Regular Member worried Posted April 9, 2006 Regular Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 First of all I had a transplant 2 weeks 2 days ago at MHR in Conn. I have been waring a hat for 9 years and I am to self consious to take it off at work since no one has seen me without it in 9 yrs. I just was reading all these horror stories and how transplants hardly ever really make the person happy with the results. In the 2 weeks since the surgery my hair got even thinner (noticebly)allot. At least I think allot. They told me this was NORMAL. I read it may not even grow back. I saw before and after photos where people had less hair after one year and not more. They said only the lucky few are shown for advertising for transplants and that most have poor or marginal results. There are so many people saying you'll regret it and its an ongoing project to keep up with the hair loss. They say there left with just the plugs and they look silly. They also say the scare looks terrible so they cant even shave there heads. I know I should have read this stuff first but I guess I screwed up. I am totally frekin out now wondering if and when my original hair will grow back. Also if i am going to regret this the rest of my life instead of being able to take off my hat comfortably. Can anyone calm me down? I'm 45 and scared to death.More info View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member troy Posted April 9, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 Mhr has had a lot of bad reviews on this forum, but what is done is done. So a few things we will need from you to help is, who was your doc? and how many grafts? and some updated pictures. If you provide these things you will get great advice on here. Also there was a poster who had 2 procedures done with mhr and was very happy, so provide those things and lets get the facts on the table. My Hair Loss Weblog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member UGLY MAN 4 LIFE Posted April 9, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 Hey, Ok, firstly just calm down. What norwood are you (how bald on the norwood scale) and how many grafts did you have? Also, which doctor at MHR did you go and see? There are a few that are crap but there are others who are ok and the grafts should grow. Typically these days the most common problem I've read about from those guys is they don't plant enough grafts and rarely fully inform the patient of what to expect from a procedure. Even if this is the case, and even in the worst case scenario the grafts do not grow, given your age, you should be ok as long as you still have healthy, good donour hair. It is my opinion that anyone high enough up on the NW scale would be satisfied with a HT by a top doc. If you are in Norwood 4/5/6 territory, I'd strongly recommend you at least check out Hasson and Wong (the clinic). With HT's there's a night and day difference between the best procedures available in the world today and the mediocre one's practiced in many other places. So for a great result you should be willing to travel (to Vancouver in this case). If you post some post op pictures of your graft placement people can give you a better idea of how good the work looks and give you further advice. Good luck and don't panic, these days there is almost always something that can be done. Count yourself lucky that you researched today and didn't get 5-6 procedures from them like some of the guys in the repair section. Cheerios. P.S. - the shockloss post surgery is normal, and the hairs will grow back *provided* they are healthy enough to survive the cycle (ie - they weren't going to fall out and never grow back again on their own in a month or two) *AND* provided the doctor was careful and didn't transect any of the follicles when he was planting hairs there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member thinkingaboutit Posted April 9, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 It is normal to feel anxious,depressed and question your decision post-op. MHR does noy have the best reputation here, but it is too early to judge results. Freaking out will only make the situation worse. Be sure that you are doing your part to insure success now.Follow Dr. orders, eat healthy, take vitamins, propecia, do light aerobic exercise when you can do so without risk to grafts or scar. You have a long wait ahead of you. Accept it. Do the things that you can personally do now to insure a healthy environment for best success. If the results are not all that you had hoped for, do not despair.Their are several surgeons recommended on this site that can turn a poor result into a good one. It is too soon to judge your results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 9, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 Originally posted by UGLY MAN 4 LIFE:Hey, Ok, firstly just calm down. What norwood are you (how bald on the norwood scale) and how many grafts did you have? Also, which doctor at MHR did you go and see? There are a few that are crap but there are others who are ok and the grafts should grow. Typically these days the most common problem I've read about from those guys is they don't plant enough grafts and rarely fully inform the patient of what to expect from a procedure. Even if this is the case, and even in the worst case scenario the grafts do not grow, given your age, you should be ok as long as you still have