FUT Repair with Dr. Cooley

[Speran28]

Please see my other thread here for the original story:

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/187676-28-yr-frontal-transplant-~2100-graft-8-months.html

 

3 pictures are the night post-op from Dr. Cooley. The last is my picture from post-op the night of surgery with Mcgrath when I had it 1.5 years ago.

 

I just had my transplant with Dr. Cooley to fix my previous transplant from Dr. Mcgrath who did give me a 50% refund and apologized for the procedure. I did appreciate him doing that. However, in hindsight and after this experience I could not possibly recommend the clinic.

 

Dr. Cooley is beyond thorough and I can't thank him enough.

 

Here's how the day went.

 

He started by spending over 30 minutes discussing exactly what I wanted while actively encouraging me to show examples to him and explain all of my concerns

 

We then moved into his photo area where he himself took the photos (a tech took them in my last procedure). Then he spent ~30 minutes analyzing my hair from every angle, measuring my head and hairline, and discussing what may be needed as long as I was okay with it.

 

At the end of this, it was decided my hairline was created too low, with far too little density, along with grafts being thicker one hair grafts then he would have used. He later told me the procedure was more complex then he expected because of the high density I was looking for, the tough scar tissue, and over 200 grafts having to be removed all along my hairline with electrolysis to really clean it up and create a more appropriate hairline to match my head shape and facial structure. I can already tell! (those are the red splotches at the front). I'd prefer a higher hairline with more density any day over a lower one and thankfully he agreed.

 

After this discussion, we moved into his surgical room, he spent a long time carefully removing the strip and old scar. He had to take extra care because there was a lot of scar tissue and he did not want to transect any follicles. He closed up the donor using a double tricho closure and also stuffed it full with Acell to further promote healing. I am to keep the suture in for 3 weeks, it was only 10 days on my last procedure. I am confident this will greatly help with keeping my scar from stretching.

 

From there he started creating incision using different size tools based on where the hair was placed, this was an extremely methodical process with only maybe 50% being done then, while the rest were created later using the stick and place method.

~5 techs dissected hairs delicately into 4 categories. FINE single hairs, normal single hairs, doubles, and triples or higher. The fine single hairs are especially important for me because of my coarse dark hair on light skin.

 

Then, we took a lunch break with an amazing lunch they wheeled in for me.

 

After lunch he injected PRP all along my scalp to help with thinning areas and also promote healing where he placed the graft and in the donor area.

 

Finally, they started with graft placement. The amazing thing to me was that Dr. Cooley was there every step of the way. I believe he actually placed the majority of the grafts himself, I mean it when I say this guy is a machine. It is absolutely amazing what he does and how well practiced the process felt from start to finish.

 

After that, he gave me a bag of medication, topical solutions, and sprays. This also included very detailed instructions all nicely written down for every step. He went over them verbally with me as well.

 

Truly a night and day experience. I think the post op photos here will speak for themselves.

 

NOTE: Again, the large red splotches are from electrolysis removal of old grafts. These should fully heal in less then a week.

Edited May 19, 2018 by Speran28

[Melvin- Admin]

Congrats on your recent procedure with Dr. Cooley, please keep us updated with your progress, excellent choice in Surgeon.

[HTREGRETS]

Congrats Speran28! I followed your previous thread, and am glad you went to get your previous work revised. You made the right choice with Dr. Cooley! Heal well, grow well, and I look forward to tracking your progress!

[Speran28]

2 Week Update!

 

See pictures. A bunch of my grafts have begun to shed. I had minimal to no scabbing of any kind. I have also taken a picture of my donor to show the strip area. I still have sutures in for another 1 week or so before I will travel down to have Cooley take them out.

 

I am amazed at how the donor area is barely even red. Amazingly this hurts less then the donor area from Mcgrath did at 3 months, and it was extremely red, as you'll see if you check my other forum on him.

 

Very happy with the progress and highly recommend him again!

[Spanker]

I'm interested in how your electrolysis takes? In the end, what percent of hair left and left for good?

[Speran28]

Yeah, so far none have regrown. We'll see though, Dr. Cooley said the hairs can be stubborn and may need a second pass.

[Speran28]

Update, showing my donor scar only 1 month after surgery with Dr. Cooley vs my donor scar 8 months after my previous surgery with Dr. Mcgrath. The second picture is the 8 month from first surgery.

 

I only had my sutures taken out 1 week ago and feel it has healed extremely well. My old scar was still very red at this time period and had hypertrophy starting to take place, this scar feels far flatter and I can feel little hair growing through slowly on account of the double tricho closure that was done.

 

Not much to update on the front, going through ugly duckling stage and waiting for hairs to come in. The area with 200 or so grafts removed via electrolysis is still healing and a bit red. Dr. Cooley gave me a solution called "Serica" to help with healing and it has seemed to help accelerate the process, I am confident it will heal with no skin issues or deformation.

