2300 graft FUT - dense pack hairline with Dr. Lindsey

[HappyValley]

Hello everyone...

 

I’ve watched my hairline thin out and slowly recede over the past 15 years. I took my first step at addressing the problem 9 years ago when I had a few consults with local doctors. I was 38 at the time and decided to try Propecia first to see what happened. Well, flash forward to today and I’m 47, been on Propecia for 8 years, have dense hair on the back, sides, and crown… but my hairline has continued to slowly erode. I was ready… it was time to take the next step.

 

So, after searching the web I come across this forum… thankfully! I spent three months doing lots of reading and following the journeys of many of my fellow hair-challenged sufferers. I was really excited to see how the techniques and results of hair transplants had changed since my first investigation back in the early 2000’s. I narrowed my list of doctors. I prepared my list of questions. I knew want I wanted to achieve.

 

I ended up choosing Dr. Lindsey in McClean, VA. My wife and I drove 3 hours to his office for my initial consult in early January. Dr. Lindsey felt that I would need 1500 to 1800 grafts to restore my mature hairline. I have very fine straight hair… so we walked through pictures of past clients with hair characteristics similar to me. We discussed risks, the process, and what to expect. He was extremely approachable, down to earth, and candid. We took a tour of his facilities and even spoke with a gentleman in the process of getting a transplant that day. I really valued that. I went home, slept on it, and called him the following day booking my surgery for February 8, 2013.

 

My wife and I stayed in a nearby hotel the night before my surgery. I did not sleep too well that night… it was a weird mix of being excited, nervous, and sleeping in a strange bed. We arrived at the office at 8:00am, signed all the paperwork, agreed on my hairline placement, and took some Valium. Then the surgery began.

 

Step 1: Shaving and numbing the donor site… that was a piece of cake.

 

Step 2: Removing the donor strip and sewing me up… I felt the tugging a bit as the strip was being removed… strange feeling, but not painful. Fortunately, Dr. Lindsey noted that I have really dense hair in my donor area which meant I only needed a skinny strip removed… less chance of tension and scar stretching… and lots of additional hair in the bank for the future if needed. Stitching me up was uneventful.

 

Step 3: Shaving and numbing the recipient site… not bad either.

 

Step 4: Doc makes the slits… did not feel a thing.

 

Step 5: Wendy and Chi Chi place the grafts… this was the longest part of the day. Both ladies were fantastic. They held great conversation and were very attentive to their work. One stood on either side of me placing the grafts each working their way towards the middle of my head. This lasted until about 2:00pm. I was then able to grab a quick 15 minute lunch.

 

Step 6: Wait! We have hair left over… the technicians still had more grafts, so Dr. Lindsey came back and added more slits to my head. Wendy and Chi Chi then placed the grafts. By 3:30pm I was in my car heading home.

 

In the end, I received 2300 grafts… 500 more than the 1800 we had expected. These 2300 grafts equaled about 3800 hairs adding up all the 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s. To his credit, Dr. Lindsey only charged me for 1800 grafts… he kindly gave me the extra 500 for free. I spent the week following his post-op instructions… babying my new hair and keeping it safe. I saw three lost hairs and one graft during the week… and I flipped out each time… even though I know that in the big picture this is nothing. Dr. Lindsey was lightning fast at replying to several emails with questions and concerns I sent him during the week. I returned to VA yesterday for my one week follow-up to have my stitches removed and for a general check-up. Both the incision and the recipient site looked very good. I’m still scabby… but time will take care of that.

 

Three last things. First, I’ve included some pictures. I start off pre-op showing my hair, following by the new hairline location, incision and strip, then the slits and grafts, concluding with my one week recipient and incision sites. Second, I’m a big gym rat. I’ve read all the threads here noting all the differing opinions regarding when and how to get back into lifting after transplant surgery… the concern being that it’s important to protect your investment and not stretch your scar. It amazed me how diverse the opinions were. I timed my surgery so that I was ready for some time off from lifting, but I was thinking in terms of weeks off, not months. Dr. Lindsey told me I could start back immediately… no need to wait longer… and no need to stay light… I repeated my question… and he confirmed… no need to wait. He said anything like crunches, behind the head pulldowns, or movements that cause pain should be avoided… other than that, no restrictions. I guess I still want to play it a bit more conservatively. I’m going to wait one more week, then start off a bit lighter… correcting any time I feel pain or tension in my incision. Lastly, a big “Thank You” to Dr. Lindsey and his team. They were professional, informative, and friendly. No regrets at all.

