Hi Guys and Girls. I've been reading through many of the posts here and it occurred to me that I might have some useful general advice for anyone considering an HT. When it comes to transplants, I've done it all:

-Scalp Reduction
-Plug Grafts
-Micrografts
-Ultra-Refined Follicular Units
-Corrective Extractions

TOP FIVE ADVICE:
1. TIME. Once you've selected the right Doc for ultra refined work, you need to make every commitment you can to NOT go immediately back to work. Or back home for that matter. I'd take the first week to simply relax in a hotel...and then if you can financially arrange it depending on your situation, dont work for two months. I say this because a HT needs to be a private matter in my opinion. Im not in favor of the "tell the neighbors" approach-not for the shame, but because the whole purpose of the transplant is to STOP people from looking at your head, not your eyes. You should be completely healed by two months, no significant redness, etc. For guys into extreme privacy, arranging to be out of town, or attending seminars, or visiting relatives, or traveling overseas is another option. A built in excuse gives you every reason to be "away" for awhile. This thing about returning to class with pink grafts the next day is ill-advised. What happens if you get exposed? You dont need that kind of hassle.

2. DENSITY. Do a mega session if you can, and choose a doctor who is not going to manipulate multiple expensive sessions out of you. It is a trauma to your schedule and social life to go through a procedure and wait for it to grow. Why not do a max session? On the subject of density, there are a number of factors:

-hair color: gray or blonde reflects more light (consider lightening)
-direction: combing front to back allows longer hairs, more density
-coverage: if you allow a bald spot in back, more density for front
-hairline: make sure it isnt too low: take in a picture from a magazine of exactly what hairline you want. Guys density is everything. If you dont get enough, you'll always want more.

As a final note, and general rule, your doctor should be more concerned about your future social life than extracting extra sessions out of you. The doctor I chose most recently has the reputation of going the extra mile and giving free grafts simply because he wants his patients to look right. The dude is rich by the way...most of these guys are. But if they are GREEDY.....then RUN.

3. FEAR: I notice many newbies are truly afraid of being "cut" on. I assure you, after the first week you wont think about this at all. Sure, the surgery is slightly gruesome. I say slightly. There is redness, blood, etc. But once you've gone through a procedure you know its not a big deal. PAIN is a reality. Dont let anyone tell you different. Cutting through skin layers with sharp instruments HURTS. Even if you're sedated. But you're a big boy and you're looking for results. SLEEP will be harder for a few weeks. Thats natural. Especially until the stitches come out. Be patient.

4. HEALTH: I have the general conviction that your overall health will affect your transplant results. Cholesterol, for example, is a natural enemy of hair growth in general. I recommend walking and eating low carb for general health. A transplant in a vacuum if you're overweight and out of shape is not a cure all for your appearance. You HAVE to change your lifestyle as well. On the same topic lack of SLEEP and STRESS are the enemies of your hair and health in general. Say this over and over: "I sleep enough, I eat right, I excercise five days a week."

5. FUTURE: One thing that newbies rarely think of is what they want to look like when theyre 50, 60, or 70. They want a low hairline today, but it wont look natural later. I mentioned density before but im not contradicting myself here. You want density in specific areas, but you're not trying to look like Elvis. Choose a smaller area for coverage and achieve the results you want there. Dont get greedy. What happens if you bald much further and run out of donor hair? Another consideration is STYLING. Are you going to want to style your hair with gel? Or change hairstyles? In general, I recommend combing your hair BACK if you look good that way. This is advantageous for several reasons. For one thing, all of us baldies know that the wind is always our worst enemy. When the wind blows your hair, it blows it BACK. A transplant combed front to back, or diagonally looks best OUTDOORS in the wind. Which is where the rubber meets the road. You may want bangs, but youre gonna need some major donor and mega bucks to pull that look off. Think about it.

quote:

3. FEAR: I notice many newbies are truly afraid of being "cut" on. I assure you, after the first week you wont think about this at all. Sure, the surgery is slightly gruesome. I say slightly. There is redness, blood, etc. But once you've gone through a procedure you know its not a big deal. PAIN is a reality. Dont let anyone tell you different. Cutting through skin layers with sharp instruments HURTS. Even if you're sedated. But you're a big boy and you're looking for results. SLEEP will be harder for a few weeks. Thats natural. Especially until the stitches come out. Be patient

Springsteen,
While I agree w/ you on most of what you say here. I have to say I disagree w/ the fact that it hurts during surgery! If you can feel pain when he is cutting your strip out the doc hasnt done his job right! I do however agree that it can be slightly uncomfortable afterwards though, but if you follow post op instructions and take your pain meds it should be nothing someone cant handle.

Other than that I believe you covered it all. Great job!!

Cholesterol is bad for hair? I know it's bad, but I didn't know it affected hair growth.

I've got two cholesterol issues: The first was triglycerides, which I brought down substantially with Tricor.

The second is the "good" cholesterol and apparantly mine is much too low. It's hereditary says the doctor, and there really isn't a medicine that can bring it up. I got a sample of some drug with niocin (I think) in it that might work. It made me very flush though.

I'm trying to diet, but weigh 188 lbs. at 5'8. I'd like to be at 170 lbs. I work out with weights twice per week but I'm having trouble doing anything else. But, it's a goal of mine to break out the $1k bicycle I bought last summer, or at least to run 3x a week.

I agree with Dakota .I had 3 done and NEVER felt any pain. Taking the staples out stung a little but the surgery itself was painless.

Springsteen,

Great post. I did not feel the donor removal but did feel when the grafts were being placed/incisions later on. It was because I was metabolizing the medication very fast so my doc had to give me sevearl shots throughout the procedure.

