New_Barnet_Please

10 minutes ago, magicfleece said:

What's everyone's issue with this post then

Just agreeing with you that that’s everything you don’t want to hear 🙂

As others have said at the start of this thread, in my opinion there are much much better ht doctors outside the UK in Europe for usually less money. I’m from the UK and so glad I used this forum and did not stay there for my ht.

43 minutes ago, NegativeNorwood said:

Dr Mwamba has the best results I've ever seen for beard to beard transplants:

 

Also not discussed here in any form or shape, ideal beard shape has to have a certain height, and has to be right below the cheekbone, to give good facial framing and the impression of sharpness.  This is better seen with beards shorter than 5-7 mm ("stubbles"), but all the beard transplants I've seen, understandably, want to keep the beard longer than that. A good jaw development and a low body fat percentage obviously help a lot with framing and determining the actual beard shape, as it is much easier to see without excess adiposity distorting the jawline and cheeks.

 

Examples of perfect beards. Notice how everything above is a constant despite the different ethnicities:

 

My case would be similar to this, the difference is what I want to get transplanted with beard grafts:

I'm lucky to have a decent beard but with some grey hairs that are not very visible (this should improve with dye) and only lack the upper part for my desired beard shape. I don't know how many grafts that would be but it doesn't seem like a huge number of them (albeit the difference they make is big). Along with eyebrow and a small temple transplant, this would be my other priority.

 

Scalp hairs are a subpar solution compared to beard grafts. Sadly, not everyone has enough beard donor to get a satisfactory beard to beard transplant.

Copy pasted from Bruno Ferreira's website, he advocates for beard to beard transplants when possible instead of scalp to beard:

"The best area to extract beard hairs from is right below and up to the edge of the mandible, as this zone usually has a higher hair density and is less visible. I can say though that healing in this area is remarkable and extractions are imperceptible after recovery, which is very good since it’s still a very exposed area and of course we wouldn’t want to make something look significantly worse whilst trying to fix/improve something else. I can actually go as far as to say that even from the cheek, hairs can be extracted as it heals excellently, although I do prefer to avoid that zone.

Extraction isn’t especially difficult and it’s also not very painful for patients (anesthesia is rather simple and painless). I tend to make shallower cuts and usually will resort to the manual punch for beard extractions as it’s more easy to handle when you’re extracting in a more odd angle. You do need to be a bit more gentle when excising the grafts as they are a bit more tightly anchored and will break if you aren’t perfect with your cuts.

Some beards are very rich and have a total donor capacity of more than 1500 grafts, but we do have to take into account that beard follicular units are usually limited to single hairs (the most common ones) and doubles."

 

PS: Minoxidil won't grow hair where there isn't any. It will strenghten existing hair, but it won't create new follicles. I've seen an Oscar Muñoz video where he said it would strenghten existing hairs by 20-25% at most (rough estimate), but of course it won't cause new hair follicles to grow and give someone like me a beard like Toni Mahfud's. Only a transplant can do that.

Good stuff, I agree with most, I would take issue with the idea that you can’t grow new follicles with minoxidil though - that’s what it does! See the Reddit link in my previous post on this thread for a huge amount of evidence of that. Although it’s true if there’s no hair there at all there’s less chance of getting a good result on the beard with minox.

Great results and improvement already, congratulations you deserve it after all the careful research and planning 👍🏼

You’ve done research and chosen a great surgeon, no reason to feel “guilty” - it’ll look way better after surgery so why not go for it! Only consideration is long term med use and probably needing another surgery in the future, if it bothers you and you’re ok with these 2 things then sure you’ll feel much better with your new look - I do for sure 🙂.

After seeing your temples in the above picture they look ok to me but discuss in your planning with your in person consultation.

It’s quite a major trauma to the scalp so I’m afraid there’s not much way to hide it other than a hat. At 2.5 weeks you’ll just about be over the worst of it for scabs coming off etc so that’s good. Your donor will quickly not be obvious with FUE as hair grows around it to cover it. The recipient area however will be red for likely quite some time and only really start to look better at around 3 months (everyone is different though). So unfortunately it will most likely be visible, but we often overestimate how much anyone actually cares! You’re investing in yourself and will hopefully have a great result by the end so putting up with some redness and maybe having to tell people is a small price to pay. Be confident in yourself and try not to worry about what anyone might think :0)

Check my thread if you’re interested to see how it might look at 1 month.

If anyone asks you could say you are recovering from a skin condition if you really don’t want to say you had a ht. Most people won’t pry and as I say how much people care is mostly in our heads!

1 hour ago, AladdinSane said:

I’m interested in this topic too but in my case, scalp to beard. Not to create a full beard but just to create some facial hair growth on the lip and chin which is absent on me. The burning question I’ve been trying to get consistent answers too are wanting to ensure if done, that when clean shaven it won’t have cobblestones or any other complications that will mean the hair can’t be clean shaven without showing signs of a procedure.

