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Nat - SMG Dr RON SHAPIRO -3027 FUT

N

Nat

Valued member


[align=center]Nat-Dr Ron SHAPIRO SMG-3027 FUT


SUMMARY





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[align=center]1) My first procedure in France
2) Choice of Doc / My 2[suP]nd[/suP] Surgery
3) Organization / Travel
4) Consultation Pre op
5) Operation (the famous)
6) Post op
7) Post op
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1) My first surgery in France!


Post op 1[suP]st[/suP] Surgery

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2) Choosing the doc![/b]


Ironically I discovered the French forum 2 days after my first operation! Unfortunately, I realized my possible mistake that turned into a genuine error .. Since October 2007 I had the time to research, understand and inform myself on tops doc and their different techniques and the management strategy of the limited donor. I think research is essential before considering surgery. Having considered all this information I sent photos to all potential docs - Rahal, H & W, Dr. A's. I also received advice to consult with Dr. Shapiro but I knew very little about his work because it is not available on the French forums. I was guided to HLE and other forums where I found many examples.

My expectations: Make a conservative frontal hair line, hide my plugs from first surgery and add density to the frontal 1 / 3. My first donor scar is 4mm to 5mm in certain sections so this may hinder what can be achieved for my second surgery.

The responses were random:
- Rahal believed the operation to 2000 grafts
- Dr Wong approx. 3500 grafts
- Dr. Ron Shapiro 2500 grafts.
- The Doc A's was busy

After a great hesitation between Wong / Shapiro I finally chose SMG (SHAPIRO MEDICAL GROUP) for his reputation with the creation of hair lines, his cautious approach, the fact that he can produce great results without shaving and professionalism. ...



In addition, Janna Shafer is always available for patients (reply to mails very fast), Matt Zupan is also available, they remain very close to the concerns of their patients. For my part I had spoken only with Janna, but I saw on several occasions Matt Zupan asked if everything was ok, if I was satisfied during surgery. I admit their commitment to patient care is very reassuring and gives serenity about ones choice ...




3) Organization / Travel[/b]


SMG is in Bloomington (Minnesota) MSP Airport (Minneapolis)
You need a current passport to the United States, or you must have a Visa!
All information here are the passport price ‚¬ 88 if I remember correctly:

http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/ vos_demarches / passport / visa-usa

In addition, a new rule needs to declare in advance (minimum 72 hours) see here:

http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/conseils-aux-voyageurs_909/ pays_12191/etats-unis_12311/index.html



The main hotel used by SMG patients is Country Inn and Suite, West Bloomington. SMG will send out a pre-op packet with all necessary information to choose a hotel of your choice from their recommended list. Majority of the hotels on the list come with a free shuttle service. The country inn and suites hotel comes to pick you up at the airport which is really convenient. This is the same minibus shuttle that will take to the clinic. The drivers are familiar with SMG and they knows the patients of Dr. Shapiro.

The hotel is very comfortable! $ 99 per night, huge bed, TV (50 channels), WiFi and breakfast is free!

Flight:
Paris-Amsterdam and Amsterdam-MSP reserved by Air France Airbus A330 in comfort!
all for 398 ‚¬.



4) Consultation Pre op[/b]

I flew in the day before my surgery so Janna arranged a pre-op consult with Doc soon after I landed. Since I have limited English, a translator was scheduled to assist. Plus, Dr. Shapiro spoke a few words in

French so it is very comprehensive.
We therefore exchanged for approximately 1 hour on the opportunities available to me.

My old scar was so large that initially it was not safe to be able to resume firing a maximum of grafts for the operation, but after close examination and evaluation of my donor, he told me that my laxity was so good that he €™d be able to excise the old donor and achieve the number grafts needed for my goal. Thank you scalps exercises and nature!

Then he asked me again, my expectations and in relation to them he designed a proposal, after two or three changes we agreed! The exchange was very constructive, we understood each other perfectly.
He was very attentive to my expectations, very quickly understood what I wanted, told me on several occasions the "plan" for the surgery. And told me that my case was quite standard that he had treated many similar cases.

