Postdoc

I had a HT with Hasson & Wong in Vancouver two months ago and had to remove my cap at passport control on departure at Heathrow and on arrival in Vancouver. I also had to take of my bandana on departure, which I didn't anticipate would be requested. But yo can always ask to go somewhere private. Arrival back at Heathrow wasn't a problem although I'd suggest avoidIng using the face recognition booths in case your swollen face isn't recognised! Best of luck! Regards, David

Try pharmacydirectgb.co.uk. They're a proper pharmacy and offer an online prescription for dutasteride for an extra ?20 or so. A month's supply is approx ?24 and you can get a 6 month supply on the one prescription. There are various Indian sources (Dr Reddys, for instance) of what's meant to be generic dutasteride but you can't be sure what you're getting. Regards, David

Hi UKunsure, I'm also in the UK and I'm 6 weeks post op after travelling to Hasson & Wong for FUT at the beginning of May. From your photo, you look to about 5a, so achieving a full looking head of hair in a one-pass procedure would be difficulty unless you have a really good donor area with excellent laxity. You'd probably need >6000 grafts to achieve what you're looking for. H&W visit London fairly regularly, so it's worth meeting with them when they're next in town. Rahal and Feller are other excellent options. FUE isn't probably worth considering at present, because of the coverage you need, but for a future top-up, Bisanga, Devroye and Feriduni in Brussels are all top-notch. The situation in the UK is irritating given that cosmetic surgery is otherwise of a high standard. Farjo is the best, but they're surgically conservative and for my money concentrate too much on celebs and publicity. Regards, David

Good question. I've just had a megasession at H&W and the total number of grafts harvested was 4400. I'd hoped for more to complete a decent one pass procedure but realise that that's impractical unless you've got really high density in the donor region and excellent scalp laxity. My scalp laxity was relatively tight, and even though my donor density was good, I ended up with a 35 cm scar and a fair bit of shock loss. It's worth trying to estimate your own scalp laxity and doing a quick calculation of the likely yield. If you can squeeze a couple of cm of skin over most of the donor region and you've got a density of 80 follicular units per sq cm, you'd need a strip 37 cm long to harvest 6000 grafts, which is really pushing it. Personally, I'd recommend a less extreme FUT session followed up by some FUE work. Regards, David