Broni

On 3/17/2024 at 7:30 PM, Ollie Goodwin said:

Hi bother I’m going to see him on Monday for 3000 grafts for zone A. Little nervous glad to see this post tho. 

 

Nothing to be nervous about, Michalis is a top shelf surgeon and Cyprus is great, just mind the sun outside:)

On 10/14/2023 at 5:28 PM, Stewie said:

just a week or so over 8 months, not seen a big difference over the last month or so, hair is now just shy of 2 inches long so kind of in a weird spot for how I style it, not long enough or heavy enough to go forward properly, doesn't go to the side properly, but to long to spike up, so its kind of fell naturally into managing to comb it back if I use a hairdryer to force it to stay down as it just tends to do its own thing. Not used any products as tried hair powder I had seen other go on about but it left my hair feeling very greasy and tacky to touch so not used it since, might try it again at some point as it did look thicker when it was on

near 3 months on oral minoxidil so hoping in a couple of months time I might start to see some benefits from that

from the front and sides to me its looking great if I style it right, my OCD of course always finds the worse bits and where it's see thru on top and sides etc, but I am getting better at just letting it be also and have had a lot of great comments where mates who have known me for years think I have just grown my hair and can't remember if I was bald or not until I tell them I got it done ha

my only gripe (and its a small one I guess) is the beard hairs are annoying, they do what they want and the texture compared to my head hairs is quite sharp and like wire compared to the others, but like I say its only a small thing and hopefully overtime they might calm down like others have mentioned?

tried to capture it facing the light head on and away from it in the office to give a true reflection on how it looks

 

So its

To be frank one of the best results I have ever seen...

12 hours ago, Himothy26 said:

Hey everyone!

This'll be my first post here but I will be posting my pics from pre op to post op 6 months. Thank you everyone for sharing all details and responding to all questions for us trying to get a hair transplant. I'll try to keep it short but I'll split my experience into parts.

HISTORY and CLINIC DECISION

I am 22 and started balding at 19. Noticed major clumps during the lockdown era of covid. My dad is bald and my mom has thin hair. Their brothers are also bald as well as parents so I never had the best luck haha. I know it seemed too early for a transplant but I wanted my confidence back in my 20s as I wouldn't care further down the line when I'm married and in that next phase of life. I hopped on fin and min topical 

Started my search for a transplant in 2022 and I narrowed down to Camacho in Colombia, Gur in Turkey, or Laorwong in Thailand. Gur had denied me for weak donor but I got messages saying others were denied too while having strong donors so I don't know exactly what was the case. Camacho seemed like an excellent choice especially being close to him ( I live in the US) but I kept being warned about Colombia and the safety so I decided to stay away. Also I had friends that wanted to go to Thailand so I decided to combine a vacation trip with a surgery loll. Laorwong stood out to me from his exceptional work being posted on the reddit forum. I loved how clean it was and how consistent the results were so I decided to go through with them. He also responded very quickly and drew the expected hairline through messages and told me my estimated graft count. 

Pre op consultation and Surgery day

I arrived at the clinic the day before surgery where he inspected my donor and recipient zone and drew what would be my new hairline. Answered any question I had and gave me shampoo to use before my surgery. The clinic was very clean and organized and the people were very nice and caring.

On surgery day I arrived at 8am where I was prepped for surgery: shaved my hair, PRP, gave me meds to get me sleepy and then I laid on the surgery bed where I was injected with anesthetic injection. That was kind of crazy haha but they massaged my legs to calm me down. They extracted the grafts which took a couple of hours and then I ate lunch which was amazing lol (chicken stir fry). Then they began the implanting of the grafts which ended up going till around 10pm. I was very dizzy but I had my friends take care of me leaving the clinic with my bandages and medications. Went to the BNB I was staying at to get some sleep before the free after care for the next couple of days.

Post Operation days

I slept using a neck pillow on top of 2 stacked pillows so that I wouldn't move around and stayed elevated which was necessary. Was a tough sleep I'll tell you that. I woke up the next morning and went to the clinic as they offered a 5 day post op after care and red light therapy for healing which I was very happy about. Came here for the next 4 days where they took pics and continued with the aftercare treatment until I left officially. Would really recommend staying the 5 days after if it is in your schedule! Flew back home and followed all instructions for proper aftercare. 

