Dr. Bisagna 1498 fue

[Levrais]

Thanks david, et al.

 

Today I got a hiar cut to even things up a bit before I have to go back to work. The styling options are limited! It looks ok to me from the front and sides but the back and top I imagine will look odd. Would I benefit from using a concealer on the crown at this point or is the hair too short? If so where does one get it from?

[Proyas]

What does the transplant area look like? Are there lots of little hairless areas, or does it fill back in?

[Levrais]

Hi Proyas,

The 2 recipient areas that were shaved at this point look like large hairless areas from a distance. But the native hair is growing back and many of the grafts have not yet shed. So, closer up those areas look like they're covered by a 5 o'clock shadow. No actual hairless areas as such. I hope I understood your question correctly. If you're talking about the donor area (where the grafts were extracted) the hairs don't actually fill back in as you say but the holes close up and heal. The good docs will leave enough hair so that you cant easily tell anything was done. For the most part if there are 4 hairs in an area, they will leave 3.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Levrais

[Proyas]

OK.

 

How long after your first transplant back in November did it take for those new hairs to be fully grown in?

[Levrais]

The transplanted hair looking pretty complete around 5 months but it has continued to improve since then. If youre talking about the donor area, it looked pretty normal at 2 weeks because the hair grew back.

[hairthere]

Looks good Levrais! Closing off the temple points will make a huge difference.

[jessie1]

Levrais,

 

Excellent. Keep the updates coming. Couple of questions if I may....

 

How often does Dr Bisanga do his follow ups?

 

Any feedback on patient aftercare? Do you feel looked after? How confident would you feel about Dr Bisanga addressing any concerns (if any were to crop up)?

 

In terms of concealer, I use some on the frontal area just behind the hairline and I'm paranoid about it when I have it on. For this reason I only use a very small amount . In the crown I have heard that it can be more effective and realistic. Never used it in this area so I am unable to offer first hand experience. Why not give it a shot?

 

Cheers Levrais

 

Jessie

[Levrais]

Jesse, the short answer is that I do feel looked after and I know he will address any problems that come up. As for the follow ups, there is no certain schedule since Im an international patient. The way it worked for me after my first op (which addressed the hairline only) was that I went to the clinic the day after the procedure for a cleaning and for the doc to look things over. I traveled home on day 2. I was completely freaked out about everything for the next several days (for no reason, just paranoia) so I was in frequent contact with the patient rep. He usually responds to emails in 2 hours or less and when necessary, will get the doc to answer a question. I even got an email reply once at what must have been about 4:00 am his time. I felt like I was being really annoying but he never let on if he felt that way. About a week post op, the doc emailed to ask how I was doing and we exchanged a few emails. Around 6 weeks post op I got a call from the doc that he was in my area on vacation with his family and invited me out for a drink. At around month 3 he was in my country doing consults and invited me to come by which I did. At those points everything was fine so they were just check ups. Around month 4 or 5 I met with him again to start looking into my 2nd op. We met again at the 6.5 month mark for a consult and to start making final plans for op#2.

I had my second op at exactly month 8 as planned to address the rest of the frontal third and the crown. There was something about the right side of my hairline that, although it didn't look bad, it didn't look quite as good as the left. It wasn't necessarily that grafts didn't grow but because I wasn't completely happy with it, he added some grafts there at no charge. This time I stayed in Brussels for a week and was in the clinic just about every day. While I was there, the doc would make time to check me over each day and had someone take pics for me. I was much less freaked out this time around so I didn't require as much attention. I have still emailed every few days with the patient rep just to sort of check in and ask questions to make sure Im doing the right things with my post op care. I will probably see the doc around 2 or 3 months depending on our schedules. The bottom line is that he does want lots of post op contact and not only makes himself available but also initiates contact.

 

Thanks for the concealer tips, so far I have been just toughing it out.

[Levrais]

Hairthere, thanks man, I think you're right and Im glad I added that part.

[aaron1234]

Looks great Levrais! All the best healing and growing!

[RockZ]

Thanks for the updates man! You continue to be very inspiring.

[Levrais]

Thanks Aaron and Rock,

We're all just about in the same boat at this point give or take a few weeks. I look forward to seeing your updates as well.

[Levrais]

Im a day or 2 short of the one month mark. This time around, the doc shaved the recipient area which Im sure was looking quite odd for the last few weeks. Yesterday got a haircut to even things up. Now I think I just look like someone who is thinning on top and at the crown instead of someone who shaves various parts of his head and not others, lol. There was quite a bit of shedding the first 2 weeks and its hard to say how many grafts havent shed at this point. The temples are still red but the crown and front have normal color.

[corvettester]

Levrais,

 

Looking good buddy.

 

I really enjoyed reading about your experience, post-op care and follow ups with Dr. Bisanga. It's good to know that he looks after his patients and goes the extra mile to see to it that you're happy. It seems that his patient care, customer service and integrity is just as good as his technical ability. His reputation continues to improve with each new patient of his that joins the HTN.

 

Back to you, I'm really excited to see how your crown turns out too. I mean, 2,500 is a lot of grafts for a second procedure, and it already looks so good. I'm sure this one will complete your hair restoration journey.

 

Take care and keep us posted.

 

 

Corvettester

[Levrais]

Hi Corv,

Thanks for your comments. I think the good after care from the clinic can make a huge difference overall. I know people could debate forever over who is the best doc but I can say that Bisanga was a good fit for me. I agree that 2500 is a lot for op #2. This brings me to a little over 4,000 total which just sounds cool to me. I never imagined doing that many in the beginning but Im glad it worked out this way. If it all grows of course that will be even cooler, lol.

