general-etwan

Can you use CareCredit overseas though?

I do believe however that anyone who wants to have a HT should be able to have it done and credit companies/banks/clinics should be willing to work with patients who demonstrate struggle to pay all outright. Especially considering hair loss can essentially cause significant mental health difficulties on people’s lives…it almost is a form of necessary medical care. I really do believe that and I do believe in most cases even if you don’t earn much $ you can figure out how to finance one somehow.

This is the best way to go, I agree. Only some people will be able to open a new credit card and get $10k line right away though. Unless you have very established and very high credit, CLs start much lower.

It’s a luxury procedure really. Save up for many years by cutting costs elsewhere in life, or just work in a position in which you make a load of money.

I tried this…several problems…1) It seems CareCredit is only taken domestically in the USA and not for foreign transactions. 2) I applied for and was denied CareCredit despite having a pretty good income, no housing payments, and responsible use of standard credit cards. It seems unless you’re one of a lucky few who have work done at home and are approved for it, CareCredit sucks. I now have a HT scheduled and I’m just using regular credit card to make the initial payment, with a plan in place to pay it back just like a car loan.

Will be following! I too am looking to schedule mine for September or October. Dr. Das is the “Exclusive Package,” correct? That’s what I’m going with and have been advised she is great and that I should be very confident.

@MazAB If you wouldn't mind passing along some final words of advice or approval for scheduling with Eugenix, I'd greatly appreciate it. I keep hearing great things and I see the amazing work they can do, and I'm ready to get this done myself after several months of planning. The next step is to schedule and send over the initial deposit

Bumping this thread here because I am on the verge of pulling the trigger and going with Eugenix hopefully in September. Finasteride regrowth has continued to be strong and hair is regrowing all over my scalp including at the very front of the hairline. But, obviously, that density is never going to be anywhere close to original density again just from finasteride alone. I would like some advising on which package to commit to. Unfortunately, times are tough and money is indeed a huge factor for me. But, I'm prepared to spend a large amount of my own current worth on this, because at age 26 I feel like I haven't even truly begun to live the life I want to live yet, and the hair issue which started in my teens has absolutely been a primary factor in that suffering. I don't even want to ask anyone for help; not even family...and I'm not planning on it, but if worst comes to worst and I need to ask for a small amount to help get me to the total cost, I may have to do so. The lowest package (procedure led and done by trained doctors + implantation done by senior trained technicians) would be $0.96 USD X 6,500 grafts = $6,240 + 18% tax = $7,363 + $2,000 travel costs = $9,363 total The Exclusive Package (next level up) (procedure led and done by senior doctors + implantation done by senior trained technicians) plus complementary 2-3 nights hotel stay and airport pickup/drop-off would be $1.54 USD X 6,500 grafts = $10,010 + 18% tax = $11,800 + $2000 travel costs = $13,800 total I just feel that the complementary stay and pickup/drop-off plus the procedure being led by senior doctors is probably worth it, and in the grand scheme of life a few more thousand will be miniscule. I'm ready to go ahead and book this. I just would appreciate any last minute advice. I'm also a bit apprehensive about up to 2,000 beard grafts being taken and want to ensure there won't be severe scarring from that. Appreciate anyone's weighing in very much. I'm ready to get this going and hopefully change my life. I'm a young, healthy, guy supposed to be in my prime and it's time to do this hair fix. I don't need hair to be perfect. I just need them to redistribute a significant amount to the top of my scalp to frame my face more properly so I can have confidence showing myself to the world. I did see this video, however, from Dr. Sethi in which he is brutally honest about the density achievable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6un_3i0CC8 35-40 grafts / sq cm is apparently "very good" but still nowhere near original hair density. However, for me, I truly think the most important thing is eliminating the MPB pattern on my scalp by spreading out the grafts more uniformly. I really do think that will solve most of my self-dread about my head.

Edit: wrote something incorrect. Apologies.

I'm disappointed in the poor responses to this original post by some members. OP clearly stated that cost is a factor for him. Members responded (poorly) that cost shouldn't be a factor. Do you not operate with money in the real world? Cost matters for many and that is a totally fair and valid point to make. Telling someone not to care about the cost...is egregiously out of touch. I'm not sure what has occurred in the time since, OP, but I hope you're doing well.

Your HTs look absolutely fantastic. I sense some OCD related types of feelings on this. No one is doing super-bright-light analysis of your scalp at 6 inches away. I mean absolutely no one. Looks great.

Please keep sharing anything you find about beard grafts! I appreciate it. Will be tuned in and doing research as well. I want to make sure I won't ruin my jawline and neck area if Eugenix wants to take ~2000 grafts.

Thanks. I think it looks totally fine with beard hair growing, but I'd like to see a more recent picture of clean, smooth shaved if he has one. But perhaps he keeps some hair all the time...

Maybe he meant 2074. Because for 274 to leave holes that large and noticeable (in my opinion) would raise major concern for taking 1000-2000.

Yikes. 274 beard grafts left that look? That's why I'm very concerned. I have a very smooth and youthful looking jaw area...can't wreck it like that, especially if I'm required to shave for work in the future...

