fitnessjunkie

1. Yes, both Dr Reys and his wife Gina (nurse) were very caring and constantly asked if I was feeling okay. They are caring people and friendly. 2. I am happy and yes it looks natural. 3. So far so good, but it is way too early to tell how my growth will turn out. I am only 2.5 weeks post-op at this stage. Hope this helps - let me know if there's anything else you are asking. I do have a thread over on the FUE board if you want to take a look. Also check out William's thread. Cheers

Throwaway28925 Junior Member Throwaway, I visited Dr Reys and had a 3000 graft procedure spread over 2 days a few weeks ago. Is there anything in particular you would like to know?

Hi folks, As requested here a few pics post-op (1 and 4 days approx. I believe). My donor appears to be healing well following the fungal infection, where there was a lot of blood. Most scabs in the hairline were off by day 7-8, with the crown by day 9-10. There is a weak connection in my left temple which annoyed me a little at first, but with the hair grown out a little should not be an issue.. but there is a lot of minitaurised hair on top of my head so hopefully finastride and minixodil can save some of it! Shock loss was always going to be a risk. I am going through a lot of shedding at the moment and am currently about 18 days post-op. Will try and endeavour to take monthly photos. Cheers!

Thanks gents, perhaps I will leave it another week or two.

Hi folks, This has probably been covered a million times, but I couldn't seem to find a fair answer. I'm 2 weeks post-op on a 3000 graft FUE transplant. I was wondering how soon can I shave my head with a #1 or #2 guard? My head is ever so slightly tender but I believe my head is pretty much fully healed. I have started to shed a few hairs too. Reason being, I want to see what my scarring is like. Cheers!

Good luck mate!

Hey stublue Great log mate. I have just come back to Australia after having a 3000 graft FUE procedure with Dr Reys in Belgium. My log is over in the FUE forum if you want to take a look. Cheers!

Fidelity A HT doesn't look like a good idea IMO based on your hairloss. However, you look like a perfect candidate for temporary SMP. There aren't many examples on this website, but I can send you a private message on here with a link to see what sort of results you might be able to achieve. Cheers

Hi folks, I am 2 days post-op and I have ran out of aloe vera spray. I have purchased a 76% aloe vera/24% rose water blend spray from a herbalist as this is all we could find. Is this fine to spray the grafts with? Cheers

Thank you srdonjuan and stinger. I just took a photo in better lighting this morning which is attached. A couple things I forgot to add: - out of the 3000 graphs, only 450 were singles and the remaing 2550 were doubles and triples - Dr Reys drove to the pharmacy last night to purchase the anti-fungus tablets and Nizoral shampoo for me out of his own pocket which was very nice of him Cheers

Hi All, Firstly, thank you all for the well wishes. I have just finished day 2 of my procedure with Dr Reys. It is now 11:30pm here in Belgium and I am absolutely buggered! I must admit I am very glad the procedure is over and done with! Day 1 Dr Reys picked me up from Hotel Villa Monte @ 8am. His surgery is about a 5min drive away. When we get to his surgery we discussed hairlines/graft placement and his wife Gina did the shave down (she is a nurse and assists with the procedure). We noticed that I appeared to have a fungal infection of the scalp (I also have it elsewhere on the chest/back). This resulted in a lot of bleeding in the donor area during extraction and hence slowed down the procedure considerably. We commenced extractions at about 9:30am and the implanting of the 1500 grafts (1300 into the hairline and 200 into the crown) wasn't complete until about 9pm. I had a terrible sleep and managed to get blood all over my hotel pillow/bedsheets. Day 2 was even longer. We began at about 9pm and did not finish until 10:15pm. Once again, there was significant bleeding in my donor area due to the fungal infection. Fortunately, according to Dr Reys, this should have no effect on the final result. From memory about another 1300 grafts went into the crown, with the remainder scattered throughout the mid-scalp/hairline. In summary, I had 1500 grafts into the hairline/mid-scalp, and 1500 into the crown. Before going into the procedure I had not thought about the possible pain and how uncomfortable the procedure could be. Laying down on your stomach/back for a good 10hrs straight (with 20min lunch break that the Dr provides) was not exactly pleasant. My head hurt, my buttocks began to hurt, and my sanity was close to breaking after 11 and 12 hrs days! I felt some pain thoughout various parts of the procedure, although nothing too major. (Some parts were pain-free but certain things such as the incisions/implanting of grafts into the hairline was not comfortable). Anaesthetic admin. was not entirely comfortable, but then again needles into the scalp it is not surprising! By the end of day 2 I was physically and emotionally drained. Based on my experience, the transplant over two days was far from comfortable and was certainly not pain-free. It should be noted however, that my procedure did go much longer than the usual patient. I don't blame the surgeon, however IMO it is just hte nature of the procedure - very tedious, repetitive and lots of little 'prick' type feelings into the scalp really get annoying after a while. Following the completion of day 2 this evening, Gina cooked a very nice meal (steak, chips and salad - yum- just the way I like it!) and Dr Reys went over with me the post-op care instructions as well as supplying me with all the necessary sprays and creams. He dropped me back at the hotel at about 10:30pm this evening, where he gave me his business card with contact info in case I have any questions. Overall, I found Dr Reys and his wife very friendly and were happy with the level of service they gave me. At the end of the day, results are what counts and so I will try and update this thread on a monthly basis or whenever I feel an update should be done. Attached are a couple photos (not great quality) that my mother took back at the hotel not long ago. And for those wondering where they can see more of Dr Reys' work, I am not sure where they can be found online. However, we had a look on his personal laptop and he had 100s of different cases of work that he has done. For whatever reason it's a shame they aren't uploaded online. Cheers From a very tired fitness junkie!

