Hello Everyone
I would like to post a thread on my personal experience as a patient at NHI
I have had two transplants (fuss)done now by NHI in Melbourne
1st one in April 2009, 2nd in March 2011
I would like to say that Barry White did not do mine, I understand that he is retired now, another doctor did the scalp cutting and the anaesthesia ,with the same two transplants, There were about six female technicians that done the follicular separation and implanting. I must say that I feel that this doctor is very good in what he does and is very helpful with everything. (I withhold with naming).The doctor supervises but does not do the implanting and follicle separation, this laborious work is done by the trained technicians. This would explain why NHI can do large numbers in one session. The doctor does all other aspects of the operation.
I am still waiting for the results to show from the second procedure since its only been three months.
I would like to comment firstly on the 1st procedure.
Total Grafts:4743 (Approx 9500 hairs)
Surgery Time (11 Hours)
I would like to say that I have mixed feelings on this.
Firstly the scarring had healed very well and I was much pleased with the end result, no problem there with what the doctor did, but I was not satisfied with the final density result, I took in consideration of what the area size of coverage was and how many grafts were available to fill the frontal hairline and mid scalp region, I thought that 4743 grafts should have provided more coverage considering there was only 219 singular follicules and the rest were 2s,3s and maybe the odd 4 follicle, after 23 months, the doctor agreed that the coverage should have been better, so NHI did the majority of the second procedure free of charge (approx 75% of the cost) and the doc would extract as many grafts from the donor area that was physically possible.The reason for the unexpected result was not determined or blamed on any thing in particular.
2nd Procedure:
Total Grafts:2478 (Approx 5200 hairs)
Surgery Time (6 hours)
The purpose of the second procedure was to cover the crown region and to drop the frontal hairline on both sides about 1 inch and to help fill in any gaps that were visible from the first procedure.
Although it is only three months out, it is still premature to comment on any final result, but I would like to say that although the new hairs from the second transplant have fallen and have still yet to start growing, that my current look from what has been done in the area of the first transplant is still not totally to to my satisfaction.
I clip my own hair to a number 3-4 on top and 2-3 on the sides, I have a very high lateral hump so I am lucky to have most hair on my sides and back, When I clip my hair to number 4 on top, the transplanted area still looks thin and some scalp visibiltyis seen, the only shockloss from the second procedure is slighty noticable on the right frontal hairline, I feel that after approx 9500 hairs from the first procedure that it should have covered the frontal and mid scalp area and not show any visible signs of scalp, and I also had and still have about 100 or so original hairs on the peak at the front. But when the hair is longer say about 2 inches , then there is no scalp showing where the grafts in the first transplant were placed.
I will have to wait an see what the end result will be from the second procedure after a total of 7200 grafts (approx 15000 hairs) will look like from both procedures, but at this time as I write, it does not seem to be that number of grafts in the recipient region, although the surgery time was 11 hours and 6 hours for both procedures.
The shockloss in the donor area at the back from the second procedure is still fairly visible, but I am confident in time this will return to a normal look just as it did in the first procedure.
I am also on avodart 0.5 mg since three months to help keep any existing DHT affected hair, avodart is now covered under the PBS scheme and is very affordable at $25 AUD a box of 30 tabs.
I thought that is was very considerate of the doctor from NHI to carry out the second procedure at a fraction of the cost. I only paid for the crown to be done approx 600 grafts and 2478 in total grafts were extracted.
I will post more comments when the second prodecure results come to show.