MTCM

4 hours ago, BaldingEagle1 said:

The 10k graft quote was by another doctor that my uncle went to. Which I assume He was over harvesting. 
 

at that time I didn’t understand the science behind HT and I was seriously considering him. 
 

thank god I did further research. 

Got it... here in Brazil there are many surgeons who take that amount of grafts, but they show very good results on their pages and social media. How can I evaluate if the doctor is overhaversting or not? And what would be the consequences of this pratice?

Hi, nice story.

You said that at the first consultation the doctor would get 10k grafts and at Eugenix you got only 3k. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but why that great difference?

On 11/22/2022 at 11:27 PM, BaldingEagle1 said:

So the old post wont let me edit it, so im making a new post, and will close the old one out.

I will post a detailed experience of my HT journey. If anyone has any questions please ask away, I'll try and answer in a timely fashion.

 

INTRO

Hey all, 

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO anxious and nervous about this. This is my first HT procedure. 

Joined these forums during covid before all the hype of Eugenix started and had my eye on them from the beginning.

Although I have family in India, and I can ask them to accompany me to Delhi, I will be traveling alone.

 

BACKSTORY

I am an Asian-American (Indian origin).

I never really kept track of my hair loss and never really cared for my hair. Was never on any medication. I maybe applied Rogaine once or twice literally (wasted the whole bottle by not using it). I was just not very educated on restoring hair and never really did any research about it.

I always have been told from the age of 26-27 that I was losing hair and was recommended at the age of 27-28 to use Rogaine. At that moment, I brushed it off and said if I need to, I'll just get a hair transplant. So the idea of having one has always been on my mind, just never knew the science behind it or how scammy the industry can be.

Fast forward to 2018-2019, one of my uncles did a whopping 10k grafts from some guy in India for $1/graft, and claimed to have done celebrities there. I was excited and wanted to do the same. I got quoted the same 10k grafts by him as well lol.. which is funny thinking about it now. I was focused on doing the HT surgery with him. Then covid started and I found this forum.

I started reading on results, and then I thought to myself why am I restricting myself to just Mumbai (which is where the guy is located in, and my family as well). Being of Indian origin, I thought why don't I open myself to all of India for the best Indian doctors, and that's when I stumbled upon Eugenix w/ Dr. Sethi & Bansal. After watching countless videos from JT and Matt Dominance on YT about Eugenix, I said ok! this is it.

During this time two of my uncles were considering HTs but in Turkey because it was cheap and included a holiday lol they thought I was silly and overdoing my research about it.

Eh, like I told them.. If my HT is a failure, I'll kick myself if its done in turkey but ill be fine if its done in india because it was my choice and after I did my research.

ok, now that I got that out of the way, I got my emedical visa approved, and dates set for mid Nov.

will upload pics and write detailed posts of my pre & post surgery. 

I paid a deposit during covid and looking online at the price chart, I’m glad I did as the prices have increased. Eugenix was kind enough to honor my price and everything is good to go. 
 

After reading @Melvin- Moderator’s post about an additional discount for allowing yourself to be in their videography/media, I asked them for this and will be doing it. You can reach out to your rep for this choice if you choose so to do this. 

 

PACKAGE SELECTED

As I stated earlier, I locked in my price by paying a deposit back in 2020. The package that I paid a deposit for was:

Planning, designing and 100% slits will be done by Dr Arika Bansal.

100% Implantation of grafts will be done by our expertly trained and experienced senior technicians.

100% Implantation of grafts will be done by our expertly trained and experienced senior technicians.

Value-added benefit:

Complimentary 2 nights’ accommodation with airport pick up and drop.

7 days Post-op medication will be provided by us.

 

HAIR TRANSPLANT PLAN

So my plan is to do the hairline and mid, and after 6-7 months, make plans to do my crown and if im not happy with my age appropriate hairline, I will consider doing a more aggressive one.

 

BLOODWORK

I wanted to do my bloodwork in India as the cost of it would be incredibly lower than to do it in USA. Unfortunately, I could not do that as I would need to arrive to India a week prior to the surgery date to get the results on time. I searched many places online, and got quotes in the 460-600 range. I will say this, the Eugenix team was helpful in assisting me to choosing the correct bloodwork, have to give them credit for that. 

Anyways, I stumbled across a website called 'requestatest.com'. I was able to choose all the test, and googled a promo code to get 10% off, and boom, it cost me about 380 USD. not too bad I guess. I was able to pick a Quest Diagnostic place and go there to perform the test.

I’ve never had blood work taken and I was very nervous.

I set an appointment to do the test. Upon getting to Quest I checked in via phone. Within 2 mins, someone from the back called me and there she took 4-5 bottles of blood. I told her it was the first time and I was nervous. She was very professional and stated that it was obvious I was very nervous because my hands were cold and not to pass out lol. I told her I was just nervous not light headed. For this exam I had to fast for 8-12 hrs. 