There are however examples out there (although they are the minority) where multiple hairstyles are possible. I think it so in the best of cases (right hair thickness, # of grafts, hair color, etc.)

Dewayne- just curious, did your doc recommend vigorous exercise as my good cholesterol was low as well and my doc stated the only thing that would bring it up is exercise that increases my heartrate (running, swimming, biking, etc.) I practice Karate so I just increased my workouts and my good cholesterol is up, actually normal now.

Sorry for the 2 posts, I accidentally hit "reply with Quote" instead of Edit and for some reason I can't delete the post.

Springsteen,

Very informative post and I agree with most of what you are saying.

Other members made a great point about the pain during surgery. Though I would not call hair transplantation a painful procedure, the only pain you should feel is the application of the anesthetic. If you are feeling the removal of the strip or the recipient sites being made, the physician hasn't applied enough anesthetic.

Cholesterol, stress, and lack of sleep are certainly enemies to a body's overall help. But since none of these (except in extreme cases) actually cause hair loss, they should also not impact your hair transplant results. That said, I agree with you wholeheartedly that living a healthy lifestyle will facilitate quicker healing.

Thanks for contributing and best wishes,

Falc

P.S. Who was your surgeon?

Thanks for the feedback. I admit that many of my opinions are not something you would read on a HT surgeons brochure but I have found these five things to be universally true.

1. Pain. I think its unrealistic to lie to people and say there is no pain involved. Needles hurt. Sleeping on stitches hurts.

2. Cholesterol. The AMA wont tell you this, but cholesterol damages every circulatory system you have, which means your hair

3. Styles. I still think that choosing the right doctor first, and the right realistic hairstyle second are the two most important things. Most people mistakenly dont take all the factors into consideration such as wind, aging, donor, etc.

4. TIME. I still think that the movement of going back to work, or telling people about your procedure is misguided. As one person pointed out, people TALK. It is human nature. Much better to leave town for two months and tell them you're taking a sabbatical or going on a longterm business seminar across country.Do NOT tell your family and friends (except your wife).....let them see it grow in and guess......if you tell them theyre gonna be LOOKING at your hairline.

everyones situation is different. It would be pretty hard for a guy who was a NW5+ to just show up after 3 months and have almost a full head of hair. People would obviously be suspicious so at that point it might just be better to be honest.

As far as the pain, i never felt a thing during surgery. The stitches bothered me at night for a few days but i just got them out today so no more sleeping on one side anymore.

Maybe my doctors had magic needles or I have a high tolence to pain but I dont remember any pain I also had a root canal last month and those needles didnt hurt either.
I think you mean its uncomfortable not that it hurts but maybe Im wrong.
Hatrick I agree with the word bothered but no pain at all.

I also didn't have pain. The 9 hours or so I was in the chair was actually the most peaceful rest I had in the two weeks before and after the procedure! I'll admit, after two or three days it's not the same "happy" feeling, but becomes a pain in the ass by day 12 or so - having sutures / staples in your head.

Here I Grow, my doc (which is pretty cool, but I'm thinking of changing) didn't recommend vigorous exercise so I'll make note. He's more of a prescription writer, from what I have found.

I like the guy, but he seems to always be in a hurry and would write me a script for just about anything I asked for I believe.

quote:

. Pain. I think its unrealistic to lie to people and say there is no pain involved. Needles hurt. Sleeping on stitches hurts.

Springsteen,

Very valid and I agree. I think most will admit that there is at least some pain when the anesthetic is administered and the first few days can be uncomfortable and even somewhat painful. The pain medication helps, but sleeping for the first 5 days or so after surgery can be uncomfortable and challenging.

Best wishes,

falc

Not everyone cares if people know what they are having done. I went back to work 2 days later with a do-rag and I explained what I had done. Most people admired me for doing something about it, or they are losing their hair and had a ton of questions.

Everyone you know most likely realizes you have pattern baldness. That is at least the way I see it. I understand that some people are private.

quote:

Originally posted by Falceros:

quote:

. Pain. I think its unrealistic to lie to people and say there is no pain involved. Needles hurt. Sleeping on stitches hurts.

Springsteen,

Very valid and I agree. I think most will admit that there is at least some pain when the anesthetic is administered and the first few days can be uncomfortable and even somewhat painful. The pain medication helps, but sleeping for the first 5 days or so after surgery can be uncomfortable and challenging.

Best wishes,

falc

WIMPS

My opinion is that the surgery and the healing are a piece of cake. The surgery is not painful; its actually pretty exciting. My head was sore for a few days after the procedure. The most painful part was removing the staples. Ouch!

The most difficult part I believe is waiting for the growth and hoping that it meets your expectations. There are a wide range of results posted on the internet. Some guys get great density, others wil spend 40K for a wispy combover.

Until you are through at least 12 months of waiting, you wont know if all the grafts are growing and if the surgeon's approach was cosmetically acceptable. You wil question growth/yield. You will question hairline placement. You will question the width of the scar. You will question the aesthetic value. You will question the naturalness.

Hey guys.

I agree with Emperor.
My experience was pretty close to a piece of cake.

ZERO pain when the donor area was cut/removed.
I has actually asked Dr.Epstein when he was going to start the cutting and the doc/staff kind of chuckled and said he was finished and just about finished with the sutures.

The post-op was also pretty easy.
A little soreness for a few days...no big deal.
It's important to stay on top of the pain meds for the first few days...but believe me i was never in NEED of the pain meds...just played it safe.

My sleeping was really not that bad.
Epstein used the sutures not staples.
I hear alot of guys claiming the staples suck.

The sutures were easy to sleep with/on and my scar is friggin awesome.

There is a little pain with the needles/anesthetic...but no big deal.
Same kind of dentist type pain.

MH

theEmperor,

I think you pretty much summed it up in a nutshell there.