5150 Grafts, Dr. Arika Bansal, Eugenix

[juanjs84]

I have been reading this forum for a while and this is my first post. I got my operation done on 4th november and I thought it would be good to share my experience because one of the thighs that helped me to learn were the real cases that I could find in the forum.

About me

I currently live in Madrid and my age is 36 years. I started with minoxidil when I was 18 when I saw that I was starting to lose hair and because my grandparents, uncles and father are bald. That didn't stop the hair loss so I tried finasteride, but my GP told me that it could have side effects and unless baldness was a big problem for me he recommended me to quit, so in recent years I have not used anything to stop baldness. During this year I have been seriously thinking about having a hair transplant animated by the information found on the internet, I have started to take finasteride  and have made visits to several clinics in Madrid, making the final decision to do the transplant in October.

About the clinic

Among the many options available, I evaluated the best Spanish clinics and looked at those available in India because my wife is from that country and we planned to go in November this year. After researching with a little more depth about top Spanish clinics and top clinics in India I saw that the best clinics in  India offer good  results but at a much lower cost than in Spain. But as is happening in many countries there is a lot of research to be done as there has been a large increase in clinics in recent years which has made it harder to find good doctors. In my case I decided to go to Eugenix clinic as it has shown very good results with many patients, they are very transparent with what can be achieved and with what can not be achieved (they do not sell miracles), they transmit great confidence, I have known real cases of their patients and they had availability in the month of November (something that in Spanish clinics was practically impossible).

The technique they use is Motorized FUE DHT in which grafts stay off the scalp for less than 30 minutes. The first step is to prepare the receiving area by making slits with a needle that will serve to implant the hair later. In the second step, the hairs are removed and implanted simultaneously to put them in the slits made in the previous step. For the extraction, motorized cole punches  are used that releases the follicle, tweezers to remove it and  sava implanters  to put the follicle in the previously made slits.

Eugenix  has several clinics in India, we decided to go to the one located in Delhi to avoid extra trips and because in it we could count on Dr.  Arika who has had a very good training and experience, and along with Dr.  Pradeep is the owner of the clinic. Another advantage of doing so in Delhi is that this clinic has a floor with rooms where you can stay so during the days of operation you do not have to worry about getting up very early and if any problems arise the doctors are also in the same building to be able to see what problem there is.

About the personal experience

Due to COVID-19 the simple fact  of traveling already worried us as we had to take many precautions and fill out a few forms in order to travel. Due to travel restrictions we made a PCR in Madrid two days before traveling. In addition, on the second flight (we went from Madrid to London and London to Delhi) we were made to wear protective  screens. Despite everything, the flight was like any other I had already done and in my case I was able to sleep half the trip. On arrival, as promised, a driver was waiting for us at the airport who took us directly to the clinic. There they extracted blood from me for some tests and I had another PCR done again. In the afternoon we spoke to Dr.  Pradeep  and Dr.  Arika, who did a preliminary analysis and introduced me to a couple of former patients so I could see that after several years their results were maintained.

The next day it all started. Together with Dr.  Arika we performed the design of the implant and decided the grafts to extract, because of their experience we chose to be conservative, without lowing too much the hairline and covering the crown diffusely. The plan was to divide the transplant into three days and implement 5000 grafts. On the first day most of the work was done by Dr.  Arika, she made the slits to mark where the first 3000 grafts had to be implanted and extracted about 1200 grafts, the implantation was made by the most senior technicians of the clinic. As the operation of the first day was 8 hours, we had a break to eat and a couple more since at some times it became uncomfortable to stay in the same position for a long time. On the second day, the doctor made 2000 more incisions and technicians performed the extraction and implantation of 2800 UF. This day was 10 hours of operation so we did more breaks. On the third day, technicians extracted 1150 grafts from my beard, implanted 1000 in the incisions made the previous day. The remaining ones were decided by Dr.  Arika to give a little more density to the crown.

During these four days, breakfast, lunch and dinner were provided by the clinic. As they do not have a kitchen, they ask you for your preference and request food from nearby restaurants, which in my experience were all good. Also, I was able to talk to Dr.  Pradeep and other clinic patients, that made me feel like I was at home all the time since the whole team cares about answering any questions and even during the night you can call them in case you think something isn't right (in my case nothing happened).

