nohairline

Thats without dermatch chaps. Here's one with a bit of dermatch in

So heres my update after about 9 months. Im really happy with the result. I recommend Dr De Reys to anyone

Heres the 3 month update. Its filling in pretty nicely now. Months 2 to 3 i've seen the most growth, long may it continue...

Ill get a photo with dermatch and post it for you over the next few days

With dermatch

Thanks yeah pretty close. I did mention it to him and from what i recall he said some doctors recommend it after surgery. He didn't have any issues said it was up to me. I started using it about week 5 and still using it now. The growth seems to be ok with it so ill keep using it for a while. Another guy on here that went to Dr rudi a few months before me used it as well and he had no issues so that was enough for me to give it a go.

 

I have kept my hair short (number 5 buzz) it looks pretty good with that length. When the top gets longer you can star to tell im using something to cover up the front so i just keep it short. With the hairline coming through im using less and less and it still looks pretty good

Ill get a photo with dermatch and post it for you over the next few days

Looks about right for this period! I'm 8 weeks post op so I'm not far behind you!

 

Out of interest, did you speak to Dr De Reys about applying concealer post op?

 

I haven't used any myself yet

Thanks yeah pretty close. I did mention it to him and from what i recall he said some doctors recommend it after surgery. He didn't have any issues said it was up to me. I started using it about week 5 and still using it now. The growth seems to be ok with it so ill keep using it for a while. Another guy on here that went to Dr rudi a few months before me used it as well and he had no issues so that was enough for me to give it a go.

I have kept my hair short (number 5 buzz) it looks pretty good with that length. When the top gets longer you can star to tell im using something to cover up the front so i just keep it short. With the hairline coming through im using less and less and it still looks pretty good

Heres an update 2 months and 2 weeks in. I lost most of the implanted hairs but a few stuck around. Got quite a few pimples in donor and recipient area but mostly cleared up now. Things are looking pretty good. You cant really tell from the pictures but my hairlines coming in pretty nicely its still thin around the sides a bit but ive been putting dermatch in and that makes it look pretty good (although dermatch really just paints the scalp it still looks ok, you cant tell unless your really close up). Its started to fill in over the last few weeks I can see the hairs coming through although their pretty thin but thats how my hair is usually. Better than i expected at this point anyway. Will post an update in another month or so

Hey there, ive got thin hair and just had fue a few months back. My doc said it was very thin but said he took extra care not to dissect any grafts. I think you should look for a skilled surgeon that does the procedure himself, or one that has skilled technicians doing the surgery. You can check out my post to see results although i am only 2 months after the op seeing some positive results, just search for mu username

Hey, this was the post that got moderated earlier. Apparently they have a legal issue with a Dr i mentioned so it was removed.

I went to Belguim for my fue but before hand i looked at a few in AU. Dr Chan and Dr Knudsen were the main ones i researched although there wasn't a lot of information on the results they had achieved, not as much as the o/s docs anyway. Not sure what your reasons for not travelling are but if you have any questions about my experience travelling for the procedure happy to share. Hope that helps somewhat. Cheers

thanks for the reply, i've seen you pop up in a few threads when i did a search on the forum! if you don't mind me asking which HT doctors did you consultation with in australia before deciding to go overseas?

 

i've had a few online consultations and i've found the prices are pretty much the same (overseas vs. the 2 australian's).

Hey, I put that in the initial post, but its being moderated. Maybe they need to moderate anything with a doctors name in the post. Should show up soon

this seems to be the standard response to HT in Australia. I'm curious why? It's hard to believe that in 2013 there is not one doctor that can perform the surgery in a first world country with over 22 million people.

 

is it a stigma from the 2000's and now everybody is too scared to get it done locally? I've spoken to a few doctors and they seem rather busy, so its not like nobody is going in to see them.

Yeah i found that a bit strange too, im no expert but i thought that it may be due to the level of expertise and possibly that fue was taken up by more doctors a lot earlier overseas than it was here so there are more doctors practising this technique and hence have more experience. Just a guess

My doctor did say that the procedures are very fatiguing so they do try and limit the number of procedures they do in a week so by them being busy its not like they are churning through patients at a high rate. I think he was down to 2 per week these days and it definitely didn't seem like he was keen to do anymore than 2 more likely wanting to do less. Also, they make a bit of money from them so i assume money is not a driver to do any more than they need to as they make enough off a few procedures to live a good life (by my standard anyway!).

Also from my research the docs in Aus charge a lot more than o/s so being busy may only mean 1 procedure a week, maybe longer.. (Approx 20K AUD for the procedure in Aus vs 6000 EUR o/s for the equivalent number of fue grafts)

ps - i made an earlier post on this topic but it looks like it needs a moderator to approve it...

This is at almost 1 month. Instead of rubbing aloe vera cream on i've put it into a spray which does the job as the hair was shedding when i applied the cream. Still a bit of redness in the donor and recipient areas. Ill try update every month.

