My FUT and FUE Hair Transplant Story - Dr Ron Shapiro

[Hair transplant plugs]

I had shock loss below my scar line on both sides of my head which took 3 months before it was back to normal. I never had the option of Powders some 20 years ago so a hat was the only option. A little while longer you should be good to go.

 

[fortune11]

Thanks guys ! I am hoping for the same . Not too worried at this stage .

 

[garageland]

Fortune, all looking well good at this stage in terms of healing as others have said about the shock loss in my experience it take 4-6 months to fully recover. Good growth to you.

 

[Bigmac]

How's the hair looking now, has the shocked hair showed any signs of recovery.

 

[fortune11]

Bigmac wrote:

How's the hair looking now, has the shocked hair showed any signs of recovery.

Thanks for asking. Indeed the shock loss area has started filling up now , I would say back to 50% recapture or so . I also have small sprouts of growth here and there on the mid scalp but nothing concrete yet, as one would expect since only 2.5 months or so since HT. Will certainly post pictures when I have something meaningful to share with the group .

The portion of the scar that had flared up , has gone into remission now and is also recovering better. I have now started applying some aloe vera oil after checking with Dr Ron. Lets see how the scar thickness improves over time.

 

[Dazzster26]

Just wanted to wish you great growth mate SMG have amazing results as you already know That amount of grafts is going to make a nice cosmetic difference , I love what you said about Dr Craig Ziering Clinic considering you did not go their for your 3rd HT totally Professional and making you feel at home , glad to hear the shock loss is recovering have a great Sunday will be watching out for your updates

Take care I care


Dazz

 

[Crudance2006]

I am looking forward to seeing your result. SMG are great.

 

[Bigmac]

How's it looking now.

 

[fortune11]

At the 6 month mark for this procedure , thought I would update the group on the progress. One pic is outdoor lighting (bright sun) , another is under an indoor floodlight. Generally I am seeing some growth , but still think fairly early. Lot of the new hair are fine and baby like, sticking out here and there so hard to style and keep organized , I do use some conditioner (non thickening) to help with that.
Recall my 1921 FUT grafts were concentrated on the midscalp, nothing on the core area of the crown. For context i am a NW 5-6 diffuse thinner , prior HTs #1 and #2 were focused on the hairline and portion of the midscalp. From the hair texture of what is remaining on my head , I can tell you that nearly all of what you see is transplanted hair on top. The length in the back is #5 , enough to keep most of the scar concealed , although there is still some shock loss behind the right ear that I haven't recovered yet . There is also a ~ 3 cm length scar portion on the right where the scar is a little wider (5+mm) than the rest of it , but at this length , it is somewhat concealed . I am going to give it the full year to see how it heals further . Also posting some pre op and immediate post op next .

 

[fortune11]

these are some more angles , all in outdoor light .

 

[Dazzster26]

Hi friend looking good at 6 months thanks for the update

 

[Westcoaster]

It does look good for 6 months. Are you happy with how its progressing?

 

[Crudance2006]

It is taking shape now. The hairline is looking natural.

 

[Bigmac]

Looking good at the half way mark.
Thanks for the update.

 

[fortune11]

Hi all

Here are my updates and a quick recap of the prior experiences of my FUTs (2004-Shapiro, 2011-Ziering and 2015-Shapiro). I am basically a diffuse NW6 and have tried to keep pace with my hair loss using HTs into existing hair. While I have used Rogaine almost forever, I did not start using Propecia until 16 months ago (after HT#3).

My scalp laxity during FUT #3 was not great and while I was happy with the grafted result, it did leave a prominent scar on the right hand side (see pic below pre-op).

Having been " stripped out", the goal with this HT was to use FUE to.

1) fill in the gaps in the frontal third (as a consequence of somewhat inadequate result from HT#2) 2) fill in the side alleys and importantly 3) fill in the scar, esp on the right side -- I must say here that I did try SMP into the scar with rather unsatisfactory results (done elsewhere, not at SMG) so this time wanted to use actual hair into the scar to get that coverage

We used about 1200 hair from the scalp and ~ 300 from the beard, 1500 total. The instrument used by Dr Josephitis (who did all the extractions) was a hybrid punch (motorized). Dr Ron Shapiro made all the incisions. I will not go into procedural details since people are already well aware of the high quality SMG process. There is a video attached below that you can look at for the extractions

My donor area was completely shaved for the procedure and now at 10 days post op it has grown nicely to be able to conceal the procedure enough. The only problem I am facing is the shaved areas in the recipient scalp (alleys and frontal third) are taking their time growing back (the original hair, not the new grafts) and I am experimenting with some concealers now to figure out how to make it look reasonable. I am also taking some MSM and applying a liberal dose of Rogaine but so far it doesn't seem to be helping.

Let me know if anyone has any questions etc. Overall I am excited and looking forward to seeing the new transplants grow whenever they do, but I am well used to the long and painful wait, having been through it three times before!

The pics below are pre-op (shaved down) and also during the procedure.

 

[fortune11]

This is at 9 months post op.

 

[fortune11]

Here are some post op pictures at the one year mark. these are after a fresh shampoo, with no product or concealers in the hair, taken with my iPhone.

All in all, you may recall me mentioning that I had faith in Dr Ron and was willing to be patient, and as you can see from the pics, it turned out to be quite good, even though it took a bit longer this time around. a factor may have been this being the 4th hair transplant.
I know I had posted several issues with my progress after HT so let me address these points one by one

1. Shock loss - has completely recovered by now as you can see the hair looks fuller and thicker

2. The big scar is now barely visible at # 4. I am very satisfied with this result

3. The frontal third where I wanted more support behind the hairline has filled in nicely - so that is objective achieved

4. The side channels and the top of the crown where I have marked with a red are still developing I think. I am going to wait some more to see how these look in a few months from now

5. One interesting observation is that the hair is a bit more curly now as part of it is coming from the beard area singles. but the placement is so amazing that you cannot tell which is beard hair and which is scalp donor hair - it is this mastery of placement that I think is unique to Dr Ron, in my opinion - making your donor hair give more bang for the buck, so to say.

Also, I want to emphasize that Dr Ron continued following up with me throughout the year and took a keen interest in every aspect of the case from the medication I was taking for the acne to my dosage of Propecia to video chatting with me to understand what the problem areas on the transplanted scalp were. Very happy with the post op care.

I will post again as results continue to develop but happy to take any questions

 

[Bigmac]

Hi Fortune 11.
Good to hear you`ve near enough achieved your goals in your hair transplant journey. Your hair is looking good, the hairline looks nice and natural.
Dr Ron has done a very good job planning your hair restoration, taking into account your loss pattern.
The crown still has time to mature but overall it's all looking good.
Thanks for the update.
All the best.
BM.

 

[Pete from Farjo]

Interesting read and great documentation. Shows the importance of sensible long term planning with a reputable doc. Congrats.

 

[bullitnut]

Looking awesome dude...great work as always from Dr Ron and I like the game plan too from Dr Ron with thinking about possible future loss patterns....shows great ethics and planning.