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northernslaphead

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  1. northernslaphead
    OK im trying to help people like me as much as possible with a detailed account of my personal FUE experience, the good, the bad and the ugly so get your cuppa at the ready. If you want to read my hairloss story then its in my previous post.


    Night before/day before......it was a busy day on-site photographing today (im an interior designer and photographer) so it kept my mind off of things. On the night i felt quite a bit more nervous worrying if i was doing the right thing: what if it went tits up and i ended up looking like shrek and did i really need a transplant afterall and it took me a while to go to sleep so i downloaded a youtube sound of meditation, guaranteed to send you off in 9 minutes....which it did!

    Day 1 operation....On the morning i woke to the realisation that today was the day, i styled my hair as usual and thought right thats the last time ill be doing that for a while.....until next time long term friend! My hair had been what classified me as me. I loved it, styled it everyday and it was going to be really hard to let it all go in a 5 minute shave...to say i was vain about it didnt even touch the (bald) surface!!!:-) i got dropped off at the Farjo clinic on Quay street in Manchester but went to Maccy D's for a brekky before hand as instructed on their pre-op care sheet (you need to eat within 2hrs before) and arrived at 7.40am. Mick was there and welcomed me into the nicely decorated consult room. Took payment and i waited for Dr. Jose Lorenzo.

    When Dr. Lorenzo arrived he greeted me and remembered me from the initial consult, he took some before photos and then got his assistant (forgot her name but a lovely woman) to take me through the sign your life away form....sorry consent form! She told me she would administer a muscle relaxant in oral form for the long time in the chair to ease my muscles/back and some tablets for swelling reduction. She then took me upstairs and i met his team of assistants. All lovely people and made me feel at ease instantly. I was given my own room for the day kitted out with some soft tub chairs, magazines etc and given a menu to order lunch....10 or so different varieties on offer so no complaints on the half time refreshments! I was then greeted by Harry one of Lorenzos assistants and he gave me my gown to get dressed into. Luckily i could keep my jeans on so no worry of my balls and ass hanging loose during my many hours in surgery! Harry then took me into the surgery room and Lorenzo came in to check out my hair. He asked Harry to wash it then Lorenzo himself shaved my head. I realised over the 2 days that he likes to do things himself which is very personal and made me feel like i was in very capable and caring hands, he also noticed a benign cyst i had on the back of my head from an early age. It had always bothered me and sometimes bled if i caught it with my nails etc and without hesitation or me prompting him he said he could remove it for me if i would like...i knew straight away that this man was more than just an hair wizzard but a man that ultimately cares about how people feel and look!

    The head shave......without a doubt this was the point in my life i had always dreaded and i mean dreaded.....the hair shave!!! Vanity doesnt even come close to describing how i felt about having hair on my head, styling it and the thought of losing it all that day. My friends now at my age are mostly bald or shaven and its never been a look i liked or wanted or even remotely thought i would suit. i have what i would describe as a peanut head! The thug look wasnt what i wanted or desired and now my hair that ive taken so much pride, care and attention to styling over many many years was dissappearing before my eyes onto the surgery floor!!! Once complete Harry asked me if i wanted to look at my new Duncan Gudhew...i said no thanks! I even left my contact lenses out for the day on purpose so i didnt catch myself in a mirror, a first for me ive got to say as even my best man said at my wedding that im the only man that checks himself more in the mirror than him on a daily basis! It turns out that when i did see myself in the mirror later that day i wasnt too shocked and hand on heart i dont know what the worry was about all these years....i didnt look 3 bad without hair...and you know what? You wont either!!!!

