Hassler

I think around ?5 a graft is what you are looking at from the best clinics/surgeons in the UK operating on a 1 patient per day basis. Some might have a structure that reduces that figure when you go beyond a certain graft number, so they might look more competitive for the bigger FUE jobs, but beyond that, it looked like the only way to find significantly cheaper in the UK is to compromise on quality or approach I.e by having techs do more of the work or a surgeon running back and forth between you and some dude in a chair in another room - I’ve read so many reviews from people who experienced exactly that for a cheap hair transplant and to a man.......they all seemed to regret it.

All you need to know is this - Dr Edward Ball @ The Maitland Clinic, Portsmouth Thank me later.

I should probably add that if you get your FUE from one of the low cost Hair Mills that look to chuck you in and out in 3-4 hours, then the above advantage will almost certainly be completely overlooked. Its an advantage in the hands of the best FUE surgeons tho.

Don't forget big advantage 3 : 3) With FUE the doctor can meticulously select each individual graft from the back of the head - a big advantage for selecting fine hairs for a perfectly natural, soft feathered hairline. With FUT, the doc gets what comes out of the strip from the middle/back of the head, technicians can of course chop chunky follicular units up into single hairs, but they are still more likely to be chunky hairs compared to those found towards the edges of the scalp. Of course, for guys with an extensive area of loss behind the hairline to be filled, then picking each graft individually becomes time consuming and starts to become a drawback. FUE and FUT are therefore both great techniques, it depends on the patient and their needs.

Hi All, Here are the 6.5 month pics from my hair transplant by Dr Edward Ball at the Maitland Clinic in Portsmouth. I couldn't be happier with the results, the naturalness of the hairline is the biggest thing for me, I think I always believed that increased density was going to be a "given" but I was really worried it would come with a price (of quirkyness), but I'm pretty much sweeping my hair back and exposing it for all the world to see with zero thought than it looks anything other than the hairline I was born with. Although my procedure wasn't huge (1400 FUE), it was carried out with painstaking attention to detail, the sort of thing you get with a one patient per day offering, it really does make all the difference in my opinion. Big thanks to David Anderson, Dr Ball, Janna and the rest of the staff at the Maitland clinic, they are truly world class.

I think what springs to mind looking at this result, other than it looks really good, is that very few men losing their hair and considering a hair transplant can aspire to this sort of result, it's simply not possible or advisable to do so. This guy is very unusual, because you don't often see men with what is already a low hairline and pretty good density, going for a hair transplant. I'm not questioning his decision to do so, as a lot of people would have said the same about me, and I know how badly I needed one in terms of how I viewed my own hair situation (I've had one 1400 FUE at age 46). In that respect, the video is a bit like the HT equivelent of size zero models in the fashion industry - it's what so many guys would love but sadly so few men can realistically aspire to achieve. I know that in saying this, I leave myself open to comparisons with the housewife lying on the couch with a glass of red in one hand and the other constantly in the biscuit tin bemoaning "those skinny b*tch models" in her magazine, but there are lots of guys (especially young guys) out there who aren't as well researched as the chaps on here, and don't understand that this type of result is only for exceptional cases. My concern on this issue is always the same - that those younger guys see the like of this and decide it's exactly what they want and need, and they want it at an early age. Even if Dr Arocha and other ethical doctors wouldn't do it for them, sadly, then there are plenty out there that would, and leave them to deal with the future consequences.

Its a very female hairline design, temple points curve forward rather than angle backwards (on quite a masculine looking guy as well). Very unusual, but I take on board the point that his hairline was somewhat in that shape/area already, the challenge now is that his hairloss is likely to progress, so can he keep ahead of the game. Its a beautiful looking result now for sure, just hope he doesn't end up looking goofy in later life.

