GeoHair

On 12/12/2020 at 3:41 PM, Londoner7 said:

Hello everyone, this forum has helped me a lot and so it is only right I give back by making my own report.

I am 30 years old nw3 and had my hair transplant in Portugal with Dr Bruno Ferreira on November 25th 2020, I was originally due to have it done on 6 January 2020 but a family issue stopped my plans.

A quick shout out to @LondonRamen for advising me he was still travelling for his op during the lockdown as I would have had to wait an extra 2 months and also lost my flight money as Tap air continued flying and had a 150euro fee per flight change. Also thanks to @Rolandas and @Portugal25 for advising me and helping with any questions I had.

Travelling during the lockdown was a bit worrying as I did not know if I would be denied at the airport etc. but it actually turned out to be a good thing. Heathrow airport was so quiet and getting throw security was very fast. Coming home through Porto airport was even better as all shops were still open and security had no line at all and was also very quiet which was better for me with my red head 😄. Also the flight there and back was at most 50% capacity so had plenty of space.

I stayed at the Solverde Apartments in a 1 bedroom suite my friend came with me and he had the sofa bed. it was a nice apartment with kitchen etc that we stocked up with snacks from the local supermarket, Wi-Fi was very fast and my friend brought his ps4 to play at night and had no issues.

The day of the Op

Breakfast starts at 7am at the hotel which I think is common but I had to be at the clinic for 7:30 so literally only had 15 minutes to eat, managed to have some scrambled eggs, bacon and a croissant. I got a taxi to the clinic and arrived at 7;25 to notice directly opposite is a very nice looking café and it was open, I was gutted I did not go there over my hotels breakfast. 

I went in to the clinic and had my own room for the day were I would eat lunch and leave my belongings. Dr Ferreira came to see me shortly after and is genuinely a very nice guy. We had a chat and signed some paperwork and then we went to take the pre-op photos, draw hairline and shave my head. Dr Bruno drew a general hairline as a starting point and then welcomed my input, he mentioned that one of my temples goes back more then the other but it is good not to have perfect symmetry in the hairline. I tweaked the hairline slightly and we agreed it was good. 

The original plan was to fill in the hairline with around 1500-1800 grafts and also add some density to my midscalp as in pictures it looked like it was losing density which a few other Drs also said but once shaved Dr Bruno said that actually it was not less dense it is just the angle the hair grows at which make it look more see through. The is a bump there on my head so the hair must go up with the bump I guess but I was happy to hear I was not thinning there after all. I think he ended up adding something like 10-15 grafts in a couple of gaps he said at most.

The day was split in to 4 mini sessions of extraction and then implantation with the back then each side and then the last session was to extract a few more grafts. I ended up having 1998 grafts ( 5480 Hairs) with an average hair/graft ratio of 2.74. The end graft count was higher due to my lowering the hairline.

We finished the day around 8pm and I was given my post op care pack and instructions for after care, by this point I was pretty tired.

I got back to my hotel and sprayed my head with the saline spray a few times and went to sleep.

 

 

 

A lot of triples and quads

Post Op Day 1

Woke up a few times in the night and sprayed my head, and checked I had not scratched which thankfully I never. 

I went to the clinic to have my head wash before flying home, once there Dr Bruno commented that I had some fibrin building up on my grafts and advised me to spray saline more often around 15-20 minutes. It looked like large bloody scabs sort of that had built up whilst I slept. Dr Bruno washed off the fibrin using saline spray and It looked nice and clean once again as below. After this I sprayed all the time and never had this issue again.

 

Day 1 +

Once home I took it easy for the first few days and began washing my hair from day 4 and applying aloe Vera twice a day after washes. my scabs came off around day 7-8 and everything is looking good.

I am now at day 17 and I've noticed over the last few days hair are slowly starting to shed 😥 I knew they would but hoped I'd be in the small percent that kept them all haha.

