Anthropos

I definitely feel much better than before and I'm overall very happy of the surgery. The implanted hair matches the native hair very well. Zero regret. It's just some comments about that made me doubt a little. Regarding the temple points, Dr. Ferreira says "we can add a few finer hairs if we can find them to make them a bit more irregular, but they are certainly not unnatural-looking". He also says "I do see a little darker “line” along the hair insertion that may give an illusion of a straight hair insertion. This may be due to the roots of the thicker hair." I guess it's because my skin is pale and thin, which may increase the contrast. But maybe the hair will get a little thinner after some time. He wants me to wait the final result to take a decision, which is the wise thing to do. I'll try to post an update at the end of the month for the 8-months mark.

Thanks Melvin, I appreciate your support

I guess I definitely will need a touch-up

Hello everyone, sorry for the late update. Please find my update at 6 month. I really saw an improvement between month 5 and 6. All images, except one, are taken with wet hair and direct light on to have the best idea of the progress so far. It always looks worse on camera than in real life I'm still waiting for the 12-months results but I feel that I will need a touch-up. For example, the bottom of the left side temple point has not been implanted I and I would like it to go lower like on the right side. But so far I'm quite pleased with the improvement and I definitely think less about my hair than before, which is a huge relief. Have a nice week-end !

Hi, I'm at 3 months post-op now. I feel like it's starting to grow. Redness is still fading. My skin always takes some time to heal so I'm not worried about that. I'm happy about my donor. I went to the hairdresser yesterday and she was amazed because she couldn't see anything. Keep in mind that my camera make things a little more dramatic, I don't see the big white spot in the middle of my donor, I think it's just the light (and also my hair is very straight so with the angle it can appear like that). It's funny to see that the transplanted hair takes the characteristics of the hair in the recipient area. You can see some hair with very dark endings then, when they grow, they have a softer color. You can see that on picture "Left 1". I can't wait to see the final result.

Hi, Thanks for your input. I understand the concerns. That's why I chose Dr. Ferreira, because he was the most conservative in his proposal and was the only one who mentioned the age question and warned me to stay on Finasteride. My hairloss was really affecting me and I could not wait much longer.

Hello, I'm 2 month and 5 days post surgery. Here are pictures of the temples and temples points. Nothing much is happening. Shedding has stopped and redness is slightly vanishing as well as the little purple dots on the temple points. I still have some pimples sometimes. I started using a laser cap but they say results are visible after 16 weeks of use. Have a nice week-end!

Hi ! Thanks for your message. Yes, the clinic told me that current price is 4€/graft up until the first 4000 grafts. After that, it goes down to 3,5€. Hope this helps Have a nice day

I got around 1300 for a similar zone

I hope not 😕 But I think the illusion of straightness is because the red dots are aligned. Hopefully they will disappear in a few weeks/months. I sent these pictures to Dr. Ferreira for the 1 month post-op follow-up and he said that everything looks good so far so I will try not to panic yet 😅.

Hi everyone, Please find pictures at Day +30. Grafts don't seem to fall anymore despite washing my hair twice a day as per Dr. Ferreira's instructions. I try not to look at myself too much in the mirror as I feel horrible... Hopefully in a few months my hair will cover the recipient area. I'm starting to think about taking oral Minoxidil next year (at very low dosage 1.25mg per day) to improve density. I'm a little scared of skin aging and collagen losses. I will talk about it with Dr. Ferreira later since it's out of stock in my country right now apparently. Have a nice day!

Yes, I'm lucky to have contacted him when he was still available. Now he's extremely busy but I hope you will find a way. Thank you everyone. I'm waiting patiently for the results and will keep you updated.

I didn't ask but I would say between 80 and 100 for both temple points, maybe 20-30 in the center and the rest on the temples (so around 580 on each temple).

I think he extracted them from the lower part of the donor. He didn't harvest from the sides and around the ears at all, which is a good thing for a touch up and further surgeries.

