Did It! Great experience Day One with Dr. Arocha

[HappyinSW]

Had 3875 grafts today in Houston by Dr. Arocha. Researched him thoroughly on here and was wowed by his positive reviews and apparent high level of customer care. Immediate work looks great and I will post this week. He put it all on the hairline, temporal peaks, and behind the forelock. Crown is big gaping area with lots of miniaturized follicles that have responded fairly well to rogaine an he put me on propecia today as well so let's see how that does. Planning on getting that filled in later on with another 4k. Craig and Maria were amazing help. Took 12 hours due to my very high metabolic rate that caused several (many, may) injections of lidocaine on all areas to maintain numbness. The groups showed exceptional endurance and focus despite the length of procedure. This is a special place and if my results are anything close to the coverage I see now on day 2, I will be doing backflips in celebration. These guys are life changers. I am hoping for great results, but honestly, with this clinic I think that is very realistic. Compared to the iffy results and complete hack jobs found on here at times, I can't see a failure of time, money, and hopeful faith as anything less than a life disaster. I know the results are months from fruition, but it is all looking good and these were simply humanistic, classy people. I agreed with Doc A. on 3500 grafts for 14k and he threw in the extra 375 that was harvested for more density. This guy loves what he does and passion is a key to success. I enjoyed talking with the crew all day and they are fine people, as well as sitting down with Craig and Doc for a meal on Day 2 when I returned for a shampoo and post op instructions. Of course the empirical jury is still yet to render a verdict, but I am completely hopeful for these skilled craftsmen to have succeeded with me. I am 29 and in more than excellent physical shape and really don't think I should look in my upper 30s when I work hard to take care of myself in all ways. The price can be steep but PLEASE research your practitioners to find the right match before investing your time, money, and hope, which are all very precious. Thanks again to Doc, Craig, and Maria, and I can't wait to continually return to show you my hopeful progress over the next several months. Several pics to come this week!

 

Bill, thank you so very much on this resource for folks in need to much help to facilitate finding the right surgeons. I applaud you for willingness to give back to those who were once in your unfortunate spot of self-consciousness and life-affecting despondency. You do us all a great service!!!!

[HappyinSW]

BTW, I was a NW3-V with 4 quickly approaching, and Doc feels that I would approach a 6 in the coming years. No male should ever feel the way that makes one look.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Right on HappyinSW. Dr. Arocha does stellar work and I trust you'll be very pleased with the outcome. I hope you'll create a patient website to share your experience and document your progress with photos.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[HappyinSW]

Thanks Bill. I started my website as you have asked and as I promised Dr. A.

 

I haven't even put the 3 day post op pics up yet but wait until you see those! I don't have all of the pre-op pics taken in the broad daylight but they are pretty bad when taken from the top. If I retain and regrow anything close to the grafts that are there right now, I will be in ecstasy.

 

Take a look at the complete hairline reconstruction. It looks so much better in the pics today than the ones right there from the day after the op, so wait til you see these. An ex-girlfriend who is still a friend and knows about this decision of mine said I look like I did when I was with her in 1999. 11 years of improvement? Money can actually buy that? Speaking of, Dr. A agreed for 3500 grafts for 14k and threw in the extra 375 that he harvested complimentary. Now, you never truly know if that is the case but my experience with he and his team gives me 100% confidence that is the truth. Worth every penny if the growth ends up like it looks to be happening.

 

The best part of this is how it just fills in more each day. I am hoping to retain some grafts permanently but know that is not a likelihood for most to all until the later stages. All I have found is one to have fallen out completely and that was the next morning. To see them already growing in my head is amazing. Word to the wise: get a buzzcut so that when the grafts are implanted you are close to all the same length when it is finished. Now that the redness is already gone on day 3, it looks like I just walked out of the barbershop.

 

The crown has yet to be touched and Doc A says that should wait until we see how the Propecia acts, as minox helped that very much and made the minaturized hairs much stronger as well as some regrowth from bald crown area to at least miniaturized. Now...here is the key: get a good barber preferably at an African shop or one that does "fades" with good skill and they will let that light area grow and then just contrast the areas around it. You will see what I mean when I put up pics in the next few days. I shaved it all off and negated his effect just to show Dr. A what my true coverage was, but you would be amazed to see what can be hidden at the crown with the right haircut. Not only that, but also on the front corners of the hairline to the right and left of a forelock that maintains itself like mine does. You let those hairs grow longer and forward but shorten the forelock each time so you have an apparent evenness. If you have questions on that, send me a PM and I will clue you in. Worked for me for years.