 

I know Dr. Konior does beard to beard and my guess is that being the perfectionist he is, that he wouldn’t provide such an option if it meant the facial could not be clean shaven ever. I mean not many would want to keep designer stubble or a full beard forever. It still has to be functional with the option to shave clean. I’ve been told by a few HT doctors that if done properly there’s no visible scarring and that cobblestones or pits are because of bad technique as to how the grafts are trimmed.

I have no cobblestoning, it looks the same as pre-surgery, now just waiting for growth. Recipient area is a little red still after 2 months, donor area of the neck and below chin heals so well - no scarring there at all already!

From my research I think scalp hair to beard is actually a very different procedure to beard to beard as the hair can be quite different. In that case it seems to have more chance of looking unnatural and more complications. For me personally I don’t think I would do scalp hair to beard, but I am fortunate to have enough donor on the neck and under the chin for the cheeks. Also the risk is less in my case as I don’t want a very thick beard so the density isn’t that great, just to have something there on the cheeks to have a consistent beard.

I don’t want to go into it much as I’d rather just create a thread in a few months with all the details but good luck with your research 👍🏼

If it’s for yourself you could try topical minoxidil on the beard, it takes a year of daily application but if you are a responder the results are permanent (unlike with the scalp). See Reddit.com/minoxbeards for others that have achieved it.

Unfortunately I was an apparently rare non-responder for this, so I did have a beard to beard FUE surgery a few months ago. I won’t comment on it yet as for this one I’m just going to create a thread when the result is in at 8-9 months 🙂

While it’s fair to point out risks (as with anything in life) this thread is pretty negative!! The best of the best surgeons often discussed on the forum have a very very high success rate - and they are often so confident from that consistency that they offer a guarantee of a high % growth or they would do something about it to fix it! Like any big decision it’s just important to take time to research (more than “days” 😛), avoid deliberate misinformation from bad sources (such as hair mill Instagram pages) and make a good choice of surgeon. 

I don’t know about that, but there’s a big difference between someone who has zero knowledge and may come to the forum asking for advice about a first ht and someone who has carefully researched all about how ht works and has been living hair loss for years researching to find a solution in a ht, with all the physical experience that entails as well. So the latter can generally give a lot of helpful advice and help “newbies” avoid the many traps and deliberate misinformation, that’s why this forum is so valuable to many.

On 1/12/2023 at 11:20 PM, Hair2023 said:

 

Hi Gatsby,

Yes, that’s good advice.

I was considering Smile then I cancelled, contacted Bicer but she’s full until December 2023, Gur is free February but their customer care isn’t that great so I’m not totally leaning towards them, what is your/anybody’s rating on Dr Yamam? His customer care is very helpful, just unsure if his results are fantastic or not??

 

Has anyone ever had any work from Dr Kalra? I think his practice is different to the “Harley Street” that Wayne Rooney and co went to.

 

Cheers!

@Marko7t4, yes had a look at yours and it looks great mate! Folk were saying Dr Arshad lacked density, I received a quote from Yaman, Gur and Turan they all said 3,000 - 3,500 grafts, however Dr Arshad said 1,500 - 2,000 which a bit questioning. 
Do you know if he’ll put more grafts in if you think it will lack density? 
Does he do FUE sapphire or DHI? 
Yes still £3 per graft. 

Would you rank him in the top tier in Europe?

Anyway I’ve narrowed it down to Yaman and Arshad. Maybe I’m overthinking it far too much.

 

Cheers

No I would not. Just spend a few hours looking in detail at the results from the names mentioned as the best in the EU and the average result of this doctor and you can easily see for yourself.

You are absolutely not overthinking it, it’s a serious procedure and it’s very very important to do a lot of research to understand it all as much as possible before going ahead with your chosen doctor. 

9 hours ago, HT-FUE said:

Hi Mate, I did see your post and was really impressed with the results, I'm going to look into it a bit more and see what i find, there was a post recently saying density has been an issue on recent results. Hopefully isnt a write off as ive seen some fantastic results and going there than abroad again would be nice

Density clearly can be a big issue with Dr Arshad, just from posts here it seems like a large number of patients that have posted have had to go back for a second procedure for a “top up” - which is just that the job wasn’t done right the first time. “Top up” sounds friendly but it’s 2 years of your life waiting for a result instead of 1 and 2 rounds of quite unpleasant and stressful surgery experience instead of 1 - and as I said it should not be necessary. Never seen an elite doctor on this forum needing to go over the whole area again because the density is unacceptable to the patient because so many grafts didn’t take. So yeah, Dr Arshad is definitely not where I’d want to go to add density to a ht.

15 hours ago, jc80220 said:

On 1/23/2023 at 1:39 PM, jc80220 said:

That's good advice, thanks.

I don't mind so much how low it is, as long as it's a hair line I'd be happy to have shaved. As posted before, this guy seems to have a high hair line but it's a nice, not too straight shape. It's SMP but you get the idea.

 

 

You may not get the thickness to have it look good at all when shaved right down you know. If I’m honest it sounds like you could do with doing quite a bit more research. A HT is a serious procedure that can have life changing consequences, and not necessarily in a good way. I’m a bit concerned that the clinic doesn’t seem to have talked over the hairline or if your expectations are possible. What surgeon will you have and which branch? Have you researched the surgeon in detail on this and other forums?

