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Your Initial
Consultation
At your initial
consultation you will meet with one of our consultants. They
are trained by Dr. Agnesi to do a thorough evaluation of
your hair loss and determine precisely the cost, number of
procedures, and the approximate number of grafts that you
will need.
After determining all
of the details, we will then schedule your appointment. The
consultant will try their best to accommodate your schedule.
The length of time that your procedure will take depends
upon,
among other factors, the number of grafts that you receive.
The Week
Before Your Surgery
The week before your
surgery you will follow a specific set of pre-operative
instructions. These instructions are easy to follow, but
they are critical in making your procedure run smoothly.
The Morning
of Your Procedure
The day of your
procedure, you will eat a substantial meal. This will help
to ensure that your blood sugar will stay stable throughout
you’re the procedure. Because the anesthetic that we use
raises your metabolism, it is not uncommon to experience a
drop in blood sugar during the course of your surgery. For
this reason we keep a variety of snacks and soft drinks
available at all times.
Because a variety of factors go into
determining the length of a procedure, it is often hard to
estimate the amount of time needed for each patient. To avoid
having you wait at the office, we prefer that patients who
are scheduled in the afternoon, call us when you are
getting ready to come in to make sure that we are on schedule.
If for some reason we are behind, we will give you a new
time to come in, usually within an hour of your originally
scheduled appointment.
When You
Arrive For Your Procedure
Upon arrival, you will
be asked top fill out forms (consent form, medical
questionnaire, prescription info, etc.). You will meet with our
doctor. He will recap what was decided at the original
consultation. He will go over how many grafts you will be
getting, the effect that those grafts will have on your
overall appearance, the location of the grafts, and plans
for future surgeries. He will also offer any recommendations
that he has regarding your procedure, and how to get the
best possible look.
After everything has
been explained, you will be taken to one of our surgical
rooms. Because our procedure can be time consuming, it is at
this time that we have you pick out a movie or two that you
would prefer to watch to pass the time. (We have selection
of movies, or you can bring your own.
The
Procedure Itself
One of our surgical
techs will prepare you for the procedure. Most patients are
given 3 medications at the beginning of the procedure: a
sedative to help you relax, an antibiotic to combat any
infection, and a medication to help keep any swelling to a
minimum.
Next we will prepare the donor site by clipping your hair,
shaving the area, and finally measuring it. (The amount of
donor tissue is determined by the amounts of grafts that we
are doing.)
After the donor site
is prepared, you will be given your initial anesthetic. We
use two local anesthetics – Lidocain and Marcaine, which are
similar to what a dentist uses. These local anesthetics are
administered using a dental syringe. There is usually a
burning sensation caused by the anesthetic. This is very
short-lived and is followed by a numbing sensation.
After allowing the anesthetic to take effect, the doctor
will come in, remove the donor tissue and suture the donor
site.
When the donor tissue
has been removed, it is given to surgical techs to be
dissected. There is a period while the techs dissect grafts;
During this time, you may have a snack, watch a movie, take
a nap, Stretch your legs, etc.
When a majority of the
grafts have been prepared, we will begin to anesthetize the
area where the grafts are going to be placed. Additional
anesthetic that was used for the donor area is used for the
grafted area. Although a burning sensation is felt in the
grafted area, it is usually less irritating than in the
donor area because the anesthetic in the donor area causes
the receptor area to be slightly numb.
When the top of the
head is completely numb, the doctor will begin to make the
receptor sites for the grafts. Because the receptor sites
are very tiny and can be very hard to see, the doctor will
usually make anywhere from 50-100 extra sites to ensure that
we will be able to place all of the grafts. (Grafts are
never wasted.)
When the doctor has
made all of the sites, and a final graft count has been
determined, the techs begin to place the grafts into the
receptor sites. This part of the procedure can take anywhere
from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the number of
grafts to be placed and the amount of existing hair that we
have to work around.
Your
Post-Operative Instructions
When nearly all of the
grafts have been placed, the doctor will go over all of your
post-operative instructions. (see post-op instructions for a
complete list of instructions)
At this time, the doctor will give you your post-op
medications and go over all of the directions with you.
Generally, patients are given medications for swelling and a
pain medication.
Finally, the doctor
will check over all of your grafts to make sure that they
are properly placed.
Following surgery, we
are available 24 hours a day to answer any questions that
you may have.
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