slowhairloss

Why are you so focused on being discreet about it? Are you after a cosmetic improvement, or to pay for a surgery where no one can see difference?

 

When you have an entire thread of people telling you you're making a stupid mistake (mostly people who have experience with the procedure) then you should certainly listen. Again for you not to have consultation with other doctors like Feriduni, Konior, Erdogan or Lupanzula for example again is just stupidity. Particularly consult online with some Belgian doctors like Feriduni, Lupanzula and Bisanga who are close.

 

It seems as if you are more interested in coming to this forum to spite and disagree with everyone having already made up your mind than to legitimately enquire about your options.

 

You will not under ANY circumstances get 3000 hairs with a hairline procedure either as at least 200 hairs will likely need to be single hair grafts for good results. Another reason why it is clear Reddy is being disingenuous.

 

You could opt for quite frankly a better surgeon and a more ethical surgeon with fair prices for half what you're paying while getting full coverage.

 

Ridiculous. Wish I had the money to piss dollars down the drain willy nilly like yourself.

Hi Jean/Dan/John,

Sorry if I came across as projecting spite, I didn't mean to disrespect the knowledge of the people on this forum, and I did appreciate the fact you wanted to help me make the best decision. What I wanted to do when I started this thread was simply report on my experience, like others do, and I was also curious about people's possible experiences with folliculitis or shock loss.

I'm not really into throwing money out the window either and I had done some research. So far it had seemed I could indeed get a better graft for money ratio in some other countries, but there were too many warnings about the surgeons' authenticity. Maybe I should have started a topic on this forum earlier, and I may have got better bang for my buck. To be fair though, as I Iive in south east England and have been given free accomodation in London for a week, that offset the overall cost a bit. I will also be able to pay follow up evaluation visits at 3, 6 and 9 months with just a train and tube ride.

Now, you may hate the next part, or just have a laugh with it, but as you may already have guessed, I'm now post-op. This is day 5, and so far so good.

No graft loss, no pain, no swelling. I managed to get on a course of antibiotics before the procedure, and together with those taken from op day, I am folliculitis-free. I still have enough antibiotics to last until day 10, when scabs should all have fallen.

Attaching the 2 pictures I took yesterday, the transplanted and donor areas of course (sorry about the second one not being very well framed, SLR selfies from the back!). Nice red triangle at the front, a couple of bigger scabs as there was some scar tissue, which was a bit more painful to implant in.

To answer your question Jean, what I was looking for was something subtle that I knew I would notice and simply be more confident about (probably the same kind of motive that makes wealthier people choose unshaven FUE). And you're definitely right about this, between a noticeable improvement and discretion, something's got to give.

After the first session of graft harvesting, we discussed the hairline again and I chose a tighter one than suggested. This may be a Norwood 2, and the middle isn't lower than before. Even so, I love the way my hairline now frames my face, and I think I have a good compromise here. Even the trimmed look with my current coverage is pretty great now, and I feel more comfortable with it than when I was letting the hair grow, trying to cover the forehead.

Now looking forward to the next 12 months.

Hi Guys,

Of course the 1000 grafts are an approximation Dr. Reddy gave me, as what was paid for is 3000 hairs; and he knows he has to use single hairs for the hairline, as per previously posted on the forum (e.g. here). And as he can do up to twice as many grafts in one day, there is no reason why he wouldn't have the time to carefully select grafts of 1, 3 or more hairs.

Again, the hairline enhancement has to be only subtle, much more so than in the examples shown around here, so the majority of the grafts will be used for thickening the existing forelock/midscalp. Check out on this forum a few more cases done by him, procedures he performed over 5 years ago with similar hairlines or thinness and number of grafts/hairs but with different goals (more ambitious hairline results), like this one or this one. He can definitely achieve satisfactory results by my standards if the focus is on thickening, then adding just a little around; to make it clear once and for all, that is what I told him I wanted to achieve during my consultation and which has been agreed.

Not sure how likely further loss is: as stated in my first post, I'm 40 and my hair loss has been going on for nearly 20 years (I probably got it from my maternal grandfather, but my father still has more hair than I do at twice my age). It was fast during the first 2 years, especially at the hairline, but then very progressive with not much difference from year to year, so I consider it stable. I'm just reaching a point now where I really wish to maintain what I have and possibly enhance it a bit, while remaining discreet about it. And 6000 hairs, besides being twice the price, would be a dead giveaway. So I had rather have that one procedure now, then another one a few years later to address other areas. And I don't mind looking somewhere else if you know better options in the UK, but the Private Clinic seemed like the best place to me.

Originally Posted by JeanLDD

1000 grafts will achieve almost nothing for your case. Reddy is a highly competent doctor, but you're wasting your time. You're a norwood 3.5 with a severely weak forelock and thinning in the NW5 area who isn't on propecia. This is a TERRIBLE idea.

 

I would genuinely recommend you cancel or postpone and contact a number of other global doctors, Erdogan, Feriduni, Lupanzula, Konior, Hasson+Wong, Bisanga, Freitas, Feller are some strong options. I list so many because I don't want to seem like I am being biased, but Reddy has high prices and you're genuinely wasting your time with 1000 grafts.

