MachoVato

No matter who you go to, that's the conversation you want to have. The plan, you should be given options... 1 procedure or maybe 2 procedures. Here's a good video of a patient from HLC and the hair design process.

Two procedures is probably a very smart approach. I think 4000 grafts is a lot for your condition. You can see what 4261 grafts look like on my head, and I had much more thinning than you. Keep in mind that every cm you lower your hairline at 50 grafts/cm2 can be up to 1000 grafts.

Yeah, I agree with this. HLC has a bias towards density. So they are surely looking to cover your front and crown. Maybe even potentially lowering your hairline 1cm or so. When you're in the chair, the hairline design and scalp coverage is a conversation. So you'll be able to be more conservative or aggressive with the graft count. Also, your beard looks like it you could harvest 500 grafts or so from there.

Consistently excellent work!

Got my suture removed today (day 7). Nurse said it's healed great. Donor area looking like it's healing nicely. Really happy with this. Most recipient area scabs are gone.

After about day 5-7, your grafts are permanent. Not going anywhere. It's normal and completely expected to lost hair with your scabs. The hair bulb will create a new hair, which you will see in 2-3 months.

Like this?

Also, just noticed how my temple peaks are wildly different. I flipped the image on my right temple. The hair grows in very different directions. I never knew this!

Day 5 The swirl pattern. Pretty neat!

Only 6 months?! Very nice improvement. I bet he's super happy! His hair looks very thin, yes?

I have zero regrets, but for me, it was a toss up between Bisanga and De Freitas. This thread by De Freitas *really* impressed me! https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/60531-dr-rafael-de-freitas-2-interventions-3019-fus-front-2535-fus-vertex/

No, I didn't have a big problem in the crown area. I didn't *need* to get it done. I was more "thinning" than bald. But what convinced me to do it was seeing me in my security cameras. Here's a picture of me mowing my lawn 8 days ago. Lighting sucks.... direct, harsh sunlight... camera exposure set to high contrast... but still! I freaked out when I saw this! I mean, if I was a woman, I wouldn't give him my phone number! haha! 500 - 1000 would cover the most thin area, certainly. But Bisanga really extended well beyond that area. I told him to use his judgement on number of grafts. If he only needed 1000, that's fine. If he needed 1000 more (I was quoted 1500), that's fine too. I brought cash to cover it.

If I had to guess, 1400 in the crown & 128 in the temples. I wasn't given a breakdown of that.

Oh, I don't think that area is going to fill in either. My comment is really on the self-inflicted anxiety. Again, let it do its thing. Trust the process. And sure, there's nothing wrong with booking a second HT at the 12 month mark. I certainly would. I just retuned from Dr Bisanga and think you should consider him, for sure! Best of luck... and chin up! A general comment... IMO most people should get a second procedure. Even the "homeruns" we see on here could use a boost in some areas.

I'm not sure he's a plastic surgeon. He is a medical surgeon, trained in hair restoration in the US in year 2000. Started his own practice in Colombia in 2005... so over 20 years experience is pretty good. For the research of others: https://www.bogotahairlines.com/ The before/after photos are not super impressive, but there you go.

I'm waiting on the photos from BHR. But for now, here are a few pics before my first transplant.

Keser was my very first choice for a transplant. His hairlines are perfect to me. I had it booked and everything... until covid wrecked everyone's plans. He's a former HLC doctor. Customized manual punches and stick & place for insertion. He doesn't have a lot of reviews lately, I think you need to go to other forums. He has a limit of about 700 grafts per day, so 3000 grafts is 3, maybe 4 days. Very slow and meticulous, which is why he's expensive. Truth is, at this price, you're in top dog territory... Lorenzo, Feriduni, Lupanzula, Hattingen, and others in the European region. The forum takes issue with his choice not to use microscopes, he says he doesn't need them. I'm sure he uses loops, but I don't know. I still think Keser is a great option for small procedures (>1500 grafts). But for you, maybe not the right one.

Your density is going to be crazy! I'm most interested in your temple peaks. Those are hard to do and this is the first time I've seen HLC do them. How are they coming along!

