Second HT with Ron Shapiro, 2358 grafts

[Bertie]

I have just had my second HT with Ron Shapiro. I had my first HT with Ron Shapiro in July 2013, which consisted of 3632 grafts. This greatly improved my hair’s overall look, but frustratingly I still had thin areas at the temples and crown. Ron had implanted most of the grafts in the frontal core of the head, explaining that this would enable me to brush my hair down to cover my temples, which would work with my fringe hair style. I had hoped, perhaps naively, that a single transplant would attend to all areas, but I understood why he gave priority to the frontal core area; the result looked very natural. However, I now wanted more and fortunately had enough donor hair for a second op.

 

I arranged my HT at the very beginning of my long school summer break; I’m lucky in being a school teacher as I have 7-8 weeks time for the HT and recovery. I flew out (from Heathrow-London to Minneapolis) for my HT scheduled for Mon. July 13, staying in the same hotel as for my previous op., ‘Country Inn and Suites’, which was very comfortable and situated only a 10 min walk away from Shapiro’s. However, on the day of the op., I awoke with an awful migraine. As a frequent migraine sufferer, I knew it would stick with me for the whole day, and the thought of having my head operated on during a migraine was daunting, to say the least! Nevertheless, having flown half way across the world, I couldn’t allow myself to be put off by mere illness and decided I’d just have to tough it out. Fortunately, Ron and his staff were very understanding and when it became clear how ill I was, my HT was shifted to Wednesday, the day before I returned to the UK; luckily, I’d arranged a four-day trip and was very grateful that Ron adjusted his timetable to fit me in.

 

As expected, my migraine lasted only a day, and on the next day (Tuesday) I visited Shapiro’s to discuss my HT requirements. The discussion, which continued during a photo session, lasted over an hour. In addition to work on my crown, we discussed my wish to have more hair at the temples to give me less of a receded look. Ron explained how he would bring the temporal hairline forward while also building up the hairline, but emphasized that I didn’t need to have it brought forward very much; to illustrate this he showed me pictures of male models (including David Beckham), to show that there is typically a straight line from the front edge of the side-burn to the ‘temporal point’ (top edge of the temporal hairline). I also pointed out that I’d like to have the option of parting my hair on the left side, and remarked that I had some thin areas at the side where I would part my hair. Ron said it was common for men to have thinness in the side ‘allies’ stretching up to the crown and said he would insert grafts in these areas if he saw any gaps (especially on the left side where I parted my hair). We also discussed ACELL, which he recommended, and I agreed to have. He then drew in his proposed hairline which I was happy with.

 

I had the HT operation on Wednesday 15 July, and everything went smoothly, with little pain or discomfort. I was quite concerned about my back as I’d had recent problems with a herniated disc and thought that lying in one position for so long could aggravate the problem. For this reason the nurses gave a me a few Valium pills, which made me sleep through most of the operation. After the op. I was pleased to see that much of my frontal hair remained (vital to help disguise the op) and that the hairline and crown looked good. I made sure that I applied ice to my forehead as I’d swollen up a lot in my previous HT. One of the nurses also placed a plaster band across my forehead, which was supposed to help against swelling; fortunately, I didn’t have any swelling on this occasion. I also slept quite well considering, although the staples were quite uncomfortable until I had them removed 12 days later.

 

I visited the clinic on the following day for a hair wash. Later in the day, I caught the 10pm flight back to London-Heathrow. I had no problems whatsoever, and was able to apply the ATP solution in the plane’s toilet and also ice my forehead with a bag of ice provided by the plane staff.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Bertie

[BadBeat]

I think this is going to be a killer result. Happy growing!

[TakingThePlunge]

Congrats Bertie! This is going to look great. Please keep us updated on your progress.

[DancesWithHair]

Nice!

[aaron1234]

Looks amazing as expected from Dr. Ron. Totally anticipate an amazing result for you.

[orlhair1]

That should turn out great for you!!

[Bertie]

Well, I got to week 7 and with the school holidays over and teaching work about to resume, I dyed my hair - one week short of the 8 weeks advised by SMG. I assume this won't be a problem as I have noticed that most HT surgeons don't recommend as long as 8 weeks wait before dying the hair. As I am quite grey I used permanent hair dye.

 

With the dark brown hair colour I can better see the extent of my growth. I’m not sure but I think I may have suffered some shock loss, although my hair was quite thin in the crown before which is why I had the transplant. I realise it will be months yet before this area fills in, but until then I will need to use a concealer. I have been using Toppik. However, I find it very difficult to apply it as I can't see the crown area where I am shaking it onto. I am using a mobile barber to avoid the embarrassment of visiting a salon full of young gossiping girls. My barber very quickly applied the Toppik, but I'm sure I must have used 3 times as much powder as him just because I couldn't see the crown properly; applying it was very much hit and miss! I have a hand-held mirror and even tried a camcorder but I still think I need a better system to help me see where I should be applying the powder. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I am also interested in trying Nanogen as an alternative to Toppik. I have read that it works well on large crown areas (perhaps because the powder is thicker) and doesn't have the dulling effect on the hair that can be experienced with Toppik. I don't know if this is true, but I'll give it a go. Meanwhile, can anyone advise me on the best place to purchase Nanogen in the UK; I would like it to arrive quickly.

[destorius]

Hey fella! You can get Nanogen from some larger Boots stores. Good luck on the hair- should look ace!

[mav23100gunther]

Well, I got to week 7 and with the school holidays over and teaching work about to resume, I dyed my hair - one week short of the 8 weeks advised by SMG. I assume this won't be a problem as I have noticed that most HT surgeons don't recommend as long as 8 weeks wait before dying the hair. As I am quite grey I used permanent hair dye.

 

With the dark brown hair colour I can better see the extent of my growth. I’m not sure but I think I may have suffered some shock loss, although my hair was quite thin in the crown before which is why I had the transplant. I realise it will be months yet before this area fills in, but until then I will need to use a concealer. I have been using Toppik. However, I find it very difficult to apply it as I can't see the crown area where I am shaking it onto. I am using a mobile barber to avoid the embarrassment of visiting a salon full of young gossiping girls. My barber very quickly applied the Toppik, but I'm sure I must have used 3 times as much powder as him just because I couldn't see the crown properly; applying it was very much hit and miss! I have a hand-held mirror and even tried a camcorder but I still think I need a better system to help me see where I should be applying the powder. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I am also interested in trying Nanogen as an alternative to Toppik. I have read that it works well on large crown areas (perhaps because the powder is thicker) and doesn't have the dulling effect on the hair that can be experienced with Toppik. I don't know if this is true, but I'll give it a go. Meanwhile, can anyone advise me on the best place to purchase Nanogen in the UK; I would like it to arrive quickly.

 

Try the following: take your handhold mirror in one hand, the Toppik in another, go stand in front of a big mirror or the bathroom mirror. Now once in front of the mirror, turn around so your back is to the big mirror, raise your handhold mirror, and if you look into the handheld mirror, you will see the back of your crown, and you can now apply the Toppik. Works every time. I like using Fil-in-powder on my crown though. Matt Z recommended it, and it works great.

[Bertie]

Thanks for the advice. I'll work on my hand-held mirror technique, but I'm tempted to buy and fix one of those extendable wall-mounted swivel bathroom mirrors so I see well enough to apply the concealer powder to my crown.

 

Yes, Matt also told me about Fill-in powder, but I believe this works directly on the scalp like Dermatch, which may not be great, i.e. theoretical possibility of clogging up pores and affecting HT growth. But since I would only need to use it for two half days + one full day per week, I'm quite tempted to give it a go.