M_D

I like Feller`s work alot. But I chose Dr. Rahal and I am 4 months out from my procedure. I really like how he can maximise the number of grafts to give you a fuller look as possible. I had no irritation after my surgey. In fact, I was back at work within two weeks with no one the wiser about my procedure. The scar is beautiful and the shockloss was minimal. On top of that, Dr. Rahal (and his advisor Adrian) are both fantastic people.

Thanks guys for your comments. In hindsight, you guys make some good points. On looking at my album it doesn`t at all look too bad. My mind is playing games with me and I know I am in for a bit of a ride over the next few months. But it is good to hear comments from the forum from experienced guys (you lot!) who have been there, done that and got the t-shirt. I will look to add to the album in the first week of May. Spex: A great kitchen? Yes. But I can`t cook for love nor money and I am still to use it, despite being here for nearly a year and a half. The Microwave is my best friend

Dear All Well, I have finally reached the hopeful and expectant three month mark. I had a transplant with Dr. Rahal (great Dr. and person) on new years eve 2007. I received 1400 grafts front side (700 per temple region) and 1900 grafts went into the crown. I am not in possession of the exact breakdown of grafts i.e. 1`s, 2`s and 3`s, but perhaps Adrian can chime in here? The last three months have been strange to say the least. I had very little shock loss up until about three weeks ago, than BAM! It hit with a vengeance. My three month photos have been taken under normal lighting, brighter lighting and one view from the top with flash. I am well and truly in the ugly ducking phase, a.k.a. the doldrums and it sucks big time. Summer has already started here (in Spain) and I am having to hide out at home or under a hat. Not sure what sucks the most at the moment, looking like shite or the waiting. Comments welcome.

Jason / Bill I can accept both your points of view. The original post by TD sounded derogatory. Perhaps I am just a little too sensitive to this kind of stuff. And wish i DID keep my youthful hairline Bill unfortunatley MPB hit me everywhere front, back and top!

B Spot. Of course you wouldn`t find these comments derogatory - you are NOT indian. I am. I, along with others, am here to listen and to share my HT experience with others not to listen to generalizations about my race. When you make a generalization about a race - it is, by definition ``racism``. Whether one agrees or not is immaterial.

Erm...... Bill can we leave out generic racial (and racist)stereotypes on this forum? I find the comments by transplant_dude highly offensive.

Relax dude! I had a procedure with the good Dr. Rahal and was back at work within two weeks with no-one noticing a thing. Perhaps I am one of the lucky ones. After you have your stiches out, just buzz and even your hair out. Your grafts by that stage will be like small black hairs and should blend in fine with the rest. I used graftycte to help with the healing - worked wonders for me: no pinkiness whatsoever at the two weeks stage. (I think you can buy this at the surgery but it is expensive). You needn`t worry about bleeding too much. You will be bandaged up when you leave the surgery and as long as you follow the post-op instructions you will be fine! I had no bleeding at all, just mild discomfort for the first couple of days. You will be back to ``normal`` by day 5 or so. Please pass on my regards to Adrian and the Dr. Just tell them the gentleman from Spain says hello. The best of luck to you my friend. Enjoy the experience!

Hey Thinair I almost went with DHI, infact I had paid my money and flew to Greece ready to go. But as soon as I walked into their ``clinic`` (very third world to say the least) and spoke with Lorraine, I knew I did NOT want them going anywhere near me. They were lying and it was so obvious that they were. I eventually ended up going to Dr. Rahal. Amazing experience even though I had to fly from Spain for the pleasure. Do not let distance be a factor on choice of clinic. Make sure you do your research. Good Luck.

Dear Stratman and Dirge I am about 5 weeks out from my procedure with Dr. Rahal and everything is going very well. I am on the road at the moment (in Brisbane) but will post my two month shots shortly. What I can say is that my scar is undetectable (I am wearing my hair at grade 3 at the moment) and that i have had no shock loss whatsoever. Dr. Rahal is superb, you are in the very very best of hands. You can see my initial pre-and post op pics on my post ``Rahal NYE``. Just relax guys and enjoy the ride...