The Now

I want to start off my saying I would highly recommend this clinic and doctor to anybody regardless of my results. He was very nice and genuinely cares for his patients as do his team. Was a lovely experience and the plus is, Thailand is amazing!! 

Now it has been 6 months and I am not where I wanted or expected to be. I have a hairline again which I am happy about but the density is not great. I have spoken with the doctor and he told me to give it a couple of more months as I may be a late grower which I am very much so hoping for. 

The pics are in order from preop, post op, 1 month, 3 months, 4.5 months, and the last 3 are 6 months

Photos from above are always unforgiving. Illusion of density wise, people don't see you like this mostly, they look at your hairline eye-to-eye, unless you are sitting...

This is impressive to say the least

On 2/19/2022 at 11:26 AM, Skimzee said:

Hello all.

I was fortunate enough to get an appointment with Dr Couto and I’m now one month post transplant. I know sometimes his Instagram results seem unbelievable however I am more than happy to share mine. I am currently one month in and the shedding phase has well and truly started.

I will continue to add to this post monthly. All photos are taken at weekly intervals. 2700 grafts for frontal/mid scalp. Returning next year for 1500 grafts to cover the crown. Any questions please just let me know. 

 

S 

 

Great work, this looks like 3500+ grafts and not like 2700. End result is brilliant. He estimated 1500 for your crown?

54 minutes ago, Rft said:

9 days after

 

Looks like you still have much more beard grafts in store

On 1/9/2022 at 3:21 AM, Melvin- Admin said:

Funny, you say that because on my last day of surgery, Dr. Sethi said and I quote: “we can still do another 1,500 from your beard.” I was like 🤔 hair greed reared its ugly head. I forgot to add the pictures of my grafts freshly placed. You can really appreciate how excellent and clean the work looks. 
 

Did he have to mix beard hair scalp grafts (because 1500 beard grafts is a lot) at a certain ratio. I think I read somewhere that you said that beard grafts are all singles, but are they generally thicker (and hence provide greater coverage) than hair grafts? Thanks!

It's more or less incredible... Now it's just about finding the right styling...

1 minute ago, Berba11 said:

Extractions from the beard - whether it be neck, chin or cheeks - usually heals very, very well and quite quickly. It's extremely unlikely you'd have and scarring.

Thanks. I believe I have as many beard grafts on my chin and cheeks as under the chin, so that makes quite a treasure after donor depletion:)

58 minutes ago, YodaHead said:

He did extract from the cheecks in my case.

Thanks. Browsing the forums I see that it is quite rare. I myself have a lot of beard grafts on the cheeks and chin so I am considering such an option, that's why I ask. And there is no inconvenience whatsoever, in terms of scarring, recovery or anything of the sort?

On 2/3/2024 at 4:55 PM, YodaHead said:

Quick Stats:

12,501 total donor grafts taken from back/side of head and beard. Around 5.5k of the total 12.5k taken from beard.

About me:

37 yo South East Asian man born in India, living in the US.

Hairloss history:

My hair loss began around the age of 16-17. There's a history of hair problems on my mother's side, while my father's side is average. The progression has been gradual, leading to reaching NW6/7 before I decided to explore hair transplant (HT) options.

I experience hair loss and thinning across the entire top region of the scalp (front, mid, crown) and possess a notably weak donor area, particularly on the sides. Premature graying has further added to my disappointment regarding the quantity and quality of my hair.

My beard grows like a bear! Plenty and thick. This probably is a plus, considering poor donor on my head.

I honestly don’t care much about my sides/back or even beard…I just want some density at the top of my scalp..so I have no issues taking whatever donor needed to achieve this.

Medications:

Taking Minoxidil oral 2.5mg daily since June 2023 (i.e. approx. 8 months prior to HT). Stopped 3 days prior to HT (as recommended by doc) and plan is to continue taking this.

