I had a lengthy discussion today with Dr Hasson and we have decided upon a plan of action for HT numero two.
First a little background. I was a Norwood 5 with baby fine hairs hairs and quite diffuse. May 23rd of 2006, Dr Hasson transplanted 4944 FU's into the forward 2/3 of my head (hairline thru to the front of the crown). I had slightly more than normal laxity and about average hair density. If I recall correctly the strip was 30cm by 1.60-1.70cm Today we dicsussed my desires and his technical views. ....I desire first for my crown to be filled in to the same density I now have on my front 2/3 ( I estimate this to be 1650 FU's).......secondly I desire about 1/2 cm of "soft" hair proceeding my current hairline ( maybe just 250 FU's)....thirdly, any remaining grafts to be placed where ever Dr Hasson deems best ( probably within the front 1/3 of my scalp).
While I massaged my scalp quite abit, my sides are very flexible but the back of my scalp ( where most of my donor hair lies) is not as loose :-(
I had Jotronic take a video of my nearly 8 month progress, I hope he gets it posted soon. Additionally, there were many digital photos made while I was in the office today, I expect to upload those pictures on this site by the weekend.
For Pat, I will ask Dr Hasson to give me a break down of how many 1's, 2's, 3's etc he transplants. I expect 2000 FU's but am crossing my fingers for 2500 because I don't intend to do a 3rd HT!!!
Regarding the extensive exam by Dr Hasson, he believes that I am a slower grower of transplanted new hair than average although he did not want to offer what percentage of growth I have yet to go from HT #1. Using magnification, he could see new short growth that was quite fine. His opinion was that doing a second HT in this area did not pose an undue risk of transection ( the other two areas are virgin). This news of course made me happy.
Stay tuned for month 8 photos, post HT #2 photos and the video. Cheers, S-n-P

Looking forward to the photos and video!

S&P,

Good luck, when is your date with the chair?

Salt-N-Peppa,

Good to hear from you man. Have you posted any updated pictures recently. I didn't see any yesterday...I simply haven't navigated to the photos section yet today. You are in great hands. I know it's hard being a slow grower...but remain patient...you will be pleased with the results when they come in I'm sure.

Falc

Salt-N-Peppa,

Best wishes for surgery #2. I appreciate you sharing hair counts along with graft counts. We all look forward to seeing your photos as well. Feel free to create a free weblog as well.

Pat

Gentlemen- HT #2 is now complete----here are the details and breakdown. My crown was my first concern since I had a roughly 3 inch circular nearly bald spot there. Approximately 1550 FU's were placed there, virtually all of them 2's and 3s. 904- 2's, 436-3's and the remaining 210 were 1's. Approximately 425 single hair FU's were placed slightly in front of my existing transplanted hair to "soften" it up some and the in the first 2 cm. of my hairline to beef it up some.
So-
620 1's
904 2's
436 3's
Total for HT #2---1960

HT #1 was ---4944 but no "official " breakdown, I will assume the same percentages would apply though.

HT # 1 Strip was 30cm by 1.5 (left and right sides) and 1.8cm back

HT #2 strip was 30cm by .6 cm(left side) .8 cm (right side) 1.5cm back

Pat, I will blog this in a few days. Jotronic is e-mailing me photos of pre HT #2 and post HT #2......stay tuned.

Final thoughts, I was hoping for another 500 FU's but my donor area didn't have enough flexibility ( particularily the back ). So, for all of you readers of this message, start massaging your head so your Doctor can help you without that as a limitation.
I'm sure most everyone here has an affinity for the Doctor that they have had a HT with, but I must say that the staff of Dr Hasson is superb. We all know the no one can excel without lots of help, Dr Hasson has first class assistants. I'll write more soon ..........good night S-n-P

Salt-N-Peppa,

wow...that was quick. I didn't know you were having your HT so quickly. Congrats! Yeah, I was surprised that the number was lower on the graft count, but that should still make some differentce and give you some more density and some crown coverage. Did you do scalp exercises prior? I know I was diligent for about 2.5 months with that every day...I'm sure that contributed to the 3700 grafts I received. I look forward to seeing your pics.

Falc

Congrats S-N-P!!!! Your situation somewhat mirrors mine!!!!

Although, I did end up getting 3600 grafts, my 1st session was 3100, so we ended up around the same place.

Good News is we are healing and growing at the same time, so we can cheer each other up when needed!!!!!!

Happy Growing and look forward to your progress!!!1

Salt-N-Peppa,

Congratulations on your second surgery. I appreciate you providing detailed hair counts and strip measurements. I think such details really help people get an accurate sense of the surgery.

I do think that the scalp massage exercises can help create more scalp laxity, which can enable the surgeon to take a wider strip with more follicles. I'd be curious to know if you did them.

We all look forward to seeing your photos. Best wishes for good healing and growth, Pat

To Pat and Falc, I did do scalp exercises but I suppose in retrospect I should have concentrated my efforts of where the bulk of my door hair was, namely the back of the head. I do recall that when I started the exercises at the 6 month point, my laxity in the back was virtualy zero. So, while I did increase the laxity, I really should have been more dilligent and I offer that as a suggestion for others.
Nonetheless, my donor strips produced about 2.2 hairs per FU.........so I had a total of 6704FU and about 14,750 hairs total............not bad for a NW 5!!! More info soon. S-n-P

Dude our hair and graft counts are almost frightingly similar!!!!!!!

Same grafts, almost the same hair count, same NW, etc......

We are going to have to get together 8-9 months from now and take some pics buddy!!!!!!!!

This is crazy!!!!!!!LOL!!!!

Salt...I'm glad to hear the exercises helped. Surely more diligence may have helped even more, but you are right...with 6704 grafts (14750 hairs total), that's a good number of grafts on a NW5. I'm sure you're going to look great!

Falc

NEVER DO MATH IN PUBLIC,
or under the influence of Tylenol #3 etc.
I said last night that I had about 2.2 hairs per FU.........actually the math count is-
6904FU's
2184 1's
3184 2's
1536 3's
This is actually 1.91 hairs per FU.
Total hairs transplanted is 13,160
( my assumption is HT #1 had identical hair breakdown to HT #2...I think this is a fair assumption).
Let me get your opinion on this- I think I'll leave the staples in for 14 days vs. the 10 after HT #1, my logic is there is not going to be another HT so I want to give the donor area to have as good a chance as possible to heal properly. Any opinions on this??

Yo B Spot, maybe you're my brother from another mother--- I'm a bit of a slow grower but give me about 8 months and we can compare manes!!!
Later, S-n-P