I was so glad she told me it was almost done. 8 mins I was done and I was out and about to my regular routine. 

Got the results a few days later in email and forwarded everything to Eugenix. 

In my report the only thing that was abnormal was high red blood count. My wife is a Dr so she was able to confirm that it’s fine, just due to my active lifestyle (I play a lot of sports) and due to the fact that I was dehydrated.

Everything else was perfect and within range.

I will be spending the next few days pre surgery researching about what to bring with me and download movies on Netflix. 
I also am planning on pursuing an MBA so I guess I can study for the GRE lol

 

JOURNEY TO INDIA

Nov 14- first leg of the trip started off.. annoying.

I have TSA Precheck and lounge access (Amex and Priority Pass) so I knew that it wouldn’t be as tiring as traveling can be for others.

on Saturday I dropped my wife to the airport and the volume of people traveling compared to today was like night and day. We took the same airline- Qatar airways. The line to drop off her bag was at least 90 mins. This time for me, there was only 1 person ahead of me and it was wrapped up in 5 mins.

After checking in, I headed my way through TSA precheck and SURPRISE SURPRISE, guess who got “random checked” 🙄🙄

After getting patted down, I made my way to the Centurion lounge. Now the food isn’t anything to write about but you can take showers, munch on some snacks and charge your phone while you wait for your flight. It’s exactly what someone like me needed haha.

I made my way to my gate with 15 mins left for boarding all charged up and fresh, from Houston to Doha.

I had a 9 hour layover, and immediately went to Al Maha lounge. I was able to take a shower there, charge my phone and relax. Unfortunately, I wasnt able to catch some sleep.

 

ARRIVAL- NOV 16, 2022

After a short flight from Doha, I arrived at Delhi at 8:30am. Upon landing, it was truly amazing to see the smog. That was unreal. As soon as we exited, I tried to connect to wifi to let the eugenix team know that I landed, to reach out to the hotel transfer driver, and also to activate my esim that I prepurchased.

Delhi's airport wifi, while free, is pretty funny where they send you a 4 digit code to your phone. Just great. After going through immigration, I asked one of the airport attendants, who advised me to go to the baggage area and to speak to the info area where I can get a 4 digit pass code by swiping my passport. very weird.

After doing so, i was able to log onto the internet and let Eugenix know I landed. I also already had the hotel transfer driver reach out to me already, so I asked them for a pic of them and I told them what I was wearing. I tried setting up the esim but the internet shut up on me randomly lol. So I was praying I could find the driver as it was a little crowded. Thank god I saw him waving at me, and he took me to the parking lot and brought out his vehicle. We took a 30 min drive to the hotel. The drive there was funny. I saw cows everywhere, people driving randomly with no care, it was truly amusing. I have road rage, so Im glad I dont have to deal with that kind of traffic haha.

Of course no travel is complete without drama. As soon as i got to the hotel (which was 10am), I was exhausted. Come to think of it, I dont know how the hell I did the procedure on this day with no sleep and pure exhaustion. Its wild. I highly recommend everyone to NOT do this lol. Anyways, my room was not ready, and they stated it would be ready at 3pm.

Eugenix was supposed to pick me up at 12pm. Go figure. and to top it all off, I couldn't use the hotel wifi without checking in. It was ridiculous. I was a little pissed, and asked to use their local phone. I asked them to call Eugenic, and spoke to Satyam. He apologized and said to leave my bags there and to come to the clinic sooner. He said he would organize the driver to pick me up at 11am instead.

I said sure. As soon as I sat down in the lobby, I was hoping @ApexBwould come down in the lobby so I could get wifi access haha, but there was no way for me to message him on here. And next thing u know I meet someone else! Enter @user2022! Had a nice chat with him, and the manager came over and apologized and gave me a room immediately. 

After I went upstairs, I quickly activated my esim, and just when I was done, the Eugenix driver arrived to pick me up. I grabbed a buttoned shirt and made my way downstairs where the driver picked me up in a regular SUV, and took me to the clinic which was like 2 mins away from the hotel. 

After I got to the clinic, I went downstairs to check-in. I had the media guy grab me and do an interview. Once he was done, I was escorted upstairs and asked to swap my shoes for some crocs.

The counselor sat down with me, and went over the whole process, as well as my payment amount. FYI, they charge different fees for AMEX vs VISA. I used my Visa. After the payment, they went over my medical history with me, checked my vitals and made me sign a few documents. They also injected me with 2 test anesthesia to see how I would react, thankfully, I had no reaction to either. After that, they took me in for some pictures, and then I changed clothes and sat back down in the picture room, where Dr. Arika came in with 2 other doctors and 2 other counselors. They kept saying that the hairline is my choice, and asked what I wanted.