Took Finasteride 1mg daily for approximately 6 months to see how i respond, then stopped it 2 months prior to the HT. I learned that it definitely works for me and did not present any noticeable side effects. I only stopped it because I wanted to show the “actual” situation of my scalp to the doctor, without Finasteride help. Plan is to continue taking this to retain native hair.

HT decision:

Started researching HT 12 months ago (early 2023), and before I stumbled upon this site, I was focused on Turkey option. ASMED/Dr. Koray Erdogan rejected me. Dr. Bicer said my “hairloss pattern is different” and so i should visit a dermatologist first. I respect both of these responses as I would rather hear truth than false promises. Many hair mills quickly sent me cost estimates and encouraged me to book dates before the end of the ”discount” period.

I saw a dermatologist and was told that my hairloss is typical male pattern baldness and I am a good candidate for HT. 

I learned that due to the nature of my hairloss (thinning all over the scalp) I was definitely going to need to cover pretty much the entire area of my head…that too with below average donor. Keeping in mind the cost, availability, and the scale of the HT, I shortlisted following two doctors:

1. Dr. Felipe Pittella
2. Dr. Das/Dr. Sethi (Eugenix) - I had even paid the booking fees.

I had online consultation with Dr. Das and Dr. Pittella, and had also met Dr. Sethi when he visited US. I know Eugenix has been doing great work, but I only have one head so I had to pick one doctor. I am happy to share specifics on what impressed me more about Dr. Pittella if anyone is interested. 

Thanks to this forum and to all members for being so active and upfront about their opinions/experiences. After months of going through various topics on this site, plus some additional reading, I felt well-informed prior to deciding on the HT.

Arrival in Vitoria, Brazil (Jan 22, 2024)

I was travelling from NY to Vitoria, Brazil (with a long layover in Rio). Dr. Pittella’s clinic had booked 4 nigths of hotel (5 mins from clinic) and had also arraged pick-up/drop-off to/from Airport, and to/from hotel for the entirety of my stay. This made life a lot easier—since this part of Brazil don’t really see much tourism and so not easy to communicate; however the area is really nice & safe, and people are all very helpful. Hotel was excellent (4-star) with breakfast included and front desk spoke English so no issues. I recommend learning few words in Portugese. People really appreciate trying. 

One Day before HT (Jan 23, 2024).

I was scheduled to meet with Dr. Pittella in the evening before surgery to to create a plan and mark the areas of implant and donor.

The clinic is neat & clean, and the entire staff is incredibly welcoming! From the moment I entered, everything appeared meticulously organized, and I never experienced a moment of uncertainty or worry. Although I had thoroughly researched Dr. Pittella through his interviews & patient reviews, and was convinced about him, I was still nervous about the rest of his staff. However, it turns out he has assembled a dream team! The entire staff works seamlessly, displaying high professionalism and organization. This immediately put me at ease.

Met Dr. Pittella for the first time and immediately you get a very positive vibe. The guy is very humble and great communicator. He took his time in taking pictures of my head from all directions and upload into the software he uses to design everything including density, graft estimates, etc. Dr. Pittella took his time looking at my scalp and hairline very closely and kept me involved in the process. He marked my scalp and beard with a marker (dang! I was planning to go to town for a dinner but it looked like my 3 yr old niece went wild with a marker while i was asleep..so idea dropped). I left his office feeling very good about the decision I had made. Fyi, according to his software my precise baldness grade is 7.35.

HT day 1

Arrived at the clinic at 6:30 AM, they trimmed my head and beard, gave me some medications, and provided a room for me to change into comfortable clothes and keep all my stuff. This is where I would come during bathroom breaks and for lunch/dinner.

At around 7 AM walked into the operating room and met with the entire team. Everyone welcomed me with happy faces and the vibe was so positive and ensuring that it immediately put me at ease. I slept for most of the procedure and got a break during lunch (you can ask for break whenever you want). The lunch was ready in my room exactly as i selected from the menu a couple days in advance. The day ended at around 7PM with 6k grafts extracted/implanted and the dinner. I was pretty happy that Dr. Pittella was truly involved throughout the day. Surprisingly, I did not feel any pain at any point during the entire process. Dr. Pittella said I had very high pain tolerance, but I give a lot of credit to his team for putting me at ease and taking good care of me.

