RTC

Update here --> 

Hi all

I'm going to keep this short because I can't be bothered typing an essay lol

Initial thread here:

I had 200 grafts punched out from across my hairline, and 100 grafts extracted from the donor area. All grafts were placed behind my hairline.

The aim of the operation was to get rid of the chunky grafts in the hairline and create a more natural looking hairline compared to the blocky, ugly, straight hairline given to me by the Butcher of Istanbul, Asli Tarcan. I wanted to create more recession in the corners, which sounds counter-intuitive to most people, but the result is a far more attractive and natural hairline. It no longer looks artificial and weird .

The operation was very short and Hattingen is a class outfit - very professional, fantastic staff, and both Dr Sever and Laura are brilliant. Both very friendly and personable, and Dr Sever is based. The clinic itself is lovely, set in a very small village in Switzerland, which was beautiful. I was in and out in about 5-6 hours, and went back the next day for a hair wash.

Sever did my consultation, Laura did the extractions and the everything surgery related. She used a manual punch. I kept my hair long and had a no-shave procedure, so I was back to normal within ONE week. Phenomenal stuff. The punchouts left NO visible scarring and within a week literally nobody was able to see any remnants of the operation. Zero. For the first week it was pretty ugly though. 

The photos really do not do justice to how much better my hairline looks now though, so please don't take too much from the low quality photos I took for the 'afters'. My hairline looks far more natural, and I barely have any insecurity over it anymore. The density and weird shape are largely fixed.

However, there are still some issues with my hair:

- Still probably have around 50-60 grafts that could be removed (I may address this in 2025 if we are all still alive and the West hasn't fallen)

- The direction of the grafts in my hairline are still awful.. this can not be rectified, unless I remove and then re-implant, which I am not prepared to do. The hairs in my hairline stick straight up and it really bugs me.

- I still wish for a little more density behind my hairline, although this has largely improved due to Mwamba and Hattingen's work. The patches are not as glaring as before.

- I wish I could still refine my hairline a little more, but my donor is in dire straits.

- The donor on my right side still sucks. The only remedy here would be beard hairs.

Overall, I am VERY happy with what was a very small, but very impactful procedure. Big impact on my confidence. I feel like people don't like at my hairline anymore.

I may do one more. but we will see. This stuff is expensive.

Feel free to ask me any questions

BEFORE

PUNCHOUTS

COMPARISON

On 2/20/2024 at 4:10 PM, FormerFutureKrillin said:

Hi all!

As promised, I am back to document the next steps in my HT journey with Dr. Bisanga. This thread is for what I am calling “Stage I” covering the removal of grafts, the first session of which was yesterday. Stage II will be a repair surgery rebuilding the hairline/temple points/frontal third, similar to the strategy for a couple other posters on this forum.

The goal of this surgery was to remove as many grafts as possible in the frontal line and high temple areas within the first half centimeter, with particular emphasis on chunky multi-grafts or misangled grafts. Dr. Bisanga was able to remove 306 grafts during this session. I may need an additional removal session(s) depending on how things are looking. All removed grafts were reimplanted in the strip scar.

Surgery itself was uneventful and was completed over the course of a 3-4 hours. No real pain during the procedure and any time I started to feel anything the team was very good about responding with more anesthetic. 

As many users have pointed out, the pre/post (and during) surgery care, communication and attentiveness of the BHR team is world class and really does help reduce the anxiety of the entire process.

I hope this thread and my eventual repair can be helpful reference points to others in this situation or considering this situation or more generally for those researching. However, I would really like to keep this thread focused on this surgery (and the go-forward repair), not on the previous surgery - I have a separate thread for my original surgery.

Photos below:

 

 

 

This side is harder to see (my hair is falling over half of the scar), but the implantation area was similar to the other side.

 

Love it. Can you show a photo of the skin now?

Good luck with this, this is the right way to go. You will have to be patient though as it will be a long and bumpy ride. But your hairline will look 1000x better.

1 hour ago, DavidFrancis said:

Hello forum, 

In the same way that you helped me, I'm writing this testimonial for those who might be in the same situation as me. 
As a reminder, I'm 25 years old, and I have very, very aggressive and diffuse hair loss, with thinning all over my head. I had a first operation with 2,500 grafts (maybe less, in which case they would have lied to me) in a clinic 2 years ago, but the result was bad. Contrasting density, pluggy frontal line, and grafts oriented at 90 degrees. 
I couldn't stay like that, so I decided to go for a repair with Dr Bisanga at BHR Clinic. 

Everything went really well, thanks to Lina for her support, and to the Doctor and his team for the repair. Now I just have to wait for the results. I had no pain either during or on the night of the operation, apart from the local anaesthetic, but nothing serious. 

457 grafts were removed from the hairline and placed on my left temple (I don't know why they're not placed evenly across my middle, but I trust the doctor. Anyway, I'll be redensifying in 6 months or 1 year). 
On the other hand, i find that i have a huge forehead now, since the hair behind is also oriented vertically, what do you think ? I need to redensify as quickly as possible because it's really not pretty

Here's my plan: 
- Extract 457 grafts from the hairline (which was done yesterday, photos attached). 
- If necessary, re-extract more grafts, or use a laser. 
- Densify the middle + hairline with 1500-2000 grafts. 

I know that with an aggressive loss it's risky, but what can you do?
I am engaged in the process, and according to the doctor, I would have a donor area of 5000-6000 grafts left, I have a big beard, and a lot of body hair. I have also been on oral minoxidil 2.5mg per day, and finasteride 0.5mg per day for 1 year, but I have no effect. I still have a lot of hair that is getting smaller every day and the loss is not stopping. I will probably switch to dutasteride once a week, and move to 5 mg of minoxodil, 2.5 in the morning, and 2.5 in the evening. If anyone is in the same situation as me, I would appreciate your advice.

