Consult/Day Before Surgery Dr. Lorenzo

[Gotime]

Safely back in my Manchester hotel room after my quick consultation with Dr. Lorenzo and preparing for surgery tomorrow I thought I'd drop a quick message to the forum. First off coming from LA, Manchester is cold and wet but that's easy enough to suffer for the expertise of Dr. Lorenzo, who I just had the good fortune of meeting.

 

I had booked the surgery after years of research and deciding that FUE was the only option I personally wanted to use. After meeting Dr. Lorenzo while I am certainly nervous I'm very confident I choose wisely. He has a calm confidence about him that is very reassuring and despite all the time you do researching and trying to understand how best to manage your situation there is nothing quite like meeting the real expert.

 

The next two days I hope to have 3,000 to 3,500 grafts placed with roughly 2,000 in the front and 1,500 in the crown. Mick at Farjo has been a very helpful and outstanding guide througout the process. I will do my best to document the surgery over the next two days and give you a window into Dr. Lorenzo work.

[lorenzo]

Good luck on your upcoming procedure. I was in Manchestor in 2005 I rate it amongst the worst cities I have ever been too. Ugly and cold!! How much are you paying per grafts (US dollars)

Once again good luck and keep us posted. You have picked the worlds best FUE doctor in my opinion.

[Gotime]

Hi Lorenzo, thanks for the well wishes I believe I'm paying 6 GBP for the first 1,000 grafts and then 4 GBP for anything after that. The exchange rate is about 1.6 dollars to GBP, so for 3,000 grafts that comes out to about $22,000. So it's more expensive than paying in Euros for the Belgium or Turkish (plus Turkish doctors are signficantly less per graft) doctors for sure, but I felt more confident in a better result with Dr. Lorenzo so it was worth it for me. I'm sure Mick can correct me if I missed anything but I think they are treating me fairly and giving me a bit of discount because I'm coming from the US. At least for me, the money was second to getting it done as well as possible but I completely get that for some people the Belgian or Turkish doctors are a better option and they do great FUE work as well.

[JohnnyDrama]

Best of luck Gotime......it will be great to get another patient posting their progress with Dr Lorenzo. I've been very impressed with his clinic-posted work, so I'm sure you're in for a big transformation with 3000 grafts from the doc.

[lorenzo]

From the pictures I have seen and the people that I have talked to Dr.Lorenzo is by far the best FUE transplant doctor in the world. Not to say other aren't good but that is my opinion. He would be the only doctor that I would consider ever getting FUE with if I ever decided. You are getting what you paid for.

[Gotime]

Thanks Johnny, I followed your case with Dr. Bisanga with much interest - looks like you are doing well and getting close to the fun growth stage. I was very close to going to Belgium myself had Dr. Lorenzo not done the switch to Manchester from Spain I probably would be using Dr. Bisanga or Dr. Feriduni.

[Spanker]

Do you know if Dr. Lorenzo brought his staff that helps implant the grafts to the U.K. with him?

[Gotime]

Great question Spanker and it was one of my major concerns upon booking the surgery. He did not bring his staff from Injertocapilar, which concerned me in the beginning but after going over with Farjo how it works I'm satisfied (I guess I'll find out if I was right to be tomorrow). Dr. Lorenzo does all the graft extractions himself, he also does all the graft placement via the implanter himself. The only thing the techs do is load the implanter which apparently isn't very difficult and they have been trained and doing it for awhile now.

[stinger99]

dr lorenzo is no doubt one of the best fue surgeons in the world along with dr bisanga. still crazy to think that turkish docs such a dr demisroy would charge $3000 euros for 3000 grafts compared to $22,000.

[Number47]

Sorry guys, i am a big fan of Dr. Lorenzo's work i believe he is one of the greatest, but that amount of money is just crazy for 3000 grafts given all the great alternatives.

 

I mean i can understand paying a lot for the best strip surgeon cause there are more risks involved and you want to feel you are safe. But FUE, is not so invasive and you basically just worry about growth.

[Yiddo]

I agree, 3000 grafts for 14,000 pounds ????? come on !!!.....i know he is one of, if not the best fue surgeon in the world, but dr reys from belgium and erdogan from turkey, are just as good, in my opinion and do it for half the price.

[MAGNUMpi]

I would say he is THE best right now. I guess if you have the money it may be worth it. If I had the money to get FUE right now I would be looking at Dr. Lorenzo first.

