Hello everyone,
I have been suffering from thinning hair since I was in my late teens, early twenties, particularly in the corner's (widow peaks). Over the past few years, this thinning and balding began in my crown area as well, and has become quite noticeable. I attribute my hair loss to a variety of factors: my grandfather has high widow's peaks, we used to call him Mr. MnM head or McDonalds Head as kids. I am also a U.S. Army veteran, and attribute a lot of my hair loss to the stress of being in the military, particularly as my hair loss intensified greatly during my time in the Army. Ever since my enlistment in 2010 I have worn a high and tight haircut with the sides shaved down to skin level, and my top kept not longer than 5 or 6 inches. This haircut enabled me to use a good comb over, and the shaved skin sides gave others the perception of denser hair on my crown and front-top, even though these areas were thinning. I got out of the military in 2015 and since then have continued the high and tight style haircut. I am pretty physically active and do resistance training 3 or 4 times a week. During my time in the military i also completed a bachelor and master degree in history. Since my discharge I got a good civil service job and started, and presently very close to completing a Masters in Library Information Science.
Too Long Didn't Read: After a stressful career and unfortunate genetics, I found myself with noticeably thin hair on my crown and front, and finally feel financially stable enough to do something about it.
I tried Rogaine for about 6 months, to no avail. I also tried eating much more healthy, and taking plenty of biotin and a good multivitamin to get my hair the nutrients it needs. This too did not assist my hair loss situation.
I began looking into hair restoration with Neograft about 2 months ago. The strip method seemed far too risky in general, and the thought of cutting out a portion of my skin and sewing it back up disgusted me. I was very interested in Neograft after reading a good amount of reviews and experiences of individuals across the world here on RealSelf. The procedure seemed to produce very good results, with minimal side effects and little to no permanent scarring.
I found Doctor Bruce Genter through RealSelf. He is a local Plastic Surgeon here in Philadelphia. I did homework and reached out to other doctors as well to get appraisals. Dr. Genter's staff, including his receptionist, and patient coordinator were very kind, knowledgeable and informative. At first I thought Dr. Genter may not be the best pick for me, primarily because the majority of his practice is for breast surgery patients. After a primary visit to his office however, I noticed that there is a designated NeoGraft room in their facility. I was shown a orientation video for Neograft, one that you can easily view online, and was given a personal evaluation of my hair loss state by Dr. Genter. Dr. Genter advised me that I would require around 2,400 to 2,500 grafts which first surprised me. I am a very curious, research-oriented individual, and before visiting doctors, I had viewed various information sources including RealSelf, Youtube Videos, etc to understand how many grafts and hairs are typically within a square centimeter. However, my hair is thinning, and not entirely bald; Therefore I was uncertain exactly how many grafts I would require to attain the density I desire.
After this analysis by Dr. Genter I was taken to his patient coordinator, a very kind, smart, and informative women. She gave me price quotes first for 2,500 grafts, which was around 9,000 dollars. Dr. Genter's office offered me a 20% discount off the entire price of the surgery, plus a 1000$ off one-time bonus for whichever number of grafts I chose. I was surprised to hear that if you choose lower than 2000 graft surgery, the price per graft goes up. Anything above 2,000 grafts the price per graft is less than a surgery under 2000 grafts. A good way of marketing by Neograft!
I choose the 2,400 graft option in order to fit my budget. The cost was around 8,600 dollars. I had to make a one time 500 dollar deposit to secure an appointment. This deposit would of course count towards my final payment for the procedure. I set the date for my procedure approximately a month after this meeting. Dr. Genter's office was very flexible and worked with me to get a good schedule. The total cost included several light sessions designed to aid with healing and graft survival post-op. It also included special shampoo and conditioner designed to do the same.
About 2 weeks before my procedure I had another pre-operative appointment at Dr. Genter's office. At this time I made final payment and received my pre, and post-operative instructions pamphlet. I was also given several prescriptions, one for pain, one for swelling, an antibiotic, and some muscle relaxers. I filled these prescriptions well in advance.
On the day of my surgery I arrived to the office bright and early at 6:45. The two Neograft technicians were on site and getting the room ready. It is important for me to note that the way this process works, at least for me, is thus:
Dr Genter made the determiniation of how many grafts I needed, and designed the cosmetic plan for me, such as where to place the grafts. It is the technicians that actually do the work. Dr Genter and the technicians drew in permanent marker all over my scalp to determine the frontal hairline Dr. Genter designed, and the areas in my crown needing grafts, and of course the donor section. I arrived at the office with my normal hair length on top (around 4 -6 inches) but had gotten a skin shave on the sides and back the night prior to surgery. The technicians strongly urged me to let them give me a buzz cut all around , as this would greatly assist them in doing a good harvest and implant job. I was a little heasitant but figured it was not a big deal. So they shaved me. The technicians, two of them worked in my case, first numbed my donor area. I am a pretty big, tough guy (at least I think I am), and let me tell you, the number of times they stuck me with anesthetic needles, and the actual injection of the medicine hurt like hell. It felt like they stuck me all around the donor area a million times, and it did hurt. It was bearable, but still, I wasn't expecting that many injections. One technician then extracted the grafts from the donor area, which did not hurt at all because I was numb. The other technician took the extracted grafts and sorted them by how many hair follicles were in each graft. I was told in my case, my grafts contained mostly two, three, and four hairs per graft, which I was told is great because it will increase the density of hair in the recipient areas. I was face down on a hospital/doctors office bed, (with no arm rests!! which I hated because my shoulders are so broad) during the entire harvesting process, which lasted about 3-4 hours. It seemed like it would last forever.
