UPDATED: Phil Mascallpen, 13 Months, 4700 Grafts, Dr. Hasson, blog link on the latest

[TheEmperor]

Thanks HMO and Bill. HMO the jury is still out at 6 months, although I would have thought I'd be further along at this point.

 

Bill would you change the title again to say 6 months instead of 5? Thanks!

 

4700 in that small an area should be really dense. I think in 2 more months you will have a better picture of the yield.

 

I have a suspicion that when docs dense pack, they are rolling the dice. If there is a 70% chance all of them will take, its an acceptable risk, knowing that if you get half yield, you can return for another procedure.

 

Beyond a certain density, grafts start to fail. Maybe a blood supply issue, or transection of neighboring grafts.

 

Honestly, I think you will need another pass. Hopefully you have some styles that work better than what you show in the pics. Product is your friend. Good luck.

[hairlosscursed]

I have a suspicion that when docs dense pack, they are rolling the dice. If there is a 70% chance all of them will take, its an acceptable risk, knowing that if you get half yield, you can return for another procedure.

 

Beyond a certain density, grafts start to fail. Maybe a blood supply issue, or transection of neighboring grafts.

 

Honestly, I think you will need another pass. Hopefully you have some styles that work better than what you show in the pics. Product is your friend. Good luck.

 

Hello..

First of all i would like to express my wonder...

What do u mean by saying "rolling the dice" and "second pass"

is our heads a casino or something????or are we millioners and we don t know it yet????

Money is NOT EASY specially these days plus the suffering of having an HT is not that easy too...imagine that you have to make a strategie before the HT...i mean days off from your job...appearence problems,lies etc...so i don t find these terms very reasonable...nobody should risk anything when we are talking for thousands of $$$ and all these things i mentioned above specially these hard times...

can you say for sure if Phil Mascallpen is able to afford a second pass???????????

 

well if i judge from my self i m not able to afford something more.....

Edited May 27, 2010 by hairlosscursed

[Julius]

Phil your progress certainly parallels Fingers Crossed at the moment.

At what density was the hair transplanted at?

Good news is you both still have a long way to go yet.

Emperor, if I had as many grafts as Phil in such a small area I would be rather perturbed to think that I would need a second pass.

[Tsakalos]

 

 

Hello.

 

Its sad to say that this doesnt look good at all to me. 4700 ? do u realize the number ? and if these pics where outdoors it whould be even worse.

 

Nothing personal for the patient , but i really dont see how people who see this , say that it is acceptable.

 

anyway i wish u the best. and i assure you, i know exactly how it feels to be the exception.

 

Fingers crossed..

[Garageland]

Guys this is 6 months it is way too early to start making assumptions on what the final result will turn out like, thanks for the updates Phil please keep them coming

[Fingers Crossed]

Hairlosscured,

 

What you said couldn't have been any more true. The Emperor brought up some good points but for Phil's sake, I hope he's wrong. Phil and I spent about roughly the same amount of money on our surgeries, his was a little more but a "second pass" would be totally unacceptable if that were me. I know for me, I sacrificed SO much to get this surgery done, I've lied to close friends, I've changed jobs temporarily, $$$, and the social life to a big hit. But in all honesty, that would be very hard for me to do all over again. On a positive note, I think you'll see the most growth in the 8-10 month range.

Edited May 27, 2010 by Fingers Crossed

[TheEmperor]

Hello..

First of all i would like to express my wonder...

What do u mean by saying "rolling the dice" and "second pass"

 

 

More that one reputable doctor has stated that if they dense pack, they run the risk that nothing will grow. I know Dr. Wong said this to me when we talked about my plans for #1.

 

That said, there is evidence that the top docs DO dense pack, despite there being a chance for poor growth. It must be a calculated risk. There are many good examples where this strategy pays off. We call them "home runs".

 

In my case, after #1 I noticed that some areas in the hairline seemed to have less grafts growing than internally (behind the hairline), despite originally being planted at higher density. My conclusion was that the front of the hairline was dense packed and didnt get the hoped for yield. Most of the grafts behind the hairline seem to have grown.

 

However, given what I have heard about dense packing, and the fact that they put 4700 grafts in such a small area on Phil, leads me to believe that IF there is a yield problem, that dense packing may be the culprit.

 

If it turns out there is a problem, I'm sure they will stand behind their work. Phil looks better than I did at 6 months, but not by much. Given the number of grafts I would expect more impact. I think in the next couple of months he will have a better idea of overall yield. I (personally) think most grafts have sprouted by month 8.

[Megatron]

it's only 6 months. not sure what some of you expect to see at this early phase. realize that despite being densely packed, this was an area where no hair previously existed. I think the jury is still out.

[phil mascallpen]

Thanks for all the comments guys. Good or bad, I appreciate your honest opinions, I definitely don't want any sugarcoating. Like Megatron and Spex said it's only 6 months so I'm expecting big improvements over the next few months.

[Tsakalos]

hi phil, hope u r doing well. do u have any updates ? thx

[hairlosscursed]

if he was happy with the results i personally think he would already had post an update

[Bill - Seemiller]

hairlosscursed,

 

That's a bit of an odd statement. I don't think it's fair to assume that just because he hasn't provided us with an update that he must not be happy. Hopefully however, he will return and update us on his progress.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[hairlosscursed]

i do agree and there is no need to say that we all hope and wish for him the best and post 100% growth photos and now just be busy and not disappointed. i just expressed my personal opinion and i hope to be wrong

[Tsakalos]

hairlosscursed,

 

That's a bit of an odd statement. I don't think it's fair to assume that just because he hasn't provided us with an update that he must not be happy. Hopefully however, he will return and update us on his progress.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

 

maybe after his last post he received some "interesting" phonecalls that might have"persuade" him to magically dissapear...

