krisl

Thanks guys. Arthur - feeling fine now, but still noticeable in my opinion. Have the red areas which will probably take a while to go, and shaved my hair down to Grade 2 to blend in, so the scar is still quite prominent. Haven't walked round without a hat on yet, but back to work next week so will have to face the music. Tried using Couvre but my hair is slightly greying so it doesn't blend in at all. Will see if I can do something bout that though... Chridav - my thoughts exactly

Hi everyone, finally have a moment to write about the surgery I had with Dr Feller 3 weeks ago. Thought I’d start with a bit of back story and then go into the specifics. My hair-loss began when I was about 17, making me quite self-conscious as none of my mates were even close to having a receding hairline. At 21 I made my first (costly) steps to addressing this. I had no idea where to turn to, so I contacted the only hair-loss practice I knew of - Advanced Hair Studio. For anyone who has been down that route you’ll know what a complete waste of money it is. It came to ?2000 for a year’s worth of ‘laser therapy’ and minoxidil. At 23, and after a couple years of using Propecia I began to wonder if this hassle (and expense) was worth it. I shaved my head and tried to embrace the inevitable. But as Spex has mentioned in his excellent guide, my hair was my identity, and a shaved head didn’t fit in with the image I had of myself. So I grew it back, and was pretty happy for a few years. By my late 20s I decided to shave my head again, as the hair seemed to be thinning too much. I’d had a few comments from friends saying the time had probably come where I couldn’t get away with the longer hair look. So at 28, I began to picture myself bald for the rest of my life. It definitely didn’t suit me as my head is far too big, and it wasn’t me. Also I wasn't into using concealers, as I knew I'd become too reliant on them, making it quite a shock to those around me if I stopped using it. I’d say the moment I began to take a real interest in going down the surgery route was when Wayne Rooney got his done last Summer. I began doing all sorts of research, first checking out FUE, Harley Street doctors etc, and it was around that point I found Spex’s website and this incredible forum. I spent a while on here, and the same surgeon names kept coming up, with great referalls and evidence. In the end I settled on a 2500 graft FUT procedure by Dr Feller on the 26th October. SURGERY: I arrived in New York the day before and stayed at the Adria. Cheap(ish) and cheerful(ish), it’s a 25min walk, or 5min cab, to the surgery. It’s crazy to say, as you’d think the date of surgery is ingrained in your head, but I still managed to completely mess up my surgery date. For months I was certain my surgery was on the Saturday, however the night before (the 11th hour as Spex put it) I realised I’d almost made the most expensive mistake of my life, as my surgery was the very next morning. Like I said, an unbelievable mistake, but it can happen. Arrived at Dr Feller’s at 7.45am. He was just getting himself ready for the day which gave me a few moments to catch my breath and soak it all up. He then called me into his office and we had an informal chat about the restoration of the hairline and what I was after. He said that I had a very good donor area, reminding him of Spex’s in density and texture (a good omen hopefully) I asked if there was any chance of doing the bits on my temple that have receded away or on my crown area. Dr Feller cautioned against this as my hair loss had already been quite aggressive already, and re-assured me that re-constructing the frontal part of the hairline will ultimately make me forget about the back. At least for the time being. I certainly got some anxiety sitting in the chair and having the front mohawk shaved away. It suddenly became quite real, and I couldn’t believe I was actually getting it done. As has been discussed in the forum, the injections were the nastiest part of the whole procedure, but for me the cutting away of the strip made me feel the most nauseous. Dr Feller was reassuring me that this was a ‘nothing-procedure’, enlightening me of horror stories he faced in A&E when he was younger. Let’s just say one them involved removing a lightbulb that somebody had inserted, without it breaking. I should mention at this point that I found Dr Feller to be such a genuine, and very funny guy. He certainly made me feel a lot more relaxed, and certainly knows how to help calm any nerves/anxiety you have. (Definitely bring an mp3 player with if you have ADD like me, because sitting in that chair doing nothing for 6 hours can be quite difficult!) Not much else to say on the surgery itself - the technicians worked quietly and diligently, swapping half way through as it takes