    Anyway back to the start of the OP, Lorenzo had been to a conference recently and had witnessed a patient having their extractions done sat up so he wanted me to be his guinea pig. The part i had been dreading came fast...the word anethesia, many times indeed. I was injected in many parts of the back of my head until numb with the help of a vibrating plate too to ease any discomfort then the extractions started. I didnt feel a thing and even asked if they had started extracting, that was 20mins in! The were times when he hit a spot where the anesthesia hadnt fully hit and i felt a sharp pain, all i needed to do was raise a hand say 'pain' or fuck me!:-) and he hit me with a couple of injections again followed by bliss pain free extractions again! We moved to laying down extractions after 30 mins (he was building up his and his assistants time on this i assumed until they can do longer and longer in this position). I think the sat up way makes it easier on the patients comfort but harder on the surgeon and assistants hands keeping the head still....patient first as always as i came to realise! Near the end of the extractions he asked again if i wanted the cyst removed i said yes and some 5 mins later and 6 stitches he showed me my long time enemy.....in a petri-dish. Roots and all about the size of a 20p peice!!! 3 or so hours in and i was done, 1700 follicals extracted and time for a quick 20 minute lunch then back to the chair for the sketching of the new hair line and then the transplant!!!

    During lunch i took some selfies (ive finally joined the 21st centuary at this point using a new word from the new Oxford dictionary!!!) and even mailed them to close people to me to say look at my bald head....yes i wasnt ashamed of the peanut anymore so far i was embracing it!!! They text back saying doesnt look bad at all and good luck for the rest of the day. Before i knew it i had eaten my sandwhich, had a cuppa of Yorkshires finest tea and back in the surgery room. It turned out that Lorenzo doesnt break for lunch or drink, hes a machine thats totally dedicated to his work scanning my donor hairs whilst im lunching and working his assistants hard to make sure they're ready for that next important step!

    He sat me up and started sketching on the hair line, rubbing out like an artist where needed and lining it all up with a laser line so it was nice and even. He then showed me where the hairline he thought should be. I agreed on the conservative approach as from the initial consultation as id always had a decent sized forehead even whilst young so a low hairline was never me and i didnt want to change my look too much....i just wanted more of what i had! He also said that he had scanned my follicles and that i had nearly 2.8 per graft meaning i would get excellent density once implanted and that he was going to go further back than discussed with the donors (into areas that still had hair) to combat further hair loss and thicken out the middle top of my head! Good news indeed as i didnt even think i needed any there but Lorenzo was planning for my future too!

    So now im sat there all excited about my new drawn on hairline but nervous of the next part and even more anesthesia. Lorenzo is quickly learning English and his pronunciation of anesthetize is so funny and me and his assistants had a laugh with him whenever he said it correcting his version of it...i even called it his Chinese version. Yes even during your moments of dread and anxiety you can still have a laugh!!! Anyway he explained that he needed to inject my front forehead and hit the nerve above the nose where it numbs the forehead and told me to deep breathe for these babies as they would hurt. I breathed in and shit they did hurt but a minute later the implanting started and i didnt feel a thing apart from the pressing in, no pain. There were times again when he hit an area outside of the anesthetic catchment aea and i raised an hand and said pain...or even fuck a few times. He then hit me with some magic juice once again and i was fine and dandy. Today i would receive 1700 donors to the top and right receding side leaving the left receding side (1000) donors until tomorrow. He had 2 assistants at the side of him constantly loading the grafts into the needles and he worked like a robot! He would take a needle from their little work table without breaking his stride, inject it in, put it back empty then grab another fully loaded one! He had a little completely manual production line going on right before my eyes. His assistants working tirelessly for hours loading up the implanters, calling out singles, 2', 3's, 4's, de-cap etc so he knew what he was placing next! It turned out that singles were used along the hairline to slightly break up a perfect hairline so it looked as natural as possible as well as in the areas where i already had hair to add extra density on future thinning areas along with 2's. Towards the end of 4 hours ive got to admit i was calling out the word pain a few more times, i think this was because it was getting sore and the anesthesia was dying down but it was always followed by another hit of the magic juice to numb the pain....the words 'last one' from Lorenzos assistant was music to my ears...the day was over!!!! Anyone who thinks it doesnt hurt must be LOCO (you see his Spanish is rubbing off!) because im no shrinking violet when it comes to pain but yes there are times when it hurts.....but no pain no gain hey!!!! The worst pain is in the form of the anesthesia injections for sure, the rest is negligible!

