FluffyPanda

Hmmmm looks like they increased prices again. When I put down the deposit last May, it was $2/graft. Then it went up to $2.3 and now it's up to $2.5. Anyway, I went with Dr. Camacho package when I was there. Do I think it was absolutely critical to go with him over Dr. Pareja? Not really. They both worked on me at various points of the day (tbh you're positioned in such a way that you can't really see who is working on you at any given time so I couldn't tell you what percent of the day was spent with which person). I think they both do great work. I have no regrets about going with the more expensive package for the hairline just because that's what everyone is going to see so I wanted that done right. I talked to people who had Dr. Pareja do everything and were happy with the results. For me, I just wanted the extra reassurance of someone with more experience. I've considered doing the Pareja package if I need another transplant later just because it would be covering areas that aren't seen as frequently, so the design isn't as critical as the hairline. Long story short, I don't really think you could go wrong with either one, but I have no regrets about paying more for Dr. Camacho's expertise.

Something tells me that the people who make decisions like this generally aren't the ones who make it to 70

On the contrary:

Not super common but some people definitely did. I was one of them and no one gave me any looks about it.

I think it was like a 20-25 min drive? I also arrived at 2am so there was no traffic. The day going from the clinic to the airport took like a good hour because sooooo much traffic. You should definitely go explore for food. I went to this place called Central Cevicheria that was like a 10 min walk or so from the hotel. Got some massive seafood platter which was to die for along with plantains. Please ship some to the US for me haha. Unfortunately, there's no fridge in the room. But honestly other than the night after surgery, I was fine the rest of the time and felt comfortable enough to go explore. They give you a beanie to wear which I wore out and didn't have any odd looks, especially cause it's relatively cold in Bogota

Yep stayed at the B3 Virrey. Hotel was nice. Breakfast there was pretty solid. You have to walk a bit for some good food, but generally had a lot of good food within a 10-15 min walk of the hotel. When you leave the airport and start driving to the hotel, the area looks really sketch. The area where the hotel is was A LOT better. Rained a lot while I was there so bring an umbrella. My Spanish is fairly limited, but I was able to do ok. Would recommended downloading google translate on the phone and download the Spanish language pack on it.

Alright well here's hoping the hair growth picks up soon then! I am on medication yes. Taking finasteride 1mg daily

Well it's 3 months since the procedure. Posting photos for the 3 month mark. I know I'm not supposed to have much growth at this point, but man is it demotivating. Really hoping it picks up over the next month or two. The waiting game sucks, but hopefully we are progressing like we are supposed to. Can't help but think if I lost grafts from not being gentle enough, although I presume it's unlikely since there was never any bleeding. Well here's hoping more growth happens soon

Tbh, I didn't realize he wasn't already on it

Hope everyone had a good holiday time! We're now at approx. 2 months post-HT. Doesn't seem like a ton has changed since the 1 month mark. Just patiently waiting (which has been hard). Looks like the donor area is practically untouched. Now currently doing that thing we all do of "I hope I didn't mess up and dislodge grafts without realizing it and now I have anxiety about why it's not growing already." Feels good to be a part of that club with you all. Here are some updated photos:

I went with Dr. Camacho. But, even if you go with Camacho, Dr. Pareja does assist substantially in the procedure as well. I have full faith in both of them tbh. I decided since Camacho had been doing this longer, I went with him for the hairline design and to get his expertise since this was the first time I was ever doing it and wanted to make sure I gave myself the most potential. I spoke to others that went with just Dr. Pareja and were also very happy with the results. I think it's one of those things similar to Eugenix where the higher priced packages are with people who are more experienced, but also Dr. Pareja has been doing this for several (7+?) years so she's certainly very well-qualified. It was just a personal preference for me to want to have Dr. Camacho design the hairline, and do some of the extractions/implantations, especially since my job requires me to go face-to-face with a lot of people all the time.