The postoperative

The last day of the operation the doctor gave me some recommendations and medications for the first 7 days after the operation, and a series of guidelines for the first 30 days. I have already spent the first 7 days and have not had any difficulty (except problems sleeping comfortably with the neck pillow) so for now I am quite happy.
 

[jc636]

Were you a norwood 5 or 6? That is a large number of grafts for one sessions. Congrats.

[juanjs84]

I was norwood 6, initially we were planning for 3500 grafts but I did not want to keep my crown empty so we decided to increase the number of grafts up to 5000

[Britanium]

Very nice and detailed write up. Thanks for posting, the work looks super refined. Eugenix have created a very nice hairline. 

[juanjs84]

1 hour ago, JohnAC71 said:

Very nice and detailed write up. Thanks for posting, the work looks super refined. Eugenix have created a very nice hairline. 

Thanks John, I have read that your are thinking about geting a new transplant using your beard, do you know anybody who has done it? Eugenix is well known for it, and in Spain some doctors have started to use it, but I haven't met anybody in real person and my case is too recent to give a personal opinion. I just can say that I don't have any scars but I don't know how the hair will grow.

[SLA]

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this! Congratulations on your HT and PLEASE keep us posted as you progress through the months so we can see your progress. Given the results I have seen from Eugenix, I am very optimistic for an outstanding result.

[BaldingEagle1]

I’m so jealous of those that have went durin covid.. is India even opened? I live in US lol

[Gatsby]

That's an excellent write up @juanjs84. You chose an excellent clinic and one of the best for a Norwood6/7. Several people on this forum have been to Eugenix and had beard grafts used also. Zoomster is one and his results are stellar. Thanks for sharing your story and I look forward to your results. All the best!

[juanjs84]

6 hours ago, Gatsby said:

That's an excellent write up @juanjs84. You chose an excellent clinic and one of the best for a Norwood6/7. Several people on this forum have been to Eugenix and had beard grafts used also. Zoomster is one and his results are stellar. Thanks for sharing your story and I look forward to your results. All the best!

You are right, there are few clinics that are able to fix a NW6/7 case, that's why I decided to go to Eugenix

[juanjs84]

8 hours ago, BaldingEagle1 said:

I’m so jealous of those that have went durin covid.. is India even opened? I live in US lol

It is impossible to get a tourist visa to go to India in many countries, I could travel because my wife is Indian. I hope that the covid situation get better soon so we can travel again as before

[SLA]

So true,...lots of positive vaccine results in the past week here in the US with Moderna and Pfizer so I am optimistic!

As a NW6, did you have concerns about using FUE over FUT in maximizing your lifetime donor supply? I know there is heated debate around this in the HT community with most (although not all) reputable doctors advocating for FUT 1st for higher norwoods.

 

[juanjs84]

23 hours ago, SLA said:

So true,...lots of positive vaccine results in the past week here in the US with Moderna and Pfizer so I am optimistic!

As a NW6, did you have concerns about using FUE over FUT in maximizing your lifetime donor supply? I know there is heated debate around this in the HT community with most (although not all) reputable doctors advocating for FUT 1st for higher norwoods.

 

I thought about it, some people gets FUT first and then FUE to improve density. My hair in the donor area is thick and curly, and the density is good, so 4000 graft shouldn't be problem. The final result depends of a FUE procedure depens of the expertice of the clinic and Eugenix has a lot of experience so it should be fine. Likewise the scar of a FUT procedure will be more small if the doctor is good

[SLA]

8 minutes ago, juanjs84 said:

I thought about it, some people gets FUT first and then FUE to improve density. My hair in the donor area is thick and curly, and the density is good, so 4000 graft shouldn't be problem. The final result depends of a FUE procedure depens of the expertice of the clinic and Eugenix has a lot of experience so it should be fine. Likewise the scar of a FUT procedure will be more small if the doctor is good

That is a good point and you are lucky to have dense donor.

Did Dr. Bansal give you an estimate for how many total lifetime grafts they could extract from your scalp donor?

 

[juanjs84]

5 minutes ago, SLA said:

That is a good point and you are lucky to have dense donor.

Did Dr. Bansal give you an estimate for how many total lifetime grafts they could extract from your scalp donor?

 

I didn't ask about it, but I think I have already reached my limit.

