Astro

OK.....I got my transplant done now am back in the UK. About experience.....Dr. Humayun's consultant is friendly and reasonably good. He tried his best to answer any question and concern I had in our face to face consultation(which was scheduled one day ahead of the surgery....... since I was traveling from UK, I relied upon the online/email consultation to book the surgery before flying to Pakistan). I was asked to get few tests done with my blood. There is a lab opposite to Dr. Humayun's Islamabad clinic that seems reasonably equipped and good and works 24/7. They charged around Rs 4,600/- for those tests.

 

Let me list down the surgery experience in different points:

 

- A team of 3 technicians works in the theater. They seemed to know what they were doing. All of them were very friendly.

 

- Dr. Humayun doesn't talk much. Even though he is a friendly person and tries to answer if you ask anything but I was probably expecting him to be more interactive. Not sure it's because he runs 3 surgeries at the same time and has to rush through things but Dr's interaction is something i thought could be a litle more than what it was.

 

- Surgery itself is virtually painless, only little thing i felt was during the anesthesia but that is also very bearable. I was perfectly OK when the portion was taken out from my donor area and after my head was stitched from the back. I got up and took photos of technicians working on the grafts taken from the donor area.

 

- Once Technicians sort out the grafts, the actual transplantation work starts. In my case that took about 3-4 hours. In the end i was told that a total of 2,489 grafts were used in my case (I don't think there is a way to verify that so you have no choice but to trust the number that they tell you).

 

- After the surgery you get a briefing about post surgery do and dont's and medication etc. You get a prescription of around 6 different kind medication that you need to buy from any pharmacy. Medication isn't expensive.

 

- First 48 hours after surgery are critical. Extra care is required. You get all the instructions listed down on a paper after post surgery briefing. List includes instructions for first 48 hours as well as first 10 days.

 

- I didn't feel much pain even after surgery. Only a little for 24-36 hours buy very much bearable, and discomfort.

 

- I got my stitches removed on 10th day. In a short briefing Mr. Shahid Jamil (consultant) mentioned that numbness of donor area takes time (in some cases months) to go away completely.

 

- My Surgery is almost 3 weeks old now and the transplanted hair have started to fall (which was expected). I was told that it will take 7-8 months before I get first hair cut for my transplanted hair. Long way to go still but I hope it all turns out to be what I expected from the this transplant. Should update this thread again then.

Thank you for taking the time and talking to me in person regarding your experience. I am feeling a lot more confident and less anxious after talking to you.

I have my HT scheduled for November 04. I will update this forum with my experience after that.