HT with Dr Arocha on 6/30/2011

[Ahairdown]

Had my first HT with Dr Arocha yesterday in Houston TX. Everything from the consultation to the procedure itself went great. Arocha, along with his entire staff are very professional, knowledgable, and personable.

 

Since I was traveling from Austin which is about three hours away, I stayed at a hotel two blocks from the facility the night before and night after the procedure. Craig, one of the hair techs and a patient coordinator, even picked me up in the morning and dropped me back off when we were finished.

 

My priorities for finding a HT physician:

1) One of the top recommended docs that produce consistently good results

2) Doc that did not insist on shaving, working in an professional/office environment, I wanted to be back at work and in front of clients within a week or two looking half way presentable with minimal signs of the HT

3) Doc/facility that had an approach where they are honest on the patient’s current situation (from both a hairloss and donor situation), and want to exceed the patients expectations in their work.

 

The Arocha team met all of these conditions. He only works on one patient per day, and his technicians all have a ton of experience and have been with him for years.

 

For the first HT and since I can still hide the thinning in the back pretty well at this point, I asked to have the front 3rd rebuilt. Given my goals and what I wanted to spend, Arocha harvested 3623 follicular units from my donor area.

 

I’ve got the graft breakdown on a blog that I just setup. All of the pics are off my cell phone as I forgot to ask for a copy of the studio pics that Arocha took. I’ll ask them to be burned to disk when I get the sutures out and update the blog with the better quality pics.

 

Here is a link to my blog, I attemped to add it to my signature area but received a system error page on step one of the instructions so something must be down.

 

Hair Restoration Site for Ahairdown

[TakingThePlunge]

Ahairdown,

 

Congratulations on your recent hair transplant with Dr. Arocha. He regularly produces very impressive results and I'm sure yours will be no exception.

 

I took a look at your after pic and, from what I can tell, the design of your new hairline is going to frame your face nicely.

 

Happy Growing!

Edited July 8, 2011 by TakingThePlunge

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Looks great...I consulted with Dr Aroach but decided on going with Dr Rahal. I didnt want to shave either, but in the end Im gonna wind up with about 60 days off work so it turned out not to be to big of a deal! Good Luck!

[Ahairdown]

Thanks guys! Should also add that my post op recovery regimine is the Graftcyte kit that I got from Dr Arocha, along with Make Me Heal Post Op vitamin packs which are suppose to work well also. They have specialized pre-op vitamins as well but didn't order them.

 

Just woke up from my second night of sleeping, can't even tell anything happened in the recepient area. Can feel the donor somewhat but not painful, or even discomfortable enough to warrant any meds.

 

Good luck with Rahal, NewHair, the hairlines he puts out are awesome and with your hair characteristics it's going to turn out great!

[corvettester]

Just checked out your hair loss website for the first time.

 

I think you'll have a great result due to your favorable hair characteristics and the size of your procedure. 3,625 grafts in the frontal third should give you exactly the hairline you want.

 

You mentioned that you have some diffuse thinning. Are you on Fin or Rogain?

 

I'm eagerly following your case. Be sure to keep us updated... Grow well.

 

 

corvettester

[Ahairdown]

Thanks Corv!

 

Yep, used to only do Nizoral 1% a few times per week (have bad dandruff) but this is my current regimine since the procedure:

 

- Rogaine 5% 1x per day

- Prop (3x's per week at .5 mgs)

- Nizoral 2% 2x per week

- Biotin 1200mgs per day

- Just ordered some Spiro 5% a couple of days ago, going to add that in also when it comes in

 

Arocha recommended all of them except for the spiro. Doesn't get much attention on this message board, but on one of the others some of the people have had good stand alone (i.e. without propecia) with it so figured I'd give it a shot on the crown area.

 

I looked at Dorin also, love his results. Yours is already solid and will only get better over the coming months. Love that a lot of these docs like Dorin and Arocha push addressing the temporal points. Some of the finished HT's I've seen otherwise just doesn't look quite right if the patient doesn't already have them.

[corvettester]

Thanks Corv!

 

- Rogaine 5% 1x per day

- Prop (3x's per week at .5 mgs)

- Nizoral 2% 2x per week

- Biotin 1200mgs per day

- Just ordered some Spiro 5% a couple of days ago, going to add that in also when it comes in.

 

I looked at Dorin also, love his results. Yours is already solid and will only get better over the coming months. Love that a lot of these docs like Dorin and Arocha push addressing the temporal points. Some of the finished HT's I've seen otherwise just doesn't look quite right if the patient doesn't already have them.

 

Aewsome! Sounds like you did your research and got all your bases covered. I wish more patients were as well prepared and dedicated as you.

 

I'm also interested in your result because I haven't seen a lot of Arocha's patients posting on the HTN. He's highly regarded, no doubt. Thus, your experience be a good point of reference because I'll get to watch it all unfold in real time.

 

Yes, couldn't agree more about the temple points: they are essential!!! They complete the hairline frame of the face. Without them, any head of hair looks like something is off. As I mentioned before, if you look at all the great heads of hair of celebrities, i.e. Clooney, Pitt, Pattison, Cruise, Elvis, Dean, etc... they all have very pronounced temple points.

