My Advices/Lessons Learnt for those who plan on going for HT

[savehair]

long time lurker, and this site had helped me greatly so i decided to make this thread for those who looks to pursue the HT path for restoration. it's a big next step to take and there are much lessons learned as i went through this process , just thought i've share my experience for those that are out there planning to go through this process can benefit from it. keeping everything toe bullet points for easy read

 

Pre Op/Consult:

 

 

• Understand what you want to achieve first
   
  
• Go for at least a few in person consultations with different doctors to assess how much donor you have and can you achieve your goal (even if it's not the doctor you intend on going to, go to a few different doctors to get their perspective of your situation and your goals)
   
  
• Always talk to surgeon himself if possible in person , phone, or web cam, online consult photo will not be enough and can set up for false expectation. Their representatives are knowledgeable but you are better off talking to the Dr himself/herself so expectations are set correctly. you probably have to do it in person to get the expectation set correctly as well.
   
  
• if you plan on traveling abroad , get debit and credit cards that does not charge foreign transactions , you will save a lot of money through this for payment of the op and expenses while you are there
   
  
• if you have long flights (5hr+) consider buying travel size spray bottles so you can keep your grafts moist while you are flying or waiting for connecting flights, you will also want to consider staying for at least 3~4 days before flying
   
  
• Try to stay at Dr. guest house or somewhere close to the clinic for first few days, you can always go for cleaning and ask them to check on how you are doing, and worst case if something goes wrong, you can get help pretty quickly. (i had my surgery with Dr. Rahal, and i stayed at the Brookline guest house. it was good to meet with all the other patient and it was walking distance to the clinic. it made a big difference given the convenience and meeting people going through the same process)
   
  
• if traveling abroad, try to be there a day early, you can get familiar with the environment and go out and get supplies that you may have missed while packing. also in case for whatever reason your flight is delayed, you don't miss your surgery
  

 

 

 

Post Op:

 

 

• plan to stay in door in hide out mode for about 3~5 days. everyone will get facial swelling and it's probably at it's worst the first 2~3 days post op, you will not want to go out
   
  
• get a neck pillow, it will help you secure your head in place without touching the newly place grafts for most part
   
  
• take the prescribed mild pain killer even if you are not in pain, it will help you sleep and you need to rest for it to heal well
   
  
• sleep in 45 degree (recliner chair is great if you have one), this will help the swelling disappear much faster
   
  
• keep your activities light and in door. exposing your head will speed up the healing process
   
  
• it's almost better to shave your head, this is easier for the Dr and team when they do the insertion, it will also help you clean easier post op. of course, only if you are comfortable with shaving it and depends on what type of surgery you went with, you may have to shave regardless.
   
  
• Buy a couple spray bottles, you can use it for shampoo and water rinse, also just to spray your head every couple hours to keep the receipient area mois
  

 

 

 

 

that's it for now, i will come back and add more as it comes up.

 

Happy new years and hope new things come out in the near future to help us all reach/exceed our goals as we all continue the journey