Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 27, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 OK! So this is HT #2. Again, just as I did 2 years and 4 months ago, I'm coming to you live from the office, and this time I have a new smart phone and a new goal, and will be posting at regular intervals. Last time we pretty much restored all of my frontal third, without really lowering my hairline much; this time, it's all about the frontal hairline: Strengthening and thickening the front lines, and slightly blunting the temporal points. Here's the goal zone we've mapped out: My original goal may have been sightly ambitious, but we'll get fairly close: And hopefully we'll blunt those Nicholas-Cage-esque temporal points just a ad bit as well... Whooo... Getting spacey from the two Valium I ingested in order to stave off the fear of the needles, of which I am desperately and inexplicably disturbed by I've pre-paid for 1,500 grafts, but I have retained about $2,000 cash, should we need more grafts. 1500 grafts, all devoted to nothing but the frontal hairline. This will be epic if all goes well, and I'm confident that it will. About to proceed to the surgery room in a few minutes. Stay tuned throughout today, all the way up until I get back to my hotel room, for evolving updates as we proceed. Here's to an optimistic future! -Othersyde 1 Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Spanker Posted March 27, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) I am sure that this picture is less flattering than real life. The front does look a little thin and I thought that you were being craziy for getting another HT, but now I can see why you wanted to beef things up. Are you shaving down? Edited March 27, 2013 by Spanker I am an online representative for Dr. Raymond Konior who is an elite member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. View Dr. Konior's Website View Spanker's Website I am not a medical professional and my opinions should not be taken as medical advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 27, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 We are shaving down the frontal area wherethe grafts will be going... Here are a few pics so far... One is a pic of my fresh donor scar, taken literally about 2 minutes after sutures were finished. Completely painless - once finished with those pesky anesthetic needle injections of course The other pic is of Dr. Gabel making his custom 0.73 (for single grafts) and 0.90 (for doubles/triples) blades just before beginning to poke holes at the recipient site, which is painlessly happening as I am typing this Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 27, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 Moving right along... Nearly 900 holes poked and its only 11:07 am. Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairthere Posted March 27, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 Live updates....cool idea! You'll be out of there in no time. I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member greatjob Posted March 27, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 This is pretty awesome!! Good luck man!! You're not alone in your fear of needles, I would rather get hit in the head with a baseball bat than get a shot, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member lorenzo Posted March 27, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 Good luck. Although I think you need around 2200 and 2500 grafts to address that area especially with hair calibre of .73. Hopefully you were able to get more hair. Once again good luck! Representative for Hasson & Wong. Dr. Victor Hasson and Dr. Jerry Wong are esteemed members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. My opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hasson & Wong. My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Hasson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 27, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 Well so far, we' e extracted about 1,400 grafts. More would certainly be needed if we were trying to significantly lower my hairline and create a whole new one from scratch, but we're only ever-so-slightly lowering my hairline, and mostly just filling in some slightly sparse frontal areas that aleady have a fair amount of hair, i think we'll be alright, although we can get a few more extracted if ultimately needed. Just finished lunch... Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 OtherSyde, That's great that you're posting live from Dr. Gabel's office. Please tell Dr. Gabel and his dedicated staff that Bill from the Hair Transplant Network says hello. You are in expert hands so just relax and enjoy your day at the clinic :-). We look forward to seeing your surgical pictures after the surgery is complete. Best wishes, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 27, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) Alright! Dr. Gabel does this ingenious thing. After poking all the holes in a super-dense area, in order to avoid missing any during graft placement, he paints the scalp with non-toxic bluish-purple dye. He then wipes away the surface dye, leaving all the little holes lit up like high-contrast beacons. So far the official count is up over 1,500 grafts, and slowly rising. Shortly I will post some more pics as graft placement progresses; here are a few of the dye technique in action... Stay tuned for more! 1,000 grafts have been placed (not in the pics above), I will soon be posting pics of that... Edited March 28, 2013 by OtherSyde Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 27, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) OK, we're back in the surgery room. Dr. Gabel's been in here working on my head, including line-drawing, hole-poking, and graft placement for upwards of eight hours now; the guy is dedicated. Here, he and Crissi are wearing surgical magnifying loupes with 4.5x magnification power to aid in detailed graft placement. I got a brief glance in the mirror at my grafts thus-far placed, and they are looking great! Edited March 28, 2013 by OtherSyde Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member lorenzo Posted March 27, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 27, 2013 I misunderstood I though you were doing the temples as well. So 1500 is a good number. Representative for Hasson & Wong. Dr. Victor Hasson and Dr. Jerry Wong are esteemed members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. My opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hasson & Wong. My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Hasson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 28, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 Well, we did just a little of the temple area by curving the hairline downward in the temple area, but didn't place any grafts in the actual temporal points. The final graft count, as far as I know so far, turned out to be 1,554. [EDIT] - I'm heading back to my hotel now... I will post several more pics and some more info once I get back there, before I go to bed. Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member SADbutTRUE Posted March 28, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 heal well and good growth to ypu, dr gabel is a top doc, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 28, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 Alrighty then. Got some detailed post-op pics, but keep in mind they are only about 2 hours post-op; so please excuse the slight bloodiness (my head was thoroughly cleaned before I left the office, but a little more bleeding occurred; it's stopped now). 