Azn_Guy's experience with Dr. Cooley: 3007 grafts

[ej]

Hi azn guy ,

 

Hows the scar looking now ? any updates ?

 

Thanks

ej

[azn_guy]

Hey EJ,

 

it's looking good so far. I can already tell the donor strip scar is better than what it was with my First Official HT

[azn_guy]

I want to reflect a little now that it has officially been my 1 year anniversary.

 

On February 12, 2010 I had my HT and opted for 3000 grafts. I believe I made the right decision at the time. After several months of micromanaging my first HT, I took several photos for a good documented result. By the way, during this whole time, I kept on asking myself "Did I just make the mistake of my life? Did I just screw myself over with this?"

 

After 8 months, I noticed that the Donor Strip did not widened, but the surrounding tissue/skin had, which worried me. I consulted with Dr. Cooley and he admitted that the suturing technique used during my initial HT was the culprit. Keeping this in mind, Dr. Cooley had taken a secondary strip on the side (above my left ear), this was to reach the 3000 grafts. I realized due to my hair characteristics that the secondary donor scar was also noticeable, which I was not happy with.

 

With that said, I opted for a Scar Revision on the 16th of December 2010, about 10 months after my Initial HT. I had the procedure done free of charge and Dr. Cooley extracted 400+ grafts and placed roughly 300 grafts in my temple region and portions of "zone 1", the other 100 grafts were placed in my secondary strip area since I was not happy with it.

 

So to answer some questions, here is what I learned and concluded:

 

Am I happy with my HT? Simply put. Yes. Mainly because my hairline is better. I think I would have been happy simply with a fix to the temple region but considering that I had 3000 grafts and they were placed through Zone 1-4, I think this has suited me in the long run, at least for the next 5 years. I would like to point out that it's not 100% where I want it to be, but I have a much easier time hiding my gradual hair loss.

 

Am I happy with Dr. Cooley? Yes

 

Would I go back to Dr. Cooley? Yes, simply because he now understands my physiological characteristics and he knows what works best on me.

 

Would I consider another HT Surgeon? Yes, only if he consults with Dr. Cooley first.

 

This will be my last post for the moment. Thank you all for being supportive and this is an awesome site, I couldn't have made a decision without all the pros on this site.

 

I will be back in 6 to 8 months to give everyone an update on the results of my Scar Revision w/ ACELL with Dr. Cooley

 

BEFORE (personal photos)

 

AFTER (personal photos)

 

BEFORE (consultation photos)

 

AFTER (consultation photos)

Edited February 14, 2011 by azn_guy

[Megatron]

Those photos clearly show your new hairline. Looks great. I wish you the best man.

[TakingThePlunge]

azn_guy,

 

Thanks for the update. I agree that you have made a nice transformation although you've had a rough road. Thanks for keeping us updated.

 

I'll look forward to your next update in 8 months.

 

Best of luck to you!

[azn_guy]

Hey everyone,

 

The last post I made was back in April 2011.

 

Now that it's May 2012, I thought I would come back and provide a little information on how things are looking.

 

Since my initial HT back in February 2010. It's been 2 years and 3 months.

 

Everything appears to be good. I still think about my hair, I initially thought after doing this that I wouldn't ever think about it again, but as many of you know, it sticks with you.

 

Anyways, regarding the results. I did end up getting a scar revision in December 2010 and unfortunately the scar revision didn't help. The same results of the donor area stretching still occurred and was consistent with my initial issue.

 

I do believe I know what the issue is. I've always had dandruff back in the donor area. I believe if I were to do a scar revision or another major HT, I would ask the HT Doctor to provide me regular steroid shots in the donor area to help strengthen that area prone to stretching. I'm sure that would do the trick.

 

Anyways, the Hairline itself is holding up. I can tell that there is tad bit thinning, but nothing noticeable to anyone but myself (my own worst critic). The best way to explain this is that the existing hair that Dr. Cooley transplanted around, those existing hairs are starting to thin out.

 

Many of you will ask "are you going to get another HT? If so, when?"

 

My answer is at this rate, I don't think I'll need another HT for another 5 years, honestly, the cosmetic result can stand up to its own and I could even go another 7-10 years (this me being optimistic)

[ej]

Thanks for the update azn guy

all the best

ej

[azn_guy]

Hey Everyone, Just thought I would come back and post again and give folks another update.

 

It's close to 2 years and 10 months now

 

As expected, my hairtransplant is holding up, I'm happy with it, and it is still undetectable (except for the scar)

 

This brings up a few comments that I've concluded to after several months of investigation.

 

My donor scar is pretty much the exact same as my previous donor scar. At first I thought it could have been the technique that Dr. Cooley used, but I've concluded that his new suturing technique was actually better than his old technique (no wonder he switched). He decided to use his old technique since he wanted to test it out. The scar actually was not as good. I am in no way criticizing his decision, as we both understood that it "could" have been his suturing technique, but there was no way to tell until after the fact.

 

What I've decided with this is next time I get another scar revision, I will ask that he use his new technique.

 

Secondly, I thought perhaps it was ACELL that could have caused the scar to widen. He was confident that ACELL was not the culprit. I 100% agree with him.

 

What I've decided is that next time I get another scar revision, I will indeed utilize ACELL

 

Thirdly, and this is what I believe is the issue. I have dandruff in the donor area. I've always had this. I truly believe this is the cause of the donor scar not being perfect. Also, there is one little 2mm section of my scar that was revised, but it appears that it has a keloid/hypertrophy, this is most likely because there wasn't enough steroids injected in this location. Dr. Cooley and I decided to use a topical Steroid for the donor area, It actually started to work and the donor scar was compressing! But I felt a bit sick and the side effects of the Topical Steroid was too strong so I stopped.

 

What I've decided here is that Steroids in the donor are after the sutures are removed may be the key to my scar revision. My laxity of my scalp even after the scar revision is still plenty and I could potentially get another 2-3 hair transplants.

 

So in conclusion if and when I get this fixed, I'll ask for the following:

- Use the updated suturing technique, using all one suture

- Use ACELL

- Steroids is the key

 

Right now, I can manage a Clipper #6, anything between Clipper #1-5, the donor scar is noticeable

 

I thought I would share this with the community for those who have had excellent laxity, yet still ended up having a 4-5mm scar

Edited December 4, 2012 by azn_guy

[TakingThePlunge]

azn_guy,

 

Glad to see you back and updating us on your situation. Sorry to hear that the scar is still an issue. Keep us posted on what you decide to do in the future. In the meantime, I'm happy that you've found a middle ground that you can work with.

[Sparky]

Dandruff won't cause a scar to stretch.

 

I wouldn't put Acell into your scar next time, just get a good tricho done and don't mess about with any magic powder or any of that rubbish. There have been other cases of people having Acell into their strip scars with results the same as yours, really consider NOT having Acell, you don't want another surgery that you will end up regretting. As the owner of a rubbish strip scar from a bad clinic I know your pain and don't want you to have to go through it again.

 

Good luck pal!