Just booked 1800-2000 FUT with Dr. Robert Dorin for 9/18/20. Anyone have recent experience?

[Concord75]

Hey all, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I love this site! I've been doing so much research over the last few months on surgeons, procedures, everything.

Very excited to say I booked a procedure with True and Dorin in NYC for September 19th. It's only for 1800-2000 grafts but I'm planning on doing a follow up FUT procedure of another 1800-2000 8 months after the first to increase density. He said my lifetime donor supply is only 5500-6000, and I'm between a Norwood 3V to 4 with likely progression to 5/6 over lifetime. Sadly the crown won't be completely covered, but I'm considered scalp micropigmentation to give the illusion of density on the crown, and possibly to improve appearance of scar. 

I also decided to add PRP to the procedure, because Dr. Dorin said due to my fair skin it is likely that I will have redness in implant site after procedure and PRP might reduce redness time and increase time for new hairs to grow (I figure it can't hurt).

For some background, I've been taking finasteride for 1 year (one of the lucky ones with no sides) and Rogaine foam for 1 year as well. 

Sorry for looking like biggest creeper ever in photo, but it's the only one I have with the hairline lines that I snapped quickly in the office. I'm going for lower hairline in the picture, and Dr. Dorin is going to build some small temples on the side of my head so that the lower hairline looks natural. 

If anyone is or knows a recent patient of Dr. Dorin please feel free to reach out! Will document more in this thread after I have the procedure. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Concord75
Wrong date in title (actual surgery one day earlier)

[Montreal]

looking foward to see what you can acheive! good luck 

[yalla8]

Good luck! I just had 1700 grafts for an area about half your size, so those graft counts seems accurate. It's smart the dr is choosing to do two sessions instead of one mega session. However I think PRP is a scam and his telling you that it will help redness is a bit disingenuous. Unless it's free, or money is no object for you, I would think twice.

[aaron1234]

You're in good hands, all the best!  Any crown/top of the head pictures you can share?  My first instinct is that 1800-2000 is not enough for the area outlined, but if you're planning on two sessions then that makes more sense.  

[Concord75]

5 hours ago, aaron1234 said:

You're in good hands, all the best!  Any crown/top of the head pictures you can share?  My first instinct is that 1800-2000 is not enough for the area outlined, but if you're planning on two sessions then that makes more sense.  

I totally agree! I was expecting 2500-3000 grafts minimum for first procedure, and I don't necessarily want to immediately do 2 back to back procedures for obvious convenience purposes, but I'm trusting that Dr. Dorin is an expert. They said that he might be able to get 2200 grafts on surgery day. I think he also wants to be conservative with donor supply. He mentioned my age (33) and the fact that I could lose more hair and said I have above average density/scalp laxity but the donor area is narrow so lifetime 5500-6000 grafts. 

I also want to be conservative, but at the same time don't want to go through an entire first hair transplant, and have thin outcome (if that is preventable).

The other thing I have questions about is 8 month timeline after first surgery for second surgery. Seems optimistic that growth would be completed by that time? But again, I'm not a surgeon, so kind of trusting the expert.

Here are pictures of top/crown/donor. These pictures are mostly indirect sunlight, so I think that my hair actually looks a bit worse/thinner IRL on a day to day basis. I also have some thinning on the middle of my head so you can see sparsity when I turn sideways. I'll get pics pre surgery. I'm not sure what the best way to take pictures is? (harsh indoor lighting, sunlight, etc.)

Pics: 

Crown:

Top:

You can see I had a high forehead to begin with and it's augmented by recession:

Donor:

Direct sunlight:

Edited August 22, 2020 by Concord75

[aaron1234]

41 minutes ago, Concord75 said:

The other thing I have questions about is 8 month timeline after first surgery for second surgery. Seems optimistic that growth would be completed by that time? But again, I'm not a surgeon, so kind of trusting the expert.

That's true, but it's just an estimate.  Probably around 11-12 months later would be better.  Nothing wrong being conservative with the surgical approach. You still got some hair left on top, stay on fin!

[Al - Moderator]

True and Dorin aren't known for megasessions. They prefer to do 2 smaller sessions. There are pros and cons to each method. Most men tend to go back for a 2nd session anyway to fill in any spots that they feel may be lacking, so planning for 2 sessions to begin with isn't always different than what ends up happening many time anyway. The idea with planning for 2 sessions is, for example, they can transplant 2000 grafts to the frontal half during the first transplant and then when you come back for another 2000 grafts you can decide if and how much you feel you need to thicken up the front while using the rest for the crown. This can sometimes get you closer to where you want to be using less grafts than if you used all 4000 in the first transplant and then decide some spots in the front are still too thin to your liking and want to add more grafts there.

