NW4A | 3500 grafts FUE (DHT) | Eugenix (Dr Arika Bansal)

[forest]

Hello!

I finally got it done in Jan 2021 
I was realllly struggling to decide on a good clinic before I stumbled upon this forum. Needless to say, I'm very grateful to everyone who shared their HT experience on the forum. Time for me to do the same -

(I've stuck to just the bullet points coz my experience was similar to what everyone in general has written about Eugenix. For finer details, I recommend reading @Looking for HT's experience. 
Having said that, I'll be happy to answer any questions in detail.
Photos are at the end!)

About me

• Ethnicity: Indian
• Age: ~30 years
• Grade of baldness: NW4A
• Past treatments: None

HT surgery summary

I opted for Eugenix's Exclusive package (planning, designing and 100% slits are done by Dr Arika Bansal) at their Gurgaon center.
The surgery was planned over 2 consecutive days. The objective was to cover front and mid of the scalp with a conservative hairline. No temple restoration was required.
I reached day before the surgery. Here's a brief of the three days I was at the clinic -

Day -1 
Blood tests, COVID test, allergy test etc

Day 0 (1pm - 8pm) 
Day of the HT. Frontal zone was covered. About 2200 grafts extracted and implanted.

Day 1 (10am - 1pm) 
Mid scalp was covered. Remaining 1300 grafts extracted and implanted.
I took off for home in the evening.

Post HT medication

Day 1 to 7

Typical post surgery meds: anti inflammatory, painkillers, probiotics etc

Day 15 onwards

• Finasteride 1mg daily.
• Multivitamins, biotin. 
• Headwash using Ketoconazole based shampoo (anti fungal / dandruff) on alternate days. Will switch to regular shampoo after 6-8 weeks.
• Aloe vera and amla juice daily.
• Also gonna start 5% minoxidil from week 5 onwards.
   

Thoughts on Eugenix 

I am satisfied so far. I think the surgery was very smooth and clean - no pain, excessive bleeding or other complications. Post HT period was also easy to manage, which again points to a masterful, super refined process. 
The staff is nice and friendly. I've been in touch with Anil over whatsapp for my queries. This has been helpful and assuring.
I also met @Abhinay Singh in my consultation, and he was very patient in answering my questions. Also very generously let me examine his hair - had to do it to verify that his hair are real 😛 
Also a big thumbs up for that OT team member (forgot his name) who gave much needed back massages during breaks in the HT procedure!
Nitpicker that I am, I'll mention one thing that can perhaps be improved. I had to separately ask for a bunch of small small things - lots of obvious post HT care questions, finasteride prescription, invoice, OT report etc. Would be great if all of the obvious stuff is included in the post surgery care package.

Photos
Have a look! Feedback, suggestions are welcome.
(I've marked over my face. Please let me know if I accidentally post a photo with my face 😛)

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 0 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post HT -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------







-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 1 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------








-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 7 (First headwash) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------







-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 15 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------







-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 21 / Week 3 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------








-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 27 (today) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Britanium]

More impeccable work from Eugenix. This is going be anther fab result. Looks Very refined. And check out the hairline 👌

[ADil]

Congratulations on the excellent choice of @Eugenix Hair Science..my procedure is set for feb 25..

 

Donor has healed pretty well..

The hairline looks clean and perfect..

You are going to have amazing results..

 

 

 

 

[forest]

Thank you for the good wishes @JohnAC71 @ADil. 

[forest]

6 minutes ago, ADil said:

Congratulations on the excellent choice of @Eugenix Hair Science..my procedure is set for feb 25..

 

Wish you the very best. Rest assured, you are in good hands

[ADil]

1 minute ago, forest said:

Wish you the very best. Rest assured, you are in good hands

Thanks brother

Hope to start the new decade with positivity..

 

 

[SLA]

Fantastic @forest.

Thank you for the write up and please continue to update so we can witness your results!

Happy growing!

 

[Captain Haddock]

Looking fantastic. Congrats on your surgery. 

[MazAB]

Even at day 27 you should definitely be seeing more shedding, and it does not appear that you have any shedding at all. Hopefully that continues but as you said, definitely start up with Minoxidil by week 5 latest, as it will help quite a bit with the stabilization and regrowth.

Looking magnificent! 

[Gatsby]

You chose the best in my opinion. At under one month I can already see where this is going to go! Well done and I look forward to your further updates. Thanks for sharing!

[forest]

Appreciate your inputs gentlemen @SLA @Captain Haddock @MazAB @Gatsby
@MazAB I see a bunch of hair coming off when I shampoo. So there is some shedding. But yes, looks limited at the moment. Month 2 will give a better picture. Also, will start minoxidil from tomorrow.