[Bill - Seemiller]

Tsakalos,

 

I know that you are dissatisfied with your own experience and results from private discussion however, your statements on the forum have gotten real bizarre and cryptic as of late. Is this statement a reflection of your own experience or are you trying to create controversy where there is none?

 

At this point I'd suggest you start your own topic to share your detailed experience with photos and allow your physician/clinic the opportunity to share their side of the story. But hijacking someone elses topic with nonsensical statements is unacceptable.

 

Bill

[Tsakalos]

Bill i might create my own topic, but not before the 18 month mark, and if i do it, i will do it only in order to get advice from doctors about the limited options i might have in order to improve my situation.

 

by the way considering that i am at 15 months post, if i wanted to create controversy (or anything other similar) i whould have done it LOOOONG ago, even earlier than my first month mark, just to make it clear...

 

i just wish the guy is enjoying a good head of hair and he isnt interested anymore in waisting his time in hair loss forums like this one..

[hairthere]

tsakolos, what's the significance of the 18-month mark? I hate to say it, but if you are dissatisfied at 15 months you will not likely change your mind at 18 months...

 

Regarding Phil not updating.... it's very common for people to disappear from the forums for a while. Could be any number of factors. At any rate, I hope he did get the results he was looking for and comes back eventually for a happy update!

[hair_me_out]

Hey Phil, I'm dying to see some updates from you Where are ya, man?

 

I'm about to post my 1 year mark in a couple days... want to see where you're at!

 

HMO

[phil mascallpen]

Hey Everyone,

 

I just updated my blog with 13 month photos. There are 3 separate entries for crown, front and side shots. Take a look and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

 

Phil Mascallpen Flogs Al O'pecia

 

Bill, would you please update the title of this thread to "UPDATED: Phil Mascallpen, 13 Months, ~4700 Grafts, Dr. Hasson"

Edited December 28, 2010 by phil mascallpen
add info

[YouOnlyLiveOnce]

Phil- the results look great.

 

What are you throughts? are you a satisfied customer?

[hair_me_out]

I'm liking how this turned out, Phil. Seems to have balanced out pretty nicely. How's the scar?

[phil mascallpen]

Am I a satisfied customer and how is the scar? Those are complicated questions. So I'll try to break it down into several points.

 

1. Do I have the density I thought I would have? No. I wish it was thicker but it's also not so thin as to bother me too much. I think you can see from some of the photos, particularly the front bed-head shot that if I had that density over my entire head it would not look good. Luckily I have sufficient hair behind that front 1/2 inch to make it look much better but in general, yes, I would have expected more.

 

2. Does it look natural? I believe it looks natural and I'm very satisfied with that aspect. There is a slight directional difference from native hair to HT hair but it's a tough job and I understand that it's not going to be completely perfect.

 

3. If I did not have the hair I started with and gained with proscar behind and mixed with the HT I do believe the naturalness and lack of density would not meet my standard of acceptability. That is to say that I can understand how many patients who start from a worse off point are disappointed because you just can't put HT hair alone over a great area and expect it to look dense enough IMHO. But I do have that advantage and I think that makes a huge difference. Bottom line: if you want an HT the reality is you'll probably have to be on proscar.

 

4. The scar looks pretty good from what I can see. There is about a 2 inch section that stretched to perhaps 3 mm but the rest appears to be no more than 2. In all honesty I'm one of those patients that does not care much about the scar. The main reason is that I am a repair patient with open donor scarring and could never go below a 4 guard anyway and even that would be pushing it.

 

5. The most important question, I suppose, is am I glad that I did it? Unequivocally the answer is yes. It's funny how many times I've read this from other patients but I truly wish I had done it sooner. As a repair patient the difference in constantly wondering if your hairline is showing and if someone has noticed your HT to now not really worrying about it is a huge weight off my shoulders. For me it has been worth every single penny. But it's important to realize that as a repair patient I felt like I had to do this.

 

6. Is there anything that worries me? If the proscar loses its efficacy the thought of going through this again does not thrill me. As glad as I am that I did it, it is a very long first 6 months.

 

7. Would I recommend HT? Tough call and that I would leave up to each individual to decide because the factors that make someone a good candidate vary greatly from person to person.

 

8. Would I recommend Dr. Hasson to someone who has ALREADY decided to get an HT? Yes.

Edited December 29, 2010 by phil mascallpen

[Spanker]

That seems like a lot of grafts for that size of an area.

 

Loosing the hair mixing in with the HT is concerning.

 

It is a never ending battle.

[EpilepticSceptic]

Phil,

 

I remember reading in your blog about how on surgery day there were complications and Dr. Hasson had to stay at the clinic that night and administer repeated injections of anesthetic to your scalp.

 

How much do you think that affected the overall yield in your case ?

[aaron1234]

Phil,

 

I really think you look great! I understand how wish it were thicker but it looks very natural and you got some good overall coverage. I think the longer hair probably helps with the illusion of density. Stay steady with the proscar. You've got a decent amount of natural hair left. Congrats! Any plans for another round?