I arrived at the office at 7:45 a.m., after a good breakfast, in plenty of time to put on an OR gown, take a relaxant and get into the operating room. Having performed about 2,000 to 3,000 procedures, I must say, I more than know what to expect. It is different going through it yourself, though, and my stomach felt a bit queasy prior to starting. I then lay face down with my head in a doughnut pillow, designed to expose the back of the head so the strip can be cut. Many patients ask why I had the strip done rather than FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction). Two reasons: The first is that I didn't want to shave my head. The second is that I have seen the scars using the Trichophytic closure technique, and they are acceptable to me for the length I keep my hair. The removal of the strip took about 20 minutes. The only uncomfortable part was during the numbing or freezing, and it only lasted two to three minutes.

I was then given a chance to relax and stretch a bit, prior to the recipient sites being made. After about 10 minutes and a bathroom break, I sat on the edge of the bed and with the aid of my surgeon, designed my hairline and decided where the grafts were going to be put. My hairline has always been fairly high in the temporal angle, and I didn't really want to change this. After we did this, I lay flat on my back and allowed my staff to numb me up, the second part of the procedure that was a bit uncomfortable. This only lasted two to three minutes as well. My surgeon started by making about half the recipient sites, and then I put on a movie and relaxed while the grafts were being inserted. This all started at about 9:30 a.m. Over the next four to five hours, I went through two movies, and became a bit impatient waiting for the final grafts to be inserted. Finally, the last graft was put in and I was able to think about going home. Before getting off the bed, my nurse, Linda, injected my incision with a long-acting anesthetic, Marcaine. I had no pain the morning after the numbing of the hairline, and at this point my whole head felt numb. After spending a half an hour in my office answering email, I hopped in my car and drove home. It is amazing how well I felt. I was able to carry on fairly normal activities for the rest of the day and had dinner and spent the evening with my family. I took some special sheets home from the office (we provide them for patients) to cover my pillow before going to sleep that night. This prevents spots of dried blood getting on the pillow cover.

The day after

I managed to sleep through the entire night, and woke up at about 6 a.m., a half an hour before I needed to be up. I sensed some movement on the other side of the bed, so I thought it may be an appropriate time to see if everything was in working order, so managed to seduce my lovely wife into some passionate lovemaking. I don't normally recommend this to patients, but under the circumstances, I couldn't resist. I had a good breakfast and went off to the office to see some consults. I spent the whole day seeing patients and had yet to take a painkiller. I arrived home at about 5:30 p.m., a little beat up. At this point I was feeling some pain on my donor site, so I took two extra strength Tylenols and had a two-hour sleep. I awoke at about 7:30 or 8 p.m., just when the basketball game was starting. The Raptors were playing the Grizzlies, so my son and I watched the game. The Raptors lost 94-88! After the game, I took two more extra strength Tylenols and went to sleep. These were the only four painkillers I took!

The week after

The next few days were pretty normal in terms of activity. On Wednesday, I did a hair transplant, and Wednesday evening, I had some friends over to my house for a poker game. I even had two beers. On Thursday, I did a 10 km run (I was training for the Big Sur Marathon and wanted to take as little time off as possible). I managed a 20 km run on the Saturday, and worked a full day on the Friday. The procedure involved about three days' downtime, which seemed a small price to pay for more hair.

Up to three months

This period is the hardest one to go through after a hair transplant. After a few weeks, the hair sheds, and there is usually a bit of "shock loss", or loss of existing hair. This means that you look worse than you do before the procedure. Since we all do this to look better, it's hard to be patient waiting for the new hair to grow! Finally, at three months the hair begins to sprout!

Three months onward

Growth begins. From this point on, every morning I couldn't wait to look at my new hair, and feel the stubble growing in. For once in the past 20 years, there seemed to be a reversal of the aging process! From this point up until today, at about 8 or 9 months, there was a huge change in the amount of hair on top of my head, as you can see from the pictures. As the scar on the back of my head healed, the hair actually grew through the scar. The Trichophytic closure technique used, as described in another section of the book, works in making the scar almost invisible.

A lot of patients ask why I elected to have the strip procedure rather than the FUE technique that I helped to pioneer. The almost invisible scar doesn't bother me, and given that I have no plans to ever shave my head, I thought this was the best option for me.

The decision to have a hair transplant is one I will never regret. The added hair and the ability to empathize with patients going through the procedure have been well worth the inconvenience of going through this minor surgical procedure.