Regular Member badhamatha Posted March 6, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted March 6, 2020 Hey everyone, I thought I would share with everyone my hair transplant experience. Background: I started noticing my hair slowly thinning at 20-21 years old but I was fortunately lucky that it was going quite slow, I knew that I was going to lose my hair to a degree as most of the men in my family experience a degree of hair loss. For years I was in denial about my genetic hair loss and wrote it off as traction alopecia (As I sikh I had worn a top knot as a child up until my late teens), until my aunt had pointed out that my hair was thinning when i was around 24 years old , an innocent comment in her eyes but a freak out ensued. I had started looking on reddit about hair loss prevention methods and taking hundreds of photos of my head daily trying to justify that I was losing my hair. Eventually I accepted my fate and said that I would combat it however I could. I started "The big 3" - fin,min, and niz in combination of microneedling a little over a year ago (Age 25). Eventually my hair did get a little thicker and stopped falling out, my hair loss had stabilized and I still wasn't happy. I started looking at getting a hair transplant and seeing what the costs were. The expenses were out of my budget in North America so I had looked at doctors in India and Turkey. I had seen video's of Dr. Bhatti on youtube, seeing both Punjabi celebrities and hair transplant channels talk about his work. I later discovered him on forums and got to know that he was a trusted doctor and reading his FAQ's and transparency led me to contact Darling Buds for a consultation. Mind you, I did consult a few different doctors but being that I am of Indian descent I had reasoned that it would be a great excuse to visit my family and the motherland at the same time. I sent Darling Buds a message on Whatsapp and received a call from them hours later asking to provide my e-mail address and that the doctor would be in contact with me. The doctor specified that he would be in contact with me for the first 5 e-mails and afterwards his team would switch to speaking to me instead. Dr. Bhatti initially requested certain photos from angles in natural lighting and asked what kind of result I was wanting and expectations etc. After providing photo's, doctor Bhatti informed me that my procedure would require 2200-2500 grafts in the hairline, frontal scalp and temporal areas. I thanked the doctor and contemplated this decision for a few weeks, debriefed my girlfriend (Who did not care if I did this procedure or not) eventually deciding that I wanted to do this. I contacted the team about dates, hotels, and packages and eventually settled on everything. The communication of his team had exceeded my expectations and diminished my worries about going alone to India to have my head operated on. I was also provided instructions of do's and don'ts before a hair transplant (instructions about smoking, alcohol, medications etc.). Before the procedure: Dr. Bhatti's team had gotten my flight information and asked me to stay in touch with them a few days before my flight to ensure a smooth trip, I was sent a driver's phone number to stay in contact with. I messaged the driver upon arrival and there he was waiting at the gate with my name on it. I was provided water and snacks and taken to a nice hotel where everything was already booked for me to stay in. I was sent a message later in the morning that a driver would be coming around 10:30 and to be ready. The driver promptly picked me up and was taken to Dr. Bhatti's hospital. I was promptly offered a drink before meeting with Dr. Bhatti. Dr. Bhatti drew a hair line he recommended on my head and told me we would go from there. Needless to say I was happy with the hairline as it was lower than I had expected it. I let Dr. Bhatti know that he could move it up too if it would not be as dense, he insured me that he could do that but that I would have a great result regardless. He asked me to take photos and contemplate it over the night and that we could change the hairline If I so pleased. After the consultation a blood sample was taken and an ECG was performed. I was also provided further instructed by Shalini, the clinic's team lead on some pre care instructions and medications I needed to take the night before . The day of the operation: I was taken to the clinic/hospital in the morning where I was promptly changed, shaved and given anesthesia and provided a take out menu of a pizza place for lunch. Then Dr. Bhatti and his team performed the operation. I experienced minimal discomfort during the operation and was told to speak up about any pain if felt any. A lot of the details for me are a bit hazy because I was drifting in and out of sleep during the operation but after the extractions were done by Dr. Bhatti I had the pizza lunch and then the incisions were made and grafts were placed. I was then given some instructions for the night and some more medications to take. Post procedure: I was picked up by Dr. Bhatti' team again where the bandage on my donor area was removed and cleaned and Dr. Bhatti checked to see how everything looked once again. He then spoke to me about the operation and provided some tips/guidance himself and told me to keep in touch with him over the course of my recovery. I was then given a bunch of medications, shampoos, creams and lotions to utilized for the next few weeks as well as a FAQ booklet and written instructions of when to take meds and when to use