LostAndFound

Hello good people of the forum.

I am currently booked to have a 2 day surgery with Dr Pinto in 2 weeks on the 5th and 6th of February. Unfortunately I currently have some conflicting priorities and wanted to see if anyone who has a surgery booked with Pinto say in March or April for 2 days was interested in taking my earlier surgery dates in exchange for their later dates? 

Great to see so many here that have had their procedure with Bruno Pinto or are planning to. Especially as I don’t see quite as many results / pictures of his work compared to some of the other upper-end surgeons on here and on his social platforms. I am also booked with him for my very first procedure at the beginning of February 2024 and am looking forward to it. @Otis james wish you all the best for your January procedure and will be keen to follow your journey should you wish to share it. 

38 minutes ago, coffeeandpie said:

That's great.

Do you have a date booked? How much is the waiting time and the price if you don't mind my asking?

I’ve sent you a message!

18 minutes ago, coffeeandpie said:

@LostAndFound have you made a decision on the doctor?

Hi @coffeeandpie yes I have decided on Pinto. Feedback from yourself and others, coupler with how I felt during the Pinto consultation have helped me make that decision. I feel that Pinto really cares about his patients and will be good in the longer term in terms of donor management / after care. 

2 hours ago, coffeeandpie said:

I chose Pinto over De Freitas because Pinto does all the work from Extraction to placement, where as with De Freitas does only the placement and extraction is done by tech (still graft picking is done by De Freitas I think).

Also, De Freitas does multiple surgeries in a day (I have heard from 2-3 in day) and split your case between two days whereas Pinto does only one surgery per day.

Also, I don't like the fact that De Freitas cases seemed a bit more aggressive and he does rows a lot which is not my preference.

I am surprised you got the same number of graft estimates from both. I would think De Freitas estimates are usually 400-500 higher because of his more aggressive designs.

Yes, that’s right. Same number of grafts. Pinto will actually do the first procedure of approx. 3000 grafts over 2 days which is the same as Freitas proposal. 
 

I was unable to have the in person consultation with Freitas in the end due to a personal commitment.

Wondered if anyone had any further thoughts on Pinto vs Freitas at all?

On 9/27/2023 at 6:44 PM, goatnole said:

After a LOT of research, I have decided to go for either Keser or Pinto.

I need about 2500 grafts, to get the result I desire.

Keser: Can get the prosedure done in 3-4 months. 2500 grafts = 4 days of surgery. That sounds stressful. Otherwise all the results I have seen are flawless. I concidered Pekiner as well, but no feedback from him/Alex.

 

Pinto: Same price as Keser per graft. I just admire the natural hairline and the overall work and passion he puts in with every pasient. He also does the whole prosedure him self. At his clinic the waiting time is a little bit longer, about 1 year. But 1 year is not a problem for me.

Other options: Ferreira, Basinga, Pekiner De Freitas has also been on my list, but after consultations and research, I landed on Pinto or Keser. (Pekiner doesnt answer, Ferreira has minimum 2 years waiting list)

Can you guys please give me an input? 
 

Did you have an in person consultation with both Pinto And De Freitas? Wondering if anyone has any insights on how these two surgeons compare as I am currently deciding between them and finding it rather difficult!

Thanks all for the replies. Appreciate its lot about who I feel confident with, and @Gatsby I have asked them the question you said I should be asking - thank you for that. However, I really was looking for people’s views or on whether one excels over the other in certain aspects. Results-wise, although both great, it looks to me that Pinto is a bit more conservative and Freitas does slightly better hairlines. 

Hello all, 

I have recently shortlisted from a number of doctors to Dr De Freitas in Spain and Dr Bruno Pinto in Portugal. Their results seem to be consistently good and they have a similar proposal for my case which is about 3000 grafts in surgery 1 covering frontal third, hairline and slight temple work. They both then recommended a 2nd surgery 12 months later for about 1500 grafts on the crown. 
 

I have already had an in person consultation with Pinto and am due to have the same with De Freitas in September. I am asking now as I feel I will still find it hard to make a decision following the consult with Dr De Freitas. I loved the consultation with Pinto. He ran extremely late on the day but spent 1.5 hours with me! He seemed very considerate, knowledgable and I would say slightly conservative overall which I don’t think is a bad thing. I know Freitas doesn’t speak much English but is able to communicate via his team who speak good English but don’t want that to influence my decision!
 

Does anyone prefer one doctor over the other, and if so why? Would love to get your views.

Many thanks!

@drawdownfx looking fantastic bro. A truly fantastic result so far, with more growth still to go over the next 5 months at least. 

On 5/31/2023 at 6:28 PM, Melvin- Moderator said:

I made a tutorial check it out 

https://youtube.com/shorts/-MzSNJ4GFqg?feature=share
 

 

Wondering which products you’ve had the best experience with in terms of thickest, fullest look please @Melvin- Moderator

Hi all,

I’ve been taking finasteride 1mg for years but decided just over a week ago to add oral minoxidil 2.5mg once daily to my regime. 
 

I am experiencing a number of side effects - burning feeling in the heart and left arm. Occasionally Elevated heart rates which then drop quickly down to normal. Tingling, sore feeling in the hands, calves and feet.

