therambler

Thank you ! Yeah Dr. Pinto's work is really clean. I was able to see family and friends just a couple weeks after the surgery without telling them I had work done and it was fine, it just looked like i had buzzed my hair down really short!

1 month update: I've entered full-shed mode! 😀

Already liked the Dr. Pinto suggestion mentioned earlier 😀. Another one I'd love to hear from is Dr. Mwamba who does a lot of great work with repairs and scars.

Really appreciate all the good advice and opinions here thank you. It's true I did seem to have my hairloss under control with fin so adding dutasteride probably wasn't a great idea. Definitely agree that it could be more a mental issue being anxious about potential issues rather than actual side effects, it's really difficult to know to be honest. I'll go back to just fin for now anyway, maybe a M/W/F split rather than every day. I'll also look up getting some tests to make sure everything physiologically is as it should be. Thanks again for your advice 🙏

I recently had surgery with Dr. Pinto and would just echo what @shadowcast says above about the experience and his great communication. The hair nerds here would absolutely love him as he talks with passion about every aspect of the HT! Regarding pain, he uses local injections on the scalp to numb it. So the only pain is really when you're getting these done. He's careful to try make it as painless as possible though and encourages you to let him know if you feel discomfort at any stage.

Thanks, be interested to see how that works for you! I really believe now these side effects are underreported because of the embarrassing nature of them.

I haven't, not too sure of it's availability in Ireland to be honest. What did you do after it happened yourself?, lower the dosage or go off fin, or switch to topical?

Hey everyone, Embarrassing post coming up. So I'm 38 years old and I've been on Finasteride for a long time now, around 10 years initially with no issues, I considered myself one of the lucky ones. A couple years ago I suffered from ED I was able to move past this and have ah.. performed fine since. Whenever it came to sex I have been a bit anxious about it since that experience though, but still managed fine. I had my second HT very recently and after this I added Dutasteride - 0.5mg, 3 times a week into the mix along with 1.25 mg Finasteride on the days I wasn't taking Dutasteride and Oral minox. Well, I had another episode like above at the weekend I'm assuming the side effects were from the medication, I've no way of knowing this for sure.. It could just be anxiety from knowing the medication had changed and fear that this might happen. I'm wondering what to do next, Ideally I want to stay on the meds to give myself the best chance of a successful outcome. I'm considering reducing the dosage slightly maybe rather than going off them cold turkey.. Would appreciate peoples advice or if they had any similar experiences

2 week update: 14 days after the mid-scalp/crown or 15 days after the front work (as it was a 2 day procedure). Just started researching some options now for potentially getting SMP done on the FUT strip scar in the future.

Looking good!, I have the dreaded shed to look forward to now in a couple of weeks as well!

Cheers man! Been following you're progress closely as one of the small number of Pinto threads here. It's coming along very nicely and you're just at the fun stage of it now!

~9000 grafts total actually.. Maths isn't my strong point 😅

Sorry, the 5k Dr. Pinto was estimated was pre-surgery.. so roughly about 10k total grafts in the bank, not too shabby though! Yeah I was lucky that I've been able to stay on the meds a long while as well without any sides so I'm sure that helped. Looking at my hairloss before the first HT and my family history I was definitely going down the higher norwood path. It all depends on the person and their situation really whether to go FUT first, I'd definitely listen to Dr. Ks advice anyway, he knows better than most!

Actually just over 7000 grafts taken between the two surgeries! 😧 I was pleasantly surprised to find out when Dr. Pinto examined the donor under microscope he estimated there was about 5000 grafts left in the bank. That's the benefit of doing FUT first time I guess. So after the surgery now I should have roughly 1800 grafts left there, which is lucky as I'm not blessed with any beard hair to use really 😅 I plan on going back after a year for a consultation and see how everything looks at that stage. He did mention there may be more needed for the crown in future, but I've changed up the meds to start taking oral minoxidil and duta as well so there's a chance the crown could respond well to them as well. So I'll see hwhere i am in a year basically but it's nice to know I have some grafts to spare if needed.. and if hair greed kicks in 😂

Dr. Ferreira was on my shortlist as well actually, I've seen great results from him as well. He seems to share a lot of characteristics in how he works with Dr. Pinto. I believe the two of them are good friends. When I was reaching out to places Dr. Ferreira was closed off for online consultations, even the fast-track option was unavailable at the time.

