HT Experience with Dr. Hasson - 5300 grafts

TheKMan · October 21, 2008

Hi All,

Let my first line on these forums be a BIG THANK YOU to Pat and all you others who have made this a great place for HT patients to share their experiences. Fair to say that without this site, my HT experience would have been a completely different one.

I have been lurking around these forums for almost a couple of months. My initial consults led to the usual suspects, the local HT surgeons. I almost decided to sign up with one of them but then realized that he had no recommendations on this forum, despite decades in the industry and some very impressive credentials. I figured if I was going to do this, I wanted to do it once and do it right! So I'd be better off with a doctor whose patients are willing to share their experiences.

After a few consults, both online and in-person, I decided to go with Dr. Hasson of H&W in Vancouver. I am writing this post to share my surgical experience with all of you.

It all started with me submitting an online consult. I heard back from Mike Ferko in Seattle. I asked some detailed questions over a bunch of phone calls during 1-2 week period and Mike answered them all. Not once did I feel like he was trying to "close" me - I made the decision to sign up when I was ready. I was excited about the procedure, knowing I had done my homework and picked a good surgeon with a proven track record.

I arrived at the clinic at 7:30am and after taking care of the formalities, was taken into the surgery room. That's when I realized that the excitement had turned into nervousness.

Dr. Hasson walked in and we started discussing my goals and expectations. I had three areas that needed work: frontal hairline, the top and the crown. I was leaning towards lowering the hairline but he mentioned that my hairline was fine where it was and that dense packing the top and covering the crown would provide better overall results. After thinking it over for a couple minutes, I agreed (I used to have a high hairline and a large forehead even when I had hair.)

He pulled out a pen and drew the new hairline. We agreed, took some photos and moved to surgery. The needles in the head sucked but before I knew it, the Doctor was already taking the donor strip out of the back of my head. At one point, I asked Dr. Hasson how he was doing and he deadpanned "not bad with a hangover...last night was pretty tough for me" - that was hilarious! By the time I took a break, the technicians had already started cutting the strip.

Talking about Technicians - absolutely phenomenal staff! Very professional, knowledgeable and most of them have been around with H&W a very long time. They didn't mind answering the many questions I had. When cutting the grafts or planting them into my head, they were very focused. There were two teams of two technicians each who worked on planting the grafts.

Throughout the process, Dr. Hasson came back often to take a peak at how things were going, constantly asking me how I was doing. He really is an easy going person who puts you at ease. He left later in the afternoon but then came back at 8:30pm and stuck around till approximately 10pm, where we chatted about hair loss in general, his practice, and the multitude of questions I had.

By the time I was cleaned up and walked out the clinic, it was 10:30pm - a 15 hour marathon. I got tired at times but tried to keep my eyes on the prize.

I had the typical side effects - swelling (first in the head, and now it's around the eyes - I look like a freak) and hiccups (amazing how annoying these can get.) Can't wait for the next 11 days when I can take off the staples. Thanks to a simple advice delivered over and over and over by everyone at H&W, I have safely navigated the first three days post-op without "bumping my head."

Thanks to Dr. Hasson and his staff, I now have 5300 reasons to eagerly look forward to a hairy head again.

I'll post my weblog in the next couple days.

TheKMan

TheKMan · October 21, 2008