BaldingInReverse

Here we are. Crossed the 5 month threshold. The days have dripped into weeks which have matured into months. Countless hours staring into a mirror, countless nights hiding under a hat. All the uncertainty and doubt that has plagued my conscience for so long. All of the despair begets the sole question; am I satisfied with my procedure thus far?.......ummmmmm hell yeah! These 8 pics show 4 angles at 2 different hair lengths. The 4 untrimmed pics show my hair growing on its own, untouched for about 2 weeks. The other 4 show me right after buzzing down to a #3. The difference is minimal but I thought it would be fun to illustrate how the hair doesn't really grow in cohesion yet. I'm still in the growing process. Not much else to say guys, feel free to share your thoughts and enjoy the waning days left in the summer!!! @sydthekid yup, still stickin' strong to Dr. Bhatti's recipe of the daily pills.

Guys, thank you for your kind words - it really does help. Everybody who has gone through this procedure has had moments of doubt, they're lying if they tell you otherwise. I'm no exception. There have been times I questioned this whole crazy thing. One month passes... then two... then three. You look in the mirror inspecting your scalp for micro-hairs popping through. Is it getting better? Is the procedure a failure? You live life day-by-day but you'll go insane if you treat your hair transplant as a day-by-day operation. It's more like a month-by-month type of thing. Once it's done and you're 2 weeks post-op you're better off just forgetting the whole thing until at least Month 6. @densedream Yeah, life can be a nasty SOB but I really do have high aspirations for this procedure. I could care less what the internet MDs have to say about my age. I visited several surgeons recommended on this site and they all told me the same thing; I'm a great candidate for a hair transplant. That being said, I do have to address the crown within the next couple of years. I'm thinking one more procedure of about 1500-2000 grafts.

Though I respect the opinions of everyone above me, I firmly believe that it's a little more complicated than a simple "no." It's just not that black-and-white. A young candidate is not necessarily a bad candidate. There are a lot of factors to take into account. First off, and most importantly, you didn't post up any pictures. This community would get a better feel for where your nephew really stands if you posted some pics. How bad is the hair loss? When did it start? How's the donor area looking? Is it stabilized? Is he on meds? How's the family tree's hairline looking? What are his goals for the potential procedure? Yes, I will concede that 95% of the time, a young man should forgo a potential life altering procedure for a few years and wait to see what the mirror shows in 3 or 5 or even 10 years. Most young people want the procedure done to lower their hairline anyway. Which, as all of you know, is on top of the why-not-to-get-a-hair-transplant list. Very few people my age were as seriously progressed as I was. My action was immediate. I was on rogaine at 17 and fin at 18 but despite my best efforts and fruitless pleas to my hair to stay, it vanished by the time I was 20. I had consultations with several doctors, all recommended on this forum, who all told me that my case, though rare, was not isolated. They had worked on patients as young as I. I strongly recommend that your nephew take a look at my thread. I just posted my 4 month pics about 15 minutes ago and progress is going great.

Hope everyone is enjoying there summer. I know I certainly am. Anyway, thought I'd give an update so here it is, my belated 4 month post-op photos. I didn't want to give a skewed view of my progress, so I took these pictures myself under the harshest indoor lighting possible. You can clearly see the continued steady growth and it keeps getting better and better. What do you guys think?

Thanks for all of your support guys. @Voxman - no it's not a convertible I went with an Infiniti Q45, gotta keep it classy haha. @Johnboy71 - yeah, tell me about it. It friggin' SUCKED!!! @ California & @ Tav1 - thanks for your support! Thought I'd upload this collage of sorts to help give you guys a true, blue accurate idea of where I stand at this point. Pictures 1,2: Pre-op (yeah, I know - I was THAT BALD at 20) / Picture 3: Immediate Post-op / Picture 4: One month exactly / Picture 5: Two months exactly / Picture 6: 3 months plus 3 days. I myself am blown away by this time line and really think it illustrates how far I've come. When my friends see me hat-less they all comment on how much I've thinned out. That's because they haven't seen me without headgear since I was 18. No exaggeration. The fact that it's thin doesn't matter to me at this point. The fact that it's even there coupled with the knowledge that it will grow does matter.

