Hey everyone..
I'm going to Tucson on the 14th for my scheduled surgery with Dr. Keene for an initial estimate graft count of 2000. Been counting down the days, but hard to believe it as I'm getting closer to it. Really excite and nervous at the same time. Wish me luck guys...

Scooping, You will be a happy camper once you get in that chair.
So it's Thursday, I had mine done on a Thursday & went back to work on the following Monday.

I just wanted to say good luck, keep up the excited part but loose the nervousness.
It's going to be a great experience!

Look foward to hearing from you post op!

Best of luck to you scooping. So where are the grafts going to be placed? I forget everyone's particular situation with so many posters.

Peace,

Thanks for the words of wisedom from all you experienced folks. Dr. Keene seems to be able to do pretty clean incisions and natural hairlines (didn't want a aggressively low hairline until maybe for the second time around). It sure will be nice to be able to go out to the public undetectable 3-4 days post op.

Hairbank:
About 90% of the 2000 grafts will be placed in the frontal 1/3 area, and about 10% in the tempo area.

Scooping, I might have misled you.
I wore a hat & sunglasses when I returned to work 4 days post op. I am a contractor & work outside.
I was making the point that I felf fine even with a 4 day old donor scar.

But I want to make it clear if you can't wear a hat it will be detectable 4 days post.
Your recipient area will likely be very red & your swelling of the face wiil probably kick in.
The swelling will start in your forehead and be puffy. The hat with sunglasses can cover that as well as when the swelling moves to around the eyes.
About 3 to 5 days of swelling caused by the injected fluids migrating down through your face.
It looks funny but no pain associated with it.

I just want to be sure your are prepared & know what to expect for the post op experience without alarming you.

Let me know if you have any qustions.

thank you for the reminder folica....
I just got back from Tucson, AZ with Dr. Keene's surgery. Yes, the forehead is starting to swell a bit. I'm really not planning on be out in the public too much for the first week. My overall experience with Dr. Keene's work has been great. The medicine that they gave me during the surgery was able to knock me out pretty much throughout the entire surgery. Funny they asked me pick out 3-4 movies to watch during the surgery, I ended up only watching the first 15 minutes of one movie.

Scoopimg, Congrats man! Dr. Keene was at the top of my list.
I know what you mean,
I too was not very interested in the movies.
You doze in & out & you really don't want to concentrate on anything.
Remenber, don't be afraid to scrub gently with shampoo along the suture line, this will help you heal better & faster. You don't want scabs to form along the suture line.

I am at 6 weeks post op & all is going well!

Just remember, the first week will be the hard part, after that you are pretty much home free!

Keep us posted!

Good luck!!

You will be in good hands.. Do your scalp exercises and make sure to keep the donor area clean the first month

Cheers

Thanks guys...
Another thing that I wanted to share with you all is that the pain reliever that Dr gave me made me hiccup all day for the first couple of days post op. On my drive home from AZ to CA, I was pretty much hiccuping by myself the entire time, kinda funny. The swelling on the forehead is almost gone, but my eyes are still a bit red and swollen and it's definitly travelling down to cheek bone area. Good thing there's so many experienced folks around here that gave me the heads-up, otherwise I'd might be calling Dr. Keene everyday for advice. I think the Coalition Doctors should give a lot of credit to this forum to make their job easier. Will keep you'all posted.

scooping around,

I guess at this point you've already had your HT. How did things go? How many grafts did you receive? Any pictures?

Swelling is normal a few days post op and can last up to a week. It should go away in a few days.

Keep us posted.

Falc

The swelling is pretty much all gone now. I'm going to go to a local critical care clinic to have the stitches removed at the one week post op mark. The HT went just fine, I still couldn't quite believe that I finally got it done after about a year of envy of you guys that have gone through with it and ended up with the amazing results. I ended up going with 2000 graft transplant with about 90% of it along the hairline and lowering the existing hairline about 0.5 cm to 1 cm lower. Dr. Keene actually wanted to lower it even further, but I chose to keep it only about 0.5 cm lower than my existing hair line. She also grafted about 200 grafts in the center of the frontal 1/3 area, where I'm also showing a bit of thinning. I've requested for the pictures that Dr. Keene's assistant took of my hair loss minutes before the surgery and should be getting them back soon. Can someone give me some pointers on how to start a photo blog like the rest of ya'll?

That sounds great Scooping. I look forward to seeing your progress.

That's the scoop huh

Congrat! Now it is the waiting game. Be sure to clean your donor area well & do not let scabs form.

The last word of advice..

Be patient!!

when you guys talk about cleaning the donor area well, do I really need to start scratching and rubbing that area when I'm shampooing? It still feels kinda tender and sensitive so I just gently rubbed it during shampooing, but never actually scratched it or anything. If any scabs for around there, would it make the scar more noticeble later down the road?

Hey Gorpy, when did Dr. Keene advise you to remove the suture? I was pretty drugged up when they told me, but I think they told me to remove it in one week. I've tried to contact them but they're busy in another surgery.

scooping around,

You don't want to "scratch" the area with your nails, but clearly you should be using your fingertips on and around the area to work off any scabs or dried blood. In fact, you can be more forceful (as long as you aren't causing yourself pain) in the donor area than the recipient area even right away.

Falc

I had the suture removed couple of days ago, man, that was painful. I guess I didn't clean the donor area well enough that the doctor had to pick off most of the scabs that covered the scar. It was so painful that I had to have him take half off first, take a break and then work on the other half...that was definitly the most painful part of the entire surgery. Now that the suture is off, the donor area feels much more relaxed now...

The swelling is gone now, and for some reason my receipient area weren't red at all even right after the surgery. The receipient area does still feel a bit numb still at day 10 post op, but much better than before.

Sorry Scooping A,
I didn't see your previous question. I see you got your sutures removed. That's great.

Scoop

Falc was spot on .. Make sure you massage the donor area with your shampoo ( I used a great Aloe vera one from the health store). This will prevent scabbing which causes scarring..

The reason I know this is due to my 2nd HT. Upon having my 3rd, Dr. True mentioned I had a little extra scarring due to this ( which he removed with my 3rd strip).. The point is I was afraid to touch it when in reality you need to clean it well like Falc mentioned..

This time around i would say my healing in the donor area was a month quicker.

I've now got a few pictures up in the Photo Album area now, please have a look guys and tell me what you think.