each of the provided products. The great things was that the following days after the procedure I did have questions that my FAQ booklet could not answer and when I contacted the clinic via Whatsapp they answered my questions promptly. I ended up spending the next two weeks in India afterwards with my family without any issue. At day 14 the scabs were removed where there were some scabs with hair on it (Which is supposed to happen) and I am now left looking like I have a shaved head. All in all I would say that I'm pleased so far with the way thing's are looking and that this was the utmost professional experience. If anyone has any questions feel free to shoot me a message! I'll keep you guys updated throughout the year! Provided below are photos of my hair before the procedure, the hairline design, the day of the operation, and 2 weeks after the operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member KarmaPolice Posted March 6, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted March 6, 2020 Nice to hear that you had a comfortable procedure. Is it just the quality of the picture or are the grafts actually placed a tad apart from each other for some reason? Happy growing mate, hope you get a stellar result! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member HairFunk Posted March 6, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted March 6, 2020 Keep us posted on the months ahead badhamatha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted March 7, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) 15 hours ago, KarmaPolice said: Nice to hear that you had a comfortable procedure. Is it just the quality of the picture or are the grafts actually placed a tad apart from each other for some reason? Happy growing mate, hope you get a stellar result! It's just quality of the photo. I went into work today and no one could tell that I had a procedure done, the current result is even quite natural. The hair in the back just happens to be longer as well. Edited March 7, 2020 by badhamatha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted March 7, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 7, 2020 Here are some photos today on day 15 post op - shaved around the transplanted area to even everything out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member KarmaPolice Posted May 16, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted May 16, 2020 Hope you're doing well, can we have an update? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted June 19, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 19, 2020 Hi everyone, back with an update. Below are my photos this morning taken after I had given myself a buzz cut. I prefer to keep my hair buzzed due to the lack of availability of barbers as well as the fact that It's so much easier to maintain. My apologies @KarmaPolice for not providing one sooner. Here are my almost 4 month photos. So far I'm happy with the progress, the dreaded phase of losing all the hair is gone and I'm starting to sprout more and more hair. The last few months toppik was one of my best friends but lately I haven't really felt the need to use it because the new hair has been sufficient enough to cover my receding areas. You can definitely still see the areas of my original hair loss if you look closely at my head. For the most part I'm pretty open about getting a hair transplant so other's in my life are aware that this is a possible option for them as well. A lot of people actually think that I've just buzzed my head rather than have gotten a hair transplant. Currently my routine is using/taking fin,min,biotin all once daily. I'll apply a light shampoo and a little bit of baby oil in the area of the hair transplant due to the doctors orders. I think around august I'll give growing my hair out a chance but for the summer months I'm loving this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted June 19, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 19, 2020 (edited) I did also want to mention/acknowledge that I have read the last few big threads about Dr. Bhatti and some of the unprofessional/odd behavior of the Doctor and his reps on this forum. I made it pretty clear to Dr.Bhatti and his team that I have done my research regarding hair transplants, methods, expectations and results. I also made it known that I visited this forum as I showed that I wanted a result similar to another Bhatti poster himself (shoutout to @petroholic) and was looking for a similar result. I myself had a pretty good experience throughout my hair transplant and trip to India and there were no issues with communications (although I'm fluent in Punjabi/English/Hindi lol). I can answer any questions anyone has in regards to my experience. Cheers! Edited June 19, 2020 by badhamatha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted June 23, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 23, 2020 Here are a few more photos from today, hopefully the quality appears clearer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted September 10, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 10, 2020 Hi everyone, Here are my almost 7 month results after getting a haircut. I'm happier with the progress now that it looks like everything is filling out nicely. Excited to see what the coming months will show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted September 10, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted September 10, 2020 Very nice indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member baldbandito Posted September 10, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted September 10, 2020 Looking on track brother 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Gatsby Posted September 10, 2020 Valued Contributor Share Posted September 10, 2020 Looking very good with many months still to go. I like the work in the temple points that really add in framing the face. Congratulations and I look forward to further updates. All the best! 1 GATSBY 'UNPLUGGED!' 