Regular Member jmorgan Posted September 14, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted September 14, 2009 Hey folks. So, I'm going in for a FUE procedure with Dr. Shapiro on Sept 21,22 and 23. This site has been such a great resource for me and I wanted to be sure to share my experiences with everyone. I will be getting approximately 1500 FU done. For the record, I am a long time Propecia user and have a diffuse thinning pattern which I have been battling fairly successfully with concealers...but just don't have enough density any more! Dr. Shapiro will be transplanting into these thinning areas. I haven't heard from a lot of other people doing this, so I hope my experiences can be some help to those in a similar situation. Since I'm not reconstructing a totally bald area, I think it will be harder for me to show any sort of *wow* result. I will however try to be as frank as possible in communicating how the procedure turns out for me. Thanks everyone! jmorgan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmorgan Posted September 14, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 14, 2009 Hey folks. So, I'm going in for a FUE procedure with Dr. Shapiro on Sept 21,22 and 23. This site has been such a great resource for me and I wanted to be sure to share my experiences with everyone. I will be getting approximately 1500 FU done. For the record, I am a long time Propecia user and have a diffuse thinning pattern which I have been battling fairly successfully with concealers...but just don't have enough density any more! Dr. Shapiro will be transplanting into these thinning areas. I haven't heard from a lot of other people doing this, so I hope my experiences can be some help to those in a similar situation. Since I'm not reconstructing a totally bald area, I think it will be harder for me to show any sort of *wow* result. I will however try to be as frank as possible in communicating how the procedure turns out for me. Thanks everyone! jmorgan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member the B spot Posted September 14, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 14, 2009 Hey J! Getting close to the big day! I look forward to seeing your pics. Take Care, Jason Go Cubs! 6721 transplanted grafts 13,906 hairs Performed by Dr. Ron Shapiro Dr. Ron Shapiro and Dr. Paul Shapiro are members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member aaron1234 Posted September 14, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 14, 2009 Originally posted by the B spot:Hey J! Getting close to the big day! I look forward to seeing your pics. More like the big THREE days! Ha. Good luck jmorgan and keep us posted with pics. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member thanatopsis_awry Posted September 14, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 14, 2009 Congrats on your choice. The wave of FUE patients who post on the forum and now going to SMG is great to see, and I suspect an exciting influx of grown out FUE results soon. Grow and heal well in advance! ----------- *A Follicles Dying Wish To Clinics* 1 top-down, 1 portrait, 1 side-shot, 1 hairline....4 photos. No flash. Follicles have asked for centuries, in ten languages, as many times so as to confuse a mathematician. Enough is enough! Give me documentation or give me death! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member bash77 Posted September 15, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 15, 2009 Hi JMorgan, Just wanted to wish you all the very best for your forthcoming op! I have just returned to the UK having had FUE over 3 days (with SMG) and the experience was fantastic. Fyi, Janna has posted my pics at this link: http://hair-restoration-info.c...0861/m/117102383/p/2 Look forward to watching your progress friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 jmorgan, I'm excited for you. Congratulations on selecting an outstanding surgeon to perform your hair transplant. The big day is approaching. I hope you'll come back and share your experience with us. All the Best, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member lost my swagger Posted September 16, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 16, 2009 and I suspect an exciting influx of grown out FUE results soon. that would be nice. have there even been very many final results posted from SMG??? ive seen alot of IMMEDIATE post ops on low NWs tho.. but jmorgan is a DIFFUSE thinner... any cases posted on here or other links where i could see a diffuse thinner FUE result from SMG? im seriously asking here because SMG has been able to move itself into nearly everyones "top" FUE considerations in the US quite quickly.... i remember when SMG just started dabbling with FUE not long ago.. but long enough.... i was gone for a while so maybe i missed all the final results the clinic has been posting that show their FUE consistancy and overall results.... any links to help me out? or are we all still just assuming SMG will produce great FUE because they have an excellent STRIP track record? *** RESULTS WILL 100%, without a DOUBT, VARY*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmorgan Posted September 17, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 17, 2009 Thanks for the comments, folks. Just a few days away now.. Aaron1234 - yeah, three days under the knife. Sounds like fun. Bash77 - Glad to hear it went well. We've got the same procedure, same doc...so here's hoping we get the same great results moving forward! Lost - I've seen some impressive diffuse thinner results from SMG. As far as I'm aware, they don't yet have a sizable portfolio of FUE results. I did a bunch of research, but in the end I decided to move forward with a doctor with a very strong reputation--thanks in no small part to these forums. Based on that, I feel confident that I will get as good a result as can currently be expected for my case. I hope to be among that 'exciting influx of grown out FUE results' although as I mentioned earlier, I'm not expecting to be a "wow" result. (Although getting some density up-top will be a "wow" for me!) I will definitely be giving a frank appraisal of how the procedure turns out for me, which I hope will be of some use to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member the B spot Posted September 17, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 17, 2009 J---there are no knives involved here!!! 3 days of peaceful, comfortable HT surgery. Ok, so maybe not THAT comforting Having had both, FUE is a bit easier to sit through than strip. The post-op is the big difference....not having to worry about your sutures/staples is a big relief. Go Cubs! 6721 transplanted grafts 13,906 hairs Performed by Dr. Ron Shapiro Dr. Ron Shapiro and Dr. Paul Shapiro are members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member lost my swagger Posted September 18, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 18, 2009 Lost - I've seen some