Hello everyone, I’ve been a reader of this forum for years and after my surgery, I thought it was natural to write a post about my case in order to give back a little bit after learning so much from all your experiences. I hope my post can help even though it was not a big session. Please ignore my grammatical errors as English is not my first language. Background I have been losing hair a little bit before age 20, starting with the temples. The day I was told that by someone that I lost some hair was the start of a long pain. I started with Minoxidil, that only grew velus hair on my temples. Then I started Finasteride when I was 20, and that I’m still taking. With that regimen, I was able to regrow my hair a little bit and maintain a solid Norwood 2. But I’ve never felt good about my hair since then and I kept a haircut that hid my hairless. I can say that I never felt good about myself and wasted a good part of my youth thinking about my hair. The Choice of a Doctor Since the beginning I have been looking at hair transplant forums (the French one first, then this one). I quickly understood that I would have to wait at least to be 25 to be accepted by a good doctor since it appeared to be the consensus. Also, I didn’t really have to money for it and didn’t want to talk about it with my parents. During summer 2020, it was COVID, I was between the end of my studies and a new work, I was finally 25, so I decided it was time to contact doctors. Because of my personal graft count estimation and my budget, I wanted to stay around 3-3.5€ per graft. My shortlist consisted in: Dr. De Freitas, for his incredible, consistent results and spectacular hairlines. Proposed 1,700 grafts. Dr. Lupanzula, not very present on this forum but very respected on the French forum. I was supposed to have a consultation with him, but it was canceled because of COVID. I can’t find the e-mail with his proposal, but I think it was around 1800 grafts. Dr. Pinto. For his very clean and meticulous work. I think my case was lost because I never received a proposal. Dr. Ferreira. Pf course, Mr. Rolandas was a good reason for selecting him in my shortlist, but I also was impressed by the detailed proposal that was sent to me. At that time, Dr. Ferreira was responding by himself (which is not possible anymore since he’s extremely busy). I appreciated the honest answer about my age: “Your age does raise a concern since your hair loss can progress substantially and your family history confirms this. So finasteride is basically mandatory long term if you wish to move forward with the surgery.“ He first proposed 900-1100 grafts then around 1200 when I said I would also some work on the temple points. I took several months to decide and in April 2021, I decided to go with Dr. Ferreira. He was not the safer bet at that time because of the lack of results. But he sent me a few more cases from his clinic, and I appreciated the fact that he proposed a conservative hairline with less grafts than the other doctors as I’ve always had a curved hairline, even as a child. Surgery was first booked for January 2021, but I had to postpone to January 2022. It was my fault, I started Accutane shortly after the initial consultation, and forgot to mention it when booking the surgery. Dr. Ferreira kindly proposed the same date one year after I stopped the treatment. I also stopped Minoxidil about a year ago (with instructions from Dr. Ferreira to taper off) since I would only apply it to my temples and only grew velus hair, so I preferred to have bald temples for the surgery (also, I hated applying it). The Day of the Surgery I arrived in Espinho on the Wednesday 25 of January in the evening; the surgery was planned on Friday 27. I decided to stay 10 days at the hotel (Hotel Apartamento Solverde) for extra security after the surgery. I booked a studio to have a kitchen. On Thursday 26, I did groceries for 1 week (there is a Lidl 15 minutes away from the hotel). They have good choice and prices are cheap (around 50 euros for a week of groceries with meals, fruits, snacks, etc.). The night before the surgery was horrible, I woke up every hour (the mattress was a little hard as well). Then arrived the final moment. I walked towards the clinic (15 minutes walking) to arrive at 7:30. Nurse Cristina welcomed me and presented the room where I got my surgery outfit and had some paperwork and instructions to read. Then nurse Ricardo arrived. He’s such a wonderful and caring person. I’m sure he met dozens of stressed-out patients just like me, so he has the words to reassure you. He brought me some fruits, snacks (and Valium) for breakfast. Doctor Ferreira then arrived with Inês, who is the patient manager. He explained to me about the surgery, post-op and answered all my questions. Then we moved to the photo room. Taking pictures The photo process is made in different steps: Long hair: the clinic asks you to grow your hair rather long to have a good understanding of your