Martin

Spex is very well respected throughout the forums and would be a great place to start getting accurate information in the UK about HT's. Who did your 2 surgeries in the UK daz uk??

Sounds like another great event. I will defo try make the next one to show off my results as it would be really good to finally meet everyone finally after such great help throughout my journey. The BBC interviewed Dr Feller....I can't wait to see that!!

Dr Feller is the cheapest of all the top doctors with his price structure. Price structure is on his website. http://www.fellermedical.com/Fees_Financing.htm He charges the same for 3500 as he does 3000

spex's web site www.hair-help.co.uk I get my proscar from Dr Ashcroft also. Very cheap reliable legit source of proscar. He is also very helpful man and i have spoken at great length about Proscar with him

LOL, You found this forum as well then Isherwood. Can you respond to some of these complaints whilst you are here Norton Complaints

LOL!! Norton

Remarkable!!!

You want to go along to the Feller openhouse in January and inspect patient results. I am a Dr Feller patient and at only 5 1/2 months very happy with the results so far. There are going to be several patient to view i believe as well as Dr Feller the man himself there to have cast his experienced opinion on your situation. Feller UK openhouse Feller, HW, these guys are all the best of the best and you will not go wrong with any of them just make sure whatever you do is avoid having surgery in the UK.

Orion, you look absolutely on par there at 2 months. You are right in the middle of the waiting game. I only really just started to grow at 4 months so be patient and take comfort in the fact you went to one of the best guys performing HT'S today. With 3200 grafts you are going to see somewhat of a dramatic dirrference!........Over time!

Read some bad reviews on them

Martin, My advice is see him for a consultation but also do not limit yourself to the UK. HW are strip dr's not FUE although do not be put off by strip as with the new Tricho closure techinques used as standard the scaring is very minimal. Research FUE an become aware of its limitations. Everyone would opt for it if it was suitable for everyone, this isn't the case unfortunately. You should meet up with Spex who is a fourm user /educator on the forums as he will tell you how it is with no frills or sales pitch. Although he works for Dr Feller now he has advised many guys and speak very highly of various top clinics. www.hair-help.co.uk As i said do not limit yourself to the UK, this is a HT not a hat your buying. Read up on Hairroot also, he doesn't post here but has had a couple of FUE sessions with Dr Feller in NY and is from the UK. Hairroot All the best but read through all the forums to get a good understanding of the limitations involved with FUE and do not rule out strip.

The results are impressive BUT where are you going in that jumper........................ 1982!?

