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xwfl
member
I have been reading the forum for a long time but had not registered until yesterday, the 2nd day after my 2 session FUE procedure by Dr. Paul Shapiro.
I was a little nervious about the pain since some posts described it would be "killing" even with FUE. It turned out for me, if scaled the pain from 0 to 10 with 10 as the worst, it's at or lower than 1 during my experience. Mostly I felt was the light stings during the local anesthetic, the staffs at Shapiro did a great job to minimize the pain, such as multiple step anesthetic and using massager to disctract my attention, however, I think I could easily handle the pain even if without these preventions (considering myself probably is little above the average on pain tolerance).
My 2 days procedure was on May 24 and 25. Dr. Paul Shapiro told me I should let them know whenever felt any discomfort during the operation, so I did even a tiny bit sting I wouldn't consider it as pain, they took care of it immediately.
I had 1231 grafts transplanted on the 1st day, after 5:30PM I went back to La Quinta Inn. By the way, I highly recommend La Quinta if you are going to have the procedure at Shapiro, they are only a few minutes away, have shuttle on request to and from Shapiro, ice dispensers at several floors (to cool your ice bags), and special discount for Shapiro's patients.
I took 2 pills of the prescription pain reliever Dr. Shapiro gave me at 6:00PM. I didn't feel anything at that time it was just preventive. I took another 2 pill 4 hours later which is the maximum dose allowed, again just preventive. 6 hours later at 4:00AM in the morning I was confident enough to reduce the dose to 1 pill. I felt no pain at all during the whole night. Since you need take food with the pain reliver, you'd better prepare 2 cereal bars or something in the evening so you don't have to go to the vendoring machine in the night. I had to put on my baseball cap when I walked in the hallway, I have a 2"x2" horseshoe shape unfinished area from the 1st day above my hairline, look like a Stargate charactor.
I used the spray from the doctor on the donor and transplated area every 30 minutes, I lost 1 graft somewhere that night, no big deal.
The staff gave me 2 blue pads to cover up the pillow, I changed once at about 2:30 AM because there were some stains of blood and the ointment used during the operation. I got up at 7:00 AM the second pad is relatively clean with only a few tiny spots of blood stain.
On the 2nd day the staff did shampoo on my scalp in the morning, then I had another 713 grafts transplated. The whole procedure ended at 2:30 PM. I took 2 pills of pain reliever after went back to the hotel, another 2 pills 6 hours later (instead of 4 hours like the 1st day), 1 more pill 6 hours after that. When I was spraying my transplated area I lost another graft that evening (1 day later I got a note in a Panda Express fortune cookie saying "You may lose the small ones but win the big ones", I consider it's a good sign
.
I asked 3 new blue pads and I did the right thing. I used 2 pads on May 25 got about half of the stains on the pads of the 1st day (as the number of grafts). I used the last blue pad on May 26 and there were still a little blood on it. I don't need it anymore after that.
On May 26 (counted as the 1st day after the procedure), I checked out at 11:30AM (the hotel has shuttle to the airport at 12:00 PM). Though I was adviced to do shampoo in the evening but I decided to do it before leaving, I was confident enough from what I learned at the clinic. I also cleaned up my baseball cap with warm water and dried it with the hair blower. It's convenient to have all these done in the hotel room (don't forget put on the "Do Not Disturb" sign).
I bought a box of Advil at the airport and took 1 pill in the afternoon (you bet, just for prevention), that's my last time took pain reliever for the hair transplant. I didn't find any store at the airport had Tylenol so if you prefer Tylenol you'd better ask from Dr. Shapiros before you leave or take your own.
Another consideration, it will be handy if you bring a few small sealable sandwich bags (there is no grocery store in walking distance from the hotel), so that you can ask for some ice from McDonnalds or somewhere to make your own ice bag (you need to cool down your forehead as long as possible to prevent swelling in the first 3 days), if you are going to stay at the airport for many hours like me. There are family restrooms at the airport and most of time they are unoccupied, you can have your hair sprayed there.
