Hey Bullitnut, thanks mate. Anyways here it is.
2901 grafts 5935 hairs by Strip Dr Ron Shapiro
The statistics
1 Hair FU s 514 Grafts 514 Hairs
2 Hair FU s 1799 Grafts 3598 Hairs
3 Hair FU s 529 Grafts 1587 Hairs
4 Hair FU s 59 Grafts 236 Hairs
Two strips taken
Strip 1 Width 1.2 Length 21.5
Strip 2 Width 1.3 Length 7.5
For all Newbies I d recommend reading Bullitnut and Mashers accounts, as these go into great detail. My experience echo these in that I ve received first class service and care throughout.
Research Research Research
I first started losing my hair in my early twenties, which I m sure many would agree can be deeply upsetting. I steadily progressed in my forties to a Norwood 5. I m truly happy for those guys that can deal with their situation and are happy with the shaved down look, although one of my pals who insists he doesn t care always wears a hat when he s out. Several years ago on a flight I was reading the glossy and came across an article promising to deal with hairloss so I got in touch. Always being a bit suspicious I did some surfing, which flagged up the forums out there. Thankfully this avoided me making a massive mistake by reading and seeing the experiences of others. For many months I spent hours, too many probably, reading through the forums amazed by some of the transformations whilst being shocked by some treated so badly. Eventually I took some photos and sent them away for an initial assessment. Since then I have personally met with several representatives of the leading clinics including Dr Ron Shapiro himself in Feb 2009.
Meds
Maybe not for everyone but I decided to start on the meds, Nizoral, Fin and Rogaine. This stabilised further hairloss and I m sure grew some back in the lateral hump region. I ll post a picture so you can judge for yourself. After 2 years or so any further growth seemed to have evened off.
Downtime
I decided that the HT route was for me but the main problem was getting the downtime needed as I deal with a lot of people in my work, eventually I got several weeks leave and I was good to go. I decided to run with SMG as in my opinion Dr Ron produces consistently superb work and the most natural hairlines out there. Thankfully SMG accepted me as a suitable candidate. I booked for December as its hat wearing time, short days and fitted in with my work schedule etc.
The Procedure
I can t improve on Bullinuts account other to say that all the staff are awesome, so friendly and helpful with nothing being too much trouble. They will bend over backwards to help and truly care about your welfare. A big shout for Dr Ron, Janna, Matt, Jennifer, Tom and the technicians (sorry I can t remember all your names). I was quite nervous in the morning but didn t need to be as everything was so straightforward; I had no pain at all only mild discomfort and promise the dentist is much much worse. I selected a couple of films to watch but slept right through them with the day flying by quickly. Once back in the hotel I applied gel packs to keep the swelling down and applied the graftcyte spray every half an hour, although I had very minor swelling under my right eye on day 5 but luckily this didn t amount to much. Top tip though take a travel pillow as it takes the pressure off of the closure and with this I slept all night only being woken by my alarm. I walked to SMG the following day for a hair wash but took thing easy for the next few days.
Although I didn t record events in general my staples could not be seen as my hair was long enough to cover things up. I wore a peaked cap out until day 7 and after that did not need it anymore, I just looked like I had a dodgy haircut. No one stared or noticed. I ve had mild discomfort in the strip and every now and then when I snagged a staple. I stopped the painkillers after day 1 as they made me feel a bit sick. The hairs started to shed at day 10 which I m happy about as I hope to grow in slowly. The staples came out at day 11 which feels soooo much better and meant I could ditch the travel pillow. The removal was probably the most painful part but still nothing to worry about.
Ok that s about it for now, but hope to get some pictures up soon. Special thanks to Dr Ron, Janna, Bigmac, PB, NN, NGTGB (where did he go?), Tim UK, Bullitnut, Masher, Spex, Garageland and many many others.