1845 FUE, Dr. Bisanga in Athens

[Dumbo]

Hey! I started my hair transplant journey this week and I'm going to share it here. I'm 37 years old from Jerusalem. I believe I'm Norwood 2-3. I noticed my hair started receding when I was 25. I started taking propecia (finasteride) and kept at it for 5 long years. At the age of 30 I realized that I'd rather go bald than suffer from one of the nasty finasteride side effects.

Now at 37 I realize I was losing my hair at a very slow pace. I had quite a nice hairline 5 years after stopping finasteride and didn't lose everything right after as I was supposed to. I actually think that if I didn't take finasteride, I still would have had a better hairline today. But never mind that now and thank god for hair transplants.

After a few months searching all over the web, I decided to do my hair transplant with the famous Dr. Bisanga. At first I was planning to do it at his main clinic in Brussels, Belgium. Then I found out that he opened a clinic in Athens, Greece, last year with Dr. C form the states. The procedure was cheaper there too (operation, travel and lodging wise). The only worry I had was a week prior to the operation when I heard that his partner, Dr. C, left the clinic to open another one in Turkey. I didn't understand why he left, but I chose Dr. Bisanga from the start and trusted I was in good hands.

Not long after, I set a date with the clinic for the 1st of November. I booked an airbnb near the clinic. My partner and I stayed there for 2 more days after the operation, just to be close in case of well, anything. The clinic arranged for us a cab from and to the airport.

My day started with Maria, who was kind and explained the procedure for me. I signed some documents, payed some money and was led straight away to the operation room where I met the doctor himself and his staff. Everyone was nice, everything was clean and sterile (the clinic is brand new). Dr. Bisanga drew the new hairline, and I guess like everyone here, I tried to convince him to lower it. But with no success. He's the doctor and I guess he knows what he's doing, so I trusted him on this. We agreed on 2000 grafts, but only 1845 were needed.

Immediately after I agreed to this, they shaved my head and started the operation. Dr. Bisanga extracted half or most of the grafts and his technicians continued and then transplanted them in the designated area. I gotta admit, I mostly dosed off through the operation. The team was cheery, but worked hard all along. So hard that the whole thing was done in a matter of 8-9 hours.

In the next room there was another guy overgoing another operation. I believe Dr. Bisanga was overseeing both of the operations. At the end of the day, Andrea, the head technician, gave us all the post instructions needed to take care of the new transplanted hair and the donor area. She was really sweet. In fact, the whole staff was, which made the procedure much easier to go through.

The next day I came back for the first wash and final goodbye. Dr. Bisanga insisted I use some product to help maintain the rest of my natural hair from receding. If not finasteride, at least minoxidil. I thought about it for a while and decided against it. If I wanted to keep on using chemicals, I wouldn't be here in the first place. I made my peace with it and am willing to deal with the consequences, until my second hair transplant of course

I took it easy for the next 2 days and enjoyed my trip in Athens. It was pretty sunny, so I kept my cap on. They gave me a bandana at the clinic and I was advised to wear it while I'm out. I tried to avoid the sun as much as possible while wearing it. My head was pretty swollen on the 2nd day, so I kept massaging my forehead and put an ice patch on it carefully. I was out 2-3 hours at a time, didn't sweat at all, and kept spraying my head with the solution the clinic provided me. Overall, I took good care of it while trying to enjoy my trip a little, as advised by the team.

Tips from a pharmacist (me): the antibiotic I was given (doxycycline) gave me a bad heartburn and diarrhea. I advise you to come prepared and travel with antacids and probiotics to relieve these side effects.

So here are my pics from before and 1 day after the operation. I'll keep updating this post every month to share this hairy journey hoping it helps someone else with their decision. Cheers!

[Melvin- Admin]

So the clinic in Athens is now solely Dr. Bisanga? The work looks very clean, Dr. Bisanga is a straight shooter. 

[Dumbo]

Yeah, agreed, he is
I believe it's solely his now, but who knows. I just hope he doesn't disappear from there too. It's convenient having him close by.

[Raphael84]

@Dumbo

Really nice write up and documentation. 

Looking forward to following your progress.

Heal well over the next week or so, and sit tight for your new growth to begin.

All the best!

[Dumbo]

Thanks @Raphael84!
Just 1 year to go, hehe..

[Pyrat]

Hi @Dumbo, it’s been a while since you’ve posted on here. How’s the results coming along.

[Dumbo]

Hey @Pyrat,

Well, so far so good. At 4 months I noticed my hairline is getting fuller and clearer. Now at 5 months it's pretty clear I got a new hairline, not so full yet, but looks like it's getting there. It's pretty exciting to see it in progress. Kinda feels like magic, lol. 