[SLA]

2 minutes ago, juanjs84 said:

I didn't ask about it, but I think I have already reached my limit.

I would doubt you reached your limit, especially if you have a dense donor.

There are others who have limited donor that went to Eugenix and were given a lifetime graft estimate of close to 5,000. Mind you, they were not all used in one session. One example is PaddyIrishman, who had a close to 3,600 grafts procedure with Eugenix last November (you can check out his thread). They only used around 2,800 scalp grafts and the rest from the beard. PaddyIrishman has fine limited donor hair and was told he would have between 4,300-4,800 lifetime scalp grafts available. Now that he has used 2,800, he would have 1,500-2,000 scalps grafts left for another procedure (They did not do the crown in his 1st sitting).

...so I would guess you would have quite a few more in the bank....hopefully :)!

 

[Hair4Days]

On 11/19/2020 at 11:46 AM, SLA said:

I would doubt you reached your limit, especially if you have a dense donor.

There are others who have limited donor that went to Eugenix and were given a lifetime graft estimate of close to 5,000. Mind you, they were not all used in one session. One example is PaddyIrishman, who had a close to 3,600 grafts procedure with Eugenix last November (you can check out his thread). They only used around 2,800 scalp grafts and the rest from the beard. PaddyIrishman has fine limited donor hair and was told he would have between 4,300-4,800 lifetime scalp grafts available. Now that he has used 2,800, he would have 1,500-2,000 scalps grafts left for another procedure (They did not do the crown in his 1st sitting).

...so I would guess you would have quite a few more in the bank....hopefully :)!

 

They told him he only had 4800 total grafts via fue only? How much higher would this number be if he did fut first ?.. 4800 isn’t enough for full coverage of a nw 6

[SLA]

9 hours ago, James C said:

They told him he only had 4800 total grafts via fue only? How much higher would this number be if he did fut first ?.. 4800 isn’t enough for full coverage of a nw 6

That's where beard hairs come in.... He only used 2,800 scalp grafts to cover all but the crown.

Even if he only has 1,500-2,000 scalp grafts left, that could also be combined with more beard hairs to get better crown coverage. Paddyirishman was told that he has 3,000 beard hairs left as he could probably use some of those to achieve higher density on top. 

I have seen plenty of examples on this forum and from videos Eugenix posted of NW6/7 in which someone had limited scalp donor which was combined with beard hairs to achieve full coverage with decent density.

See video below for a good example of a NW7 in which ~4,000 scalp was combined with ~2,000 beard to get full coverage. The crown is a little light, however, in the write up of the video, they make the point that the patient was told that he could opt to add 2,000 more grafts to the crown which would bulk it up. Even if he doesn't have scalp grafts left, he could possibly go to the beard.

@budhairis another example of weak and thin scalp donor who achieved full coverage with decent density. I think he had around 8,000 grafts of which only 4,000 came from scalp.

I am not a paid company representative (lol), just an admirer of a clinic that is successfully pushing the bounds :).

As for whether one could achieve more with FUT...although there are theories, it is the controversial mystery no one has quite solved, so it depends on who you ask. It is this that I am wrestling with as I try to make  my decisions.

Hope this helps!

 

 

[juanjs84]

Every case is different as well as the expectations of the patient. In my case it is too soon to know how it will look but all I can say is that I am fine if my crown is covered with few grafts because I know that anyways it will be better than before.

[SLA]

Good attitude! Looking forward to seeing your month to month progress.

[HCH]

Hey Bro,

Hope everything is going well. how's your progress now?

[juanjs84]

On 12/17/2020 at 2:49 PM, HCH said:

Hey Bro,

Hope everything is going well. how's your progress now?

Hi,

This is how I look now.

[Captain Haddock]

I can see a lot of growth coming in even though it's early! Crown seems to be designed good. 

[Gatsby]

So early yet looking so good at this early stage. If you can tolerate finasteride stay on this as it will not only assist your recipient area but also your donor area. Zoomster's donor looks thicker now than it did prior to surgery and the bottom of his crown has raised slightly. Wishing you all the best and I look forward to following your updates. Thanks for sharing!

[SLA]

Thanks for keeping us updated! Best wishes for growth and look forward to seeing your progress each month!

[HCH]

Thanks for sharing, you're in the right track. It's about time now so chill and wait for your new head of hair coming soon ✌️