Pictures of my second surgery

Looks great !! Did Paul do your first surgery?

Hello again everyone on the HTN! Some may remember pictures of my first surgery with Dr. Paul almost 2 years ago to the day. Here's the prevous thread:

http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/albumcomm...861/m/6261048452/p/1

After thinking about this for a while I decided to take the plunge and go for #2. I was pleased with my first surgery and felt like it made a world of difference in my look but there were still times where I wished for more density. I'd been using dermmatch for 2 years since HT #1 and it's been a lifesaver but does gets old applying this stuff every day. Goals were to square up the corners and more density in the central area. Also I wanted a dusting in the thin spot in my crown which had unfortunately progressed in the last couple years. I'm one day post op and feeling well so far. Graft count was 219x grafts (will call for official count and # of hairs) Was hoping for around 2500 but ended up with a little less. Of course Dr. Paul explained we are looking ahead to the future and continued loss so he didn't want to get overly aggressive which I understand and agree. I just hope this session will give me a nice thick look. After surgery he said he was happy with the session size so I will trust his judgment as he seems very honest and straight forward. Anxious for results... Now if only I can get this time machine working :-) Now I just need to go out and buy a good digicam to document my progress... Thanks guys any comments appreciated!

P.S. Falc I was unable to remember my previous password for my username slick and don't have access to that email anymore. Any chance you could help me out with that?

Still Slick,

Congratulations on your second surgery with Dr. Paul Shapiro. I am intrigued that the recipient area is shaved because I know that they don't typically require it. Is there any particular reason that yours was shaved for your second surgery?

I'll be happy to reset your password to your previous alias, but the question is...which one do you want to use? At this point, you already started another one?

Send me a private message and I'll be happy to help you out.

Best wishes,

Falc

Looks like an awesome job you must be thrilled.

Thanks for posting your pics again. I'm confident you'll be happy with your results. With your fine caliber hairs, you need more grafts/hairs to get your desired density. Grow well.

Falc, I was told up front they were going to have to shave my head again. We actually had to shave even shorter than the first HT. Dr Paul says I have more hair up there then I realize because my hair is so light and fine. I remember for my first surgery I wasn't crazy about shaving down but was told it would limit my session size if I chose not to so I just decided to go for it.

One thing I'm dealing with is for my first surgery I lived alone and told everybody I was going out of town so I pretty much hid out for 2 weeks (which drove me crazy BTW). Now I have room mates so I would have a bit of explaining to do if my head were exposed. I'll probably be living under a hat for the next couple months but in the end I'm sure it will be worth it. As for my user name I will just stick with the new one to keep things simple!

Hairdew thanks for the compliment I'm very happy with the surgery and it went pretty smooth since I knew more of what to expect this time around. Now I just need to get ready for the waiting game which is the worst part in my opinion.

Falc I believe they prefer to cut your hair shorter but If its going to be a problem they will work between the hairs.
Unless theres is no possible way you can be shaved you would be in my opinion a little silly not to .
We all know the main reason why but another good reason is no matter how careful they are there is going to be shockloss from the trauma,and hands all over your head pressing down and pulling apart so the reciepent holes wont close, the washing and trying to comb out the blood.
In most people your hair is going to look thinner after the surgery anyway. So instead youll be explaining why your hair just got so much thinner, instead of why did you shave it.
As far as the donor is concerned its hard to hide the staples unless your hair is real long in the back ,so you end up looking like you have a thin mullet.
Shave people shave

Still Slick,

Thanks for your explanation about Dr. Shapiro's reason for shaving. I am perfectly aware of the proposed benefits of it, I just know that it isn't common practice for them to shave the area. I guess this is a prime example of the benefits of shaving when transplanting between a lot of native hair.

You are going to turn out great!

Keep us posted.

PGP,

quote:

In most people your hair is going to look thinner after the surgery anyway. So instead youll be explaining why your hair just got so much thinner, instead of why did you shave it.

No doubt. In my first two hair transplants, my natural and previously transplanted hair appeared flimsy after the transplant. When I shaved it, it was easier to pull off in my opinion. I know that others have different experiences however.

Falc

Slick,
Thanks for posting your photos. I am glad you are so pleaed with my first transplant.
About cutting the hair short..
In a second hair transplant I there are many times when I do not have to cut the hair short, and Slick shows how every case is different.
Slick has a diffuse thinning pattern at a young age and very fine hair When I look at his hair under magnification there is still a lot of fine, thin, hair between the transplanted hair. Without cutting his hair short it would have been almost impossible to make incisions at the density I wanted to without transecting these fine hairs. As Jana said in her post he will need more gafts/hair to get his desired density becasue of his fine thin hair. On a positive note I did notice that his tranplanted hair from his frist session was daker and had more density to it. That is one of the reasons his first tranplant took so well.
Dr Paul

Thanks for the additional details of my surgery Dr. Paul. Everything's healing well and I'm feeling 100%. These coming months will be exciting to watch the new work blend with your great work from round 1. Looking ahead to removing the staples and will get some more pictures next time I'm in. Thanks again to everyone at SMG for making me feel as relaxed as possible on my big day!

Looks good....appreciate your detailed posting.

Hey all took some 1 month pictures a few days ago. Not a lot going on up there! My native hair and previous HT hair is about 1/2 inch long and looks ok if I put some dermmatch in. I haven't been using any lately but have been sticking with the hat instead. I've been wearing a hat everyday since 1 day post op and nobodies said anything but I'm nervous to take it off. Might let my hair grow out a bit and go hatless at 2 months.
I'm pretty happy with my scar so far. I think it definetly feels alot smoother this time around. Dr Paul used staples this time and I think the added discomfort was worth it. The staples were really starting to drive me crazy by day 12 though.
Been feeling the doldrums but trying to stay positive. When the doldrums strike I just look at the post op pics which help remind me to hang tight for the next few months. I will call SMG to get all the details of my surgery and post back. Cheers!

Sweet - nice job!

Hey guys 2 month update time. Not too much to report! Hair has grown out a bit. I do see a couple grafts that seem to have hung on and are growing. My hair on top is probably 3/4 to an inch long and I'm thinking of trying the dermmatch again to see how it looks at this length. I'll be sure to post some more pics if I do. Here's my info about the surgery, thanks Jana.

Strip size: 1.3cm width x 31.5cm length

Total grafts 2197
Total hairs 4768

1’s – 384
2’s – 1176
3’s – 516
4’s – 121

Slick,

In my experience, month 2 was one of the hardest months to get through. The wait truly is the hardest part.

Thanks for keeping us regularly updated. The fact that you selected a world class surgeon will lead you to a nice end result.

Keep us posted

Falc