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Azn_Guy's experience with Dr. Cooley: 3007 grafts


azn_guy

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Age 30

Asian-Oriental

 

1 FUT Session

Total Grafts: 3007

Total Hairs: 5501

 

Scar Repair

Total Grafts: 429

Total Hairs: 618

 

First FUT Session Breakdown

1's: 1117 (20%)

2's: 1292 (47%)

3's: 592 (32%)

4's: 6 (1%)

 

Scar Repair Breakdown

1's: 258 (42%)

2's: 153 (25%)

3's: 18 (3%)

 

Donor Strip was roughly 30cm x 1.3cm

Donor Area Density: 75 fu/cm2

 

Sagittal Incisions were used

Trychophytic Closure with sutures used

PRP was not used

ACELL was used

 

Pre HT: With Hair

216106775_AA991A9A53AAB248CA152950EB3F71D7.jpg.thumb

 

Pre HT: Shaved Head

March 2010

316106775_4B26273E886DC9A1500062424DB65A17.jpg.thumb

 

Post HT: February

416106775_722DB7FAB1B0981E49FA2A13296D4A57.jpg.thumb

 

Post HT: March 2010

DSC03084.jpg

 

Post HT: April 2010

DSC03333.jpg

 

Post HT: May 2010

DSC03337.jpg

 

Post HT: June 2010

DSC03620.jpg

 

Post HT: July 2010

DSC03665.jpg

 

Post HT: August 2010

DSC01318.jpg

 

Post HT: September 2010

DSC03792.jpg

 

Post HT: October 2010

DSC_4565.jpg

 

Post HT: November 2010

DSC04126.jpg

 

Post HT: December 2010

DSC04162.jpg

 

Post HT: 1 Year Anniversary (February 2011)

DSC04309.jpg

Edited by azn_guy
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Donor Strip was roughly 30cm x 1.5cm

 

Total Grafts: 3007

 

1's: 1117

2's: 1292

3's: 592

4's: 6

 

Total Hairs: 5501

 

Total Time of Surgery: 8:30am to 7:30pm

 

Pain: 1/10 ==> Minimal

Professionalism: 10/10 ==> I couldn't have chosen a better HT Surgeon

Outcome ==> ??? Still to be determined

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Hey Everyone,

 

I've been on this site for over a year now and once in a while I'll post to give my opinion/recommendation on certain topics.

 

Well as of February 12, 2010 I had a HT Surgery with Dr. Cooley

 

I'm a big advocate of trying to showcase Oriental Asian Decent Hair because I believe there is a lack of it on this site.

 

Well I just created a Hairloss Blog, feel free to check it out. I plan on updated it every 2 months. I don't see myself doing it every day just because it's too gradual of a change that sometimes users (even myself) don't see a difference

 

Here is my Hairloss blog, let me know what you all think.

 

I'd also like to give Kudos to Dr. Cooley, Brandi (his right hand technician), Aileen, and the rest of the staff for doing such an excellent job.

 

As I've read from previous experiences. Dr Cooley is very world class professional. He was the last person there and was VERY hands on with the procedure. I also enjoyed the fact that he was confident with his approach and his ability to execute.

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Looks great. Good Luck.

I too had a procedure w/Dr. Cooley and am very glad that I chose him. I am going back for a second procedure this summer.

 

I am curious why were you shaved? I know that Dr. Cooley doesn't insist on shaving recipient area.

 

I'm sure that you will be happy with the results.

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Azn_Guy,

 

Congratulations on your recent hair transplant with a stellar surgeon and staff. Thanks for posting your surgical photos and creating a patient website. I've linked it to your forum signature so members and guests of our community can easily find it when you post and reference it.

 

I've been impressed by Dr. Cooley for a long time, and his work on your scalp is no exception. I trust you'll have an excellent result when it all grows in.

 

I look forward to following along with your journey,

 

Bill

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Thinkingaboutit, To answer your question, I asked him directly "will it be easier for you? his answer was "it's always easier since I don't have to spend too much time moving your hair left and right".

 

I then said "if it'll make your life easier, lets do it"

 

Dr. Cooley actually appreciated the gesture and said "thank you", he was actually quite happy with my decision because it would save his staff and himself a few hours of work, I think as the day goes on, everyone gets tired, when you get tired your efficiency isnt 100% anymore. With that said, I HOPE I see a 98+% yield (of course this is me being optimistic)

 

While I may look a tad funny for a month or 2, I can manage with a hat on icon_smile.gif

 

Bill, thanks for the comment. Folks like you and many on this site gave me the confidence to do the research, do the time, to MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION.

 

I remember going to Bosley simply because of their stellar marketing 2 years ago, because of this site, I know I made the right decision with a world-class doctor

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Congratulations on your choice of surgeon. I have no doubt in my mind you will be happy with your results! BTW I bet after a couple of months it will be impossible to find that scar. Even immidiatly after it looks phenomenal.

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dakota3, that is my only concern actually, I think the recipient area will look awesome.

 

So maybe I can some of you seasoned veterans a question, I'm planning to have my sutures removed (not staples) in 2-3 weeks. I'm opting to leave the sutures in as long as possible which is 3 weeks.

 

What do you guys attempt personally to try to minimize the widening of the scar? Obviously physiology plays a big role, but if there is anything that you recommend, I am more than willing to listen.

 

I'm planning to not "turn" my head so much, as if I had a cast on my head, and refrain from looking up and down too much.

