Dog

Hey Stewie - how are things progressing?

Hey Manuel - Hope it's going well, any updates?? You're a month ahead of me so I'm dying to see how you're tracking.

Hi Stewie, sorry I meant recipient area. I know it will happen, but I'm hoping it won't. Ah well, not the end of the world. It's funny because it's growing like crazy and feels really tough and strong. Not for long though I fear.

Hi Stewie, I'm at 16 days post procedure now and am dreading this also... the hair in my donor area is growing like crazy and is really thick and almost feels like carpet... I'm hoping that I'm one of the 5% who don't suffer this shock loss, but not holding my breath... how did your donor hair look and feel before it fell out??

Hi Manuel, I'm from Melbourne. I was only in Chandigarh for 2 nights - the night before and the night after - then flew home. I'm off work for a few weeks so all good. Hoping it will be almost undetectable by the time I go back.

Great post, Manuel... Looks awesome! I'm from Oz and also travelled to India to visit Dr Bhatti 15 days ago. Things are coming along well for me too. My recipient area is growing really quickly and I'm hoping it doesn't shed (but I know it probably will). Donor area was good as gold after about 5-7 days. Keep us posted as you're exactly a month ahead of me.

I'm two weeks post FUE and am spraying alcohol free witch hazel on to my recipient area and it seems to have taken the edge off the redness a fair bit. I've used with hazel on my skin/face for years and I find it really helpful, so figured there'd be no harm in applying it to the scalp once I got to 12-days post procedure, once grafts have taken. Will follow this post as I am equally interested.

Ask 'California' above, he's his US rep... Dr Bhatti's clinic is called darling buds - google it and send him an email. He will reply quickly. Good luck.

Here I am at Day 10 - minus virtually all crusting! Coming along great I think ... and as an added bonus I have worked out how to drop photos into my posts - not just links to an album.

Hi madmaxwell, Dr Bhatti gives you the choice, so I opted to just have the back and sides shaved. In hindsight though, I probably would have opted to shave the whole head for consistency, but the advantage I have from not getting full shave is that when the transplanted hair falls out I will basically look exactly the same as I did before the procedure - which was my aim. I've never had a fully clippered head, so I wasn't all that keen for the whole head to be shaved. It certainly should not cost extra!!

Hopefully this works.... Day 9 post procedure.

Thanks California, will do.

Here I am at Day 9 (can't work out how to embed them into my posts - sorry!) http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/Dog/albums/3327/20691

You're right Sethticles, Dr Bhatti's team move like clockwork. He is a very cool customer and has time for every question and keeps you up to speed the whole way through. The idea of travelling to a far away place like India would scare plenty of people off, but it is well worth the trip, not only for the price, but the whole experience. All I had to do was worry about what I ate for dinner from the hotel restaurant, the rest was taken care of. You need a big pair of you-know-what's to take the plunge, but it is all worth it when you leave a couple of days later.

Thanks Questionmark, nice to hear an independent view. My wife tells me it looks great also, but she's got no choice! ha. I'm prepared to be patient. Short-term pain for long-term gain and all that.. glad I have 5.5 week between procedure and going back to work though... wouldn't be too enjoyable going back now.

Before and after images http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/Dog/albums/3327/20686 http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/Dog/albums/3327/20687 http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/Dog/albums/3327/20688 http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/Dog/albums/3327/20689 http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/Dog/albums/3327/20690

Hi Johnboy71, I went with Dr Tejinder Bhatti in India. I have heaps of photos so far, but need to work out how to get them off phone and on to laptop/this site. The Dr originally saod between 2500-3000, but once he saw me face to face, he decided i needed a little less than that. Very happy thus far. It will look great in a few months.

