JoelH Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I'm 30 years old, and have been fighting a battle with hair-loss since my early 20s. The main battleground has been my crown, where hair-loss has managed to gain the upper hand fairly decisively. I went for an initial consultation in the UK about a year ago with someone who claimed he was a hair transplant surgeon. Perhaps he was, perhaps he wasn't ??“ his name has been mentioned elsewhere in a context that suggests the latter ??“ but in any event, I left his consulting room as certain as I could be that I didn't want him anywhere within scalpel range. So, I did a little research and discovered two things. The first was that this forum is a fabulous resource and an absolute mine of information for anyone considering a hair transplant; it ought to be made available on the NHS. The second was that a little research really wasn't a sensible basis for having a hair transplant. I then did a good deal more research and came across Dr Feller and what appeared to be a legion of happy patients. Liking the sound of this, I got in touch with Spex, Dr Feller's emissary in the UK. It will come as no surprise that Spex has been marvelously helpful (as, indeed, has Dr Feller's office) ??“ I was far more inclined to trust his advice than the chap I saw previously. Frankly, I'd sooner have had Spex perform the procedure, but as I always say: if you are going to have surgery performed on your head, it is a strong move to have it performed by a qualified surgeon. So, my questions answered, my doubts resolved and my mind made up, I have a procedure booked with Dr Feller for 17th July. I'll report back once it's all done, and will try to post some before and after photos for anyone who may be interested. Joel H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Petchski Posted June 29, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 29, 2009 Hi Joel, Congrats on choosing a good doc, I had my transplant with Dr F at the end of January, 5 and a had months now and everything going well. The worst part of a transplant is the waiting for it to grow, the procedure itself is a piece of cake. Good luck and definitely post photos when you can -------------------------------------- My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Feller Dr Feller Jan '09 2000 grafts Dr Lorenzo Dec '15 2222 grafts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member FacelessMan Posted June 30, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2009 JoelH, Congratulations; you and your scalp will be in highly skilled hands. I've had two procedures with Dr. Feller, and am highly pleased with the results. Have a safe journey across the pond... Benjamin My Blog -- Hair Transplant with Dr. Feller My Personal Hair Transplant Blog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member HairHope Posted June 30, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2009 Feller's Excellent choice, both in terms of experience (Feller) and support (Spex). Best of luck. Dec. 2004 - 1938 Grafts via Strip Feb. 2009 - 1002 Grafts via FUE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Acrobaz Posted June 30, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2009 I'd sooner have had Spex perform the procedure, but as I always say: if you are going to have surgery performed on your head, it is a strong move to have it performed by a qualified surgeon. Ha ha! Nice one. Spex would happily perform any surgical procedure so long as it involved copious amounts of aloe vera! Good luck Joel. We're all rooting for you, especially the UK Feller brotherhood! If you have any questions of a non-medical nature as the day approaches (transport, hotels etc), feel free to pm me. 17 Feb 09 - 3,200 FUs by strip surgery (Dr Feller) My Hair Loss Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member mgem Posted June 30, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 30, 2009 All the best mate My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Feller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Joel, The 17th of July isn't too far away my friend. Excited? Nervous? I know in my case, especially for my first procedure not knowing exactly what to expect other than what I read, I felt a bit of both. Know that you'll be in great hands. I hope you'll share your experience and photos with us and then update us monthly so we can follow your transformation. Best wishes for an excellent procedure, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoelH Posted July 1, 2009 Author Share Posted July 1, 2009 Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement and support. I really appreciate it. I've participated in a fair number of discussion forums before, but this is the first I would call an online "community" in the true sense of the word. @Bill: Yes, I'm excited and perhaps the slightest bit nervous, but hearing first-hand from so many people who have had such positive experiences with Dr F. really does make the world of difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 but hearing first-hand from so many people who have had such positive experiences with Dr F. really does make the world of difference. It really does doesn't it? The power of this