 

Dr. Cooley also provided me Biofine which is a topical medicine for the scar, I asked about Mederma but he recommended I use Biofine which should help with the healing

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azn_guy_001,

 

What did Dr. Cooley say about how long to keep the sutures in ? I know that sometimes if you wait to long it can have the opposite effect and actually make the scar worse by leaving "tracks". If Dr. Cooley recommended Biofine then I would go with that. If you exercise I would wait a month or so before returning to any strenuous routines. I've also heard that vitamin E oil works well for scars and also wheat germ oil has been recommended as well. These both may be about the same as Biofine though. Maderma is overated.

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You have gone from 21 days to 10 or 12? That seems a bit short. What does Dr. Cooley say? Will he be taking them out? I have absolute faith in him so I would trust whatever he says.

 

He did a procedure for me and I think that my scar 2+ years out is virtually undetectable.

 

One thing I did that I think helped, though I have no irrefutable evidence to support its benefits, was a swim in the ocean on the 14th,15th and 16th days. I think the salt water helped.

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I thought about maxing it out to exactly 3 weeks (21 days)

 

but then I know the postop said 2-3 weeks and I figured 12-14 days should be sufficient.

 

I emailed Aileen and she'll let me know.

 

Unfortunately I'm out of the state and flew to NC to get my HT, so I will have to get a local doctor to do this which I hear is pretty easy.

 

Dr. Cooley's office also mentioned that they will cover the suture removal cost which is really awesome of them. icon_smile.gif

 

Salt Water...hm...thinkaboutit, do you have any photos that you could share? I'm curious about this, you can email me if you'd like

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Azn_Guy

 

Happy to see you back on here and taking that huge step towards getting a HT. The next few months are dreadful waiting to see if you're lucky enough to be an early grower. Nevertheless, your HT looks very clean and I wish you the best. I'll be following your progress as well. Keep us posted.

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jmg554, you and I have roughly the same number of grafts done at 3k,

 

I can't tell though from your photos, do I have coarser hair than you? If you take a look at many of my pre-op photos, I believe I had more density than you before the HT.

 

Lets keep in touch and compare since we both are of Oriental Decent, I'd like to use the two of us as comparison

 

Latin Lotus, where are you? The three of us can be our own case studies.

 

jmg544, do you have any photos of our donor scar? I'd like to see how it looks in general. I'm trying to take extra precaution because I want this scar to be completely undetectable (if possible)

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Azn_guy

 

That is a great question about my donor scar. I will get someone to take a pic of it since it was hard enough taking my pics on my own, let alone trying to figure out where my scar is. I recently had a hair cut and had asked if the stylist can locate my scar as I did not want it exposed. She said she couldn't find it and spent a good time looking for it. I felt good about it.

 

My hair is not coarse at all. It is fine and thin. The new hairs that are growing out is quite coarse and wavy though. It's not straight like the rest of my hairs. I'm hoping the new hairs will sort itself out soon.

 

As far as taking precautions with your scar, follow what your doctor suggest. I did very moderate exercise for the first 2 months.

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Hey Everyone,

 

I've updated my blog with 21 day postop photos with suture removal.

 

I actually had Dr. Rosanelli's office remove the sutures since it made "commute" sense.

 

He was great and was able to squeeze me in with his busy schedule (compliments of Dr. Cooley's office)

 

I had the sutures removed at the 21 day mark. I will let everyone know that it felt like a pinches and was quite annoying. It wasn't that pleasant which I'm happy I went somewhere rather than doing them myself.

 

I also got a haircut all during the same visit, which was really convenient.

 

Dr. Rosanelli came in and did a thorough check of my recipient and my donor area which was awesome, he said everything looked just fine.

 

I will have to admit, he was pretty cool, his hair tech's were awesome, and they were actually really cute icon_wink.gif

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Azn_Guy,

 

Looks like terrific, refined work! I expect good things from you in a few months.

Dr. G: 1,000 grafts (FUT) 2008

Dr. Paul Shapiro: 2,348 grafts (FUT) 2009 ~ 1,999 grafts (FUT) 2011 ~ 300 grafts (Scar Reduction) 2013

Dr. Konior: 771 grafts (FUT) 2015 ~ 558 grafts (FUT) 2017 ~ 1,124 grafts (FUE) 2020

My Hair Transplant Journey with Shapiro Medical Group

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Thanks aaron, much appreciated.

 

I'm going to spend the next 6 months focusing on the scar itself, haha

 

I think it'll allow time to fly by

 

Just an FYI for everyone, I had my sutures removed yesterday correct? My Donor area feels 100% better considering it's only been 1 day!

 

The feeling is literally night and day

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Originally posted by azn_guy_001:

Thanks aaron, much appreciated.

 

I'm going to spend the next 6 months focusing on the scar itself, haha

 

I think it'll allow time to fly by

 

Just an FYI for everyone, I had my sutures removed yesterday correct? My Donor area feels 100% better considering it's only been 1 day!

 

The feeling is literally night and day

 

Hey dude, great to see you got a HT. My hair loss is kind of similar to yours where I have front thinning. (I'm asian too)

Since I've heard that Oriental hair is different and perhaps harder to work with, did you do some research on surgeon experience with our type of hair? Like you said, there aren't many examples of asian HTs, and the only one that comes to mind was that horror story (Chanyouzhe) who got his from Armani.

 

Also, why did you opt for the strip instead of FUE?

 

Best of luck, man.

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If you do a "find" on this forum, I wrote up a pretty positive article about asian (oriental) hair characteristics

 

http://hair-restoration-info.c...=807109553#807109553

 

As far as FUE, no thanks, I wanted 3000 grafts. FUE is good for Grafts under 1000

 

Also I think with FUE, due to again our asian characteristics, I was told it's more difficult to blend in the "splotches" extracted hair.

 

FUT also in general get better yield versus FUE

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