England

Hey, I had 2,550 grafts via FUE in zones 1, 2 and 3. We had two days scheduled for the op but it ended up being done in a single day session (which was brilliant from my perspective). I had a previous operation with Norton Clinic in UK about 7 years ago, which wasn't... ideal, but not as bad as some cases that I've seen, so the aim was to add density throughout and close off the temples. I am staying in Hasselt for a while because my journey back is quite long, and they have invited me back to the clinic every day so far for a check-up with the doctor, and a hair-wash and once-over by the nurses. I can't fault service as good as that, they've made the whole process very relaxed and comfortable for me, any little questions or worries I had were just dealt with immediately. I wont hijack this thread though, I'll be writing up a thorough account on this forum with detailed pictures after I get back home. Cheers

I would very strongly recommend Feriduni. Had my surgery with him last week and the service and quality of the work was simply unbelievable. I had consultations with various European docs and also some further afield but went with him in the end, don't regret it at all. Best of luck!

Looks great! I think you two are a week or so ahead of me, I went to Dr F too :-)

I too think that FUT would probably be best for you given your advanced loss. You will probably need over 5,000 grafts and at this level I think FUT starts to become a better option. Good luck.

Hi stosh, To answer your question more directly, I don't know about the areas you mention specifically because I'm based in Europe, I hope you are open to travelling a little bit to get in touch with the very best. You should check out Hasson & Wong (Jotronic), Dr Rahal, Shapiro Medical Group, Dr Feller/Lindsey (Spex) - these are the best surgeons that side of the pond, in my opinion. Regarding technicians, I would hazard a guess that all of the recommended physicians on this site perform their own procedures, to a lesser or greater extent. Technicians do play an important role in every single surgery though, it's always a team effort and that has a lot of positive implications. If the surgeon had to do every extraction, every graft placement, they would suffer from fatigue and their work would suffer. I believe all of the surgeons I listed due to legal reasons (geographically) only allow the technicians to prepare the grafts and perhaps place them in pre-made pre-angled incisions. In Europe, I believe, this is different and the technicians are allowed to carry out extractions too in FUE - which again is often a good thing. They have just as much specialised experience as the surgeon (this is what they do every day for years and years) and can be rotated to make sure they stay fresh. When you assess the results of a clinic such as those recommended on here, you are also analysing the quality of their technicians. There are hundreds of individual posters describing their surgery experiences with all of the above named doctors and they always know directly who their surgeon is and deal with them directly, so you should be able to get a good unbiased idea. If you notice all of the clinics I named are named after their surgeons - Dr Hasson & Wong, Dr Rahal, Dr Ron Shapiro etc. When you go with one of these guys you are really going with the best in the US/Canada and you can be sure that they will perform your surgery. Hope this helps and good luck with your surgery - I strongly urge you to cancel any Neograft procedure you may have booked. Cheers

Hi Levrais, looks like an excellent result. All the after pics seem a bit blurry, have you got any better quality ones? Cheers

Hi Nasser, I scheduled an appointment with them in January but cancelled because even when prompted they didn't give me any impressive background / qualifications on the doctor in question, I had zero confidence and it would purely have been a convenient place to go. Any clinic which doesn't stand behind their surgeon first and foremost is a big red flag for me. If I was you I'd look at the Belgian docs eg Bisanga & Feriduni. Further afield I would look at Rahal (I am assuming you want FUE but if you want strip look at Hasson & Wong and SMG as well as the first 3 I named). Good luck

Because my hair is so light. The doctor and nurses would struggle to carry out a procedure if they couldn't see the grafts, all of them said I would need to dye it darker to make them stand out more against the skin and make the surgery easier.

Hi guys, I have been told by many doctors that because my hair is so light, it would be good to dye it before any hair transplant. Is it best to dye hair a few days earlier, or the night before, or when? For best results. Cheers

Looks great. The hairs coming through should thicken up nicely and give you a good density.

It was published on 21st March (2 days ago): Here is a link to the study: Prostaglandin D2 Inhibits Hair Growth and Is Elevated in Bald Scalp of Men with Androgenetic Alopecia

Scientists pinpoint protein linked to baldness Hair Loss Cure? Recent Discovery of PGD2 (Prostaglandin D2) Brings Hope For Ending Hair Loss

Some bad doctors / technicians is not the same as all of them being bad. The results of clinics speak for themselves. Bad technicians will harm a strip operation too - they cut the grafts either way.

Many doctors say that the technicians are actually more specialised at the extracting since that is all they do, and therefore do it at least as well or better than the doctor can.

Aaron, honestly, your results are absolutely fantastic. You don't look like a balding guy at all, not even close. I bet even if your hair does look thin in certain lights, nobody looks close enough to notice, and as has been said, even guys with full heads of hair can have the same effect happen to them.