5) Surgery[/b]

Review of the operation:
Surgery Date: 5/5/09
Strip Size: 1.5 cm x 10cm +1.7cm x 21.5cm = 31.5cm

Number of FU €™s
1's - 594
2's -1665
3's - 704
4's - 64

A total of 6266 hair

Two _layer_ closure with trichophytic. Staples (agraphia) used on the outside.

Arrived 8 am for Surgery with Dr. Shapiro.
Again, we went over my expectations and Dr. Shapiro drew the plan hairline. After the pictures taken the day before, details of the sequence of events, small slap on the shoulder and "do not worry." More seriously the context was very reassuring and Ron Shapiro immediately reassured me on everything.

8:40 presentation about the team of technicians (hello it €™s Pierre, he does not speak a word of English J). Shaving and taping of the donor area and anesthesia.

Anesthesia: two or three needle pricks in the front, without any pain! Same in the donor area, and back massage for total relaxation!

Then donor harvesting = 50 min approx.

Once donor was closed up, Doc told me he would make approx 80% of incisions, then 20% after planting for more aesthetic purpose, and (if I understood correctly), each incision was recorded by an assistant and correlated with the cutting of the strip.

During the incisions technicians worked in the cutting of the strip and recorded in detail of all grafts.

It was time to break for lunch. And I selected a movie. After lunch, they started to plant with technicians all around me. After a short while they announced that I had a total of 3027 grafts cut. Dr. Shapiro made the last 20% incisions when the 80% incisions were filled. He chose the location carefully ... And the result was so clean!

Of course throughout the operation, the technicians were kind and ensured my level of pain.

The operation ended about 18:30.
Doc asked my impression of my surgery and explained that my donor area was still able to provide about 5000 grafts.



PURPLE DYE IS USED TO COLOR THE RECIPIENT SITE FOR TECHNICIANS TO DISTINGUISH EACH INCISION.





6) Post op[/b]

To my surprise, I really slept well, with 2 Vicodin for the pain soon after I arrived at the hotel. I was able to sleep 9pm to 3am , then 4am at 8am without too much difficulty! Sitting with a collar travel pillow to avoid the scar to be in contact with the cushions. Fortunately the hotel puts at disposal 6 pillows per bed so I was able to build a cozy nest! I drank a lot of water and I applied as soon as I could the little bag of freezable gel. Obviously, the tightness of the scar area and the recipient was there, but nothing compared to the pain of my first operation!



7) post-op care[/b]

The next day and two days after I returned to the clinic for my shampoo! with cleaning of the recipient area of the scar, verification of the grafts and advice.
Effective follow-up to Doc to me again my view on the operation to check the result and again if I had any questions ...


My general impression, PROFESSIONALISM, ETHICS, PATIENT CARE.




My Pictures



Photo - Apprx 1000 grafts from a French doctor

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Nervousnelly

Nervousnelly

The Coolest Member
Nat,

Your prior work really did suck. Good thing that you found a quality physician like Dr. Shapiro that will have you squared away. You will look like a million bucks in a matter of a short while . The work is very clean and dense. Keep us posted.

NN
 
NotGoing2GoBald

NotGoing2GoBald

Member
Nat,
3K in that size of an area is going to make one hell of a difference; not to mention the native hair behind the recipient area looks thick & of good caliber.

BTW are you the patient or a new consultant? Congrats if your the patient & keep us posted. Z:B
 
N

Nat

Valued member
Hi NotGoing2GoBald,

I'm a french and i'm a patient of Dr Ron SHAPIRO.

I am sorry not to post the pictures yet, but I do not speak English very well and the traduction of my french text about my experience whith SMG take me time. Thank you google translate;).
But do not worry, I'll post all the informations and photos.

I leave to Janna the task of accurately answer your first question I am not sure to understand.

Thank you, and if you have any questions do not hesitate!
 
Nervousnelly

Nervousnelly

The Coolest Member
Damn--I've got to stay off this computer after having a few beers. Didn't mean to be harsh Nat. Glad that all is being taken care of. You will be surprised at how well the old work will be hidden and aid with density. Things will be stellar.

NN
 
Baldspot

Baldspot

Valued member
Salut Nat,
Regard bon. Dr Ron est un du meilleur dans le monde donc votre résultat sera tres excellent. J'ai eu le travail semblable fait seulement il y a un mois. Il sera bon de suivre votre progrès.
Félicitations
Baldspot

Thank you google translate indeed!
 
