Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 13, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 13, 2015 Hey everyone, I had my procedure with Dr. Rahal on April 10 and am currently 3 days post-op. I will be receiving my pictures from the clinic on Thursday - official pre-op, post-op -pictures so I won't bother digging up any more than my current 3-day post op pics I captured with my laptop camera. I can only say great things about Dr. Rahal and his staff. His staff have incredible endurance, patience and professionalism. After this experience I wouldn't consider anywhere else for any future procedures. Feel free to ask me any questions about my individual experience thus far. Have met with 3 additional Rahal patients while here and they have nothing but glowing comments regarding the clinic as well. Should add a few details - I had all my grafts placed in the frontal third. I have no crown thinning whatsoever, only deep temple recession and some miniaturization I was concerned about on the right side of the front forelock which was going to say 'bye-bye' in a few years. I did get the hairline lowered from where it was previously as well as have the temples closed. I also asked for a small widow's peak as I have always like the look of those but didn't actually have one in my natural hairline. The pictures that I receive on Thursday should show the extent of my balding pattern as well as images of the donor area after surgery - so I won't laboriously try to take pictures of that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Rsilva5 Posted April 14, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 14, 2015 Looks solid and dense packed mate!! Nice hairline as well. Happy growing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 14, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 14, 2015 Thanks. Looking forward to following your results as time progresses. Always interested to see people who are ahead of the game and see where I am headed. Looks solid and dense packed mate!! Nice hairline as well. Happy growing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member TakingThePlunge Posted April 14, 2015 Senior Member Share Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) Congratulations! Love the hairline design. Looking forward to following your progress. Edited August 18, 2015 by David - Moderator 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 Rawkerboi Posted April 14, 2015 Senior Member Share Posted April 14, 2015 Had fun in Amberwood Guesthouse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member MusoInOz Posted April 14, 2015 Senior Member Share Posted April 14, 2015 Dude that looks like some killer work! So very keen to see this grow out! Thanks for your write up to its was great! Good to see some new Rahal procedures on the Board from patients like yourself. "The road to success is always under construction" :cool: I represent Dr Rahal and the associated clinic as a paid patient advisor. I am also here to assist fellow Australian/NZ Hair Loss sufferers both on and off the forum. Contact: mbhounslow@gmail.com - Mike. Hair Transplant Surgery: June 3rd 2011 2800 Grafts to frontal 1/3 By Dr Rahal in Ottawa, Canada Current Hair Loss Arsenal: Dutas .5mg every day 1.5 years and Proscar 5mg (Cut into 1/4): x1 Daily 10 years Hair-A-Gain Generic Minox: x2 Daily 13 years (Applied wet in mornings) Other Random products put to use during my hair loss battle (not in use): Spiro Cream 5mg Minox 15% Dr Proctor's Nano Shampoo Various Herbal supplements Toppik/ Nanogen Saw Palmetto Provillus - LOL Nanogen Shampoo Laser Treatments (Epic Fail) 10 long years of HT and general HL research.:cool: *I am not a medical professional, I only offer my own advice from personal experiences and years of detailed research* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 14, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 14, 2015 Thanks for everyone's kind words of encouragement and support. It is much appreciated when taking a plunge like this. I thought since the forum has helped me so much, particularly the high volume of Rahal patients posting back when I was considering my HT I would give back during a bit of a dry spell - in regards to forum posts - for the clinic. The clinic itself is super busy. Special thanks to Ftbpicks for his blog and routine updates which I watched keenly as he was also FUE in the 2500 graft range with a Norwood 3 range. Rawkerboi: They have actually moved the guest house to the 'Rahal campus' complex so it is in the same complex as the clinic. It is quite nice, modern though I can't compare it to the previous location as I hadn't ever stayed there. It's really the way to go, and Mahesh, who tends to the guesthouse is super nice and accommodating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 16, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 16, 2015 Things that bothered me - 1) Deep temple recession, particularly on the Right side, 2) high forehead, 3) Minaturized hairs in the forelock that were definitely going to be gone and progressive my recession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 16, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 16, 2015 Dr. Rahal designed the hairline and got it perfect for me at first pass. Only thing I added was the addition of a widow's peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 16, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 16, 2015 5 days post op FUE. Any perceived gaps between the native hair and recipient area are merely where they shaved down my native hair with a razor to integrate the native and grafted hairs, so there are actually no gaps - just where down to the skin shaving was done vs the head shaving with clippers else where. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 16, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 16, 2015 Healing of donor area - Post op day 1, 3, and 5. You can see how quickly the donor heals if you follow the post op directions closely, eat well, go for walks, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member ftbpicks Posted April 16, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 16, 2015 5 days post op FUE. Any perceived gaps between the native hair and recipient area are merely where they shaved down my native hair with a razor to integrate the native and grafted hairs, so there are actually no gaps - just where down to the skin shaving was done vs the head shaving with clippers else where. Yeah I thought the same thing with my surgery but its what they do to make the work precise and blending easier that way for the future growth. Looks really good and can't wait to see you updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 17, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 17, 2015 Yeah I thought the same thing with my surgery but its what they do to make the work precise and blending easier that way for the future growth. Looks really good and can't wait to see you updates. Thanks ftbpicks! Will update at 2 weeks, then monthly afterwards like yourself. Wish I could already be at the 6+ month mark where you are but oh well it's a process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HealFolicles Posted April 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 did you have a lot of facial swelling after the operation. did the doc say why they had to shave your whole head Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 19, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 