Hi Aviran The work looks very good. I can understand you wanting to go with Rahal - he is excellent. Although, both he and Dr. Wong are fantastic, I just think that Dr. Rahal is a bit more artistic and more appropriate for the younger patient as he thinks ``outside of the box``. I had surgery with him a month ago and my experience was superb. I had my crown and temple region worked on. You can find my pics/post under ``Dr. Rahal NYE 2007``.

During my recent transplant, Dr. Rahal used needles. His reasoning was that because I had existing hair, he could control the angulation better and decrease the risk of transection.

Thanks everyone for your support. Bill I will definetly be putting up monthly pictures for everyone to see, after all it is the least I can do for the support that this forum has provided me over the last couple of years

Dear All Happy New Year to each and every one of you! You will remember that I posted a while back about me being booked in with Dr. Rahal on New Years Eve. I had my surgery yesterday and I wanted to share my experience(s) with you. I am so glad that I decided to travel thousands of miles to see Dr. Rahal. What a gentleman! There are no words to describe how at ease he has made me feel and the lengths he has gone to make everything as comfortable as possible. I arrived at his office at 7am (landed in Ottawa 8 hours earlier and without any sleep) and went through the consent forms with Adrian. Everything was explained to me in a no-nonsense no-BS manner ??“ which is something that I really appreciated. The good Dr. (and gentleman) arrived at 8am and went through my expectation with me. He LISTENED to what I wanted and was forthright with his evaluation. (A quick synopsis - I had surgery done around 18 months ago in Barcelona with a renowned plastic surgery clinic (they are well known in Spain for nose jobs, breast implants etc.,) and number many famous people as there clients. I was led to believe that hair surgery was one of their fortes and that I would get a state-of-the art procedure. The hair did come in but it was sparse and it was noticeable that I had surgery done. It was only after seeing Dr. Rahal have I realized that the surgery they performed on me was micro and macro grafting!!! I still do not know how many grafts I got because the surgeon still has not told me. I was also knocked out for the entire procedure so do not remember much) Dr. Rahal and I decided that the best course of action was to tackle the areas that affected me the most i.e. my crown and sides that were weak and where it was noticeable that I had previous work done before. We managed to get 3300 grafts with 1900 going into the crown and 1400 strengthening the sides. I was in the chair from 9 until 6pm. I was comfortable throughout the day taking toilet breaks when need and was fed lunch. Dr. Rahal harvested the strip and made the insertions (the Dr. was able to exercise my previous scar which was not a tricho-closure). The techs doing the insertion have been with the Dr. for many years and are very skilled. Dr. Rahal was in and out frequently checking up on me and making sure I did not require any further freezing (which I did on a number of occasions!) To top it all off and to further highlight what a gentleman the Dr. is not only did he drive me back to my hotel but had gone out at some point towards the end of my procedure and picked me up a very nice salmon supper for me to take back to my hotel! He also called me at the hotel to make sure I was ok. Its new years day today everywhere is closed. It is snowing heavily outside but the Dr. still opened the clinic so that he could ensure everything was evolving the was it should. He was kind enough to drive me back to my hotel after we had finished. I cannot speak highly enough of Dr. Rahal. Talented surgeon he is but more importantly he is a wonderful human being too. Now of course begins the hard part .....waiting!

Actually, Neo-Rules I have to agree with Arshlan. A friend of mine from England (of Pakistani decent) had surgery with these guys. He was not pleased with the results nor the after care service. I would plead caution if anyone is thinking of using their services. I too looked at the website of this company Neo Rules and they clearly state that Dr. Khan is ``.. the founder of International Society of Hair Restorative Surgery & the Italian Society of Hair Restorative Surgery``. Complete BS if you ask me. Perhaps Bill would be good enough to prevent shills appearing on this forum to defend sub-stantard clinics as this clinic clearly is.

Thank you very much guys for your kind words. Rest assured I will set up a blog and will post plenty of pics for everyone to view. Frog - I do have an email, not sure how Bill would feel about me placing it here. Can you forward me a PM on this forum?