My FUT with Dr. Rahal - 4597 grafts - 1 session

[HairFusion]

Hi folks,

 

I am now sitting at 6 days post-op with an FUT by Dr. Rahal. Just thought I would share my great experience with Dr. Rahal in case anyone is thinking of doing a procedure with him.

 

I am (was) a norwood Va heading towards Norwood VI. I had spent a couple of years researching and especially reading this forum before I went with Dr Rahal. I was looking for a single pass megasession. From the top 3 or 4 surgeons mentioned in these forums, he was the closest and I could not find a single negative review of him online on any website. This is probably just me but I did not spend time having consultations with the other top doctors. I thought that they would more or less say the same things and I would end up confused as to who I should go with. To me, reading actual user experiences from various reputed websites does tell you the true story. However, I know it is recommended to consult with different surgeons first so please do not let me sway you the other way.

 

The other issue that I had was that, being a Pakistani Canadian, I could see that the cost of this surgery in Canada was 4 times as much as in Pakistan. That is a big difference. On the other hand, the doctors I consulted in Pakistan would not do as large a session as I have had done here and I just was not comfortable doing this type of voluntary invasive surgery by anyone less than a world class doc. So I decided to bite the bullet (or should I say wallet) and get it done here.

 

I chose to stay at the Foxbar and the manager there told me that in the past week he had had 1 guy from Korea, 1 from italy, 1 from india, 2 from USA etc staying here to get surgery from Rahal. That tells a story in itself as I saw people taking the time and effort to travel from all parts of the world to have their surgery with Dr. Rahal.

 

I was not able to meet with Dr. Rahal the day before the surgery as I could not take the extra day off work (I work in London ON). I had already had the consultation with his patient advisor in Toronto, Chad. So we just met half an hour before the actual surgery. I found Dr Rahal to be a soft-spoken but matter-of-fact professional guy. In my initial consultation with Chad, he mentioned that I can look forward to 4500-5000 grafts. However, when Dr. Rahal examined me in person he said that my donor area is limited and the area to cover is big so I should be looking for 4000 - 4500. He could just work on the front and bit of the sides and leave the crown untouched in this session. He mentioned that I am looking at 40% density in the front but that should be enough to frame my face decently. He then drew the design on my scalp so I can see what would be covered. After this short meeting we began the surgery.

 

I was actually very nervous since it suddenly began to dawn on me that I was having the back of my head slit open due to reading my forum posts and tried to calm myself by bringing the before/after pictures of some patients in mind. However, Dr Rahal and his team could see how nervous I was and started off with a slight injection to relax my nerves a bit. Then they shaved my recipient and donor area. Dr Rahal drew the donor strip on my scalp and they bandaged the rest of my head except for the donor area that Dr. Rahal drew. The ensures that no native hair got mixed into the donor hair and the strip could be taken out precisely. Then began the freezing injections to the back of my head. O boy they hurt but Dr Rahal helped ease the pain by using a vibrator on the scalp alongside the injection so that the mind would get confused and not think about the shots as much.

Once I was frozen, Dr Rahal cut the donor strip, removed it, applied some more freezing, performed the incisions and the techs did the implanting of the grafts into the incisions. All pretty standard stuff so I wont go to any detail here.

 

The hardest part of the surgery for me was laying flat on my back the whole time and the surgery took close to 11 hours to complete. I am a side sleeper and am not used to being ony my back for more than 15 minutes let alone 11 hours. So my advice to all side sleepers would be to start sleeping on your back as much as possible before your surgery and be comfortable with it. It is the best thing you can do for yourself.

 

I also found out that my tolerence to pain is low so I actually had to get a few more freezing shots during the implantation process. Dr Rahal did not give me too many extra injections as he said that it would make me sick if we give more so I had to tolerate some discomfort throughout the procedure. I ended up taking more breaks than usual which prolonged the surgery. The whole team was very accommodating to my needs in this context.

 

Somehow the 11 hours passed and it was over. Dr Rahal came in and said with a smile that your donor hair quality was very good. We were able to harvest 4597 grafts and you should expect a nice result within a year. Those words were music to my ears and made all the pain and tiredness go away. I felt really drained out which was expected and Dr Rahal personally drove me to the foxbar. How nice . I did notice on some forum post that Dr Rahal would give you a take home dinner but they have now discontinued this practice. They did mention that I have to eat as soon as I get home so I can start taking the pain meds. So I ordered a pizza from pizza hut which is right across the street and I began to feel much better when I finished eating. I was a bit anxious that it would start paining now given how most people feel it the first night. I was pleasantly surprised to experience that the pain medications took care of that. I was able to sleep fine at the 45 degree angle that is suggested. I was in no pain or doscomfort the next morning which was great.