Shang

Shang

Sheepish Member
Nat wrote:
I'm a french
No ones perfect :) only joking, J'adore la francais. I'm glad SMG were able to fix you up, you should be a new man. All the best.
 
janna

janna

Valuable Member
NotGoing2GoBald wrote:
Nat,
3K in that size of an area is going to make one hell of a difference; not to mention the native hair behind the recipient area looks thick & of good caliber.

BTW are you the patient or a new consultant? Congrats if your the patient & keep us posted. Z:B


NG, I can see why anyone can be confused by the initial post. I half expected my name to be the poster. I wrote out the surgery data for Nat as an email and he copy and pasted to the first post. Nat wrote a thorough write up on the french forum and he needed the surgery details. He said he planned on translating the same write up into English for this site but he is not quite finished with the translation because some of the sentences do the convert well with google translate.

Nat can speak some English but has been a little frustrated at not being able express his true meaning sometimes. He is an intelligent guy and I thought he did better picking up English and expressing himself than he thought. He does better at reading English than in conversation. From what I can understand, he feels the two procedures he's experienced were like night and day and he is very happy with his most recent procedure in every respect. He will be able to tell you for himself soon. I will be sending him more photos from post op day 3 when he came by for another shampoo. He's healing up very well.

Nat has promised to keep his progress updated each month. We wish Nat all the best and we feel confident his ht goals will be met.

Baldspot, I was very impressed by your French until you mentioned google translate....ha, ha, ha. I thought it was perhaps a talent you didn't mention.

NN, I didn't see anywhere you being harsh! Is it because you said his first surgery result sucks??? I thought it sucked too when I saw pics and in person. Nat agrees too.



 
NotGoing2GoBald

NotGoing2GoBald

Member
Shang wrote:
No ones perfect :)  only joking[/quote]

)(_::

Here's mine in French, this is cool.

Votre entre de bonnes mains avec le Dr Shapiro. Cette taille d'une session qui va vous laisser avec un grand chef de cheveux. Congrajulations et merci pour le partage.Z:B
 
Baldspot

Baldspot

Valued member
Salut Janna,
J'ai fait un petit français à l'école, mais pas assez pour écrire couramment. Si j'ai fait je dirais à Nat qu'il a de la chance d'avoir une si belle femme le soignant pour son opération. Que je suis sûr qu'il approuverait.
Baldspot

(Do you notice we've all gone very highbrow since someone French arrived)
 
Last edited:
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Nat.

The work looks great,it should produce a great transformation from your previous poor work.

Thanks for documenting your story on here.

bm.
 
Lucky

Lucky

Bollocks
Bonjour. Je m' appelle Lucky


votre travail regarde très bon

tout le meilleur

Je suis désespéré au Français

Lucky!
 
N

Nat

Valued member
Thank you for your messages,

I promise to keep my progress upload each month, about my experience and pictures for the changes ..
Thank you for these few words in french ... I am less complex with my English now:):)

Nat, Pierre
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks Nat for your detailed write up of your experience which i`ve added to the beginning of your post.

bm.
 
Shang

Shang

Sheepish Member
Nice write-up Nat, may be it will help someone not to make the same mistakes you did. Dr Ron sounds like a top bloke and this janna women sounds quite nice too. All the best and keep the updates coming.
 
janna

janna

Valuable Member
Shang wrote:
and this janna women sounds quite nice too.
Hmmm, who is this woman?

Pierre,

Thank you for the detailed write up - I'm sure there will be others who will benefit from your research and experience. All the best to you.


 
timuk

timuk

My member is cooler than NN's
Nat..

congrats on the repair... I know what a negative effect a bad HT can have on ones life....and you have sure gone to the right people to sort you out...

Looks like you are going to have a great result....

Tim
 
bullitnut

bullitnut

4 awesome repairs with SMG
i second what tim said, dont know what planet ive been on recently but ive just seen this thread so congrats my man the work looks very dense and will be great dude when its grown out
 
Shang

Shang

Sheepish Member
This should look immense when its grown out, its really going to frame your face nicely. I dunno about anyone else but I €™m really intrigued to know what the object blanked out on photo 2 is or am I just a nosey guy.
 
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