First off I want to sincerely apologize to anyone who messaged me or asked me any questions via a thread. I've probably logged in 2 or 3 times since my 2 month update. My general interest in this site has waned since the procedure - but that's a good thing. I see a lot has happened on here in a month - Goodbye BUSA, FUT VS FUE thread with Dr. Feller, etc. I took these pictures myself, the quality of the photos should be better than my other updates, I finally have a respectable phone with a great camera. It's been a championship month for me. Besides the steady growth of my transplant I turned 21 and bought myslef a luxury car for my birthday New hairs continue to sprout up all the time and as you can see in the pictures the hair has taken a definitive shape and now will begin to thicken. The pictures really do all the talking so I'll leave it at that!

When I was doing my countless hours of research browsing through this forum, thumbing through hundreds of different cases, the one thing that annoyed me more than anything was the impatient patient. The guy that claimed his procedure was a failure 2 months in, only to have incredible results by Month 6. It's funny how I have become that guy. To an extent. I mean the results speak for themselves. My hairline is already defined and hairs keep poking through daily. I feel the pins in my head (the hairs growing in) and the donor area is not even noticeable at first glance. I'm confident enough to walk out of my house without a hat for the first time since I was 17. And I gotta keep reminding myself; I'm only 2 months in! This isn't even 20% of my final result and I already look younger now than I ever have in my adult life. Fantastic, is it not? So until the next update. Oh, and RIP Late Show with David Letterman - don't Dave's final week!

How are things looking at the 4 Month mark?

I get what your saying, I really do. But I have found that the brunt of unsatisfied patients feel the way they feel because of unrealistic expectations. Given this guys situation and the results I personally feel the operation was a relative success. You can see growth in the pictures. I think this patient is misdirecting his anger at his surgeon when he should be directing it at his genes. It is unfortunate, but true. There is really not a lot he could do.

I'm not denying that this patient is unsatisfied, I'm just questioning why. His last update was 4 months ago. He was completely bald before his procedure with a bad donor area. I think the results are satisfactory. Though I don't agree with your assertion that transplants sometimes don't work I will concede to the fact that this patient is a clear example of the natural limitations of a procedure.

All I see are demeaning, empty words from a disgruntled patient. In other words, where are the pictures? The true before and after pictures. Do this forum, and more importantly yourself, a favor and post various angles of yourself pre-op, then the final results of the first transplant then the final results of this transplant. I could be mistaken, but I think I remember you saying you were advised by other doctors that a transplant wasn't right for you. Your donor area wasn't exactly abundant in the first place. Dr. Bhatti is a physician not a magician, were you really expecting Elvis hair? What exactly were your expectations? Seriously. Re-reading your posts, it seems you were dubious before you even had this procedure.

Agree with Blake, it's hard to tell. I don't blame Dr. Bhatti one bit, if he sees anything indicative of diffused thinning, why would he make you travel all the way to India just to send you home. Darker skin doesn't help the pictures either. See an expert then see another expert. If multiple MD's give you the okee-dokee than move forward. In any case, meds should be of service to you.

I would go back to your Doctor ASAP to make sure there's no problem. Not 10 minutes after my procedure was finished I bent down to put my shoes on and the wet guaze placed on my head fell off. That alone damaged a handful of grafts and they had to be re-fit into place. The grafts are extremely sensitive for the first 6 days, so I would go back to my surgeon if I were you

Sorry for the late reply BUSA and no the crown was not addressed. As you can see in my pics, the crown area is still holding on, even though it's getting thin. I'll probably go back to Dr. Bhatti in a year or two, depending on when things get really smooth in that area. I'll need another 2000-2500. I may even go back for a 3rd procedure as a touch, but that's years down the road.

Today marks one month plus one day since I had my procedure. I don't think the pictures resemble anything unordinary. It's not fun losing the transplanted hair. As you can see about 80% or so has fallen out. Whenever I shampoo I still see a few hairs coming out so I'm not sure when the loss is supposed to completely stabilize, but it should be within the next few weeks. Redness lessens and lessens every day. The donor area is a lot better too and in the coming month should look even better. It does itch a lot, though.