    Lorenzo showed me in the mirror my new hair grafts and i was well pleased and couldnt wait until tomorrow for the final part. ***You can see here the first days implants and how far i had receded on the unplanted left side***. He said that ive got great density and Mick from Farjo will confirm the exact amount per sq centimeter im sure but it all sounded like a great result all around.

    I left the clinic with my bald head uncovered....yes i said uncovered as my initial dread was to be seen with a bald head but i walked out as proud as a peacock slighltly liberated at what had been achieved. My girlfriend was waiting in the car and she even said i suited the look and i realised that all that pre-op worry was for nothing!!! That night i'll admit i didnt sleep well at all. They had given me some saline spray (to keep the recipient area moist every 1.5 hrs) and paracetemol for any pain but the stitches from the cyst i had removed were uncomfortable and thus interrupted my sleep. They did give me an over pillow case too which would blot up and blood clotted from the donor site on the back of my head and in the morning it had served its purpose of just that with slight stains of blood on it.

    Thats all for now folks but i hope youve enjoyed day 1, day 2 to follow next....

  3. northernslaphead
    Ok so here goes. I started receding at the frontal area at around 31 years old. Today writing this Ive now just turned 39.


    My hair had always been my pride and joy, my lions mane! When i was younger i had the footballers curtains, the perm (yes the short perm!), the long hair then the spiky hair...pretty much everything bar the thug head (crew cut/buzz cut) and now my hair line was beggining to corrode back slowly like the white cliffs of dover!

    I still loved the way my hair was styled, i took much care and attention and way too much time in the mirror making sure it looked spot on from all angles but now there was just less of it. This was around 7 years ago. A few years later there was even less on the head and more in the sink and shower base and it started to bother me. I did much research into propecia, laser therapy, laser helmets, oils, lotions and potions but none of them bar propecia had any real results. I looked more into propecia but didnt like the side effects and the main side of possibly losing my ability to get the 'good wood'!!! Id rather be bald than lose my little soldier and also i do want to start a family at some point and i read it wasnt good to be taking propecia at that time either due to the possibility of defomations in the fetus if the tablets were handled by the female. Decision made i needed to find an alternative method. I came across Saw Palmetto and liked the fact it blocked DHT slightly but not as aggressively as propecia and that it also helped with prostate health. Im now 36 at this point and its not a bad thing to start looking after your prostate. Anyway i took the plunge and got some doctors best saw palmetto 320mg from amazon. Once a day only, thats it. A couple of months later my hairdresser whom none the wiser said my hair looked and felt thicker and fuller so i was sold on it, i would carry on taking it!

    A few years later now at 38 i was getting more comments from mates with general lad banter: slaphead, moonhead, forehead, let it go mate and accept its going......nice mates you see, we all have them! Hehe. We went golfing on our annual trip to portugal this year and they found a lock of hair on the floor in the airport and presented it to me as the solution to my problem!!! It was funny though and i too it on the chin...well i rested it on my forehead for fun!!! Now they had all let go of their hair years previously due to shocking attempts at hairstyles in the first place but amongst a night out with the boys in a group of 8-12 of us only 3/4 of us actually had semi-decent hair on our heads, the rest looked like a right said fred tribute act! The thug look was never going to cut it with me and besides they were tradesmen who could get away with that look on-site but my job was professional, i met clients regularly being an interior designer and the shaved head look wouldnt go down too well in my industry! I needed to make a more aggessive move towards stopping the rot!

    2013: after much research on hair forums i decided that only an hair transplant was my savior. I looked at strip surgery then came across FUE, where they take individual follicals from the back/side of your head and plant them in the front....like a tree surgeon! I knew my hair was thick and grew fast in them areas so suspected that i would be a good candidate for FUE. I whittled my list own to Dr Basinga, Ferudini, Dr Koray Erdogan and Dr Lorenzo. I went on the forums for prices ( obviously i wasnt earning a footballers salary so cost was a big issue), for advice from patients of these and for the pitfalls etc. one thing stuck with me, there wasnt a decent surgeon in the UK offering FUE. There were plenty of the large medical groups offering it but when i looked deeper into them from clients i learnt that many had bought cheap and you know what that generally means....buy cheap, buy twice! The amount of people who needed repair work due to choosing the wrong surgeon/practice didnt make good reading! It looked like i was going to have to go abroad for my new mullet.