[Britanium]

Definitely will be following your progress 🙏

[Melvin- Admin]

I love, love the hairline shape and design. Definitely eager to see your results flourish. Thanks for sharing your journey with uss

[plus]

Man great documentation. I have some questions for you

1. how did you style your pre transplant hair? I'm really curious to know this

2. You still have some thinned out hair on top. Do you expect them to survive? Or was the transplant planned assuming they will not survive?

3. Do you have to allow them to use your photos in their videos and social media?

4. How do you think you will go bald in the coming years? Which norwood scale will you reach? Did you start taking finasteride only after this procedure? Is it oral finasteride?

5. Why didnt you use beard hair? Euginex is known to use that well. So you could have kept donor hair for future tranplants.

Edited February 13, 2021 by plus

[forest]

Here you go @plus- 

1. how did you style your pre transplant hair? I'm really curious to know this
I kept long hair. After shampooing + drying, I did a "comb-over" to cover the bald area. 
The hairstyle did not work with non-shampooed hair. Plus wind or pretty much any jerky motion of the head exposed the bald spot, so I had to be mindful of this. I used a cap outdoors. 
Attaching a few pictures at the end.

2. You still have some thinned out hair on top. Do you expect them to survive? Or was the transplant planned assuming they will not survive?
Most of the hair in the front, mid are super thin and are unlikely to survive. My HT (and in fact most HTs) are done assuming that thin hair would fall out. Some hair at the back might survive with medication. Time will tell.

3. Do you have to allow them to use your photos in their videos and social media?
It's your choice. Personally, I won't consent to using my face.

4. How do you think you will go bald in the coming years? Which norwood scale will you reach? Did you start taking finasteride only after this procedure? Is it oral finasteride?
Right now this would be a total guess. Note that HTs at my age (30 years) are done assuming that the patient would reach NW6 / 7.
I was not taking any medicine before the HT. After the procedure, I am taking finasteride 1mg daily, and using minoxydil 5% twice a day. If this stops or slows balding - great! If not, I might need to get another HT down the line.
Yes, it is oral finasteride.

5. Why didnt you use beard hair? Euginex is known to use that well. So you could have kept donor hair for future tranplants.
As per my understanding, the rule of thumb is to prioritise use of scalp hair. If scalp hair is not sufficient to cover your baldness, body hair is used.
Ex. for 3000 grafts FUE, scalp donar would generally be sufficient.
For a 4500 grafts FUE, perhaps 3000 grafts from scalp and 1500 from beard. Only because it's not possible (or very difficult) to extract more than a certain number of grafts FUE (typically 3000-4000) from scalp in a single session. Hence beard hair must be used.
Think of it this way - scalp hair are your best shot for a satisfactory HT. So they should be used first. If a future HT is needed, you may use rest of your scalp donar + beard hair.

Some pre HT photos from 2019 and 2020 - 

























 

[forest]

On 2/13/2021 at 12:05 AM, Melvin-Moderator said:

I love, love the hairline shape and design. Definitely eager to see your results flourish

That makes two of us! 
100% credit to Dr Arika Bansal. I had zero inputs and defaulted to whatever she recommended. I only realised the fine work couple of days after the HT 😬

[plus]

Thanks for the response @forest

Congrats on the makeover, your previous style was a mess and the new look would be a game changer for sure!!

Had you not heard of finasteride before, that you never took it before? Do you feel confident you will be able to take it for the rest of the life considering the potential side effects?

As for beard, you're right, scalp hair is best, but beard hair blends in well in the top area only. So if in the future you reach nw 7 or 8 you would also need to cover the crown and back of the head too. Then you can't use beard hair there. You would have to use scalp hair but you already used up some precious scalp hair already. Is this something you discussed with the doc?

[forest]

I had heard of finasteride before, but did not have sufficient information on it. So I thought that it was "just another hair loss medicine". Now that I know about finasteride, I regret not starting it 5 years back. This is actually more common that you'd think. Lots of anecdotes on this thread: https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/59032-if-you-could-redo-anything-in-your-hair-loss-journey-what-would-it-be
Side effects are certainly a risk, but it's observed in only a minority of patients. Moreover, the side effects go away within 5-10 days of stopping the medicine. So that's a relief. I feel confident so far, but would certainly stop finasteride if I see side effects. At this point, I'll explore other therapies to sustain non transplanted hair (PRP perhaps).