healthy, good donour hair. It is my opinion that anyone high enough up on the NW scale would be satisfied with a HT by a top doc. If you are in Norwood 4/5/6 territory, I'd strongly recommend you at least check out Hasson and Wong (the clinic). With HT's there's a night and day difference between the best procedures available in the world today and the mediocre one's practiced in many other places. So for a great result you should be willing to travel (to Vancouver in this case). If you post some post op pictures of your graft placement people can give you a better idea of how good the work looks and give you further advice. Good luck and don't panic, these days there is almost always something that can be done. Count yourself lucky that you researched today and didn't get 5-6 procedures from them like some of the guys in the repair section. Cheerios. P.S. - the shockloss post surgery is normal, and the hairs will grow back *provided* they are healthy enough to survive the cycle (ie - they weren't going to fall out and never grow back again on their own in a month or two) *AND* provided the doctor was careful and didn't transect any of the follicles when he was planting hairs there. Maybe this isn't the correct way to reply but they said I was a three on the norwid scale and 2400 graphs turned out to be 2205 with a rebate. I made a blog to get better info. back Thanks View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Gorpy Posted April 9, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 What you are experiencing is "shock loss" and it is very normal. Take a look at my 2 month photo here. You can see I had quite a bit of shock loss, but now, 6 months post transplant, I look much better than pre transplant. ____________ 2700 Total Grafts w/ Keene 9/28/05 663 one's = 663 1116 two's = 2232 721 three's = 2163 200 four's = 800 Hair Count = 5858 1000 Total Grafts w/Keene 2/08/07 Mostly combined FU's for 2600+ hairs My Photo Album See me at Dr. Keene's Gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 9, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 thanks for the feedback and pics. View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 9, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 Could you tell me how to make it so people can view my pics . I'll hopefully figure it out soon. Thanks in advance View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Gorpy Posted April 9, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 You can put a link to your pictures or blog. First go to your pictures and highlight the URL. Do Ctrl-C to copy it. Now come back to here and reply. At the top of the reply you'll see a button for URL. Click on that and you enter the URL by doing Ctrl-V (paste). Then give some text that will be the highlighted link to your pictures. See, like this. ____________ 2700 Total Grafts w/ Keene 9/28/05 663 one's = 663 1116 two's = 2232 721 three's = 2163 200 four's = 800 Hair Count = 5858 1000 Total Grafts w/Keene 2/08/07 Mostly combined FU's for 2600+ hairs My Photo Album See me at Dr. Keene's Gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 9, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 9, 2006 same day of surgery View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member UGLY MAN 4 LIFE Posted April 10, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 10, 2006 hey worried, From your photos (you only have 1 facing the front) you look like you had a fairly solid amount of hair so I'm not sure why they've planted over the entire head?? BTW - did they shave your hair down or is that how it looks when it's wet? Do you have any larger close up photos of the graft placement? Something like this: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/groupee_files/photo_al...C15647D28F73A864.jpg If it roughly looks like that you *should* be ok. I can't really tell from your pictures how many grafts you would need (because I can only see the front). I mean, roughly on a NW5 you can get away with around 4000 for a conservative approach and you can look quite good but still visibly thin depending on donour characteristics. A NW6, optimally you'd want to get 7-8000 if you could, and even then sometimes the crown is a little thinner and sometimes noticeably thin. From your 2 week photos, if they're a real representation of your natural hair before getting surgery. I personally would have gone for as much as I could in the first procedure (which probalby would have been around 4000 or more). I personally don't think you'll have enough to look "non balding when dry" from this procedure alone - but that doesn't mean you won't be pleased, it'll just mean you may have to do this again if you really want to look like some of the guys coming out of procedures with top docs from here. Again, I can't really see the placement. And although good clean placement doesn't always guarantee a fantastic result, it's usually a sign of doctor competence in other areas like graft handling, strip harvesting, etc. At the end of the day it'll probably be ok, you're lucky you went to "modern" MHR and not 80's MHR. Although I do feel they were misleading you if they told you that this would be a one time deal. Anyone else have an opinion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Gorpy Posted April 10, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 10, 2006 I agree with UglyMan. Without closeups, it's a little