implantation, angles, etc. Dr. Ferreira started drawing the new hairline. He really is an artist and makes small corrections and tweaks while taking his time. He told me again that he accepted my case because I wanted a conservative hairline, and that I was on Finasteride. He says I have very straight have, rather fine. Short hair: my hair was cut at a length of around 2 cm. Dr. Ferreira keeps adjusting the hairline. Buzz cut: it took me some minutes to recognize myself as I had long hair for years. At first, I thought about asking partial shave, but I wanted the doctor to work in optimal conditions and have an opinion about the miniaturization of my scalp. Final adjustments were made, and they draw the donor zone. Anesthesia and Extractions We moved to the operation room. You can feel the team has been working together for years as everything gesture seems perfectly calibrated and coordinated. Doctor Ferreira checked my hair with a camera and told me that there was some miniaturization on my scalp and that I needed to stay on Finasteride. Doctor Ferreira started the anesthesia shots. He’s very good because you don’t feel much (he shakes his finger to reduce the pain). At the beginning of the surgery, I was shaking, but it stopped after a moment. Doctor Ferreira tried to joke but as I was nervous, I was not very receptive (sorry Dr. 🥲). He said “I hope you didn’t feel that because this is my first surgery” 😄. Dr. Ferreira did the extractions by himself, most of it with micromotor, but sometimes with manual punches (in more elastic zones, like the nape, for example). Micromotor allows him to be less tired. I like the fact that he chooses the right tool for the right occasion. Implantation After that, Dr. Ferreira started the implantation phase. He did a few slits in the center of my hairline (I believe it’s to be very precise when implanting grafts amongst native hair), but most of the grafts where implanted with implanter pens. Quick lunch break (I had fish and chips) and we returned to finish the surgery with the temple points, which is one of the reasons I chose Dr. Ferreira since I saw a few great temple points results. During the whole surgery I closed my eyes because they are very sensitive to the light and the medical light was quite strong for me. I basically was in a semi-sleeping state, so I was not the most entertaining patient 😅. End of Surgery We finished the surgery by cleaning the donor and recipient zones with saline and took pictures again. It was around 4:30 or 5PM I think (sorry, I was completely phased out at the moment). In total I had 1288 grafts implanted. Lots of singles (424) for the hairline and the temple points so the hair ratio is not relevant in my case. Dr. Ferreira estimated my donor around 8000-8500 before the surgery, so I have a nice amount left. Before leaving, I made the payment and bought the supplements that Dr. Ferreira recommends (Ecophane). They are affordable (80 euros for 5 months) and I appreciated the you don’t feel pushed to buy them. Post-OP I came back at the hotel with a kit (saline, aloe, neck pillow, ice pack, etc.). I took an Uber (around 3 minutes to the hotel) making sure I don’t bump my grafts in the car. I saw that my forehead was getting of start of swelling, so I immediately applied the ice pack. A few minutes later, it was completely gone, and I have zero swelling after that. I was extremely exhausted, so I think I went to bed at 7:30 PM. The next day (Saturday 28), Inês asked me to send pictures. After seeing them, she said Dr. Ferreira asked to increase the frequency of saline spray from every hour to every 30 minutes. My tip: change you timer ringtone to a pleasant one because (I chose the Mozart Sonata ringtone on my Samsung phone 😊 ). The following days were quite long but at least I had a nice sea view. On day 4 (Tuesday 3), I went to the clinic to have my first shampoo with nurse Ana, same on the following day. On Thursday, I went one last time for a shampoo and Doctor Ferreira was doing a surgery but took 5 minutes to come checking if everything was alright (which was the case). Donor was already looking good except for a few bruising (totally normal according to Dr. Ferreira). On day 8, all the scabs were gone and I took my flight home. Day 15 I’m now at day 15, I think a couple hairs have fallen and I have a couple pimples. Redness has faded a little (it looks redder on my phone camera than in real life, and the difference between implanted hair and native hair on the temple points is more noticeable on my phone camera as well). I’m very impressed how natural the result is and how carefully they selected the fine single grafts for the temple points. Density looks very good as well. From now on I’m prepared to lose the grafts and start the ugly duckling phase, but I can’t wait for the final result. I would totally recommend Dr. Ferreira as he is an ethical and meticulous surgeon. His team is also fantastic and very caring. I hope you found this post informative!