Recent 3200 FUT with Dr Farjo.

[Dakota]

I am not one of lifes great bloggers but I would like to share my experiences over the next few months of FUT surgery in order to give encouragment to anyone considering this treatment option.

After many years of gradual hairloss and now being in my 50s it was time for some renovation work to the top of my head

I have been using Finesteride 1mg daily orally and topical minoxidil for about 8 years but there has been further hairloss during that time - though probably slower than had I not been taking medication.

So after a consultation last July in London with Dr Nilofer Farjo I have just had the surgery carried out on 11 th January 2013 with Dr Bessam Farjo in Manchester.

The hotel room was very good the night before - I arrived at about 11 pm and found the clinic the following morning with no problem.

 

The clinic staff and Dr Farjo were very expert and professional throughout. I arrived at the clinic at 7 am . I felt no pain or discomfort during the 12 hour session and received about 3270 grafts.These have been placed mainly to reconstruct the crown area and follow through to the left side along my parting which had become very thin over the years. I eventually left the clinic at 7.30 pm. I had received individual and professional attention from a very expert team throughout the day and actually had felt very relaxed.

 

I was able to travel home to south of London that night by train and then a half hour drive from the station to my home - got back at about midnight. Contrary to many people's blogged experience I had no difficulty sleeping that night and was in no discomfort at all the following morning. There is no swelling and the donor area is virtually undetectable . I am delighted with the degree of coverage that seems to have been achieved to the crown area.

 

I will be returning for review and staple removal next Monday to their London Harley Street consulting rooms.

So far the experience has greatly exceeded my expectations. It is now the 4th day after surgery and I have had no pain ,swelling or discomfort at all. The grafted area is only slightly scabbed and is not really all that noticeable through my existing hair

I am a self employed specialist in oral surgery/ dental implantology and felt happy to go in to my clinic today for a few hours work. None of my nursing staff seem to have noticed anything different . I will be back at my clinic for a full day of work tomorrow and will let them know what I have had done.

I would have preferred the idea of sutures to close the donor area but the 50 or so staples are actually not uncomfortable or visible under my hair.

I was very nervous about washing my hair after the first 24 hours but followed the instructions given using a face cloth to cover the recipient area and using the special low foaming shampoo in a warm shower. There was no pain or bleeding and no - none of the delicate grafts came out.

Hair restoration surgery may be difficult to resource - obviously it is not a cheap treatment option. However it does compare very favourably with other elective aesthetic procedures- I would draw a comparison with dental implant treatment as an example where the costs can be similar.

I believe that the treatment that I have recieved under the care of both Dr Farjos and their team has been expert ,meticulous and caring. It certainly represents very good value considering the large well trained team , premises and time taken -in excess of 12 hours treatment.

[chrisdav]

Welcome to the forum Dakota.

 

It sounds a really positive experience and nice write up.

 

Keep us posted.

[TommyLucchese]

Nice write up. Will you be posting pics? Be nice if we could get some regular updates from you........the UK is crying out for a clinic on par with the best of them, it'd be very nice if you share a great success story with us! 3200 should be significant so I look forward to hopefully seeing some updates.

 

(Though I'm not gonna be a hypocrite and say you SHOULD post pics, as I'm not posting any of mine!)

[Dakota]

Hello -Thank you for the encouragement. I have found the website a bit difficult to navigate around as a newcomer.

 

 

If you have a look in the Blogs section I have already uploaded two photographs at day 2 and day 4.

I will however load these and future photographs onto the forum as I think this probably is where most people tend to look first.

 

 

It is early days so far for me on the journey and we will need to see how the results progress. Judging outcomes is so subjective with aesthetic surgery. As a mature patient ( 53 years old) and also an oral surgeon by profession I think that managing expectation is a significant factor. We all age - albeit with some variation between individuals. I am genetically programmed for hairloss and FUT is not a cure - just a reparative procedure using our own limited donor hair.

 

 

The modern FUT procedure undertaken skilfully may hopefully meet my own expectations given time. I seem to have had reasonably good donor hair and am quite optimistic . If the hairloss can be effectively disguised will an illusion of a reasonably covered crown then my expectation will have been met - I only expect "one miracle at a time"!

 

 

I would be cautious about the timing of any second procedure (which many people seem to have to achieve increased density ) as I would be more concerned about addressing future hairloss and having sufficient donor reserves for this.

 

 

Will post some photos later today - but off to work now to help my own patients - toothless and dental implants!

[Postdoc]

Hello -Thank you for the encouragement. I have found the website a bit difficult to navigate around as a newcomer.

 

 

If you have a look in the Blogs section I have already uploaded two photographs at day 2 and day 4.

I will however load these and future photographs onto the forum as I think this probably is where most people tend to look first.