I totally agree with you s.a.f and i am so sorry that you had to encounter this. I wish you all the best with your recent repair session. What are you now 6 months post op? S.A.F's detailed account from another forum. My journey ??“ surgery History (First 2 Surgeries with the "Norton Clinc" ??“ 3rd surgery with "Nobel Clinic") About 4 years ago Propecia began to gain some publicity in the press. There were reports of men who claimed to have regrown their hair. At first I thought it sounded to good to be true. But when I looked into it I found that there was scientific evidence to show that it could lower levels of DHT. I decided it was worth trying, and searched the Internet to find a pharmacy that would supply it by mail order. It was not cheap, ??150 for a 3-month supply! I started taking it straight away and sat back and waited for my hair to grow. After 7 months I couldn't see any results, I thought about the cost over sticking with it over the rest of my life and gave up. (More money down the drain). After that I suppose I just had to accept that my hair was gone and I was destined to spend the rest of my life looking like an old man. A year or so passed and then one day completely out of the blue I just decided that I'd had enough of living like this and was going to do something about it once and for all. I had always considered hair transplantation as too extreme and wondered if it even actually worked, given that everything else I had tried had failed miserably. I realised that I might live to regret it but I would definitely regret never trying it. I saw an ad in the back of a newspaper and checked out their website. I'd seen this company nearly 10 years before when I first began to lose my hair so I knew that they were well established, and the photo's on their website looked pretty good to me (back then). This was more than enough to convince me to contact them. So one evening in 2004 I travelled to a hotel in Birmingham for a consultation. I was met by a man in a flash suit who reminded me of an insurance salesman. He sat me down and took my details, name, address ect. The first thing he did was try to sell me Propecia but I told him I'd already tried it. (This clinic makes most of its money by selling mail order drugs Propecia, viagra, ect and various other hair products). In small talk he asked me what I did for a living, then said he'd just go and check if the boss was ready to see me. Five minutes later he ushered me into a room where I met the ??main man'. The first thing I noticed was that the guy didn't have much hair himself. (About a 3 or 4 on the norwood scale). Hardly a good advert for his company. He looked at my head for about 5 seconds then asked me what I knew about the transplant procedure. I explained that I had researched it and he gave me a brief explanation of what would be done. He showed me a before, post op and after picture of someone who had about 400 grafts put into their receding temples. He looked at my head and said I would need about 1500 grafts to fill in the front part of my head and then 2nd procedure of 1500 to fill the crown. (By now I was about a norwood 5/6 He promised me that that by the summer my hair would be looking "pretty good". He finished off by asking me straight "so would you like it done then"? I wasn't completely sure but I agreed. The salesman took me back downstairs and a date was booked for surgery and I gave them a cheque for the deposit. 4 weeks later I travelled up north to have my first op. The clinic turned out to be a back room in a local GP surgery. This didn,t fit their image of the UK's most established clinic. I met the surgeon who advised me to take an alternative to Propecia called Avodart (dutesteride), which they could supply, by mail order. He had a quick look at my head, checked my blood pressure and drew on my new hairline. 20 minutes later I was having it done. The whole thing took about 5 hours and was only slightly painful. When it was over I looked at his work in the mirror. Instead of the front half of my head being covered it was just about ?? of an inch. Just enough for a thin fringe. (I've since learned that this was probably just a few hundred grafts). But not having any previous experience I trusted that it would look alright when it was grown out. (at this stage I didn't know any better). The donor scar at the back was about 5mm thick and about 13cm long it was really sore the next day and I had to grow my hair for weeks to try to disguise it. The scabs on my new fringe took about 10 days to fade. As I left to go home the ??main man' showed up in his brand new Ferrari. (Business was obviously good). I started taking Avodart as I'd been advised; it was even more expensive than Propecia. After about 3 months my new hair started to sprout. Although I'd been promised that the front half of my head would be covered there was only enough grafts to achieve a thin fringe. Was I disappointed? ??Hell no!' After years of watching my hair disappear, suddenly I had new hair growing on my head. It felt fantastic! I couldn't wait to go back for more. So 5 ?? months later I returned for a second procedure (the one that was supposed to complete my hair). This next op also for 1500 graphs (supposedly) was placed behind the first lot of graphs. Both ops seemed to go about the same except now I had another new scar, but for some reason the 2nd op just did not work. The hair didn't grow like it did the 1st time. The work was guaranteed but proving what was there before could prove difficult and (photo's can be accidentally lost and the only compensation is another free op). I wasn't put off transplants but decided to find a new clinic. As you may know there's not a great choice in the UK. So I looked at adverts in magazines, searched on the web and found another clinic closer to where I live. Like before I knew that this clinic was well established so I sent off for their brochure. It seemed pretty good so I booked a surgery date for 2000 grafts. (This clinic was cheaper and they didn't try to sell me anything else). The new grafts were put in the middle of my scalp and the finished results were pretty much what I'd come to expect. A small patch of fine hair with a very thin density. I