Berba11

Your ability to get HT’s in the future depends entirely on your donor resources (which are currently excellent). 
 

From these photos there’s no evidence of hair loss at all - certainly nothing that warrants medications that you can’t tolerate.  
 

Your family history seems mostly favourable also. 

5 minutes ago, TheMidnightPoni said:

Is it common not put hair or gel products in for 12 months?

No. It's nonsense advice to be honest. Putting product in the hair this long after the transplant will have no negative impact whatsoever.

Interested to see another Dr Bek case! How many grafts?

And what is this legendary aborted surgery with Dr Pekiner? 👀

7 hours ago, WSR9351 said:

It's always seemed rather baffling that Dr. Ted has such a limited presence on the forum whilst having actually become quite established in practise.

The is true generally for most UK surgeons to be fair. It's only a hunch but I think the reason is that, for the longest time there has only been one, maybe two very excellent surgeons in the UK that produce work that can stand alongside the best stuff we see in Europe; Dr Ball (someone whose work I personally really like who I would recommend for anyone) and Dr Reddy. Neither of these guys are cheap and I think the general consensus has tended to be that there's better value on the continent. You've got some of the best hair restoration surgeons in the world in Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland - short and cheap flights from here - charging about the same or less than Ball and Reddy and producing equally good or even better work.

I think anyone inclined to do their research properly and use forums both as a lurker and a contributor will likely have come across the argument for going to Europe rather than staying in the UK and thus we see fewer cases from the best surgeons in the UK as result.

Hopefully that's now starting to shift with the emergence of Dr Ted (and Dr Mani), and I note too that Dr Ball appears more active on social media and has updated his case work on his website, so there appears a concerted effort to improve visibility from him too despite being around for a long time. The UK HT landscape is starting to look quite strong with a range of great options for patients. I'm sure we'll see more cases from these guys pass through the forum more regularly in the next couple of years - @LondonGirl2024has also recently been to Dr Ted and will be posting a thread any day now 😉 that we're all very keen to see!

In terms of Dr Ted himself, I think part of the reason for the lack of patient results is that he's only recently gone solo and that although his name was sort of known by those who stay on top of these things, generally speaking I don't think people knew who he was as he was working under the Westminster and HQ Cardiff brands.

Massive update this one Tommy. Redness pretty much gone and no real signs of extractions exception for the unremoved grafts that you've shaved down. 

Can now also fully appreciate the significant aesthetic improvement of the hairline position and the extra openness and proportionality it gives you.

Genuinely delighted for you seeing this take shape so soon. Great stuff mate!

1 hour ago, ScottishGuy21 said:

Thanks for the help much appreciated, just ordered a bottle now. I don’t mind paying the extra if prolongs the periods in between flare ups! My derm has prescribed me elecon lotion to use sparingly, but stressed only during a serious flare up.

Are you able to use anything to style your hair? I’ve gone without for a while now, largely out worry with most things seem to included trigger inducing contents. 

With styling products, I too find some will start to cause a bit of irritation the longer they're in. Products that seems to cause no issues are things like hair creams/leave-in conditioners (Jamaican caster oil Shea Moisturiser for eg). But I rarely put any product in to be honest.

Great write up Aaron - loving the wall of Vox amps in your pictures back home by the way!

And nice to meet you and your partner during the head wash, too! Everything looked great

Keep us posted!

9 minutes ago, ScottishGuy21 said:

Since my transplant I’ve had a few flares ups / sheds which after originally thinking it was covid related have since been diagnosed with Seb Derm. Struggling to find a shampoo that I can use daily.
 

What shampoo is anyone in the UK using? I know H&S used to do a clinical strength one that’s been discontinued. I need something I can use in between my Nizoral use.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Dr Ball at the Maitland clinic suggested a shampoo to me for this called Juniper Scalp Therapy by Tony Maleedy. It's not cheap, but I found it to be quite effective. Also recommended to get some Betacap solution (a topical steroidal ointment) to use sparingly if things are flaring up a bit more than usual.

The advantage of the Juniper shampoo is that it's actually quite a nice shampoo that lathers up very nicely. I like the scent personally (the missus, not so much!). Worth a go if you're struggling.

14 minutes ago, roheezy said:

I've got my surgery scheduled for June 16, 2024 so I'm excited but also super nervous. @Sele, I am in the same situation I bit as you I think in that I'm a bit uninformed specifically with this doctor as he doesn't seem too talkative on WhatsApp.

Anyways, I'm encouraged by your story (and others) on this forum that I've made the right choice.

I'm flying in to Bangkok in a few days and will be living there until November so hopefully I can get the assistance I need post-treatment. Will definitely start posting here on my own thread once I start the process.

