Hi guys,
Here is my journey so far with Dr. Zarev from Bulgaria.
I am Norwood 6-7 (or was, not any more ) , plan was to do 6000 grafts over 2 days, in the end we(he) did 7000 grafts , 3 500 grafts each day.
Day 1 consultation
I landed Monday night (January 4), first consultation Tuesday, the clinic is in a small hospital that seemed to be primarily a childens hospital, Dr. Zarev had a floor to himself (at the top), clinical and clean, He mentioned that he bought an entire building that will be just their clinic, should be ready by the end of 2021).
The consultation takes about 1.5-2 hours, Dr.Zarev takes pictures with a micro camera,, measures the hair thickness and how many hairs I have on average per 1 cm2.
From our initial conversations over email after he had seen my good quality picutres we decided on 6000 grafts, I had thought that we could place the 6000 grafts at the front and middle of the scalp as I prefer to see that I get a good front and middle part for framing the face, I was ok with if it is bald around the crown, but Dr. Zarev explained that it is not a good idea as so many grafts placed on that small area would affect the blood supply to the hair follicles and thus affect the survival% of the grafts. It is better to distribute them in a homogeneous way over the whole head where I have lost (which is all since I am Norwood 6-7).
You always have communication with Dr. Zarev himself, no patient coordinator named "Bruce" or "Gina", I asked him why he does not have a patient coordinator and he explained that for him the patient - doctor relationship is important, he is not looking to do many surgeries per week just to for money, he prefers to do one or two a week and put all his time and focus on these. The week I was there I was the only patient all week, i was a 2 day job ad they had just opened after the new years holidays and I was the first patient for the year. I had a direct number to him that I could basically call at any time.
He would have preferred to see me stay in Bulgaria until Monday, but I went home on Friday, surgery was Wednesday and Thursday, first wash on Friday morning, flight home on Friday afternoon.
I think 90% of his customers are from Bulgaria so not many international customers.
Operating days 1 and 2
Day1 starts at 09:00, first about 2 hour to plan, design, take pictures, measure head, hair shaft size etc. to get exact figures Dr. Zarev needs to plan surgery. While he is sitting and planning after drawing on my head and taking pictures, I go out where blood is to be taken before PRP.
NOBODY touched my head except Dr.Zarev, every step of the operation is done by him, no one touched my head except him, from taking pictures, shaving, to washing, to anesthesia, PRP, extracting, implanting, the assistants only prepared the grafts, and this was something I was looking for, I want to pay for the surgeon's knowledge and experience not a lot of untrained assistants.
Surgery started at 11:30 and finished around 23:00 (both day 1 & 2), a 30-40 min break around 17:00, so about 10 hours of surgery, Dr.Zarev is a MACHINE, I do not know how he can stay focused for so long.
Day 2 was similar to day one, around 10 hours of surgery time
Pictures you see are before surgery (obviously) and at day 90, I will be taking new pictures this Saturday for day 120, the yellow background that you see was provided by Dr. Zarev for me to take home and hang up when taking pictures at home as he uses a yellow background.
Also, at the 90 days I wanted to try and see how I would look like with skin fade on the sides/back after 7000 grafts, I must say, for 7000 grafts......not bad, (a trained eye might see something)
Before:
After 10 days:
After 90 days:
I will try and update for you guys as time goes.
BR
Hugo.