Steeeve

He’s got a real eye for seeing which way the hair grows and implants grafts in those directions. In the center of my hairline I used to have the slightest widows peak. The hair there grew in a wave-like cowlick. I hadn’t thought about it in years because it was basically non-existent to me. He noticed it and made the incisions for the grafts to be implanted in the direction that they used to grow in. He didn’t recreate the widows peak but you can still see some native remnants of it. I’ll try and get a picture of it to share. I can’t speak for any other doctor doing that because I don’t have experience with any other doctor but I just find that to be interesting about him.

This result is a triple A plus! It’s so natural. No one is going to look at you and think something is off. You’re certainly not a bald guy anymore! Congratulations!

I have had a procedure performed by Dr Arocha so some of you may see this opinion as biased. It’s not biased, however, (well, maybe a little🙂) as I have made this argument at least twice with posters about two other doctors with whom I have no association. Not that it may matter to anyone but I see some very astute observations by some posters on the thread and others that leave me scratching my head wondering what you’re talking about... I agree that the photos from the very first post should match up from the befores to the afters. They should 100% be more comparable from the get go. That’s the only thing I can agree with, though. I don’t have a problem seeing the difference between the photos... I can personally see the difference from this,to this,to the final outcome. That, to me, is a significant change. There was visible diffuse thinning throughout the front that doesn’t seem so visible anymore. This,to that,is significant. If you don’t agree or can’t see the difference that’s fine. Photos from any doctor can sometimes make it hard to tell. If the hairline is maybe not your personal taste in aesthetic...okay. Anyone saying that the doctor should never have agreed to this case, that it was unethical, is making an assumption that the doctor didn’t do his due diligence and discuss family history and so on. He did and they did. It says so in the very first post that the patient decided to start taking propecia post-op. My last point: Who is anyone here to say that a person shouldn’t try to achieve their goals more than another. The patient is dealing with his hair loss the same as everyone else here. It’s a deeply personal process that we all go through. He sought out a great doctor and decided to go forward with the procedure. It is no one’s place here or anywhere else to say how someone should deal with their own personal journey. What you see as insignificant loss he sees as extremely significant. Otherwise he wouldn’t be seeking the same treatment that everyone else here is seeking.

Hmm...I’ve got quite a bit of stubble as well. I’m not so concerned with it as I’m not even at 5 months yet. I still planned on speaking to Dr Arocha about it at my 4 month visit with him. Let us know how everything goes. I’m interested to hear what he has to say and I’m glad to hear that overall you’re pleased with everything!

Hey @made2care, any update?

I would imagine so. I’ve been following this thread for awhile. I agree that a scar revision is the way to proceed before anything else. All the best, man. I hope this works out for you.

How’s everything looking right now? How do you style it? Do you just keep everything long to keep it looking uniform? I mean, you know, as uniform as long hair can be...?

He’s definitely from Texas. I don’t know if he has places to live other than in Texas. I would just assume he does. He’s, like, ultra rich. I’m sure he has places everywhere.

Man, if you’re ever in Austin 100% hit me up. I’m not saying he doesn’t have a place in LA but he’s definitely got a few houses/compounds here in Texas. Also, my bad. I totally forgot to not name he that must never be mentioned...

I think it’s a little bit of both. Back in ‘00 I hadn’t moved to Austin yet but I was there with my then girlfriend and I came across him at a UT football game. My hair had already started thinning so I was hyper aware of and always staring and guys heads. This was around the time of his bongo incident. His hair was pretty long and really thin throughout. So then in the summer of ‘15 I worked on Free State Of Jones. He has a lady who JUST works with his hair. I don’t know her name but she also worked on his hair piece for the movie Gold. All I can say is that she’s a magician. Being as close to him as I get to my own wife there was no sign of concealer of any kind. Nor was there any sign of a hair piece. All of those people have a team of people whose sole purpose is just to make sure that they look good when they go out to make public appearances. My everyday job is at one of the Alamo Drafthouse’s in Austin and last year he came in on a very slow day with his kids to watch a Pixar movie. Nothing to cover his head. His frontal third looked fairly strong except his corners which were super recessed-nothing like you see in pictures or movies. There’s really no way to be certain until he comes forward-which he never will-but I think he’s had some FUE done because that frontal 3rd was way thicker than it was during his bongo days. I think he styles it cleverly in order to go out publicly and then for films he uses some strategic pieces to bring it all together. I think JT was spot on with his video.