[Rawkerboi]

You forgot to mention the Grafts?

How many Grafts Dr Cooley Implanted

[PeloDinero]

Man, I was about a week out from a scheduled surgery with Dr. McGrath but pulled the plug because my gut told me to. Thank goodness I did. That guy should not be allowed to practice.

[Speran28]

It was 1750 grafts. Great to hear at PeloDinero. Don't get wrapped in by Steve like I did.

[UKLad81]

You chose a great surgeon in Dr.Cooley. I can totally relate with how you feel particularly around the incision. Aside from a little redness at the one month stage, mine felt completely normal and pretty thin at one month. Now at 6 months i just have a small area which is still a little red but the rest has healed really well!

 

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised in the months to come! All the best buddy!

[Speran28]

Thank you UKLad, I can only hope after my last experience.

 

Newest update at 5 weeks out from surgery.

 

My thoughts:

I had hoped the electrolysis marks would heal sooner, but Dr. Cooley says I am right on track. I had to go to a pretty formal conference this week and it was not fun trying to hide the redness under my hair. My hair is a bit thin in the front and even with combing it forward, you can see through a bit in direct sunlight. (see pictures)

 

So, keep in mind if you get electrolysis it can take some time to heal. I am thinking it should be fully healed around the 2 month mark. I am applying something called Serica 3x a day to the area to help accelerate healing.

 

Hair growth seems to be starting already? I see a few small stubble hairs showing up, surprised it's happening so soon. I also had a fair bit of shock loss in the rest of my hair from the prp I received, hoping that can reverse and thicken up the rest of my crown. Will update again in ~1 month as things progress.

 

Feel free to ask me any questions

[OtherSyde]

Hey good on you for keeping positive and picking a killer doc for a repair! From everything I've read and seen about Doc C's work you'll be very happy in a few months! Congrats on turning a crappy situation around, and keep us updated!

[Spanker]

Keep us posted. Any discussion on fraxal laser to help with further healing job the future?

Edited July 16, 2018 by Spanker

[Speran28]

2 month update:

Donor Area:

Scar has healed a lot more, and is very flat, I have a hard time finding it now vs my old one which had keloid issues and hurt even a year after surgery. I barely feel this one. The downside is that even though I have been very careful and followed Dr. Cooley's instructions, it seems to have maybe stretched a bit? It is a double tricho closure though, so maybe in the next 2 months hairs will grow through. 

Transplanted area:

No hair growth yet that I can find, this is to be expected at 2 months. All transplanted hairs fell out at around 3-5  week mark. I think by the 4 month there will be noticeable growth. As far as the electrolysis,  you can see my head does still slightly noticeable markings, but it is healing nicely and I expect it to be completely healed by month 3. 

 

Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

 

Edited July 16, 2018 by Speran28

[Spanker]

It does look like it's healed well since the last update. I dont know that it will ever 100 percent heal, but it might. That's not due to the electrolysis but from the scarring of the first surgery. 

[vinzaf19]

Wow! @Speran28 After I heard you call into the radio show earlier this week I had to see for myself what happened. Glad Dr Cooley fixed it for you. So when you had to have electrolysis, those follicles are killed or extracted and reused somewhere else? 

[HTREGRETS]

You're going to be in good shape Speran.  The scarring in front of the hairline will continue to heal, and will be less noticeable, if at all.  I had similar concerns about the donor scarring, but most of the redness is from the ACell will dissipate.  You have A LOT to look forward to!

[Speran28]

@vinzaf19 They are simply destroyed, you can't reuse them. If he extracted them like FUE for reuse it would create an FUE scar in my frontal hairline

 

Here is an update at 2.5 months (10 weeks). Nothing much yet as expected, slowly healing. Hoping some of the shock loss in the donor + hair from underneath the skin (double tricho closure) grows back through. As you can see it is pretty wide at this time. At least it does not hurt much and there are minimal keloids forming unlike my last transplant. I also hope that the electrolysis area continues to heal, at 2.5 months I still need to cover it. I am using a scar cream on it 3 times a day called Serica to help speed up the process. 

 

[Steeeve]

It’s already looking better compared to your first go-round. The scarring from the electrolysis is almost completely unnoticeable. It even looks like there’s some stubble emerging if you zoom in on both the hairline and the donor scar. Dr Cooley set you up for success, man!

[Spanker]

The electrolysis looks like it is healing very well. Better than I expected so soon. Hopefully the scar improves more in the future. 

[SimpleLife]

Could you post an update of the hairline?

Need hairs removed in the hairline as well, but I'm concerned with scarring with both fue extractions and electrolysis

[John Connor]

[Jon2345]

Cooley is the king of repairs!

[BaldReaper]

too bad there is no update here, it was such an interesting case