Hi Hairweare, thanks for the reply! I had the procedure done in India (Dr Tejinder Bhatti) and it equated to $3300 USD. Well worth the travel out there (I'm from Australia) to a state of the art clinic for a very affordable price. I see there are some surgeons in Europe who do it a bit cheaper, but this worked for me. Australian prices are extortionate and our surgeons don't seem to have good reputations. I have tonnes of photo, they are all on my phone, but I'm not a tech-savvy person so need to work out how to get them from there on to here!

Hi all, ***pics now inserted via links below*** I've been following the topics on these forums for a fair while now, but have only just registered since having an FUE transplant in early July 2014. This is my first post, so I hope it is useful to anyone considering the same procedure. I will try and make this as simple and user-friendly as possible, as I found there to be so much contradictory information out there when I was researching the FUE procedure I underwent a week or so ago. I had 2466 grafts taken from donor and transplanted into my hairline and a small amount into a minor bald patch in the crown. In this post I will outline each 'step' I encountered and try to make it as consumable as possible for someone seeking the have an FUE transplant. 1.) I selected the Dr based on a lot of research I had done and he was by far and away the most affordable option for a very well reputed surgeon in this field. I paid about $3300 USD. 2.) Two days prior to the procedure I began to get pretty nervous and all the usual 'what am I doing?' questions started creeping into my head. 3.) I was collected from the airport and taken straight to the clinic where the Dr looked at my head before doing some measurements and drawing on a new hairline which I liked from the minute I saw it. We agreed this was the way to go and I went to my hotel to nervously sleep the night away ahead of a long day surgery the next morning. 4.) I was picked up the next morning after a light breakfast and it was straight to the clinic. I had my hair clippered and washed, then had some blood taken and an iv line inserted into my hand for anti-biotics and saline for hydration. 5.) The clinic staff were very competent and directed me to the harvesting room where the extraction process began. It was virtually painless (after the area was anaesthetised) and I lay flat on my stomach for the next couple of hours while the Dr used his 1mm punch to extract all the grafts for transplantation later on. Once complete some antiseptic cream and a dressing were applied. 6.) After a quick coffee and some biscuits, it was time to implant the grafts into their new home. Once again the area was numbed (this time the front) and it was the Dr who made the slits for the grafts to be planted in. This process is a bit of a weird sensation as you can feel some scratching as he makes 1000's of individual slits into your temples/forehead and crown. Once again virtually no feeling, let alone pain. 7.) Once the design had been made into the recipient areas (via slits), it was time to tally up the grafts taken and pay for the procedure. 8.) Next I headed to the implantation room and had a nurse and an assistant work on me for the next 4 hours, carefully implanting the individual hairs into their new homes, one by one. This is quite boring, but the anticipation of witnessing the final result gets you through. 9.) Once complete, I was taken to a mirror to look at the work and was very satisfied with how it looked. 10.) I hung around at the clinic for an hour or so to make sure I was feeling ok and then I was taken back to the hotel with a handful of pills to take that night and some saline spray that needed to be regularly applied for the next few hours to keep the recipient area moist. I slept fine and had no pain at all. 11.) The next day I was collected and taken back to the clinic where I was shown how to shampoo, wash and generally care for the recipient and donor areas to help the grafts take and to prevent infection. Post-procedure regime: This requires quite a bit of time and effort, but I've been doing everything by the book and am happy with how it is all coming along. I have taken 6-weeks holiday from work and I'm very glad I did. Having read that some people go back to work a few days later I am very happy I opted to take some significant time off as I would not have felt comfortable going to work so soon after the procedure. I guess if you can wear a hat it would be ok, but even then, there is some mild discomfort etc and a hat would get a bit annoying. My wife has been assisting me with all the rinsing/washing/drying/disinfecting etc. which has made it a lot easier. I'd imagine it would be a bit tricky on your own, but easily doable. I'm now at 7 days post and have got the whole crusting thing going on. I expect these to come off over the next 5 days and then I guess we watch the transplanted hair fall out before the waiting game really begins. All in all I'm very glad I had the procedure, and while it's a pretty full on experience, I'm excited by what the future will bring. I will post some photos tomorrow.