I will say this.. Dr Arika is very friendly and knowledgeable, but I feel she's an introvert. If you dont initiate the convo, she will keep it limited and do her thing. She asked me what kind of hairline I wanted and i told her I want something age appropriate and will consider something more aggressive if I dont like it within 7 months. Thank god Im blessed with good donor so I have the luxury of doing so. After she drew the hairline, she showed me a mirror and asked if that was fine. I said I liked it and then she got up and left the room while the other 2 doctors repeated the same thing. The counselors viewed and liked my design, I guess its an assurance thing.

After that, the photographer took more pics, and then I was escorted to the op room. There was no TV or music in that room, and I said yeah dude, I need music sorry. So they got a blue-tooth speaker and played some jams. The techs introduced themselves along with the anesthesia lady. She said she will let me know when she will inject, and if I were to feel any pain, to tell her immediately. I nodded and then Dr Arika came in and explained that they would numb my head, inject PRP in my head and she would make the slits. So while this was happening, Dr. Bansal and I had a nice chat about her personal life and professional life, when she was done, she explained that they will start some graft implanting and bounced.

I was told to have lunch (they asked me prior what I wanted for lunch) and then we would resume after lunch with some grafts. It was about 2-3pm. After eating, we resumed, and the techs got started on one side of my head. BTW, once the anesthesia injections hit the back of your head, it hurts so much lol I was able to handle the injections prior, but back of the head just about the neck is a different kind of pain. So anyways when we were done with about 677 grafts. I had Dr. Arika come in randomly 2-4 times to double check the work, and next think you it was about 6-7pm, and I was informed that they were done for the day and that they would resume the next day at 8am. I met with the after care team, who gave me some things including a 'pillow protector' for the ooze that I was told to expect to come out, and boy did it ooze!! 

As soon as I got to the hotel, I was done! exhausted and weak. I ate dinner, and knocked out.

2ND DAY- NOV 17, 2022

Oh boy! this was quite the day! So I woke up at 6am, and was ready by 8am. One thing you have to know about Indians in general, is that they are not punctual lol. So when you deal with a stressful thing like a HT, don't stress too much about starting on time. Just relax and go with the flow. The driver came by the hotel at about 8:20am. Got to Eugenix at about 8:25am, everyone was just showing up and at about 8:45am, they called me in the back and we were ready to go!

They numbed my head, and I gotta say the injections hurt man lol Once the anesthesia is injected, its fine. Don't feel a thing. I was just relaxing jamming to some good spanish music and singing along sometimes haha. The guys were attentive to me, and kept asking me every hour or two if I had pain, and when anesthesia was wearing off, the lady would come in and hit me with them shots that hurt like a mofo.

My initial plan by Eugenix was 3k grafts from my scalp and 500 grafts from my beard. I heard horror stories about getting the anesthesia for your beard, so I was not looking forward to it. Then the doctor passed by me and said you have good sidelocks, and normally I do a 0 guard on that area, so I asked him if he could get the 500 from there instead of my beard. He said he would have to see. He trimmed the side lock and said yes he could get 500! Hallelujah!

The techs were so tentative asking m if I wanted Gatorade, or bathroom breaks. Cool bunch of guys.

We took a lunch break at about 2pm, and we were almost done. The techs were so nice, they were giving me a massage while I was chilling. I felt so bad and said no than you haha. Now came the bad part. The anesthesia for the side locks. HOLY CRAP. that hurt so much!!! When we were done, i WAS DONE with the injections. at about 4:30pm, my anesthesia was wearing off on the top of my head but I bit my tongue and dealt with the pain as it was only 50 grafts left and I didnt wanna deal with the stupid injections again lol!!

and just like that, it was done!!! Total extracted: 3530!

Waiting on the singles, doubles, triples, quads breakdown later on.

After the procedure was FINALLY DONE, they cleaned my donor and explained the after care. They gave me medication with detailed explanation, gave me saline water, a yogi book, sleeping pillow and thats it lol No other free stuff like other got 😢

I took some post op pics and then they called a cab to take me to the hotel.

I went to the hotel, ate dinner, and had medicine. and slept! End of day 2!

3RD DAY- NOV 18, 2022

Woke up early as hell, jet lagged hitting randomly. the ooze was a lot less compared to the 1st day. I just chilled at hotel, took my medicine, and arranged to go to the clinic to get my hair cleaned. Upon arriving at the clinic, I had to do my post-op interview, and I got word that Dr. Sethi was there!! I just had to meet him. So I requested to meet him. Dr Sethi instead gave me a little impromptu interview which caught me off guard haha.