    Dr Jose Lorenzo stood out for me as his results said it all and had all positive patient feedback as well 200 videos on youtube at his injerto capilar clinic in Madrid. The problem being he didnt need to take patients from outside of Spain, the man did all of his work manually and was in big demand so there was no chance id be getting an op from him even if i did speak 'broken' spanish. I did email him though and out of a stroke of luck i got a reply from a guy called Mick from the Farjo clinic in Manchester....i thought i was being spammed!!!! It turned out that Mick knew more than we all did on the forums and the fact that Dr Lorenzo was considering a stint in sunny Manchester (a piss take obviously as we all know it just rains up north all the time!). Anyway Mick stayed in contact for months letting me in on snippets of Dr Lorenzos pending introduction to the UK. It was an exciting time for me, i could possibly have my surgery done close to home afterall but the bitter sweet part would be cost for sure. He was bound to be charging more working at the Farjo clinic as the prices were in pounds not euros but i would have a consult anyway to decide for myself. Like i said...buy cheap, buy twice!

    I had a consult with Lorenzo in April of 2013, in fact i was one of his first consults at the manchester clinic. Being an interior designer i was very impressed with the Farjo clinics newly fitted out location on Quay Street. Very slick, glass walls, smoked glass meeting rooms and a very welcoming atmosphere. Mick greeted me and we shared some stories and jokes, you instantly feel at ease with Mick like youve known him forever! I was now waiting to see Dr Lorenzo and getting nervous. Would i be a suitable candidate, what was he like...how much would all of this cost me!!! Anyway i was taken in to see him and his persona instantly made me like him. I used a bit of spanish when greeting him and he said with a smile 'so how would you like to do this? In Spanish or English'...i opted for the latter!:-)

    I was told during the consult that i had great donor hair, very thick and 85% coverage meaning i would get great results if i chose to go with FUE. Never once did they pressure me into signing on the dotted line. I was also told i have around 12000 potential donor follicals meaning any future hair loss wasnt a problem. He drew on an hairline and calculated around 2700 grafts would do the trick, make me happy again of my hairline, stop the forehead jokes forever...well with my pals probably not!:-). It would be a semi-conservative approach and be age specific i.e not make me look like a 38 year old with an 18 year olds hairline! He also said that the Saw Palmetto must be doing the trick of holding back future hair loss and to continue on this and not needing to use propecia. I felt good that my tireless research into none avasive meds had paid off! I left knowing i had met a man who knew his shizzle...an expert in his field whom i felt totally confident in to do my surgery!

    Over the next 6-10 months i started saving, i had got my costs in from mick and yes it is correct that its £6 for the first 1000 then £4 for the rest (mick correct me if im wrong) so you do the maths on 2700 follicals. Over this time period i still had Dr. Koray Erdogan on my mind from istanbul. I had researched him thoroughly and heard he was friends with Dr. Lorenzo and they shared tips, techniques as they are both manual FUE surgeons using the finest needles possible. I loved istanbul anyway after visiting a few years prior on holiday and knew that he had a brand spanking new clinic out there so contacted Denny on this site for a consultation. He's the UK agent for DR. Koray Erdogan. I sent him pics and my findings from Dr. Lorenzos consult too and he pretty much said the same but the costs were cheaper, some 4k cheaper! Now this threw a spanner in the works as 4k is 4k when you dont have it so i deliberated for a couple of months more. It wasnt until early Jan 2014 that things took shape, literally! i contacted Mick again at Farjo and asked him if he could move on his prices. I knew Dr. Lorenzo was keeping busy there with international clients and celebrities/sportsmen from Greece, the USA, Australia and Dubai etc but thought id see if a discount could be applied to get closer to Dr. Erdogan costings. Mick called me with a proposition....

