Update of FUT with Ron Shapiro, 2 years hence: second HT with Ron now planned

[Bertie]

(Please visit my 'Bertie' blog by clicking link at the bottom of this post, as I have just added loads of new photos on my blog to accompany this post)

 

I had 3632 grafts from Ron Shapiro on 7 July, 2013

 

I chose to wait for my hair transplant to mature completely before updating this blog. Two years on from my op with Ron Shapiro, I am now planning a second procedure with him, having booked an op. for July 13, 2015. I am posting up photos of my hair taken at monthly intervals from after 6 weeks. The pictures tell their own story, but I do judge the transplant a success and am grateful to Ron Shapiro for improving my hair.

 

I am pleased that the general thickness in the central area is much better than before my op. However, I am disappointed not to see much improvement at the sides and only a little difference at the crown. I had hoped to have only one transplant. It's quite a thing to have to go through another transplant, but I understand that it's common for patients to have a few transplants before they are happy.

 

In the pre-op discussion, Ron advised me not to bring the hairline down at the sides, saying that the increased thickness of hair would address my concerns. Had my hair grown thicker at the sides, I may not be considering a second op., but unfortunately the area is still thin. The overall look is much better as I can comb my now thicker hair in a fringe over my thin areas, but this means that I need to keep my hair quite long at the front; a shorter haircut reveals the temple recession which is not flattering to my rather long face.

 

I also had a consultation with Victor Hasson last November, who offered very helpful advice and suggested a treatment that would involve adding another 2500 to 3000 grafts (including 500 in the crown). I seriously considered Hasson as an alternative to Ron, but eventually decided to stay with Ron for the second op.

 

Ron says his main concern in the first op was to address the central area and core, and he thought that bringing down the hair at the temples would risk sacrificing density in the central area, leading to a more see-through, unnatural look. He now proposes to bring the temporal hairline forward, to have a slightly less acute angle going back to it and to start the bend a little further out. This will also involve building up the hair a little more in the area right behind this.

 

I’m having the op at the beginning of my summer break, and as a teacher am lucky to have about 7 weeks before needing to go back to work. But I want to keep this HT a secret, so wonder how I’ll look after the op. I don’t think I’ll need to shave down this time so can comb my fringe down to hide the work done, but I’m not sure how effective this will be. As my crown will need to be cut short (or shaved?) to have about 500 grafts inserted, it may mean the whole hair will need to be shaved, so I may end up looking like Friar Tuck! Last time I suffered a lot of shock loss, and it took 6 months before I felt OK to go out without a hat. That was tough, and I hope I have a much easier experience this time round.

 

I’d be interested in anyone’s thoughts, especially those who have had a second transplant with work done mostly at the temples and crown, as I’m about to have.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Bertie

[Tav1]

Your first HT was certainly a success based on your pictures, but I see where you are coming from now. Sorry if I'm not reading you correctly, but how many grafts did you decide on this time around? Is it 500, or did I miss something?

 

Cheers

[Bertie]

in Nov 2014 at a consultation with Hasson, he thought I'd require 2,500 -3,000 grafts including 500 grafts in my crown. Ron Shapiro says he suspects I'll need somewhat fewer grafts than this, but he says he'll only know for sure when he sees it up close.

[ModernHair]

in Nov 2014 at a consultation with Hasson, he thought I'd require 2,500 -3,000 grafts including 500 grafts in my crown. Ron Shapiro says he suspects I'll need somewhat fewer grafts than this, but he says he'll only know for sure when he sees it up close.

 

That seems like a lot to me - seems like you'd need far less. You definitely had a good result but from what I can tell, the way your new hairline was laid out with the grafts resulted in the gap in your temples. That said, with the right hair style, it would not be too noticeable at all.

 

I think you got a pretty outstanding result from where you started!

[Pete-from-Farjo]

Just checked out your blog. You appear to have had a really nice result from your first ht.

 

All the best with round two!