HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM

This patient, I have to say, was an extreme pleasure to have visit with us. He was here for 5 days of surgery. He received 2739 FIT scalp grafts and 1020 body hair grafts from the upper back for a total of 3759 grafts. The pictures speak for themselves, but I will add a few comments.

The pictures show that we treated the frontal hairline and frontal third. We also added some detail with recreating and reinforcing the temple points. Temple points can make a subtle but big difference because they frame the face. Temple points are often neglected. When a patient has a frontal third transplant, but is recessed in the temples, the overall look can sometimes look a little strange even if the work is very natural. This is because it does not often occur in nature for the temple points to be recessed but the frontal hairline remain intact. Dr. Cole mimics nature as closely as possible when planning his surgical reconstructions. It doesn’t take a lot of hair to reinforce the temples, but those few hairs must be placed exactly and strategically.

The close-up pictures show the crown and frontal third work. There is less density placed in the crown. Because this patient has restricted donor reserves (as do most patients with loss greater than NW Class 2), Dr. Cole made sure that he got the most value for his money. Crown work can require several thousands of grafts to achieve full density. A light coverage, however, can give a youthful yet mature look. A larger percentage of the donor hairs were used for the front and frontal hairline to give the most cosmetic difference with the least amount of grafts. The patient also took advantage of his body hairs to extend his donor reserves. This extra boost in donor numbers can help to create extra thickness that will grow in and mature at a later date than the scalp hairs. The effect will be that the scalp hairs will grow in and thicken, followed by a more gradual extra thickening contributed by the slower growing body hair grafts.

Last, but definitely not least, here are some pictures of the donor areas. Notice that in the before picture, the patient has an area of lower density in the back of his head. This area was not harvested due to this individual characteristic. Overall, the areas of less density are less harvested to afford the patient enough post-op coverage no matter how his density ranges in different areas of the donor. The patterns and scatterings of the donor extractions are carefully thought out and planned before and during the surgery to create the most donor preservation while still meeting the patients needs as much as possible. The body hair extraction sites are already healing. The difference between the body hairs taken on day two and the body hairs extracted on day five are easily apparent.

Hello All,

I would also like to say the experience was great. I was extremely nervous about the procedure because I didn't know what the future for my head would be. Dr. Cole and staff put me at ease and soon my blood pressure went down. My main concern was for my procedure to look natural. I talked with Dr. Cole when I arrived and we developed the plan for the hairline. Being in my late 30's, my goal wasn't to look 20 again. I just wanted more density and a slighly lowered hairline because I like to wear my hair short. I was considered a NW6 as you can see and I needed a lot of graphs. I think my procedure will give me a good foundation and if I need some touch up work in the future, I know where to go, Dr. Cole's office.

It was very exciting to go home after each procedure to see the transformation. That was amazing. It has been 7 days now and 99% of my scabs have falling off. By day 5, about 60% of the scabs were gone. That was amazing. So far I have not had any shedding. You can see a lower hairline now. What really amazed me was the transplanted hairs from my head have doubled or tripled in length since my procedure. I really didn't expect that at all. I am trying to find a good camera. The one I have isn't very good. I will post some pictures very soon.

If you are contemplating getting a procedure done, no need to hesitate. I was as nervous about it as they come and I am so glad I went through it. What a difference it makes with the way you feel inside. That is what is important. Don't think about the money, think about your happiness. I followed the post surgery instructions to the T. I set my alarm to go off every hour so I could put the biotin spray on. I truly feel that made the difference and why my healing went so fast and well. Although my scabs have falling off, I continue to use the spray every 2-3 hours to keep my scalp moist and help the overall healing process. It seems to be helping because I am not very red. I have so much to tell about the procedure, what helped me etc. I will add those comments on future posts.

Talk with you all soon...Jeeper

I am glad you are doing well and healing so fast! Let us know if you need anything or have any concerns. Keep us posted on your progress!