Has anyone else experienced the same? What i I’m wondering is if I should carry on, in the hope that these are just initiated side effects that will go away. The other option is to stop altogether but I do feel it’s very early. 
 

What confuses me is that almost all of the top surgeons recommend oral minoxidil. Am I just a rare case or is this quite normal?

@therambler the work looks great. Wondered if you also consulted with Dr De Freitas, and how he compared with Dr Pinto? I have made bookings with both for next year, but planning to meet both for a physical consultation in advance to help me make my decision on who to go with for the surgery. 

Hello all, does anyone have any recent experience on whether the vat for procedure can be claimed back via a refund? I am living in a non-EU country and interested in the Belgium clinics

19 minutes ago, Calihome1 said:

IDK fellas, I think now I’m leaning towards Ferreira.  Such a tough call between the 2!

I’ve been looking into these two. Wondering what your current thoughts are?

20 minutes ago, Calihome1 said:

I got my consult done w/ Ferreira, but, he didn't quote me a price yet.  As previously mentioned Pinto is 3.5 euros.

Thanks, were the Pinto and Ferreira consults in person or virtual?

12 minutes ago, New_Barnet_Please said:

With some doctors from there this is avoidable with a note from a doctor in your country via an exemption. I believe there’s a thread on it somewhere.

Best to ask each clinic from there for advice regarding it.

3 hours ago, Dillpickle123 said:

If your going to Belgium to consult you might as well consult with lupanzula, feriduini and mwamba as you go for bisangas clinic 

Thanks.

wondering if anyone compared these Belgian surgeons and also how do they compare to the Portugese/Spanish name mentioned above?

1 hour ago, Rafael Manelli said:

In the uk there is also Dr Ball of the Maitland Clinic. Does Fue and fuss.

Feriduni and Lupanzula both excellent.

Thank you,  I hadn’t considered Dr Ball but having looked into him, he seems to produce good results. 

Quick update in terms of my initial enquiries as I’m seeing some quite long wait times

-Couto / Ferreira - both have extremely long wait times (1 year plus). I’m happy to wait 9 months. Couto’s clinic will do an initial evaluation using photos. FERREIRA has no consultations available for the rest of the year

Pinto - waiting to hear back on initial enquiry but seems to have a long wait too

De Freitas - have sent through photos and will come back to me on whether a surgery in 9 months would be feasible 

Bisanga - have added him to my list given long wait times of above. They are currently looking at photos and have already provided June dates for a physical consultation.

UK surgeons seem to have better availability and:

Reddy - available for a physical consultation soon and charges £150 for this. Im happy to pay for someone’s time but wanted to check with you all, if initial consultations are mostly chargeable or not at other clinics?

farjo - they have requested pics and waiting to hear back 

mittal - they will do a phone consultation before a physical one

I do plan to travel

if needed to Mainland Europe for physical consultations, as I believe the initial assessment is in person is crucial.
 

couple of questions :

in terms of surgeons in Belgium, what do people think of Feriduni and Lupanzula? Wondering if it’s worth seeing them if I end up in Belgium for a consultation anyway?

in the UK and Netherlands, what do people think of Arshad and Munib Ahmad respectively?

I know I’m starting with a wide list but I naturally expect this to get narrowed down in the next month or so naturally.

Hi Calihome,

im also looking at these surgeons and wanted to ask you what they are charging per graft these days? Did you manage to get a consult with Ferreira?

Thank you all for responses so far. I am attaching further pics which will hopefully show more than the last ones. 
one thing I forgot to mention is that I am hoping to get the surgery by early January, so whilst that just under 9 months from now, it might be a longer wait for the likes of Zarev / Couto. 
 

Hi all

I am a 38 year old male of south Asian origin based in the UK and have been lurking on the forum for the past month or so. Ive found then numerous posts I’ve read extremely helpful and can see we have a real community here so have decided to share my situation.

I’ve been losing my hair since I was about 15 years old. I am on Finasteride 1mg. I have finally decided that I think overall transplant surgery will do me good given how much my hair loss has progressed. I’m not quite sure where I am on the NW scale, perhaps a 4? I feel I also have some diffuse thinning and have attached lots of pictures of my hair after washing and when dry and hope this will help. My main problem is that I am struggling to find as much information on results / experiences of south Asian individuals with fine, straight hair like mine (except of course Eugenix’s results on their domestic patients). 
 

I am currently looking at the following surgeons - UK: Reddy and Farjo. Portugal and Spain: Couto, Pinto, Ferreira and de Freitas. 
 

What I would like is a a very natural looking hair line with tiny amount of lowering and possibly some restoration at the temple peaks, though this last point is not the be all and end all, as I know it is more challenging. And of course the crown too  

I am not really grading surgeons based on cost but would much rather focus on their work / the right surgeon for my situation. 
 

As you’ll see from the surgeons mentioned, I am willing to travel but also wouldn’t mind sticking with the UK if people’s views are that the work performed by above clinics is at least almost as good as others elsewhere in Europe.

Any insights in to clinics that would suit my needs and insights into the ones specifically mentioned above would be much appreciated.