Regular Member tberry Posted March 24, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted March 24, 2004 I haven't posted very often , but have spent a considerable amount of time learning from all of you on this forum. First let me thank all of you that contribute here for the education you have provided me to help me make a decision to have a HT. My experience at Shipiro Medical was outstanding. I arrived the morning of the 18th and was evaluated by Matt and Dr. Shapiro. As everyone else has described, Dr. Shapiro is a true professional and took the time to make sure we had a good plan for what would be done. I choose to be more conservative with my hairline because my hair is considered fine to medium and i want enough donor hair to give me some coverage on the crown on my next procedure as well as more for later in case I need it. Dr Shapiro did tell me that we could actually get a bit more agressive than I wanted to with the hairline, but it was my choice to stay conservative. When the procedure actually got under way the only pain i had the whole day was getting the injections in the donor area and it still was not anything like I expected it to be. Almost not worth mentioning here but I remember that I was concerned about it so i want to mention it here. After I was numb, Dr Shapiro took the strip out. That was the part I dreaded the most and let me tell you folks, it just wasn't a big deal. Quick, painless, and no discomfort at all. The technicians that work with Shapiro are fantastic. Can't say enough about how well they work together and how comfortable they made me feel. Those ladies have a real tedious job working all day cutting and trimming all those graphs. I left the music on instead of watching a movie so they could relax. I had valium to relax me and i chatted with them through the whole procedure. Dr Shapiro made all the recipient incisions and placed the initial graphs, then the techs placed most of the others. During the last hour of the procedure Dr Shapiro placed all the graphs and did the final touches on the hairline. He was very proactive the entire day with my procedure. Dr Shapiro is a great guy. Real laid back but still professional. Real easy to talk to and explains things well. I can't say enough about how well run the whole operation is at SMG. You can tell when people are just going through the motions to do their job and go home at the end of the day, but these people really care about what they are doing and it shows. I went in for 2000-2500 graphs. Fortunantly, I got more that expected with 2600. We recreated the hairline and went to the mid section. I will probably need another 2500 for crown work which I will have in 9 months to a year. I'm 6 days post op and have no pain or discomfort other than itching from the donor area. The donor area seems to be healing well and I'm looking forward to getting the stitches out on Monday. Will post more pics as things progress. I highly recommend Shaipro. Thanks again to all who have shared in this forum. I appreciate your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tberry Posted March 24, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 24, 2004 I haven't posted very often , but have spent a considerable amount of time learning from all of you on this forum. First let me thank all of you that contribute here for the education you have provided me to help me make a decision to have a HT. My experience at Shipiro Medical was outstanding. I arrived the morning of the 18th and was evaluated by Matt and Dr. Shapiro. As everyone else has described, Dr. Shapiro is a true professional and took the time to make sure we had a good plan for what would be done. I choose to be more conservative with my hairline because my hair is considered fine to medium and i want enough donor hair to give me some coverage on the crown on my next procedure as well as more for later in case I need it. Dr Shapiro did tell me that we could actually get a bit more agressive than I wanted to with the hairline, but it was my choice to stay conservative. When the procedure actually got under way the only pain i had the whole day was getting the injections in the donor area and it still was not anything like I expected it to be. Almost not worth mentioning here but I remember that I was concerned about it so i want to mention it here. After I was numb, Dr Shapiro took the strip out. That was the part I dreaded the most and let me tell you folks, it just wasn't a big deal. Quick, painless, and no discomfort at all. The technicians that work with Shapiro are fantastic. Can't say enough about how well they work together and how comfortable they made me feel. Those ladies have a real tedious job working all day cutting and trimming all those graphs. I left the music on instead of watching a movie so they could relax. I had valium to relax me and i chatted with them through the whole procedure. Dr Shapiro made all the recipient incisions and placed the initial graphs, then the techs placed most of the others. During the last hour of the procedure Dr Shapiro placed all the graphs and did the final touches on the hairline. He was very proactive the entire day with my procedure. Dr Shapiro is a great guy. Real laid back but still professional. Real easy to talk to and explains things well. I can't say enough about how well run the whole operation is at SMG. You can tell when people are just going through the motions to do their job and go home at the end of the day, but these people really care about what they are doing and it shows. I went in for 2000-2500 graphs. Fortunantly, I got more that expected with 2600. We recreated the hairline and went to the mid section. I will probably need another 2500 for crown work which I will have in 9 months to a year. I'm 6 days post op and have no pain or discomfort other than itching from the donor area. The donor area seems to be healing well and I'm looking forward to getting the stitches out on Monday. Will post more pics as things progress. I highly recommend Shaipro. Thanks again to all who have shared in this forum. I appreciate your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member MDM Posted March 24, 2004 Senior Member Share Posted March 24, 2004 My experience and procedure was exactly the same! As a matter of fact my game plan was exactly the same. I had 2460 fus and 6041 hairs placed, and I'm very happy with the results. I'll need another procedure maybe to thicken, and to lower the sides of my hairline a tad, and put a few on the crown. I'm 3 months out and my hair is growing in nicely(I will be posting my pics very soon). You might start putting Minox on the recipient site, and start taking MSM(I take 1500mg