 

I dont know if I mentioned this before but I also got prp treatment this time which hopefully will speed things along. I have noticed that there was no noticeable discoloration in the crown or in the front which is where I had the prp. We also did a few beard fue this time.

[Levrais]

Hi All,

I'm at just over 2 months for ht#2 (crown, temple points and behind forelock) and 10 months for ht#1 (hairline)

[hairthere]

Big difference from your 1 month pics. Glad to see your HT #1 growing back in. Now starts the long haul. The end result should be fantastic...

[Levrais]

Thanks hairthere, it's amazing how slow 2 months can crawl by, lol

[Capelli11]

Lookin good...You are on the road to great hair!

[corvettester]

Levrais,

 

I'm really excited to see how your crown is going to turn out. You'll be all done then. What a relief!

 

Thanks for keeping us updated. Grow well.

 

 

Corvettester

[Levrais]

Thnaks Capelli and Corv,

I can feel stubble on the crown with my fingers so hopefully good things to come

[DISpHAIR]

Corvetster/ Levaris,

 

I'm really excited to see how your crown is going to turn out. You'll be all done then. What a relief!

Thanks for keeping us updated. Grow well.

 

I want to know both of your opinions regarding that statement you made, as I find it very significant in this whlole process. Do you really believe that after this second procedure grows in you will be completely done with HTS and that you will feel completely relieved? I ask this question because it seems that from everything I have read about patients expireinces, most of the time the patient is already thinking about the next procedure before the current one is even at its final result. What seems consistent to me is every patients desire to feel "relief". After the next procedure is done then ill be able to begin living. seems to be a common thought. I wonder if there is any patient out there that has had procedure(s) done and is honeslty content and hairloss is actullay i thing of the past. It seems like the focus of mental anguish just changes. It seems that after you make the mental investment that goes along with HTS it brings on a whole new set of issues to be concerened about. With that being said, the mental effects of being bald are so devastating, at least to me, I think it is probably worth the lifestyle that goes along with hair transplant surgery.

[Levrais]

Disphair,

I hope that I will be done when the 2nd op grows in. Some people are "one and done" as they say. Others need a 2nd or so op for a number of reasons. With some its hair greed where they get a good result and decide they want more. Others don't get the result they wanted and go for the 2nd op out of necessity. There are also those who may get a decent result but then continue to lose hair and need subsequent ops to keep up. Age and family history of hairloss can be predictors of what will happen but there is no guarantee. Time will tell

Edited September 26, 2011 by Levrais
typo

[corvettester]

I want to know both of your opinions regarding that statement you made, as I find it very significant in this whlole process. Do you really believe that after this second procedure grows in you will be completely done with HTS and that you will feel completely relieved? I ask this question because it seems that from everything I have read about patients expireinces, most of the time the patient is already thinking about the next procedure before the current one is even at its final result. What seems consistent to me is every patients desire to feel "relief".

 

After the next procedure is done then ill be able to begin living. seems to be a common thought. I wonder if there is any patient out there that has had procedure(s) done and is honeslty content and hairloss is actullay i thing of the past. It seems like the focus of mental anguish just changes. It seems that after you make the mental investment that goes along with HTS it brings on a whole new set of issues to be concerened about.

 

Disphair,

 

I like your post because you ask good questions and raise very real and meaningful concerns...

 

My comments regarding Levrais' result were directed solely at him. I don't say that to everyone. To answer your question, yes, I believe that Levrais will be completely satisfied with his final result and not succumb to hair greed for the sake of simply having more hair. Levrais is a very level-headed and intelligent poster, as you'll see if you follow his personal case and his contributions to other member cases.

 

There are several other reasons as well. I believe that Levrais won't need another procedure because of what an exceptional result he got from his first procedure. If past is prelude, then he's in for another outstanding result. He has excellent hair characteristics too. Thus, a lower number of grafts for guys like him can go a lot further than it would for someone with my hair characteristics.

 

Further, it seems like a lot of planning went into his first and second procedure. A well planned strategy coupled with an moderate/aggressive approach can basically solve a lot men's hair loss issues provided they're on the lower end of the NW scale... especially when you have a top doc such as Bisanga performing the work. I have yet to disappointing result from him.

 

Granted, hair loss is progressive, but that doesn't mean every NW3V is going to one day become a NW7. A lot of men stabilize naturally or they use Propecia to stabilize hair loss. I don't remember off hand whether or not Levrais is on Propecia.

 

It's true that many men will have to chase their hair loss perhaps their whole lives. I just don't see that happening with Levrais. For his age range and amount of loss (I think he was a NW3V or NW4 in his mid forties), I think it's very reasonable to assume that he isn't going to the high NW levels.

 

Yes, I believe a lot of men move on. What you are witnessing now are those of us who have not yet completed out hair loss journey. If you spend more time on the forums you'll see what I mean. Look into Epileptic Skeptic. He was one of the most prolific, honest and valuable posters on the HTN. He researched for something like 5 years so as to make the best decision possible.

 

Well, after he posted his exception 5-7 months results, we almost never heard from him again... and that is a good thing! Why should he waste any more time here? He had an outstanding result and now he has moved on.

 

 

Corvettester

Edited September 26, 2011 by corvettester

[DISpHAIR]

THANK YOU BOTH CORVETTSTER AND LEVARIS

 

Once again my prospective has almost completely changed as Corvettster has made me aware of something I didnt consider the past few weeks I have spent researching on the HTN. From everythign I have read it seemed to me as though the reality was that patients were never satisified with their results and most likely never would be. I thought this was true as this is what I read over and over again. What i failed to consider and what Corvestster pointed out, is the satisfied patients would no longer be posting these types of issues on here as they would no longer need to. I cant believe I missed that point. It really gave me a whole new prospective of this process. That was incredibly informative so thanks again