Nomdeplum73

Posting my 16 month update (note that I had SMP done in this pic as well but no fibers or other temporary concealers)

I would encourage you to reach out to him directly, but it was about the same price as the Turkish clinics.

I was using the Derminator 2 micro needling device prior to the transplant, but not after. He did not advise me to continue using it after the transplant.

I’ll try to keep this as short as possible, but my hair loss journey involved three main phases - medication and microneedling only (1 year), transplant and medication combined (1 year) and most recently, SMP (still on medication). I’m a 50 year old male and had reached the point that I’d either have to shave it all off or take serious corrective action. I basically had the hairline of Jack Nicholson in the Shining and it wasn’t doing me any favors. I did one year of 2x daily minoxidil/1mg daily fin/ and 1x weekly microneedling to set a realistic base line prior to getting a transplant. I’d recommend this to anyone considering a transplant because it puts to rest the issue of whether a transplant is actually needed and if so, gives a clear picture to the surgeon of what your medically stabilized hair line looks like. In my case, it was clear that the self treatment wasn’t going to be enough and the first pics are after a year of just this protocol. In phase two, I traveled to Budapest, Hungary to have a transplant performed by Thomas Mantse at PROHAIR clinic. I chose Dr. Mantse because I’d be in Hungary anyway, and that I wanted an experienced surgeon handling my entire procedure from beginning to end for comparable money to what the Turkish clinics charge, where the majority of the work is done be assistants and not the surgeon himself. Dr. Mantse was very patient with me and helpful in putting me in touch with past clients with whom I was able to talk and have video conferences with. The surgery itself consisted of about 2,500 grafts done via FUE with the majority going to my frontal hairline and mid scalp and a few hundred in my crown. It took place over two 12 hour days and was done very professionally with particular attention paid to the fact that I wanted as natural looking of a hairline as possible, and something appropriate to my age. I’m not a fan of the overly straight pluggy looking hairlines. Surgery is surgery and it’s not to be taken lightly. It was painful and there was months of recovery ahead with significant shock loss along the way. My scabbing also lasted for a really long time - just the peculiarity of my scalp. At his request, I sent weekly updates to Dr. Mantse for an entire year via WhatsApp and he personally responded to all of them. At the end of it all, the hairs came in, the hairline looked natural, and I had zero scarring on my donor zone. I remained on fin after surgery but dropped minox and microneedling in the weeks leading up to the transplant and have not resumed either since. After a year post transplant I perceived that my crown could benefit from a second transplant to match the newly augmented hairline and mid scalp. I also had a desire for just a touch more density in the hairline and mid scalp as well since I am fair skinned with brown hair and my scalp showed through in photos because of the contrast. This brings me to phase three. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and consulted with Priscilla at Nude By P in Pacifica about augmenting my transplant with SMP (scalp micro pigmentation). Her portfolio was impressive and she gave me a very thorough and thoughtful in person evaluation. My thinking was that if it worked, I could avoid the pain and months of recovery of a second transplant and if not, I’d go ahead with the second transplant. I confirmed with Dr. Mantse that SMP would not rule out a subsequent procedure and went through four sessions of SMP ranging between 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours each with each session about three weeks apart. There was no real downtime associated with SMP other than not washing my hair for four days after each session. It goes without saying that SMP is nowhere near as painful or as invasive as FUE surgery. It’s not a one and done deal, requiring 3-5 sessions spread out many weeks apart, but downtime is basically non existent. I’m not yet at the point of having fully healed results as my last session was about a week ago so my scalp is a bit dry and flaky still. In my experience, the ink also fades a bit as it settles in so it will look even more natural in the coming weeks. Having said that, I’m very happy with my results and am now a believer in density fill SMP. My conclusions are that there’s no substitute for a skilled transplant surgeon at least as far as getting an initial transplant. The pain, expense and down time are not trivial and it will require being on meds indefinitely. I personally would not get a transplant before testing fin for at least 6 months to a year pre-transplant to make sure there are no sides and that you’re OK being on it essentially forever. However, I don’t necessarily believe that second, third or even fourth transplants are always the best option as long as hair loss is stabilized. In these cases, I see SMP as a time and cost effective alternative and that eliminates or greatly reduces the need for hair fibers to mask the lack of density from a transplant. Some may argue against SMP as being a a visual trick, and it is, but so is a hair transplant as best case scenario density from a transplant will be 50% of what the native hair was. Anyway, I’m happy to answer questions and respond to comments.