15,671 (3 surgeries) Grafts FUE+BHT Dr. Sethi Eugenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyGraft Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 How does the donor look? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted September 10, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 10, 2020 Here is a photo of the donor area. As you can see in this photo that there is some scarring in the area, which I did expect (not trying to bail out my surgeon or anything) but it's nothing that a more grown out hair style could cover. I had also already suffered from scarring in that area from previously picking and scratching due to eczema/dermatitis as well as growing up with a top knot and having some traction alopecia in the front back and sides (which is why i required some temple work). If you look at the first photo I posted in this thread, the picture is from about a month of growing out my hair, if you look at the area under my ear it's already quite thin. All in all I'm okay with the scarring in the back (although I think it could be a bit better and less noticeable when shorter), but before giving myself a haircut it was pretty much unnoticeable and no one had mentioned a thing to me who didn't know I had gotten the work done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member MichaelD Posted September 11, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted September 11, 2020 I like your 7 month post op pictures. Hair is filling out nicely. The donor area is indeed visible, but as long as it doesn't bother you, then there is nothing to worry about. Thank you for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted September 11, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 11, 2020 (edited) @MichaelD Thank you Michael! I just wanted to be fully transparent with everyone on here as to what my experience has been like. 🙂 Edited September 11, 2020 by badhamatha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted September 11, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted September 11, 2020 What guard does the donor are scarring become unnoticeable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted September 11, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 11, 2020 (edited) @JohnAC71 not sure to be honest. I think my barber would have done a better job at hiding it. I'm just learning how to cut my own hair due to quarantine/saving money, as you can see in this photo my fading skills are a little choppy haha. Here I think its a 2 faded into a 0 guard. An electric shave blended in at the bottom would have helped my case. Edited September 11, 2020 by badhamatha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted September 11, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted September 11, 2020 (edited) Yes it’s finding what works the best for you. Least you can try yourself and see what will best disguise it? Although most people wouldn’t even notice. Edited September 11, 2020 by JohnAC71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Gatsby Posted September 12, 2020 Valued Contributor Share Posted September 12, 2020 @badhamatha The donor is fine unless you buzz it right down. You can always have SMP on the FUE donor scars if you want to keep it buzzed super close. Personally though I wouldn't bother. Looking good! 1 GATSBY 'UNPLUGGED!' 15,671 (3 surgeries) Grafts FUE+BHT Dr. Sethi Eugenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted October 12, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 12, 2020 (edited) For those of you wondering about my procedure and donor area. Here's a photo of me with my fade grown out for about two and a half weeks. I tried to get as a direct of a shot with as high res of a picture. It seems like the scarring would not be as noticeable if I go with a tapered hair style, and maybe the fade job I did on myself showed off some of that scarring more. I plan on giving myself another haircut in a couple days and I'll see how it looks with a lower fade this time. I'll also provide an update of the front of the hair, nearing my 8 month mark. If you look close enough you can see that little bit of a dip in the donor area but there isn't too much patchiness visible. Edited October 12, 2020 by badhamatha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted October 12, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted October 12, 2020 How’s the front looking at month 8 ? 🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member badhamatha Posted October 12, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 12, 2020 hey @JohnAC71 Here are are few photos from today. I'll post a few better quality one's with the back of my camera in a couple days after a haircut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted October 12, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted October 12, 2020 Thanks 🙏 I can see it’s improved already. Seems like really good growth the last couple of months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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