Fundamental as in the basis as in the root of your argument. It sounds like money is not a factor for you. If it was you wouldn't even conjure up this convoluted argument. Yes, in my estimation there are only about 5 viable hair transplant surgeons within the continent of Asia. There's only about 20 people worldwide who I would let touch my head and 5 happen to be in that continent. Is there a problem with that? If any of these surgeons decided to rely on Western pricing they would be isolating the majority of their own people. That's not rocket science - it's simple economics. In Asia you might be surprised to see how far a dollar can go. And how do you know customers are not "beating a path" to these docs. I've done my research and the waiting list is several months for these guys, is that not exclusive enough for you? @FUE2014 is right - those are the best European docs and they do charge top dollar. If you want to spend more just because than you should pick one of them. Or, if you're looking in America you're sure to find docs charging you $10 a graft FUE without the results to back it up. Go with them. Or, you could do your homework and just look at the results. Put money into the background for now and see which doctors have the most patients posting the most consistent results. Then see how much those guys are charging. The price differential between top surgeons will probably shock you. Good luck!

Donor area has really cleared up, especially the back. The sides are still a little sensitive and look a little out of place, but the back pretty much blends in. Not looking forward to the hair falling out but, hey, it's all part of the process. See you guys for my one month update.

Location is also economics. It wouldn't make sense for a doctor in Asia to charge $8 a graft. He wouldn't make any money. In my estimation there are at least 5 high caliber surgeons in Asia. Should their work be discredited just because they charge a fraction of the price compared to Western doctors? You have to pay attention to your potential clientele. If there are 3 quality doctors in a 100 mile radius, would you pick the most expensive of the lot? Your logic is fundamentally flawed.

@ Voxman, Very true. I mean she's gonna find out eventually. There's no way out of it. If you're uncomfortable telling her now, before the surgery, you could opt to wait till you see her again in August to show her. You could play it of like a surprise. But one way or another she's gonna know.

I would say it really depends on your situation. Personally, I believe in 2015 FUT is extremely outdated and FUE is always the best option. That being said, FUT has its advantages. How many grafts are you looking to get? If you're under the age of 50 or looking to get over 3500 grafts, FUT is probably right for you. Otherwise, FUE is generally the answer. Especially if you're looking to shape the hairline. Check out Dr. Bhatti. I had my HT done with him a couple weeks ago and couldn't be happier. He's only 89 rupees per graft.

There's a lot of factors that it. What is the extent of your relationship? You say you're going away for 6 weeks in July so I'm assuming you don't live with her. Does she know how you feel about your hairloss? Does she know that you've considered a hair transplant? How many other people have you told? For example, could she possibly find out from someone else? You most definitely do not want that happening. For me, my live-in girlfriend was literally the only person I told. Nobody else knows about my transplant in this country except for her. I partly told her because I had to. I live with her, it would be impossible to hide. Another part of it was that I had to tell SOMEBODY. It was to daunting a journey to go through completely alone. I wish I could give you a solid yes/no answer, but I really can't. It's not really a black and white issue. Hope this helped.

619 singles 1241 doubles 780 triples Total of 5441 hairs. 2.06 average Very pleased with the graft breakdown. This is the one variable you cannot predict until you have the surgery and no surgeon can save you from a poor breakdown. Plus, my age make the grafts healthier and give them a higher survival rate. From what I've seen on the website, the general rule of thumb is that if you have more 3's than 1's, you're in good shape. Not the best breakdown ever, but certainly one of the better ones. The aim was for 3000 grafts but Dr. Bhatti wanted to stay low as possible because of my age. Better safe than sorry! These pics are Day 8. All numbness and pain is pretty much gone by now. As you can see, crusts are beginning to fall off.

Took the pictures myself.

