HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM

I had a 3000 strip/FIT procedure on Nov. 3rd in Atlanta and want to thank Dr. Cole and his team from the bottom of my heart. I met Dr. Cole for a consultation in New York in Sept. and found him to be a straight shooter and a class act. I scheduled my procedure confident that I was in good hands. I should add that I had a small procedure done in 1995 by Dr. Seymour Handler and was very unhappy with the result.

I had virtually no swelling and almost no discomfort. I only used one of the pills for pain (on the night of the procedure as a precaution) and never took the pills to help you sleep. I did make sure to use four pillows to prop my head up while sleeping and that may have contributed to my lack of swelling. I'm now 7 days post op and healing nicely. I still have some stubborn scabs in the hairline that will hopefully drop of in the next week.

I'm now anxiously waiting for the months to pass so I can see the results and get on with the rest of my life. I only wish I had the internet back in 1995 and knew about Dr. Cole before getting my first procedure done.

Thank you for this testimonial, It warms our hearts everytime a patient
share his good experience with us.
Most of our patients just want to move on with their life, this is our goal. Hair Loss has a tremendous impact on people life and it's good to know that we had the privilege to make their life better.
Good luck and keep us update.

you can get agressive in your efforts to remove scabs on the 9th day. Soak your head well in the shower and then use a comb to lift any scabs off. You can also take a wash cloth and give the scalp a good scrub on the 10th day. this will help get rid of any hairs that have not shed yet. remember that hairs are suppossed to stop growing and fall out in the 2nd to 3rd week after a procedure.

happy growing. keep in touch with any questions or results.

Please keep in touch with us as we are always very happy to see the results of our patients. Thank you for all your kind words.

drcole wrote:You can also take a wash cloth and give the scalp a good scrub on the 10th day. this will help get rid of any hairs that have not shed yet. remember that hairs are suppossed to stop growing and fall out in the 2nd to 3rd week after a procedure.

happy growing. keep in touch with any questions or results.

I'm almost 3 weeks post op now and have been rubbing pretty vigorously while shampooing. Some of the hair has shed (I've noticed the little hairs on the shower floor) but I still have feel quite a lot of stubble when I rub my head. Should I be concerned if they haven't shed in the next week? Thanks in advance for your advice and I hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving!

Dear Yankee

I had my hair restoration surgery done on November 4 in Seoul,
South Korea by Sungjoo Tommy Hwang, M.D., PhD.

He's professional and all his staff are extremely friendly .
There was no language barrier problems ; as I dont
speak Korean .

I'm British but currently living in South Korea .
Whilst living in North Carolina a few years ago I was considering
on visiting the Boswell Hair restoration clinic.

At the time I wasn't earning enough cash to have the treatement.
So as time passed the leaves fell from the tree ; this is the analogy
I like to use till I had no alternative ...

I was fortunate to be recommended Sungjoo Tommy Hwang, M.D., PhD.

He had only just arrived back from San Diego whereby he had just won an
award from the IHRS and gave me a consultation immediately .

Like yourself I still have some of the scalps scaps ; infact mine look like a heavy dose of dandruff ; but after reading your message it was good to know that the flakes would dissapear .

Dr Cole sounds like a good man . I have just been reading about a herbal remedy called saw palmetto that encourages hair growth ; any views ???

Hope to hear from you soon

Andrew

ps: Which part of the US are you from ?

Dr. Cole,
It's almost 4 weeks post op now. I still have a lot of stubble when I rub my head. Am starting to get concerned that they still haven't shed. Is it normal to still have a lot of stubble at 4 weeks? Thanks.

Yankee,

Basic maintainance (scrubbing, washing) will generally dislodge any hairs that need to shed. Are you babying the recipient site or washing as usual? Is the area irritated or does it feel normal?

There is a chance that you are a lucky guy and some grafts are growing out of the gate. Do you note the stubble increasing in length? One way to see if the grafts are grow is if you gently tug the hair. If it slides off it was meant to shed. It sticks it is growing.

FITLocks

No, not babying the recipient site. I've been scrubbing vigorously when shampooing and each day I see some more stubble shedding but still have quite a bit left. I haven't noticed them growing but then again it's only been 4 weeks (almost). Being one of the lucky ones that has them grow out of the gate would be great but lucky and my name don't usually go together. Do the hairs sometimes take this long to shed or is this unusual? How hard should I try to pull the hairs? Thanks for your advice.

The site isn't irratated and feels normal.

you really don't need to pull too hard. scrubing vigorusly should help. reach up with your index finger and your thumb. pinch the hair between these two digits. then pull. a non-growing hair should come out like a pin out of a stick of butter. if you have to pluck the hair, it is growing.

you can also use some tweezers. again, growing hair will not come out easily. non-growing hair comes out with almost no effort what so ever. don't pluck the hairs. if they don't come easily, leave them alone. they might be growing.

hope your luck changes.

Thank you Dr. Cole.

Dr. Cole, this is great that you have this forum, this is an excellent resource of information for your patients, they can post their feedback and concerns.

Euro star,

We thank you for the compliment!

In the bad old days of plug HTs, it was important that patients were kept in the dark about recovery time of surgery and the aesthetic results. The reason was simple: if a patient was fully informed they would be less likely to so the surgery.

Follicular Unit Strip surgery was an improvement in the field but there can still, even now, be complications with type of work particularly over multiple sessions.

Now is beginning of the FIT era and I believe the virtues of this method may largely redeem the industry. I am happy that patient can witness the truth about the technique on this boards and contribute there stories.

Again, thanks for the comment Euro

Just wanted to post an update. July 3rd was exactly 8 months since my procedure and the results have truly been life changing. Dr. Cole, I can't thank you enough. I no longer stress windy or rainy days and went swimming last week for the first time in close to 20 years. Even little things like going to restaurants that I had avoided because hats weren't allowed. I just wanted to let you know about my progress and thank you again for what you did for me. It feels like I've got a 2nd lease on life. God bless.

Yankee, do you have any before and after pictures?

That's awesome Yankee! Glad to hear it You can look forward to the hair maturing and thickening from now until the 12 month mark. Enjoy!

Hello, on May 11, 2009 I had 200 grafts placed on my temple areas. I'm an african American patient. On about the 7th day I started massaging my temples with shampoo. I noticed some of my scabs fell off. How would I know if I hurt my grafts?

Yankee! Its very good!