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UPDATE - I had a text from my surgeon last night, asking how my donor was feeling. I said it was a little sore and red. I also sent some pictures, and Dr A said he would put some medication in the post to help it heal. Credit to Dr Arshad for doing this - texting me on a Saturday night. Shows the clinic has great aftercare procedures.

Here are my 4 week photographs. My donor is a little patchy towards the bottom and is still quite sore. I’ve been applying savlon to this and it’s really helping. I think I’ve got a bit of shock loss in my donor - which I had after my first op. At this stage, I’m a little concerned with the bottom part of my donor. I will use SMP if required to add density Really happy with my recipient area despite all the shedding that’s occurred

I've got the burnt feeling too!! My donor is definitely much sorer than my other surgeries and is still pink in places, nearly four weeks post surgery. I did not experience shininess or bruising, but my donor is still quite pink, whereas after my manual surgeries, there was very little pinkness. The surgeons were different, so I agree this will be a factor. Just wondered if others had noticed this.

I had my fourth FUE surgery three weeks ago and have suffered some discomfort in my donor area. My grafts were extracted via a manual device in my first three surgeries, and by and motorised device in my fourth surgery (similar graft extraction in my first and fourth operation, and the same punch diameters .8mm). My recovery time has been substantially slower after the motorised extraction. I have been very sore and the discomfort has impacted upon my sleep. I've had a follow up examination and there is no infection in my donor area. I was just wondering a) whether there is any research on this, and b) if there is anyone who has experienced both type of extractions to see if what I'm experiencing is normal - and thus recovery after motorised extractions takes longer to recover from. I understand that the soreness maybe due to the number of operations, but I thought I would raise this. Cheers! 🙂

DAY 14 - My donor area is very itchy and still a little sore towards the bottom part. My hair started shedding on Day 8, and I am losing a few hairs each time I wash my hair. My donor looks a little patchy at the bottom, but I am hoping this will be fine once it grows out. I prefer my hair longer and will be prepared to get some SMP if need be in my donor area to make it look a little denser.

I can see it and add pics. I emailed admin over the weekend, but I can see my message has not been read yet.

Here it is https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/54899

Fewer than 10. I created a post last Friday on the FUE forum, but my post is still pending approval. Not sure why! I’ve uploaded lots of pics too

I'm 5 days post an FUE operation, and I noticed the same thing (top picture) - with a scab around the hair. There was no bleeding. I was just wondering whether I will have lost these hairs, or whether they will be safe after 5 days. I think I might have rubbed them whilst I was a sleep. I am a little concerned about it....

I'm day 5 post an FUE now, and I've noticed that I've lost some hairs in the night, which were surrounded by a small scab. Did you experience this? I'm just a bit concerned I've lost a few grafts! There was no bleeding though.

DAY 5 - I noticed some bits of skin with hair shafts in them this morning on my pillow. Fortunately, there was no bleeding, so I am hoping everything with my HT is OK! A bit concerned though.

You could potentially use SMP at the crown. I've just had my 4th FUE, totalling 9133 grafts and plan to use SMP in my donor and/or crown if required. I have seen a few pictures of SMP among patients with long hair and it can look really good. I really hope your anxiety has subsided and that you are feeling better now, it can take time to get over chronic/clinical anxiety. Your hair looks great!

Here is my Day 4 recipient and donor area. The donor area is a little sore towards the bottom. Really please with my recipient area.

I've changed the formatting of the pictures, so I can now upload the photos from immediately after my operation. You can see I had quite a bit of swelling around my left eye socket - this had settled down by the time I woke up the next morning.