 

 

It is early days so far for me on the journey and we will need to see how the results progress. Judging outcomes is so subjective with aesthetic surgery. As a mature patient ( 53 years old) and also an oral surgeon by profession I think that managing expectation is a significant factor. We all age - albeit with some variation between individuals. I am genetically programmed for hairloss and FUT is not a cure - just a reparative procedure using our own limited donor hair.

 

 

The modern FUT procedure undertaken skilfully may hopefully meet my own expectations given time. I seem to have had reasonably good donor hair and am quite optimistic . If the hairloss can be effectively disguised will an illusion of a reasonably covered crown then my expectation will have been met - I only expect "one miracle at a time"!

 

 

I would be cautious about the timing of any second procedure (which many people seem to have to achieve increased density ) as I would be more concerned about addressing future hairloss and having sufficient donor reserves for this.

 

 

Will post some photos later today - but off to work now to help my own patients - toothless and dental implants!

 

Very good to have your excellent write-up of your Farjo experience. I'm also very impressed by how clean your recipient area appears just a few days post-op. Are you using minoxidil on the crown? If not, probably worth doing so as it may help with vascularisation of the grafts and keep them in the anagen stage. Do keep on posting photos!

[TommyLucchese]

If you are just looking for reasonable coverage, you could try concealers like Nanogen and Toppik that will greatly improve the appearance of your hair.

[TommyLucchese]

I mean when the HT grows in of course - as you said you'd prefer to leave grafts for further loss, not added density. A concealer could help you there.

[Dakota]

Thank you for the comments.

 

I am optimistic that I may achieve the desired outcome without recourse to concealers - well lets wait and see.

 

I am really struggling to attach jpegs to this forum ... help!

 

When I try to press the 'Attach Files" bit in blue writing below this text box nothing seems to happen.

 

Can I place photos into the Forum or do they have to go into my Blog section??

 

Rgds

 

Dakota

[Dakota]

Hello again - I have placed some more photos in the Blog section.

Perhaps someone can tell me how I can put theses onto the Forum pages instead.

 

My nurses at the implant clinic have taken the donor site photos for me today - they are fascinated by the whole process and very supportive of my decision to have had surgery.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Dakota,

 

To upload images to the forum, simply click "Post Reply" or "Go Advanced" under the "Quick Reply". Once there, click "Manage Attachments". From there, you can post up to 25 plus images. Note that you cannot use the "Quick Reply" to upload photos to the forum.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[TommyLucchese]

Just saw your pics.

 

With so much native hair those 3200 grafts should give you a great transformation. Happy growing!

[Dakota]

Hello again -

 

I have had an uneventful healing after the recent 3200 FUT under the care of Dr Farjo and his team on the 11th January.

 

I attended for staple removal in London on the 21st - ie Day 10 and all was healing well at the donor site. The staple removal was entirely without pain or discomfort - I really did not feel anything at all.

 

I am now at Day 20 and as expected the transplanted hairs are being lost - a bit sad to see the little chaps go as they were a pleasant indication of anticipated future growth to come.

 

I am naturally cautious when showering and do not rub or towel dry the recipient area at all - I do not want to disturb the immature grafts at this early stage.

 

I continue to take Propecia daily and have reintroduced topical minoxidil foam - hopefully this will minimise shock loss over the next few weeks.

 

I suppose nowI must just forget about the surgery and be patient over the next few month and await he expected growth.

 

I am realistic about outcome and do not expect miracles from a 3200 graft.

 

I have a fine hair biotype and the numbers were-

 

Single 1340

Double 1790

Triple 233

 

So if I get a 80% survival rate I should add about 4500 hairs to the top of my head which should make a pleasing difference to the current situation.

 

I am very pleased the the journey so far and can highly recommend Dr Farjo and his team in Manchester and London.

 

I will post some photos on the blog section a bit later on.

[Dakota]

Hello again.

 

Well it is just over 4 weeks since surgery and the donor area is settling well with no real tightness anymore.

The small transplanted hairs started to be lost at about Day 10 and were mostly gone by Day 18 as I had pretty much expected.

There has been some shock loss though nothing drastic thank goodness and this has now stopped.

There is a degree of paraesthesia ( numbness) to the recipient area but this gets less each day and is not troublesome.

I am naturally cautious following this surgery when washing my so I avoid rubbing too much and do not use a towel to dry - just a hairdryer on a slow and cool setting.

 

 

I have kept on using Propecia throughout and have started to use Minoxidil foam again - I stopped before surgery and resumed after the staples were removed at about two weeks.

 

 

I have a question ........

 

 

Over the last two days I think that I can feel a change in the recipient area with what feels like a very early fine stubble. From what I have read here on the forum and on the net I would not expect any new grow for at least 4 months. Is it possible that there is regrowth starting to become evident at this early stage - 4 weeks after FUT ?

 

 

Anyway - opinions from experienced Forum veterans would be appreciated.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Dakota