difficult to say but you appear to be ok. New guys usually don't understand just how many grafts it takes to get a good result. Your 2200 were spread out over a large area so you should expect minimal density. You'll probably want another procedure to fill in more. This will probably grow out and look fine - just a little thinner than you expected. ____________ 2700 Total Grafts w/ Keene 9/28/05 663 one's = 663 1116 two's = 2232 721 three's = 2163 200 four's = 800 Hair Count = 5858 1000 Total Grafts w/Keene 2/08/07 Mostly combined FU's for 2600+ hairs My Photo Album See me at Dr. Keene's Gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 10, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 10, 2006 I took a couple more pics with dry hair and a close up of graphs. Close up didn't come out well and guess it's a little late for that anyway. The doc seemed more concerned with the front of my head for looks but I told him the bald crown is why I actually wear hat(. and the sun). I was told i would probably want a second procedure for density on the crown and it would be thin from the first procedure. I think he spread out the graphs from the front to the back and I didn't get the 2400 plus I was looking for. I said over is better. Anyway i was suprised to get a rebate and from what I'm reading i guess this will go toward the next procedure. I just want to make sure this one looks ok before planning the next. This is a big investment and nobody really talks about cost. Seems like allot of people have good paying jobs here. And It matters so much to me that I guess cost is offset by happiness of appearance self confidence. I know I want to loose the hat. Hair not new car, I love my 2001 lumina. I'm trying to plan and I personally think my head is worse than a 3 norwood. And could anyone tell me whether to put minoxidil on front graphs as well as crown.I would be interested in seeing results from uglyman , couldn't find blog and thank-you all for feedback.just coming to terms with looking under the hat. http://www.hairlossweblogs.com/home-page.asp?WebID=59 View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Gorpy Posted April 10, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 10, 2006 Doesn't look bad at all Worried. I think you can relax and just sit tight for the long road to growth. ____________ 2700 Total Grafts w/ Keene 9/28/05 663 one's = 663 1116 two's = 2232 721 three's = 2163 200 four's = 800 Hair Count = 5858 1000 Total Grafts w/Keene 2/08/07 Mostly combined FU's for 2600+ hairs My Photo Album See me at Dr. Keene's Gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 11, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 11, 2006 Could anyone tell me if the minoxidal is suppose to be put on the graph area in the front as well as the crown. Or just the crown area as per directions. Thanks. View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Island Girl Posted April 11, 2006 Regular Member Share Posted April 11, 2006 Worried, I went through exactly the same thing you are going through right now at 2-3 weeks post HT. I was shocked to see the drain filled with hair that fell out about that time but the good news is that most of the time it DOES come back. I am 3 months post HT now, having had 2000 grafts done at NuHart. I am just now beginning to see positive results, but still a bit thin in the Shock Loss areas, however there is peach fuzz there now, so that is definitely a good sign. Everyone in here was very helpful and positive, so keep your chin up... better days are ahead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Gorpy Posted April 12, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 12, 2006 Worried, yes put it on the grafts in the front also. The idea is that it kind of "jump starts" the growth of new grafts. ____________ 2700 Total Grafts w/ Keene 9/28/05 663 one's = 663 1116 two's = 2232 721 three's = 2163 200 four's = 800 Hair Count = 5858 1000 Total Grafts w/Keene 2/08/07 Mostly combined FU's for 2600+ hairs My Photo Album See me at Dr. Keene's Gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member zerro Posted April 12, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 12, 2006 Worried... I haven't posted in quite a while. However, I would like to try to help you out. Anxiety post-op is totally normal. I was totally wigged out about how noticeable a procedure is for about the first 3 months. However, you have a lot more hair than I did and should be able to cover it up quite well. In addition, I was concerned if I had made the right choice about who I chose to do the procedure and whether or not I should have done it. The answere to all that is yes, I do not regret any of the decisions I made. Not-to-say that I didn't during the first six months of post-op. I too have worn a hat for years, if you're as self-conscious of your hair loss as it sounds (like so many of us here are), you have about eight months to go until you'll get any 'real' cosmetic benifits from your procedure. But don't fret, it will come. You'll certainly experience noticeable growth long before that, but you're likely not going to be satisfied until eight months out. Continue to wear your hat until your comfortable with taking it off. True, shockloss is a concern, does happen and from what I hear comes back if the hair was healthy. Others will be more helpful in that area, since I did not suffer from shockloss. I did