Here are some pictures of my donor from the start of Day 2 (transplant on the 15th of August, today is the 17th of August). I took the bandages off yesterday evening. My donor area - Overall, I feel a lot better than yesterday. The day before my operation I had a heavy weights and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu session in the hope I would sleep durning my operation the following day. In hindsight, I regret that decision, because I feel it contributed to me feeling quite stiff and lethargic. I am currently taking 40mg of Prednisone and Co-amoxiclav three times a time. That is upsetting my stomach, slightly but nothing major. I was also given a plentiful supply of ibuprofen and paracetamol, but I am not sure if I need that today. You can see from my donor that Dr Arshad went much higher than either Dr De Reys or Dr Reddy. He said I had no miniaturisation in those areas and that those hairs will be safe well into my sixties. If some of those hairs don't survive until then, so be it. As you can see, my donor are is pretty much used up now. Dr Arshad said my back up plan, should I ever need it will be to use beard grafts. I've got a very dense beard, so should be easily be able to get 1500 grafts, if I ever need it. I will also consider SMP in donor or scalp area should I need it in the future to add a bit of density. I've seen that it in long hair and it looks pretty good.

I am so pleased for you and this new result. How many grafts do you have left for the back? I think your new head of hair looks great!!

POST-OP pictures I took plenty of post-op pictures in the surgery, but I have not been able to upload them on here for some reason. Here is a picture I took when I got home. Below, is another picture I took this morning, 11 hours after surgery. I still have my bandage on, so can not pictures of the donor area yet. Once I take them off, I will add them.

Hello, I've just had my fourth FUE surgery with Dr Arshad from the Hair Dr, in Dewsbury (UK) yesterday, totalling 3133 grafts. In total, I've now had 9133 FUE grafts over 4 operations: Operation 1: Dr De Reys - 3000 grafts in 2013 Operation 2: Dr De Reys - 1800 grafts in 2014 Operation 3: Dr Raghu Reddy - 1200 grafts in 2017 Operation 4: Dr Arshad - 3133 grafts in 2019 My previous experiences are documented on this site. See below: OPERATION NUMBER 4 WITH DR ARSHAD Below are the results prior to my fourth operation - a bit blury, but hopefully you can see the areas I wanted to improve density to my hair line, mid-scalp and crown. I decided I did not want to travel abroad again, due to having a young family. I researched and spoke to several clinics in the UK, and opted for the Hair Dr, for the following reasons: 1. Dr Arshad and his surgical background in ENT I consulted with Dr Arshad, who owns a clinic in Dewsbury, with a head office in Leeds. I found limited information on Dr Arshad on Forums, but I did extensive research about him (research gate, other forums, and pictures) and his credentials prior to booking a surgery. Dr Arshad's clinic is relatively new and he has been combining his HT work with working as a consultant ENT surgeon within the the National Health Service. Dr Arshad is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons - which awarded to surgeons passing the exit exam after years of training (and should not be confused with being a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, which is the entrance exam). Essentially, Dr Arshad is a very highly qualified surgeon, who regularly attends IHARS events. Admittedly, he has less experience in HT, but I felt his extensive surgical training and practice inspired me with confidence that he would have good skills for HT surgery. 2. His work looks very neat too from the pictures I viewed on his instagram feed, and has a growing body, of what I feel is exceptional work. 3. I e-mailed a couple of his patients about their experiences (e.g., consultation, surgery, aftercare etc) and both were very complimentary. 4. Price. At the moment Dr Arshad is charging £2 per graft. Yes, that is not a typo. I imagine this will go up in the future, given the quality of his work. INITIAL CONSULTATION My initial consultation with Dr Arshad was very thorough and realistic. Having had three previous surgeries and consultations with many Dr's around the world, I believe I am pretty adapt at sniffing out the those are pushy, have a strong sales pitch, and are not passionate about the work - only taking their money off you. After my 3rd surgery with Dr Reddy in 2017, he informed me that I would have around 600 grafts left. When I had my consultation with Dr Arshad he suggested he might be able to get 4000 grafts to improve my hairline and overall density of my scalp. He said my donor was very good, despite having had 6000 grafts extracted. Of course, I was very shocked by this, but his checks were thorough. He also said he is quite an aggressive surgeon and believes in using the donor to its fullest without making it look patchy. My donor was still very thick, but I was thin on top. Aesthetically, I think having a thick donor area can make the top look even thinner. Myself and Dr A developed a plan and I then spoke to his clinic manger - Sommiya (who is very professional and caring). At no point did I feel under any pressure to book the surgery (neither were pushy at all) - we chatted about questions I had. If I've consulted with a very push clinic, it raises red flags, and makes me feel uncomfortable. SURGERY The pre-operation briefing that I received was by far the most comprehensive I've had in comparison with either Dr De Reys or Dr Reddy. Dr Arshad went into great detail about all aspects of the surgery, such as potential complications of surgery, but assured me procedures were in place, should anything untoward arise. Dr Arshad spent much longer preparing my donor area that either Reddy or De Reys did, and said he used a technique that plastic surgeons do (can't remember what it is called now). All extractions were completely painless - which has not always been the case for me if you read about my other surgeries. In regards to extractions, Dr Arshad and his lead tech performed this role. Dr Arshad started and then they took it in turns. His lead technician, who has over 17 years experience working with the likes of Dr Cole, Dr Bisinga, HDC in Cyprus etc. She currently works as a freelancer travelling all of the world. Extractions were made using a motorised punch of 0.7 mm. I had complete confidence in Helen and she has lots of stories to tell about the HT world and is also a very nice lady indeed - very funny and also very hard working. Dr Arshad had four other technicians working that day, who were all experienced technicians. 4000 grafts was not achieved, but the total was 3193 - Dr Arshad did want to leave my donor area sparse and felt that was the most he could extract. My surgery started at 7.45-8am and the extractions were completed by around 2pm (ish). I have posted a picture of my graft count which is: - 403 tripples, -1432 doubles -1263 singles Both Helen and Dr A said my donor was very strong, despite this being my fourth surgery (excuse the blood on the sheet). Dr Arshad did all of the incisions, immediately after the extractions, using a sapphire device, which he said enables him to insert the grafts closet together and at better angles than other tools. I can't remember how the incisions took, but I had a short break for lunch and had Helen inserting grafts in my crown, and one technician on each side implanting grafts, so I believe that took around 4 hours. All in all, the surgery last 12 hours, approximately. Dr Arshad spoke about the importance of having a good team and I felt looked after the whole day. My experience was very good, and although it was a a long day, the time went by pretty quickly. Dr Arshad looked after me well the whole day and also ensured the team had plenty of breaks throughout the day. I really liked this approach. This picture should be at the top, but gives a good illustration of my crown area under a very strong light at the gym - that was directly above my head. I was looking to address this area too.