don't believe that all UK clinics are just out to rip people off. I have to say that the people who actually performed my ops seemed genuinely compassionate about my situation. But for all their goodwill I believe they just don't have the same abilities as some of the surgeons in the U.S. So the situation was after 3 ops I had not much to show for it all, just a very small amount of very thin density hair that didn't exactly look natural. I found that by combing my hair in from the sides and using lots of cosmetic thickeners (this was a pain in the arse) I could achieve a barely acceptable look. But I was always very self-conscious of how my hair looked. I learned to avoid standing under bright lights as this made me look ??pretty much bald'. I was in a real situation here, I'd started something and I needed to finish it once and for all. It was then that I had a small stroke of good luck. I started to visit hairloss forums on the Internet and read about the experiences of other dissatisfied UK patients. They all seemed to say one thing if you want it done properly you have to go to America. Then I heard about Spex, his name kept popping up on the forums. Here was a guy offering help and advice to anyone concerned about their hair. Like many I was suspicious at first but after seeing so many positive things written about him on the web I decided to give him a call. He suggested we meet up but because of the distance between us I couldn't commit to anything. A week later he called me and said he was planning to come to a city nearer to me and asked if I wanted to meet him there. So that Sunday afternoon I found myself travelling to a hotel. As I stood at the bar waiting (I was the guy wearing a baseball cap inside as usual) I felt a bit apprehensive about meeting a complete stranger in a hotel what were his motives? Why would anyone go out of their way to help a stranger? As soon as I met Spex I realised that he was no salesman. I couldn't get over how good his hair looked. You would never know he'd ever had a problem. He began to tell me his story and I found that I could relate to everything he said. This was the first time I'd ever been able to openly discuss losing my hair. Before I knew it we'd been talking for about 1 ?? hours. Spex suggested that I start taking finesteride because it had worked wonders for him by stopping his hairloss in its tracks and therefore preventing the need for a lot more surgery. He was able to put me in touch with a Dr who could presrcibe me Proscar at the cost of just over ??8 a month, compared to the ??50+ a month that I'd been paying for mail order for Propecia/Avodart. He showed me some examples of Dr Fellers work and we both agreed that a decent transplant was what I needed to sort out what had been started. So he asked me if I would like him to take a few photo's to send to Dr feller for his opinion. Obviously Spex has a good correspondence with Dr Feller and this makes the process of sorting out a transplant a lot easier, but he did not put any pressure on me to have surgery. He even mentioned some other top world-renowned surgeons in the U.S. And so I decided to book myself in for what I figure is my ??last role of the dice' since I guess that 4ops is about the limit that anyone can have (strip surgery). The results of this will be make or break for my hair. Spex was able to help me prepare for my trip giving me plenty of advice about the best ways to organise and plan things. He was also always available for me to phone if I had any questions or concerns. My surgery with "Feller medical" - Dr Feller - 2900 GRAFTS So just 8 weeks later I travelled to New York for my surgery with Dr Feller. I wont try to pretend that this wasn't a big deal for me. I'd never travelled this far on my own before so it was a bit daunting. On the morning of surgery getting to Northern Boulevard on the subway is easy but it's a very long stretch of road so you will need to get a taxi in order to help you find the place. The first person you will meet when you get there is Dr Feller. He will give you a full consultation to check things like the elasticity of your skin and the density of your donor hair he will keep you informed of what he is doing as he goes along. Then he discusses with you what you hope to achieve and exactly what you would like done. All this is different from what I was used to in the UK. The Dr will give you his advice on what he thinks will give you the best results with the amount of grafts available and the extent of your hairloss. Remember he has built his good reputation on the finished results. So he will perform the surgery to make you look your best and not just the way that is easiest for him to do. Also unlike the UK clinics he will try to get the job done in one go or in as few procedures as possible. Dr Feller has had a transplant himself so he knows exactly how you are feeling. He pointed out straight away what the UK clinics had done wrong and why I ended up with almost nothing to show from my 3 previous transplants. 1). They failed to use the best donor hair that was available and took it from the wrong areas. This made closing the incision more complicated and left me with excessive scars. 2). They implanted the hairs at the wrong and therefore an unnatural looking angle. 3). The density used was only 10-12 hairs pcm2 as they tried to spread it over as big an area as possible but in doing so the hair was not dense enough to be seen. (Dr Feller aims for a density of 40-50 hairs pcm2). 4). My last UK clinic had used 1980's style minigrafts and planted the hairs in obvious looking rows each placed 5mm apart. 