I know I am going to be super stressed out but one of the questions I had relates to cutting your hair post-surgery. It seems a lot of people wait quite some time before getting their first haircut. I know I have to wait a few weeks but was hoping to just keep getting a 'buzzcut' or something similarly short while the hair grows so everything looks a bit more even. Does anyone have any reasons why I shouldn't be doing this?

Thanks!

Perfectly fine to buzzcut your way through the ugly duckling phase. As a precaution, use a plastic guard and probably wait 3 weeks or so post-op before buzzing the recipient. You won't damage the grafts, but your head will be red and you'll want to be gentle as it's still recovering.

On 4/2/2024 at 3:13 AM, HatMaster said:

Thank you for the nice comments. I'm incredibly happy with how things have gone and feel like I'm looking better than I have in a long time (maybe ever).

 

I am currently considering whether I want to go back for a smaller second procedure. My donor still feels quite thick compared to the top, and I wonder if a second pass would take me from "not really balding" to "good hair". My priorities would be:

1) Filling in the crown / rear scalp areas that weren't touched or are still sparse

2) Reinforcing the midscalp behind the hairline

3) Potentially lowering the hairline a bit in the corners since I went with a pretty conservative hairline the first time around (see picture below)

 

Curious if you guys think there'd be a cosmetic benefit or if I'm better off keeping the donor grafts in the bank in case I have further loss (although meds seem to be working well for me). I'd be looking at 1500-2000 grafts max, depending on donor assessment.

 

I would strongly advise against the hairline alteration. Firstly, it’ll make such an inconsequential difference to the overall framing of the face that it’s pointless. Secondly, it’s a waste of grafts and, lastly, you’d be altering a hairline design that is natural for one that to me would look a bit too flat. 
 

The old adage, ‘if it ain’t broke…’ comes to mind here. 
 

I think your plan to fill in any lagging areas or weaker spots is quite sound and if you’re happy with your result & experience generally, I’d want to stick to the same surgeon and work with them until the end of your journey. 

1 hour ago, RTC said:

Good move deciding not to go Vera.

 

Save up and go to a better clinic where you know exactly who the doctor is.

 

Cheaper Turkish options include Demirsoy and FUECapilar. Giorgio Michalis and HDC in Cyprus are also superb options

These are all decent options indeed. I’d add that I struggle to see past Dr Loarwong & Ratchathorn at the moment when it comes to the budget friendly end of the spectrum. They’d be a €4 per graft clinic in Western Europe. 

2 hours ago, Kanan said:

Hi Berba11,

Thank you for the post. That is indeed helpful to use my old photos for reference. I ' ll take them out and post them asap. As for the proportions I would like some studies or peer reviewed material or any youtube videos for better understanding. I am on it and will post that too.

Proportions are aesthetic rather than scientific per se, so I'm sure what sort of peer-reviewed studies you'd be expecting. I'm not saying they don't exist (maybe they do - I don't know!), rather, i'm not sure how helpful they'd be.

If you get your hairline height no lower than it used to be, then you'll be proportionally fine unless you had a very disproportionate face to begin with (which you probably don't)! The issue with lowering the hairline is that it can throw everything out of whack. For example, in caucasian blokes especially, usually the distance between the mid-frontal point and glabella (between the eyebrows) and the distance between the tip of the nose and the chin will be about the same or the forehead length will be slightly bigger.

12 minutes ago, Lionhead said:

Thank you all for your responses. I am very hopeful that the results will be good. Here is a current picture. It’s been a bit over three months now, and the hair has become grayer. I think this is because of the grafts from the sides, and I did some cover up before the operation.

 

with the donor section and the homogeneity. That’s a good point. Maybe it will look better in some time. 
 

dr. Muresanu draw the hairline. Most of other work the assistants did and his wife. One assistant was working long time in Vancouver at a very known place for Hauttransplantation. I was very happy with the work.

The extractions from the hairline look to have healed completely. Can't see any scarring at all which is great. How many grafts were extracted from the hairline?

You might want to consider broadening your considerations to surgeons that offer a combination of FUT, FUE and beard hair in order to maximise your donor resources.

Impossible to say at this point. Temporary shock loss is very common, and we can't rule out something as simple as unfavourable lighting in this particular photo. Only time will tell.

Excellent write up. I had my third consultation with Dr Sever this morning funnily enough and will also be having hairline extractions, and also adding density to the midscalp. So quite an interesting case for me this one!
 

Could you share some close up pictures of your hairline currently so we can see how everything has healed?

31 minutes ago, SLA said:

Thanks for the tip, @MazAB- How about this...when I likely see you next month, I can try it out from your tube and you can help me style my locks?

Please get this on video lads 😅

I've watched SMP design & consultations videos and have my head in my hands half the time. Almost all of the practitioners use the frontalis muscle as a target rather than something to stay clear of, they all aim for perfect symmetry virtually none of them seem to have any grasp whatsoever of what a temple point is supposed to look like and where it's supposed to be.

