Advice needed on best no-shave recommendations - Europe

[DJ001]

Hi I wanted a bit of advice from the experts on here or from anyone that has gone through a similar procedure.

I am looking for a small transplant at the front to rebuild my hairline which is receeded and thin. I am happy to be conservative with it and it just needs structure to frame my face. 

I.e I'm happy to have a slightly receeded temple look but just need them filled in and the front of my hairline brought down slightly and given a solid start to frame my features.

My loss is progressing albeit very slowly but I would love to enjoy the next few years with a decent hairline and then have further HTs if and when needed.

 

 

 

 

For job related reasons I intend to go with a no shave procedure.

What are people's recommendations?

Has anyone had a similar procedure and can share feedback?

 

This topic is the sort of work that I need but rebuilding the temples too.

 

 

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice

DJ

Edited July 1, 2021 by DJ001

[JDEE0]

Hi DJ,

I'm a longtime lurker of the forum for a number of years, first time poster as I'm not much really one for online posting, but I thought I might be able to give you some recommendations and help out as I have been in the same situation.

The head shaving and exposing what I have been doing my best to hide with hairstyling for all to see for a good 4+ months post op is also something that has really put me off since I began researching a few years ago, and honestly it seems there are limited options Europe wise for a non shaven recipient (I assume you're ok to shave the donor short for extraction and just leave the recipient unshaven anyways?). There are a number of good docs - Bisanga, Lupanzula etc - that partially shave the recipient area just on the borders of the implantation zone where the grafting will blend into native hair, but I also didn't want that either as it seems sort of pointless as you would be unable to style your hair as usual.

The only doc that I could find that really offered a fully unshaven recipient zone was Mwamba, who I nearly pulled the trigger with, but ultimately the lack of patient and even clinic posted results put me off and I decided against in the end. Nothing against Dr. Mwamba though, he is an extremely competent doctor with a long time in the field and is without doubt a good surgeon, I just didn't want to go ahead without any real case references. 

In the end I was considering Dr. Bruno Ferreira or Dr. Rafael De Freitas and just biting the bullet and shaving my head as the end result is what really matters, but I came across Dr Bruno Pinto who, in my opinion, does work on par with the likes of De Freitas etc, and also offers unshaven recipient in the right cases (yours seems like one that fits the criteria from what I can see). If you go on the Spanish forums (there are two for some reason - recupera tu pelo & recupera el pelo) he has 40+ patient posted results from start to finish, pretty much all of which are very impressive. There is only one 'failure' in which the poor guy's results weren't very good in terms of growth and he later was diagnosed with Lichen Planopilaris after a scalp biopsy.

Have a look anyways - I've booked in with him myself, not had actually had surgery yet so I can't really comment on anything else other than the results have impressed me, but maybe this will help you!

[LaserCaps]

A couple of things come to mind.  First, nothing wrong with reinforcing your hairline.  Seems it has receded to a mature position so this will serve you well in the future.  You did mention, however, you are continuing to lose.  (If you've shown the propensity to lose, this will continue in the future).  So the concern, you only work the hairline and down the road you keep receding you'll end up with a strip of hair.  So it is important at the time of the consultation, you discuss blending grafts to the area behind the hairline as well to prevent this issue.  

Second thing to concern yourself with is to stop the loss.  Propecia, Rogaine, PRP and laser are the typical modalities we refer to when dealing with this debilitating condition.  Are you doing any of them?

You keep your hair rather lengthy.  Why are you considering FUE?

This is not going to be a small procedure.  Consider this is right up front where everyone can see what's going on.  It takes many grafts to accomplish density.  (Consider most doctors are under the impression they need to leave a separation in between grafts as grafts compete for blood supply.  So you do a procedure and, a year later, you fill in the gaps to achieve density). There are other doctors, however, with such advance techniques, they are able to achieve density in a single pass.  So, my suggestion is to research photos of patients similar to you and look at photos of results. When you find what you're looking for, schedule a consult.  Are you open to travel?  

[DJ001]

21 hours ago, LaserCaps said:

A couple of things come to mind.  First, nothing wrong with reinforcing your hairline.  Seems it has receded to a mature position so this will serve you well in the future.  You did mention, however, you are continuing to lose.  (If you've shown the propensity to lose, this will continue in the future).  So the concern, you only work the hairline and down the road you keep receding you'll end up with a strip of hair.  So it is important at the time of the consultation, you discuss blending grafts to the area behind the hairline as well to prevent this issue.  

Second thing to concern yourself with is to stop the loss.  Propecia, Rogaine, PRP and laser are the typical modalities we refer to when dealing with this debilitating condition.  Are you doing any of them?

You keep your hair rather lengthy.  Why are you considering FUE?

This is not going to be a small procedure.  Consider this is right up front where everyone can see what's going on.  It takes many grafts to accomplish density.  (Consider most doctors are under the impression they need to leave a separation in between grafts as grafts compete for blood supply.  So you do a procedure and, a year later, you fill in the gaps to achieve density). There are other doctors, however, with such advance techniques, they are able to achieve density in a single pass.  So, my suggestion is to research photos of patients similar to you and look at photos of results. When you find what you're looking for, schedule a consult.  Are you open to travel?  

Thanks for the response, yes I am open to travelling.

My thought process was that I am happy to get further transplants if needed and also if I was required to shave my head at a future period I would at least have hair at the front to frame my face. That is important. Good advice about blending it into the hair behind as well.

Have you got any personal no shave Dr recommendations to look into?

 

Thanks

Edited July 2, 2021 by DJ001

[LaserCaps]

On 7/2/2021 at 2:50 AM, DJ001 said:

Thanks for the response, yes I am open to travelling.

My thought process was that I am happy to get further transplants if needed and also if I was required to shave my head at a future period I would at least have hair at the front to frame my face. That is important. Good advice about blending it into the hair behind as well.

Have you got any personal no shave Dr recommendations to look into?

 

Thanks

There is no science to this.  All you have to do is let your hair grow.  He would then lift the hair above the area he will harvest from.  Will shave a bit and then let the native hair fall to cover.  That's the donor.  For the recipient area, he will use magnification and work in and around your hair.  Tedious and slow work but it can be done.  Be ready to pay at least 3X the normal cost.  

[JDEE0]

Whilst @LaserCaps is correct, it is usually more expensive for a no shave, as I mentioned in my first post, Dr. Pinto (as far as I am aware and I know this as I've just booked in for November) doesn't charge extra. 2.60 EUR per graft at the time of writing. Look up some of his results on the Spanish forums, and if you're a fan, well there's a good option for you to consider.