HT day 2

Day 2 was no different than the first day. Same process. Same routine. Additional around 6k grafts were extracted/implanted! Both days, I had to be very careful not to touch the bandage once at hotel and had to sleep in a sitting position with a neck pillow. Because there was no pain or discomfort, this was not a huge problem for me. By the way, they had even trained my driver to keep reminding me when getting in/out the car to watch my head (talk about attention to details!). 

Post-op (day 3, 4, 5).

Every day until my flight back, the team ensured I was picked up for a careful head wash. Dr. Pittella personally visited me each day, engaging in discussions with both me and my wife about any topics I wanted to address. They provided me with a post-op care kit, including painkillers, antibiotics, baby shampoo, etc., along with precise instructions on what to do and not to do for the next two weeks. Dr. Pittella wrote a letter  attesting that I was fit to travel…just in case if airline staff were worried with anything (i had some swelling as expected and was advised not to wear hat or anything for two weeks). I was travelling with my wife, who is also a Physician in US so the entire journey was completely worry-free for me.

Thoughts on Dr. Felipe Pittella and his team:

Dr. Pittella is everything I wanted in my HT surgeon. Experienced, skilled, knowledgeable, patient, honest, humble, and detailed oriented. You can tell that he loves what he is doing and his positive attitude has trickled down to his team. Every single person on his staff—whether a receptionist, account manager, anesthesiologists, technician, or a nurse—they all treated me very well and were very accommodating of anything i needed/asked. Everyone looked happy to be there and seemed to know their role very well. 

I am still months away from seeing any results, but regardless, I think it is only fair that I express my appreciation for the services and hardwork of this clinic now rather than waiting 6 months.

———

If you have any questions/comments or even any type of criticism for me, please do not hesitate. This forum has given me a lot of good information and it is only fair that I give back. 

I will continue to report on my progress!

5.5K from beard is incredible... He does not extract any from the chin and the cheeks?

On 1/9/2022 at 2:56 AM, Melvin- Admin said:

It has been a week since my hair transplant with @Eugenix Hair Sciences I actually first went to the Maldives with my wife for our honeymoon, then went to Delhi to have my hair transplant, and ended it with a short trip in Dubai. It was an amazing trip, but i'm glad to be back home, resting and recovering. I know some of you have messaged me here sorry I haven't gotten back to all of you sooner. It was difficult with traveling and all. I can finally take a breather and break down my entire experience, which was AMAZING! A special shout out to Anil, Amandeep and the entire team at Eugenix. They went above and beyond to make sure I was comfortable, their hospitality was something I have never experienced before in my life.

The Plan

Initially, the plan was to get about 2,500 grafts and concentrate in the crown. I sent pictures and some video, but being in person paints a better picture. I do a good job of creating an "illusion" but the truth is that I need a lot of grafts.  For those of you traveling to get a hair transplant, the surgeon may change the plan  if you need more or less grafts to reach your goal.  After shaving my head and taking a look at my donor, two things were clear, I needed a lot of grafts, and didn't have a lot of hair left in my donor. We decided to take hair from regions that wasn't previously harvested like my side napes, the side burns and right above my ear. Dr. Sethi was meticulous in his planning and execution, I could see that he was really trying to get me the best possible result. He was hyper-focused and the entire planning portion solidified my decision in choosing him. 

The Stay (Farmhouse)

Recently, Eugenix acquired a beautiful farmhouse on 3 acres of land a hop away from the airport. As most of you know, I chose the highest package at Eugenix. Personally, I didn't want to let cost or location be the deciding factor, but focus on the results. The farmhouse is Dr. Sethi's project. I believe the house will be available to those who choose the package with him, there's a chef on site along with staff there to help you 24/7. I am not lying when I say the treatment I received was fit for a king. One of the days I was suffering from GERD (acid reflux) and within 15 minutes I had medication delivered to me, I could have tea, coffee, soft drinks, snacks at any time of the day. The farmhouse isn't finished yet, but I can see this becoming a talking point and big bonus in the future, it was beyond VIP treatment. I got to meet some other patients there, one even said he was going to create a thread here. The upstairs portion is going to become a game room equipped with a pool table, flat screen TV,  and table tennis. Very excited to visit again and hear and see some of your guys's experiences in the future.