Hey so I'm also kind of near LA. Ended up going with Bogota Hairlines myself. Really considered Dr. Nader myself in Mexico, but I know people have had communication issues in the past, and decided if I was going to another country, I wanted someone that I didn't have to worry about communicating with. Think he does great work though, so if you're able to confirm a date and everything, I think he's a great choice. I'm personally very happy with my decision to go to Bogota, but I don't think you could go wrong with either. I've seen a number of people get good results with Dr. Gur and Dr. Turan in Turkey. I unfortunately don't get more than 1 week off at a time currently, so traveling to Turkey and back was going to be rough. Otherwise I would've looked more closely at them. Truthfully, I don't think you could go wrong with any of them.

I voted yes. To me, the recommended list should be for those that provide consistently high-level quality HTs, especially with a list that would have many of us travel. I remember going through the list and considered him when I was first looking at a HT, but I've seen far too many cases from his with less-than-stellar quality and am happy I went elsewhere. I remember being surprised back then he was on the list with how many questionable cases I saw. While I think everyone should do as much research as possible on finding a HT surgeon who is right for them, the recommended list needs an update if we constantly are pointing people to it as a starting point. Just my $0.02.

I did mine with Dr Camacho 1 month ago. Obviously I can't say anything about the results yet, but I can say I had an A+ experience and felt like they actively wanted what was best for me. He was very honest with me about what they could do for me. I spoke directly with some people online who went with him and who had results to show, and they were all very happy with him and the work his team does. Also a lot easier to get to from the US for me than Turkey was. While I can't speak yet on how my final results will look, I can say that I am very happy I went there.

Happy 1 month since transplant! I think we are now well into the shedding phase, and it sucks. It's very much testing my patience. Thankfully I work in a hospital so I can wear a scrub cap without issue. Here are some updated photos! Thankfully the donor area is looking great! I can also see some tiny hairs coming in along the hairline and the crown, so hopefully when in a few months, it will look substantially filled in Agree completely! Getting to Bogota was way more convenient than getting to Turkey. Plus the communication was A+ whereas I had issues hearing back from some of the recommended people in Turkey. I'm sure the HT surgeons in Turkey would've done a fine job, but I figured if I was going to go abroad to get this done, I deserved to have good communication at least. So yea, the convenience (relatively lol) of getting to Bogota plus the good communication made this place a no-brainer for me over Turkey. It actually came down to Dr. Camacho and Dr. Nader for me, but the quality of communication plus my conversation with people who did HTs with Camacho pushed me to Colombia. Just to expand a bit on this, the package with Dr. Camacho is "Surgery Plan: Camacho, Hairline design: Dr Camacho, Extraction: Dr Camacho + Dr Pareja, Implantation: Dr. Camacho + Dr Pareja." For the package of Dr Pareja, Dr. Camacho does the "surgery plan" and Dr. Pareja does everything else. I have no idea what is the difference is between surgery plan and hairline design, but I figured it's my head so I'd be willing to shell out a little extra to ensure the expertise of Dr. Camacho (which is not to imply Dr. Pareja is in any way, shape, or form bad -- I felt she was very highly qualified and would have no issue having her do the entire procedure).

Looks good! Also did mine at Bogota Hairlines earlier this month. Looking forward to seeing yours progresses!

I think like anything, it's important to do research. I don't think the forum is "biased" but rather defers to the same recommendations of places because of documented quality results. I do think the recommended list on here could use some updating (I personally think a couple of them on the list shouldn't be up there), but like all things, you really should be seeking out as many opinions as possible. The ones you listed I think are good places to get consultations to get an idea for what you could expect, but there's plenty of places that do good work that aren't on the recommended list. The problem is, it's hard to tell from reviews (mainly google since I don't think there's too many other sites that review HT surgeons) which reviews are legitimate and which are fake to boost the rating of the clinic. Reality is, one should talk to real patients, get multiple consultations, and really do research. Hell, I have seen people get good results from places that this forum would consider hair mills, but often they aren't consistent and have a number of red flags that I personally wouldn't want to risk going there.