Anyway, with no barbers around, I can't have a haircut and take a normal picture of myself. My hair is a mess. I will try to see if I can sort it out somehow and upload a picture soon. But I'm happy so far.

[Pyrat]

6 minutes ago, Dumbo said:

Hey @Pyrat,

Well, so far so good. At 4 months I noticed my hairline is getting fuller and clearer. Now at 5 months it's pretty clear I got a new hairline, not so full yet, but looks like it's getting there. It's pretty exciting to see it in progress. Kinda feels like magic, lol. 

Anyway, with no barbers around, I can't have a haircut and take a normal picture of myself. My hair is a mess. I will try to see if I can sort it out somehow and upload a picture soon. But I'm happy so far.

We’re glad to hear that it’s working out and will look forward to your pictures. Was wondering, did you have a procedure before as well or was this your first transplant.

[Dumbo]

@Pyrat

It's my first transplant. Not on any medication.

[Pyrat]

1 minute ago, Dumbo said:

@Pyrat

It's my first transplant. Not on any medication.

Understood, thank you for the quick response.

 

One more question, did you experience any shock loss of native hair since I see that some of your transplanted hair is in between existing hair.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Pyrat

[Dumbo]

On 4/12/2020 at 9:15 AM, Pyrat said:

Understood, thank you for the quick response.

 

One more question, did you experience any shock loss of native hair since I see that some of your transplanted hair is in between existing hair.

Hey Pyrat,

sorry for the late reply, but I think I missed this one at the time. To answer your question, no, I didn't experience any shock loss of native hair, or at least it didn't seem like I did.

[Dumbo]

Hey,

Finally an update! (I know, I said I'll do it monthly, but hey, covid-19)
It's been 9 months since the transplant and here are some pics to show how it looks now, after a fresh haircut. I'm pretty happy about it so far. I'm not taking any meds or using any topical creams to help it grow faster. The only thing i was taking was 1000mg biotin daily and I stopped that a month ago after it gave me a bit of acne on my forehead.

I admit, there are some areas that could be improved more, like that left side temple, but it's really hard to complain when I finally have an actual visible hairline in the front of my head. People don't even notice that it's a transplant. Dr Bisanga is truly a magician. It looks and feels so natural. I guess I'll post more photos when I hit the 1 year mark. Cheers!

[ADuckwithNoHair]

Thank you for the update! You're right, the results look incredibly natural. How is your donor? Hoping you get even more growth as you approach 1 year. Congrats and enjoy

[Raphael84]

@Dumbo

Thank you for the update and photos. I for one have been waiting for this one.

1845 grafts is a reasonably conservative graft count considering the area that was covered in your recipient that can be seen in your first post. This shows that despite not having excessive loss, there were signs of decline and miniaturisation a little deeper into your frontal area that was taken into account and addressed.

Still further months of maturation and settling. Congratulations.

I have added some side by side images to better be able to appreciate your improvement.

[Dumbo]

On 8/3/2020 at 7:05 PM, ADuckwithNoHair said:

Thank you for the update! You're right, the results look incredibly natural. How is your donor? Hoping you get even more growth as you approach 1 year. Congrats and enjoy

Thank you! My donor area is fine I think. When I asked my barber about it, he said that he can hardly notice that hair was taken from there, and only when he really gets close and looks for it, he'll notice the little scars, but they're really minimal.

[Dumbo]

On 8/5/2020 at 2:27 PM, Raphael84 said:

@Dumbo

Thank you for the update and photos. I for one have been waiting for this one.

1845 grafts is a reasonably conservative graft count considering the area that was covered in your recipient that can be seen in your first post. This shows that despite not having excessive loss, there were signs of decline and miniaturisation a little deeper into your frontal area that was taken into account and addressed.

Still further months of maturation and settling. Congratulations.

I have added some side by side images to better be able to appreciate your improvement.

Thanks Raphael, I was too lazy to do this myself. But yeah, when you put the before & after pics together, you can see that the change, though small, is pretty noticeable. I'm pretty happy about it. Feels like traveling back in time.

[giegnosiganoe]

Looking at the pics in your initial post, is it just me or were grafts extracted from the back and right sides of your head, but none from the left?

Oh, and the results look good. I'd be super happy.

Edited August 7, 2020 by giegnosiganoe

[Melvin- Admin]

Wow looking like a home run already  ⚾️ 

[Dumbo]

On 8/7/2020 at 8:45 AM, giegnosiganoe said:

Looking at the pics in your initial post, is it just me or were grafts extracted from the back and right sides of your head, but none from the left?