[alix]

good luck,in my opinion if you can afford the price difference between him and other great FUE surgeons (ex Feriduni,Bisanga,Erdogan) ,it's worth it.the price difference between him and Bisanga/Feriduni for 3000 grafts is around 3000 GB pounds more.it's expensive no question about it but the fact that he does all the extractions and implantations himself is a huge factor in achieving superior results in my opinion+ in my opinion his FUE results are superior to other great FUE surgeons.

[Gotime]

Quick update, and I didn't mean for this to evolve into a price comparison was just answering Lorenzo's question, so back to original topic. I had a fantastic experience with Dr. Lorenzo today, he was able to get 1,801 grafts from one side of my head and expects to get the same amount tomorrow for a total of 3,600 grafts. I'm very happy with his work and all the people at Farjo were fantastic. He did all of the extractions himself, which was about a four hour process. I then had a quick 10 minute lunch and then back in the chair were Dr. Lorenzo placed all of the grafts himself for another four or five hours. Back to the money for a moment if you consider the amount of time he is spending then the price per hour compared to most of the other physicians may be more comparable where their techs to the extractions and often some placement. To each there own and I certainly understand if it doesn't fit into someone's budget but since I could afford it I would definitely do it the same way again. In addition, he is not charging me for the extra 600 grafts. Dr. Lorenzo is incredibly talented and after talking to him after today's surgery was done I know better understand why he is better than most other FUE practitioners but everyone is entitled to their own perspective. But for anyone considering Lorenzo I would get him while you can, once he's back in Spain I think he will be very difficult to impossible to schedule.

[Gotime]

Here are some photos I took today with my iPhone, so not perfect but I'm sure Mick will add some better photos as the clinic took pictures. But just to give you an idea, first pick is outline marking the hairline that Dr. Lorenzo created, then me at the halfway point bandaged up, then me in recovery room after we finished the 1,801 grafts for day 1. Will report back after Day 2 with a more detailed outline of the whole 2 day procedure.

[JohnnyDrama]

Good stuff mate......looking good. I'm glad my threads have been a help too......I saw your initial thread when you thanked me and I had intended to reply but lost the thread when I revisited the site!

 

3,600 is indeed a big procedure by FUE standards. The fact that you are 48 and your virgin scalp is in a top docs hands puts you in a very envious position. You'll have a ridiculous head of hair for a 50 year old when you get there!

 

One thing I'd like to know is the extraction protocol / pattern of Dr Lorenzo.....in that what % of a persons donor would he consider 'maxxed out' etc. I'm a big fan of Dr Bisangas extraction pattern and I feel it is one of the many reasons he stands out as well. He would typically harvest 25-30% of a persons scalp donor over the course of time.

 

Any idea what Dr Lorenzos is?

[Gotime]

Thanks Johnny, yes we talked about that right after the procedure and he was explaining that's part of why he is so successful is his extraction pattern. I was in a bit of pain at the time and waiting for the pill they gave me to kick in (which it did about 15 minutes later, and I've felt fine since) but I don't remember exactly what he said. Maybe Mick can answer or I'll ask him again tomorrow.

 

No one knows I'm almost 50 stop bringing it up

[Readytodoit]

Your pictures look really good and take me back six weeks ago to when I got mine. I think we must all have taken exactly the same shots ;-)

 

I agree that when you consider that Dr Lorenzo does all the work himself, it takes a bit of the sting out of the price.

 

I'm positive you're going to get a fantastic result and congratulations for taking this huge step forward.

[RecedingTide]

Lorenzo's work is immaculate. You will be delighted when it grows in. His extractions are phenomenal and I think that's the reason why he can go into the donor again and again and pull out the big numbers over the years. I'm sure we've all seen the shaved donor vids by now.

[Gotime]

Quick update - finished up today and Dr. Lorenzo is just such a great guy as well as an amazing surgeon. When I get pic's from the clinic I will post them in a new thread and give my summary of the whole process. Dr. Lorenzo took 3,553 grafts total (1801 day one and 1752 day 2), he stopped there because he said it was a good number I'd remember and of course we had enough to do what needed to be done. Johnny I asked a quick question about donor density and he said that he took less than 20% of what I had available and that if I needed another 3,000 we could definitely get that but he didn't think it would be necessary (but good to know in any event).