 

Particularly if you're not on propecia, you will LOSE more than 3000 hairs in the time it takes for those 3000 hairs implanted to grow.

 

STRONGLY recommend you postpone and contact some other doctors outside of the UK, particularly Belgium like Ferdiduni, Lupanzula and Bisanga for their opinion, because I promise you it will be very, very different to 1000 grafts.

 

Again I don't want to sound like I'm attacking Reddy, but a doctor prepared to do a tiny frontal hairline surgery when you're thinning in the NW5 area severely and not on propecia is just plain wrong. He's going to have you locked in for future surgery because that tiny thick band of transplants with the hair behind it disappearing is going to look ridiculous and you'll need another transplant in 12 months. Don't go through with it until you get some second opinions from the non-UK surgeons I mentioned or other Hairrestorationetwork recommended surgeons and consider their advice.

Thank you for your concern and advice. When I said I was mainly looking to improve on the hairline but in a discrete manner, I did not mean to get a thick band of transplants, but focusing on thickening the top while subtly enhancing it, because without a good forelock, as you noted, that hairline will not be durable. I have realistic expectations regarding what I can achieve. If the crown needs a transplant a few years down the line, then so be it.

I am prepared to see some shock loss in the following weeks, and possibly keep my hair trimmed for a whole year until both grafts and natural hair regrow; doing that would even help the transplant progressively blend in visually. Shock loss can vary from one person to another, but apart from not using Propecia (I will use Minoxidil though), other factors may act in my favour: the moderate size of the transplant, and using a skilled surgeon, who also uses magnification to implant the grafts without harming the existing hair.

He states he wants to have surgery done discreetly and hes main concern is the front, he knows hes thinning and probably accepts the fact he will need more surgery to address that later down the line, starting with a 1000 grafts to the hairline is not a bad idea if thats they way he wishes to pursue.

 

I cant see hes facial frame but aslong as he keeps the hairline high and tight 1000 is enough to make a good difference and a subtle change without anybody recognising

 

I do agree with you on the fact Dr Reddy is ridiculously pricey , he also uses the Choi Implanter which im not a fan of, but he is a great DR and I've seen excellent results from him.

 

He would not be on my List as i know thier are equally good surgeons out there at a lower price, I think reddy caters alot for Celebrity's in the UK hense hes prices

Hi Djlazerblue,

I Have looked up the Choi implanter, which is the one I saw Dr. Reddy use in the videos indeed, and read a list of advantages and inconvenients. I expect that he is aware of those as well and has learnt to work around them (e.g. differences of Caucasian hair types). As my FUE will be shaved, one of the risks should be minimised, and due to the size of 3-hair graft tools, I will see whether we can use more 2-hair or single hair grafts to achieve the 3000-hair total.

The tariff is that of the Private Clinic: 2.5 pounds per hair for shaved FUE. I agree this is high compared to charging per graft, but I wanted to have this done by a reliable surgeon in the UK.

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies, and sharing your experience and advice. Yes indeed I'm planning on a conservative hairline, all the more now as my pictures show more thinning than I thought. The back of the head is fine though (sorry I thought it showed in the second picture).

3000 hairs is the plan, so I expect if a number of single hairs are used at the front, the rest will add up!

ThickGreenLawn: do you think I can obtain a prescription for a months-long course of antibiotics from my GP? And no worries I didn't sell stuff in order to get surgery, I just wasn't really serious about getting it first, but it just happened that I had to vacate a place and, when life gives you lemons...

As for Propecia, the side effect I'm worried about is the risk of a serious one, that might happen in the long run... I'm all for enjoying my youth, but I'd like to live old too!

Hello,

After a few years pondering the advantages vs. risks of FUE, looking at patients' results and having had to sell some possessions of mine, I finally decided to go for a treatment with Dr. Reddy in London. The procedure will take place in 1 month.

Some background: I am now 40 and have slowly been losing my hair since 1998, and still am at a Norwood 3 after 19 years, but I'm also thinning at the top now. I am looking to mainly improve my hairline, but in a discrete manner. So with Dr. Reddy we agreed on 1000 grafts (3000 hairs in my case). My donor area is good as you can see.

I'm just a bit worried that folliculitis/scalp acne I am prone to may cause infection on op day. I will try to get an antibiotic treatment beforehand. I also use tea tree shampoo and oil, which are said to have antibacterial properties. There are phases of improvement and outbreak though.

The other thing: although it is recommended to take it, I'm not really reassured about the side effects of Propecia. The consequence of not taking it is possible shock loss. But I read on a general medical information site, from doctors themselves, that shock loss happens in 5% of cases and it is just the hair without the follicle. So I take it I shouldn't be too worried about it?

I found a 400-page thread on this on another forum. It doesn't look good.

Any feedback after 6 months, jlemon?

I have suffered from curiously slow hair loss since 1998 since I was 21, since then my hairline has been a bit backwards and the front is getting thinner now, but there's no gap behind and I still do have quite some hair. I was wondering if that would make me one of the happy few that would benefit from one of those non-aggressive treatments.