Put it all togather, FUE is virtually a painless procedure. If I need touch-ups or further improvement next year, I'll do it again without hesitation.
I was a little nervious about the pain since some posts described it would be "killing" even with FUE. It turned out for me, if scaled the pain from 0 to 10 with 10 as the worst, it's at or lower than 1 during my experience. Mostly I felt was the light stings during the local anesthetic, the staffs at Shapiro did a great job to minimize the pain, such as multiple step anesthetic and using massager to disctract my attention, however, I think I could easily handle the pain even if without these preventions (considering myself probably is little above the average on pain tolerance).
My 2 days procedure was on May 24 and 25. Dr. Paul Shapiro told me I should let them know whenever felt any discomfort during the operation, so I did even a tiny bit sting I wouldn't consider it as pain, they took care of it immediately.
I had 1231 grafts transplanted on the 1st day, after 5:30PM I went back to La Quinta Inn. By the way, I highly recommend La Quinta if you are going to have the procedure at Shapiro, they are only a few minutes away, have shuttle on request to and from Shapiro, ice dispensers at several floors (to cool your ice bags), and special discount for Shapiro's patients.
I took 2 pills of the prescription pain reliever Dr. Shapiro gave me at 6:00PM. I didn't feel anything at that time it was just preventive. I took another 2 pill 4 hours later which is the maximum dose allowed, again just preventive. 6 hours later at 4:00AM in the morning I was confident enough to reduce the dose to 1 pill. I felt no pain at all during the whole night. Since you need take food with the pain reliver, you'd better prepare 2 cereal bars or something in the evening so you don't have to go to the vendoring machine in the night. I had to put on my baseball cap when I walked in the hallway, I have a 2"x2" horseshoe shape unfinished area from the 1st day above my hairline, look like a Stargate charactor.
I used the spray from the doctor on the donor and transplated area every 30 minutes, I lost 1 graft somewhere that night, no big deal.
The staff gave me 2 blue pads to cover up the pillow, I changed once at about 2:30 AM because there were some stains of blood and the ointment used during the operation. I got up at 7:00 AM the second pad is relatively clean with only a few tiny spots of blood stain.
On the 2nd day the staff did shampoo on my scalp in the morning, then I had another 713 grafts transplated. The whole procedure ended at 2:30 PM. I took 2 pills of pain reliever after went back to the hotel, another 2 pills 6 hours later (instead of 4 hours like the 1st day), 1 more pill 6 hours after that. When I was spraying my transplated area I lost another graft that evening (1 day later I got a note in a Panda Express fortune cookie saying "You may lose the small ones but win the big ones", I consider it's a good sign
.I asked 3 new blue pads and I did the right thing. I used 2 pads on May 25 got about half of the stains on the pads of the 1st day (as the number of grafts). I used the last blue pad on May 26 and there were still a little blood on it. I don't need it anymore after that.
On May 26 (counted as the 1st day after the procedure), I checked out at 11:30AM (the hotel has shuttle to the airport at 12:00 PM). Though I was adviced to do shampoo in the evening but I decided to do it before leaving, I was confident enough from what I learned at the clinic. I also cleaned up my baseball cap with warm water and dried it with the hair blower. It's convenient to have all these done in the hotel room (don't forget put on the "Do Not Disturb" sign).
I bought a box of Advil at the airport and took 1 pill in the afternoon (you bet, just for prevention), that's my last time took pain reliever for the hair transplant. I didn't find any store at the airport had Tylenol so if you prefer Tylenol you'd better ask from Dr. Shapiros before you leave or take your own.
Another consideration, it will be handy if you bring a few small sealable sandwich bags (there is no grocery store in walking distance from the hotel), so that you can ask for some ice from McDonnalds or somewhere to make your own ice bag (you need to cool down your forehead as long as possible to prevent swelling in the first 3 days), if you are going to stay at the airport for many hours like me. There are family restrooms at the airport and most of time they are unoccupied, you can have your hair sprayed there.
Put it all togather, FUE is virtually a painless procedure. If I need touch-ups or further improvement next year, I'll do it again without hesitation.
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