@GaryStruthers feel free to PM me. I'll point you too the Facebook group and can point out a patient of his.

Camacho has a couple patients in a Facebook group I'm in. He's the only name in Colombia I know. The results I've seen were average. Same with the results I've seen from Mexico... average results at best. But not failures. For Americans, Mexico and Colombia are closer/cheaper to get to. It would be akin to going to Turkey from England. Absolutely no way is he in the same league with HLC or Ferreira.

Hello Doctor! This is a great story and you are looking great for only 5 months. Your hairline is looking really good! Guess what is the worse part about getting new hair? You want more! You will want your crown filled in, too. I wish you the very best success! By the way, I'm the one that brought you the treats from Texas.

I was told not drink alcohol, but I fly back tomorrow and I had to have some Belgian beer. I love blondes! *This photo is not endorsed by BHR Clinic or its representatives*

From what I can see in the photos, the left side is coming in a little weak... so far. But everything else looks perfectly fine. The zigzag is totally fine. I think you're drawing a zigzag line in your mind that no one (including us hair nerds) would see until you point it out. I'm also partial to the rounded off temples. You're shaving it, but I think it's because you're so used to having deep temples. You're not used to a more youthful temple... in your head, you're still used to your receded look. My suggestion is to grow it out for a few months. Live with it for while. I'll wager you'll not want to punch them out. A final observation. I think you're doing yourself a huge disservice by this post-procedure academic comparison. There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all for hair. I feel you're sabotaging your own transplant. You have 6 months to go. Maras is a legit (albeit not perfect) surgeon. Trust the process and let your hair grow. Stay optimistic.

No, the scar was from an injury, I don't remember it. The doctor thought it was odd that there was some hair squeezed within it. It's hard to say. My experience, honestly, was a little better at HLC. They provided a driver, an apartment across the street, dinner. Here in Brussels, I had to get my own taxis, the clinic is a little awkward to get in/out. It takes a little more work to get around. I would have paid extra to have a driver and not deal with taxis (HLC charges 250 for this service). I thought the anesthesia was a little more painful this time around. Not unbearable, but that's how I remember it. They did give me a shot of valium (or something like that) and that made me quite loopy! haha! But I still felt some of the injections. Some I didn't feel at all. For some reason, I didn't ever get comfortable in the chair, it got hard fast. I had to ask for a couple breaks because it started to get painful. I wish there were more planned breaks.. bathroom, water, stretching. HLC had breaks scheduled in. There's a lot less involvement from the doctor. He does the extractions (he used motorized punch) and the incisions in the recipient area. He communicates a lot with his team during this time. He looked for very specific single hairs for the temples. He told his team he was looking for "sexy" hairs. Haha! The rest of it is handled by his technicians, which were awesome by the way. The doctor did stop by a couple times to check in, but he had another patient on the day. Turns out he has about a 4000 graft per day limit. So if you had 3500 graft procedure, you'd be the only patient. It's worth mentioning that there are a couple other doctors there. I believe one is just observing. They also visited once in a while, it was nice to have them around and talk to me while I was in the chair. Nice guys. With HLC, there's a doctor with you the whole time, albeit a different doctor at times. HLC has many more people there, it's a larger clinic and up to 4 patients per day. BHR is much smaller facility. I think I made the right decision with these two clinics. HLC did great with my front and it continues to improve. While it's too early to talk Bisanga results, I'm very impressed with the work on the crown. He moved my head around so that he could get the swirl pattern right. It sounds easy, but it certainly isn't and he took great care to get that part right. Finally, he surprised me with his attention to my donor. He only extracted from my right side (to save the left side) and went lower on the back than HLC did. So he used area that wasn't touched before and avoided areas that were a little thinned out. And the temples are notoriously hard to do, some doctors won't do them. Only time will tell, but I can see the direction and angles of the grafts look quite promising. HLC is a larger, more formulaic yet polished "concierge" experience. BHR is a smaller, more detail-oriented boutique experience.