And hopefully Ben will post his 5 month pics on Wednesday this week ;-)

Exceptional result

Hi Sam, I've been for an in-person consultation with Dr Feriduni, met some of his patients and his nursing staff, and I only have positive things to say. Of all the clinics and doctors I visited and had consultations with (I've spent a lot of time researching), theirs was the most professional as was he. He is also a genuinely nice guy - that much is obvious. I would say he's almost artistic in the way he looks at hair transplants. He has thousands of amazing case studies on his computer, both FUE and FUT - he really should post more of them online because he is very consistent. Ben (MBPsucks) on here had 3,000 grafts with him recently so you should look him up (Search for 2968 Feriduni and he'll pop up). Overall I'd strongly recommend him, for both FUE or FUT. Cheers

Hey Mikie, This makes a lot more sense than shock loss during the procedure. Shock loss is a gradual response from the body to the trauma of surgery, I've not seen examples where there was a pile of hair on the floor of the surgery room due to shock loss. This is why my first question was whether or not they cut the hair and the fact that they did cut some is very good news for you. If it's just been cut it should be growing already (unless you also have some shock loss over the next few weeks). Best of luck and I'm sure it'll all grow back for you!

OK, it's very difficult to see the full extent of any shockloss because of the scabs from the procedure. How long after your operation was the 2nd picture taken? It looks immediate post-op. I'm sure some others can either confirm or correct me on this, but shock loss doesn't happen while the surgery is taking place, I believe it happens days or weeks later once your body fully reacts to the procedure. In theory, you should enter the surgery with the same number of hairs that you leave with. Did you have any of your hair cut to help with the procedure? How long before your surgery was the first picture taken?

Hey MikieB - I'm struggling to work out which picture is which. The first picture is the before picture, I assume? The second picture looks to be immediately post op. Where's the after pictures?

Thought I should check out your story, chris Honestly, your results already look excellent. Your hair before looked better than a lot of people end up with after their surgery. Congrats and it's only the beginning.

Fair enough, I understand you have to deal with your fair share of 'trolls' - it's always the way on the internet. I also apologise for describing it as 'brainwashing' - that was too far. I've only read every thread containing the word 'FUE', lol (and probably about 25% of the rest) By the way, I do respect what you say, and I have taken on board your views regarding FUE. At the very least it's certainly helped to ground my expectations. Cheers

Brainwashing was perhaps a tad strong. But here's some honest feedback for you, Spex. I have been reading this forum for 7 years (I joined not long after you), I've also consulted with tens of doctors and had in-person consults with 4. I've also read probably every single thread in this entire forum, and every other mainstream forum regarding FUE. This doesn't make me an expert, in fact I've posted questions asking for opinions on FUE and in general I look to people such as yourself when making decisions. I know you have met more people, got more experience, and have more knowledge in general. You have an approach and a stance on FUE, as honest as it may or may not be, which is by far and away the most 'extreme' of any stance I've come across, on forums or in consultations, in terms of how little belief you have in FUE. It's almost like FUE and anti-FUE extremism. At one end, there is the doctor who I can't name who suggests FUE is better than FUT. At the other end, I find myself looking at you - because you are far more negative about FUE when used in mid-size procedures (eg 1,500 - 3,000) than anyone else I've come across, including surgeons who have performed both for years. From my own personal impartial perspective, I find it compelling to believe in a 'middle ground' - which is roughly in line with most surgeons I've dealt with. That middle ground is that, yes, FUE can be less consistent, and yes, it can yield slightly lower, and even more so in non-expert hands. But the overall consensus seems to be that it doesn't yield so much lower as to make strip the de facto standard as you seem to make out for mid-size sessions. As a side note, I know you're not opposed to FUE in small sessions, it's specifically the medium size sessions where there seems to be a discrepancy. As for megasessions (3,000+) I'd say the jury is still out on that one, so I'm not claiming that they necessarily work as well as FUT. On a personal level, I'm lucky that money is absolutely no issue for me, and when I recently decided to have an additional hair surgery I originally intended to consult with yourself. Mainly because everybody has good words to say about you, and you are regarded as one of the more impartial consultants who are employed by clinics. What put me off, was firstly your very harsh stance on FUE which seemed a little out-of-kilter with the message I was getting from everyone else, but also the attitude that comes across with comments like 'trot on', and similar sentiments I've found expressed to Corvettster for example in previous threads. I saw similar approaches from Dr Feller when facing unsatisfied patients which concerned me. The end result was that I decided against getting a consultation with either yourself or Dr Feller. I want to give you this feedback because I don't think anyone benefits from this kind of situation, and I'm sure I'm not the first or the last patient to think along these lines. I still think you're essentially the go-to guy when it comes to hair transplants, especially when it comes to this forum - and I wish we had gotten off to a more constructive start.

This!