After this, the technician started poking me with holes in my recepient areas where the grafts will be implanted. This required yet another injection session (which felt like a million tiny stinging pricks all over my scalp- it really did not feel very good), and my head felt blown up first like a water balloon, and then like a rock or football helmet. I could not feel a thing. The technician punched 2,400 holes in my recepient areas according to the pattern they drew on my head in the morning with permanent marker. It is the technician that actually does the styling, and it is the technician's skill, precision, and attention to detail that determines the results of this procedure. For example, the technician has to make the incisions at the perfect angle for the hair to then grow in, and in the right places to create good results. My technicians were very comforting, and demonstrated care for my situation. I will say that it was quite uncomfortable to lay down in a prone position on my belly for 4 hours straight. Although it felt better than being on my belly, laying in a somewhat elevated position (approx. 45 degree angle) on my back to do the implant work for 4 or 5 hours was also discomforting.
I did bleed a lot, although for most of the session I was simply listening to music on my phone, and sometimes doing light browsing and texting. I had to move very carefully and notify the technicians each time I wanted to move part of my body. We broke for lunch at around 2:00. Dr. Genter's office ordered and paid for a lunch for me from a local Italian restaurant which was very nice.
The implant process took quite a long time, and every once in a while the technicians had to inject more anesthetic, and frequently "tested" areas of my scalp to ensure I was thoroughly numbed before they started making holes and implanting. The technicians implanted each graft by hand with what looked like tweezers. I have to give the technicians great credit. This is very meticulous, granular work that requires extreme concentration, precision, attention to detail, and dedication. They worked for almost 10 hours on me, and maintained a high degree of professionalism and kindness.
Finally after what seemed an eternity my procedure was done. I was given a good post-op review with Dr. Genter and his staff, who treated me just like family. I was also given good professional instructions by the technicians.
I got to know the two technicians. When I first researched Neograft I was a little wary that the technicians were actually doing the work, not the doctor. This made me hesitant and properly cautious of this type of procedure. The technicians working on me have worked in hair restoration for over 15 and 20 years respectively. Both of them worked on Bosley, and Strip methods, prior to the revelation of Neograft which they both started working for in 2010. They were truly experts and professionals which put me at ease.
It is now a few hours after my surgery. I dont feel much pain, but then again, I have taken a few hydrocodon, anti-swelling, and an antibiotic. I have a pressure bandage affixed to my donor area, which must remain on for 48 hours. After 48 hours I can take off the dressing and gently pour warm water mixed with baby shampoo over my entire scalp, but only massage the donor area. I can then apply neosporin daily to the donor area. I have to be extremely careful with the grafts for the next 2-4 days, but I will baby them for the next week as I am off work.
As far as being able to go to work the next day, part of the gimmick you hear about neograft, I highly doubt this is possible. One because of the pain, Two because of the delicate, vulnerable state of the grafts, and Three because this would require someone with literally no shame or who works at home, or doesn't interact with the public, because your head is probably going to look messed up. I am taking the next 10 days off work until Thanksgiving (the 23rd) here in the U.S. to recover. Make sure you have someone to take care of you. I am not allowed to bend over, or get up and do much of anything without being very careful. I also have to spray the implant area with a fine mist of saline every few hours to keep them moist.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
I will keep this thread updated as time goes on.
Sam
Updated on 27 Nov 2017:
Tomorrow will mark the two-week post-op date for my 2,400 neograft surgery. The first two weeks were a little difficult, not too bad. The first few days required being very careful where to sit down, how to lay down, staying indoors, etc. My wife washed my hair for me after the third day via the baby shampoo gentle rinse method with a cup of warm water. I did this once a day. For the first two or three days I used a sponge bath for the rest of my body. I did not encounter too much swelling post-op, however there was some discomfort in the back of my head (donor area). I took pain pills for the first 10 days. Days 6,7,8,9, and 10 perhaps did not require pain pills, but as I had them and was staying at home anyway, I took them to sedate myself from the discomfort. At day 9, the heavy scabbing that formed over all the receipient sites began to flake off. I was returning to work on day 10 and therefore wanted the scabs to be gone. On day 9 i put baby oil gently on my scabs and let it sit for 25 minutes, and then rinsed with baby shampoo, gently massaging the recipient areas (no picking) and this did wonders for getting the scabs off. By morning of day 10 I was virtually scab free (at least noticeably). On days 10-13 there was still noticeable pain in the donor area, however managed by a few motrin every 6 or 8 hours.By day 13-14 I find is finally subsiding.
It is nice to have a visible hairline, due to the transplanted hairs. I know that these transplanted hairs will shed in the coming weeks/months anyway, however, this is all a portent of lasting growth to come later.
I have gone to Dr. Genter's office twice now for a light therapy. As I am at the two week mark now, I finally feel comfortable taking a normal shower with special shampoo and conditioner products, sleeping without a neck pillow, and wearing non-button down shirts all the time. I can also start going back to the gym and doing light workouts.
Will post again in 2 weeks.
Cheers
Updated on 15 May 2018:
Hair growth is a slow process. At six months, the transplant sites are definitely growing in. There is still a lot of prickly baby hairs that are just beginning their growth stage from the transplant -so I am hoping over the next several months to get better density.
Updated on 12 Aug 2018:
Areas are filling in well, however I still feel a prickly baby hairs in many places in the crown and front corners. I have read and heard that full thickness/density results can take up to a year - year and a half. Still satisfied with the results so far, and glad I had the procedure.