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Dr Jose Lorenzo's office's pre-op instructions to me included: 1. Avoid any type of vitamins, aspirin, anti-inflammatory or any substance that contain salicylic acid 1 week before the procedure. 2. Also avoid alcohol 1 week before the procedure, prohibited 2 days before. 6. Patients who are using finasteride, don’t have to suspend the treatment. 7. Patients who are using minoxidil, suspend the treatment two days before procedure (we will start again 10 days later). 8. Patients who begin their operation in the morning should have a normal breakfast, but avoiding fatty food. It is forbidden to drink COFFEE (including decaf), tea, or any stimulating drink, on the day of the surgery. Of course you should ask Dr Feller for his advice on any of these matters.

Its already starting to look awesome! Congrats. You said in an earlier post that when some people saw you they asked you if you had a HT... how many days/week post op was that?

Its already starting to look awesome! Congrats. You said in an earlier post that when some people saw you they asked you if you had a HT... how many days/week post op was that?

Thanks ezel, cueball. Im leaning towards flying home post op day 2, just to minimize any risk of bloodiness. With the Ebola scares going on I dont want to grab any extra attention by looking bloody or odd. Ill be flying from Madrid to Washington DC. Im planning on doing my layovers in NYC if possible, just to keep things in English as much as possible.

If you were here when this site began, why is your join date Sept 2014?

I'm wondering the same thing. A clinic in Spain has asked me to pay in cash the day of the procedure, which simply isn't happening. Too high risk of loss, robbery, or confiscation, not to mention exceeds US $10,000 travel limit.

Cueball, i see you had strip on both occasions. Did you wear a bandage or anything on the plane to protect the back of your head (donor area) from the seat headrest? How long were your flights?

Options, great post. I'm wondering the same thing. Ezel, its funny you said you were more worried about the flight home than the op itself. I'm in the same boat. I'm looking at 3500 FUE over two days, and wondering if I should fly the 12 hour flight from Europe to US on post op day 1, or wait until day 3 or so to minimize bleeding, appearance, etc. You say you had no problems at the security checkpoints. No questions about your head? Encouraging.

Options, great post. I'm wondering the same thing. Ezel, its funny you said you were more worried about the flight home than the op itself. I'm in the same boat. I'm looking at 3500 FUE over two days, and wondering if I should fly the 12 hour flight from Europe to US on post op day 1, or wait until day 3 or so to minimize bleeding, appearance, etc. You say you had no problems at the security checkpoints. No questions about your head? Encouraging.

Awesome Tercex, congrats. Did the doc comment on your NW status? I'm in similar territory ... NW4 or NW5ish. I'm very much looking forward to seeing your results as you progress based on the number of grafts. Thanks for sharing. Also happy to hear about nobody at work noticing your hair. That has to be a relief! Congrats!

I think about this daily. What will a HT on my head look like if my balding significantly increases? (I'm on meds). I saw the answer the other day. Unnatural. A guy in his 30s with a high density wedge of a hairline, a large gap all around, and then a NW6 behind and below it. It wasn't exactly bad looking, but it was unnatural. Thats what a HT without meds will look like given enough time.

Has anyone traveled to his clinic in Spain? Would like to hear first-hand experience. How clean and professional was the clinic? Was English a problem? How comfortable was the procedure and operating room and number of breaks/meals? How were the accommodations? What after-care products and directions were given?

London, hopefully the worst is behind you but in case its not - I second tercel11's opinion - call your HT doc immediately. Your doc can probably phone in a prescription for you. I'm wondering if you're getting some sort of inflamation or infection.

Nice improvement. The donor does look pretty thin in the pre-med photo at 00:10 in this video. This actually highlights a question I am curious about: is shaving pre-op / pre-consultation a bad idea? Does having a #2 or longer haircut assist the surgeon in assessing donor density and recipient area characteristics the first time they meet and see you? I am considering shaving 1 - 2 months pre-op so my coworkers will get used to seeing me with little hair. However, if it assists the doctor to see the hair without shaving, then I definitely would not shave pre-HT!

Readytodoit, the results look awesome. The density up front looks great, even better than expected based on the apparent density of grafts in the post-op pics. You must be a very happy man! And your hair seems well suited to the gray look. Inspiring thread.

Sorry to hear that vettel. Like England, I've also had my blood work done regularly (1 - 2x per year on average) for many years, and my docs have never reported any problems with blood cell counts before/after taking finasteride. I'm sorry to hear that is the case for you. Were you attempting to diagnose or treat a different illness that led to your discovery of blood cell counts? I'm wondering which is the cause and which is the effect. Also, it may be of general interest to you to read Dr William Rassman's July 5, 2014 post on his Balding Blog, in which he describes the difference between Propecia, Finasteride, Proscar, and Avodart. It doesn't address complications like blood cell counts, but it does provide general background which I found informative.

