Cymru1980

It is a shame - maybe i will start a new topic in order to hopefully share my story without people attacking me for getting my HT done by the best FUE guy in the business who gave me a load of free grafts.

For me..once I had made the decision to have the procedure money was irrelevant (to an extent). I then made an informed decision on which surgeon to go for based upon other peoples results and description of their experience. I then made sacrifices (and there were many) in order to save for the big day. I'd rather pay that little bit extra if i thought it increased my chances of being satisfied afterwards. As for lowering prices..would you take a pay cut if business was booming and you had waiting lists of clients?

Which also reminds me.. although i had a count of 1077 i only paid for the 1000. So the doc threw in $770 worth of the procedure for free! Which i thought was a very nice gesture!

Yup, although it was actually 1077 FUE if memory serves me. All in all with flights, procedure and hotel it was about ??6,500.

Cheers Bill Yeah, it was the motorised tool that Dr Rahal was mostly interested in. They were talking about how it leads to a much greater yield in extractions in a much shorter space of time, allowing large sessions of FUE to be performed i guess? Either way Dr Rahal seemed impressed and wasn't to shabby at using either it if i remember what the techs said rightly!

Give me those pills if you're not going to use 'em. Thanks for the write up. Sounds like quite a day, and you were definitely in good hands. Haha! Pills are binned i'm afraid! Yeah, i felt like i was in good hands..now it's just a waiting game i guess!

I'll add some more pre op photos of my hairline if you want? That way you can see if your loss is similar. Obviously i can't comment on strip recovery..but this is a doddle! I've taken this week off work as holiday, but i'm tempted to go back in this afternoon and wear a hat.

Yeah, i guess i was pretty lucky to have them both there..i had no idea that was the case until i turned up on the day.