Hello, everybody. This post is a long time coming and first and foremost I want to give an exxtra special thanks to Dr. Bhatti, his entire staff, and Dr. Bhatti's rep Mr. Baziz. Also I want to thank the entire city of Chandigarh for welcoming me as a foreigner and leaving me with a truly memorable experience. With that being said, let me give a little background on myself; I'm a 20 year old white male and a sufferer of psoriasis. I've been losing my hair since I was 17 and, as you will see in the pictures, I was pretty much bald. Anybody who wants to complain about how I'm to young to go through with the procedure should save your fingers the energy, the real experts with MD's and years of practice all agree that I'm more than ideal for the procedure. This website really helped me work up the confidence to go through with the procedure and the relentless hours and hours of time spent on here was time well spent. All the patients who posted their results, I would like to personally thank you. Without a website like this, where I see real people with real results, I would be stuck wearing a hat for the rest of my life. As you all know, each case is unique. For the most part, though, everybody is here for one reason. I spent so much time comparing my situation with others on this sight and their was no identical match. I think my situation is exceptionally unique compared to others because A) I'm so young B) my psoriasis and C) the extent of my hair loss. I like to say there is good and bad to my personal hair loss. The bad is that I lost my hair at such a young age. The good is that I lost my hair at such a long age. What I mean by that is, yes, I'm young and it sucks that I have more scalp showing than 99.9% of kids my age but the flip side to that is, hey, because I'm so young I have the ability to get this taken care of now. After feeling sorry for myself for a while and thinking, "Why Me??" I came to realize that I would rather be in my situation than a guy in his late 20's/early 30's slowly losing the battle of baldness. Thinning hair, maybe rogaine, maybe fin, but we all know that just slows down the inevitable result. I had my hair taken away from me by age 19, which allows me to tackle the issue in the most aggressive manner possible (transplant) and fix the problem completely by my early 20's. MY STORY: When I was 17 my psoriasis flared up pretty bad on my scalp. I was just a kid, didn't know the deal. This ultimately led to rapid hair loss. To all the geniuses out there saying "well, psoriasis doesn't lead to permanent hair loss" congratulations on your rudimentary knowledge of hair loss. While that may be true, people need to understand that the itching that came along with my condition is what did me in. I was my own worst enemy and I scratched until I bled. I ripped the hair follicles out of my scalp and made an already high hairline even worse. I was destined to be bald by 30 anyway, the psoriasis episodes just sped up the process - which, in retrospect, I am thankful for. So, at 18 I started Finasteride which didn't work that well for me. I was on and off the drug for about 18 months then just stopped cold turkey.Sometime during this period I started Biotin. When I first started fin I had the symptomatic sexual side effects so I stopped. Then I started again a few months later and the side effects weren't as apparent. As anyone who has taken fin then stopped knows, once you stop taking the drug, your hair loss falls off a cliff and the process is sped up tenfold. So when I decided to go cold turkey I thought it could be a positive thing because my hair will shrivel up to the point of my true donor area. CHOOSING A DOCTOR: This is the hardest pre-op element on your way to hair-hood. Everybody has different goals and there are so many great docs out there. To be blunt, I didn't have a whole lot of money. Again, I'm only 20 years old. So, I originally though FUT would have to be my method by default. I live in NJ so I was thinking maybe Dr. Feller would be my guy or I'd take a trip up north to see Dr. Rahal. I toyed with the idea of traveling to India for Dr. Madhu or Dr. Path. Then, one day I came across Dr. Bhatti. I'm not sure how he slipped through the cracks, but I had not heard about him up until I saw one of his patients on this site. I looked up a few more patients, all had satisfactory results by any measure. So, I checked out his website. Ridiculous prices compared to top notch surgeons here in America. His website also had a 'live chat' icon on it. And, sure enough, as I typed a message 1am, I had a response in about 30 seconds. From there the rest is history. Dr. Bhatti's work speaks for itself. If I had the money, I may have chosen another surgeon. But I may have stuck with Dr. Bhatti anyway. I can count on my fingers how many surgeons are on par with Dr. Bhatti's skill level. And as far as getting the most for your money, I firmly believe that Dr. Bhatti is the best bang-for-your-buck hair transplant surgeon in the world. BOOKING: Dr. Bhatti's rep was there to guide me from the second I sent him that message. Of course, he is paid to hype up Dr. Bhatti and say nothing but positives about him but I felt a sense of authenticity when chatting with him. A real genuine guy. He always responded promptly to my emails and was always available for phone conversations - which lasted close to an hour on several occasions. Also, the doctor himself always took time to respnd to my emails. I would send him an email before I went to bed and by the time I woke up I had a response. No matter how tedious or trivial or seemingly insignificant the question, Dr. Bhatti always fielded my email and shot me a response. What really got me about Dr. Bhatti and his team was the impeccable customer service. Initially, the one thing that stood in my way of finalizing my procedure was my psoriasis. As you'll see in the pictures, it is mostly relegated to the vertex/crown area but if you look close there is a little redness where my recipient area is. Dr. Bhatti advised me to seek out a professional opinion. A trip to Dr. Feller confirmed that the area should be a non-issue during procedure. THE TRIP: I booked plane tickets 3 months in advance to save a few bucks. I booked through Orbitz, any of those online sites are fine but I like Orbitz' 3 day before/after matrix. Getting my visa was a seamless process, it's online now and takes 24-72 hours to process. Mine took 25 hours to process. The only thing I will say is that you need a major bank for your transaction