impressive diffuse thinner results from SMG. As far as I'm aware, they don't yet have a sizable portfolio of FUE results. I did a bunch of research, but in the end I decided to move forward with a doctor with a very strong reputation--thanks in no small part to these forums. Based on that, I feel confident that I will get as good a result as can currently be expected for my case. I hope to be among that 'exciting influx of grown out FUE results' although as I mentioned earlier, I'm not expecting to be a "wow" result. (Although getting some density up-top will be a "wow" for me!) I will definitely be giving a frank appraisal of how the procedure turns out for me, which I hope will be of some use to others. jmorgan-- any chance the results your referring to can be found online? if so, any chance i could get a link? i myself am a diffuse thinner and would love to see examples... your decision to move foward with a dr with a strong reputation is a wise one. and SMG obv has a very sound reputation... i very much believe that your dr will do the very best he possibly can to get you a result that will satisfy you.. i like Bspot he does an excellent job representing his clinic IMO...and while SMG seems to be on the better side of the industry ethically, that alone should not qualify them as a TOP FUE clinic just yet IMO.. on this and other forums ALREADY im seeing poster after poster telling every FUE potential patient they ought to go to SMG.. and i just cant help but ask myself why?? what are we basing it off of?? the immediate post op pics they post that look clean?the few 6 month results we have seen on a couple NW2, or just the fact that they produce quality strip work?... i hate to come off like im bashing here because i like SMGs approach to FUE, im just not sure i agree with how fast they have apparently elevated themselves to FUE expertise in the minds of so many posters so soon. *** RESULTS WILL 100%, without a DOUBT, VARY*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmorgan Posted September 18, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 18, 2009 Lost - Here's a few links: http://hair-restoration-info.c...deshow&x_startwith=1 http://hair-restoration-info.c...deshow&x_startwith=1 http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...ID=16&PatientID=1851 http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...rID=16&PatientID=743 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member the B spot Posted September 19, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 19, 2009 Lost, I have talked to many many people about the exact points you have raised. I think what happened is you have Dr. Shapiro with his reputation for excellence and his online transparency collided when we began our FUE process. Another point is aside from Dr. Feller (and more recently a few others) there has always been a "shroud of mystery" associated with others concerning FUE---clinics refuse to disclose punch sizes, refuse to acknowledge poor results, over-hype the benefits and downplay the potential drawbacks. Also, from the beginning we acknowledged our infancy in the FUE arena and we readily offered our support of excellent FUE docs such as Dr. Feller, Dr. Bisanga and Dr. Harris to patients seeking FUE, but were uncomfortable choosing SMG due to lack of results. I think people just look at what we do and they trust us to "do right" by them. We talk about what we do and why. People can see the immediate post-op work and they can see how minimally invasive we keep the procedure. I think your right on point that people are looking at the past work we performed and feel with Dr. Shapiro and our staff, the results will be the same. Again, when I go back to mid 2007 and we started to really set the groundwork one of the fail-safes we talked about was NOT to overwhelm our staff, over-book, over-promise and under-deliver. I have to admit, I am excited about our FUE work, but your 100% right..we should NOT be considered FUE experts...until we have the results to back it up. I believe the guys who are members here who are going to share their experiences will help as well. Take Care, Jason Go Cubs! 6721 transplanted grafts 13,906 hairs Performed by Dr. Ron Shapiro Dr. Ron Shapiro and Dr. Paul Shapiro are members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmorgan Posted September 21, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 21, 2009 Sunday evening at the lovely Crowne Plazza. Big day tomorrow. A bit nervous, but ready for it! jmorgan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stingray Posted September 21, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted September 21, 2009 Good luck JMorgan. Am sure you will have a great result. Keep us posted. SR ----------------------------------------- 2425 FUE - Dr Armani - Nov 2007 (poor result) 1000 FUE Procedure with Dr. Bisanga - March 25th 2010 (great result) 1599 FUE Procedure with Dr. Bisanga - Feb 3rd 2011 My Hair Loss Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member TC17 Posted September 21, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 21, 2009 I'm a bit confused. It seems that many of us on this forum use the term "diffuse thinner" to describe a patient that is thinning throughout the male pattern area. There may be some hairline recession present and the crown might be somewhat thinner than the rest, but the general impression I get is that we're describing a person that does no feat neatly into any of the Norwood patterns. However, my dermatologist told me that diffuse thinners are actually very rare and should never be transplanted because they thin in the donor area as well as the typical male pattern area. So, when we're saying diffuse thinners, are we referring to the ones that thin just in the male pattern area, or those that thin all over? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member dakota3 Posted September 21, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted September 21, 2009 So, when we're saying diffuse thinners, are we referring to the ones that thin just in the male pattern area, or those that thin all over? Interesting question and 1 I hope a doctor can answer for us. I do have to say though that I dont think diffuse thinners are that rare "assuming the definition is what we think it is". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmorgan Posted September 21, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 21, 2009 Day 1 over. Bit of a headache, but nothing too severe. Dr. Shapiro and his staff have been fantastic. http://www.regrowhair.com/gene...nd-hair-transplants/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 TC17, Jmorgan provided a great link I published written by recommended surgeon Dr. Michael Beehner who explains the difference between androgenetic alopecia with a diffuse thinning pattern and diffuse alopecia. Best wishes, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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