I did consult with Dr. Konior first alright and he is brilliant at responding quickly. This time around he was simply out of my price range

I got them at 2.95 per graft, I think like everywhere else though his prices have gone up since. (Still great value for a top surgeon IMO)

Cheers! Same to yourself, we should be on similar growth timelines 😀

Thanks! I done online consultations with a list of top surgeons and every one of them recommended FUE this time ( Even in cases where the doctor performs both FUT and FUE transplants). So I was happy to go along with that, I figured they know best! I was also a massive fan of Dr. Pintos work and he only performs FUE surgeries.

1 Week update:

Day 4 (Pre-flight home):

Day 2 pics:

Hey everyone, I'm a week out from my surgery with Dr. Pinto so I said I'd better start a thread for the good community here as I've been lurking for years! I'm waiting to get back the photos taken at the clinic and I'll add them to this thread once I receive them. Background: I'm 38 years old. I had a FUT surgery with Dr. Konior in 2014 - 3800 grafts to frontal region, mid-scalp and temple points. The details and journey of that surgery are documented here - Overall I was delighted with how the surgery went and couldn't have asked for more. As is often the case though in the 8 years since I lost more of my native hair so I started looking at the option of a second surgery. Choosing a doctor: Like most people here I researched hundreds of patient results from the forum and started consultations with a shortlist based off of these. Although he doesn't have a huge pile of results here Dr. Pinto ticked all the boxes for me. In particular I loved his clean work, the donor management and his total involvement in all aspects of the surgery. I got in touch with his patient co-ordinator Emilio in March via whatsapp and hopefully mentioned I was available to book on short notice in case of any cancellations. Thankfully this came to pass and after Dr. Pinto reviewed my pictures I was fortunate to get an appointment date in May. The total estimate was for 3200 grafts based on the pictures I sent. The surgery: I honestly couldn't speak highly enough of Dr. Pinto and all the staff at the clinic. From start to finish he puts you completely at ease and is in constant communication throughout. I had a list of questions ready in my head and never got a chance to ask as he'd already answered everything! After examining my donor he said I'd approximately 5000 grafts left in the bank which I was delighted to hear. The design part was easy as I didn't need to lower the hairline at all. The plan was to fill in behind and add density to front and mid-scalp. On the second day he would fill in the crown with approx. 1000 grafts. After the shave down though we discovered a scar from childhood in the donor area which I'd forgotten about to be honest! As has been said previously his extremely meticulous, and pays attention to every small detail. He mentioned his OCD a few times like previous patients have said Like all top doctors he takes pride in his work and he really loved the swirl he put into my crown! When they say Dr. Pinto is involved in all aspects of the surgery it really means all aspects. Consultation, Design, Taking all the photos, Extraction, Implanting and even helped out with the head-wash before I left 😀 He's one of a kind! Medication: I've been on finasteride - one quarter pill daily for about 11 years and also Minoxidil (Rogaine) topical foam applied twice daily. I also use Nizoral shampoo every 3 days. Dr. Pinto gave me a prescription for Dutasteride - 3 a week, Oral minoxidil and keep taking the Finasteride on the days I'm not taking Dutasteride. Graft count: Dr. Pinto said my hair was very fine, which I guessed anyway but still got a nice amount of 3s, some 4s and even three 5 grafts. I - 566 II - 1085 III - 1508 IV - 90 V - 3 Total implanted hairs - 7635 Average - 2.35 hair/graft FUT scar: Initially when I started consultations I was hoping I might be able to get some grafts into the FUT strip scar. It's fine, but I am restricted to a grade 4 back and sides in the barbers, and at that length you can still see the scar outline if you look closely (My fine hair doesn't help I guess). However chatting to Dr. Pinto on this, and I fully agree - It would take a lot of grafts to cover the long scar, and coupled with the unpredictability of graft survival in scar tissue it's better keep these in case I need to use them elsewhere in future. He mentioned SMP as an alternative option for camouflaging the scar. So now I'm starting to research opinions and experience with this. Has anyone got examples of SMP into a strip scar here? Do you have to get your hair cut a certain length for it to blend in naturally? Pre-consultation pictures: Day 1 pictures after surgery:

Hey @limeyaz, I was extremely lucky to get a cancellation date so only actually had to wait a couple of months. I know there's usually a long waiting list now though, even for a consultation. Get in contact with the patient coordinator - Emilio via whatsapp is the best way to go. If you're in a position where you're available at short notice in case someone cancels advise him of this and you might get lucky as well!

Booked in with Dr. Pinto next week so been on the lookout for any posts from his patients! Congrats on the surgery and making a great choice! Work looks super clean. You're starting from a great base in comparison to me though 😀