F
fortune11
Valued member
Hi All --
New to this forum , although some of you may have seen me post under the same handle on hairrestorationnetwork.com. I have been though 2 FUTs in the past - first with Dr Ron Shapiro (~1,600 FUT , 2004) and then with Dr Ziering (~2,200 FUT, 2011). This was HT #3 two days ago. Made the trip from Southern California to Minneapolis, mother nature was kind enough to me this time around wrt weather and everything went smooth travel wise.
I am a diffuse thinner NW5+ to an eventual 6 type . While the first two HTs were focused on the frontal tuft and the frontal third which gave me a decent optical frame from the front and sides , I thought it was time to add some bulk to the mid scalp area. I am leaving my crown alone for now (I figure it is age-appropriate for me and does not detract from the frontal view anyways).
The biggest issues I faced were -- 1) limited donor supply (I was told 1500-2000 max by a number of doctors) 2) lack of decent scalp laxity.
Why FUT over FUE --- I did debate this for a while , but in the end decided that given 1) my comfort level with FUT was already very high and I already have a scar anyways 2) I don't intend to shave my head down ever as it is not a good look for me given my facial built 3) needing to take as little time off work as possible and not wanting to shave the back of my head for an FUE . FUE remains the last / future option if I need some touch up work down the road and have the luxury of taking more than a few days off work.
Dr Ron Shapiro spent a good deal of time with me the morning of the surgery discussing strategy. One suggestion I liked of his was trying to comb my hair back instead of forward and down like I used to (caesar style) . Combing back adds bulk to the mid scalp area especially as the transplanted hair have more thickness and shine compared to my native hair. I was also concerned about the tendency of my scar to stretch on the right side and he planned on taking that into account as well.
I won't go into the details of the surgery itself as people already know how well run and immaculate this setup at Shapiro Medical Group is. One improvement that I liked over my prior experience here in 2004 is that when they inject your scalp with numbing meds, they also use a vibrating instrument that "confuses" the nerves and reduces the pain significantly. Dr Ron also used Vitrase solution during excision of the donor area.
Given the tight scalp, the strip width was no more than 1.1 cm . However , Dr Ron did manage to take the scar high on either side to get a total of 29+ cm of length. Final # of grafts were -- 1921 FUs comprised of --- 1's- 781, 2's - 845, 3's - 289 and a few 4's = 3,362 total hairs . This was certainly towards the high end of my expectations.
Upon my request, Dr Ron used sutures but also added a few staples for good measure overnight. The next morning , he removed the staples , leaving a few on the right side where the scar has been prone to stretching historically (during FUTs #1 and #2) . I will get the sutures and the remaining staples removed in a couple of weeks.
Overall, Dr Ron , Janna and the entire surgical staff made the experience as easy on the mind and body as is humanely possible (no surgery is ever "pleasant" obviously) and my day went by quickly despite being in the surgical chair for a good 8+ hours. I will keep you posted on the progress. Here are a few pictures posted below.
Today is Day #3 post op and the healing process is going on faster than what I expected during HT#1 and #2 in the past , maybe I am just more used to it by now !
Happy to take any questions if anyone has queries.
New to this forum , although some of you may have seen me post under the same handle on hairrestorationnetwork.com. I have been though 2 FUTs in the past - first with Dr Ron Shapiro (~1,600 FUT , 2004) and then with Dr Ziering (~2,200 FUT, 2011). This was HT #3 two days ago. Made the trip from Southern California to Minneapolis, mother nature was kind enough to me this time around wrt weather and everything went smooth travel wise.
I am a diffuse thinner NW5+ to an eventual 6 type . While the first two HTs were focused on the frontal tuft and the frontal third which gave me a decent optical frame from the front and sides , I thought it was time to add some bulk to the mid scalp area. I am leaving my crown alone for now (I figure it is age-appropriate for me and does not detract from the frontal view anyways).
The biggest issues I faced were -- 1) limited donor supply (I was told 1500-2000 max by a number of doctors) 2) lack of decent scalp laxity.
Why FUT over FUE --- I did debate this for a while , but in the end decided that given 1) my comfort level with FUT was already very high and I already have a scar anyways 2) I don't intend to shave my head down ever as it is not a good look for me given my facial built 3) needing to take as little time off work as possible and not wanting to shave the back of my head for an FUE . FUE remains the last / future option if I need some touch up work down the road and have the luxury of taking more than a few days off work.
Dr Ron Shapiro spent a good deal of time with me the morning of the surgery discussing strategy. One suggestion I liked of his was trying to comb my hair back instead of forward and down like I used to (caesar style) . Combing back adds bulk to the mid scalp area especially as the transplanted hair have more thickness and shine compared to my native hair. I was also concerned about the tendency of my scar to stretch on the right side and he planned on taking that into account as well.
I won't go into the details of the surgery itself as people already know how well run and immaculate this setup at Shapiro Medical Group is. One improvement that I liked over my prior experience here in 2004 is that when they inject your scalp with numbing meds, they also use a vibrating instrument that "confuses" the nerves and reduces the pain significantly. Dr Ron also used Vitrase solution during excision of the donor area.
Given the tight scalp, the strip width was no more than 1.1 cm . However , Dr Ron did manage to take the scar high on either side to get a total of 29+ cm of length. Final # of grafts were -- 1921 FUs comprised of --- 1's- 781, 2's - 845, 3's - 289 and a few 4's = 3,362 total hairs . This was certainly towards the high end of my expectations.
Upon my request, Dr Ron used sutures but also added a few staples for good measure overnight. The next morning , he removed the staples , leaving a few on the right side where the scar has been prone to stretching historically (during FUTs #1 and #2) . I will get the sutures and the remaining staples removed in a couple of weeks.
Overall, Dr Ron , Janna and the entire surgical staff made the experience as easy on the mind and body as is humanely possible (no surgery is ever "pleasant" obviously) and my day went by quickly despite being in the surgical chair for a good 8+ hours. I will keep you posted on the progress. Here are a few pictures posted below.
Today is Day #3 post op and the healing process is going on faster than what I expected during HT#1 and #2 in the past , maybe I am just more used to it by now !
Happy to take any questions if anyone has queries.