Here's an update at month 10

I did as well. My write up is here:

I had my transplant done at Prohair Clinic with Dr. Mantse August of last year and figured it might be helpful to share my experience here. In short, I feel like I got exactly what I expected in terms of both my experience and overall results and was pleasantly surprised by the level of aftercare and attention I have had along the way. As I write this, I am about 9 months post transplant with Dr. Mantse at Prohair Clinic. I spoke to Sikos clinic in Budapest too, but ultimately chose Prohair because of the two, Dr. Mantse was much more engaged and responsive in addressing my questions and concerns.I had 3,000 grafts done via FUE. Overall, my experience with Dr. Mantse was positive. I picked Prohair because I was going to be on vacation in Hungary anyway and Dr. Mantse would be performing the entire process himself. I won’t quote price here, but it was in line with what people pay in places like Turkey where technicians do most the work.The process took two days from 8am to 7pm with a 1/2 hour lunch break prepared by his wife each day, who also serves as his assistant counting and sorting the follicular units. I can't speak to others' experiences with hotels, transfers, and such as this was not part of my arrangement since I was staying with family and getting dropped off at the clinic and picked up by family too. Upon arrival, I was happy to find that the clinic is in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Budapest and is kept meticulously clean.During the procedure, I watched more Judge Judy, 2 1/2 Men and Friends than at any point in my life, but honestly, it was nice to zone out given the amount of work taking place on my scalp.I chose the no shave method, but as is apparent in the pics, the back of the head was still shaved for harvesting. If I had to do it over again, I think I would still have gone into the clinic with longer hair so that he could see the direction my hair naturally grows, but probably would have opted to have him shave it all down as it was hot in Budapest during the summer and all the bleeding and pus matting together the longer hair made for a messier recovery period than if it had all been shaven down to begin with. Dr. Matse made a point of telling me that I’m part of the team for the next year and to check in regularly with pics and questions, which I have done. He and I have been in weekly communication via WhatsApp over the past 8 months and he has reached out to my via both voice and text with regular follow ups - definitely far more post surgery interaction than I would have expected and it shows he really cares about his work and the outcome. While in Budapest, he also went above and beyond on getting my finasteride after my appointment (I didn’t bring enough for the trip since I’m heading to Portugal after this and was nearly out of pills) and was very courteous in all of our interactions.He did recommend going in the salt water on day 5 of recovery in Portugal as he said that soaking my scalp (gently and without touching) would aid with the scabs dissolving.Although I can definitely say Dr. Mantse is very strict about his follow-up regimen - for example, not washing the scabs off on Day 10, insisting instead on letting them fall naturally unlike most other clinics - and making a point of soaking my head in salt water (ideally in the ocean, since I would be traveling to Portugal post surgery and live on the coast in California), he explains the logic of these suggestions. Obviously, there are others too that mirror those from other clinics, but some of his are unique.In terms of results, I can't compare with others because no two people heal the same, respond the same, etc. but in my case, I was on Finasteride for a full year before the procedure and have remained on it since (1 mg daily). Having said that, I no longer use Minoxidil or micro needling (these had been part of my regimen before). I have been very satisfied with my progress and still have a ways to go. Even if it stopped here at the 8 month mark, I'd already be happy, but as I was a late-bloomer - my grafts took longer to fall than most and some never did, and as my scabs took longer to heal than most - I expect that I will continue to see gains in months 8-12 if not beyond. This past month in particular has seen a lot of new growth and density.In any event, given that I paid about the same as what a Turkish hair mill charges, but had an experienced surgeon handle my transplant all the way through and continue to correspond and check in with me 8 months after the procedure, I definitely feel like I got more than my money's worth with Dr. Mantse. The results look natural and IMO will only continue to look better over time. At the time of surgery, I showed him photos of what my prior hairline looked like when I was younger as an indicator of what I was after, and my current hairline post-transplant basically mirrors that. One thing I will also say is I have tons of donor left and no scarring or thinned out patches in my donor area. If I desired to get a second transplant at some point, I am confident that I have ample reserves left.Note: the first pic is at the 7 month mark (still some ingrown hairs in the hairline, mostly all resolved by month 8) and the second was at month 8.