Obviously there are pros to doing one megasession as you get more hair in a shorter time, but a two stage transplant can conserve grafts on someone in your situation who may lose a lot more hair in the midscalp in the coming years. There's no right or wrong way. That is just their philosphy and it also enables them to take their time, have the Dr more involved throughout the entire procedure, and get a good scar on FUTs because they are not pushing the limits of your scalp laxity.

I've had several procedures with Dr Dorin over the past few years and I have been very happy with them. I'm an extreme repair patient, so my personal experience and outcome growthwise isn't going to be what a normal patient would be getting. However I have seen some of Dr Dorins hairline work and I think it's among the best. He doesn't do a straight line, so it looks much more natural than some other hairlines I've seen. In your own picture you can see how he draws a wavy hairline.

 

EDIT: You can see an example of the type of hairline Dr Dorin creates in a 2000 graft procedure from them here.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2020 by BeHappy

[Concord75]

On 8/25/2020 at 8:15 AM, BeHappy said:

True and Dorin aren't known for megasessions. They prefer to do 2 smaller sessions. There are pros and cons to each method. Most men tend to go back for a 2nd session anyway to fill in any spots that they feel may be lacking, so planning for 2 sessions to begin with isn't always different than what ends up happening many time anyway. The idea with planning for 2 sessions is, for example, they can transplant 2000 grafts to the frontal half during the first transplant and then when you come back for another 2000 grafts you can decide if and how much you feel you need to thicken up the front while using the rest for the crown. This can sometimes get you closer to where you want to be using less grafts than if you used all 4000 in the first transplant and then decide some spots in the front are still too thin to your liking and want to add more grafts there.

Obviously there are pros to doing one megasession as you get more hair in a shorter time, but a two stage transplant can conserve grafts on someone in your situation who may lose a lot more hair in the midscalp in the coming years. There's no right or wrong way. That is just their philosphy and it also enables them to take their time, have the Dr more involved throughout the entire procedure, and get a good scar on FUTs because they are not pushing the limits of your scalp laxity.

I've had several procedures with Dr Dorin over the past few years and I have been very happy with them. I'm an extreme repair patient, so my personal experience and outcome growthwise isn't going to be what a normal patient would be getting. However I have seen some of Dr Dorins hairline work and I think it's among the best. He doesn't do a straight line, so it looks much more natural than some other hairlines I've seen. In your own picture you can see how he draws a wavy hairline.

EDIT: You can see an example of the type of hairline Dr Dorin creates in a 2000 graft procedure from them here.

 

Thank you for the insight, BeHappy. That logic definitely makes sense to me, part of the reason I decided to go with True and Dorin. I like the idea of being able to reevaluate progress after seeing results of first procedure and then pivot accordingly for second procedure. This is a marathon, not a sprint!

Some of my family had concerns if the lower hairline in the first picture I posted was too low or too straight (didn't have enough mature hairline recession built in - wouldn't look natural), but I'm going to trust in the surgeon with experience - I think they're crazy, and might just be used to seeing me with a receded hairline. Also, the line might be slightly different on surgery day. As you pointed out, I like that Dr. Dorin doesn't do an entirely straight hairline - the line has more curves which I think looks more natural in final result. 

I hope Dr. Dorin gets a chance to see my face without a mask on surgery day when drawing my new hairline. I understand we live in crazy times, but this is a permanent change to my head! 

I checked out the hairline you sent - phenomenal. I know that this is an atypical outcome, I would be ecstatic if I had that kind of result. Check out this recent hairline from Dr. Dorin, it also has a straighter line and I think it looks perfect:

 

[Taken4Granted]

I tend to think artificial hair lines from HT often are too flat. I probably overdo it with the recession going into the temples, so the best is probably somewhere in-between, but here’s what I would ask for in your shoes:

It can look like too much with the hair buzzed down, but those high arches won’t be visible when the hair grows out.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Taken4Granted

[Concord75]

Thank you for taking the time to draw that Taken4Granted! I agree this approach is probably most prudent & will look most natural. I also think that the angle of the photo is awkward because I'm leaning my head forward so it's hard to say what would look best if my head were facing straight on. You make a salient point - I'm not planning on wearing my hair buzzed (do not have head shape for it), so the high arches might be the way to go for most natural look. 

It's challenging to make the decision, because my first inclination is to ask for the lowest/straightest hairline possible after years of losing hair. 

[Taken4Granted]

Hey Concord, congrats on booking your procedure. I recently had my first as well. I think I’m okay with my hairline design, but I will give you this advice based on my experience. After a month of criticism in the mirror, you will have plenty of thoughts about how you’d change it if you could. Seems like it’s bound to go like that even with a great design, but I wish I had spent my final weeks repeatedly drawing my hairline and taking lots of pictures from different angles. I walked into my surgery with a pretty half-baked idea about the hairline, which could have cost me dearly. I thought I knew what I wanted, but it was clear at 7am that morning that I had never actually drawn it, and there’s a lot you won’t notice until you do that.

[Barnan12550]

Do you mind if I ask you for the cost for Dorin?