a lot of concentration to insert the grafts. It’s very re-assuring knowing that the staff have worked there for many years, and do this on a day to day basis - they are as important as Dr Feller in many respects. The post-surgery part is also a bit hazy. To be honest I think I was quite overwhelmed with the whole thing, especially when I walked into the bathroom and saw the finished work. I remember chatting to Dr Feller and discussing the post-op routine, and wishing I’d brought a buttoned up shirt so as not to disturb the grafts by removing my T-Shirt. However Dr Feller ended by saying I’d been a great patient and telling me he had a good feeling about the eventual outcome. By the time I got back to the hotel the top of my head was throbbing quite a bit, and unfortunately it looked as if I may have lost a graft on the way, as one tiny portion was quite bloody. But despite initially freaking out about it, I eventually saw it as 1 graft gone, 2,499 still in place. Felt quite self-conscious walking out the hotel to get some dinner, with my massive bandage, and loosely fitted baseball cap, but I’m sure that’s pretty normal, and it was only for that night. Another thing I’m sure is pretty normal is constantly looking at it in the mirror, taking pictures of it on your phone from different angles, and analysing it over and over and over. Not a great habit to get into, but one that can’t be helped I think. The next day was a great excuse to stay in and watch the entire second season of Breaking Bad. Left the hotel once in the evening to grab myself a Burger King, and on my final day I managed to walk around Manhattan for a few hours. Really recommend the Museum of Modern Art. Flew back home no issues (got on one of the last flights out on the Sunday night before Hurricane Sandy hit). Got through US customs without having to take the hat off, but I was asked at UK customs. I tipped my hat up, told him I’ve had head surgery, and then stood there embarrassingly as he asked if everything was ok and what I had - that wasn’t in the script! Swelling came on pretty bad and didn’t recognise myself for a couple days, and the staples were a massive pain at night, but other than that not much to say. Stayed in pretty much that first week, and then only went out with the hat on the last couple weeks. Girlfriend removed the staples (soaked my head in warm water for about half an hour beforehand and had a good helping of duty-free bourbon to help), and apart from 3 that were tricky to remove, they all came out without a fuss. Bit of a tip: Check the Youtube video on removing staples BEFORE you begin, otherwise could lead to using the remover the wrong way round and causing needless agony. Looking forward to this process. I've been pretty honest with family and friends - I think hair transplantation is becoming less of a taboo subject, and I'm pretty proud to be flying the flag amongst my balding friends, who have all complained about it but have yet to do anything about it. They've asked me tonnes of questions, and have all said I'm the guinea pig, but have no problem with that. With people in the outer circle, I'm a bit more hesitant. If they ask in the months to come I'll be very honest, but don't think there's a need to shout it from the roof-tops. Know it’ll be a long old slog, but feel very prepared, simply because of the help from this forum. Also a big shout out to Spex for always being there with help and guidance at lightning speed. Thank you mate. Pictures are from wet and dry before the op, back at the hotel post-op, four days post-op, and taken today, 20 days post-op. (Spex - do you have the ones that Dr Feller took?)

Looks fantastic Keith - what was the reaction from your friends like? I take it you weren't able to keep it a secret!

Quality bonkers - just checked out the 8month picture. What a difference. Had mine with Dr Feller last Friday. Will be posting up the pics and details soon, but appreciate what a long journey this is. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats chrisdav, been following your progress since I began checking out the forum in March. Looks fantastic. Off to Dr Feller this weekend, and share the sentiments of many when I say that I'll be a happy, happy man if I achieve similar results.

Look forward to seeing your progress Arthur. I'm a London lad and off to Dr Feller this weekend!! Good to hear all went well.

That is absolutely incredible. I swore out loud a few times as I went through the last 12 pages. Mate, your growth is absolutely fantastic - I guess I won't understand about hair greed until I get mine done in less than two weeks (by Dr Feller as well), but personally I don't think you need any more done, and as Spex says, more maturing to come. Seriously, if I get anywhere near this I'm gonna be such a happy bunny.