3886 FUT's w/ Dr. Wong - 1 YEAR UPDATE 2-10-07

[hairbank]

2-10-07: 1 year update from HT #2

 

7-8-06:<BR>I've attached pics for an update at 4MO. 22 DAYS. Let me know what you think.<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>2-15-06: <BR>Hello everyone,<BR><BR>I went to H & W 2/15/06 and received 3886 grafts from Dr. Wong. This was my 2nd HT,the first having been 1 year ago where I received 1200 FUT's in the front and top.<BR><BR>The whole experience was great. I stayed in the Grandville Island Hotel which was very nice and only a 5 minute cab ride to the office. It's cool because you can order room service and really don't have to leave the room unless you want to.<BR><BR>I got there for the session at 6:15am and after completing the necessary forms was face down in the chair for donor strip extraction. This process took about an hour. Then, at around 8:30am they started placing grafts. During the whole process I felt little discomfort, if any. Dr. Wong was very good about checking with me to see if I could feel anything........I told him my head felt like a block of wood! (Good, I guess).<BR><BR>At lunchtime, the gave me a menu from the Red Robin restaurant which is located in the lower level. I had a sandwich and fries, and picked out a movie to watch in the afternoon. The session finished up at 4pm and I was good to go.<BR><BR>Jotronic stopped in during the middle of the afternoon to say hello. He's really a great guy and the primary reason I chose H&W after viewing his story and photos.<BR><BR>That night, I took 2 Tylenol PM's, and eventually the sleeping pill provided and slept fine. I went to H&W the next morning before my flight for the first cleaning. Unlike what I had done with the first HT, the want you to start "gently" washing the grafts and donor area starting the first day after the procedure.<BR><BR>I believe somewhere around 2800 FUT's went into the crown, with the remainder filling on and around the top and also around the hairline and temple peaks. You can see this from the pics below.<BR><BR>I am amazed at the donor scar. If it wasn't for the staples I'd go ahead and shave the rest of my hair down. It's soooo thin. Dr. Wong said I had great laxity and it came together nicely so it should heal fine.<BR><BR>Please let me know what you think of the pics. Thanks to Dr. Wong and his staff for a great HT!<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>Hairbank

 

 

 

[hairbank]

Pre-op pics taken 2-1-06..2nd HT with Dr. Wong scheduled 2-15-06.

[kg007]

Hairbank -

 

Good luck with your procedure. When are you flying to Van and when are you coming back??

[hairbank]

Thanks kg,

 

I'm flying to Vancouver this Tuesday, procedure Wednesday, flying back home Thursday..............then comes the recovery process. I've been religiously performing the stretching exercises and am hoping for a plentiful harvest. I hope to have some pics to post by next weekend.

 

What about you? You're scheduled for the 20th, a week from this Monday, right? Whats your schedule? Be sure to get some pics so we can compare notes on progress!

[kg007]

Hairbank -

 

I fly to Vac Sun morning, procedure on Monday and will be back on Tuesday. Try to post some pix by Sat, so I

[kg007]

I fly to Vac Sun morning, procedure on Monday and will be back on Tuesday. Try to post some pix by Sat, so I get to view them before I leave. Good luck.

 

KG

[hairbank]

Originally posted by kg007:

Try to post some pix by Sat, so I get to view them before I leave. Good luck.

 

KG

 

Shouldn't have any trouble posting pics by then and hope to have time to post my H&W experience also. I'm looking forward to "getting down to it" as I'm sure you are.

[troy]

I think you would have drastic results if you had 3000-5k done. I would go thicker in the front and bring down the temples a touch, and fad to the back from thicker to less thick.

[hairbank]

Thanks for the input Troy. I'm still wrestling with graft placement. I probably won't be totally sure of what to do until I meet with Dr. Wong the morning of surgery and get his input. In part, it will depend on how much they can harvest.

 

I've seen pics from your HT..........keep us updated on your progress.

[hairbank]

Everyone,

 

Let me know what you think of the new pics.

 

Thanks,

[Guest]

Congrats, were about 2 weeks difference so ill be going thru it with you, my graphs are starting to shed now, ive been using 100% aloe on both donor and recipient areas but not till after about 6 days, pictures look great, interesting placement in front must be to compliment first procedure, as you know it was a top notch experience for me too, those guys have it fine tuned right now and i couldnt imagine not getting at least a consultation from Them, best of luck to you ill be watching

[Beefy]

Hey lookin good hairbank , nice clean work I think you will see a real big difference now.

[the B spot]

Congrats Bank!!!!!!!!!

[Jotronic]

Hairbank,

 

It was great to meet you. I only wish I had more time to talk but I gathered that you were in good hands (per usual). I have to say, when we were chatting that I couldn't help but compare you to a kid at Xmas. You had a bad case of perma-grin going on

 

I'm envious of the crown placement as I looked at it quite a bit before I went back to my office. Maybe it's time for me to get a fill in to match yours? Anyway, good to know you enjoyed yourself and please do update your progress. I know others here are anxious to follow along.

[hairbank]

Thanks guys..................I can't wait for progress to start. Kind of the hard part in all of this.

 

Having time to reflect now.........I'm glad I focused on the crown. That's where my losss started and it's been VERY noticable over the last 5 years or more. I still may follow up in a year or so and lower the hairline a little, but, maybe not. We'll see.