I didn’t notice an indent in the back of my scalp but if it’s been two weeks your scar should be good to go and the sutures could come out. Are you in the area to go see Dr. Arocha to get them removed? If not a general practitioner can remove them. I would definitely get them removed. While they aren’t hurting anything being in there once you hit that two week mark your scar is secure. The relief of them being out is really truly wonderful. Lol I had dissolvable sutures as well. I had knots starting to loosen around the 10 day mark but they didn’t cause any discernible difference in how my scar felt. Try sending Eduardo some pics to show the doctor if you are able to. If it really bothers you. Peace of mind is extremely important in these early days. I had a small infection early on so I had some bumps but the doc just gave me some antibiotics and they cleared up in a week. I’m only a few hours away from him, though.

Ah, yes. A graft that was barely alive. They can rebuild it. They have the technology. They have the capability to build the world's first bionic graft. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster.

100% Agreed.

I also have to push Dr Arocha. I had a procedure with him in April and at 4 months I’ve had some really nice gains. You can follow along with my progress if it helps at all. I do have some consultation experience with Dr McGrath and while he was nice enough I mostly spoke with his assistant, Steve. My objection to using him was that it felt like a really well put together sales pitch. They were a little pushy to try and get some work done with them after my consultation as well. The few guys who’ve had work done by him and have posted here on the forums have sought out repair work elsewhere. That’s not to say their results were bad-the hair that was transplanted mostly grew but it wasn’t really aesthetically appealing to look at. I know of Dr Puig. His practice is called Affordable Hair Transplants...Some people would say run away. All I can say is never choose a doctor based on what they charge per graft. Choose a doctor based on their results and choose them based on how many actual success stories come from their patients; how many patients of theirs would be willing to back up their chosen doctor-would they be potentially willing to meet with you? How has that doctor handled a situation where their patients were unhappy with their results? I’ve never heard of Dr. Jezic but I have to echo LaserCap: make sure you do your research and consult with as many doctors as you can. Look at their patients on their websites. Use the search tool at the top of the page and type in the doctor you’re interested in. Look at threads posted by patients of the doctor. Your donor is finite so choosing the right doctor, not just for you but just an all around good doctor, is key to getting the best result. Good luck.👍🏻

I have asked this before, also, and have never gotten an answer.

Thanks @Mycroft! Yeah it really seems to be the right side of the scar that’s still lagging. The left side is already going back to a more fleshy color so 🤞🏻🤞🏻 fingers crossed that the right catches up! I really don’t mind keeping my hair this long for the time being. Like I said, there’s plenty of time for catch up so we’ll see how things go.

My Scar!! I almost forgot!!! I got my wife to help me out in getting some pictures to share. I feel like it looks pretty good although my right side my right side is still considerably wide. I don’t know if it’s due to shockloss or what. We’ll see how it turns out.

Month 4! I’m seeing some nice progress. What’s interesting to note is that the pics I’m going to share are in harsh lighting that I’m creating myself. In softer light my current results look stellar already which is cool because most places I go (and work) have softer light. It’s interesting how from day to day I’m looking at my hair and then one day I look in the mirror and go, “oh...that’s better than yesterday.” Like it happened over night. My right side is still considerably thinner but I went in to the clinic that way. I also still have a ton of stubble that hasn’t taken off yet. The middle of my hairline still has some catching up to do. All in good time, I guess. I have to call Dr. Arocha’s office to schedule my four month check up and when I do I’m going to ask for something to help with the pimples. I still get them like crazy and they are a total pain!! i don’t really have any pictures under softer lighting but I’ll see if I can get any until then: here’s my 4 month progress pictures. The first pictures are post minoxidil, 6 hours earlier but still I hadn’t washed it yet. I wanted to show what it looks like all pushed back. The next 3 pics are after a cleaning. These next pics are how I generally style it although I have been going out with my hair pushed back similar to the pics at the top lately. It’s a little more controlled but I think it looks better than how I’m styling it here. So, some improvement for sure but still months and months to go. As always, I’ll be here. 🙂✌🏻