forum is phenomenal. Being able to get real time support and encouragement from veteran hair transplant patients and quality doctors within an hour of posting a question or concern is incredibly helpful. I know when I was new here (yep, there was a time I was new too), I felt so reassured and helped by the members of the community before me, that it not only comforted me through my entire journey, but gave me the desire to visit regularly and share what I've learned with others. I look forward to reading all about your experience and seeing your photos as you transform from bald to bushy :-) Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairdoyle Posted July 3, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted July 3, 2009 I had mine with Dr Feller early April swear to god it is not as bad as you think.. try to relax and enjoy listening to the banter of the nurses etc,passes time quickly.. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hair_care Posted July 3, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted July 3, 2009 I had my procedure done with Dr Feller about 10 days ago. Relax ! He is one of the best around. Just get in there and let the Doc and nurses take care of you. It will be over before you know it. My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Feller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member sunnyd Posted July 5, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted July 5, 2009 I had my 1st HT with Dr Feller, end of April. See my post for a lot of detail... http://hair-restoration-info.c...66060861/m/527105292 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoelH Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 I'm now back in the UK, having had my hair transplant with Dr Feller on 17th July. I decided to make a holiday of it and spent a few days in Manhattan beforehand. For those doing likewise, it's easy to get to Great Neck by the Long Island Rail Road, which sounds delightfully Mark Twain but in fact is a bit like First Capital Connect. The night before the procedure I stayed at the Andrew Hotel, which is perfectly serviceable and a very short taxi ride from Dr Feller's office. Anyone who has received Dr Feller's instructions for the big day will have been left in little doubt about the doctor's views on arriving late. So, having set alarms on my phone and my BlackBerry and arranging a wake-up call for good measure (yes, I know) I arrived at Dr Feller's office on Northern Boulevard ??“ a sort of cross between Harley Street and the M4 ??“ at 7.30 sharp. Dr Feller arrived very shortly afterwards and we had a good chat about my hair loss and what I wanted to achieve. We agreed that the doctor would pack the grafts into the crown, where the hair loss was most severe, leaving the possibility of a second procedure, further front, down the line. I was also told that the skin around the donor site was particularly well suited to trycophytic closure, which was one of those rare occasions where you don't know whether to say 'thank you' or 'you're welcome'. I'll say from the outset that Dr Feller is instantly likeable and positively exudes professionalism. He manages to combine a sense of humour that I think I can uncontroversially label 'quirky' with a very straightforward approach, and has a great bedside manner that puts patients (well, me, at any rate) very much at ease. It's abundantly clear that he takes a great deal of pride in his work, and this shows in every aspect of the procedure. Dr Feller then took some photos and started drawing the pattern of his proposed transplant on my scalp. Once he was satisfied with his work, I was led into a room with what looked like a massage chair ??“ but something told me I wasn't about to get a massage. Call it intuition. Call it precognition. Call it the fact that the doctor was brandishing a hypodermic syringe. At any rate, I lay prostrate on the chair, my head was held down (was I about to be water-boarded?) and Dr Feller proceeded to numb the donor area. Believe me when I say that this was the only painful part of the whole procedure, and it was really nothing too terrible and can't have lasted more than 30 seconds. And I am, it has to be said, hardly Jack Bauer. Then I was led into another room with what looked like a dentist's chair. But by this time I had learned that appearances of furniture can be deceiving in Great Neck. Another series of injections (this time painless) and Dr Feller got to work. I felt the slightly disconcerting (but, again, entirely painless) sensation of Dr Feller cutting out a strip in the donor area, the familiar feeling of the incision being sewn up and the novel but oddly recognisable sensation of staples being punched into the back of my head. Dr Feller then made numerous tiny incisions in my scalp and his team of technicians then started to insert the grafts (or 'place', as I believe was the technical term). Now, Dr Feller gets a good deal of praise in these forums, and deservedly so; but perhaps not enough is said about his technicians. They were, without exception, friendly, dedicated and highly professional, and worked very well as a team. There were three rounds of the incision/placing routine in total ??