It was interested to meet him and he for sure lives, breathes, and eats hair transplant. Thats all he does. He was so energetic and fun to talk to. He went over why he gives everyone that Yogi book, and about his work ethic. He was a joy to chat with. He invited me over to the farmhouse, which I had to later decline because I was too jet lagged! I did say I'll have to take a rain check next time I visit!!

After Dr. Sethi's meeting, I went to the second building thats being built. I interviewed there and I was done! Made my way to the hotel to relax where I slept early again.

4TH DAY- NOV 19, 2022

This was my last day in India as my flight was at 2am on Nov 20. After my cleaning, I went back to the hotel to finish up packing. at about 8pm, I checked out and requested a ride to the airport which they arranged for me with no issues. 

LEAVING INDIA- NOV 20,2022

Leaving India, I decided to take Air India business class. I heard Air India was a nightmare.. but.. it wasnt that bad. Had a lot of space and seats were comfy. Just relaxed and took the long journey back home. This is where I noticed I had swelling on my eyes.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE

Its still unreal to me that it's done. 4-5 years of research has concluded and I have done the HT at a clinic that I'm confident and happy with. I highly encourage anyone who is on the fence of doing HT to do it!! Whoever you decide to choose!!

 

 

Hi, nice story.

You said that at the first consultation the doctor would get 10k grafts and at Eugenix you got only 3k. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but why that great difference?

And what about the donor area?

What is the best lenght to let hair grow for evaluation in a hair transplant consultation?

Man, thank you so much for the guidance! 

On 3/17/2023 at 3:57 AM, StillAlive said:

Not necessarily.

After 35, you would have a pretty good idea of where you are headed. Saw Palmetto and a good 2% Ketoconazole shampoo can provide small boosts and are not really associated with any side effects. 

So, cognizant of potential risk, you could go ahead and get an HT, fairly confident that you wouldn't end up chasing it forever. 

So, I am 35 right now, by my photos you think I am now a NW5 and heading to a final NW7?

But, how he can extract so much grafts? The experts say that the donor area usually has a limited amount of 6000 grafts in average

14 hours ago, StillAlive said:

It comes down to education/research and realistic expectations. A guy in his 40's or 50's with pretty much 'finalized' loss, will know what they are dealing with and are not likely to recede further so they can opt to go drug-free.  

A young man with aggressive loss in progress, absolutely playing with fire, no arguments there. 

In this way you think that, without meds, would be better to wait until a nw6-7 to do a transplant?

Tnx!

13 hours ago, StillAlive said:

It does and with a good HT, your shaved head will have that nice 'hairline darkened' look. When growing out a buzzcut to 1-2cm's though, depending on your hair type, it may end up exposing the illusion vs a NW1's 1-2cm buzzcut. 

You mean that shaved could be better? Even without meds? But shaved would show the scars as well

13 hours ago, Doron Harati said:

I had 3 hts, 1 bad horrific experience by Arenamed clinic in Turkey and 2 successful repair procedures at HDC clinic by Dr. Maras, 1st repair focused on frontal area, this is me with a buzzcut 1-2 weeks after having the 2nd repair (focus on NW4-5 zones), I felt comfortable to go out with a buzzcut.

Sometimes bad results can look more flattering with more density illusion with a buzzcut, can look more natural than SMP.

Nice man, you're good to go! Do yo have photos of before? You took/taking meds? Tnx!

See this...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cpz3tu1j-FW/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

8 hours ago, StillAlive said:

You appear to have diffuse thinning which makes you a really tough case to take on without finasteride. The risk here is that you might continue losing hair all over the place around and behind the transplanted ones, effectively looking exactly like you never had a procedure, minus your depleted donor. You could continue chasing it down with 3+ procedures and using body hair, but only you know if you are prepared for that exhausting physical and mental ordeal. 

You could try getting on 320mg's of Saw Palmetto daily as it's known to be about 30% as effective as finasteride, minus the side effects. If your loss is stable and you understand the risk involved, you could go for a transplant, fully aware of the potential outcomes. 

Yeah... I saw many people here in Brazil going down this route of transplant without fin, but seems like a inverted russian roulette to me (5 of 6 bullets)

The surgeons only want to take their money, only a few are completely transparent about the outcomes

Hi, I only see people with long hair after the final results of a transplant. I wonder if is it possible to use a buzzcut style or it wouldn't be good? (I mean, maybe the distance between grafts wouldn't look good, considering a NW5 who got a transplant?

Hi, hoping for you to have great results!

Think my baldness is almost like yours, you used/using/will use finasteride?

Nice topic, I would like to see that also. I am 35 years old and can't take finasteride, I always wonder if a transplant would be feasible to me. Can you look at my photos below?

I have a lot of body and beard hair. Do you think I could go for a transplant without meds (finasteride, since it seems to be the only thing that can mantain hair)?