hairyhopes

Hey everyone, Thanks for the warm welcome! Indeed, waking up to bed sheets covered in hair isn't the most pleasant feeling but honestly I like the almost-bald look more than I had anticipated. Plus, the weather in Switzerland is abnormally hot, so I guess I'll be wearing a cap anyway for the next few months! Once I (hopefully) start seeing some growth I'll share updates. All the best, Nick

Hey everyone, I’m a newcomer to the forum, but I thought others might be interested in my recent experience at Hattingen Hair in Stetten, Switzerland. I’d been looking into getting a hair transplant for a couple of years or so and, as a first-timer, I landed on the following priorities: Thinking long term: for me this was the big one. I have a limited donor supply. It’s possible that I might want another hair transplant in the future. I wanted to ensure that I have flexibility in the future (e.g. not using too much of my donor supply, ensuring maximum chance of success so I don’t waste any of it etc.) Aftercare and peace of mind: I have a colleague who went abroad for a hair transplant, had follow-up questions a month or so later, and the clinic won’t take his calls. I really didn’t want to end up in a similar situation. In particular I didn’t want to have a one-off, transactional relationship with the clinic. Quality: this is something I might do just once or twice in my life and will permanently change my appearance, so I wanted to increase the probability that the outcome would be natural and successful. In the end I landed on Hattingen, for a few reasons: Communication with Dr. Muresanu: I jumped on a few Skype calls and met personally with Dr. Muresanu before going forward and we had a couple of chats about my family history and potential options. It was great to be able to speak directly to the doctor and to have an honest conversation. He’d also respond to my emails usually within 24 hours. It’s a small clinic (I assume that they only do a handful of ops per week) and you really have their full attention, which I appreciate. At some other clinics I reached out to, the communication felt a lot more transactional. Quality: I saw that the clinic was highly recommended on a bunch of forums. I also knew exactly who was going to perform the procedure (ultimately Mrs. Muresanu and her team, with the extraction carried out by Carmen who was previously one of the FUE leads at the well-regarded Hasson & Wong clinic in Vancouver), and see previous examples of their work, which put me at ease. I also felt that we’d land on a natural-looking hairline, which was important for me. Anyway, it’s been ~1 month since I had the procedure done. We originally agreed on 3000 grafts to focus on the front part of the hairline which is my primary concern, but on the day decided an extra 500 to fill in some of the crown area. I haven’t tried any medication yet, and am hoping to add more volume in that area with topical finasteride / minoxidil. Let's see! Day of surgery and 1 week post-surgery Day of surgery and ~2 weeks post-surgery So far my experience has been very positive. On the day of surgery, the Muresanus, Carmen, and the rest of the team were very accommodating. I was obviously apprehensive but they put me at ease. We agreed on a hairline, and then I left it in the hands of the team. The surgery lasted pretty much all day with a handful of breaks, but honestly it wasn’t really painful at all. I fell asleep for large chunks of it! I came back the next day for cleaning and they gave me a bandana to cover my head so I could take the train home without all eyes on me! I didn’t have any issues post-procedure (apart from having a balloon for a head - for some reason I totally overlooked this part when doing my prior research!), but Dr. Muresanu gave me his private number just in case, which was great. Since I live in Zürich I came back a week or so later to have another follow-up clean with Carmen to remove most of the scabbing. Since the op we’ve been keeping in touch, and Dr. Muresanu has been responding to my follow-up questions, which I really appreciate! Some considerations: obviously, the clinic is in Switzerland. One should be prepared for the price that comes with that, but I would recommend discussing it with the clinic. I think there’s also an opportunity to improve the general admin. Dr. Muresanu was always there to answer my questions when they arose, but communication with the clinic regarding admin (e.g. booking an appointment) could sometimes be a bit slow, and I had to bump the email thread a couple of times. On the day of surgery we also realised that I hadn’t received a booking confirmation and had to handle the payment on that morning, which I would’ve preferred to settle beforehand. On a couple of occasions I also had to wait some time to be seen, despite having an appointment. These are relatively small points, but nonetheless some areas for improvement. Anyway, so far so good - currently just in the shedding phase, but very excited to see how things go! I’ll try to update the thread as things progress! Nick