Its been 3 weeks now and yeah they've been falling out over the last week. Theres not many left actually... dammit! Ive got a bit of redness and its still pretty itchy. They mostly fall out when i put the aloe vera cream on. Donor area is fine now. Ill try get some current pics but the lighting in my hotel isn't great

They all look really good! You can't see much redness at all - I had quite a lot 9 days post op.

There's a little bit but hardly noticeable. It's still pretty itchy tho and it feels like I'm getting a few pimples round the donor area. I've had a few hairs fall out I'm hoping the rest don't but that's probably just wishful thinking

Dude I'm 9 days post op and smashed out 75 pus yesterday and went for a run albeit only a few ks. Just do it

I hear you mate. Nope I left this morning, in Amsterdam now. Bit of an eye opener after spending 5 days in heist op. Two completely different worlds haha. Sweet cheers for that ill order some online. Still got scabs although they're starting to get a bit flakey now. Swellings gone today and itching is nowhere near as bad as yesterday. Think the massage and drinking water helped a lot

Good write up - I had been wondering how you had got on. To be honest, I also found it very painful in places. I found it quite painful when Dr De Reys was marking out the hairline in that zig-zag shape he does, and that seemed to last a while. By then end of the day, the front of my head was pretty numb - it still is now, one month later - so it was not too bad. I found the injections in the donor are very painful too. I did not have any pain the first night and slept quite well.

 

Personally, I think anyone who says that having a HT is not painful is lying!! I also think that you need be able to take having a few injections, as I lost count of the number of injections I had throughout the day for various parts of the transplant.

 

I drank plenty of water: 2-3 litres for the first 4 days and I did not have any noticeable swelling at all. I also did a massage across my forehead and down towards my ears every few hours. I think this helped. I guess we all react differently. I was expecting quite a lot of swelling, so was really pleased when I didn't have any. However, I had a sore donor area for about 3 weeks.

 

You must be happy that you've had it done? You soon forget about the pain, but they are two long days. I think I finished at around 7.30 on both days and the last couple of hours - especially on the final day - was tough. Very tough.

 

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Yeah mate pretty happy I had it done now. Happy with the hairline. Feels good to have one after 10+ years

Hey guys, yeah I have a lot of swelling in the middle of my forehead just above the eyes. Ill try your techniques edsarn thanks. My scalp is also really itchy think its the scabs forming. I can resist scratching but I'm afraid ill scratch it when I'm asleep.

I have photos but unfortunately my laptop crashed when I connected my phone to the USB port and now it won't power up. I'm afraid it might be a few weeks until I can get the photos up unless I find an apple genius on my travels. Rigth now I'm on my phone using free wifi in the middle of the street haha

Hey edsarn where did you get the dermatch? Can you buy it in a store or do you have to get it off the net?

Fj- i see the place ill go there tonight for a steak

Cheers

thanks for sharing,

 

pain during implantation? this is the first time i read about someone feeling pain. did dr de reyes know you were in pain? what did he say was the reason?

 

fitnessjunkie? u had pain too?

Hey stinger99, yep very painful. The Dr knew, he gave me a tablet as well which im pretty sure he said was morphine so that helped a little but i think the mixture of pain and uncomfortableness really compounded the effect. I did have lots of anaesthetic i could fell those shots but in some areas i think it just didn't take effect as well. I like to think i have a pretty high threshold for pain too. Maybe my scalp is not as tough as i think the rest of me is...or perhaps i needed a lot more anaesthetic than usual im not too sure

Good write-up mate and glad everything went well (besides the pain). I had a lot of pain as well, especially on the second day going all the way to 10:30pm!

 

The hardest bit is behind you now! Just make sure you don't go around banging your head on anything

 

Looking forward to seeing some post-op photos!

 

Also, did you check out any of the restaurants in Heist-Op-Den-Berg?

Nah not yet mate, i arrived the night before the procedure however there was a bicycle race in town with some of the guys from the tour de france so the streets were packed even though it was raining. After a long day travelling i didn't really feel like being around a few thousand people! I should be able to get out to one tonight but im here by myself so it feels a bit awkward eating out by myself, especially with a dark red hairline and some scabs on the back. Ill probably get over it and head out to one tonight, these people will probably never see me again after tonight anyway haha

10:30pm! wow i was pretty lucky i was done by 6pm both days. Don't know if i could have done another 4 hours on top of that... too late though already took the leap i suppose

Yeah the Dr told me no sunlight for 3 months. Thats going to be a bit difficult seeing as its summer over here and then im back in aus for summertime.. anyway hopefully all goes well.

Thanks for the support mate

I've just completed my 2 day FUE session with Dr De Reys in Belgium and thought i'd share my experience seeing as my decision to do FUE with Dr De Reys was driven by the education i found on this forum.

First of all i'd like to thank everyone who provides their experience on this forum it really helped me to make a more informed decision and get as much info about FUE as possible.