Dr Bruno said he used a 0.8mm punch, he said my grafts were longer then average and he had to change his punch to once with more depth, I was going to book with Dr Pekiner before but worried about my surgery being aborted due to small grafts, seems I would have been fine in the end.

He used the lion implanter pens and he said he was using a 0.62mm implanter for the single hair grafts in the hairline and a 0.8mm for the others. He explained to me that it depends on the size of your grafts and how many hair they contain to which size punch/pen he would use as everyone is different.

My hair thickness was on average 48 microns which he said is about average but it is pretty fine. 

I take finasteride but not minoxidil.

Day 2 after spraying saline

Day 9 

 

I think I have covered everything please ask any questions and I will update often.

Thanks everyone

 

Did they provide you with a doctor's note to travel and if so, who do you present it too when arriving at the airport? I might be going to see BF very soon and have the same concerns as you did with getting rejected and flying in from America.

On 12/12/2020 at 3:41 PM, Londoner7 said:

Hello everyone, this forum has helped me a lot and so it is only right I give back by making my own report.

I am 30 years old nw3 and had my hair transplant in Portugal with Dr Bruno Ferreira on November 25th 2020, I was originally due to have it done on 6 January 2020 but a family issue stopped my plans.

A quick shout out to @LondonRamen for advising me he was still travelling for his op during the lockdown as I would have had to wait an extra 2 months and also lost my flight money as Tap air continued flying and had a 150euro fee per flight change. Also thanks to @Rolandas and @Portugal25 for advising me and helping with any questions I had.

Travelling during the lockdown was a bit worrying as I did not know if I would be denied at the airport etc. but it actually turned out to be a good thing. Heathrow airport was so quiet and getting throw security was very fast. Coming home through Porto airport was even better as all shops were still open and security had no line at all and was also very quiet which was better for me with my red head 😄. Also the flight there and back was at most 50% capacity so had plenty of space.

I stayed at the Solverde Apartments in a 1 bedroom suite my friend came with me and he had the sofa bed. it was a nice apartment with kitchen etc that we stocked up with snacks from the local supermarket, Wi-Fi was very fast and my friend brought his ps4 to play at night and had no issues.

The day of the Op

Breakfast starts at 7am at the hotel which I think is common but I had to be at the clinic for 7:30 so literally only had 15 minutes to eat, managed to have some scrambled eggs, bacon and a croissant. I got a taxi to the clinic and arrived at 7;25 to notice directly opposite is a very nice looking café and it was open, I was gutted I did not go there over my hotels breakfast. 

I went in to the clinic and had my own room for the day were I would eat lunch and leave my belongings. Dr Ferreira came to see me shortly after and is genuinely a very nice guy. We had a chat and signed some paperwork and then we went to take the pre-op photos, draw hairline and shave my head. Dr Bruno drew a general hairline as a starting point and then welcomed my input, he mentioned that one of my temples goes back more then the other but it is good not to have perfect symmetry in the hairline. I tweaked the hairline slightly and we agreed it was good. 

The original plan was to fill in the hairline with around 1500-1800 grafts and also add some density to my midscalp as in pictures it looked like it was losing density which a few other Drs also said but once shaved Dr Bruno said that actually it was not less dense it is just the angle the hair grows at which make it look more see through. The is a bump there on my head so the hair must go up with the bump I guess but I was happy to hear I was not thinning there after all. I think he ended up adding something like 10-15 grafts in a couple of gaps he said at most.

The day was split in to 4 mini sessions of extraction and then implantation with the back then each side and then the last session was to extract a few more grafts. I ended up having 1998 grafts ( 5480 Hairs) with an average hair/graft ratio of 2.74. The end graft count was higher due to my lowering the hairline.

We finished the day around 8pm and I was given my post op care pack and instructions for after care, by this point I was pretty tired.

I got back to my hotel and sprayed my head with the saline spray a few times and went to sleep.

 

 

 

A lot of triples and quads

Post Op Day 1

Woke up a few times in the night and sprayed my head, and checked I had not scratched which thankfully I never. 

