TrixGlendevon

2 hours ago, Jack97 said:

Hi Trix, my thoughts were it's in the UK so travel is possible for me, and they seem to have a lot of positive reviews. May I ask why you personally wouldn't recommend meds? Many thanks.

When I talk about location, I mean that people choosing a clinic because it is in the same city/state/country as them is a bad motivating factor. It is not hard, time consuming or expensive to get to Continental Europe from the UK and your results will be better and/or cheaper. I did mine in Switzerland and had consultations in Belgium with several clinics and an online consultation in Spain. I am not from the UK but I lived there at the time and so this would have been the most convenient to me. Several years, I maintain this was the best decision I made.

On the reviews - they have lots of positive reviews online where and by who? Are they by patients on a public forum like this where they are easily scrutinised for authenticity and held accountable? If not, they are not worth anything. Any clinic can set up fake accounts on Google Reviews etc. Chain clinics are hair mills. You will regret it.

On meds -  this goes in the face of perceived wisdom but I do not care. Check out post-finasteride syndrome. Everybody seems very quick to prescribe meds to people, and I do not mean just doctors. All the forums recommend the same thing and most people on these forums are not doctors and even the doctors are not endocrinologists. In a few years, about 20 in your case, you will be wanting to hold on to as much free DHT as you can for regular functioning of your organism. You are considering going on meds now, for a temporary aesthetic gain (it does not stop it, it slows it down), to dampen your free DHT. Google low free DHT symptoms and age, or something similar. Also, I have had conversations about meds with top docs (Feriduni, Muresanu etc.) and they agree there is no study to support these meds have no side effects in the long-term. It is actually Feriduni who told me about post-finasteride syndrome and he said he no longer recommends the meds to patients.

Great choice. If you are worried at all and want reassurance, look at my pics on a thread from a few years ago. I think I was the first person on this forum to go with Hattingen and my result really spurred interest in them. I had 4400+/- FUT grafts in 2018 and was very happy with the result. I went back last year for a second of around 2500+/- FUT grafts and Carmen was there this time too. She was great. Work looks clean, congrats!

1500 I would say but if you intend to get on meds (I wouldn't recommend it) then you should do it sooner rather than later and then see how that impacts your hair loss before making a decision. The pattern of the rest of the hair loss will have an impact on how many grafts they use this time and plans for the future. How your body reacts to the meds will have an impact on this then.

I would personally not to do in the UK either, and especially not at Wimpole. Are you picking this based on location or have you seen especially good patient posted results on a public forum such as this? If the former, that is a terrible motivating factor. 

A couple of issues, in my opinion. The clinics in the UK produce average results and are expensive. Therefore, you can pay the same abroad and get a much better result OR get the same result abroad and pay a lot less. I still try and steer people on this forum into Continental Europe for a transplant. Whether they listen to me is another question...

Just now, PreviouslyAFool said:

Yes, that is what i am afraid of. Difficult to know how much they actually took.

If you are going to keep your short, have you considered another surgery with a good clinic taking grafts from the sides to put in the back?

22 hours ago, PreviouslyAFool said:

I asked them what size punch they used. They said that they use 0.7 or 0.8 depending on the patient. So larger size punches are out of the question.

 

I also got ahold of photos right after implantation and counted the grafts on one temple. It was 500, i assume it's 500 on the other too since it is symmetric.

So i dont know. maybe they botched 1000 grafts or something. Which is alot.

Just because 1000 went in doesn't mean 1000 came out. If they took out a 1000 and noticed that 1 or 2 in every 3 or 4 are damaged owing to poor technique, they could have taken more out to compensate and still get you your 1000 in the temples. Was the temple growth good at least?

I disagree with your methodology and agree with Gatsby. The methodology, for those that want the best result, should be to identify the best clinics based on consistently good patient posted reviews over a number of years and seeing how the clinic deals with bad results, which inevitably happen at all clinics from time to time. This should be independent of geography. Then save money so you can afford it there/at one of the ones on the shortlist. It is better to wait a few additional months so you can get the best transplant. As Gatsby says, it will be false economy in the mid- to long-term if you will need corrective surgery. You also have a finite number of grafts so only get 2-3 bites of the cherry, irrespective of whether they are aesthetic or corrective surgeries. Make them good ones.

