Note: A codensed version of this post, but many more pictures, are found at my blog.

Well, after nearly two and a half years, I finally had my second installment ordered, installed and delivered with perfection. It's hard to overestimate the thoroughness, professionalism and, of course, quality H&W deliver. Round two brought not only unexpectedly high graft numbers, but a whole new insight into the process, viewed against a backdrop of so much more research, knowledge and information on the subject.

I arrived in Vancouver at around 1:30 AM Sunday. A quick ride to the Granville Island Hotel, and I was fast asleep. After a late breakfast, I perused the beautiful, engaging island. Street performers, art galleries and the incredible market place quickly consumed my afternoon. Soon thereafter, Mike Ferko, Scott and Doug Kline arrived from Seattle. We had some fun at the hotel room designing hairlines with Dermmatch. Then we went down for some appetizers and drinks, where we met Nick, who was to have surgery the next day with Dr. Wong while Dr. Hasson worked on me.

We all went out to dinner at around 7 PM, joined by Jotronic and the lovely Amber.

My intention in round two was twofold: 1) Refine the hairline and some of the temple angles, and 2) fill in behind the frontal third covered by HT #1. At first, Dr. Hasson predicted he'd get only about 2,500 grafts. Accordingly, he delineated an area on top that would not quite reach back as far as the crown, leaving some area uncovered. I was a bit disappointed, but Dr. Hasson said he wanted me to start on Dutastride anyhow, and was very confident that it would fortify the area not covered by surgery.

Another thing that really impressed me about Dr. Hasson at this point: He told me he was less-than-satisfied with my current hairline -- critical of his own work. It takes a truly honest, self-confident, and pretty impressive person to be that self-critical. (In truth, I believe I may have done some damage to some parts of his original hairline by wearing a hairpiece after surgery #1. The frontal tape may have suffocated some of the implanted grafts.)

The process began at around 7:45 AM. Dr. Hasson first consumed about 400 grafts refining the hairline. We did not shave down the existing frontal hair, as it was my intention to have a small hairpiece designed for the recipient area and, thus, appear at work as if nothing had changed. As soon as the hair grew back, I'd remove the piece and get a short haircut.

Dr. Hasson then started the top area, behind the existing hairs from HT #1. Late in the afternoon, as he progressed with the incisions and the techs inserted the grafts, Dr. Hasson finally came back with the great news: We got over 3,500 grafts! So he covered the entire area on the top, and then came back and told me he had another 500 grafts left. He now wanted to shave me down up front and implant the extras up front to increase the density there. Well, I gave him a hard time about shaving down the front, considering the problems this would cause me. But my voice was quited as he pulled out the clipper and started cutting away. We both laughed and I was, of course, happy about it in the end.





In all, I received another 3,537 grafts and the process ended at 8:15 PM. Dr, Hasson's incredibly talented and friendly staff helped make the experience so successful and relatively enjoyable. Particularly noteworthy were Slava, Anna, Rebbecca and Farah. And the ever-delightful Christina, of course.

Above all, Dr, Hasson is the consummate professional. He is charming, funny, honest, ethical and, of course, supremely skilled.

Dr.Hasson did a great job on you!!! One cannot imagine how many lives he has changed and will continue to change. I know my life is for all the better because of him.

Every time his results blow me away...and on top of all that...his consistant professionalism of his business and how things run show how his attention to details ripple throughout.

I cannot wait to watch your transformation with HT #2 and the trico-scar. Happy healing!

Thanks, Bob. It's incredibly exciting. I'm glad I waited this long for #2, because they now have the tricho closure down to an art. I saw one guy there who had it done about 5 months ago, and I couldn't find his scar!

And your own work is historic!

By the way, how do you put the hyperlink to "my hair loss blog" in your signature?

Bushy, I must congratulate you on being the bald artist formerly known as bushy!!!!!!!!! I am amazed at what you look like now, and I am excited about what you will look like in the future!!!!!!! I think you might be giving the wonderfully coifed Jotronics a run for his money soon!!!!!!! Amazing, and thank you for giving back to the community here. I hope you and others like you keep posting so we can prove that a difference does exist between the best and all the rest!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by the B spot:
Bushy, I must congratulate you on being the bald artist formerly known as bushy!!!!!!!!! I am amazed at what you look like now, and I am excited about what you will look like in the future!!!!!!! I think you might be giving the wonderfully coifed Jotronics a run for his money soon!!!!!!! Amazing, and thank you for giving back to the community here. I hope you and others like you keep posting so we can prove that a difference does exist between the best and all the rest!!!!!!

Thanks, The B Spot. It's good to be back here. I used to post a great deal here, and am happy to see how wonderfully the industry has progressed since!

Do you have pics up? I'd love to see them. Dr. Shapiro is one of my favorites.

Bushy, yeah I have to go shell out 600$ for a new camera and I have been dragging my feet a bit. I am seven months out, and I look much different, that is for sure. I need one massive session, and maybe a little one to tighten things up a bit, so I am in the middle of my journey, (unlike yourself). So today, (in about 5 min) I am headed to the golf course, where I will raise a cold one and curse you lucky bastards and be thankful that I will join you in another year or so!!!!!!! Peace!!!!!
Pictures are coming!!!!!

I updated my blog to include the new, HT #2 day 13 pics. All my scabs are now gone. Dr. Hasson agreed with my suggestion, and I'm leaving the staples in for two full weeks, out on day 15 (this Monday morning at 9 AM). My friend, a plastic surgeon, will be removing them for me. Incidentally, he told me that he routinely leaves head staples or sutures in for 2 weeks, whereas on other parts of the body they remove them after 7 or so days.