Oh, and the results look good. I'd be super happy.

Sorry for the late reply, let's blame it on corona times.

Anyway, yes, you're right. The grafts were extracted from the back and right side of my head only. It was enough I guess. You can't really see the difference in volume when comparing the sides, but when I run my fingers through both sides, I can feel that the right side is thinner than the left. No biggy though, one can't really notice it.

[Dumbo]

On 8/20/2020 at 2:40 AM, Melvin-Moderator said:

Wow looking like a home run already  ⚾️ 

Thanks! I sure am happy about it.

[Melvin- Admin]

Can you share the price per graft? I believe it's somewhere around 2.50-3 per graft right?

[ryan-str]

On 9/29/2020 at 3:26 AM, Melvin-Moderator said:

Can you share the price per graft? I believe it's somewhere around 2.50-3 per graft right?

yes 2.5 That is what I was offered to get the HT in Athens, but Bisanga would only oversee the surgery and everything will be done by someone else (except for making the recipient sites, that he would do with another doctor). I am not sure what to think about it... in Brussels it would be 4/graft, which leads to a very expensive bill - but he would punch the extraction sites and make the recipient sites himself. I think I will need to find a middle ground. I am now browsing the forum looking for experiences of people who got their HT in Athens. It seems he did a lot of the work for most of them, which puzzles me. We'll see.

Edited October 19, 2020 by ryan-str

[Marco Van Basten]

30 minutes ago, ryan-str said:

yes 2.5 That is what I was offered to get the HT in Athens, but Bisanga would only oversee the surgery and everything will be done by someone else (except for making the recipient sites, that he would do with another doctor). I am not sure what to think about it... in Brussels it would be 4/graft, which leads to a very expensive bill - but he would punch the extraction sites and make the recipient sites himself. I think I will need to find a middle ground. I am now browsing the forum looking for experiences of people who got their HT in Athens. It seems he did a lot of the work for most of them, which puzzles me. We'll see.

Wondered the same mate. Im debating between Bisanga athens or demirsoy in Istanbul

 

Was thinking about January 2021 depnding on flights

[Raphael84]

@ryan-str You are right. Depending on graft count, €4.00 per graft can certainly become a significant investment that many individuals can't or choose not to consider, which is completely understandable. That is the whole motivation behind the Athens clinic. To offer individuals a genuine option of being able to afford quality surgery with a well trained team with the confidence and knowledge of optimal donor management, ethical and appropriate hairline designs, BHR Clinic with their reputation and support that will stand by patients and possibly most importantly, with Dr. Bisanga having planned your surgery.

Unfortunately some individuals then turn the opportunity into a negative as Dr. Bisanga is only sharing the making of recipient sites and the remaining is performed by a doctor from his team. We completely appreciate that shared surgery will not appeal to everybody which again is understandable but many patients find it an attractive option and opportunity.

Dr Bisangas patient first approach has earned him an unparalleled reputation as one of the very leading surgeons in the field. He has worked extremely hard over the past 20 years to build such a reputation for consistent quality results and the very best in patient care. 

Due to this, and the consistently impressive results that he achieves, he is continually fully scheduled in Brussels several months in advance.

Opening the clinic in Athens, has made surgery with Dr Bisanga much more accessible for many patients who prefer to work within a lesser budget.

Many patients consider low cost markets, where the quality of surgery is generally poor and their approach and lack of respect for unique designs and donor management cause many issues for many individuals and the industry as a whole.

Dr. Bisanga is available in Brussels to perform all punching and making of sites for those that may prefer and are more comfortable with that option.

Patients who have posted here with Dr. Bisanga performing all punching and sites in Athens, is because they have paid Brussels pricing which is also available when Dr. Bisanga is in Athens if those dates are preferential to the patient.

[Dumbo]

Update on my hair transplant a year & a half later:

I was pretty happy about my hair regrowth, till now. The hairline was full and looked very natural. No one can ever tell I had hair transplanted in that area and I kinda enjoyed it. It was perfect for the last 6 months, but this week I noticed some thinning areas in the front of my head. Ugh, I felt like I'm living in a bad sequel. If you read my story, you know by now that I decided not to take any medications, although my doctor advised it. I honestly thought that the transplanted hair will stick there for much longer and I would only need to worry about the rest of the native hair which I'd fix at some point in the future when it got bad.

So I was advised by the clinic to start taking meds again. I really don't see any way around it anymore. To be honest, if I understood this prior to the HT, I would have opted out. But I already started this journey, so I better go through it properly. I won't take Finasteride, been there, done that, it's not for me. But I will start applying topical Minoxidil and hope for the best.