I was almost totally free and clear of scabs by the two week mark. I wouldn’t say I scrubbed them off, though. I was more...massaging them firmly. 🙂👍🏻

Don’t apologize @LeonSlack. I don’t mind answering questions at all. When I got in the shower I let the water hit my scalp very lightly. I didn’t turn it up very high at all. It wasn’t until day 9 or so that I turned up the pressure only a little more. It still wasn’t very high and I was still only massaging those grafts very lightly. Dr Arocha said that they were safe in there by day 9 and to really start working on them as the longer the scabs stay on there the more potential for grafts to not grow. My recipient was still a little sensitive, though, so I didn’t put a lot of pressure on it. On day 10 or 11 I was spending more time in there massaging those grafts as my scalp felt a little better. As far as my sutures/scar went I was keeping bacitracin on it all the time and that really helped to keep everything moist and helped to get the crust off of it when I got in the shower.

I bought a neck pillow from amazon that propped my head up and slept with it until the sutures came out. It allowed me to relax my neck at night while keeping my sutures off my bed pillow. You’re very welcome, Leon. Anything else, lemme know! 🙂👍🏻

I washed twice a day and I used the baby shampoo during both washes. We have cats and we use spray bottles to keep them from running all over our bedroom at night. I would take one of those and pour some baby shampoo in it then mix in some water with the sodium chloride solution that they gave me. I would swirl it around to get it nice and mixed together. Then I would spray my head down, both the donor and recipient, pretty generously. I kept the bottle pretty close to my head when I sprayed, less than a foot away. I would let that sit for 15 minutes and then spray again and let it sit for 15 more minutes so my head was soaking in it for about 30 minutes. Then I would take a cup of water and just pour it all over my head until it was clean. Twice a day I did that. I think it helped greatly with getting the scabs loose to come off when I was able to start massaging them more vigorously under the shower head. I should’ve spent more time on the sutures but I think if I had it would worked just the same. The mixture would last me for quite a few days.

Congratulations @LeonSlack!! That’s awesome man! For me the pain subsided around day 2 or day 3 but I was taking ibuprofen or Tylenol to combat it and drinking a ton of water. Dr Arocha and the techs were telling me during the procedure that I have a high pain tolerance and if you were to ask me I would say I was a big ol’ baby when it came to the pain. After the 2nd or 3rd day there really wasn’t any pain necessarily but the sutures were a little irritated. It didn’t hurt but my scalp felt tight and my brain was definitely processing that something was different back there. Yes, I, or my wife, applied the bacitracin to the scar after every wash and on day three I started applying to the recipient area. I would just lightly dab it on there. I had some spare triple antibiotic ointment laying around and once I ran out of the packets I asked if that was okay to apply since it had bacitracin in it. Dr Arocha said that works just as well. I didn’t throw a cap on until the week after. I didn’t go out of the house until the next week. I had two 6 month olds at the time and I pretty much spent my time taking care of them while also following the Dr’s post op instructions. It, uh... really kept me busy. Lol When it came to the cap I really didn’t want to chance anything dislodging those grafts so I waited until 8 or 9 days for them to really settle in to my scalp. I believe the post op instructions say when you’re safe but I remember that I still waited a few days extra. Congrats again, man! I’m really happy for you! I hope you post your results. Anything else just ask. Good luck and Happy Growing!!🙂👍🏻

I think it looks great. I see a nice subtle improvement in the placement of the hairline. Very appropriate for moving forward with his life as he ages. No one could ever look at this guy and say, “transplant”. The first before picture is indeed a little out of focus, nonetheless, it’s still plain to see how the hairline was affected by the transplant. I say, overall, great job.

Well, don’t stop eating man! I understand your nervousness but everyone there is going to put you at ease. It’s going to be awesome. I hope you post your progress!