to go through. I have TD Bank, which is regional to the East Coast. I had to borrow another card with a more paramount bank in order for the transaction to go through. My flight had to stops, the first in Brussels then Bombay before Chandigarh. I made a rookie mistake of saving a few bucks at the expense of an 11 hour layover. You read that right, my layover in Bombay, for there and back was 11 hours. It was as miserable as it sounds. Don't do it. Fly to Delhi and wait there or have Dr. Bhatti's driver pick you up from Delhi, which is always an option. (Oh, I almost forgot, David The Moderator I know you're reading this, Dr. Bhatti's driver Sachin says hi and hopes your growing is going good. Says you were a pleasure to drive). Once I arrived in Chandigarh, I was promptly taken to my hotel. The ride there was incredible, it's a lot to take in. They drive on the wrong side of the road there, so that in itself is an experience. I stayed in Hotel AB's, the cheaper option of the 2 hotels Dr. Bhatti recommends. I had no complaints. It came out to slightly under $30 a night and you get what you pay for, very basic room. The hot water and the wifi gave me problems but I wasn't there to take hot showers and surf the web. The positive about the hotel is that it's less than a 5 minute walk from the clinic. Any other hotel you stay at is a drive. I would recommend AB's if you're staying a night or two or if you're on a tight budget looking to save a few bucks. Otherwise, opt for the more expensive option. THE PROCEDURE: Dr. Bhatti only does two procedures a day, a large case and a small case. I was the large case and Dr. Bhatti's driver came to my hotel 7:30am to walk me to the clinic. We were the first ones there, he opened the door himself. The clinic itself was in great shape. Nothing crazy to report about the condition; it looked just like any other doctor's office that I've been to in America. But that's a good thing, right? Dr. Bhatti and I discussed my goals, he drew my hairline and I had no complaints. I thought he was right on target. After that, they pumped me up with drugs and before I knew it the surgery was under way. I've never had surgery before so I was nervous and and anxious and excited going in. I felt a complete catharsis of emotion and my heart was racing. But the initial shock wore off after the drugs took effect. The only pain you feel is when Dr. Bhatti is injecting the anesthesia directly into your scalp. That lasts for about 5 minutes. After that, you're numb. I felt maybe a prick or two in the beginning but nothing after that. Surgery lasted all day. Dr. Bhatti did 100% of all extraction and slit making. During the graft placement, he checked in to make sure everything was running smooth every 30 minutes or so. The placement was done by 2 members of his staff. One girl told me she had 3 years experience, the other had 5 years. I said this before but it needs to be reiterated how friendly his staff is. For the most part, his staff is mostly comprised of cute girls, so that helps too. It's the little details that count. Honestly speaking, I can't even think of the tiniest miscue to complain about. Everything was dynamite. Once everything was said and done it was around 7:30pm. Most definitely an all-day affair. The grafts are extremely fragile. How fragile? I went to bend down for my shoes at the end of the day and the loose, damp gauze came off my head, knocking a few grafts out of place that were immediately put back into place. That fragile. AFTER PROCEDURE: This part sucks more than anything else.Naturally, you're going to be exhausted after a day of being doped up and having thousands of holes poked in the back of your head. But the fun isn't over yet. You have to stay up all night and spray saline water on yourself every 20 minutes. I spent the whole night staring at my new self in the mirror with saline water in hand. The next day I went to the clinic bright and early. I was taught how to shampoo and given all different types of medications. Dr. Bhatti treated me as a guest and allowed me to hang out at the clinic all day. Most of you probably wouldn't be interested in doing that but I'm the type of person who likes to absorb everything. I experienced life as a patient the day before and saw life as a fly on the wall the next. I wasn't as high from the drugs so I gained a more coherent perspective on how Dr. Bhatti operates. Once again, no complaints. Everything is one step at a time and every patient is treated with an equally specialized regime. I got to meet a handful of Dr. Bhatti's patients that day and over the next couple days and nobody had a negative word to say about the guy. THE CITY: This is the hair restoration network not the vacation experience network so I'll only touch on this briefly. Chandigarh is one of the nicest cities in India. Obviously, I have not personally been all over he country but every single Indian I met on my trip, whether it be in the airport, on the plane, or in Chandigarh all told me it is among the best places to live in India. It's not the top tourist attraction, but there are still places to see around the city. There are stray dogs everywhere and it may be impossible to find a good hamburger, but Chandigarh itself is mapped out from infrastructure inside and out. It is a planned city meaning people didn't just slowly emigrate over time to Chandigarh. The city was planned out and built then people came. Each section of the city is divided into a sector. Each sector has a designated market, housing, schools, ect. It's really incredible. I was nice enough to meet a man one day outside of his restaurant "Bhatura King," situated across the plaza from where Dr. Bhatti's clinic is. The man's father used to live in America and was nice enough to drive me around the city, showing me around. Not to sound cliche, but it was truly a life changing experience seeing the ins and outs of daily life around Chandigarh. Everybody was nice to me. One guy even stopped me in the street to take a picture with me, because I was an American dressed like an American (I had on basketball shorts and a Kobe Bryant jersey). Overall, it was an eye opening experience and I would urge anyone to look into Dr. Bhatti as their potential surgeon. He's coming to Jersey in September, so keep an eye out. But, as we all know and realize, a hair transplant is not about the experience. Ultimately, it is about the results. Everything else is secondary. But I'm confident in my successful growing because I went to a world class surgeon.