 

I went back to the clinic for my followup appointment where the head tech washed my head, took my post op pictures and provided me with instructions on how the scalp needs to be washed up and taken care of for the next few days. Interestingly enough, the cab driver that took me to the train station afterwards had a cousin who had his surgery with Dr Rahal the past year. He was telling me that he looks really nice now and I should be confident and looking forward to a great result.

 

All in all, I would say that my HT was no pony ride. Its probably my low tolerence to pain and the fact that I am not a back sleeper. However, Dr Rahal and his team were really professional and caring throughout the 11 hours. I could tell that I was in good hands.

 

6 days have passed now and I am done with almost all the swelling. I am still dealing with some pain in the donor area and am taking 1 Advil 3 or 4 times a day to counter that. Dr Rahal's team has said that this is all normal and part of the healing process. Things only get better in the next few days. I must say I am really impressed with their post-op care so far. I have called them up so many times now during these 6 days with my gazillion questions and they have always responded promptly and positively.

 

Thanks to all the forum members here who helped me in my decision to go with Dr Rahal. I hope to start looking my age again in a few months !

 

I have posted some pre and post op pics on my website --> Hair Restoration Site for HairFusion

[mattj]

Thanks for the thorough report. I hope we get to see updates. I'm sure you're going to be very happy with the end result.

[Capelli11]

Great write up...I appreciate it as I am going in for a HT with Dr. Rahal in December! Hearing this story along with the million others makes me feel even more confident in his abilities! You look good so far...very refined work as usual! Heal and grow well...keep us all posted!!!

[orlhair1]

Glad you had such a positive experience (no surprise). Heal well and keep us posted!

[HairFusion]

My website is now updated with pics for Day 7 Post op.

Things are looking good so far. I am down to 1 Advil a day. This is also the last day for the Vitamin E oil yahoo !

Can't wait to get these sutures out next week !

 

Hair Restoration Site for HairFusion

[Montreal]

the vitamine E oil is for what? is it rahal who give it to you? looks like a clean job.

[Sean]

Great writeup! look forward to seeing your progress.

 

Montreal: I think the vitamin E oil is essential for healing and yes it comes with the kit Dr. Rahal gives.

[HairFusion]

The Vitamin E oil is for keeping the grafts moist. Dr Rahal instructs us to apply it for the 1st 7 days post op.

[Sean]

Hair Fusion, I was looking through your pictures at your website link. I think the work looks great. Very refined. Now it's just the waiting game. Don't let the wait get to you. Some people show growth very early, some later. The wait does suck but what you get in the end is well worth it. sabar ka pal meeta hota hay

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Looks great!

[ParraPhil]

Did Dr Rahal say how many grafts would be needed in the crown area that he didn't work on?

[RCWest]

Maybe the Vitamin E oil is Dr. Rahal's secret for all these early growers.

HairFusion, your surgery looks excellent, another typical top notch job from Dr. Rahal.

[HairFusion]

Actually, we did not discuss too much about the crown area as it was not really on my priority list at this point. He did mention that I would have about 2000 grafts still left in me in case I wanted to go for a 2nd HT.

At the moment I am just keeping my fingers crossed on a good result on this one. If that happens then maybe I wont be too concerned about a bald spot in the back. Time will tell ...

[Cant decide]

HF-First, congrats on your procedure. You have made a good life altering decision. I do have a question. Are you sure you only have 2000 total grafts left? You stated that your donor was limited but 4500 plus in one session is hardly considered limited. I would expect that based on the numbers you achieved in the first, you have substantially more than 2000 left. Maybe Dr. R meant 2000 for round 2 only but not total?Typically, the larger the first session achieved, the greater the total available grafts.

[aaron1234]

Work looks impeccable. Good luck. Be patient!

[HairFusion]

Can't decide,

 

2000 grafts was a rough guesstimate given by Rahal's patient advisor in Toronto. Dr. Rahal did not personally comment on how many I had left in me. Frankly speaking, a 2nd HT was not even on my mind when I met Dr. Rahal on my HT day so I did not bring it up with him. Who knows, I may just be able to live with a bald spot at the back of my head depending on how good or bad this one turns out. At the moment, I am just hoping for a good result on this one.

With regards to the donor area being limited, Dr Rahal meant it was limited in the sense that it could not cover the entire area in this HT.

[jdhillon]

Hi

 

Do you have any further updates as would love to see your progress?

[Slickers]

Update please!