akk

Any doctor who specializes in FUE can do transplant from other donor areas. Doctors who perform exclusive FUE are few as its a very lengthy process.

Dr. Ramachandran in Chennai does exclusive FUE's and i think he does transplants from other donor areas. I did FUE through him, but my donor area was back of the scalp. You might want to contact him via phone and ask him about the possibilities.

Hope it helps.

Thanks

Ash

If you hair loss just started 2 years ago, I would suggest doing the precautionary steps to arrest further hair fall. You can take any finasteride (finpecia is a cheaper version in India, propecia or any generic if you are in US). Also you can start using minoxidil foam or something similar. This would atleast slow down the process.

If you are one of the few lucky ones and your hair starts to grow again, you would not need a surgery. But if you still feel like you want to get one done, consult a phycisiyan and see what they recommend.

As far as side effects..there is none with hair transplant, other than few days/weeks of discomfort. Finasteride had some repored side effects for less than 1% of the patients.

Hope this helps.

It depends. If you have norwood V+ and have much wider area to be covered, its seldom done on the first sitting, usually you need multiple procedures.

In my case, I had my first one done in 2000, but by 2012, I lost all of my non-transplanted hair and needed a second one to cover those areas. Also if I need much denser look, I might need a 3rd one. The ones you transplant are for life.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Akk

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Bosley 850 grafts FUT (in 2000)

Dr. Ramachandran 1864 grafts FUE and FUT(in 2012)

Never came across their name while I did my HT surgeon shortlist. I got A.Goshwal, Dr.Madhu, Dr. Radha and Dr. Ramachandran as my final list of HT surgeons and finally got done mine from Dr. Ramachandran last Monday. Have uploaded my pictures in the album.

Thanks

Akk

Dr. Arwind Goshwal is a very renonwed hair transplant surgeon in Delhi. I do not know anyone personally who has gotten done from him or not endorsing his work in any way. I have heard his name through sources while I was trying to find a surgeon in India to get my HT.

I'm from Atlanta,US. So did extensive research on 2 recommendations from this site in India and finally got mine done through Dr.Ramachandran, Chennai. Its been 5 days post op and so far so good. I'm back in US and doing my routine work now. I have posted my pictures on the album. Actually a good friend of mine is also getting his HT on Sep 10th and will ask him to post his picts pre and post surgery.

Thanks

Akk

I have uploaded my pictures to the album. Will add the video soon.

Hair Restoration Social Network - Hair Loss and Transplant Photos

Im planning to upload the video and photo directly as I was told not to post links..its been 2 days post op..will upload my first weeks pictures end of this week. I need to shorten my video clip as its way too long. Will do it this weekend as I'm flying back to US tomorrow and wont be able to do it till next week.

I heard about this doctor through references and contacts while I was searching for one in India. I was little apprehensive at first as he was not recommended in this site. But my visit to his clinic and speaking to references convinced me to go through HT with him. I was not disappointed. Now I wont know till 4-5 months on how it turn out.

Hi Blake,

This site had given me tremendous knowledge to prepare for my 2nd HT. I was able to use that to interview/observe and have positive expectancy for my HT.

During my interview process, I had called all clinics through email communication, over the phone and also occasionally had chance to talk to few of the patients. I had talked to Dr.Madhu's staff and I got the information through them that he does 2-3 procedures a day and also a past patient confirmed this to me as well.

Based on my past HT experience, i know the process to be a 4-5 hour process. So I was curious on how Dr. Madhu did 2-3 a day. I have nothing against Dr. Madhu and I want only the best for his patients. But I was little uncomfortable when I get a feeling that I wont be given full attention during the process thats life altering.

Regarding FUE and FUT, my first HT was a FUT. However this time I had a combo of FUT and FUE. After watching my video and also discussing with the doctor, I was able to make a conclusion that FUE yielded better quality grafts. I was able to see that doctor had a discretion to get the good grafts and I had the most 3's and 4's on FUE. I did not even get one 4 on FUT. What the doctor explained to me made sense that on FUT, its whatever comes in the strip.

Whereas on FUE he was able to target the best grafts and the location of those grafts. If you watch the video, you can see it very clearly. And also the surgeon had to spend great amount of time to get the good grafts through FUE as it was more of searching for it as opposed to a direct strip.

I tried to upload the pictures directly and could not do it and so I put them through link. Could you walk me through how to post my video and picture directly? Is there a video clip size limitation. I have a 40 minute video of the whole process.