The upside for me is I already lost everything by age 25. Pretty much everything. Finasteride has been great for me and I've been lucky to get actual regrowth...so it's logical that I'll never be as bald as I was last year again. The transplanted hair won't suffer from the progressive loss. It's all in the recovery direction from here.

You need 1 mg at least 4 days a week, so in reality I'm only looking at 6 weeks here, and you need to take it for at least a few months at that dose to see visible results (either stopping of loss, or regrowth). So I'd say keep it up and you can't chalk it up to useless until a few months in at that dose.

I've tried but am having a hard time finding much info about it. I too want to ensure that my neck area won't be wrecked if they take 2000 grafts. That sounds like a lot. I have a healthy and thick beard as well, but I don't really grow it out much...so the concern for me is making sure that when shaved, there won't be unacceptable scarring. In fact, I may be required to shave for a future industry of work, so this is a big importance for me. Also this is regrown hair on finasteride + minoxidil in just 4.5 months.

I did, the full photos consult through WhatsApp, as well as an in-depth phone call about it, yes. Originally they said 5500 grafts for me, but after taking more photos I asked for more aggressiveness because I don't want to become an every-2-years-hair-transplant-recipient; I believe I can have one procedure and be happy enough to live my life without doing anything ever again, unless hair cloning becomes available and affordable someday. With more aggression, they want to do 6500 total grafts (4500 from scalp donor + ~2000 from beard). The entire procedure for the Exclusive Package will be $12K + around $2500 for an ideal roundtrip flight, so I'm looking at almost $15K. I am envisioning 6500 grafts (over 2 days) getting me to a Norwood 3-2.5 and I can envision that being sufficient for me. I am also going very well on finasteride and minoxidil and I started this whole thing as NW6, but I have been successful in regrowing good looking hair around the edges of the diffuse area, so hopefully that regrowth will lead to a needing of fewer grafts for those regions.

I'm planning to go ahead with the Exclusive Package personally because that is my max budget and it would be at least a few years until I would potentially be able to justify the next level up in price. I'm confident that the fundamentals of the transplant (proper hairline design approved by me, proper incision making for hair density and direction, proper graft extraction and utilization of donor area, and proper implantation) can be done correctly by the senior doctors and senior techs. That should be every expectation.

It seems that many hair transplant sources would disagree with you as they cite overharvesting as the removal of too many grafts from the entire donor region. Feel free to call it whatever you want based on your own arbitrary frame of reference. Everyone knows what you mean as long as it’s explained.

Of course. Exactly what I believed I was saying. The point is there weren’t too many grafts harvested; there was something really wrong with the pattern of harvesting. I hope OP can improve this situation.

I don’t agree. In my interpretation, overharvesting is the removal of too many follicular units from the overall donor area. Choosing an arbitrary confined area on which to evaluate isn’t helpful; as an industry we evaluate the entire donor area. 250 would not be an overharvesting. Poor pattern of removal is more so poor harvesting. But it’s not a big deal as long as you can describe the situation accurately. https://www.chicagohairinstitute.com/blog/2020/02/18/hair-loss-retreatment-for-overharvesting-204005

This is an odd mishandled case for sure...your donor area doesn't look overharvested to me, though; it looks to me that too much was taken from specific areas and not enough from others. The grafts should have been taken more uniformly across the entire back of your head. How they could have been taken in isolated patches like that...hard to understand.

North American and European transplant doctors are the most strict in the world because most only want to operate on cases that they feel will turn out the best. They also want to keep your expectations in check and they don't want to charge you so much for a procedure that you'd then complain about. Transplanted hair doesn't need finasteride, but the idea is that original hair that is still left on your scalp, behind the transplanted hair, will continue to disappear without medication, leaving an unsatisfactory appearance that could lead to complaints. I always use Joe Biden as what I believe to be an example of this. It seems almost certain that he had a transplant when he was younger in the hairline area because his hairline strengthened up and has remained intact for all the years since. That would be extremely odd if he hadn't had a transplant. However, he has a giant bald spot from the middle of his scalp to the crown because there was no hair transplanted there and either he didn't take medication or the medication didn't work for him to help keep or regrow that hair. I consulted with Bernstein in NYC in 2020 and they rejected me because I had not tried finasteride and was a NW6. They told me they'd never charge me for a procedure that would not make me happy. They told me I'd need to take finasteride for a year first and see regrowth and then reevaluate. At the end of last year I decided to go on finasteride, and luckily since I'm young and my hair loss was more recent, I've been able to regrow a decent amount of hair, and now I'm in a stronger position to have a procedure done. Turkey hair clinics are more likely to do whatever you request and just take your money. I strongly recommend everyone try finasteride (+ minoxidil, + microneedling) for a while prior to getting serious about having a HT. At worst, you won't get regrowth or you'll be a non-responder, and at best, you'll regrow native hair which will mean a HT can be fewer grafts meaning lower cost. Finasteride is a very safe and widely used medication and 95% of men who take it experience no negative side effects at all, and much of the remaining 5% who do can tolerate the side effects.