December 19th 2008 Dr. Rahal Procedure

[Johnnywalker81]

Well I've finally had my hair transplant!!!!!

 

This link is to my web blog where you can find photos and further updates.

 

http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...-page.asp?WebID=1051

 

Here are the details. I drove to Ottawa Canada on Wednesday December 17th, 2008 and booked a room at the Adams Airport Inn. I will be staying for 2 weeks and departing on Friday January 2nd, 2009 after my sutures are removed.

 

I went in for my preop on Thursday December 18th, 2008 at 3:15 pm but got there a little early. After filling out some paperwork I spoke with Adrian and Dr. Rahal. It was great to finally meet them because I've had to reschedule this transplant twice over the course of close to 2 years. Since that time I have had plenty of correspondence with Adrian and Dr. Rahal (most of which was through Adrian). All I can say is they were great!

 

During my consult we discussed my desire to refine my hairline and add density behind the hairline to an area previously transplanted at about 50 or so grafts per cm bumping it up to 80. Also the temple points that were previously transplanted had a slight gap between where they were transplanted and the native hairs were. Another goal was to transplant to the midscalp where some native hairs were miniaturizing. The final goal was to create a slight jagged widow's peak much like the one actor Christian Bale posesses.

 

I had two previous donor scars. One from a local physician in the area I used to live. This scar was smaller and lower on the scalp and the surgery produced little to no yield. The second was higher and longer (a good clean scar though) from a very successful procedure with Dr. Hasson.

 

Dr. Rahal listened very well and was very insightful with his way of describing how we could best achieve the results I was looking for. We listed graft yield as my primary objective with the state of the future scar being the secondary.

 

On the day of the surgery I arrived at the clinic at 6:30 am and Dr. Rahal and I talked again about my goals. He mentioned that after giving my case considerable thought the night before that he believed it was best to wait on transplanting into my midscalp and fight that battle another day as the density there was still pretty good. We could transplant there and lose some native hairs and be right back where we started. His reasoning was good and I agreed that we should focus on my other objectives and fight that fight another day.

 

So we decided on roughly 2500 grafts. After taking the strip my density was great and we instead yielded 3149!!!! He worked with my 2nd scar in the area that Dr. Hasson harvested from and said that my laxity was good and I should have a nice clean scar.

 

The surgery went well and I was back in the hotel by 6:00 pm. I did get fidgety sitting for so long but the girls were great as was Dr. Rahal. I really appreciated their patience. Dr. Rahal said that my skin and hair charactersitics made it easy to extract and place the grafts, I'm sure his skill level didn't hurt either!!!!

 

I will be in Ottawa for 2 weeks during the healing process.

 

Surgery Details: 3149 Grafts, 725 Single Hairs, 1713 Double Hairs, 711 Triple Hairs, Strip was 22.78 cm

[Bill - Seemiller]

Johnny,

 

Thanks for sharing your surgical experience with Dr. Rahal and for creating a hair loss blog to share your photos.

 

You're going to have a nice thick head of natural looking hair when it all grows in.

 

If you have any photos showing your donor area after surgery too, I'd love to see them.

 

Heal and grow well!

 

Bill

[DeDom]

Hi Johnny!

Everything looks great. Happy healing to you! Say hello to Sylvie at the front desk and especially to Moe!!!!!!! I'm the german guy who was in room 120 from November 1.-17. Do you have any pre OP photos from your second procedure with Dr. Hasson? As you said, you're surgery with him was successfull. So why did you chose Rahal for your third OP? And what is your new graft total?

[Hairy Bum]

Wow, my first impression is that prior to your transplant, your previous work with Hasson & Wong was excellent and thick by transplant standards. Why would both you and Rahal think you would possibly need over 3000 grafts to completely blanket an otherwise relatively dense area? You could have supplemented the areas with probably 1000 grafts or possibly less and get the same end results.

Its the illusion of thickness that make hair transplants possible. Youv've only just begun to lose your hair and probably won't have enough to cover your crown.

 

Anyway I hope I'm wrong and maybe you will be one of the lucky ones.

[Predator]

Congrats Johnny it will be great. I feel for you in the Adams over Christmas and New Year, at least everyone is friendly and don't care about your blue OP hat. If you feel up to it try to get Mo to drive you to a couple of pubs close to the Adams. I went out on the first night in Ottawa, with jetlag, before my consultation. I regretted not getting out after the OP, but due to extensive swelling there was no chance having "Wolfman" go out on the town

Yout HT is an agressive solution, but I don't think Dr Rahal would have gone along with it if he had had his concerns about future yield

Good Luck

Pred