 

Now, with the newly constructed hairline, I can just go back to having the crown grow in and meticulously deceived with the right barbering, and wait until either Propecia kicks in further or just go ahead with the full crown replacement (3500-5000 grafts) in a little later on. I plan to do that because I would much rather have a full head of DHT resistant hair than having to be on any meds for the duration.

 

Doc even threw in about 20 grafts to cover a small vertical scar from an injury years ago that was clearly obvious whenever I got a buzzcut. Keep in mind, I will ALWAYS have a relatively short haircut much like a military cut on the long end. But then again, with brand new DHT resistant hair along the hairline, I could end up going back to the flip up I used to do in the early 20s.

 

Bottom line, this is appearing to be a dream come true for a guy who is very self-conscious about appearance from a fitness and athletic career. This is looking to be such a 180 for me and yes it is some money to be invested but you can't put a price on feeling great about yourself and that in turn will improve your relationships and performance overall in life.

 

I am so fortunate to have come across this site for an excellent resource as well as the fine team of Dr. Bernardino Arocha. They are a Godsend to me and he truly does love what he does, which is what he professes. This passion translates into world-class skill at changing peoples' lives for the better.

 

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME, MONEY, AND FURTHER MENTAL/EMOTIONAL ANGUISH BY NOT FINDING A WELL-REGARDED COALITION DOCTOR ON THIS NETWORK! WE CAN THANK Bill FOR MAKING THIS ALL HAPPEN! Thank you all, so very much. I am faithful this will continue to work out so well. If anyone has any questions for me, please PM me. It is the least I can do to help others share in what appears to be a major live improvement for me thanks to skilled career professionals who are in what is (yes, a lucrative) a field that takes years of skill development and upkeep of innovative techniques, yet has such impact on helping others.

 

So very thankful down here in the SW!!!!!

[HappyinSW]

Let me reiterate something...

 

Despite a short hair cut or buzz cut being very uncharacteristic for many of you older gentlemen, and the fact that it is harder to initially hide the scar will longer hair that falls over the incision site, the grafts will look so similar to the native hair within the first few days of the surgery and then thereafter.

 

Wait until you see my day 3 and 4 post op pics. Looks like I just got a buzz cut with 2 or 3 guard all over. You can't beat being able to get right back into things without a hat. This is assuming redness is not an issue, and it is not at all for me which I attribute to both great precision and care by Dr. A's team as well as meticulous aftercare by me as well as constant use of the Graftcyte and keeping the areas clean but using precision during the first few days of shampooing. You will see what I mean when I have all my first week or two pics up and you see the progression. Assuming only a moderate amount of grafted hairs fall out after some shedding, I will look close to a ready made product in the very near future immediately after the surgery and how can you beat that? I see many guys here who have a shaved top of the head but long, long hair on the sides and back. I see no reason to do that and basically just want to get right back at looking normal.

 

FYI...my excuse so far has been that I had several melanomas and skin cancer possibilities removed by a derm, and when they ask about the long scar in the back I just say it was a large portion of sun-damaged tissue that needed to be excised. No one has batted an eye at this, considering I am close to 30 and that is when these problems can start as well as me being somewhat fair-skinned and most of my family having fair skin and many skin cancer issues.

[HappyinSW]

Day 6 is done now and I have been diligent with the post-op self care.

 

Finally showered today after using the cup method until now while taking baths. I didn't let the shower water hit the head directly, but instead put my hand up near the spout and let it flow down just like we do with the cup pouring. Gently massaged some scabs off today and because I used bacitracin and lots of Graftcyte the last few days while only soaking it lightly with water and shampoo, there seems to be some buildup which I will get off in the next few days with more showering.

 

No significant redness the last few days. Much less than the day after the op. Looks like some shedding has occurred by not very much at all. I have counted only 3 or 4 bleeding sites that would indicate graft loss as described in depth on here, so looks like they just about all held in. Tomorrow makes it a week out from surgery.

 

Swelling was moderate at most and has gone away. Wasn't really noticed by anyone. I was able to be highly functional the last week having to take care of several things, but just stuck with the story about the skin cancer-type treatments and excision.

 

Speaking of the donor closure, it looks ok and I have been hitting it twice a day with bacitracin and cleansing it like the surgical team told me. Hurts like heck though and I didn't react well to the vicodin so I am trying to be put on something else. Other than that, I am basically pain free. After massaging some of the scabs off tonight, it stung somewhat but I took the nod of Bill' old posts and put some aloe vera gel. Will plan to do that once a day plus a Vit E application the other half of the day.