did you have a lot of facial swelling after the operation. did the doc say why they had to shave your whole head No I wouldn't say that I had a lot. Mild to moderate. See the attached pics comparing days 1 to 5 post op. You can see the areas in which I had swelling post op day 1 and the swelling moves down into lower parts of your face later. I was spared in my eyes, so I was happy about that. I used compression on my forehead with a cylindrical object and slowly moved the fluid off to the side a few times through out the first few evenings. Much like boxer's coaches/cut doctors move swelling in the forehead away from the eyes. Even my wife didn't notice much facial swelling besides in the forehead. It did take a good 6 days to be totally back to myself but post op day 5 is hardly noticeable in my case. I fared MUCH better than two guys who had FUT done, with the big scar on the back for swelling as well as pain control - FUE is definitely better tolerated from those two factors. I had the option of just shaving the donor area and recipient area however I would have looked like an idiot with a huge chunk shaved out from the back and the front shaved down. The nurse told me many people who opt to for only partial shaving end up coming back the next day for their entire head shaved because it looks stupid just partially shaved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member thewalker431 Posted April 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 Hello zx_roth, What a coincidence that I came across your HT journey right when I was thinking about contacting Dr. Rahal. Would it be okay if you could share the cost of HT? I'd contacted Dr. Bhatti but got a rude awakening when he said "You seem to have diffuse alopecia and that does not make you an ideal candidate for a hair transplant." Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HealFolicles Posted April 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 Hello zx_roth, What a coincidence that I came across your HT journey right when I was thinking about contacting Dr. Rahal. Would it be okay if you could share the cost of HT? I'd contacted Dr. Bhatti but got a rude awakening when he said "You seem to have diffuse alopecia and that does not make you an ideal candidate for a hair transplant." Thank you. dont lock yourself to the first docs opinion, you should talk to a few different docs for their opinions. fue should be around $5/graph or less, this also depends on how expensive the location of the clinic is to lease. these docs know there's a lot of fue competition out there and you can bargain on the price after you've settled on the total number of graphs(everyone's making more than $100k/yr so they will give you a discount to get your business and fill in empty days that are vacant), but i wouldnt want to piss them off by low balling too much cause it's their service you need in the end. they should offer you a discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member thewalker431 Posted April 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 I definitely don't wish to lowball but I can't really afford to spend 10-15k on hair transplant either. But thank you for your advice. I've also contacted Dr. Hakan (he was pretty expensive, 13-14k) and Dr. Dua. But Dr. Dua recommended FUT. I don't wish to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HealFolicles Posted April 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 I definitely don't wish to lowball but I can't really afford to spend 10-15k on hair transplant either. But thank you for your advice. I've also contacted Dr. Hakan (he was pretty expensive, 13-14k) and Dr. Dua. But Dr. Dua recommended FUT. I don't wish to do that. maybe you can spend whatever it is you can spend for now and get however many graphs, then in the future do it again when you save more money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HealFolicles Posted April 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 which location did you get this Rahal HT done? did Rahal actually have a hand in the procedure? how many ppl in total worked on you? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DaveyB Posted April 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 This looks really promising zx. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 19, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 Hello zx_roth, What a coincidence that I came across your HT journey right when I was thinking about contacting Dr. Rahal. Would it be okay if you could share the cost of HT? I'd contacted Dr. Bhatti but got a rude awakening when he said "You seem to have diffuse alopecia and that does not make you an ideal candidate for a hair transplant." Thank you. I sent you a PM which location did you get this Rahal HT done?did Rahal actually have a hand in the procedure? how many ppl in total worked on you? Thanks. My understanding is he only does surgery in the Ottawa clinic. The other clinics are for consultations only. Perhaps one of the reps can chime in. Yes, Dr. Rahal did the hairline design, some initial graft extractions though the senior nurse/tech seemed to do most of this and Dr. Rahal did initial graft placementsand final adjustments. He oversaw the procedure as the day went on to make sure things were progressing. I was facing towards the TV so I couldn't see how many people were in total in the room at all times but seemed to be between 3-6 people at various times - graft counts, graft placement, etc. It was busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 19, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 19, 2015 This looks really promising zx. Best of luck! Thanks. I am of course hoping for a great result I have been spraying the grafts on an hourly basis for the past 9 days on the advice of the clinic because my scabbing/grafts seem to get dry quickly - this is in comparison to the usual 2 hour interval. So with all this effort, cost and waiting I hope the result is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member zx_toth Posted April 22, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 22, 2015 Here is my graft breakdown for anyone interested. I don't have the square cm's listed on it but I believe my area filled was 48 cm2. 60 graft per cm2 up front with decreasing density going backwards. I had asked if there was any advantage to increasing the number of grafts used by a few hundred to maintain 60 grafts per cm2 but Dr Rahal stated that there wasn't any aesthetic value in this due to the grafts placed behind the hairline would be larger follicular units (2s,3s,4s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horizon85 Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Hey, thanks for posting about your procedure with Dr. Rahal. I agree the placement of the grafts look like you will have some pretty amazing density! And I love the hairline design with the widow's peak. I will be having my FUE procedure with Dr. Rahal on Monday and am hoping he can design a somewhat similar looking hairline for me as well. And it sounds like you had a great experience at the clinic and with Dr. Rahal and his staff, which is very encouraging to hear. It's reassuring to hear such great reviews and feel like I definitely made the right decision in choosing him for my transplant. Thanks again for sharing. I'll definitely be following you for updates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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