SMP done well - conservative, age appropriate and subtle - can look really nice indeed. And there are some nice examples of SMP + FUE working well in tandem with one another.

Find a good SMP artist who properly understands the aesthetics and also has a high level of understanding about hair restoration and the considerations around combining the two disciplines is very difficult though.

34 minutes ago, Kanan said:

What instruments will Eugenix use to make a hairline that accurately matches my facial proportions?

This part isn't really about instruments but a good eye for aesthetics and what will work for a particular patient. In terms of proportions, in your case it's quite easy; your natural proportions (that you shouldn't really change or deviate from) are evident as you still have a forelock that can be used as the basis for the hairline mid-frontal point.

The question then becomes whether the rest of the hairline is a more broad and wide U-shape, a smaller U-shape or more of a windows peak-style V-shape. Only you will know what your hair line used to look like before you lost it, so you could go back and use old photos as the basis for proceeding (not necessarily to replicate it, but to maybe opt for a slightly more matured and conservative version of what you had before).

World class repair. Amazing!

Dr Ball is a top doctor. I'm really pleased that you've managed to overcome that bad first surgery now. Great write up and documentation - will help a lot of people for sure.

Cutting the hair shorter will make them harder to distinguish as beard from scalp hair, yes (unless there's something particularly unsightly or unique that would create a contrast even at buzz-cut lengths).

27 minutes ago, nonamedk said:

which doctors do you think can do the job which are cheaper?

There's so many excellent surgeons in the £4 (give or take) price range, many of which are on the recommended list at the top of the forum. My personal favourites are Feriduni, Hattingen, Pittella... Ferreira is an excellent surgeon too of course. These are all top class outfits and I don't really see that Dr Munib is in any sense superior to be honest, but obviously don't take my word for it!

For Dr Ted, he showcases a lot on his Instagram. Unfortunately we don't yet have independent reviews on the forum, but he only opened his own practice in April but had been operating at couple of different well known brand names in the UK (Westminster, HQ) prior.

1 hour ago, nonamedk said:

I haven’t got a estimate for the grafts, as he says they don’t work that way - they use the amount of grafts that will give the desired result.

It's as close to a guaranteed result as you can get in this industry if you do go with him, and if that's a sum of money that you can comfortably part with then fair play to you. I think you could save yourself a significant amount of money whilst still putting yourself in very excellent hands though.

What I would say is do not go back to Wimpole! Also, I note that you want this done by next summer, but that seems to me to be pointlessly limiting. I'm sure you have your reasons, but I highly doubt they are reasons enough to compromise on getting the best possible result in the best possible hands. Next summer will come and go like any other summer. Your HT, however, is for life...

The best clinic (in my view) who also tend to have a shorter wait time is Hattingen Hair. No harm in at least getting on a video consultation with Dr Sever.

I've also just spent 3 hours with Dr Ted Miln today outside of Cardiff observing a surgery (and meeting another patient who had a large session). I think he does excellent work and might be worth speaking with. He's not as established as some of the names already touted but that will change soon enough I imagine.

1 hour ago, gary123 said:

350 indian rupees  a graft + 18% tax  - about 5 us dollars a graft total. 

What were your issues at the clinic? Who would you recommend instead?

I've written about some of my own issues in my own thread (I won't retype them here), and if you spend time going through other cases you'll see some of the same complaints: poor to zero planning/consultation, the surgeon not being in the room for the whole or even majority of the surgery, other surgeons that you haven't paid for or consulted with being involved, organisational issues where the left hand isn't talking to the right hand etc. They produce excellent result the vast majority of the time I think if you have the budget (which it seems you do), there's better options. All of the Eugenix surgeons are certainly talented, but I don't think the organisational structures facilitates their talents as well as it used to do when it was a much smaller clinic with just Dr Pradeep and Dr Arika. If were going to pay top whack, I'd want to go somewhere in which I'm the only patient in that day.

At $5 per graft you could go to Dr Pittella in Brazil, Hattingen Hair in Switzerland, Dr Loarwong in Thailand (the latter two open you up to the possibility of strip surgery as well, which is a great option to consider) etc... You've got a lot of great options really. For me, you want maximum time with your surgeon at all stages: consultation(s), planning and throughout the whole surgery. The more of the actual surgery they do the better, but constant oversight as a minimum and their team is small and highly experienced.

None of this is to say that Eugenix are not a good option for you or that you should not go there. But I do think it's important that patients are aware of some of these things in advance so that they can factor it in to their decision making.

7 minutes ago, nonamedk said:

I got a offer from Dr. Munib to do the work for 45k euro, im in doubt if that is a overkill for this work?

He's an excellent surgeon. He is so much better than anyone else that the premium price is justified? Not in my view. How many grafts did he estimate you needed?