Im not going to go to much into detail about Dr De Reys all I can say is i'm really happy that chose him and he and his wife really looked after me and made me feel welcome and that i think he is an excellent FUE surgeon and they work well together as a team. They also fed me throughout the day and made sure I had everything I needed.

I have had a receding hairline for a long time now and it really was effecting my confidence so after researching for 6+ months I decided that FUE was the way I was going to go. I also have had many years of trying different medications, laser gimmicks, and herbal treatments with no luck.

On the first day the Dr picked me up from the hotel and took me to his house where he does the procedure. He drew my hairline first and gave me two options to choose from which i thought was good. His wife then shaved my head and we started the procedure

The procedure was over 2 days and i ended up getting 2130 grafts. Im not sure what the ratio of single/double/triple were however he told me that I have very thin hair (but very dense on the sides and back) so i expect there weren't many triples, more likely doubles and singles.

I originally paid for 2500 grafts but the doctor said i only required 2100 as by the end of day 1 we had achieved a nice hairline. He gave me a refund for the remaining grafts.

Both days were broken up into 2 parts. Extraction and implantation. Extraction went for a few hours each morning and implantation too up all of both afternoons.

The Dr did all the extractions and he and his wife worked together on the implantations. Sometimes they swapped while one had a break.

For me the procedure was not a nice experience (i assume its the same for everyone?). There were many times throughout the procedure where i questioned my reasoning for doing it. But when it got to the end of each day seeing my hairline (or potential hairline) made all the pain worthwhile (providing i get a good result!). The extraction was actually the better part for me, although it is uncomfortable lying on the operation bed for that long with the anaesthetic i did not feel much pain.

The implantation however was a different story... For me it was very painful, even with anaesthetic. Im not sure if it was because on the front part of the scalp maybe the anaesthetic didn't take to well in some parts? Im not sure. The injections are painful but when the Dr cuts the 'slits' in the scalp, that was where the most pain was for me. Even where the anaesthetic was working you can also feel the slits being made and someone cutting into your scalp is not a nice experience. Its a strange feeling because it feels a lot worse than it looked once i saw the final result. It felt like he was cutting 1cm wide cuts in my scalp but when i looked it wasn't bad at all. I'm not sure if the feelings are magnified because its the front of the scalp or what but it wasn't nice and it was the longest part of the procedure.

Anyway, by the end of both days I was very happy it was over, especially day two. Like i am very happy with the result so far. Im just hoping my hairline stays that way...

Ive attached some pics pre-op. Ive taken some post-op with my phone camera however I will post those when I figure out how to get them off my phone as my computer isn't recognising my USB and theres no wireless at this hotel. Hopefully soon.

Not long to go now!! I know it is easy for me to say, but really, you will be fine. You might be a little nervous on the first morning, but once you have been there a while you'll settle down and you won't even be worried for the second day.

 

It is a nerve wracking experience having medical treatment abroad, as there are so many horror stories, but Rudi is a top man and a top surgeon. His family will make you feel really welcome, and it is quite relaxing having the operation at his farm house in the countryside away from all of the hustle and bustle. Rudi is also very laid back himself and that puts you more at ease. One the thing that I thought that was quite funny, was that each morning Rudi came to pick me up he had not bothered tying his shoe laces up!!

 

 

Let me know how it goes buddy, but I know you'll be fine.

 

Not sure what to do about my hair. My girlfriend wants me to grow it out a bit, as she said I am starting to look a bit thuggish now, and this is before I have hit the weights ready for the new rugby season - sustained a few black eyes last year, so a skin head and black eyes is not the best of looks. I am not sure my employers are too happy with me having such a short hair cut either. Will just see how it goes.

 

All the best for next week.

 

P.S., If Rudi recommends the film "Good Girl" from his collection decline!! I wanted to watch War Horse, but he didn't think there would be enough time and that Good Girl is funny. I didn't find it funny!!

Haha classic. Ill keep an eye out for the laces and make sure i stay away from his film collection.

Thanks for the support mate ill let you know how I go in a few days

Cheers

All the best for your journey and procedure mate! If you have any questions or concerns feel free to get in contact with me.

 

Here is a 5 month update. I am happy with how things are progressing

Looking good mate. You have a strong hairline there im sure it will all fill in nicely soon. Thanks for that ill let you know how I go

Cheers

Hey mate, not looking too bad there. Thanks for posting the updated pic. Im keeping a keen eye on your progress as you can imagine. Im flying out Sunday. You growing it longer at this stage or i thought you were planning on keeping it trimmed short? Anyway, it doesn't look like you've shed too many what do you think?

You'll be fine mate! When do you fly out?

Next Sunday. Arrive London on the 29th going to stay the night there and train it to Heist Op on the 30th. Dr Rudi said hell meet me at the train so thats good. HT is on the 31st/1st. Thats the plan anyway!