 

Now, it’s all about the waiting…

Edited February 16, 2013 by HappyValley

[Blake Bloxham]

Congratulations! Dr Lindsey is great, and I'm excited to see your results progress.

[HappyValley]

Thank you Blake.

 

I'll post progress pics.

[Raphael84]

Nice write up! Great choice of Doc. Your hair was pretty great to begin with, so with those extra grafts up front you are well set! Congratulations and good luck with everything!

[HappyValley]

Thanks Raphael84.

 

I see you just hit the 4 month mark for your own HT... exciting times.

 

Best of luck to you as well!

[slimjim]

I liked your write up. Its looks like he did a great job! Looking forward to seeing future photos.

 

__________

 

2900 FUT with Dr.Alexander on 11-19-12

[HappyValley]

Thanks slimjim.

 

I see you are in the early stages of HT as well.

 

I hope you also had a good experience and your new hair grows quick and thick.

 

Best of luck.

[ThinToWin]

Hey HV --

 

Thanks for following through with your accounting of your HT experience with Dr. L. Your day went exactly as mine did.

 

Looks like you started this process with a lot more hair than I did. Your new hairline is going to be awesome.

 

I head to see Lindsey this Friday for a one-month scar check. I started some light lifting this past week, and I go away on a 4-day golf trip the last week of the month, so I'm wanting to make sure that everything is on track before the trip.

 

Glad to hear your experience was good. It's always refreshing when experiences line up with expectations.

 

And now we wait!

Edited February 17, 2013 by ThinToWin
Typos!

[HappyValley]

Thanks ThinToWin...

 

Yes... it is great when experiences line up with expectations... and the really comforting thing is that I have never heard anything but praise and appreciation for Dr. Lindsey's team and results.

 

How did the lifting feel... any tension in the scar area? Anything you avoided to be safe?

 

Best of luck this Friday on the scar check up... Dr. Lindsey gave me strict instructions "not to stretch his scar".

 

Best.

[ThinToWin]

Haha! He gave me those instructions, too!

 

I've only gone light with the lifting, and only just some dumbbell curls and some dumbbell triceps extensions. I don't think I felt anything in the scar area-- but, then again, I lifted to make sure that I didn't (and would have stopped if I did). I guess I really concentrated on using only the arms and not involving any other muscles. Maybe a HT is good for lifting form!

 

When I first put my head on my pillow at night, it's still feels a bit sore at the scar. I can't imagine that it would feel good to lay your head against a bench. I'd be inclined to avoid bench-pressing for a while. The bottom line is that I'm being cautious here, at least until I see Dr. L on Friday. I play in an inline hockey league, and whereas it's killing me not to play, I'm sitting out until I'm really in the clear -- and I'll be looking to Dr. Lindsey for that all-clear. Right now, I suspect my helmet is going to sit right on the recipient site, and also right at or above the scar. I don't want my helmet rubbing/banging around either area just yet. After all, with the idea that you can't really "undo" damage to the scar, I'm going to give myself time before going all-out with lifting and/or hockey.

[HappyValley]

Thank you Spex!

 

Your initial assistance with helping me with my decision to go with Dr. Lindsey was much appreciated.

[HappyValley]

Well, I just passed the 15 day mark.

 

All the scabs are off, except for a rather large one on the upper left side of my forehead. It bled pretty good the day of surgery... and it oozed all the way into day 5. The scab came off last night after some soaking and it was obvious there was a small "depression". It soon filled up with a new smaller and lighter scab... must have been some pretty good scalp trauma there... hope my hair grows there... anyone have any experience with something like this? :eek:

 

I got a sorely needed haircut today... you can see I have barely enough bangs left over from the "surgery day clipper attack" so that my recipient area is 90% hidden.