Hi folks, The day has arrived! It's 6am here in Belgium and Dr Reys wil be picking me up in a couple hours for the first day of the procedure (not before I enjoy a buffet breakfast however!). I had a great 11 hour sleep so am feeling refreshed after spending 24hrs in transit from Australia to Belgium. Dr Reys pays for 3 nights accomm (for a 2 day procedure) at Hotel Villa Monte which is in a nice location surrounded by restaurants. I ate at La Cita with my parents last night and we all agreed it was fantastic. I will hopefully get a chance to provide an update this evening about today's experience. Cheers!

Thanks Michaeljames for your input too. I'm only 12 days away from my procedure. I'm starting to get a little nervous but excited at the same time. I still haven't decided exactly how I want my grafts placed. I guess I'll decide with Dr Reys on the day!

William Any updates? I'm off to see Dr Reys for a procedure in 2 weeks time. Thanks

Any updates jotronic?

Thanks for your input Mickey. Your procedure must be very very soon? Spex, appreciate your input too. And yes, I am on 5% minoxidil every night and finastride too. Stinger99 - 7000 Euros Chrisdav - Happy to share my experience with the FUE/SMP combo. I won't be able to get SMP until later in the year, and because I am based in Australia, it is going to be an expensive procedure when I take into account travel/accom. unfortunately!

Hi folks, I'm booked in for a 3000 graft FUE hair transplant with Dr De Reys in Belgium in about 5 weeks time. I've got a fair bit of diffuse thinning as well as a lot of loss in the crown and temple region. Photos are attached. I plan on getting a temporary SMP procedure later in the year, as I know a hair transplant alone will unlikely give me my desired look of density. This is what Dr Reys has proposed at this stage in regards to the 3000 graft placement: 1) Hairline : made with single-hair grafts, we make 2 rows, a little bit zig-zag as in the natural situation, at about 60/cm2 density; for 2 rows, we need 500 single grafts; lowering the hairline with 1 cm, Behind the hairline, with double- and triple-hair grafts, a density of 40/cm2 (makes 80-100 hairs/cm2): 800 grafts, together 1300 grafts. 2)Temple Points : 200 grafts 3) Crown : density of 30/cm2, 1500 grafts. What are people's thoughts on the above graft placement, when taking into consideration a SMP procedure in the near future? Please note that my requests to Dr Reys were to place a few into the temple points and to slightly lower my hair line. Is 1500 grafts into the crown a waste? Should this be reduced to around 1200, and then maybe 1800 to create a reasonably strong hairline and add a few into the mid-scalp, and remove the 200 grafts from hte temple points? Very interested in your opinions! Cheers

Thanks for the positive thoughts gents, and good luck with your procedure too Mickey!

Hi all, I'm booked in for surgery with Dr Reys (Belgium) in late Feb 2013. I'm looking at 3000 FUE grafts over two days of surgery. These will most likely be distributed like this: 1300 into the hairline 200 into the temples 1500 into the crown I'm mainly looking at all over coverage and depending on results may visit the US/Canada late next year for temporary SMP. I will endeavour to update this thread with pre-op photos, post-op and monthly photos showing progress. Cheers!

Janna Do you know when your clinic will be offering the temporary SMP? I'm definitely interested in coming over next year from Australia. Let me know if you require any guinea pigs!

I'd look at getting FUE (go for coverage) and perhaps look at some temporary SMP from Beauty Medical that will help give the illusion of better density. That's my plan anyway! Good luck!

james84 I'm booked in for 3000 grafts with Dr Reys in late Feb!

I've got another question. Can SMP and a FUE procedure be performed in close proximity to each other? If so, how long can FUE be done after an SMP procedure? Thanks!

William38 Do you have any updates? I am thinking about going to Dr Reys early in the new year.

Great question - I'm also wondering this myself! Basically I want to know if I can go from a grade #1 shave (hair is short and looks almost greyish) to growing it out several inches (and hair looks dark brown). Does this SMP procedure give flexibility to alternate between shaved and grown-out hair?