not have any hair in the area of placement. However, I do now and for my up coming surgery I will ask for advice and comments on the same subject in a different post. Be careful using rogaine so soon after your procedure. It can cause irratation. Remember, your placing an alcohol based product on open wounds and in grown hairs. Some say it can decrease the dorment period. However, from my experience my Ht was growing two months out without using it, which is a pretty fast start. Everyone is different. I read your blog and noticed you are taking proscar. I'm curious -for how long? If I remember correctly, I went through a heavy shed cycle after I had been on propecia 4-5 months. From what I understand that is normal too and it will grow back if the hair is healthy. I do not know if the hair I lost grew back, because it was a diffused loss and it would be impossible to tell; I do know that after that initial shed I'm not losing hair as rapidly. It has worked for me. I'm ten months post-op(1610 graphs), satisfied with my first procedure and have scheduled my second (1800 fu's)in May. I understand your concern over a bald crown, but forget about it for a while. You took the right approach in adding more density to the front. After all, that is where the most cosmetically significant change will take place. In fact, all or most of my future fu's will be placed in the front again. I'm 39 and have accepted the fact that I'm going to have a balding crown. But that is me... I could certainly invest 3000+ fu's and a large handful of money in covering it up, but I've decided against it for now. I've placed a price limit on my vanity! If woman don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy -Steve Smith 'The Red Green Show' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 12, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 12, 2006 I have started to accept it's going to take time and whats going to happen is whats going to happen. I guess I got to go enjoy life and do my scuba and what not. Now I'm addicted to this site, wish I came here from the git go . It would have saved allot of freakin out.If the hair grows and looks good I'm sure I will go back for more. But I to have placed a limit on my vanity. But on the other hand I don't want to be constantly thinking of my hair loss. I know it's going to cost allot more than I thought in the begining. I think the next procedure will be less money,most doctors give you a break on multipal procedures don't they? Also Island girl the other reason for the minoxidal question is that After washing my hair I'm suppose to spray tricom solution(follical therapy spray) into my hair.And then I got to put the minoxidal on my head shortly after and go to work for 12.5 hours.I didn't know if putting these 2 postions on my head nearly at the same time was ok or not.I go to the gym for an hour before work go home and apply the stuff, throw on my hat and go to work. Apply minoxidal at 2:30 A.M and go home to bed at 5;00 A.M . Dam good thing I don't have kids!I know I ask allot of questions and that's because I didn't come here before the procedure. Hopefully I can help ease the fears of others down the road when I get through this.Thanks to all the caring people here. View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Gorpy Posted April 13, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 13, 2006 If you don't mind my asking, what did MHR charge you per graft? ____________ 2700 Total Grafts w/ Keene 9/28/05 663 one's = 663 1116 two's = 2232 721 three's = 2163 200 four's = 800 Hair Count = 5858 1000 Total Grafts w/Keene 2/08/07 Mostly combined FU's for 2600+ hairs My Photo Album See me at Dr. Keene's Gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 13, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 13, 2006 The first procedure I was charged 4.00 per graph. If it's successful and I like it I'm sure I'm going to need more. I was told they will work with me on price if I want a second procedure. Pluss blood work I had to go to a lab to have done that won't need to be done for second procedure. 375.00 They gave me a bag with shampoos conditioners folicul sprays ,sun burn stuff etc. to last a few months. And a prescription for proscar, and each pill I divide into 4. thats a hefty savings right there. have to View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 13, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 13, 2006 On there web site they advertise this. 1,000 Grafts for $4,500 $3.50 each additional graft (Plus 0% financing if you qualify*) View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member jagdish Posted April 13, 2006 Senior Member Share Posted April 13, 2006 worried, If you are worried at 45 what I should be at 28? Take it easy and feel relaxed watching my pics here - Jag Ravi Vide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Island Girl Posted April 13, 2006 Regular Member Share Posted April 13, 2006 Worried, That seems to be an awful lot for only 1000 grafts. I paid $5,000 for 2000 grafts at NuHart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member worried Posted April 14, 2006 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 14, 2006 Any other comments on price for procedures? Is this price out of line with all others ? View My Hair Loss Weblog Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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