 

One thing I am curious about is what the incision sites and subsequent placements looked like on the parts of my head that my buzzcut was a bit longer. If you look at the photos on my site, I went in with a military cut so they didn't take it down to the skin at the recipient site like all the others I see on here. When you look at other folks' recipient sites, you can see a lot more redness over the whole region. On my day after pics, I either didn't have redness where there was longer hair or it was just covered up by the hair. What do you guys think?

 

Going on a week of Propecia as well as MSM and biotin so let's see how that kicks in. What are all your thoughts on when I should restart the Minox? It has worked well for me in the crown.

 

My brother is a master barber and I can't wait to have him trim me up in another 10 days. He is able to hide most of my loss (for the first few days of the cut anyway) with his techniques of how he lets certain areas grow in but cut others. The Minox most certainly allowed him to cover up more. I can't wait to see what he will be able to make me look like in the first few months post-op when the regrowth occurs, and then who knows if I will ever need the disguising haircuts later on!

 

Dr. Arocha and Co. said that wearing a hat was no problem from day one and I have done so. Had to take a few flights in the last week and that was no problem when using a travel pillow, which is also what I used for sleeping which worked out very well.

 

The days are flying by! I guess it will be home free before I know it if all goes well. Then we will evaluate the crown area and how the Propecia does with that. This is a lot of maintenance in the very short term, but I am sure it is hardly a price to pay for the long term change of having hair back in certain spots. I would imagine that dealing with the post-op is easier when it is confined to the crown rather than the frontal and hairline/temple regions.

 

Let me know what you guys think of the updated pics. I know they are very low res, but I am working on uploading some with a better camera of higher res.

[HappyinSW]

BTW, when did you guys all get your sutures out? I can't wait til these are taken out, but don't have a date yet for that.

[the B spot]

Hi Happy!...like the shape of your hairline mate...time to sit back, relax, get the sutures out and let time do the rest.

 

I look forward to seeing your results!!!

 

Jason

[HappyinSW]

Thanks Jason!

 

Just got the call that sutures are coming out tomorrow. Should be a bit more comfortable after that.

 

Thank you for the comments on the hairline. I agree that it is setup for success. It will blow my mind when/if it looks like that in all forms of light after having recession on both sides of the hairline for the last decade (I'm only 29). What do you guys think about lowering the hairline a bit more next time around when/if I get the crown filled in?

 

Not trying to be greedy, just planning for the possible end result.

 

Thanks again to all of you!

[HappyinSW]

Today is the 4 week mark from my surgery. Most, not all of the grafts have fallen out. Incidentally, there are many small stubbles and a few of the pimples they talk about on here, so regrowth seems to be early and rapid. Scar is doing well. I keep hair buzzed fairly short (1 to 2 guard) so you can see it but it does not look bad. Have been using Maderma on it. Started putting Minox on all of the transplanted areas a couple weeks back so perhaps that is helping quick regrowth. Any thoughts on that from you guys? Can't believe that I may have a hairline again very soon!

[HappyinSW]

44 days post-op (6wks, 2 days)

 

Several more stubbly hairs sprouting up at the hairline and then throughout the whole frontal recipient area. I think this would classify as early growth. They look like thick hairs but are growing much slower in length than native hairs. Can I expect this stubble to grow to full length?

 

Letting the hair on the back where the scar is to fill in and cover the scar. If you get shock loss at the scar, is that hair gone forever or does it grow back? I am hitting the scar up a few times a day with Mederma.

 

Propecia looks to be working some on the crown, and been on Minox since August which has helped a fair amount there.

 

Very hopeful and excited for some great growth in the hairline/frontal regions by the summer. No redness or remnants of incisions. Dr. Arocha's team did a good job here.

 

Any thoughts?

[Bill - Seemiller]

HappyinSW,

 

I just went to your patient website hoping to see updated photos, but there don't appear to be any.

 

At 6 weeks, you are still way too early to see any real signs of growth. But I'm sure it's encouraging that you're seeing early signs of sprouting. If the hairs are growing back thick, it may shocked hair if you had any.

 

Hang in there and keep us updated on your progress!

 

All the Best,

 

Bill

[Coug]

Hey Happy, I'm considering taking from Dr. Arocha, do you fully recommend? Also how has it been coming since then, hope to hear from you.

[scooter]

Am really interested in a update since I will be going in with Dr. Arocha soon.Hope things are growing well for you

[scooter]

Getting excited for my surgery this Jan 9th.