5). After 3 procedures in the UK, 2 for 1500 grafts and 1 for 2000 grafts. Dr Feller estimated that I had only about 800 grafts on my head! I.e.: I had not received anywhere near the amount of hair that they had charged me for. After the consultation was over and Dr Feller marked the area that he was going to work on and we were ready to start. The first thing he did was shave my head. I wasn't exactly thrilled about this as I hadn't encountered it in surgery before, but this is a standard procedure amongst the top surgeons as it is necessary to help them get the best results. As far as the surgery itself went sitting in the chair I was unaware of any differences from my previous experiences. However 7 hours later when I saw the finished job I was in for a pleasant surprise. I could see that Dr Feller had managed to achieve almost full coverage from just behind the hairline to nearly all of the crown. (This was much more than I'd dared to hope for). Previously I was used to seeing only a small area (about the size of a matchbox) being covered. Also not only was the density much better but the individual grafts themselves were much neater with smaller scabs and less redness. Although I have yet to see the finished results I feel that after nearly 2 years of continuously having surgery then immediately saving up for the next op, I am now in a position of not needing any further surgeries. Dr Feller has done in 1 op what the UK clinics hadn't come close to achieving in 3. I can only say that in my opinion it is definatly worth the effort of going to the U.S for your transplant surgery. I only wish I had done it years ago. In fact I would say if you have decided to have surgery either go to the U.S or don't bother getting it done at all. I'm not saying that all UK clinics are bad and all U.S clinics are great. There are plenty of dodgy doctors in the U.S as well but to my knowledge there are no surgeons in Europe who could perform a transplant to the same level as Dr Feller. It just seems that the worlds best surgeons happen to live in the U.S. and Dr Feller is just one of them, whatever you decide make sure that you do your research and don't just take their word for it. There is no better critic than a former patient. Important advice for those considering a hair transplant Having had 4 transplants myself at 3 different clinics and learning the hard and expensive way .I feel I must give my honest opinion with the following statements: I cannot stress enough the importance of finding a good surgeon. Don't be tempted to respond to the first flashy advert that you see. Remember a bad surgeon can leave you with horrible scarring and as everyone has a limited supply of donor hair you must make sure that when it is used you actually get decent results. My advice is to look on the Internet forums to see which surgeons consistently get good reviews. These are your best tool in the search for the right person to perform your surgery. Unfortunately I have to say that there appears to be no highly skilled surgeons in the UK. Believe me I have researched this thoroughly! I have seen their work from the very bad to the barely acceptable. A good surgeon will offer a vast range of before and after photos (good clear quality, not blurry retouched ones). Many brochures just show models not real patients. They will even be able to put you in touch with previous patients. Forget confidentiality, people who are pleased with their surgeons work will be happy to recommend them. Many surgeons are barely qualified in hair surgery and just do it when not performing facelifts and nose jobs. Make sure that your clinic and surgeon specialise only in hair transplantation and are members of the international society of hair restoration surgery (ISHRS) and the international alliance of hair restoration surgery (IAHRS). Be realistic about the results. It is not possible to get back the same hair that you may of once had, especially if your hairloss is severe. But a top surgeon can make a little go a long way and occasionally on some patients with good characteristics for surgery you can see some truly amazing results. Beware of salesmen. A reputable surgeon will do his own consultations, as it is important for him to see what he will be working with. The guy you meet should be the same person who eventually performs your surgery. Many of the worst clinics employ ??consultants' these are just salesmen who have no medical training and are just there to talk you into having surgery often promising unrealistic results. Be suspicious of clinics that do not offer a set pricing policy. They will just ??size you up' as you walk through the door in order to decide how much they think that they can get out of you. Many clinics claim to guarantee the results but they know that people are reluctant to kick up a big fuss over such a highly personal operation and their guarantees are usually just the offer of more free surgery. But why would you want to go back for another botched op? Many dodgy surgeons make their money and disappear after a few years once their reputation gets around. Finally despite what the glossy brochures may tell you having a hair transplant is no picnic! Yes there is a little bit of pain involved, both during the op when you must have a series of injections and for a few days after when your head will be feeling a bit sore. Realistically you will need at least a week off work as you will have scabs where the grafts are implanted and swelling from the injections. The longer you can have off the better if you don't want people to know what you've just had done. It is also expensive not because of greedy surgeons but just because of the high cost of any surgical procedure. Think of the equipment used and the staff involved (possibly about 5 people per surgery). This is especially true for people with a higher degree of hairloss, Norwood 4+ as they may need several procedures. I myself have spent more than the cost of a new car on surgery but this is mainly due to making the wrong choices. With what I know now I could have done it for less than half the cost. This is why it is important to plan things right and do your research. Everybody's situation is different. The advice you get from Spex will be a great help, as he will give you his opinion based on his wealth of knowledge. Well if all that hasn't put you off then my advice is to ??go for it!' Because it has made a huge difference to many people in you position. I know that having surgery is scary enough but as long as you follow my advice and go with a highly recommended surgeon you will be fine. Disclaimer As you can see I have given you the full truth both good and bad about transplants I hope this proves that I am not a salesman and will not benefit in any way should you decide to go ahead with surgery. best wishes S.A.F

