2151 FUE grafts by Dr. Tejinder Bhatti (Darling Buds) – 23rd Dec 2012

[shane13]

Hello Fellow Forum members,

 

First of all I thank this forum and the members to help me take this leap of faith and take one of the most important decisions of my life!

 

I just came back early morning today after a comfortable hair transplant experience with Dr. Tejinder Bhatti of Darling Buds India. I was eagerly waiting to get back to my laptop and share my post on the forum asap. So here goes:

 

The city: Chandigarh, approx. 250 kms from New Delhi is one of the most organized and well-planned city in India. I would have normally driven down to Chandigarh but was rightly advised against it by Dr. Bhatti immediately after the day of surgery. So took a ‘Shatabdi’ train instead with a one-way journey time of 3.5hrs.

 

The stay: Stayed at the Lemon Tree hotel in the Chandigarh Industrial Area. The staff is extremely cordial and helpful and the stay was pleasant. Got a good deal through an online travel site for INR 3300 ~ USD 60 per night. The hotel is some 3 kms away from the clinic and hardly takes 10-12 minutes to reach the clinic.

 

The clinic: The clinic is easily locatable in Sector 32 and to make things better, the cab guys already new of the doctor and the clinic . One of them mentioned that he has been dropping many guests (domestic and foreign) at Darling Buds. Btw, the doctor will very soon be moving to a 4000 sq feet clinic in the most posh sector of Chandigarh!

 

The procedure:

I reached the clinic at 7:30AM on a cold foggy morning. I changed into the OT clothes and the customary blood test was done. The head was shaved and the doctor dyed the target donor area and drew my hairline. I do not have the luxury of a very good supply of donor hair so did not go for lowering the hairline. I’ve always had a high hairline since my teenage so thought best of keeping it as it is.

 

The graft extraction procedure started around 30-45 minutes from then and the anesthesia was administered on the scalp. There was a heart rate monitor connected to one finger and a drip (saline I guess) on the back of my hand. The doctor was explaining each step before operating so that I know what’s coming . I could hear the motorized drill working on my scalp and the entire process was painless. Next was the beard hair extraction and the anesthesia pricks on the lower chin (shadow area for the beard) felt comparatively more ‘pricky’ than the scalp Since the beard hair required were less, it did not take much time for the extraction.

 

The doctor and I kept chatting in between and also talked a lot about the Hair Restoration Forum and the previous transplants he had done on the forum members. I told him how impressive I found the results of ‘HTIndia’ and ‘johnny24’. The doc was pleasantly surprised of the HRN, it’s reach and visibility on the web.

 

After completing the extraction, the doctor proceeded with making the slits in the recipient area. I did not take the short coffee break between the harvesting and plantation as I was quite comfortable in an inclined position. Once the slits were made, the doctors team go together to implant the extracted grafts. Dr. Bhatti gave them instructions specifically on the beard hair and where to target the 3s & 2s grafts. This was the lengthiest process and the team was working swiftly on this and Dr. Bhatti was overseeing the progress in between.

 

The procedure finished at 2PM and my wife & I were offered some delicious lunch. After that I was given the post-op kit with saline water, medicines and disinfectant spray for the day. The total number of grafts were shared with me which was 1755 scalp and 396 beard hair ~ 2151 FUE grafts (I’ll share the grafts breakup with everyone as soon as I receive the split from the doctor).

 

I immediately made the payment, thanked the doctor and proceeded towards my hotel. I was instructed by the doc to spray the saline water every 20 minutes and take 3-4 medicines at night. I had a very comfortable sleep at night with no pain at all.

 

Day 1 post-op:

The next morning, I had a nice spread of buffet breakfast and compensated for the previous day as well as I was asked to go empty stomach (only a glass of milk was allowed) on the day of the surgery . I checked out of the hotel at 2PM and directly went to Darling Buds. The doctor’s team gave me a shampoo wash and showed me how to do it at home. Then I was back with the doctor who shared the detailed post-op care with me which is approximately 2 weeks from the HT date. A date -wise scheduled was shared with me with details of what needs to be done on each day. The doc also ran me through a presentation to explain the post-op care process and handed me over an exhaustive kit with saline water, gauze, shampoo, hair oil, alovera gel, medicines etc. to take care of my requirements for the fortnight.

 

I thanked the doctor and his team and headed towards the market for a couple of hours to shop [you know how wives are ;-)] and boarded my train back to New Delhi late evening.

 

Overall Experience:

I am quite satisfied with my experience so far interms of engaging with the doctor, interaction with his team of technicians and his facility. From what I understand, the graft packing seems to be dense and I am really hoping for some very good result. I am keeping my fingers crossed and I am actually quite confident that I have chosen one of the best FUE surgeons around.

 

Future Plan:

As you would see from the pictures that the crown is left untouched. My plan is to go back to Dr. Bhatti for crown work basis the number of remaining graft availability.

 

Pictures:

Following on my hair-loss blog are my immediate pre-op and post-op pictures: http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com...asp?WebID=2616. Do review them and give your candid comments.

 

It is my responsibility to keep everyone posted with timely updates so that my fellow hair-loss sufferers can gain from my experience as I have done from others’ experience and advice. I’ll be back with monthly updates and more than happy to address any queries/concerns/ questions from my experience.

 

Merry Christmas to all. God Bless!

 

Shane13

[hairshopeing]

Looks good coverage,I'm sure it will be a great result!!