Based on the pics it simply looks like the front of your hair is transitioning from your juvenile hairline into the normal mature adult hairline (and at a relatively late age in your case). I remember when this happened to me at age 22-23 and you do get freaked by it, but the reality is that you simply get used to your more mature look over time. Based on the lines drawn on your head, it appears as though your doc is planning to bring your hairline back to the very low quite straight position where it was when you were a young man. Also take all all recession out of your temples to the point where your temple points angle forwards (as a boys does) instead of backwards (as a mature mans does). In my opinion, it's a terrible idea. But I suspect your going to do it anyway.

Great work...superbly designed and executed!

I have no issue opening myself up for critique, I post my own result on here so people are welcome to express their opinions. There was a great post on here a while back titled "Did I make my hairline too high". There was a lot of responses from respected surgeons, and virtually every one said the same thing - that the sensible approach is to be slightly conservative with a first HT, most people have more than 1 procedure in their lifetime, and you always have the option of bringing it down later if you feel its still too high once it's grown in, but once it's down, its down, going back up is a lot harder. Anyway, this young guy made his decision early, he wanted it right down there. If he researched it and knows the risk then he can't really complain if it all goes pear shaped in his later life, only time will tell.

If you take a long term view then it is a gamble. I’m never going to convince you, but if I can convince some of the 20 something guys out there who will be looking at this result and thinking “Yes....I want that too” to think it through again, and consider the long term implications, then that would be something positive. I would hope Dr Konoir would say the same thing, but if he doesn’t, then somebody else out there should, even if they aren’t a Dr.

I don't quite say that ("every man will progress to an advanced state of loss"). If that is how may words read, then I should have phrased it better. I do I agree with your earlier paragraphs stating the need to consider potential future loss, and that nobody has a crystal ball in trying to do this. So on that basis, this patient may be lucky, he may stay at a relative low level of loss, that can easily be managed by a further procedure, or he may not, he could easily hit some really aggressive hair loss in his 30's and 40's, at this stage, the truth is that nobody knows. I think my questioning was around the fact that taking this sort of aggressive line therefore represents a gamble to the patient. Repeat the above * 100 and some of those guys are likely to have a problem further down the line. This is really what I was trying to say. If the patients are informed of the gamble and are adamant they want to take it, then that's fair enough, it's by no means a fait accompli they will hit problems, but they need to be told the risks, and certainly never encouraged to do it. If posting my views makes a few of the young guns who tend to want this type of thing take a step back and consider the *potential* longer term implications, then I'd be happy if I've done that.

OK, I'll be the one to mention it. What is this 28 year old kid going to look like when he's 58?...68? Almost certainly a little bit odd. Thats about a third of his donor gone at 28, just doing a new juvenile hairline. I can't fault the skill or artistry of the result, I just hope the doc explained to the young man that this is a numbers game and there are only so many grafts on his head to go around. If he is really lucky then whatever meds he's taking will put the brakes on his further loss, hell if a pill or lotion came out tomorrow which was absolutely proven to stop all further loss I'd book in for one of these myself, but with the current medical limitations, he's taking a gamble (and the doc really cannot say otherwise) I think its currently wrong to encourage this.

Hi - if your in the the UK then I'd highly recommend you go for a consultation with Dr Edward Ball and his adviser David Anderson at the Maitland Clinic in Hampshire.

Hi there, My opinion is - you need to get your scalp cleaned up, you really don't want scabs like those lingering on top of your head, I would say time is now of the essence. Try soaking your scalp in large amounts of conditioner (doesn't matter which one) morning and night, leaving it on for 10-15 mins each time and it should soften those scabs and they should fall off. I did this religiously and after 3 days post-op you couldn't tell I'd had a transplant, although you must have walked out the clinic with an awful lot of blood on top of your head for those dark scabs to form (I had nothing like that, thats down to the care of the surgeon during the op and clinic before you leave, I'd be disappointed if I was sent home like that). Hope it goes well.

I'm completely stumped to be honest, so I should probably say no more. But then that's not my style...... 1000 grafts FUE = 1000 grafts FUT (assuming identical hair count per graft). There would be no difference in coverage. Did they indicate you have some wacky follicular groupings going on that would make it difficult to harvest via FUE?