2 hours post-op after first HT 2 years ago (also with Dr. Gabel): Initial prognosis is that although the hairline has only ever-so-slightly moved forward, the most important thing is that in my first HT, 1,775 grafts were spread all over the whole frontal region of my scalp, leaving my hairline ultimately fairly thin and a bit patchy as a result... A month or so before 2nd HT: This time, with 1,554 grafts, ALL of the grafts have been concentrated in that relatively narrow strip around my hairline, with some extra density being focused on the very center for styling purposes, as well as the tip of the widows peak being slightly lowered, thickened, and widened so you can't see the backward-sweeping curvature of my skull when looking at my side profile. Overall, I think this will pretty much round out my hair situation, and I'm pretty happy with it. Now comes the waiting/healing part. Soon I will eat some pain meds and get some sleep - but before that though, I will post a few more pics that might interest everyone! Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Spanker Posted March 28, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 That will look good man. I like the combed back Elvis look. I am an online representative for Dr. Raymond Konior who is an elite member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. View Dr. Konior's Website View Spanker's Website I am not a medical professional and my opinions should not be taken as medical advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 28, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 Dr. Gabel showed me around the office and discussed some of the tech he uses during the lunch break. I had no idea of this, but apparently he makes his own blades with a machine design to slice razor blades into narrow strips, with the width being adjustable using the little blue knob on the side of it... ^^Also notice the counter, which, like all of the counters in the office, is covered with plastic protective wrap for sanitary purposes. He makes a whole bunch of blades of varying sizes, for various sizes of follicle units (singles, double, triples, etc.) and uses them as needed, constantly changing them as they start to get dull after poking several hundred holes in your head... Each blade is held in a locked pair of forceps, with a certain length of blade sticking out (3-4mm in my case)... So THIS is how they keep track of all the different numbers and sizes of follicular units... The temperature of the grafts is carefully monitored: Finally, after I was done, Dr. Gabel gave me a ride back to my hotel; I had a rental car, but got a taxi to his office because I knew I'd be eating pain killers and Valium later and probably shouldn't be driving around - I mean, wouldn't it be terrible if I got in a fiery twelve-car pile-up which caused my air-bag to deploy and mess up all my new grafts?!?! Horrible! Also, Dr. Gabel has tasteful art in his office. Great day overall! Not a single complaint. I don't think anyone will disagree with me when I say that Dr. Gabel and his team, on top of being a very amicable and sociable group, are one hell of an efficient and highly skilled team. Anyone on the West Coast (or even the Midwest or Southwest, or even Hawaii for that matter) ought to at least have them in their top 3 considerations. Between skill, patient care, extremely reasonable pricing, and genuine concern for a patient's best interests (i.e. - not trying to up-sell 2,200 grafts when 1,600 would do fine), I really can't think of any reason someone wouldn't pick them. My experiences are repeatedly awesome. Well, that's about it for tonight folks. I'm sure Dr. Gabel will eventually post some of his own hi-res pics (we took like 40) in the other forum (the one for doctor-posted patient results). I'm going to get some sleep. Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member lorenzo Posted March 28, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 That machine was designed for lateral slits originally for Hasson and Wong by the father of an ex employees (that's what I understand) . Your hair transplant looks good. Good luck. Representative for Hasson & Wong. Dr. Victor Hasson and Dr. Jerry Wong are esteemed members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. My opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hasson & Wong. My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Hasson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 28, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 That machine was designed for lateral slits originally for Hasson and Wong by the father of an ex employees (that's what I understand) . Your hair transplant looks good. Good luck. Nice. I didn't even know the things existed; I thought HT surgeons just ordered their blades from some kind of wholesaler or something. Gotta love those independent designers/inventors - they really help niche industries like the HT world a lot. I almost went for Hasson & Wong way back before my first HT when I lived in Washington state - I think the only reason I was put off by them was the idea of having to travel to B.C. and navigate an unknown world, while Dr. Gabel was less than 20 miles from me in Seattle. I'm sure H&W would have been a top-notch choice as well, although I am glad I went with Dr. Gabel. Thanks for the props too! Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member lorenzo Posted March 28, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 Dr. Gabel is a great doctor and also seems to be a great guy. I look forward to seeing your results. Representative for Hasson & Wong. Dr. Victor Hasson and Dr. Jerry Wong are esteemed members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. My opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hasson & Wong. My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Hasson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Biz Posted March 28, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 Great summary OtherSyde...brings back memories of just 4 weeks ago! You reminded me again of what a great team Dr. Gabel has put together. Look forward to seeing your finished results in the months ahead. View my Hair Loss Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member TakingThePlunge Posted March 28, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 OtherSyde, Congratulations on your latest procedure! Dr. Gabel is a class act and the work looks brilliant. Can't wait to see how if fills in for you. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. David - Former Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice. View my Hair Loss Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Eman Posted March 28, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 Great idea...it was fun to follow. Thanks for sharing and look forward to seeing your progress! My initial HT thread: done and done!! Check it out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairthere Posted March 28, 2013 Senior Member Share Posted March 28, 2013 Good growing! I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member OtherSyde Posted March 29, 2013 Author Senior Member Share Posted March 29, 2013 (edited) [Moved to new thread - One Day Post-Op - Dr. Gabel 1,554 FUT] Edited March 29, 2013 by OtherSyde Blog: Dr. Gabel Thrice (2010, 2013, 2016) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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