Also agree with Gatsby that the aim should be higher than average. Most people have bad-average transplants and this forum is a very small subsection of a much larger population. How many people do you think went to the same clinic as famous sports stars etc. just because they had gone there without seeing the full result and without doing their own research. Most people are sheep. Anecdotal evidence: I recently went to a wedding with my wife and saw an absolutely horrendous hair transplant. It was so unnatural it was untrue. It was a very low (unnaturally so) very straight hairline with many multi-hair grafts in the hairline. It stood out like a sore thumb. The guy definitely used a lot of grafts to get there and will now need to have corrective surgery for additional cost, and potentially grafts. 

Are you just asking this hoping somebody will say you should go to Turkey? I would choose the clinic based on several patient posted results over a number of years, and not just cherry picking the good ones people post but looking at the bad ones too (all clinics have them, even the best ones). That could mean you end up in NY, Istanbul or a third country city. 

I would do what I did for the first transplant and save money and go to your first choice based on result rather than cost or geographical location. 

My two favourites in Europe are still Hattingen (where I had both mine done - albeit FUT and I assume you want FUE) and Feriduni. Hattingen has their prices on their website so you can see what it would cost vs Bissanga. I would avoid the UK clinics.

On 3/15/2024 at 6:26 AM, conan said:

Yes I did but I dont want anymore scar ….I have already went through 5 FUTs …..

so the strategy here is scar correction first , we also plan to get 600/800 hundreds grafts from this surgery.

and then in one year or two we will do a 2000 grafts fue to cover the crown.

I will post some pictures in a few days , after tomorrow’s surgery .

thanks 

I am unsure what the logic of this is. If you have scar correction, you are already i) getting another scar and ii) having a small FUT as there are always grafts that come with it (600 in your case as per your above post). Why did you not just get a larger FUT this time and save yourself yet another surgery in the form of an FUE in the future?

Congrats either way though - the crown looks good. Will you be post any pictures of the front? What is the plan now with your hair as it is long at the front and sides and obviously cut very short for the surgery on the crown?

21 hours ago, Melvin- Admin said:

The doctor does choose which grafts are selected. They instruct technicians to implant single and multi-hair follicles in which slits. Again, if you’re going to penalize a doctor on this, you’re penalizing the vast majority of top docs. 

Couldn't agree more with you - this position is ridiculous. If money and travel, time, visas etc were no issue, I think most people would choose H&W. Even the clinics I consulted with (and the one I ended up going with) said they are the best, and I was not consulting with no-name hair mills. H&W uses an army of techs. Their results are amazing and have been for years, showing consistency. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Looks great congrats

Don't choose your clinic based on geography. That is a recipe for disaster. It will be cheaper and better on the Continent!

On 2/25/2024 at 3:09 PM, BlueSkyDay said:

Quality = % doctor FUE work * % doctor implantation work

 

in Spain the % is 100% by Law

in the Uk the model is different. Doctor has to do the slits in the recipient area and drugs. The techs can do extraction and implantation.

It would interesting to see which countries require doctor only surgery (100% for FUE and 100% implantation) and where the top ranked doctors are operating out of. My guess - the very best doctors perform 100% of the FUE and 100% of the implantation and they are generally found in ….. Spain 

 

Could not disagree more with that equation. I have never understood this weird obsession with who does what part of the procedure and that the doctor doing it all is somehow better. The person who is best at doing that job in the procedure should be the one doing it. I just want a good result and it does not matter if it is the doctor, the techs or the guy in the alleyway doing it. Hasson and Wong is probably the best clinic in the world and they use an army of techs. Hattingen, techs. Feriduni, techs. Look for consistently good results over a substantial period of time (say, 5 years) and if it is a tech heavy clinic, ask them how long their techs have been with them to ensure it is the same techs that produced the previous results you have seen.