 

Again, looking forward to following your progress. Good luck!

 

 

Corvettester

 

p.s. Austin is such a cool spot! Here are some pics of me at Red's Shooting range in Austin last summer. My buddy has a bunch of crazy guns that we took shooting! First time I ever fired a gun in my life! LoL! I'm not the best shot, but at least I look tuff.

Edited July 17, 2011 by corvettester

[Ahairdown]

Wow - looks like you guys had some fun!!! and your buddy might be on the ATF watch list with equipment like that! lol!

 

Will definitely keep my site up to date. Not really a whole lot to report at this point so haven't bothered with any more pics. No redness which I'm going to attribute to the graftcyte spray that I used the hell out of the first five days.... he doesn't shave the repient and I'm able to easily comb it forward and hide anything that may look a little off.

 

This site definitely helped me make my decision so I plan on returning the favor by giving a candid and honest opinion of the results to help others going forward.

 

I was back at work on the Wednesday after the 4th of July having the procedure done the Thursday before. No one has even taken a second glance at my hair. Girl I've been dating did ask if my hair is longer (which I grew out leading up to in case it helped me hide anything), but besides that I've had no comments or looks. Went to a number 4 guard on the sides and back last Friday and the only two spots that looked a little less dense were directly above the ears where the donor site ends and the disolvable stitching is tied. Not sure if it's from when the shaved the donor before taking it, or it's a little shock loss but will keep the board up to date. It's not noticeable unless you're looking for it, even with teh hair wet out of the shower.

 

Anyways, for those with the concern of needing to get back to work promptly and being able to fly under the radar - this info may help you.

 

Only had consultations with two docs (both virtual consults), but had it narrowed down to Cooley, Arocha, Konior, Panine, Doring/True and Shapiro Bros since they crank out quality stuff from what I've seen and don't require you to shave down which is going to let you go undetected much earlier IMO. Although was looking at Aaron's site which his was from Shapiro and it looked like he shaved for it so don't hold it against me if I'm not accurate regarding their clinic.....

 

Felt comfortable after having talk to both docs, no doubt the others on this list you'd get the same vibe I'm sure - they are known for a reason. Picked Arocha basically because I thought on average these guys generate solid results and he was a two hour drive.

 

I've seen many posts stating don't let location determine your doc. I disagree for what I believe is a very important factor. If I have a complication post op, or end up having concerns with my result - I'd like to be able to drive over and speak to them in person, where they can also examine me.

 

That being said, if my results end up sucking I'll be on a plane to somewhere else next time

 

Good luck all, hope this helps

[Ahairdown]

Exactly one month out now.

 

After seeing Bonker's short hair on the sides and back at a 5 guard, I decided to get even braver and hit my sides and back with a 3 guard. Knew I had a bit of shockloss where the sutures were tied off on the right side, but wanted to wait a month before cutting my hair short since that is the crucial shock loss period. I grew my hair out quite a bit longer than I'd normall keep it to help hide the procedure, but prefer a more cropped hairstyle. Luckily the shockloss isn't as bad as I thought.

 

The grafts are basically all gone also. You can also see the slight pinkish tone where the temporal points and hairline were planted. I've updated my website (linked in my signature) with some 1 month pics.

[Ahairdown]

Figured I'd toss out an update since Dr Arocha called me yesterday. His head assistant Craig was coming up to Austin today and he wanted us to hook up so he could check my progress with everything. Unfortunately I'm out of state this week on business so I couldn't meet up with him. Never the less, thought it was great of him to call and try to get that coordinated..... Talked with the doc a good 10-15 mins....

 

I'm a little over 2.5 months and the hair is beginning to grow in. Right side coming in a litte more faster/thicker than the left at this point. No pics in the update at this time... I'll post some up at the four month mark.

 

Also, for those that are intersted... Remember seeing a post a few weeks ago regarding which docs were using Acell. Asked him if he was utilizing it and he said that he did indeed use it sometimes depending on the case.

[corvettester]

Ahairdown,

 

Glad to hear that you're being looked after by your doc.

 

Most of my growth from my first HT started right after the two month mark too. Considering the amount of grafts you had transplanted, I imagine that by your four month update you'll be looking very different.

 

Also, I had the exact same situation with my right side growing faster than my left. If you check out my two month update, you'll see that at two months post-op I had about 30 FUs sprouting on my right side, and about 15 FUs sprouting on my left side. I hear the same thing all the time, I think it's quite common.

 

Hair Restoration Journal -2 Month Update

 

Anyway, thanks for keeping us updated. Grow well.

 

 

Corvettester

[Ahairdown]

Thanks for chiming in Corv - as well as providing a link to your two month update! Hopefully the left side catches up with the right down the road. It's so early in the process that I'm definitely not worried at this point.

[bonkerstonker]

Looking good and appears that shockloss won't be much of a problem. All the best I'm sure it's gonna be a great result in a year.

[RCWest]

Seeing growth at only 2.5 months means you did everything right. Congratulations!

[Ahairdown]

Thanks for the support guys!