I went to the clinic to have my head wash before flying home, once there Dr Bruno commented that I had some fibrin building up on my grafts and advised me to spray saline more often around 15-20 minutes. It looked like large bloody scabs sort of that had built up whilst I slept. Dr Bruno washed off the fibrin using saline spray and It looked nice and clean once again as below. After this I sprayed all the time and never had this issue again.

 

Day 1 +

Once home I took it easy for the first few days and began washing my hair from day 4 and applying aloe Vera twice a day after washes. my scabs came off around day 7-8 and everything is looking good.

I am now at day 17 and I've noticed over the last few days hair are slowly starting to shed 😥 I knew they would but hoped I'd be in the small percent that kept them all haha.

Dr Bruno said he used a 0.8mm punch, he said my grafts were longer then average and he had to change his punch to once with more depth, I was going to book with Dr Pekiner before but worried about my surgery being aborted due to small grafts, seems I would have been fine in the end.

He used the lion implanter pens and he said he was using a 0.62mm implanter for the single hair grafts in the hairline and a 0.8mm for the others. He explained to me that it depends on the size of your grafts and how many hair they contain to which size punch/pen he would use as everyone is different.

My hair thickness was on average 48 microns which he said is about average but it is pretty fine. 

I take finasteride but not minoxidil.

Day 2 after spraying saline

Day 9 

 

I think I have covered everything please ask any questions and I will update often.

Thanks everyone

 

Did they provide you with a doctor's note to travel and if so, who do you present it too when arriving at the airport? I might be going to see BF very soon and have the same concerns as you did with getting rejected and flying in from America.

5 hours ago, Franky9208 said:

@GeoHairyea let me know but like you said I’m sure the agents might know the driver since they cross every day but if you don’t mind let me know what Brenda says 

I spoke with Brenda and she said the restrictions don't apply to Americans crossing the border and I should be fine. Time to get the flight tickets and go ahead with the 2 day procedure. I hope the guys on these forums are right because unfortunately Dr. Nader had NO before/after photos which concerns me a little bit.

I 

5 minutes ago, Franky9208 said:

@GeoHairthe restrictions were extended till April 21 so we should be good by may I assume 

I hope so but every month they just keep extending it. Last Thursday they announced it was extended to April 21st when originally it was March 21st AND they have done that every previous month so I feel like nothing will change and they will extend it again next month like they have been doing every month but I heard dental work is accepted as "medical treatment" and people are still crossing the border under that pretext. I just haven't found any forums of people discussing if hair transplants are considered "medical treatment" as well. Currently the only way to cross the border as "non essential" travel, is through plane unless you are going for a "medical treatment". Hopefully Brenda will have an answer and I will let you know but I feel that she would have told us if they had any issues previously and I am assuming hair transplants are considered "medical treatment" and that is how they have been continuing their operation this far. I am sure border agents are well aware of the driver that will pick us up and he goes back and forth through the border almost on the daily so the border agents might possibly have no issues with us crossing in Dr. Nader's vehicle.

1 hour ago, Franky9208 said:

@GeoHairi just got my passport so I’m not sure I spoke with Brenda and she told me if my passport didn’t make it in time to bring my license and birth certificate so they can let me through  

As you are probably aware, the U.S/Mexico border is closed for "non essential travel". I went to the Department of Homeland Securities website and is states that "medical purposes" is a valid reason to cross but I am unsure if that includes hair transplants. I also messaged Brenda in regards to that and hoping for an answer later. I really would not want to travel to Texas and be rejected at the border as "non essential" 

1 hour ago, Franky9208 said:

Good luck @GeoHairi also have my appointment with Dr. Naderat the beginning of may and couldn’t be more excited.

Should I haven't issues crossing the U.S/Mexico border? Is this considered a "medical treatment".

How is it progressing?

Amazing work! I am booked with Nader in May. I wish he had a portfolio to look through but I am feeling more confident when I see results like these on the forums.