Hello, everybody. This post is a long time coming and first and foremost I want to give an exxtra special thanks to Dr. Bhatti, his entire staff, and Dr. Bhatti's rep Mr. Baziz. Also I want to thank the entire city of Chandigarh for welcoming me as a foreigner and leaving me with a truly memorable experience. With that being said, let me give a little background on myself; I'm a 20 year old white male and a sufferrer of psoriasis. I've been losing my hair since I was 17 and, as you will see in the pictures, I was pretty much bald. Anybody who wants to complain about how I'm to young to go through with the procedure should save your fingers the energy, the real experts with MD's and years of practice all agree that I'm more than ideal for the procedure. This website really helped me work up the confidence to go through with the procedure and the relentless hours and hours of time spent on here was time well spent. All the pateints who posted their results, I would like to personally thank you. Without a webiste like this, where I see real people with real results, I would be stuck whering a hat for the rest of my life. As you all know, each case is unique. For the most part, though, everybody is here for one reason. I spent so much time comparing my situation with others on this sight and their was no idenical match. I think my situation is exceptionally unique compared to others because A) I'm so young B) my psoriasis and C) the extent of my hair loss. I like to say there is good and bad to my personal hair loss. The bad is that I lost my hair at such a young age. The good is that I lost my hair at such a long age. What I mean by that is, yes, I'm young and it sucks that I have more scalp showing than 99.9% of kids my age but the flip side to that is, hey, because I'm so young I have the ability to get this taken care of now. After feeling sorry for myself for a while and thinking, "Why Me??" I came to realize that I would rather be in my situation than a guy in his late 20's/early 30's slowly losing the battle of baldness. Thinning hair, maybe rogaine, maybe fin, but we all know that just slows down the inevitable result. I had my hair taken away from me by age 19, which allows me to tackle the issue in the most aggresive manner possible (transplant) and fix the problem completely by my early 20's. MY STORY: When I was 17 my psoriasis flared up pretty bad on my scalp. I was just a kid, didn't know the deal. This ultimately led to rapid hairloss. To all the geniuses out there saying "well, psoriasis doesn't lead to permanent hair loss" congratulations on your rudimentary knowledge of hair loss. While that may be true, people need to understand that the itching that came along with my condition is what did me in. I was my own worst enemy and I scratched until I bled. I ripped the hair follicles out of my scalp and made an already high hairline even worse. I was destined to be bald by 30 anyway, the psoriasis episodes just sped up the process - which, in retrospect, I am thankful for. So, at 18 I started Finasteride which didn't work that well for me. I was on and off the drug for about 18 months then just stopped cold turkey.Sometime during this period I started Biotin. When I first started fin I had the symptomatic sexual side effects so I stopped. Then I started again a few months later and the side effects weren't as apparent. As anyone who has taken fin then stopped knows, once you stop taking the drug, your hairloss falls off a cliff and the process is sped up tenfold. So when I decided to go cold turkey I thought it could be a positive thing because my hair will shrivel up to the point of my true donor area. CHOOSING A DOCTOR: This is the hardest pre-op element on your way to hair-hood. Everybody has different goals and there are so many great docs out there. To be blunt, I didn't have a whole lot of money. Again, I'm only 20 years old. So, I originally though FUT would have to be my method by default. I live in NJ so I was thinking maybe Dr. Feller would be my guy or I'd take a trip up north to see Dr. Rahal. I toyed with the idea of traveling to India for Dr. Madhu or Dr. Path. Then, one day I came across Dr. Bhatti. I'm not sure how he slipped through the cracks, but I had not heard about him up until I saw one of his patients on this site. I looked up a few more patients, all had satisfactory