If you only need 900-1100 grafts then I can see no reason why you wouldn't be suitable for FUE, in fact given that the graft number you need, it would almost be the default option imo. Im not trashing FUT, it's a great option if you need a lot of grafts at lower cost, but at that number the cost difference should be relatively small, and you have to put up with all the drawbacks associated with FUT like linear scarring and longer and more challenging recovery. Normally, the reason for NOT going FUE these days is the need to get a high graft number. It's possible the only reason you have been recommended FUT is that both surgeons in question simply aren't skilled FUE surgeons. Did they state a reason for FUT over FUE? If they wouldn't do an FUE on you, then who would they do FUE on?!? I would seek a third opinion from a surgeon who is definitely an FUE surgeon.

I think the problem is that we are all different. You can't actually look at anybody else's before and after picture and say, "I will get that result"....because we all have different patterns and extent of hair loss, our hair characteristics are all different, our faces are all different, and results vary due to other factors like growth rate etc. What makes it worse is that the more research you do the more you can get stuck in an "analysis paralysis" looking at so many good/bad/excellent/indifferent results.....you end up having no idea what you might end up with. This was the biggest problem for me when contemplating a HT. If I'm contemplating buying a BMW I can look at exactly what I'm buying and try it out, so I know exactly what I'm getting before I commit. With a hair transplant your buying "hope" i.e. hope that the final result will meet with your aspirations. The concept of buying hope leaves the door open for the less than ethical doctors to crank the hope up in order to seal the deal. I actually put off having a hair transplant for many years because I believed my expectations were higher than what was achievable. Having such high expectations is definitely a problem if they can't be met, but I was lucky, my pattern of loss and a great clinic/surgeon meant they weren't just met, they were exceeded.

I think the original question posed in this thread is starting to get lost somewhat. The original post was titled "can a technician do a good job?" Well, the clear answer is "yes", of course they can, they have a vital role to play in supporting the surgeon and doing implantation of the grafts (no easy skill I'm sure). But should they be doing the entire procedure? Now thats another question..... Leaving aside the legalities, the issue really boils down to one of trust......who would you trust to do your surgery, recognising that it is still surgery and taking into consideration what could actually go wrong. At this point it becomes subjective, and really boils down to how much risk a person is willing to take on to get a better (or realistically cheaper) hair transplant. Now, I've long believed that one of the biggest problems in hair transplantation today is that doctors generally lack the artistic eye needed to achieve the best results. I recently walked around a prestigious art gallery admiring various still life paintings on oil and canvass by some of the finest Dutch masters, and it's truly incredible that they can produce something that mimics reality so closely using the basic tools of a few brushes of different thickness and a limited number of different coloured oils. In FUE, the goal is also to create something that perfectly mimics nature/reality using a collection of simple punches of different diameters, a blade, and a limited supply of materials.......but in the hands of a guy who probably went to medical school intending to be a general practitioner or hospital consultant. It's certainly a fact that any kid today contemplating going to medical school, if they presented their school leaving certificate with an A* for art and design, they would simply be laughed out the building. In the future, I can see a new profession of hair transplant practitioner (they will come up with a fancy name for it) being established much more formally than it is today, with specific University courses which are based on medicine, but with focus around the specific skills of FUE and FUT, in the same way that the dentistry profession emerged from medicine long ago. Such courses will actually demand that students display a flair for artistic creativity as well as the usual science subjects required by conventional medicine. Until then, we just have to try and find the Michelangelo's amongst the docs today, and hope that in the future, there are more masters out there. Some of us (like the originator of this post) may be willing to consider the risk associated with somebody who is not medically qualified, but hopefully in the future, the question posed by the originator of this thread would be as ridiculous as "should I consider having my sore tooth pulled by a barber" as was the situation faced by people hundreds of years ago.

Or even better.....the trolley dolly can fly the plane! “Ladies and gentleman, this announcement is to let you know that Chantelle will be flying you across the Atlantic, and also serving tea, coffee and cold beer”