13 Days Post HT with Dr. Epstein in Miami

November 24, 2004

Before I start, I just want to thank all of you who gave me advice and coaching prior to Dr. selection and procedure!! The idea of going on a cruise 2 days post HT was great. I only wore a hat on deck, other then that I let it breath. I figured with the exception of my wife, no one would really notice anyway.

Dr. E. took before and 11 day after pictures for me and I will post them as soon as they arrive.

I ended up getting 2780 grafts by Dr. Epstein in Miami on 11/11. He and his staff were very professional and supportive. I went to see him for a Pre-Op appt. the afternoon of 11/10 where we met in person for the first time although we had sent numerous emails back and forth with pictures prior to this. We discussed what my goals were (e.g., re-enforce hairline and add density to the top and use whatever is left to do the horn area and the top 2/3 of my crown area. Dr. E. thought we would need about 3000 grafts to get what we discussed done and after looking at my doner area thought we would be able to get pretty close.

The next morning I arrived at 7:45am and was greeted by one of his staff. They checked my blood pressure and went over my medical history with me. I took a sedative to relax and was taken into the surgical suite. The only discomfort felt was the initial numbing of the doner site. One of the reasons I chose Dr. E was that he is a plastic surgeon as well and I was confident I would have not only a good job, but a fine scar as well. What I didn't realize from this forum is that to get the graft count we were looking for and keep the scar nice, that I would have a strip from ear to ear closed up with sutures (nice job). There were approximately 10 people working with Dr. E on my HT. 5 were in the room with us and 5 others were in the lab dissecting grafts. They had certain techs dissecting certain types of grafts (i.e., 1s, 2s and 3s).

Dr. E custom cuts his blades to keep the recipient slits as small as possible and allow for dense packing. Which made healing time far faster then I anticipated. Just before he started inserting grafts I made a bathroom break, which was the first time I realized how much the sedative really hit me. Fortunately I had a nurse holding my arm. The whole procedure took about 7 hours and although we did order lunch somewhere in the middle, when it arrived, I asked that they just keep going and I would eat when we were done. The time flew by for me, Dr. E and his staff were always asking if I was comfortable or needed anything. Afterwards I moved into the recovery suite and had my lunch. Dr. E. came in and told me how to take care of the grafts and again discussed what to expect. I put on my 1st bandana ever and off I went.

The 1st night was difficult as I couldn't get comfortable on the pillows at the hotel. I took one of the Tylenol 3s and that helped me dose off. Dr. E. called me in the hotel that evening to ensure I was doing ok. I also need to thank the Hampton Inn at this point because my pillow case looked like I killed someone in there. I told the Manager when I went to breakfast and he said, "don't worry, we understand". I was off to Dr. E's office for my hair washing, I was looking forward to seeing what it looked like all cleaned up and I really hadn't had a good look at the crown area yet. The washing went well and both Dr. E and I were pleased with the progress. I went back to the hotel and hung out for the day just relaxing.

The next morning was the big moment... I had to pick my wife up at the airport so we could leave on our 7 day cruise. I had my bandana on and Kelly wanted to see what it looked like. I made her wait until we got to the ship since I had to put cryocite (sp) on anyway. She was amazed at the placement and "normal" my scalp looked as she and I had looked at the myriad of post surgery pix. My scalp was almost back to normal color with very little red. I waited patiently for Tuesday to come so I could start really washing my hair. I was probably more gentle then necessary, but didn't want to do anything to mess up the work. The crusting wasn't as bad as I expected either. I went to dinner on the ship with no cover and had no reaction from anyone.

Day 8 was the best though, Dr. Es nurse recommended that on this day I put Suave Conditioner all over the recipient sites and let it sit for a 1/2 hour. Most all of the crusts came off with very little coaxing on my part. Kelly was great and helped me get the ones out of the crown area that had loosened but not completely come out of my hair. I was also very surprised at this point that I hadn't lost many of the hairs with the crusts.

The cruise got back to Miami on Saturday, 11/20 and I stayed in Miami to have the sutures removed by Dr. E on Monday 11/22. He was surprised that most of the grafts were still in and hadn't shed. He said to expect most of them to fall out over the next couple of weeks and that they would start to grow back in 2-3 months.

I started on Propecia the day after surgery (1 a day for the 1st month) and then will switch to every other day after month 1. Dr. E's office gave me my first month of Propecia and Rogaine. I started Rogaine 5% on day 11 after the sutures were removed. Dr. E. said once a day was fine which I was glad about cuz that stuff makes my hair really greasy.

I started back at work on 11/23 and was surprised that no one made any comments. While the grafts on the crown and horn area are sort of covered by my hair, my hairline has changed. We only lowered it a pinkies width as we only re-enforced it and filled in a spot in the very front that had gone away and I wanted to save as many as possible to start on my crown work.

As of this writing 11/24, all is well, I have had almost no shedding, and I very excited. I am awaiting the start of the fallout so I can get on with the real growth.

I will get the before and 11 day photos up as soon as they get here from Dr. E. and will take some new ones weekly to show progress.

I hope this helps someone else on the forum.

November 24, 2004