    He couldnt apply a discount as such an he never said dont go with Dr. Erdogan, in fact he said hes a very good surgeon and hes heard great feedback about him, nothing negative. That i liked, Mick was a man of honesty not trying to slag someone else off for his own clinics benefti and ultimately his own pockett. What he did tell me was that they had a cancellation from an overseas client who was due for surgery the next tuesday, 5 days later! I could have his slot and in return for it beeing such short notice i would be looked after on the costings. I wont go into this anymore so please dont ask but it was a bit of you scratch my back and ill scratch yours. We're both helping each other out here. The panic of it all became immense, shit here i was with my opportunity of a lifetime staring down at me only 5 days away and im still delibrating! The money is in the bank due to my recent house sale and savings and im still pondering, what is my problem? Will i ever go through with this. Anyway time was of importance so i had the day to think hard. I weighed up the cost, the effect on my time out of work and expense of travelling to turkey, the worry of going through passport control with a bruised and bloody bald head and more importantly i have this man, Dr Lorenzo on my doorstep and if anything went wrong, i needed aftercare, questions answered it was all only a stones throw away! My girfriend sealed the deal when she said its a no-brainer, a few grand is nothing if youre in post-op pain and need to see your surgeon who is now hundreds of miles away...go for peace of mind and with the guy whom you always wanted to do it from the start. He was now in manchester and this was fate which i do believe in lots! I picked up the phone with Mick and the deposit was paid there and then.....now there was no going back!!!
  4. northernslaphead
    Day 2 operation.....The next morning it was back in at 7.45am, breakfast at Maccy D's again and head washed by the assistant. They were all very welcoming and chatty and we shared some jokes before Dr. Lorenzo arrived and quickly got started on the extractions of 1000 follicals. Today was to be a shorter day thank god!:-) they started with the seated position extractions first again then moved back to the traditional lying face down. It seemed that lorenzo had set his staff a target to go longer this time in the seated extraction method and he seemed pleased that they had beaten yesterdays time. He always seems to be challenging his staff to do better showing how much passion he has in his work and people whom work with him and also adding in some humour and banter along the way! Dont gt me wrong when hes in the zone, hes in the zone and very professional but from time to time you get slivers of his humour and that shows hes human too which makes you feel very relaxed in his company.



    Anyway by half past eleven the 1000 grafts were out and i was having early lunch taking some selfies again and texting away whilst munching on my order of the day and tea and biccies!:-) this short break was interuppted by Lorenzo who was itching to crack on so back in and onto the left receding donor site. I wasnt much looking forward to the anethesia to the front forehead again as it was tender from yesterday but i manned up, got myself a pair of balls and took the short lived pain. Numbness set in again and off he went with the implanting. 3 hours later at 3pm we were all done and i was sat in my little room with a cuppa and biccie smiling away at my newly formed hairline.



    Once id got changed i was then taken downstairs and into the consult room where Dr. Lorenzo personally went through the post-surgery care notes...like i said he likes to do most things himself. He informed me that i had in fact had 2701 follicals grafted but nearly 7800 hairs because of the amount of hairs per follical meaning hopefully if they all survive that i should have great density and coverage.

    I had a few questions about post-op care like things i had read online such as taking arnica montana 30c or using distilled witch hazel for any remaining redness in the receipient area but he told me to follow his post-op care notes to the letter, nothing more, nothing less as this is his experience talking here. They gave me a special shampoo to use over the next 14 days or so, more saline spray to use every 1 and a half hours and some prendisolone tabs fo the next 2 days to reduce swelling and inflammation as well as a thorough document of what to do each day post op. i.e if the swelling above the forehead/eyes persists because of the anesthesia to massage that area and to drink plenty of fluids so the kidneys can break it down. They asked me to come back the next morning for an hair wash and to check on my recovery.
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