AlteredEg0l

Does anyone know anything about this clinic? I've never heard of it and it doesn't come up in a search on this site. I have a friend who's dating someone who went there, and she says the results are impeccable. (She didn't know he'd had anything done until he said so.) Their site is missing a lot of common information, like staff names and pricing. It seems highly suspect to me.

37 minutes ago, LaserCaps said:

Forget the money aspect for a minute.  Unrealistic expectations? Perhaps. Let's return to basics.

If you've shown the propensity to lose, you will continue losing hair.  The photo you've shown of the top of your head shows diffused thinning. All that hair is at risk and it's likely you'll lose it if you don't do something about it.  Are you doing anything to help you with retention of the native hair?  Propecia, Rogaine, PRP and Laser are the modalities we typically refer to when dealing with this debilitating condition.  

You've drawn a hairline in a very aggressive position.  This only increases the size of the canvas.  Not only will you create a hairline of a teenager, you'll be limiting your donor and the amount of hair that can be placed farther back in the pattern - which seems to be important to you.  The farther back you work the farther back the doctor can take the grafts.  This would help to minimize the size of the crown.  

Donor limitation.  No one with an advanced pattern has enough donor to allow for a full set of hair in the front, middle and back.  So, if there is a limitation, where do we want to put it so that it makes the most benefit for the patient?  The front.  It is the area you see when looking at yourself.  It is also the area others see when they interact with you. And, what about the crown? You might ask.

We all share the whirl.  There is a point in the crown area from which the hair stems.  No hair is coming into the area. Rather, the hair grows outwards from the point.  It's a sphere and it can take all your donor. So, say you fill the crown and you have no donor left.  You will then be asking "why did you put all my hair in the crown? Now I have nothing left for the front." You will always look bald.

Now the money.  You may want to consider getting on all modalities and give then a year.  Who is not to say a lot of the miniaturized hair you have can be reversed with the PRP and the Laser.  If much of what you have is improved, including the crown, would then open up many more options.  

Finally, as part of your research, find out where the doctors you are considering learned to do hair.  Do they have a Fellowship in hair?

 

What a great post! Thank you for all of this information; I was unaware of many of these factors.

I've been using minoxidil for about 7 years now, tried coupling that with finasteride for 2 years recently, and then switched that out for dutasteride for the past 2 years. I believe the minoxidil is doing the most to prevent further hair loss; it seemed to accelerate when I stopped using it. (Nothing is resulting in new hair growth, unfortunately.)

As for the location of the HT, I'm good with my appearance. I have a high hairline, but it's decent and I'm used to it. Nearly all of my hair loss is invisible to me; it makes me way more paranoid thinking others are seeing a problem that I can't. Like I'm "lying" to them in some way by appearing to have a full head of hair until they see me from an alternate angle. This ties in with cost, too: I won't feel it's money well spent unless I no longer have a bald spot.

Regarding doctors, this forum is my primary resource. If the doctor has been vetted by users on here and recommended, what more information should I be gathering?

8 hours ago, JoeMan said:

Read patient reviews and only proceed when you feel comfortable with the clinic.

I'm having a really hard time finding bad reviews. Obviously doctors' websites will only show their best work, but the overwhelming majority of positive results on here has me thinking the success rate is really high and there's maybe not much to worry about. Am I missing something?

8 hours ago, JoeMan said:

Are you not doing your hairline? I'm confused by this because you said that you were doing your front and crown.

Oh! Sorry, I should've been more clear: unless I can do it all in a single procedure, I'll do my crown first and hairline later. My hairline receded in sometime in my twenties and I didn't even notice. The bald spot and asymmetry of the hair loss up top bother me way more.

31 minutes ago, JoeMan said:

Actually this is completely false. Turkey is mostly a scam. Dr. Biçer and HLC are decent and maybe a few others but personally I'd pick Spain and Portugal way before Turkey. 

How old are you? 

Are you on medication for HL?