 

Outside of the crown, I think Dr. Wong did an excellent job of filling in where I needed it. I'm psych'd at how it all looks shaved down and can't wait until it all fills in.

 

My experience thus far has been great. Really no pain whatsoever (never was)............barely any scabbing (which I'm sure will be gone in no time) and the donor scar looks excellent. I have to keep myself in check. I feel so good I start busying around and the noggin starts to throb just a little. I have to remember I'm only 2 days post-op.

 

So 'Tronic, envious of the crown, eh? Honestly, if I end up having close to what you have now, I'll be a happy camper. I turn 40 this October and hope to be sporting a "b spot free" head of hair! From the sounds of things it's good you didn't have to much time on your hands while I was there............you know - with your hollow leg and all! :^)

 

I'll post pics next week after taking staples out when I clip the rest of the hair to match the top.

[kg007]

Looks good Hairbank!!!

 

You should have no bald spot on crown 6 months from now.

[finallyfree]

Hi Hairbank,

Nice to know your transplant went smoothly. Did you get chance to discuss about possible future hair fall and strategy for it with the doctor.

[hairbank]

Yes, Dr. Wong and I spoke about an additional procedure depending on future loss. Or I may want to lower the hairline slightly. Having a gradual loss since around 23 years of age (I'm now 39), my loss was advanced enough that we felt comfortable with placement for the 2nd HT. Though, as Dr. Wong said to me, there's no way to know exactly so there is always a little guesswork! Good news was that Dr. Wong said that my donor hair was of good density and availability. A future session of 3000 or more should be easily attainable. Scalp laxity was also excellent this time around only 1 year after my last HT......I hope it will be the same if I decide to have another.

 

The density on the overall crown is around 45 sq. cm. so coverage should be good. Then, as you can see from the pics, we filled in areas around a previous transplant. I now start the wait for results. Oh well, it was worth it. If it turns out like I hope, I'm not sure I'll have another HT............I'll have to wait and see.

 

Thanks,

[hairbank]

Everyone,

 

I just posted 1 week pics of the procedure. The healing has gone fine. Never really had much pain to speak of, the scabs are mostly gone now and the redness is fading. It looks like I got a burr haircut but when clipping I strategically left a little more in the donor area for scar coverage. I can't believe how thin the scar is.............I haven't even taken the staples out yet but plan to tomorrow. Let me know what you think of the progress and coverage.

 

This is amazing, I feel the top and back of my head that has been bald for years now and I have a burr................I think when this comes in 6 months or so later I'm going to get a flattop!! I hate that I'm going to have to loose the little guys.............I love the feeling of rubbing my hand over the top of my close cropped hair!

[domie]

brothers in wong unite! your pics have been a great resource for me hairbank, especially seeing we're so close in procedure dates... i guess that makes you my big brother. ;-) thank you for sharing! the coverage you received is amazing, but it seems all the work at H&W never ceases to impress. i really look forward to seeing your progress.

 

im 3 days post op now, so still in the "tippy-toe" ultra careful stage of development. have some swelling, head feels pretty big actually... "like an orange on a tooth-pick" but all-in-all fine. i sure look forward to being at 1 week (like your pics)!

[hairbank]

The brothers Wong!! Thanks for the kind comments and I'm glad my pics helped you. I've been holding off posting anymore pics until I have something to show. To date, lots and lots of ingrown hairs the last 2 weeks but the hairs are fine and not noticeable yet. Also, I had a lot of shock loss...............you can see right up to where he filled in around my first HT. Oh well, I guess most of them will eventually return.

 

Do you have any before and post-op pics to post?? Good luck to you during recovery.....................careful gettin' in and outta the car! ;^)

[hairbank]

Hello everyone,

 

Sorry it's taken so long for me to update my pics. I'd planned to document the process every other month or so as others have done to share the progress but have just not been able to keep up! The updated pics were without flash to give the best idea of how it actually appears. I was an early sprouter with hairs starting to pop around 6 weeks, but growth seems to be slower than with HT # 1. The hair is very, very fine though it has been darkening and thickening slowly. As you can see, the crown still isn't covered, but, I think by month 6 or 7 it should be. My overall density was supposed to be between 40-45 grafts per sq cm. I imagine it's not too far from that everywhere.....including the top and front. My hair length on top is around 1 1/2", on the sides and back its around 3/4". The scar is a non-issue.........I clipped to 1/2" about 3 weeks ago and no problem.

 

There's a very, very slight possibility that I would consider HT 3 in the future to provide a little more density in top/front and to fill in around my temples. I've been obssessed with the crown for so long, I've never really paid much attention to the hairline and "framing the face". After this HT, I realized my temple points come pretty far forward, then receed back which emphasizes the receeding look. I may try to straighten the line upward to my hairline from my temple points (if you get my drift) then bring the hairline just above the temples down slightly. Of course, with the money I've spent on hair in the last 1 1/2 years.........my wife may be having a different idea on what to do with the $$ rather than being concerned with framing my face.

 

I'm curious to know what everyone things. Let me know. I haven't updated my Hair Loss Blog yet but plan to soon. We switched from DSL to dial-up temporarily and it took forever to load these.

[tumbleweed]

Looks really good so far...it'll only get better! Congrats and enjoy!

[Gorpy]

Looks dang good to me. Some recession in the temples is normal for a man. Yours looks perfectly natural.

[troy]

wow, that looks great, You have come a long way from where you started. Congrats!!