you aren't being truthful to newcomers even though you want to THINK that you are giving good, truthful advice.

 

What about the young 19 to 22 year olds who come here looking for advice about getting a HT. Believe me there are many scumbags out there that will tell them they are great candidates just to get their money and not care. yes, some of you tell the younger guys to be careful or maybe wait and use some medication first, but that doesn't really help any if they are a NW 5. You don't really have any answer to these kids other than wait a while, but maybe that answer needs to be a lot stronger. Maybe we do need to scare the younger guys out of having it done. Let's face it if you're a NW 5 at age 22 with no real options, having a few people here saying maybe you should wait a bit will not offset 2 or 3 docs telling him that they are the experts and they know what they are talking about and he'll turn out great with a full head of hair.

 

Note to Scarred: I'm with you man. I'm on your side. I went through a horrible transplant experience too and was very angry for a long time. However please do tone it down just a bit and perhaps what you say will be heard better.

[Bill - Seemiller]

I am responding to both Scarred4life and BeHappy in this thread.

 

----

 

Scarred,

 

I apologize if I have rubbed you the wrong way somehow...but I do ask that you try to understand where I am coming from. Allow me first to say, I do understand where you are coming from.

 

I can appreciate that you had a bad experience and am sorry for you that you did. Clearly if I were in your position, I'd be upset too. But instead of using your energy trying to scare everyone away from getting an HT (clearly HT is not for everyone) why don't you spend your energy participating in discussion, doing research, etc. to correct your situation? You have gone to an "unknown" doctor - at least to me. That doesn't mean much except obviously he is not well known in the industry.

 

Allow me to say...

 

I have no reason to try to convince you of anything nor do I have reason to prove anything to you. You will either accept the sincere advice offered to you in this community or you will not.

 

BUT, rather than sharing your experience, you choose to try to scare people. IMO, that's just as bad as clinics trying to lure people in with false expectations. HT is not for everyone, but HT can be for some.

 

I encourage you again, that IF you want to get your situation fixed to take time to do the research required. Clearly you do have a lot to learn about hair transplantation as a whole. This is not meant to be an insult.

 

I encourage you to read my post to BeHappy as well.

 

BeHappy,

 

I apologize if you are not understanding my point. Nobody is telling him to shut up and move on. Many have come and gone here sharing BAD experiences and I feel personally that most people (including myself) meet these posts with empathy and sincerity and want to see the best for that person. We have even dismissed recommended and coalition doctors from this website as a result of bad experiences from real patients.

 

This community is NOT without empathy.

 

But Scarred4life is NOT coming on to share his experience. I've asked him several times politely to do this and he NEVER answered any of my questions. He is coming on to impose his views on other people. Isn't that just as bad as somebody trying to sell someone an HT when they might not be a good candidate?

 

I feel that my (and many others) advice is neutral. In fact, I have never encouraged anyone to definitely get an HT...only the opposite if I feel that they are not a good candidate. If my advice to patients can be summed up generally speaking it would be this:

 

"Educate yourself and proceed with caution."

 

I have never said: "Go get an HT now if you really want it".

 

Believe me...I am an advocate for patients rights more than the rights of any clinic.

 

BUT, I don't appreciate anyone...clinic or patient attempting to "bully" others around. Scare tactics (as Scarred4life admitted he is doing) are inappropriate and an attempt to bully people.

 

Again...it's not that anyone is trying to "shut-up" his bad experience. BUT, yes, I am hoping that he will change his tactics and take the time to share his experience with us and receive support like so many have.

 

Need examples of empathy?

 

Two people I can think of off hand - Look up:

 

1. Slaphead.. (I forget his whole nickname)

2. Rodfl

 

and how people responded to them. I was on the front line of that escapade offering him empathy and support, and so were several others.

 

To sum this up...it's Scarred4life's approach that is in question here, NOT his experience. We encourage people to share their experience good or bad with this community.

 

But clearly he is tainted by his experience. I would say the same thing to someone who is gung-ho HT for everyone just because he/she had a good experience. HT is NOT for everyone, and nobody should present it that way, nor should anyone try to scare people that it's for nobody.

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

BeHappy,

 

P.S. This site is NOT pro HT...it IS about what is best for the patient. If you read the countless posts from many members, many members have been discouraged by the "veterans" to get an HT for many reasons, including age, minimal hairloss, bad donor characteristics, etc. Please read more deeply before you make assumptions.

 

Bill