Thanks

Akk

I have seen patients with shaven off donor areas and then with shaven of recepient areas. I see this more prevalent in Indian surgeons opting to shave off the areas.

When I did my first procedure with Bosley in Philadelphia, they did not shave off any hair (back or front) and transplanted within my exisitng hair. And I did have lot more hair back then than I have now. Because of that type of procedure, I was able to go to work the very next day and no one even noticed that I had HT.

I guess it takes lot longer for the surgeon to work through when you have hair vs when its completely shaven. I told Dr. Ramachandran that I'm ok with if he needs to buzz cut the front area (recepient area), but absolutley not to shave off my back donor area, as I do not want to see the scar showing out.

So he was careful to keep the hair layers in such a way that after surgery, he was able to comb down to cover my donor area. And also I have seen Dr. Madhu putting a bandage around the head like we had a heavy head trauma. Its not required at all. When I got my first HT in Bosley, I flew in to get my HT in the morning and few out in the evening to my home and I did not have any bandage around my head.

Even Dr. Ramachandran, did not put any bandage around my head, he applied some medicine and said my sutures will falls off in 2 weeks and there is nothing I would need to do.

Here's my experience:

I evaluated the following doctors for my recent HT.

1) Dr. Madhu of Hyderabad

2) Dr. Radha of Vizhag

3) Dr. Ramachandran of Chennai

1) Pros Dr. Madhu:Most referred on this site. Good marketing.

Cons: Does 1 - 3 HT procedures a day. Does not do the HT himself. (Usually a

HT takes about 5-6 hours and a surgeon cannot do more than 1 a DAY.). I

found through my sources that he does not personally do any HT's anymore and

he gives instructions to his junior doctors and assistants.

Charges extra for everything (dissolving sutures, not shaving head etc)

So I ruled out Dr. Madhu

2) Dr. Radha

Pros: Very good reviews from the people who got HT. Spoke to her personally

and her staff. Very friendly. Does only 1 HT a day which shows she is more

dedicated on this process.

Cons: Shaving the front of head is not an option for me as I didnt like the way

it looked on some of the patients that she had done. I asked for not shaving off

my front area and it was not an option.

After evaluating these two I was leaning towards Dr. Radha for procedure. However, I came across my friend who was a opthamalogist in Banglaore, and he had recently gotten a HT from Dr. Ramachandran in Chennai. So I did some research on Dr. Ramachandran, went to his clinic twice and met his some of his patients and was convinced with his ability to good HT.

So I decided to get the HT done from Dr. Ramachandran, Chennai.

To answer FUE/FUT, I personnaly think FUE will get better results than FUT for the same amount of grafts. Reason being that FUT, gives you limited ability to select good grafts. its what you get from the strip. On the contrary, the surgeon can select the good donor area and good grafts through FUE. Dr. Ramachandran is an expert in FUE. Also Dr.Madhu does not do FUE because to do FUE you need to be present with the patient all the time and cannot have your assitants do it. So most doctors who are very commercially oriented and want to make as much money through more procedures will push you to FUT.

In my case, I need more hair as I had a wider bald spot (norwood v to VI) and needed wider coverage area. So we did a combination of FUT and FUE. Got a total of (1894 grafts/ 3144 hair follicles) in the process. I have good FUE donor area for the future use as well. Dr. Ramachandran performed the procedure for 6 hours and did not move from the table. I was very impressed with his dedication and would recommend his services to any one who needs a dedicated quality surgeon. He is a no-nonsense doctor who is very straightforward. If he thinks you are not a good candidate and your expectations are not meeting his expectations he will tell you upfront.

Good Luck on the doctor selection and its the most important part of it. I did research for almost 2 years and im happy with my surgery. Now waiting for another 8-10 months to see the fruits of this HT.

Thanks

AKk

That is correct. My surgery was on the 3rd September and I told him that I will be flying out to US on the 6th. He told me that I do not have to go to any clinic to remove my sutures as they will fall off within 2 weeks.

Even before I asked about the sutures, he told me that he will be using self absorbing sutures. That kind of worked out for me as I dont want to go to a clinic in Atlanta to get those sutures removed.

Dr. Ramachandran charged me Rs.60 for FUT and Rs.80 for FUE (per graft). He puts in self absorbing sutures at no added cost with nylon enclosing inside to reduce the scar area. ( I think Dr. Madhu charges Rs.10K for self absorbing sutures)

Also, my main requirement was not to shave off my hair in the front as I had to go to work within few days and wanted minimal reaction from my co-workers. So he did not shave of my hair. I think Dr. Madhu charges extra Rs. 20K to not shave your hair and Dr. Radha does not have that option. Dr. Radha's clinic said that they will shave off my front head ( I could think of myself looking like "Bozo the clown" with no hair in front and hair in side and back).

