Fixin' my Crown w/ Dr. Cole

[oxymoron]

After months and months of research and deliberating I decided to spend a day with a dr. Cole. I have a werid crown that crept up more on my left than the right and was a conversation piece if i went capless in public. My front is thinning but i think it's acceptable and sexy so screw it. He recommended 800 grafts (conservative as he is) and i felt that i needed 1000 minimum. We agreed during the preop talk that he'd do 1000 or less which would fill in the area pretty well. The day was actually pretty easy considering 9 hours in the chair. Dr. Cole is luckily a believer in multiple mini-sessions throughout the day to get to 1500 graft max for a day. It was all 150 grafts taken and placed...then 150 taken then placed...etc. I went for 1000 but i took many piss breaks so the day went long...9 to 5:30. Techs were really cool and knowledgable...and cute. The experience was surprisingly pretty easy. I watched the full second season of "Curb your Enthusiam" and then "Troy" and it was a day. I had no idea there was anyone even behind me until i asked if i could stretch my neck and then someone would say "whoa whoa... WAIT"....and there was actually 2 techs and Cole back there working on me. Cole did all the extractions and all the recipient slits and oversaw 50% of the graft placement. I'm happy with my choice.
Anyways, i'll post some pics and ask your guys opinion. There's a weird thing tho. I scrubbed out my scabs and a bunch of my hairs are still growing that I expected to fall out. Are they gonna fall out after they start growing? Take a look and let me know.

 

[oxymoron]

Ok... here's some good pics. A few from Dr. Cole's office and few good shots taken with outdoor light. Sorry about the order but I named the files based on when they were taken.
Of course I'll keep you guys in the loop on progress but i'm exhausted and hittin the sack.

 

[Petchsky]

Nice1 upping the photos, your crown is very similar to mine, but not for long. Looks neat and tidy

 

[CCS]

You will definitely look better. No question there. The question is whether you will be able to use enough grafts to get a look that is acceptable to you. The change will make you very happy for at least 6 months to a year though.

 

[HT55]

Did you get Fue or strip ?

I hope it comes out well but crowns are a black hole fro grafts, 2K is more likely what you need to cover that area

 

[oxymoron]

HT55,
Cole uses a similar method to FUE that he coins as the Cole Isolation Technique (CIT). I've asked about it and what is different and his staff has told me that the technique is different and his tools are very different than what's used during a fue. It sounded like a mini-hole saw or something when he was doing the extracting. He's pretty secretive about the process tho. I made the mistake of starting my research with Hairclub, MHR, Boseley and they all recommended Strip, of course. When Cole looked at my scalp, he explained because of the flexibility and skin type, I would have had very wide and dark strip scar. Plus I wear my hair at a #2 sides and back... and i'm looking at taking it down to tighter buzz in the future.

CCS,
Funny thing is… Dr. Cole was advising less than 1000 at first. But my goal with him wasn't necessarily to fill the area completely in but to get it back normal thinning look. My top is actually thinned out pretty well, but hasn't really changed since a I started takin fina a couple years ago. "The change will make you very happy for at least 6 months to a year though" ...Did you mean in 6 months to a year lol? I sure hope it stays for a lot longer than that. I never see more than 1 or 2 hairs in the shower and thats on occasion.

Something I'm really curious about is the way I kept at least half (maybe more) of the grafts. After the scabs came out, the hairs stayed and are growing still at 13 days post-op. Take a look at the first 3 pics above. I was under the impression that they'd fall out and I would have to wait like everyone else. I guess I actually got lucky for once.

 

[Devender]

Ok... here's some good pics. A few from Dr. Cole's office and few good shots taken with outdoor light. Sorry about the order but I named the files based on when they were taken.
Of course I'll keep you guys in the loop on progress but i'm exhausted and hittin the sack.

Do you plan to do anything for the front? Best wishes.

 

[oxymoron]

I’ve found that a #3 top blended with #1.5 sides looks pretty good on me as long as I don’t gain any weight (always go straight to my face). This is how I was wearing it up to the hair transplant but everyone really liked it and said the front looked fine. I don’t really mind that I’m thinning and it’s really not bad buzzed down to 3.
Now that might totally change in a couple years, but for now no plans for the front.

 

[HT55]

So what kind of density di Cole say you would get in the crown ? No offense but I still think you will be quite thin.

Did you consult with any other top Dr's ?

I never heard a Dr say anything like that in relation to a strip scar and i have been on all the major forums for 5 + years, seems odd to me as i would think the more laxity the better the scar as it would tend to stretch less

 

[oxymoron]

So what kind of density di Cole say you would get in the crown ? No offense but I still think you will be quite thin.

Did you consult with any other top Dr's ?

I never heard a Dr say anything like that in relation to a strip scar and i have been on all the major forums for 5 + years, seems odd to me as i would think the more laxity the better the scar as it would tend to stretch less

hair transplant... not sure if i was too flexible or too tight. Based on my read of him at that point i think he wouldn't have made sh.t up. He was pushing my scalp around and asking me questions and said "weren't you thinking of doing strip?" and i said "yeah" and that's when he told me i made the right decision. Seems creepy to me if he was making crap up that point. Doubtful and based on my judgement.... i'd say he was giving me good advice...k. Alright got bunches of old pics to post. Here we go.

 

[Def]

Keep us posted, Oxy - I, for one, will be very interested to see how your results are.

I too am a crown thinner and the pattern is not dissimilar to yours. I have been on finasteride and minoxidil for about 6 years now and so it hasn't progressed too much - because my hairline is still pretty much in tact, I can style my hair so that the crown thinning is not really noticeable.

Thanks again for sharing your story.

Def

 

[HT55]

I really haven't researched Cole so i have no idea but I thought I read some negative stuff about him on HLH

Shapiro, H+w, Feller are the only 3 Dr's i would ever let touch me knowing what I do now. H+W for Mega session 5k +, Feller for FUE, Shapiro for everything else.

 

[waynakyo]

funny how thinning crown or even bald does not look that bad on blondes but horrible for dark hair ed guys (with fair skin). It is the contrast baby !

 

[oxymoron]

hair transplant, I've seen some bad posts against Cole, but he always come forward and admits to them and addresses them. So he has had some negative press but he agreed to it which is in turn kinda positive. I think most untrusted and unreliable clinics would have denied or swept negative issues under the rug if possible.

Waynakyo, The contrast exactly..so unfair. Getting a hawaiian tropic tan is the only way outta that, unfortunatey kind of hard to do year round.

 

[oxymoron]

New shot from tonight... day 17 post operation. Any opinions? Look normal?

 

[Petchsky]

Looks fine, some of the grafts still seem to have not shed. Scalp will be red for a while but looking good

 

[HT55]

funny how thinning crown or even bald does not look that bad on blondes but horrible for dark hair ed guys (with fair skin). It is the contrast baby !

Oh yes, notice how most of the major Norwood 6 restorations on guys such as Bobman and Jotronic all have light hair.

Peopel with dark ahir and light skin need to have realistic expectatons.

BTW Joe and Bob have had great work, not taking ANYTHING away from them but if they had dark hair density issues would show up

 

[oxymoron]

ok folks... about 3 mo post-op. i'll try and get some shots up. looks good i think. of course i don't have a lot of growth yet but if you look at some of the previous posts you'll see the magic happening =)

 

[Petchsky]

Hey Oxy, good to see you again. I hear the crown can be a bit slow growth wise.