You'd have to ask them. We've sent people with diabetes to surgery all the time, so I personally think their cutoff of 6% is silly, but that's their decision. But if you're considering using them, I would run a search here. A lot of negative experiences with Longevita, so honestly diabetic or not, I'd go with someone else regardless.

I'm not an endocrinologist or surgeon, but if an endocrinologist said they felt T2DM was under control, I would have no issue. I believe the hesitancy is due to the theoretical risk that uncontrolled diabetes leads to poor wound healing which increases the risk of post-surgical complications. Personally, I think a1c <6% is too strict when even 6.3% is considered pre-diabetic. My guess is you probably won't find many studies about this since most studies are done for more invasive procedures

This is more of a general guideline that we aim to make those with DM have an a1c <7% to be considered "well-controlled." The 7% is not related to a HT

Certainly! I've attached a couple pics from the morning of surgery that were taken at the clinic. As for the price, I had booked it all the way back in May when it was $2/graft. I believe he increased the price a bit to $2.3/graft. Dr. Pareja is a bit less and is a fixed price (I think just under $5000) for up to 3000 grafts and then I think it's $1.5/graft for each one over 3000.

Happy 2 weeks since transpla nt (to myself lol). Well technically 2 weeks + 1 day but I took these pics yesterday to mark progress. I can't really tell how the crown will end up being. Immediately post-op, looks like a lot was implanted. Most recent pic now looks like a lot less, but it could just be my imagination. Maybe once it's grown out it will look more full

Thanks guys for following along! Have to say, I do feel like I'm healing well overall. Scalp is pretty flaky currently and itchy. I assume this is normal. Wish I could fast forward 4 months from now. Day 7 post-op. Camacho's team asked for some photos so they could make sure everything is looking good post-op. Figured I'd share them here as well. Pretty pleased with how the donor area is looking as well. Other than looking shaved down, looks practically untouched (imho)

Day 4 post-op, now having done my first wash at home and flew back home. Haven't noticed any bleeding so I'm assuming I haven't lost any grafts (though I will admit, I could probably be a little gentler with the implanted hair). Itching sucks. Saline spray they gave me helps temporarily but really just needs this to heal faster lol

I've been lurking around this forum for awhile, and I feel like it's time I give back. Long story short, I'm 33 and from SoCal. Started finasteride back in early March. Ended up booking my HT in May for Nov 1. Did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people who had HTs done, and ultimately everyone I talked to about Dr. Camacho was super happy with their experience and results. I actually first looked into Turkey, but I kept having communication issues, and I figured if I'm going to travel to a foreign country, I should at least be comfortable in knowing if I have questions or concerns, I will be responded to. In addition, I'm in the medical field as well, so it helped that Bogota is only a small time-zone change from SoCal since I get very limited time off. To keep this concise, here are photos of my situation from back in March: https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/63385-how-long-after-beginning-finasteride-should-a-ht-be-considered/#comment-638613 So prior to flying to Bogota, Dr. Camacho recommended 2600-2800 to restore hairline density through the mid-scalp. Upon meeting me in person, felt it would be best to increase it to 3000, and then restore density in the front and in the crown. I thought my hairline should be lowered a little, but after seeing me in person, he felt my current hairline was age-appropriate for my face, and recommended to just increase the density of it. He said we could lower it if I really wanted, but he was confident that increasing the density would be a lot more beneficial as I age. Communication leading up to the procedure and throughout the day was excellent. I've attached a photo of me immediately post-op (I would go add more, but my head is currently wrapped up). Dr. Camacho felt very confident that I would be pleased with the result. His goal for me was to make the HT look as natural as possible. Overall, I have to say I was very pleased with the HT day and the entire process. They've sent me very detailed post-op instructions and told me to contact them any time I have questions about literally anything. I've never been to Colombia (or South America), and my Spanish is kinda trash tbh, but everyone was really great.