4 hours ago, Pmk1 said:

Yeah, I’ve seen positive comments but like you say he is not on recommended list in the forum.

It is minefield trying to work it out and make a good decision. Ideally, I would love to stay in UK but I’ve heard only of 1 doctor(Arshad) recommended and I am getting conflicting information. Additionally, I have contacted them myself and the amount grafts suggested is very low compared to the quotes from like of other recommended highly respected doctors on this forum. Funnily enough they quote around the same amount(2500-2800) grafts. I heard a few stories about Arshad clinic under quoting which I think is still happening now.

 

 

I would absolutely say don't stay in the UK or go to Dr Arshad, there are much better options in Europe.

1 hour ago, Jl90 said:

Looks great!

 

Have you got any pictures with the hair wet and slicked back?

 

I am looking to have a procedure with Dr Bisanga and the slicked back look is my dream hair style.

Hi, no sorry I don’t - my hair has never naturally grown in a way that a slicked back style would work for my face, so for the ht design we actually specifically designed it to not fall in that way to keep a natural look for me.

1 minute ago, BeHappy said:

 

It's going to take several months to start growing because it has to shed and then start growing again as new hairs. If you are just looking for the stubble look in a beard then it won't take 12 months to get that look because it doesn't have to grow to any real length, however the individual hairs may be thinner for a while and gradually thicken up to 12 months or more, so you could see a somewhat decent beard at 5 or 6 months which will improve over the next 6 months.

Awesome, not quite so long to wait then - cheers!

Hmm weird, my head was shaved at the clinic the day before surgery and when the lines for the HT plan were put on my head the day before surgery by Dr Bisanga they were done in some kind of marker pen that definetely wasn't going to fade away or go anywhere.

Thanks for the video @Melvin- Moderator! You mentioned the difference in hair growth cycles for beard hair. I was wondering if you know, in a beard (neck) to beard (instead of to scalp) transplant if that means that the result comes in faster? Or is it still around the 4 months to see some growth and around 12 months for the final result? 

I had quite bad dandruff which seemed to get worse 3-4 years ago, even Nizoral didn’t make a difference. I noticed when at the hairdresser it seemed to be worst in one area, when the hairdresser would run the comb through that area it would be embarrassing as a lot of visible big flakes would fall down but I never really knew what to do about it. 

When I had my HT over a year ago my head was shaved all the way down for the first time in my life, I noticed there was an area of my scalp above the left ear which was red and flaky. This was where the worst area was for the dandruff. I researched online and found someone recommending Clobex for psoriasis, the pictures of psoriasis look extreme in many cases but I did wonder if I had a mild case/patch of it so wanted to give it a try. I’ve actually only recently got around to trying it even though I’ve had the bottle a long time - the results were incredible, it totally cleared up the bad dandruff coming from that area in just one use! No need to even use it again so far. Couldn’t believe a medication worked so well, or that I’d been dealing with this embarrassing dandruff for many years when there was such an instant fix!!

I wanted to share this in case it might help someone else discover the same thing, I expect it wouldn’t be the case for all over the scalp but if you find you have heavy dandruff which seems worse in one area this could be worth asking a dermatologist to check for mild psoriasis and exploring Clobex.

I still have a bit of normal light dandruff from the rest of the scalp but this is normal now like anyone might have. I’ve been using T/Gel shampoo which I’ve seen recommended and has been ok but do drop a comment if you’ve found a better regular use shampoo for this :0)

Since getting my HT about a year and a half ago, I noticed periodically from 1 year onwards sometimes patches of it look a little thinner than the result that I had before. It always made me concerned but the patches always grew back to the previous thickness 1-2 months later and I breathed a sign of relief. In the end I stopped worrying about it and thought it must be because all the hair grew at the same time. I just came across this great video by @Rolandas which explains the phenomenon perfectly and I really think not many people seem aware of it and not many doctors mention it to their patients. Maybe people aren't thinking over 1 year ahead at that point but it's useful to be aware of to avoid worrying over nothing 

I’m surprised more people don’t do at least a minor version of this. All the time I see a ht around the small patch of hair they have when it’s obvious that will also go. I requested some overlap on mine and Dr Bisanga agreed, for the reasons you state - I wanted it to last as long as possible without requiring another procedure.

On 11/15/2022 at 6:01 PM, augustya said:

How did you find out that only oral works for you ? And topical does not ?

Straight up results more than anything, I talk about it in the last post on my thread in detail if you’re interested, cheers

14 hours ago, splitting hairs said:

Oral minoxidil has been showing some very impressive results.  I am tempted to add it to my regimen, but my only concerns are the studies showing it decreases collagen production in the skin.  As a result, a lot of users have reported wrinkles - particularly around the eye area.  Any thoughts?  

Please link to the studies you refer to

2 months is too early to see proper  results, good luck for the coming months :0)

No, the oral version works great for me without messing around with the topical. In fact I’m a non-responder to the topical version.