So all in all the cost worked out great and along with cost the quality I think was well worth the money. I might go back to Dr. Ramachandran based on how this progresses to cover any spots using FUE in the future.

My two choices boiled down to Dr. Radha Rani from Vizag and Dr. Ramachandran from Chennai. Since I'm from Bangalore, Chennai was closer to me than Vizag.

I had planned to visit Dr.Radha's clinic, but it didnt become necessary after I met Dr. Ramachandran.

I have a good network of surgeon friends in Bangalore and I asked their community for suggestions/recommendations and thats how I knew Dr. Ramachandran. Then I visited his Clinic twice and met some patients before I was convinced. I have a video of the procedure that I will post shortly. Im travelling back to US in the next few days and will post it in a weeks time.

I got mine done from Dr. Ramachandran, Chennai, on 03-09-2012. I had a prior experience with HT at Bosley in Philadelphia USA. So I knew the process and what to expect. Dr. Ramachandran, exceeded my expectations and I would recommend him to anyone who is seriously considering the procedure.

I eliminated Dr.Madhu as he does not stay with your implanting himself throught the enitre time and I wanted my doctor doing the procedure and not his assistants or juniors. That kind of indicated to me that Dr. Madhu is trying to get as many HT's possible in a day.

My HT took about 6 hours and the surgeon was with me doing the procedure the entire time. Looking forward to positive results in about 4-6 months. checkout my pre and post op pictures.

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/167471-hair-transplant-journey-dr-ramachandran.html

Personally I would recommend Dr.Ramachandran in Chennai India. I dont know how many of the people suggesting in this thread had personally gotten any transplants from the doctors who they are recommending. I evaluated, Dr. Madhu and Dr. Radha in India and found Dr. Madhu is not up to par with the process. I spoke to his office staff and had few people visit his office as well. He is said to be running 2-3 procedures in a day similar to Ford assembley plant. And personally he would not be performing any procedure and are done by junior docotors.

Dr.Radha, on the other hand had good reviews from my sources who visited her office and I personally spoke with her and her staff and they seemed to be doing a much better job. After evaluating Dr. ******, Dr. Madhu, Dr. Radha and Dr. Ramachandran, I decided to go with Dr. Ramachandran in Chennai. The reason being that I had a friend who is a doctor himself who got it done from Dr. Ramachandran and I visited his clinic twice for consultation and observation, prior to getting mine done from him. I actually got it done on Sep 3rd 2012.

Here's my review with both preop and post op pictures.

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/167471-hair-transplant-journey-dr-ramachandran.html

Good luck. Choose the best/

I just did a FUE/FUT combo with Dr. Ramachandra, Chennai. He is actually an expert in FUE, but in my case thought combo would do much better. Got my procedure done on Sep 3rd and I'm very happy post-op. I have put in a thread under "Dr.Ramachandran" . Here are my pre-op and post op pictures. I also discuss the the benefits of FUE vs FUT on the discussion.

Hair Transplant Journey with Dr. Ramachandran - Forum By and for Hair Loss Patients

Thanks

Akk

In India, I would recommend Dr.Ramachandran from Chennai. I evaluated Dr.Madhu and Dr.Radha. I had ruled out Dr.Madhu due to his lack of participation on the procedures himself. Dr. Radha was very impressive when I talked ther and her staff. But going to Vizhag for 3-4 days was ruled out. After talking to some HT patients and meeting Dr. Ramachandran, I narrowed down to him.

I actually got my HT done yesterday and had posted my link with pictures and profile in this forum. Please feel free to check it out.

After my first hairtransplant in 2000 with Bosley, I was ready for the 2nd transplant and this time around I wanted to do my homework. I interviewed Dr. Cooley in Charlotte (as this was my closest HT clinic recommeded by this site) and found that his procedure and techniques was very impressive. But cost was also a factor (with new child, job loss, job change, state change etc) and I was givien a quote of approximately $9K at Dr. Cooley office. This was around 2008. Then In 2011, I was visiting India for some work and decided to look at quality surgeons as cost will be 1/4 th of that of US.