13top.jpg (91 KB, 5270 downloads)

Bushy, I have been pondering this as well, and I am glad you voiced it--- given the size of your session, do you think it is better to leave the staples in for a few more days? I only had a 1.25 cm wide strip taken the first time, but on my next one, Dr. Shapiro and I have discussed 1.5 to 2 cm, so I thought a greater risk of stretching existed, so why not leave them in for a few days longer? The only problem with that is they seem to "take root" right at 10 days and can hurt like a @#!$$#. I am interested to know why you feel this way and perhaps the opinions of others as well. BTW, you have to to know that I have added you to my list of those I must envy for another year or so

quote:

Originally posted by the B spot:
Bushy, I have been pondering this as well, and I am glad you voiced it--- given the size of your session, do you think it is better to leave the staples in for a few more days? I only had a 1.25 cm wide strip taken the first time, but on my next one, Dr. Shapiro and I have discussed 1.5 to 2 cm, so I thought a greater risk of stretching existed, so why not leave them in for a few days longer? The only problem with that is they seem to "take root" right at 10 days and can hurt like a @#!$$#. I am interested to know why you feel this way and perhaps the opinions of others as well. BTW, you have to to know that I have added you to my list of those I must envy for another year or so

BSpot, I do think it's safer to leave them in a few more days. Of course, I'm no doctor so for me it's mere conjecture or, at best, good logic. My thinking was largely base on my last HT: When I removed the staples on day 10, but I still felt a lot of tension in the back. My scalp was never particularly lax, and I can't imagine how leaving them in another 4 days wouldn't benefit me in giving the skin an opportunity to regain some more of its laxity. Which is why I was surprised when my plastic surgeon friend told me they routinely wait two weeks on head wounds. Dr Hasson completely agreed with the additional wait.

I understand (don't we all) the eagerness to remove these horrible beasts from the back of our head. It is a mild form of torture to live with them. Sleep works only with 2 Tylenol D's every night (I ran out of Ambien). But right now I have only one more night to go!!!! Tomorrow morning at 9 AM I'm scheduled to head out. Can't believe it! In the end, I think it will prove to have been well worth the wait.

Nor do I feel that after 10 days they "took root" or hurt any more than previously. Just the same old pain in the neck . . . or just above it.

And don't envy me -- envy the dude who just got from Dr. Hasson 7,600 in one session, almost the same total as I now have! In fact, you and I can go out, have a drink, and envy him together (more like sulk together)!

Thanks Bushy, Ok, you have experienced a tight feeling, as your scalp is not possessed of great laxity. I on the other hand have a pretty loose scalp, but I want to ensure maximum closure when I go for the big one. I guess it comes down to personal feeling and the opinion of your Doc. I will email Dr. Shapiro about this and see what he has to say as well. Thanks my friend!!!!! 7600 in one session----- that is just insane man!!!!!

Oops, I appear to have made a mistake. He got 6,700 in one session (I confused it with my 7,600 total). I guess it was a small session, after all.

Hi Bushy

How do you get away with shaving the top of your head and leaving the sides long? I'e had 2 smaller procedures of 1417 & 1476 as I needed to avoid shockloss and cannot shave my head to have grafts placed. Mt results are great but obviously a 3000 HT would be nice too

The pictures you see are just after surgery. I took a week off, staying home mostly and not going out without a hat. After having my staples removed on day 15, I went straight to my hair stylist. She tapered the sides down using a #4 on the sides, #3 and #2 toward the top. The overall look was acceptable, and I used some Dermmatch to help conceal the scar. Not a perfect fix, but ok for a day or so. I'm back under my hat now. Played tennis today! (Tomorrow was supposed to be my first day of allowable exercise per Dr. Hasson's post-op guidlines, but I cheated a bit.) Go figure, I hit the ball better than I had in months. Maybe the exrtra grafts helped balance things out.

Good luck with your growth!

Bushy,

Congrats, I looked at your pre and post OP pictures and it seems like Dr Hasson has done great job. I am very curious as to how your hair will look in few more weeks. Please keep us posted.

Anyway, right now I am also looking to get HT done and was wondering how much does H&W charges per FUs. Any pointers will be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Kevin

quote:

Originally posted by KEVIN1234:
Bushy,

Congrats, I looked at your pre and post OP pictures and it seems like Dr Hasson has done great job. I am very curious as to how your hair will look in few more weeks. Please keep us posted.

Anyway, right now I am also looking to get HT done and was wondering how much does H&W charges per FUs. Any pointers will be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Kevin

Hi, Kevin. Thanks for the compliments. I plan to post some more pictures in a week or so, after most or all of the new hairs have fallen out.

As for H&W FU prices, I suggest you give H&W a call and speak with Joe or Doug. They can discuss that subject more accurately than I.

Good luck with your research!

I've updated my blog with month 1, 2 and 3 pics. I suffered a ton of shock loss, but seem to be recovering now in month 3. I can feel the fun beginning!

Here is a comparison pic for a quick view:



comarison3.jpg (40 KB, 4000 downloads) Comparison

The changes between month 2 and month 3 are amazing!! Congrats!

Awesome, Bushy. I've been following your progress..............looks like you're really starting to come along. Thanks for posting the updates, keep 'em comin'.

Congrats Bush!!!!! You know after this one matures, I bet your results are going to rival some of the best!!!!!! Awesome!!!!! Can't wait to see the finished product!!!

Hi

iNDEED.. CONGRATS BUSH!!!It's a shame H & W requires you to shave the Recepiant area.. Many people like myself just can't do that due to having a profession which requires a "normal" look.. He results are truly amazing. I don't think I could get over 2500 grafts from my donor area due to laxity ( 1476 on my @nd left me feeling very tight)

CHEERS

Cheers