The Surgery (3 Days)

The surgery took longer than we all expected. As previously mentioned, the original plan was to harvest 2,500 grafts. However, after shaving my head, it was clear I would need a lot more grafts to reach my goal. Dr. Sethi looks at surgery as his art, and he is most definitely an artist. After looking at my hairline, he agreed it looked good, but felt the V shape was a little too sharp, he thought it would look more natural to round the hairline slightly, while bringing in the temple points. We spent about three hours talking about the design and plan. I thought it would be important to focus maximum density on the right lateral anterior portion of my crown, as I plan on combing my hair from left to right. This could provide more coverage and a better "illusion" of density when I style my hair. We were on the same page, and he instantly agreed. 

First Day of Surgery 12/31/21

The first day of surgery was mostly planning, we shaved my head and then the fun started. The surgery didn't start until late afternoon, and we didn't finish until 10 pm. At the end of the day Dr. Sethi had created all of the incisions and extracted and transplanted about 400 grafts. I was excited to see how my new hairline and temples would look. Overall, I felt it would be a huge improvement.

Second Day of Surgery 01/01/22

The second day of surgery started around 2 pm. Dr. Sethi had a company party planned for the team early in the morning, both of us expected the surgery to be done by then. The team work hard, so I definitely felt that it was important to show them appreciation. Work hard, play hard. Once the party was over, we headed to the clinic and it was all business. We did about 2,600 grafts and filled the crown and midscalp. Dr. Sethi wanted to leave the hairline and temple points for the next day, when he was fresh. I agreed that would be the best option. It was also important from a donor management perspective. There's an added benefit to creating sites a day or two before implantation. There's almost no bleeding and growth factors have begun healing the wounds, which can improve the yield, another potential benefit to pre-made slits. Although, Eugenix generally use DHT technique, they were aware of this added benefit. 

Third Day of Surgery 01/02/22

The last day of surgery we started around 8 am, Dr. Sethi began extracting the hair for my hairline and temples, he took hours extracting the perfect grafts and implanting them. I have to admit by the third day I felt exhausted, but seeing more and more hair on my head was SOOO motivating. The surgery lasted until 4:30 pm. Dr. Sethi had done almost every part of my procedure, he even did the anesthesia on the last day, though I will say this, Dr. Sethi don't quit your day job leave the anesthesia to Nitoo 😆 Dr. Arika did my beard extractions, and I have to say she did an amazing job. Here's my takeaway from Eugenix, each person on their team focuses on one thing, and one thing only, to the point where they master it. There are technicians that only do placement, nurses who only do anesthesia, and doctors that only do extractions day in and day out. You're getting experts if you pick the lowest package or the highest package. 

Now, the fun part PICTURES!!! I will add that my despite having 3 prior FUEs I was surprised at how well my scars looked with a shaved head. Again, scars are largely physiological. I had 1mm punches used on my scalp and the scars were barely visible. Also, not all of the hair was shaved, Dr. Sethi left a portion unshaved near the demarcation line, so that he made sure that hair wasn't extracted during the procedure. He went up pretty high, as we discussed in detail and both agreed the hair right below my lateral humps were my healthiest hair. 

I'll be updating you guys every week, and then every month after that, just to show you guys the healing process. I will say my beard has healed almost 100%, feels like I didn't get any grafts taken from there. 

Graft Breakdown

2,100 scalp grafts, 300 doubles were made into singles which turned into 2,434 scalp grafts.

singles -744

doubles- 1125

triples-431

quads- 134

total scalp hairs-5,567 average 2.3 hairs per graft. The initial number was 2100 grafts, but 300 were cut into singles, so the number would’ve been 2.6 hairs per graft. 

beard hairs -1566 almost all singles average of 1.03 per graft.