Now, one has to do extensive research in India as there are many self proclaimed "experts" who will doctor any docuement (heck even their medical licenses could be fake) they can. Without an internal network and time, it would he hard to uncover such crooks in India. To narrow my list, I decided to start with the recommendations from this forum, Dr. Radha and Dr. Madhu. The issue about Dr Madhu that I heard through my sources in hyderabad is that he runs his shop like a Ford Assembly plant. He does 2-3 procedurs in a day and none of it, he personally do the work. Its all his assistants who do the cutting, insertion etc. He only gives them instructions on what to do. To me that is not acceptable. I'm paying for doctors expterise, skill and time, and not for assistants do the work. So he was ruled out. And my sources here in India ( I worked in Hyderabad in year 1996-1998 and have good friends base there), also told me that some of the profile pictures he has were not his original work. So I ruled out Dr. Madhu

However, I heard good reviews about Dr. Radha and also her personal attention to each patient. So she was my first choice, however, I was in Bangalore and could only afford two days for this trip and procedure. During my school reunion, I met a friend of mine who is an opthamologist in Bangalore, so I inquired him about qualified surgeons in India and his recommendations. Surprisingly, he himself had done HT and he recommeded Dr. K. Ramachandran in Chennai, India. So I decided to visit Dr. Ramachandran and made an appointment on Aug 23rd. During my first consultation, he evaluated my donor area and said, I could expect a realistic of 1300-1500 grafts. As I had already done a FUT in year 2000 through bosley, he said that donor area, above and below would be good candidates for FUE technique as a strip above that area would yield less. This was the first time that I had heard a doctor recommending FUE, as all other doctors, Madhu and Radha, were FUT proponents. So I clarified this with the doctor on why would everyone recommend FUT saying it yeilds better results. Dr. Ramachandran's candid response shocked me. Doctors use FUT for the following reasons.

1) FUT is less work compared to FUE

2) Doctor has to be there all time when performing FUE (for extraction and insertion)

3) More grafts in FUT so more money charged (This is a myth that FUT gives more grafts, I got to know that after my procedure. EVen though my FUE yeilded less grafts, I got more 3's and 4's in FUE than FUT. So if i multiply my 3's and 4's per graft, i got more on FUE and much less visible scar. In essence you can target 3's and 4's donors on FUE. In FUT you are stuck with what you get on the strip. So a less quality donor strip can yield more singles. I like more home runs on my extraction than singles...sheesh who wouldn't)

So more work, less money and cannot employ your assitants to do the work deters most of the doctors from FUE and they promote FUT. As an informed patient now, I would recommend FUE over FUT if you are given a choice.

I wanted more info, references, from Dr. Ramachandran and I scheduled another appointment with him on Sep 1st. Spent an hour with him on what to expect and he was very patient in answering all my concerns. I also spoke to people who were visiting his office and got confidence in his ability. So I set the date for my procedure on Sep 3rd 2012.

I arrived his surgey clinic at 11:30 am and was taken care by his friendly staff. I was given light snack and they prepped me for the procedure. Doctor arrived at 1:30 pm and made all the arrangements for the procedure. We had a video session as well (I will post that soon) of the initial discussion on what he was going to do and the approach. He recommeded a combination of FUE and FUT to get the optimum results.FUE was to be performed above and below my prior HT scar area and a fresh strip will be take from the left side of the head.

Surgery started at 2:30 pm and the only small pain was the local anasthetic needles pricing throug my head. After few minutes I did not feel a thing. He explained to me in each step on what he was doing and making sure that I was feeling comfortable. After the FUE and FUT donor areas were selcted, his staff, dissected the follicles to be transplanted. Everything went smooth as the doctor and his staff was very friendly. At 8:30 pm the process was complete. During the 6 hours, Dr. Ramachandran did not leave the side of the table even for a break. WOW, THAT IS CALLED DECICATION. Even when I got done in Bosley, the doctor walked away while the insertion was happening.

The original goal was to get 1300-1500 grafts and we actually got 1894 multiple grafts (see the single graft breakdown below). During Post-op, the doctor said based on these results in 8-10 months, we can decided if we need one more procedure (mainly through FUE) to cover any areas or spots. Breakdown of individual grafts

FUT - 1604

FUE - 1540

---------

Total - 3144

I was very happy with this whole process and my research of 2 years and paitence finally, I feel like, was paid off. Now, its too early to blow the horn as the jourey of 10 months has just begun. But I feel very confident that I will see the results from the procedure.

Link to my pre-op and post-op pictures

https://plus.google.com/photos/102632363828784644153/albums/5784173254648495601

Will upload periodically on the progress and also the video of the actual procedure.

Thanks

AKK, Atlanta, GA