results by any measure. So, I checked out his website. Ridiculous prices compared to top notch surgeons here in America. His website also had a 'live chat' icon on it. And, sure enough, as I typed a message 1am, I had a response in about 30 seconds. From there the rest is history. Dr. Bhatti's work speaks for itself. If I had the money, I may have chosen another surgeon. But I may have stuck with Dr. Bhatti anyway. I can count on my fingers how many surgeons are on par with Dr. Bhatti's skill level. And as far as getting the most for your money, I firmly believe that Dr. Bhatti is the best bang-for-your-buck hair transplant surgeon in the world. BOOKING: Dr. Bhatti's rep was there to guide me from the second I sent him that message. Of course, he is paid to hype up Dr. Bhatti and say nothing but positives about him but I felt a sense of authenticity when chatting with him. A real genuine guy. He always responded promptly to my emails and was always available for phone conversations - which lasted close to an hour on several occasions. Also, the doctor himself always took time to respnd to my emails. I would send him an email before I went to bed and by the time I woke up I had a response. No matter how tedious or trivial or seemingly insignificant the question, Dr. Bhatti always fielded my email and shot me a response. What really got me about Dr. Bhatti and his team was the impeccable customer service. Initially, the one thing that stood in my way of finalizing my procedure was my psoriasis. As you'll see in the pictures, it is mostly relegated to the vertex/crown area but if you look close there is a little redness where my recipient area is. Dr. Bhatti advised me to seek out a professional opinion. A trip to Dr. Feller confirmed that the area should be a non-issue during procedure. THE TRIP: I booked plane tickets 3 months in advance to save a few bucks. I booked through Orbitz, any of those online sites are fine but I like Orbitz' 3 day before/after matrix. Getting my visa was a seamless process, it's online now and takes 24-72 hours to process. Mine took 25 hours to process. The only thing I will say is that you need a major bank for your transaction to go through. I have TD Bank, which is regional to the East Coast. I had to borrow another card with a more paramount bank in order for the transaction to go through. My flight had to stops, the first in Brussels then Bombay before Chandigarh. I made a rookie mistake of saving a few bucks at the expense of an 11 hour layover. You read that right, my layover in Bombay, for there and back was 11 hours. It was as miserable as it sounds. Don't do it. Fly to Delhi and wait there or have Dr. Bhatti's driver pick you up from Delhi, which is always an option. (Oh, I almost forgot, David The Moderator I know you're reading this, Dr. Bhatti's driver Sachin says hi and hopes your growing is going good. Says you were a pleasure to drive). Once I arrived in Chandigarh, I was promptly taken to my hotel. The ride there was incredible, it's a lot to take in. They drive on the wrong side of the road there, so that in itself is an experience. I stayed in Hotel AB's, the cheaper option of the 2 hotels Dr. Bhatti recommends. I had no complaints. It came out to slightly under $30 a night and you get what you pay for, very basic room. The hot water and the wifi gave me problems but I wasn't there to take hot showers and surf the web. The positive about the hotel is that it's less than a 5 minute walk from the clinic. Any other hotel you stay at is a drive. I would recommend AB's if you're staying a night or two or if you're on a tight budget looking to save a few bucks. Otherwise, opt for the more expensive option. THE PROCEDURE: Dr. Bhatti only does two procedures a day, a large case and a small case. I was the large case and Dr. Bhatti's driver came to my hotel 7:30am to walk me to the clinic. We were the first ones there, he opened the door himself. The clinic itself was in great shape. Nothing crazy to report about the condition; it looked just like any other doctor's office that I've been to in America. But that's a good thing, right? Dr. Bhatti and I discussed my goals, he drew my hairline and I had no complaints. I thought he was right on target. After that, they pumped me up with drugs and before I knew it the surgery was under way. I've never had surgery