I will post the progress of the healing on this thread, stay tuned.

I'm confused, where in the timeline is the last photo from?

I feel your pain bro.. hope you can maybe get something in the way of compensation but I doubt it.

By far the most difficult part of any repair is the mental anguish in waiting for consultations and appointments etc.

But schedule them in and start moving forward.. you'll feel much better.

I definitely agree that extractions and then later refinement is the way to go. But it'll be a long process.

16 hours ago, baddecisions said:

Hello guys, I had a hair transplant in Spain 20 months ago for frontal area involving about 2.4k grafts. The density is great and the donor is in good shape, but the hairline is not as natural as it should be: angles, some grafts been too thick, some doubles. Even though the result is not a disaster, I am not happy with it.

As a conquence, by the 9th month I started searching options for a repair. I had an in-person consultation with dr. Lorenzo and send pictures to other european doctors. Among those, my main choice was and still is dr. Bisanga, because I really like his approach in other cases similar to mine: one (or two) session for removal, another one for implanting in the hairline. No rush, step by step. For that reason, I sent my pictures via their web and I was derived to their regional advisor. He mentioned me that it would be better if I could have a in-person consultation and suggested me visiting another hair transplant doctor in Spain (the advisor also works for this other doctor and I do not know whether he has affiliation with BHR), so that he could send his diagnosis to dr. Bisanga. This other doctor, after examination said that I could 1) remove by laser the first cm and implat there; 2) lower the hairline by another cm. I asked about punching out offending hairs just like dr. Bisanga does, but this doctor said "removing grafts from the hairline is not feasible, no doctors do that, they are implanted different than native and doctors can not extract them properly, it produces scarring, no no no, better use laser". And I was completely lost. Anyway I let my hair grow and decided to wait some months. 

Last month, encouraged by other recent cases, I sent new pictures to the clinic but the one who answered me was again regional advisor stating that the only options are those mentioned above by this other doctor. To me, it is quite odd, since I feel this would not be, by any means, dr. Bisanga's diagnosis and approach.

Could anyone recommend me what to do?

Thank you.

What the doctor told you is false 

I have had many grafts removed and have ZERO scarring. None at all.

FINALLY, RTC has come back to H..R..N

But yeah, BeHappy is a great choice

On 2/6/2024 at 9:22 PM, Phillis_x said:

Hi All,

I went and had some consultations back in November 2022 and decided as I hadn’t started medication to wait. Pics are then and now, I had a lot of improvement on meds so glad I waited.

I think it’s time to go forward with the surgery, looking for recommendations on which UK surgeons to have consultations with as I’m not sure how thoroughly I researched back then and any new developments.

I was on 1mg finasteride oral however I dropped to 0.5mg due to side effects and for the last 9 months I’ve been taking 2.5mg minoxidil oral as I wasn’t using the topical frequently enough and was concerned about my cats being harmed by it.

I saw Maitland Clinic, Dr Raghu Reddy, Surgery Group UK, Harley Street Hair Clinic, Wimpole Clinic and Dr Bisagna.

I didn’t like the vibe I got from Maitland or Dr Bisagna. 

I’ve heard mixed reviews on Surgery Group UK.

I can’t find any info about Harley Street Clinic.

I’m leaning on Reddy or Wimpole however I’m not sure if Reddy will be in my price range.

 

Would love some opinions and advice as I’m a bit overwhelmed.

What was the issue with Maitland Clinic out of interest?

Edit: seems you answered above already.

They are very non-salesy - perhaps that is what you may have deemed as dismissive as someone else suggested

There is a user on Reddit who has used electrolysis to great effect. His name is qui-bono.

I have used electrolysis on my face (cheeks) and it's brilliant. Not in my hairline though as I need all the grafts I can get.

@HappyMan2021 may have got electrolysis I believe?

8 hours ago, BeHappy said:

 

That could be the best thing to do. You should be able to hide the work and not have to go through the ugly duckling phase.

 

Yep.

On 2/9/2024 at 6:51 PM, jjalay said:

Any updates?

I have an update, will post soon

Wishing you good luck brother

No.

With all due respect.. who actually cares?

Yes it does. Never ever compromise when it comes to a surgical procedure 

what tests?

That is awful

Keser.

Dr Inieko at Chiswick Hair Clinic is good. I know someone in real life who got a procedure there and it was good.

Dr Ball is good too.

On 10/30/2023 at 6:42 PM, Marklius said:

Hello, thank you for your comment. My hairline is 6 cm from the glabella. So it's already bit low. I think why people comment remove grafts is because of low hairline looks funky when you get older. But i'm also confused since ive got mixed answers from clinics aswell. So i'm afraid doing something that will make things worse

Most clinics run like hell from punching out already implanted grafts. Only a few will agree to do it. 

I would definitely go with that option.

This is superb 

Give it a couple of months to recover then judge. But yes, Smile is a hair mill, which is not in your favour 

27 minutes ago, wprevil said:

I understand. But keep in mind the enemy of israel is also the enemy of europe. And they always blame europe and remember what happened in on 3/11 in Spain in 2004... just saying.

Best to stop watching mainstream media, it's not doing you much good my friend.

3 hours ago, wprevil said:

Hi everyone,

I'll be traveling to Spain from USA for a procedure in November, Whats going on with the attacks in israel leaves me a bit shaken because it may spill into areas outside of israel notably europe. The fear is that fanatics may attack allies of israel like europe in one form or another in the air or land - god forbid.

I'm new to europe, never traveled there before so being heavily concerned is an understatement. Do you guys think I'm being paranoid?

Stop watching CNN.