Sadly, I can't afford the $10k+ that some countries would cost me. I'm hoping that by staying away from my hairline, I can get by with a slightly cheaper doctor instead of the "premiere" level people mentioned here. In my price range, Turkey and Mexico seem to have the most options available - but I fully admit I don't know much about this at all!

I'm 42, been taking Dutasteride for about a year now and topical Minoxidil for about 5.

1 minute ago, JoeMan said:

Did you search real patient reviews from this clinic? 

For Hair Center Mexico? Yes. That's what led me to seek a consultation. Like you said, though, it's definitely worth shopping around and getting other doctors' opinions! I figured the fine folks here could help point me towards _which_ doctors to seek out. Bicer is also a name I see come up a lot, and I know Turkey's HT industry is one of the best, so I plan to consult with her next. Wondering where/who else to talk to.

1 minute ago, JoeMan said:

How much was the quote you received? 

$5750 all-inclusive (minus airfare)

Hello all! I've been looking into FUE for a few months now, and recently got a consultation from Hair Center Mexico. They recommended 2200-2400 grafts for my crown and another 2300-2500 to restore my hairline and add density across the top.

1. Do these numbers sound accurate? (Refer to my photo album for more historical pictures.)
2. They said they can't do it all in one go; I'd have to come back after the first procedure had time to heal up before addressing whatever is left. What's the max number of grafts people can get in one procedure?
3. Is quality as necessary with less prominent areas like the crown or simply restoring density? (I'm basically wondering if I can save some money on the less obvious areas, in order to splurge a bit on the ever-important hairline.)
4. I live in midwest US (Ohio), so I'm thinking around September is a good time of year to get this done: truly cold hat-wearing weather doesn't set it for a few months, but it's not the absolute middle of summer when sweat and sun will be at their worst. What do y'all think?
5. My budget is around $6000, all-inclusive. I'm in the US, but expecting to travel outside the country to get the work done. Doctor recommendations?

Thanks everyone!

13 hours ago, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

Unlike natural eyebrows that grow only to a certain point and then stop, scalp hair continues to grow and transplanting scalp hair into the eyebrows means that you’ll have to trim them every so often to keep them looking the way you want.

 

I have to trim my natural eyebrows anyway; some of the hairs continue to grow much longer than the others. Is that normal?

Looking good so far! It seems like you healed quickly and didn't have a lot of shock loss. I'm heavily considering Bicer for my own procedure; looks like we have roughly the same starting point. May I ask, how much it cost?

On 2/10/2022 at 5:33 PM, Melvin- Moderator said:

Pretty common, Dr. Mwamba goes by FUE Clinic. The clinic name is different than the surgeons name. If you’re not confident consider going elsewhere. Have you consulted with anyone else?

Sorry to ghost like that! I haven't consulted with anyone else. Not really sure what questions to ask, TBH!

7 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Perhaps some of it is copy and paste, but im sure the graft estimate is unique.

No, it's literally verbatim! If they're the same clinic, at least the identical graft count makes sense.

10 minutes ago, Gokuhairline said:

they are the same clinic they go by both names so a copy past is probably done for simplicity sake...

That seems really weird to go by two different names. Anyone know why they do that?

Hi all, I've been looking into HT and wanted to see what a few clinics in Mexico had to say. I submitted pics to Hair Center Mexico and Hair Medical Restoration, and received this exact response from both:

Quote

In your case you need around 2300-2500  grafts to restore your hairline and increase the density in the front and middle. And we think you need another procedure to cover the crown and add density to the brows.

Apparently it has very low density, when it has low density it is difficult to cover the alopecia with good density, we always try to do our best job.

So I suggest that you inform yourself well about hair transplantation, before doing it.

Is this "copy and paste" approach typical for clinics who do not natively speak English, or is this a warning sign of the service they offer?

That looks like incredible fullness and growth for only 5 months in! Have you had any shock loss at all? Any other issues along the way that surprised you, like redness, shedding, etc? How did the recovery on the donor area go?