I think Roman94 and the others nailed it. Be casual and matter of fact about it, and they will buy into it. However, if you are shaky about it, they will become shaky about it. My story - I've used Couvre concealer for 6 years. I've had many casual gfs and two separate long term gfs for 2 years each who stayed over several days a week. I carefully hid my use of concealer until one day gf #2 saw the applicator (a little white sponge thing, covered in brown Couvre residue) in the cabinet. She asked what it was while we were getting ready in the morning. I simply replied: oh, thats my "hair makeup," I use it right before I put on my hair gel, it makes my hair look better. Then I put it on in front of her, and she responded in surprised manner that she never noticed it before! And that was it. Quite liberating, because after that I could put it on in front of her. (sigh, haven't reached that point with current new gf) Regarding HT - which I've planned to do for years but haven't done yet - I subsequently introduced the topic to gf #2 by making observations about celebrities on TV. Wow, did you see that clip from Season 1 of Daniel Tosh? He didn't have any hair back then! He must have had a procedure... I'll probably do that in a year or two... And then just casually explain it over time. What I don't do is start with the hair topic with new girls. I wait until they're already on the hook. By then, they're sticking with you, and they're a lot more concerned about maintaining their looks and fixing their insecurities, than they are worried about yours. I'm sure you will be fine! She'll accept it.

Just like we can tell a woman is fat by looking at her arms or face even if she is hiding her body in a pic, women can quickly detect our hair situation. If she was initiating conversation and asking you out, then you've already passed the hair test with her. Good luck buddy, let us know how it went.

I have also noticed you won't find many bad reviews / results on this site of a coalition doctor. To find those, you have to visit this site every day and "catch" a bad review before its taken down / self-censored within a matter of hours or days. Recently I've begun to print these bad reviews, which allows me to keep a record and yet not violate the terms of service of this forum, as far as I know.

As Joetronic said, 30% of Hasson and Wong's business are repair sessions. Skill of surgeon is paramount, no matter if which technique, FUE or FUT, is chosen. Although I am willing to bet there are a lot more strip repairs than FUE repairs. All other variables being equal, I think recovery time will be a key selling point for many prospective patients. If you work in a professional environment, there's just no way to hide a FUT procedure post op. I've been in a very large meeting with a guy who just had a strip procedure done in the last ten days or so, with his shiny recipient area and angry pink strip scar wrapping around the shaved back back of his head with longer hair on top. It was awkward for me just to look at him, I couldn't imagine what he was going through. I knew what was going on, but I think most people did not. Thats when I started doing the math on how I could disappear for six weeks or more when I got a strip procedure, but I never could find a solution for that. I'm personally relieved that after researching, saving, and waiting for the last six years, that high quality FUE options are plentiful. I'm more than willing to do two FUEs in 2 years to equal the results of one mega strip if my worst case scenario is the guys at work wonder if I got a sunburn on my forehead/recipient area.

Quite the transformation, and its not even done yet. Looks awesome! Congratulations! A couple of questions. Did you get an Acell shot from Dr Diep, as others patients have? About your hairline, I've seen other Diep patients go for zig zag, saw tooth kind of hairline, as you have chosen as well. Does Diep push that on patients or was it what you requested? By all means, I see it as a personal choice, and it looks quite good for you.

Quite the transformation, and its not even done yet. Looks awesome! Congratulations! A couple of questions. Did you get an Acell shot from Dr Diep, as others patients have? About your hairline, I've seen other Diep patients go for zig zag, saw tooth kind of hairline, as you have chosen as well. Does Diep push that on patients or was it what you requested? By all means, I see it as a personal choice, and it looks quite good for you.

Agreed. Are you using any products in your hair in the After pics? I understand you are just sharing your real life results, as they appear today, which look awesome. But it is hard to get a sense of exactly what the 2600 grafts actually look like, given the differences in hair styling and lighting. Some immediate pre-op and post-op pics would be enlightening. Also - I don't understand why you're not naming the first two surgeons prior to Lorenzo. If you had bad results with them, its more important than ever to share who they are. If this forum prohibits the naming of bad surgeons, then I am left to question the integrity this forum. With that said, cheers man, you're looking a lot better these days!

Do you have any pics without the comb?

It looks really good, but the 5-month pictures are a dark which will naturally make the result look as good as possible. Consistent lighting and angles for all pictures would be the only fair way to make a comparison.