Hair Transplant at Hasson and Wong

I thought that I would take some time to share some information about the surgery itself and the trip up to Vancouver, BC, to get the hair transplant.

As a reminder, this is all about getting a female hairline.  I do have mild recession and that was keeping me from being able to wear my hair back or up.  I will be able to do that in about six months as the grafts start to grow in.  The grafts will go into resting phase about three weeks after the hair transplant surgery.  The grafted hair will fall out.  The hair will regrowth starting about three months after the surgery. 

The hair transplant surgery sets the stage for FFS (Facial Feminization Surgery.)  As I have learned more over the past few months, I am amazed how the small differences really add up.

With all that background, now it is on to the story.  The two biggest pieces of the story are that there was very little pain and that the procedure took a long as it did.  The only discomfort that I am feeling is from a cold that has blossomed over the past two days. 

The procedure itself started at 7:30am and ended at 4pm.  I arrived as scheduled at the surgery center at 6:15am.

The surgery was this past Monday, July 7.  I drove up to Vancouver, BC on Sunday.  It was a very relaxing drive.  I was able to cocoon in the privacy of my car for the duration.  I did stop in Seattle to do some shopping.  I bought a nice pants suit. 

The trip between Seattle and the Canadian border was scenic.  The views were breath taking.  There was no traffic for the journey and with the exception of Seattle; I was able to use the cruise control all the way.  I did have an interesting time at the border both ways as my appearance no longer really resemble male.  Both times, I was initially approached as Miss.  Both times the agents did a double take as they looked at the passport.  Aside from extra questions, and a search of my trunk, and the look of surprise on the agent’s faces there was no real inconvenience. 

I was surprised that the customs agents were that surprised.  I figure that they have seen it all.

Once in Vancouver, BC, I found the seaside hotel.  The Granville Hotel on Granville Island, and settled in for the night.  Had a light dinner, read, and slipped into a peaceful sleep. 

Monday at 4:45am the alarm sounded.  4:45am is only 15 minutes earlier that I normally wake up in the morning these days.  I took shower, groomed and headed out to the surgery center.            

After a short drive, I arrived at the surgery center at about 6am.  Went in and was greeted to a chorus of cheery hellos.  Everyone was friendly and super attentive all through the day.  I was interviewed, check in, shampooed, and seated face down on the table.  Table was one that featured a hole where you could place your face.

This is the part where the strip of hair was taken from the donor area.  Total time was about an hour to numb up the donor area take the strip and close the incision with staples.  The local anesthetic was amazingly fast.  It did its job very well.  Felt nothing but pressure.

Once the donor strip was removed, it was separated into four parts.  Each part was given to one of the four technicians that were in the room with me.  The technicians separated each of the donor strips into the micrografts.  The grafts were one hair, two hair, and three hair grafts.

As the micrografts were prepared, I was flipped over on the table.  My forehead was prepared to receive the grafts.  Dr Wong then administered several shots of the fast-acting local anesthetic.  He then made a series of razor-slits in my forehead. 

Each razor slit would receive a graft.  Each slit was angled and aligned to ensure that the graft would sit appropriately for a female hairline.  Two technicians followed the surgeon.  They painstakingly inserted the single and double hair micrografts into the surgeon prepared slits.  The surgeon and the technicians alternated in groups of about three hundred slits.  The surgeon prepared three hundred slits that the technicians would then fill.  This went on until all 2060 grafts were inserted. 

The actual surgical work started at about 7:30am, as mentioned above.  The surgery itself ended at about 3pm.  The last hour was spent getting a shampoo and a post surgery exam.

This was a long day.  There were many breaks for the bathroom and for food.  I was surprised how relatively easily and comfortably I was ale to get up and walk around. 

One part was slightly disconcerting for me.  That part was the use of adrenalin at the donor area and the implant site.  The adrenalin made my heart race.  I was told this would happen but nonetheless it was still disconcerting to have one’s heart racing for no reason.

As mentioned above, the day ended with a shampoo.  I headed back to the hotel, ordered room service, read for a while, watched TV, and then took a light duty sleeping pill.  The only reason that I used the pill was to ward off the effects of the adrenalin.  It was a light duty pill and “I drifted” off to sleep. 

The next morning started with a little discomfort.  This was quickly resolved with two Tylenol 3 tablets.  I showered, dressed, and headed back to the surgery center for another shampoo and a post surgery check.  All was OK except for one graft that was out of the scalp a bit too far.  It was rearranged to the doctor’s satisfaction.  With that, I was given a slight physical.  I headed back to the hotel room.  Applied makeup, got a bite to eat, check out, and headed back to Portland.

Again, a nice drive but there was more traffic this time.  It was a weekday, Tuesday.  When “I traveled up it was Sunday.  The impact was twofold, 1) I could not use the cruise control as much, and 2) I could go faster. 

On Wednesday, I was fine with just a slight stiffness in the donor area.  I took two of the Tylenol 3s just before bed.  I am continually amazed that there is ZERO discomfort where the grafts were implanted.  The day began with my daily shampoo ritual.  Very Shampooed my hair gently but patted shampoo over the grafts themselves.  After drying my hair I used Graftcite spray.  This spray is used every thirty minutes to keep the grafts moist.  Both the shampoo and spray are sold at the surgery center.

Thursday, I was up and around doing chores and catching up on paper work.  The hair care is the same as Wednesday, a light shampoo and the half hourly Graftcite spray to the grafted area.

Friday, I am up and around but starting to feel the on set of the preciously mentioned cold.  The hair-care routine is the same as Wednesday and Thursday.

Saturday, I find that I drank liquids, slept, and perspired a lot.  The hair-care routine changes slightly.  I am now instructed to start to massage the grafted area to gently soak off the scabs.  Again, the Graftcite spray is used every thirty minutes. 

Sunday, today, I am still tired from the cold but the worst of it seems to be over.  All through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the hair transplant surgery sites (donor area and graft area) are fine.

Friday August 8th.  The hair is following the predicted pattern.  The transplanted hairs fell out at the three week mark.  New hairs are now starting to sprout.  I want to the hairdresser today.  This was my first visit since two days before the surgery.  Had the usual shampoo and coloring.  The incision at the donor area is healed.  All that remains is a pink line, according  the woman that does my hair.  The redness in the graft area is just about gone.  Hopefully in another month the combination of time and new hair growth will make the redness totally vanish.

That is the story.

Name withheld