Total hairs = 7,179 which averages to 1.79 hairs per graft

1,566, for a total of 4,000 grafts. I'm still waiting on the actual numbers of 1s, 2s and 3s, but I will say that I was shocked to know I had quite a bit of multis still in the donor. 

Before Surgery

Shaved and Mapped Out

Graft Placement Post-op

One Week Post-Op At Home

Hi Melvin, I am currious as to the beard graft counts, it's written that it's been +1500, but on the post-op picture of your beard it certainly looks much less. How much time did they need to extract the beard hairs?

3 hours ago, jjalay said:

I dont see something strange with how your donor looks or heavy schockloss. This is probably colour demarcation of the skin due to anesthetic and it will recover in couple of weeks.

Same here, see nothing unusual...

Looks great... how many grafts have been placed in your crown?

On 11/29/2017 at 4:15 PM, Sensorite said:

Top view from months 2,3,4 & 5. Any questions; feel free to fire away!

Unreal result. Maybe it's the light, but really impressive

Awesome result. But you're right, you were NW4, no way NW3...

On 2/24/2024 at 2:20 PM, Chrisno said:

I think he's probably looking at closer to 700-1000 grafts to be honest. Density needs to be close to his natural density behind his new hairline. If not, it's going to look like there is a hairline behind the hairline.

I would say at least thousand grafts for density, everything below that would end up being underwhelming. Hairline and immediate zone behind it, to neutralize the see-through effect.

Unbelievable result, congrats. Your donor looks untouched and that's amazing...

It's hard to tell, work looks very clean. I would not worry much, looks in these stages can be VERY deceiving...

11th day after transplant? Shedding has started on the left side before it will take place in the right side, nothing to worry about...

On 1/29/2024 at 6:03 PM, GeneralNorwood said:

150 grafts it's like nothing. I doubt that it would hurt the donor. Removing few grafts per cm2 won't make difference. 

 

But this information that only 50% grafts will survive... I didn't know that if you do the touch up procedure, survival rate goes down that significantly.

 

So if you paid 2000 euro for the "test", do you have to pay again 2000 euro for the next "test"?  

I was told a similar thing (the recipient is worked up, survival rate will be limited) when considering a 3rd procedure in hairline (densifying) by the surgeon that did the first two that had not been entirely satisfying. It didn't sound good and I after a while I inquired the same with another surgeon and he told me it was an excuse for the less skilled doctors and that he guaranteed me no less than 85% survival rate (95% if it had been a virgin area). Finally it went very well with an excellent result. It's hard to believe that Bissanga mentions 50% survival rates for areas that have already been worked on, I am sure he has tons of patients like you.

5 hours ago, ThePJ said:

Thanks brother.  A little disappointed with the see through aspects of it, but waiting until 12 months before I make my final judgement.  I can’t imagine it’s going to change much, but one can hope.

A little disappointed !? It's a 9.5 out of 10 result! The lighting on your pictures is harsh and does not do your hair justice, it's almost picture perfect!

1 hour ago, Melvin- Admin said:

How many grafts from the beard? Was it 5.5k? This is incredible in one surgery 🤩

How is it possible in the first place? It's equal to the total number of extractable scalp grafts for many people

On 1/23/2024 at 12:05 PM, Gatsby said:

@Broni having had roughly 7.5k beard grafts extracted I can say you can literally have it taken from any area on the face and neck. Ideally you would want to need the amount I did and below the mandible is an idea area as long as it is the right choice of beard hair for where it is intended for (never in the hairline). Some areas I found to be the best were the side burns, my mustache and chin. But I have pretty much had beard hair taken homogeneously from my entire beard. 

Thanks mate

On 11/4/2023 at 9:29 PM, BaldGuy said:

I dont think its a repair procedure at all either. I actually find great the result from HLC to be honest with natural angles and good density. If i was in his case, i wouldnt do a second procedure because i dont think its needed. But anyone can do whaterver he wants.
 

I thought this was your final result... Definitely a good result 90% of us would kill for. Now, maybe you have a point on your first surgery eating up to many grafts... But the outcome and the looks are great. Also, your donor looks you have another 4000 grafts left easily, if handled by a skilled surgeon.