Alessa Avec Fashion

Here's more detail than you may want, but this describes the innovative new type of transplant I had (versus the traditional strip-harvest where they gotta take a chunk of your scalp off).

• Notice how Dr. Alan Bauman gave me a circular recession, rather than a flat front (which looks abnormal). 
  
• You'll see I volunteered to shave my head (optional) because I knew it would make things easier, and all of my camera hijinx and live web casts interfered with the otherwise efficient process of a hair transplant. Maybe half of people prefer not to shave the head, presumably because they don't want people knowing they had a transplant.
  
• I had an FUE (follicular unit extraction), which means I had no surgical incision that's known as a "strip harvest." That means I'll have no visible scar on the back of the head, I experienced less pain, and benefited from a variety of different transplanted hairs (a range of densities) that aren't found in one strip. And nobody has to dissect the harvest strip into individual follicles. 

Hair transplants are basically moving "donor" hair to the forehead or crown from the back of the guy's head, where the hairs are higher density and not prone to harm by DHT, the nasty little substance that kills off hair. 

• In an FUE, which is relatively new, they randomly grab follicles (containing 1-4 hairs each) with a tiny, sharp rotating knife tube (like a circular cookie-cutter). No pain. Then they quickly pluck 'em (or use suction) and place 'em in dishes until they're counted and sorted. Wanna see some photos of the FUE? It's not something I'd look at over breakfast, but trust me it's better than looking at a harvest (see gross picture).
• Those little individual rice-sized hair follicles are later inserted into the tiny slits that Dr. Bauman carefully decorated on my forehead to resemble the natural pattern and angles of a normal hairline (in one of my videos, you'll learn this is the real art that separates the good transplant doctors from the ones that give you a Frankenstein or pencil-troll look).
• Candidly, I'm glad I didn't do the normal "strip harvest" incision because it's an older and more invasive approach. Although strip harvest has advantages (you can do 3000-5000 follicles at one time, it's faster and less expensive), it's kinda freaky to think of a chunk of my scalp getting chopped off and dissected. FUE was once dismissed by transplant physicians because it's time consuming and (if they're not trained well) some of the hairs get chopped and don't grow. But if you're skilled at using an FUE tool, and have an auto rotating machine (Bauman used a "cutting edge" and expensive NeoGraft machine), then the process is quick and the success rate is high. 
• My sense is that FUE will become the standard of care, especially for touch ups and folks that lack good donor hair along the back of the scalp. The trick is that surgeons need to be trained to do it quickly, but there's almost nothing but upside (besides cost) for the patient getting FUE. And FUE is easier to learn and do, so newer physicians and dermatologists are more likely to use them than fussing with incisions and strips (which have risks if you cut too deep, and fail if you cut too shallow).
• I have a significantly lower hairline now, and it's going to be much more dense than before. I'll need to wait for the hair to grow out, and the maximum benefits won't be realized until 9-12 months or longer. Most of the new grafts will grow soon, then drop (maybe 30 percent will hang). Eventually, they'll get back into the normal hair growth pattern.
• I can't wait to share the "behind the scenes" footage, because it's informative and really fun. I had a blast, and experienced very little discomfort (mild and short pain with the first anesthesia shots, and while some of the hairs being slid into the mini incisions toward the end of the day). Lots of post-operative treatments helped-- oxygen foam, bruise-reducing herbals, prednisone, pain medication, and even a pressurized oxygen tank -- where I watched a whole movie inside a 7-foot tube enjoying medical-grade pure oxygen (this heals, and has loads of other benefits). Harvest patients usually complain about the pain from the donor scar, but I can lay comfortably on a pillow because the only tender area is on my forehead.