before so I was nervous and and anxious and excited going in. I felt a complete catharsis of emotion and my heart was racing. But the initial shock wore off after the drugs took effect. The only pain you feel is when Dr. Bhatti is injecting the anasthesia directly into your scalp. That lasts for about 5 minutes. After that, you're numb. I felt maybe a prick or two in the beginning but nothing after that. Surgery lasted all day. Dr. Bhatti did 100% of all extraction and slit making. During the graft placement, he checked in to make sure everything was running smooth every 30 minutes or so. The placement was done by 2 members of his staff. One girl told me she had 3 years experience, the other had 5 years. I said this before but it needs to be reiterated how friendly his staff is. For the most part, his staff is mostly comprised of cute girls, so that helps too. It's the little details that count. Honestly speaking, I can't even think of the tiniest miscue to complain about. Everything was dynamite. Once everything was said and done it was around 7:30pm. Most definitely an all-day affair. The grafts are extremely fragile. How fragile? I went to bend down for my shoes at the end of the day and the loose, damp gauze came off my head, knocking a few grafts out of place that were immediately sturdied. That fragile. AFTER PROCEDURE: This part sucks more than anything else.Naturally, you're going to be exhausted after a day of being doped up and having thousands of holes poked in the back of your head. But the fun isn't over yet. You have to stay up all night and spray saline water on yourself every 20 minutes. I spent the whole night staring at my new self in the mirror with saline water in hand. The next day I went to the clinic bright and early. I was taught how to shampoo and given all different types of medications. Dr. Bhatti treated me as a guest and allowed me to hang out at the clinic all day. Most of you probably wouldn't be interested in doing that but I'm the type of person who likes to absorb everything. I experienced life as a patient the day before and saw life as a fly on the wall the next. I wasn't as high from the drugs so I gained a more coherent perspective on how Dr. Bhatti operates. Once again, no complaints. Everything is one step at a time and every patient is treated with an equally specialized regime. I got to meet a handful of Dr. Bhatti's patients that day and over the next couple days and nobody had a negative word to say about the guy. THE CITY: This is the hair restoration network not the vacation experience network so I'll only touch on this briefly. Chandigarh is one of the nicest cities in India. Obviously, I have not personally been all over he country but every single Indian I met on my trip, whether it be in the airport, on the plane, or in Chandigarh all told me it is among the best places to live in India. It's not the top tourist attraction, but there are still places to see around the city. There are stray dogs everywhere and it may be impossible to find a good hamburger, but Chandigarh itself is mapped out from infrastructure inside and out. It is a planned city meaning people didn't just slowly emigrate over time to Chandigarh. The city was planned out and built then people came. Each section of the city is divided into a sector. Each sector has a designated market, housing, schools, ect. It's really incredible. I was nice enough to meet a man one day outside of his restaurant "Bhatura King," situated across the plaza from where Dr. Bhatti's clinic is. The man's father used to live in America and was nice enough to drive me around the city, showing me around. Not to sound cliche, but it was truly a life changing experience seeing the ins and outs of daily life around Chandigarh. Everybody was nice to me. One guy even stopped me in the street to take a picture with me, because I was an American dressed like an American (I had on basketball shorts and a Kobe Bryant jersey). Overall, it was an eye opening experience and I would urge anyone to look into Dr. Bhatti as their potential surgeon. He's coming to Jersey in September, so keep an eye out. But, as we all know and realize, a hair tranplant is not about the experience. Ultimately, it is about the results. Everything else is secondary. But I'm confident in my successful growing because I went to a world class surgeon.