[Raj Jayukdht]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Do you know how much grafts you got left in your scalp for future HT. On your next update can you please show us a close up of your scalp and beard scars (if any scars)

[shane13]

Looks good coverage,I'm sure it will be a great result!!

 

Thanks bro! I am keeping my fingers crossed. Can't wait to see the results .

[shane13]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Do you know how much grafts you got left in your scalp for future HT. On your next update can you please show us a close up of your scalp and beard scars (if any scars)

 

Hey jayukdht, I'll certainly do that around 10-15 days from the procedure. Meanwhile, if you checkout the last scalp picture under the 'post-op donor' section you can clearly see the scarring resulted from my first HT towards the left side of my head.

 

The doc said that I have around 1000 scalp hair and around 200 beard hair left for the future. Sadly, I do not have any chest hair to use as the donor hair.....

Edited December 25, 2012 by shane13

[shane13]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Do you know how much grafts you got left in your scalp for future HT. On your next update can you please show us a close up of your scalp and beard scars (if any scars)

 

Hey i just added a pic of my beard donor area (right under the chin)..... Do bear in mind that it's only 2 days after the transplant..... i'll also share the subsequent pics periodically

 

Cheers!

[Raj Jayukdht]

It would be interesting to see if the scarring would be the same as your previous FUE procedure

[shane13]

Scalp (1755 grafts)

Singles- 383

Doubles- 1117

Triples- 255

 

Beard (396 grafts)

Singles- 329

Doubles- 67

 

TOTAL - 2151 grafts

[Raj Jayukdht]

Good Doubles and Triples Shane

[shane13]

Good Doubles and Triples Shane

 

Thanks bro! Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best

[shane13]

Feels great to see a defined hairline..... Keeping my fingers crossed!

[hairshopeing]

Looks good,nice hairline shape!

[Raj Jayukdht]

Do you think you will go back to dr Bhati and do your crown next??

[GNX1]

donor area including beard looks great! amazing results so far.

[shane13]

Looks good,nice hairline shape!

 

Thanks.

 

I've always had a broad forehead and did not want to use precious, limited grafts (or 'my bank savings' as Dr. Bhatti calls it ) on lowering the hairline.

[shane13]

Do you think you will go back to dr Bhati and do your crown next??

 

For sure bro!

 

Although I am not sure whether I have those many grafts left to cover my entire crown . With an empty crown I might also consider keeping my hair short (guard 3 or 4) but then it kinda spoils the whole purpose of having a HT :confused:

 

I can get the crown done as early as May as per the doc. Let's see how things shape up.

 

Cheers!

[shane13]

donor area including beard looks great! amazing results so far.

 

Thanks GNX!

 

The beard (approx. 400 grafts) specially does not show scarring. Dr. Bhatti harvested these from the 'shadow area' right under the chin.

[shane13]

- Around 30%-40% of hair seem to have shed

- Both donor areas seem to have healed fine

- A little bit concerened about the area just behind the hairline (encircled in a pic) that seems to be growing at a much lesser pace or probably shed much sooner

 

Comments welcome.....

 

Cheers!

[GNX1]

coming along great! can you point out or circle where the beard hairs were placed on ur head?

 

the beard donor area looks great so far. curious to see what it look like in 6 months. as of now no one would even know that u had hairs extracted from ur beard.

 

I would not be the least bit concerned about the middle where it is thinner. ur only a month out and shedding (effluvium) in that area seems to have taken place earlier then the other areas.

 

u will still have further shedding likely. and not everyone sheds all their transplanted hairs so maybe some shedded and others didnt. its perfectly normal for some hairs to grow before others.

[midnightio75]

Hi Shane!

 

It's great to see your results. It is curious about the front area that has shed sooner, but I would feel certain it will all balance out in the coming months. I have been looking at my hair and waiting for the shedding to commence. I do not see much thus far.

 

I was really curious what the beard hair donor area would look like. I do not have a dense enough beard to warrant using beard grafts myself, but it looks amazing. I cannot even tell where the extractions are located!

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

Cheers,

Jim

[shane13]

Comments welcome.....!

[Raj Jayukdht]

How come your middle scalp grafts are bit slow to grow?

 

Also reading your thread, you had from your donor 1755 and in march 650, thats total of 2405 and you mentioned that you only have about 1000 more grafts left in your donor area, so the total amount of grafts available from your donor area is 3405. I thought on average everyone has at least 5-6000 grafts in the donor area???

[GNX1]

How come your middle scalp grafts are bit slow to grow?

 

Also reading your thread, you had from your donor 1755 and in march 650, thats total of 2405 and you mentioned that you only have about 1000 more grafts left in your donor area, so the total amount of grafts available from your donor area is 3405. I thought on average everyone has at least 5-6000 grafts in the donor area???

the near crown area always grows slower. less blood supply goin there is the general concensus.

[Raj Jayukdht]

Mr GNXI...how are you sir..

 

Thats the first Ive seen where the middle scalp grafts are slow to grow, I understand if it was the crown.

[GNX1]

Mr GNXI...how are you sir..

 

Thats the first Ive seen where the middle scalp grafts are slow to grow, I understand if it was the crown.

yea, I see what ur sayn after lookn at it again but its only 2 months out so too soon to really say or really mean anything at this stage.

 

very impressed with the beard graft removal healing. I dont see any signs that grafts were takn from the beard.