once/day, which I buy from planetdrugstore.com. Good growth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tberry Posted March 24, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 24, 2004 Sorry folks, can't seem to get the pics Matt sent to my by email transfered. I'm a novice in this area. Any help would be appreciated. tberry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member fortune Posted March 25, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted March 25, 2004 tberry, Nice to know that you are recovering well. I had the transplant a day earlier and am in pretty much the same boat as you. A couple of questions: 1. Did you choose to go with sutures or Dr. Shapiro just selected them by default. I am asking this because he used staples on me. Now I have gone through all the threads on stapes/sutures debates and it seems sutures are much more comfortable. Do you feel any pain while sleeping on your back with sutures in place? I still feel uncomfortable with staples and am eager to get rid of them tomorrow. In the future if I had to make a choice, I would defnitely ask the doctor to use sutures. The added discomfort of the staples is just not worth it compared to the slight advantage they might offer over sutures in terms of scarring. 2. Are you using anything other than the graftcyte solution provided by the clinic? The bottle is over by now. The scabs haven't totally come off yet - do you think there is anything else we could do to hasten the removal of the scabs besides using graftcyte? Thanks, Fortune Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member MDM Posted March 25, 2004 Senior Member Share Posted March 25, 2004 Fortune, Make sure you follow the advice of some on this site and soak your head really well before you have the staples removed, and they should come out much easier. I hope you've applied hydrogenperoxide or neosporin to the staples/sutures in order to stop scabs from forming over them. If not your pain will be multiplied! And, have someone remove them that is used to removing staples. If you've not done, or don't do these things, you could be in for some major pain! I didn't soak my head around the stapled area and had to hold on to the seat my friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mapman151 Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Congratulations on your HT, and happy healing and growth. Fortune...... FYI, I have staples as well. I went to AAA Motor Club and bought a Mini-Travel Plillow. This helped me greatly. It takes enough pressure off my head so that the pressure from the pillow pushing up on the staples is reduced. I bought this for the plane ride, but was surprised to find it really helped lying in bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member fortune Posted March 26, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted March 26, 2004 Thanks MDM and mapman, Your advice is well taken - hopefully I should have less discomfort during staples removal tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tberry Posted March 26, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 26, 2004 Dr Shapiro and i discussed both staples and sutures. He led me to believe that there really wasn't a significant difference in how my scar would turn out if i went one way or another. I chose the sutures. I look at the scar everyday and it looks good and tight. Having them removed Monday afternoon. I did the same thin Mapman did. Bought a travel pillow and use it for sleeping. The first few nights it was uncomfortable, but it did not hurt. I was more concerned with moving my head around and pulling the suture line apart while I slept and also rolling over and putting pressure on the graphs. I just didn't have any pain from sutures. When I go back for my 2nd on I'll ask for sutures again. I have used all my spray up as well and still have the majority of tiny scabs attached. I'm following all the directions but still can't bring myself to rub with the pads of my fingers while shampooing to help loosen them. I'm just letting them come off when they are ready. I'm still amazed that this has been so easy. I had myself convinced that it was going to be a real hassel. It just isn't a big deal. Can't wait for the 2nd one. Still trying to post my pics for everyone to see. Hopefully today. Good luck and let me know how it goes for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tberry Posted March 26, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 26, 2004 march 18 appx 2600 graphs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tberry Posted March 26, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 26, 2004 Before photo top view and plan drawn at shapiro's office Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairworthy Posted March 26, 2004 Senior Member Share Posted March 26, 2004 tberry, Can't say your pictures are convincing! 3045 FUs with Dr Victor Hasson on 8 June 2004 1836 FUs with Dr Jeffrey Epstein on 2 March 2006 Regimen: 1.25mg Proscar every other day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Havhairnow Posted March 27, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted March 27, 2004 2. Are you using anything other than the graftcyte solution provided by the clinic? The bottle is over by now. The scabs haven't totally come off yet - do you think there is anything else we could do to hasten the removal of the scabs besides using graftcyte? How much did you pay for the graftcyte...I'm in Canada and the whole kit, sells for over 300 dollars Cdn...is it really necessary to use Graftcyte or will it heal on its own?? Dr Jones uses sutures now...he says to put either polysporin or vitamin E oil on the scar to assist with healing... Day #2...is it 6 months yet??? [This message was edited by Havhairnow on March 28, 2004 at 01:56 PM.] Is it 6 months yet?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member fortune Posted March 27, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted March 27, 2004 I think I paid about $45 for the meds (that included the graftcyte bottle and the anti-pain/dwelling meds). SMG gives it to thair patients at cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Havhairnow Posted March 28, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted March 28, 2004 Thanks for the info...I wonder why it's so much more expensive in Canada...so far I haven't been able to find any retailers that carry the product, let alone even know about it...By the time I order from the company directly, with shipping, it will be too late!! Day #2...is it 6 months yet?? Is it 6 months yet?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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