urbanite88

Oh no not complications. Just that I was thought my procedure was meant to start at 11am but it didn't start until about 2.30pm with me twiddling my thumps for a while and getting tense haha also I wanted to spend some time with Dr Das the day before, which i asked for months in advance but the support guys insisted any planning session would need to be on the day and they will not rush me ( which was a concern from other reviews) I did see her very briefly the day before for about 30 seconds in passing at the reception ! My first HT was in a 1 doctor 1 patient setup so the differences became quite apparent while I was there even though I knew this going in to be fair. Anyhow Dr Das is a great lady who really made me feel at ease on the day when things started getting going I saw your note about the google review thing, yeah I felt a little awkward about that two, because they asked about it twice! A bit pushy/salesy from that side but think they were all well intentioned !

Wow!! I had my second HT with Dr Das on the 14th October, so on your second day, I would have been the other patient Dr Das was in charge of ( which now explains a lot of things about my experience ). I was scheduled for a 2 days surgery on 14th & 15th but even before when I was on plane out from UK I knew I had to think more long term and wanted a smaller procedure than previously discussed with Eugenix, so we managed a lower graft count all in one day. PS my BP after my arrival on 13th was apparently perfectly normal (slightly even on lower side) but on the morning itself it was high! But it eventually dropped after they gave me some anti anxiety meds to calm me down Any congratulations on your transplant, it looks good!

Hey guys, not sure if this is covered elsewhere or something obvious I have missed. I was curious, how do transplant surgeons know where in your scalp to make incisions for new grafts? How do they know if your existing hair follicle there there might be completely gone and unlikely to grow hair vs follicles that are just dormant as part of normal shedding?

Good to get those data points. I called mine up but they refused to book them for me, but gave me an appointment in 10 days time to discuss why I need them haha Is, I just want a general health check not a good enough reason?

Ah sweet! Was thinking they'd reject me too but maybe will give my GP a try first 👍

Hey everyone, I'm booked in for Eugenix next month, wandering if anyone in the UK (I'm London based) can recommended a suitable place to get most of these blood tests required? I've reached out to a couple of places who are quoting over £400 ! Also if I get the HIV/Hep ones from a GUM clinic would they be acceptable? Appreciate any suggestions

Hey dude, have to say a you have excellent donor and body hair to boot, lucky man! I am booked for my second HT with Dr Priya Das on 21-22nd February so I may bump into you! I shall be arriving just the night before surgery so won't have time to explore India unfortunately but maybe stick around a week or so if I can make it work with work.

Thanks @MachoVato but no spin intended. Perhaps I was having a little wobble, that's it.

Yeah its perplexing. There appears to be some debate about this but no consensus on what the perfect balance is. Hoping the bright side is my donar should be in the best possible condition as can be when I do go for the second session

6200 was a typo from top of my head I remembered it being 6300 or so. Yeah I've seen a few places (Inc Dr arshad in UK) that do shout out the doubles/tripples etc. It's great to be able to have complete transparency where that is possible. And even the best of the best of surgeon's are still human and will not always be perfect in their execution each time. All things considering I did opt for what I considered was the best choice for me with all the information I had available.

Can't say about all of them. Ozen and Dr Bicer do

Got my surgery report back.. Here are my graft breakdown: Singles: 2100 Doubles: 1140 Multiples: 670 Actual estimate is 6390. All extractions supposedly performed with a 0.7mm punch. This surprised me a little. Over the last year alone I must have seen hundreds of surgery write ups and Youtube review videos. I don't think I've seen anyone/case with so many singles. Without stating the obvious, a high norwood needs to be getting as many multiples as possible. I would imagine this is the goal, even if it is unspoken of. I can't help but wonder if the use of 0.7mm punch had something to do with it? I have done extensive research into Dr Bicer before I dived into this and specifically watched videos of her discussing her approach to use of various punch sizes and how she adapts it for each patient and what she is trying to extract. She uses anything between 0.6mm for singles up to 9mm. That I knew months before sugery. I figured that's what she would do in my case. I reached out, and Dr Bicer sent back a message explaining she used the smaller size to protect my donor area from being overharvested. And so I would have less visible scars. When I separately asked Ozen what the transection rate was, she initially seemed confused. Then when I explained, she stated they don't count damaged grafts. They possibly did extract more than 3910 grafts but they only count what they implant. Again something I did not feel entirely comfortable with. I think a patient should have a right to know this information? What are your thoughts?

Hey man.. thanks for the message. I guess we all go through this process of second guessing ourself/ how everything went and if you really made the best choice etc I just had this feeling that I'd maybe spread myself too thin.. and I maybe didn't have the best yield/outcome. O will write again about it. Btw I'm 37 and yes I've been in med for over 5 years. I also just read your story .. wow!! You has a gigantic FUT! You are very lucky you had such a good donor supply. Wish you all the best with your recovery and the results!

First 12 days update Day 2-4 I swelled up all over face and even the back of my head. Not a great sight! Thankfully it eased quickly after. Donor area was looking okay I think? Had abit of running around, due to travel plans up in the air. Was initially meant to be in Istanbul for 5 nights. Since I could only return home via a third country, I was exploring leaving IST sooner. Running around a hot and traffic congested city was not fun. I was stuck in a 50 min taxi ride on route to hospital to get a PCR test (Ozen helped me arrange that in the Asian side of the city, they charged me 250 lira). I was sweating like crazy in the taxi which had no aircon. Even walking on the hunt for a restaurant got me all sweaty. I was worried what effect that would have on my HT. Especially because I wasn't due to my first wash until the 3rd day (4th because HT day is day 0?) Right after the HT Dr Bicer stated Ozen would send me a video instruction when it was time for my first wash. Day 4 came and went by. When it dawned on me on day 5, I reached out to Ozen to get the video instructions. I will reserve any judgement for now. First wash was very strange, almost like trying to clean a doormat with your finger tips! Despite the video, I had no idea how much pressure to apply. Scared I could dislodge grafts, I pretty much just ended up gently patting the shampoo provided and rinsing with super low pressure in shower head. This is what it looked like after the second wash... Day 5 was also the day when I really started to feel donor area pain. It was interesting that it also coincided with some of the medications provided being finished that day? I wondering if one of the medication I was also a painkiller? I slept worst in day 5-8 due to donor area pain. I would sporadically get this weird sensation of needles in my head. Think my nerves were springing back to life? Also it just all felt so tight, which probably made it all the much worse. I would dread to think what an FUT would feel like. I got in touch with Dr Bicer during this, and asked for me to send more photo updates and then advised me to start massaging the scalp. Again I was never really clear on how best to massage my donar. It was still tender and painful to touch. But then I found a YouTube video from @Melvin- Moderator, which really helped me, on how to actually massage. By day 10, it seemed much more manageable and I was able to sleep through most the night without waking up finally. Though the scabs were falling off gradually (some hairs were also coming off with them) they were still stubborn. On 12 day, I was about 90% scab free. I have no ideas why these last two pictures are upside down. Can't seem to change it on here. While all this was happening, there was something else that was playing on my mind. I just did not know how to control that inner voice. I will share that in a follow up post.

Thanks @SLA yep slight delay in posting.. when I was writing the intro I was already on the move. All this covid testing and awaiting results really keeps you on the edge