All the best Badhairuk, you are in the best of hands! Good luck with everything!

Congrats Dr Feller!

I think the Doc might know best about when and where to plan your next session. Good luck BAL and keep us informed.

You will be absolutely fine 1 year post op. Many guys get it done prior to the year landmark. Your in the best of hands BAL. Good luck with it all

The hospital group are the worst clinic in the UK and that takes some doing as there is stiff competition for the worst UK clinic.Talk to Bal about them You seriously do not need a HT. You will possibly only make things worse ie shockloss. If propecia didn't work then try DUT as its stronger than propecia at blocking DHT. You should not get a HT!!

You are only 8 months out from your surgery with Dr Feller so there is bound to be more growth to come in. Have you seen Dr Feller in person to assess your growth or was it done by photos? I know Wolf is good at scar revision. Would it not be best to stick with Feller who has previously performed on you though as wouldn't he be able to gauge from your previous surgery what was best the next time round to achieve the best possible result for you.? Your 6 month pictures were very impressive before feller

We all want our surgeries to be a success! If you are serious about having a HT performed then do your research and you will soon realise that in order to get the most out of your HT you need to travel to the U.S or Canada to get the best possible work performed. Many guys in the UK end up having work done here and have to then travel to the US to have that work repaired.

Cheers guys. My donor density is not brilliant and was always my concern but Dr Feller put my concerns to rest The photos don't clearly show what my density is in the donor region. Photos can be decieving

Hi there guys, well i am back after some mission. I am still incredibly tired as literally only returned this morning so will post more info soon along with some pics once Dr feller has had chance to send them over. The experience was just brilliant. I arrived there at 7am and waited for the DR who wasn't far behind me and he introduced himself. Instantly warmed to him as he has a soft manner and was cracking gags in the lift about if it breaks down not to panic as it only took 4 hrs to get out last time! We had a good chat and he assessed my situation and remarked that my donor area wasn't as poor as i had originally thought and felt that i was easily going to be able to hit an appropriate number and leave some in reserve The surgery was text book and will not go into it as you have read the details of the procedure many times. I will say though that i didn't feel a thing other than the initial numbing needle which stung a bit! Dr Feller didn't feel that we needed go over 2500 at this stage as my requirement didn't quite warrant it and with the chance of further loss he wanted to make sure i had enough for a potential second procedure. This was fine by me because this had always been my concern that i would never have enough to fill the entire area worst case senerio due to my poor donor density. But with the appropriate placement Dr Feller has made 2313 go a long way and hopefully if i maintain my existing front as well i'm going to be better off than i thought. I think you always think the worst, well i do. We finished up and took a couple of pictures and i was back in my hotel in the city by 5pm which was great. The pain kicked in big time and luckily had my meds ready to deal with it I'm back now and travelled home with ease. I wasn't asked to take my hat off going through customs which was a relief and slept the majority of the night-time flight home. I can honestly say i did far too much worrying prior to the surgery as Dr Feller and his staff were absolutely brilliant and made me relaxed and comfortable. The procedure itself was easy, its just the waiting part now!! I intend to leave my staples in for 10 days as Dr Feller said this would be more than sufficient, I can't wait as they are starting to get tight!! I'm going to hit the hay for a little now guys as just exhausted but as many of you know on a high at the same time!

Hi there guys, well i am back after some mission. I am still incredibly tired as literally only returned this morning so will post more info soon along with some pics once Dr feller has had chance to send them over. The experience was just brilliant. I arrived there at 7am and waited for the DR who wasn't far behind me and he introduced himself. Instantly warmed to him as he has a soft manner and was cracking gags in the lift about if it breaks down not to panic as it only took 4 hrs to get out last time! We had a good chat and he assessed my situation and remarked that my donor area wasn't as poor as i had originally thought and felt that i was easily going to be able to hit an appropriate number and leave some in reserve The surgery was text book and will not go into it as you have read the details of the procedure many times. I will say though that i didn't feel a thing other than the initial numbing needle which stung a bit! Dr Feller didn't feel that we needed go over 2500 at this stage as my requirement didn't quite warrant it and with the chance of further loss he wanted to make sure i had enough for a potential second procedure. This was fine by me because this had always been my concern that i would never have enough to fill the entire area worst case senerio due to my poor donor density. But with the appropriate placement Dr Feller has made 2313 go a long way and hopefully if i maintain my existing front as well i'm going to be better off than i thought. I think you always think the worst, well i do. We finished up and took a couple of pictures and i was back in my hotel in the city by 5pm which was great. The pain kicked in big time and luckily had my meds ready to deal with it I'm back now and travelled home with ease. I wasn't asked to take my hat off going through customs which was a relief and slept the majority of the night-time flight home. I can honestly say i did far too much worrying prior to the surgery as Dr Feller and his staff were absolutely brilliant and made me relaxed and comfortable. The procedure itself was easy, its just the waiting part now!! I intend to leave my staples in for 10 days as Dr Feller said this would be more than sufficient, I can't wait as they are starting to get tight!! I'm going to hit the hay for a little now guys as just exhausted but as many of you know on a high at the same time!

If your in NY then why not consult with both. Get a feel for both of them and see which Dr best suits you. From all my research i've decided to go with Dr Feller but for strip, so that doesn't help you out. I am in the U.K and have spoken with Dr Feller several times over the phone and he has always been very understanding and helpful. I have met with a couple of his patients one being spex whos hairline is just remarkable in person and his pictures don't quite do it justice. I'm sure he will be more than happy to put you in touch with FUE patients. I know he keeps in touch with a number of U.K guys. All the best with your decision making but first off i would meet both Dr's or speak with patients Martin

Congrats Facelessman!!!!