Hi all just got back from a 1000 FUE session with Dr Feller to repair my hairline as well as disguise any future loss in the area behind it. Well.. I CANNOT get over how easy and straight forward the whole process was. It's probably best to address a few issues from the start.. yes i know my hair loss isn't THAT bad..and i know i am quite young to be having a HT (29), but i have no real family history of complete baldness...just very high recessions either side of my forehead. It started for me a few years back when i noticed i was losing bits of hair in these areas..actually i tell a lie..it was other people (mainly mates) that informed me that my army of hair follicles were on the retreat! So as many young men do.. i got a bit of a complex about it. Leading to me putting in many hours of research on the area on the internet..yes that's right..i was a long time secret lurker on this website! I decided that strip was probably a bit overkill for what i needed..so as long as i was a good candidate, FUE was the route i wanted to go down. Next was the choice of Dr.. Now i'm not going to sit here and tell you that Feller is the best..and try to put down the work of other doctors. All i will say is that after reading MANY reviews on several doctors on sites such as this..Feller was the stand out one for me. After meeting him and his staff, i can only agree with what everyone else before me has said. His attention to detail and passion for his work really does come across..i have no frame of reference for any of the other doctors performing HT's..but Feller seems to really care about the results he is able to give you. His team of techs were outstanding as well..the patience and steady hands those girls have is unbelievable! Of course having someone like Spex on this side of the pond helps as well, when i decided to finally take the plunge it was as easy as telling him a bit about my hair situation and what my goals were..forward a few pictures so the Dr can decide a possible solution (if there is one) and wait for the response. That was around July time..the Dr decided that 1000 FUE could be a viable option..and Friday September 18th was pencilled in. Then i had to pay the deposit (done by wire transfer) and get my blood work done. The final bill had to be settled 2 weeks before the procedure and a simple questionnaire had to be filled in before i left for the States as well. I was advised when to travel by Spex and decided to fly on the Thursday afternoon and return on the Sunday evening..meaning sleeping on an overnight flight on the way home..waking up refreshed for the monday morning! I arrived at JFK at about 7pm local time and got an unmarked (probably a tiny bit dodgy!) taxi to Great Neck..it must have only taken 20 mins and cost me $40..not too bad. I stayed at the Inn @ Great Neck..very nice place and i got a pretty good deal through expedia as well. When i arrived i had a note from the Dr telling me that my appointment had been changed from 7:45am to 10:30am..you won't find me complaining about an extra few hours in bed! I walked from my hotel to the Doctors after multimapping the route..it took 15 mins max..and there i was ready to take the plunge. My initial consultation with the doctor involved a little chat about my hairloss, what my goals were and the drawing of the new hairline..when we were both happy it was all systems go. It is worth mentioning at this point that there was another doctor present throughout my procedure.. Dr Rahal from Ottawa.. Dr Rahal was also consulted about my potential new hairline and he put in his input that was duely noted by Feller. Next was the shaving and the injections to the back of the head..honest to god..the injections weren't bad AT ALL. They are so close together that after the first one is given, by the time the Dr does the second one..the area he is injecting has already started to go numb so you can't really feel much. Then was the test to see if i was an eligable FUE candidate. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing this without doing a test few extractions, in the flesh, on the day. Thankfully i was a decent candidate and the show could go on..although it is worth mentioning that i asked the Dr what would happen if i wasn't eligable and he told me that for out of town FUE patients he always gets in enough techs incase they have to switch to strip. Next was the extraction of the folicles..this involved lying face down on a massage table for a couple of hours whilst the Dr did his thing. Dr Rahal was watching whilst he was doing this, Dr Feller was talking to him throughout it and giving him tips and pointers as he went along. Dr Rahal seemed to be really interested in what Dr Feller was doing, hanging off his every word almost..this was even more reassuring as i got the feeling that Dr Rahal had really impressed Dr Feller with some of his previous work and case studies that they had been talking about. This extraction would be done in shifts..where the Dr would work for maybe half an hour..then Anna, one of the techs would come in and take the grafts out and send them on to the others to split them up into the relevant denominations, singles, doubles ect. Then Dr Feller would return..and so on and so forth until the golden number is reached. Dr Feller then asked Dr Rahal to have a go at extracting the folicles..which i was more than happy to let him oblige. After this was done there was a quick turnaround (due to the late appointment) which involved the numbing of the recipient areas (again nothing too bad..but a little worse than the back of the head). At this point Dr Rahal had left the surgery. More the pity because this is where i believe Dr Feller shows his true artistry..the incisions for the hairline design. I only felt the little bit of pressure whilst he was doing this, but i could tell that he was in full concentration mode because most (not all!) of the wisecracks were stopped. Then a team of 3 techs came in and started placing the grafts individually into the slits. I can only imagine how gruelling and frustrating this must be for them..all the while i just laid back with my eyes closed..it actually felt kind of theraputic when it was being done! Then at about 6pm we were done, aftercare instructions were given, more photos taken, a chat with the doc then a taxi home as the doc didn't want me sweating out the grafts on the walk back to my hotel! Did the mandatory propping of the pillows in the hotel that night to ensure i slept at a 45 degree angle..was waiting for a wall of pain to hit me when the anaesthetic wore off..but nope..nothing..not sure if this is the norm or if i was just lucky. The doc did give me something for the pain in case i needed it, he said i doubt if you will..and he was right. The next day i had visions of waking up face planted in my mattress with my new grafts surrounding me like iron filings..but thank got that wasn't the case! In fact i'd prepared myself for a bit of swelling as well but that never came about either. 'twas a nice day so i jumped onto the tain into the city (with my trustee cap!)..as a 1st time visitor to New York i would highly recommend doing this if you feel up to it. Then Sunday..the dreaded trip back! Which actually went quite well. Not asked to take off my cap at JFK, flight was at 7:30pm (12.30am GMT), slept a bit and woke up at 8am GMT landing at Heathrow.. would urge people to go with Virgin Atlantic..was very comfortable to say the least. So all in all a very positive experience for me..now is probably going to be the hardest part..the waiting game. My hair wasn't what you'd call short when i had the procedure done..i'm debating whether to buzz it down or not. Hopefully in a few weeks i'll have enough of my original hair back to get my normal short back and sides..i guess time will tell tho. I've started msm today and will try using aloe vera in a few days too. Has anyone else got any recommendations? Anyway, i've probably bored the pants off you now..so if you're still awake..thank you! And thank you goes out to the Dr, all his staff and of course Spex..i would also like to thank everyone who has posted their story on sites like this as well..without you i would never had the courage to do something like this. If anyone has any questions i'd be more than happy to answer. Photos to follow. Cheers.