 So if in the future you reach nw 7 or 8 you would also need to cover the crown and back of the head too. Then you can't use beard hair there. You would have to use scalp hair but you already used up some precious scalp hair already. Is this something you discussed with the doc?
I did not discuss this with the doctor explicitly. I also did not find any precedence for what you are suggesting.
Perhaps other folks can help here @JohnAC71  @SLA

[ITA]

@forest,As he said @JohnAC71, surely this will be another great Eugenix result.  Live the post-surgery peacefully, also because, based on other experiences I have read on this forum, you will have the constant assistance of the clinic and I can assure you, that not all clinics do it.  You have done very well to choose this clinic also based on the experience of @Looking for HTGood recovery. 

[SLA]

On 2/14/2021 at 2:40 AM, forest said:

So if in the future you reach nw 7 or 8 you would also need to cover the crown and back of the head too. Then you can't use beard hair there. You would have to use scalp hair but you already used up some precious scalp hair already. Is this something you discussed with the doc?
I did not discuss this with the doctor explicitly. I also did not find any precedence for what you are suggesting.
Perhaps other folks can help here @JohnAC71  @SLA

As for beard hair in the crown, I think you can use, but not in the whorl of the crown. Watch from minute 4:10-4:40 in which Dr. Bansal talks specifically about where you can place beard hair on scalp.

Hope this helps!

 

 

[Zinedine]

On 2/14/2021 at 7:42 AM, forest said:

Here you go @plus- 

1. how did you style your pre transplant hair? I'm really curious to know this
I kept long hair. After shampooing + drying, I did a "comb-over" to cover the bald area. 
The hairstyle did not work with non-shampooed hair. Plus wind or pretty much any jerky motion of the head exposed the bald spot, so I had to be mindful of this. I used a cap outdoors. 
Attaching a few pictures at the end.

2. You still have some thinned out hair on top. Do you expect them to survive? Or was the transplant planned assuming they will not survive?
Most of the hair in the front, mid are super thin and are unlikely to survive. My HT (and in fact most HTs) are done assuming that thin hair would fall out. Some hair at the back might survive with medication. Time will tell.

3. Do you have to allow them to use your photos in their videos and social media?
It's your choice. Personally, I won't consent to using my face.

4. How do you think you will go bald in the coming years? Which norwood scale will you reach? Did you start taking finasteride only after this procedure? Is it oral finasteride?
Right now this would be a total guess. Note that HTs at my age (30 years) are done assuming that the patient would reach NW6 / 7.
I was not taking any medicine before the HT. After the procedure, I am taking finasteride 1mg daily, and using minoxydil 5% twice a day. If this stops or slows balding - great! If not, I might need to get another HT down the line.
Yes, it is oral finasteride.

5. Why didnt you use beard hair? Euginex is known to use that well. So you could have kept donor hair for future tranplants.
As per my understanding, the rule of thumb is to prioritise use of scalp hair. If scalp hair is not sufficient to cover your baldness, body hair is used.
Ex. for 3000 grafts FUE, scalp donar would generally be sufficient.
For a 4500 grafts FUE, perhaps 3000 grafts from scalp and 1500 from beard. Only because it's not possible (or very difficult) to extract more than a certain number of grafts FUE (typically 3000-4000) from scalp in a single session. Hence beard hair must be used.
Think of it this way - scalp hair are your best shot for a satisfactory HT. So they should be used first. If a future HT is needed, you may use rest of your scalp donar + beard hair.

Some pre HT photos from 2019 and 2020 - 

























 

Your results is gonna be awesome!

Cant wait to see the final result in a few months so please, keep updating!

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience!

 

[Alejandro]

These are superb results, your procedure looks amazing, the hairline is great, and you're going to have a fabulous head of hair! Congrats! 

Also, very well posted, your comments and descriptions are bang on, and very helpful for others who may be considering Eugenix. 

Well done and good luck with your continued hair growth! 

[forest]

Sharing a quick update at 43 days / 6 weeks / 1.5 months.

A lot of hair have shed off, which is expected I guess. I felt that around day 30 mark the shedding was especially visible. A lot of hair came off during shampoo or when applying minoxydil. 
Donar area has healed well.

Current medication - 

• Finasteride 1mg daily.
• 1ml minoxidil 5% solution, twice a day.
• Multivitamins, biotin. 
• Shampoo on alternate days. I use Ketoconazole 2% and a mild shampoo alternately.
• Aloe vera and amla juice daily.

Apart form this I have refrained from exercise / jogging / running / weightlifting. Will start with light exercise from day 50, and ease into weightlifting and running 5k in the next 2 weeks.

Photos -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SLA]

Thanks for sharing....looks right on track!

Keep us posted!!!

[anotherhairlosssufferer]

That's interesting - did those hairs in the front not shed yet?