“ the last round was to insert just short of 100 grafts that remained after the original crown pattern had been filled. This, I think, demonstrates Dr Feller's attention to detail and commitment to achieving the best possible results ??“ the extra grafts will have had little or no impact in terms of fees (and, frankly, I wouldn't have known if he had flushed them down the toilet), but he was determined that none of the grafts he had extracted should be wasted. All-in-all, I think I received about 2,000 grafts. At the end of the procedure, Dr Feller took some more photos and then talked me through the 'before and after' shots and what he'd done. I must say it looked mighty impressive to my untrained eye. Dr Feller then gave me a Vicodin, which is apparently a narcotic, and enough spares to last either a few days or one very energetic evening. And with that, I left, looking a bit Death of Marat. If Marat had also been wearing an I Love NY baseball cap when he was bumped off. I took a taxi back to Manhattan ($75). From the look on the taxi driver's face, being asked to drive from Great Neck to Manhattan is a bit like being asked to drive south of the river in London after 10pm. Safely back in the hotel, I took another Vicodin as instructed; an infrequent and inexperienced opium eater, this all proved a little alien to my system and I was briefly reunited with my lunch. I immediately swore off the Vicodin (thus ending probably the shortest experiment with narcotics in history) and since then have managed to get by with plain old paracetamol. The journey back was pleasantly hassle-free. At JFK security I just removed my cap without being prompted, stepped through the metal detector and replaced the cap at the other end. With hindsight, I probably shouldn't have said 'phew!' at this point, but you live and learn. I didn't even bother removing my cap at the UK border, although the official did give me a very long, very strange stare before eventually permitting me to re-enter the UK. And that's that, I suppose. It's now four days after the procedure, the redness in the recipient site has gone down nicely and I haven't had to take more than about four painkillers since the night of the transplant. Now the waiting begins. Even before seeing any results, I don't think I could have asked for a higher quality, friendlier service than I received from Dr Feller and his team ??“ and I usually find fault with everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Acrobaz Posted July 21, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted July 21, 2009 Great write-up Joel. I loved the descriptions of the day, particularly the Harley Street/M4 image! I really did "lol" at that one. Heal well and keep us posted! 17 Feb 09 - 3,200 FUs by strip surgery (Dr Feller) My Hair Loss Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hair_care Posted July 22, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted July 22, 2009 Nice write up. Create a blog on the hair transplant network and post some pics. My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Feller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hair_care Posted July 23, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted July 23, 2009 Nice , clean looking work, as always. He should be thrilled in 8 months time. My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Feller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member thanatopsis_awry Posted July 23, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted July 23, 2009 Heal and grow well, Joel; look forward to seeing this grown out! ----------- *A Follicles Dying Wish To Clinics* 1 top-down, 1 portrait, 1 side-shot, 1 hairline....4 photos. No flash. Follicles have asked for centuries, in ten languages, as many times so as to confuse a mathematician. Enough is enough! Give me documentation or give me death! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoelH Posted July 24, 2009 Author Share Posted July 24, 2009 Thanks for the photos, Spex - and thanks to everyone else for all the support. The staples come out on Monday, and I'll post some updated photos then. Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoelH Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 I've posted some photos at day 10. I tried setting up a community blog but apparently a log file of some description was full. (I didn't touch it!) So, I've posted the photos at my blog at: http://returfing.blogspot.com/ Enjoy! Joel H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 JoelH, The issue you experienced earlier is resolved now. Please feel free to create a free patient website when you're ready. Your scalp is healing nicely by the way :-) All the Best, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Mr. GQ Posted July 28, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted July 28, 2009 and the neutralization of a black hole has commenced looks good. good luck and all the best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoelH Posted August 21, 2009 Author Share Posted August 21, 2009 I've posted some week 5 photos on my blog: http://returfing.blogspot.com/ Comments welcome! Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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