 

Scarline doing well... very little soreness. My hair hides this with no problem. The top of my skull still has some numbness, but even that appears to have diminished a bit in the past two weeks.

 

Attached are some pics showing the scar, my hair hiding the scar, the recipient area, and my bangs hiding the recipient area.

 

Long road ahead...

[HappyValley]

It will be 5 weeks since the HT this Friday. I have barely enough hair to cover the recipent area. Most of the transplanted hairs have been lost and the redness has really subsided. Its still kind of pink, but very light, except for two or three places that had some really bad scabbing which are still sort of red. The incision site is really looking good, imo.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Looking as it should in a redish complected fellow 5 weeks out. Please do the vitamin E to the scar for another month and try to come down for a visit at some point. And of course if there are any problems its easy to find me.

 

Thanks for the update and sorry you all can't make it down tomorrow.

 

Dr. Lindsey

[HappyValley]

Yesterday was the 11 week milestone since my HT... lots of pics below. 90% of the redness and numbness in the recipient site is gone. The incision is really starting to fade... just a little red on the right side and very little shock loss. You can't even tell I have an incision when you look at the pic showing the back of my head.

 

Much of the hair in my central hairline tuft has regrown... and I'm starting to see some really fine hairs grow in the areas to the right and left of it that had no hair before the transplant. The right side seems to be leading the way a little bit. I know its way early, but I'm excited for good things to come!

[Raymond2013]

Oh man you're about to sprout out big time! Looking forward to seeing the updates in the coming months. Everything looks very good IMO

[ThinToWin]

HV -- As you may recall, I'm just a couple of weeks ahead of you (it was 3 months/13 weeks this past Friday for me), and my experience is very similar. I think my "native" hair was weaker (or at least thinner) than yours, but it's coming back in as well. I'd say that @ 3 weeks ago my recipient area was still pretty bare, but now when I'm out of the shower my native hair is in/long enough to see it well when it's wet. That, and I can see the formation of the new hairline on the left side of my head. It was NOT there before the HT, and now I can see where it will be. Like you and others, I'm seeing that hairline more on one side than the other -- but just the fact that I'm seeing it at all after just 3 months is really exciting.

 

My shaved/recipient area was the entire front half of my head, unlike where you had a decent tuft to work around in your case. I've been coming hair at the crown forward for some coverage during this time, and now it has some native hair to "stick to" and blend in with a bit.

 

It looks like exciting times are just ahead.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Thanks for the update. Just be patient. And it will start and then you'll be psyched, then it will be slow for a while, and you'll be wondering what's up.

 

Stay in touch and come down and visit this summer.

 

Dr. L

[HappyValley]

Today is 4 months since my HT... check out the latest pics below. Just a tiny bit of redness and one small spot of slight numbness in the recipient site. Wow, the recipient hair has really started to sprout compared to month 3. I almost have a hairline once again. Its really exciting... still hoping much more to come! The incision is almost white with just a few spots of pink. You'd never know I had an incision looking at the hair on the back of my head.

[ThinToWin]

Looks great! It's amazing what I'm seeing just past 4 months now. I comb my hair forward from the back still, but I'm blending it in with a new hairline now. It's very exciting.

 

I promised myself (and Dr. L) that I'd post pics on my own thread. I'll make sure I get some good pics this weekend and add them.

 

Lookin' good!

[HappyValley]

Thanks ThinToWin... glad to hear your progress is going well!

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Thanks for the update. I hope you are having a good early summer out there and avoiding that stormy weather.

 

Dr. Lindsey

[RCKHair]

looking good, alot more to come!

[HappyValley]

Tommorow is the 5 month mark. Scar is almost invisible. All numbness is gone. Hair definately thickening in the recipient area. Last pic is my hairline before the procedure. I'm happy with the progress so far, just hoping for more density up front over the coming months. :rolleyes:

Edited July 7, 2013 by HappyValley

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Thanks for the update. I'll look forward to another in a few months.

 

Dr. L