I had 1200 grafts with Dr Reddy at his Selston practice (midlands) and paid five thousand pounds (?4.16 per graft). He uses the same surgical team as at Harley Street, but it is much cheaper due to reduced costs. I would definitely recommend him.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but I am sure I read that this cut costs by sterilising needles (Choi implanter) after using them, so he could re-use them. I believe a former employer wrote about this one of the forums here, and many patients suffered infections. In my opinion, this is a very shady practice, and what is stopping the doctor from doing this again in the future? There are so many bad reports on here (and elswhere) that giving him a recommendation de-values this status. Rather than us making a judgement, perhaps existing recommended surgeons should be consulted. For what it’s worth, a no from me.

I’ve been able to download the paper through my university. If you want me to send it to you PM me. The pictures look very good (although it is a case study with only one participant).

I was a slow grower especially after my 2nd transplant (which was 12 months after my first transplant). I was disappointed 12 months later, but was happy after 18 months. I am certain I had new growth after 12 months.

Have you tried Dr Raghu Reddy? He is recommended on here. I paid 5k for 1200 at his satellite clinic at Selston. All extractions were manually extracted and he uses a choi implanter. Definitely worth checking out.

Could you provide some pictures? It's a bit hard to tell. You mentioned a pharmacist was involved in the surgery. What role did he/she provide? I can't think why having a pharmacist present would be beneficial. I'd never hear of you surgeon. What's his background?

I am 38. My native hair looked great before my HT in April, as the propecia thickened it up, and it seems to have gone down hill in the last couple of months. My hair loss has been stable for the last 4 years due to propecia. I will see what happens over the next 12 months or so. I still have about a 1000 grafts to play with, which would mean my whole head would have transplanted hairs on it.