Picking a clinic based on location alone is silly, especially a location with such mediocre options if you take everything into account (price, results, length of time in business etc). You even admit that you can get a better result if you go to the Continent. Belgium and Switzerland have very decent options and you can get to Belgium and back by train from London. You also say you know it will be cheaper for the better result but then are reluctant to go for the best option of your shortlist based on price. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Just bite the bullet and go to the Continent. 

UK are clinics are expensive and do not offer good results as compared to competition on the continent. You can either pay the same on the continent and get a much better result, or pay less for the same result. Either way, poor value for money. It will probably take you as long to get to Belgium, Spain, Portugal or Switzerland in the plane as it would in the train to wherever the UK based clinic is. I am yet to see a transplant from the UK that I think is amazing.

Your temple points look fine. I have had two FUTs and the scar is non-detectable, even to my girlfriend when she looks for it who knows it is there and where it is. Sounds to me like Mavigo went to a bad clinic, not that FUT is to blame.

Actors also wear hair pieces for their Hollywood shots - Travolta is renowned for it. Google John Travolta hairpiece and look on Google images. His hair changes with every red carpet event.

My brother went from close to NW1 to NW2-2.5 in terms of the hairline in his mid 40s. Has hair everywhere else.

On 10/4/2023 at 11:04 AM, Gatsby said:

To the average Joe on the street they would never notice that you've had surgery. Up close and personal maybe. I would be inclined to have some doubles removed if you do anything surgical.

Disagree. My girlfriend knows nothing about hair transplants and we saw somebody the other day and she said the guy's hair looks weird but couldn't make the connection. The problem was the same: hairline was too straight and the surgeon had put multis into the hairline so it just looked like a wall. Similarly I was watching a boxing podcast the other day and Spencer Oliver was on it. First thing I noticed (not an average Joe, admittedly) and it was the same issue. Straight hairline and too "thick" at the front with too many multis. Not good work. What didn't help with Spencer is that he was losing his hair at the back. Nobody has an 18 year old hairline and a balding crown in nature. The whole thing just looked weird.

For the OP, some others have said nobody will notice but I think it is noticeable (supported by the fact people IRL have told you they think it is noticeable) and I think it is worth doing the repair for. However, do not put more singles in front of an already low hairline - this will also look unnatural. Get FUE and have them take the multis from the hairline and put them behind and then cherry pick singles from the back and sides and put them in the front. It is annoying (and costly) but not the end of the world. I also like the advice above of have them take some of the grafts from the temples and giving you a NW2 slight recession. As you age, this will look more age appropriate and natural. Other than that, I think they did a good job. Lots of density and it seems all the grafts have grown through. One more minor procedure with a very good clinic and you will look amazing and completely natural. Good luck!

Wait a few more months. Your donor has recovered, so it is reparable in that you have enough grafts to give you more coverage if you go to the right clinic. IMO you need to be having FUT for your next procedure, if you have one at all. As others have said, it is not necessary to have another as it looks natural. Sorry again this happened to you.

Yeah the doctor said 3-4 months too. Was just wondering what other people's experience was. I am not on meds and not going to start them either. This is my second procedure and I do not remember the shockloss being this bad last time. There is some directly on the back around the scar which is barely noticeable and then the area in question. I don't care if it is temporary and can wait the 3-4 months (it has already been two months), I am slightly concerned it will be permanent shockloss though. It is quite a large area. Funnily enough, I had a very small area of shockloss in close to where it is now last time and this was permanent. 

Hello! I recently had a second FUT surgery and have some shock loss in the donor in one isolated section. How long on average does it take to grow back? Chances of it never growing back at all?

I am very sorry this happened to you. I think given the level of your hair loss, an FUT would be more appropriate. You may want to look at Hattingen in that case (I am biased as I have had two procedures done there). They do a lot of repairs and are experts in high yield FUT. Another clinic I think does great repair work is Feriduni, maybe add them to the least of clinics you are considering. Either way, I hope you get the result you wanted eventually and I am very impressed with how well you took this.