T
thincity
Valued member
After years of waiting, logging hundreds hours on hairloss forums/websites, and in-person consults, I'm scheduled for surgery with Dr. Ron Shapiro at Shapiro Medical. I know many like to look and pictures, and I had quite a few. My hard drive crashed and I lost all my pictures, however SMG has some. I sent Matt Zupan pics in January 2010, some of my shaved head (horrible choice on my part) in September of 2010, and finally my in-person consult at SMG in May of this year.
I will allow SMG to post these pictures, if they are intrested. My surgery is scheduled in February, which worked best for me, and also gives me time to complete scalp exercises! I intend on posting my experience on this site, although I have read and posted on others on occasion, I find this site and HLH to be the most free of "drama" and are both well moderated. It is beyond me, why people come to these sites and attack each other, when we all are facing a common enemy...hairloss.
I will give a brief history on myself, I'm 49, a diffuse NW 5-6 with "salt and pepper" hair. I had four "mini-graft" surgeries in 1990/1992, all in the crown perhaps 400-500 total. This was done in Michigan by the "Chambers Hair Insitute". The grafts are too large, at least half at poor angles , and are now an island in a area that is thin and diffused. I attempted one repair with a surgeon in Toronto, who FUE'd out approximately 200 plugs, however the hair that was extracted did not grow..zero regrowth and a minimal if any cosmetic improvement.
Since then I have researched, and sent photo's and gone to in-person consults. I will not comment on those with the exception of one, Dr. Brad Wolf, I met him and found him to very open, honest and sincere. At that time, he had recomended approximately 1800 FUE and possibly a small strip. If I was not a repair patient, I would have considered him.
In May, I had an in-person consult with Dr Ron Shapiro and Matt Zupan, Dr. Ron reminded me of Dr. Wolf, I felt comfortable with him and I liked his plan. I also need to highly commend Matt Zupan, for the absolute patience in dealing with me. Since contacting them (almost two years) he has been fantastic. I think the choice to have a hair transplant is a SERIOUS choice, and I made poor ones (although with help from the industry). Choosing a Doctor for repair is an even more serious choice, as repair patient's often have one last chance to "look nomal" if you will.
After having my first four surgeries, I was diagnosed with leukemia in 1995, and had a two year battle, which thankfully ended well. The high dose chemotherapy did damage my hair, in that it returned thinner and diffuse. I also have patches of hair that are pure white, a result of graft vs host post bone marrow transplant. These will be highly visible in my pictures.
I currently am taking 5mg proscar daily and Rogaine Foam once a day (mornings) I tried twice but did not keep up twice a day. I feel the proscar has slowed my loss and some regrowth at the back of the head. The Rogaine foam works well as a styling aid, as it helps thicken the hairs, and for me, makes it (with gel) easier to somewhat camoflage my plugs. I cannot see any cosmetic improvement from the foam, however it could also be helping me maintain.
The repair plan is to complete a strip of hopefully 2400 grafts, and punchout half of the plugs and break them up and redistribute them. Dr. Ron stated that I would probably need another pass one year post op to punch-out and break up the remaining offenders. I had hoped for a one and done surgery, however will follow his recommedation. I have a tight scalp, but Dr. Ron thought 2400 grafts possible, and with scalp exercises and the use of vitrase I hope this is the case.
For anyone that has had poor work done, they would agree its FAR worse than being bald. I cannot tell you how many looks my poor result has drawn, it cuts very deep into your self-confidence and self-esteem. I have always thought I had a fairly tough shell, until my continued hair loss exposed my "plugs". I feel that this has not only effected me, but my family. Sorry for getting away from the intent of this post. I know I will not have a "wow" result, the numbers are against it, but I do hope to look "normal" again, and maybe help someone else who is in the same boat.
Thanks for reading.
I will allow SMG to post these pictures, if they are intrested. My surgery is scheduled in February, which worked best for me, and also gives me time to complete scalp exercises! I intend on posting my experience on this site, although I have read and posted on others on occasion, I find this site and HLH to be the most free of "drama" and are both well moderated. It is beyond me, why people come to these sites and attack each other, when we all are facing a common enemy...hairloss.
I will give a brief history on myself, I'm 49, a diffuse NW 5-6 with "salt and pepper" hair. I had four "mini-graft" surgeries in 1990/1992, all in the crown perhaps 400-500 total. This was done in Michigan by the "Chambers Hair Insitute". The grafts are too large, at least half at poor angles , and are now an island in a area that is thin and diffused. I attempted one repair with a surgeon in Toronto, who FUE'd out approximately 200 plugs, however the hair that was extracted did not grow..zero regrowth and a minimal if any cosmetic improvement.
Since then I have researched, and sent photo's and gone to in-person consults. I will not comment on those with the exception of one, Dr. Brad Wolf, I met him and found him to very open, honest and sincere. At that time, he had recomended approximately 1800 FUE and possibly a small strip. If I was not a repair patient, I would have considered him.
In May, I had an in-person consult with Dr Ron Shapiro and Matt Zupan, Dr. Ron reminded me of Dr. Wolf, I felt comfortable with him and I liked his plan. I also need to highly commend Matt Zupan, for the absolute patience in dealing with me. Since contacting them (almost two years) he has been fantastic. I think the choice to have a hair transplant is a SERIOUS choice, and I made poor ones (although with help from the industry). Choosing a Doctor for repair is an even more serious choice, as repair patient's often have one last chance to "look nomal" if you will.
After having my first four surgeries, I was diagnosed with leukemia in 1995, and had a two year battle, which thankfully ended well. The high dose chemotherapy did damage my hair, in that it returned thinner and diffuse. I also have patches of hair that are pure white, a result of graft vs host post bone marrow transplant. These will be highly visible in my pictures.
I currently am taking 5mg proscar daily and Rogaine Foam once a day (mornings) I tried twice but did not keep up twice a day. I feel the proscar has slowed my loss and some regrowth at the back of the head. The Rogaine foam works well as a styling aid, as it helps thicken the hairs, and for me, makes it (with gel) easier to somewhat camoflage my plugs. I cannot see any cosmetic improvement from the foam, however it could also be helping me maintain.
The repair plan is to complete a strip of hopefully 2400 grafts, and punchout half of the plugs and break them up and redistribute them. Dr. Ron stated that I would probably need another pass one year post op to punch-out and break up the remaining offenders. I had hoped for a one and done surgery, however will follow his recommedation. I have a tight scalp, but Dr. Ron thought 2400 grafts possible, and with scalp exercises and the use of vitrase I hope this is the case.
For anyone that has had poor work done, they would agree its FAR worse than being bald. I cannot tell you how many looks my poor result has drawn, it cuts very deep into your self-confidence and self-esteem. I have always thought I had a fairly tough shell, until my continued hair loss exposed my "plugs". I feel that this has not only effected me, but my family. Sorry for getting away from the intent of this post. I know I will not have a "wow" result, the numbers are against it, but I do hope to look "normal" again, and maybe help someone else who is in the same boat.
Thanks for reading.
