Hi,
In advance; English is not my mother language, so bear with me
A little bit about myself. I'm 33 year old from Norway, and i became aware of my high frontotemporal hairline during the first week in the army, when i, as the rest of the boys thought it was cool to shave the head. I didn't think much of it before this, but i didn't like what i now saw in the mirror. When the hair grew back out i didn't really think much about it anymore until i was around 30. Before this my hair reccesion was pretty stabil. I finally decided on doing the procedure when i was in a good financial place, so i booked an appointment for FUE to be done on february 11.2022 with Dr.Bisanga. Since i`ve waited for so long, i wanted the best. I have read a lot about Dr. Bisanga and his work, so BHR Clinic was the place to go.
I contacted BHR Clinic in October 2021. After sending in pictures i was quoted on 2200 grafts. During the correspondence with the consultant, i was told that Dr.Bisanga was going to do the punches and designe the hairline, while technicians was going to put the hair back in the recipient area with the supervision of the man himself, Dr. Bisanga. Was Quoted ¢8800 (¢4 graft) for this, which sounded like a good price.
I arrived in Brussels on Feb 9. My original plan was going on the 10th of Feb, but the trip got cancelled from SAS. I got a little stressed, because i was going to have a consultation with Dr. Bisanga on the 10th. It all worked out, but 1 night extra stay in Brussels. On the day of the consultation i waited in the lobby around 1-1.5hr longer than my scheduled time, which sucked, but i was on a mission to get my hair fixed, and now i was in Brussels to do it, so all good. When it was my turn i was greeted by Dr.Kostis. I thought i was going to have a consultation with the man i booked for the procedure, but no. I met Dr.Bisanga after the concultation with Dr.Kostis was done for about 1min.
During the concultation i was told i had good density, around 80. So i was a good candidate for a transplant. Dr.Kostis drew two hairlines. One conservative and one more liberal. we decided on one in between, which we both liked. I asked about the amount of graft needed, and Dr.Kostis quoted me around 2200-2400. Sounded good to me.
11/2-22 was the day of the operation. Came in early and got my head shaved for the procedure. Haven't felt my hair this short for years, so that was kinda fun. Dr.Bisanga came, and startet to numb me up with anesthesia. I knew it was going to hurt, but some places.... my oh my. I swear my toes curled for a sec. He started to punching the design, and after a while he said i probably needed around 400 more grafts. From the original quote from 2200 to 2600 now. I was under the "knife" so to speak so i said okey. I want a good result. Half way through punching out the grafs on the back of my head Dr.Kostis came and continued. I didn't know this was part of the plan before he sat down, cuz i`d booked Dr.Bisanga. Anyway, he started punching out the remaining of the grafts needed and he left. The supervision from the Doc was absent, and the only to carrying on was the technicians. The totalt amount of grafts put in, according to the document was 3181. This is a lot more than the 2200 i was originally quoted, even on 2400 and 2600 as well. I didn't know the total amount of grafts until i saw the document. Nobody told me. From the technicians i was told all the grafts was put in. Is it only me overthinking this? I have a good feeling the final result is going to be good, but from a financial point of view 2200 to 3200 grafts is ¢4000 more.
I came in the next day for a clean, and one of the consultants working there was walking through how the post-op rutine worked.
Graft Breakdown:
1 Follicular unit: 591 Grafts
2 Follicular unit: 1186 Grafts
3 Follicular unit: 1335 Grafts
4 Follicular unit: 69 grafts
Total : 3181 Grafts.
From what i`ve seen 3181 grafts looks like a lot more than some other post. I'll put links under for you to decide for yourself.
https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/60990-fue-by-dr-bisanga-2700-grafts-brussels-belgium/#comment-602758
https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/63015-dr-bisanga-bhr-clinic-2507-grafts-0-12-months/#comment-632600
https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/61092-dr-bisanga-bhr-clinic-2609-fue-16-09-2021/#comment-603929
https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/61722-bhr-brussels-dr-bisanga-fue-2989-grafts-10th-november-2021/#comment-613947
https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/49160-dr-bisanga-fue-patient-2723-grafts-bhr-clinic/#comment-454447
... and the list goes on.
Post op:
Day 1:
Day 4:
Day 10 Scabs are off:
I am now 3 weeks in, and next picture post will be on the 1 month mark. I didn't used any medication for my hair before the operation. I started maybe 1 month before going with washing my hair a couple of times a week with a shampoo containing ketoconazole. After the HT i was prescription Minoxidil 5mg oral. I had read about some of the side effects, so i wanted to start on 2.5mg and work my way up to 5mg. This i couldn't do because the tablets came as capsules.