FUE by Dr. Bisanga, BHR Clinic in Brussels | 1528 Grafts | Aug 12, 2021 (Crown and Temples)

[MachoVato]

After a long trip from Texas to Florida to Spain to Belgium, I arrived last night just in time to order a pizza and go to bed. Bright and early I made it to the clinic for my second hair transplant. Now I'm back from my procedure with Dr. Bisanga in Brussels. The objective was to cover the crown and touch up my temple points. Estimated 1,500 grafts, ended up with 1,528. 

Singles: 100
Doubles: 978
Triples: 450

The grafts were pulled from the back and my right side, not my left. Under magnification, my left side, above my ear, is weaker. Bisanga said there were mostly singles and doubles there, so leave them in place. His focus on donor management is impressive. 

 

I'll add more about the experience late. But for now, here are some pics. I'll leave my hair like this for a week, until I can shave it at home. 

Crown Before (month 8 after first transplant)

 

 

Temples. Single hair grafts only.

 

 

Something I didn't really notice before. I had some scar tissue in the back on my head. In the middle was a fat multi-graft. Dr. Bisanga punched it out with a 2mm punch. And then decided it would be best to cut out the scar and seal it with a single suture, which I'll have to have removed next week. I thought it was a very "pro" move. There was nothing wrong with it other than it looking a bit funny when shaved. I'm thrilled with this unexpected level of service.

 

 

And funny... some clinics give headbands, some hats. Bisanga gives this crazy thing. Now I look like a grandma.

Edited August 17, 2021 by MachoVato

[Britanium]

Beautiful work and love the “tweak” of the temples. This will make all the difference for the crown, which is no longer a black hole for grafts.

Excellent write up and pics 🙏

[sl]

Congratulations and thanks for coming from across the pond! The work looks pristine as always and very glad Dr.B could go the extra mile for you...Heal well and let us know if you need anything. Steve

[ITA]

Impressive, Dr. Bisanga one of the best surgeons in the world in my opinion 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[Fernand]

Hey man glad to see you've already done it! Looks great!

Was the fat multigraft scar left by HLC?

Now that you've tried both, how would you compare both clinics?

[MachoVato]

6 hours ago, Fernand said:

Hey man glad to see you've already done it! Looks great!

Was the fat multigraft scar left by HLC?

Now that you've tried both, how would you compare both clinics?

No, the scar was from an injury, I don't remember it. The doctor thought it was odd that there was some hair squeezed within it. 

It's hard to say. My experience, honestly, was a little better at HLC. They provided a driver, an apartment across the street, dinner. Here in Brussels, I had to get my own taxis, the clinic is a little awkward to get in/out. It takes a little more work to get around. I would have paid extra to have a driver and not deal with taxis (HLC charges 250 for this service).

I thought the anesthesia was a little more painful this time around. Not unbearable, but that's how I remember it. They did give me a shot of valium (or something like that) and that made me quite loopy! haha! But I still felt some of the injections. Some I didn't feel at all. For some reason, I didn't ever get comfortable in the chair, it got hard fast. I had to ask for a couple breaks because it started to get painful. I wish there were more planned breaks.. bathroom, water, stretching. HLC had breaks scheduled in.

There's a lot less involvement from the doctor. He does the extractions (he used motorized punch) and the incisions in the recipient area. He communicates a lot with his team during this time. He looked for very specific single hairs for the temples. He told his team he was looking for "sexy" hairs. Haha! The rest of it is handled by his technicians, which were awesome by the way. The doctor did stop by a couple times to check in, but he had another patient on the day. Turns out he has about a 4000 graft per day limit. So if you had 3500 graft procedure, you'd be the only patient.

It's worth mentioning that there are a couple other doctors there. I believe one is just observing. They also visited once in a while, it was nice to have them around and talk to me while I was in the chair. Nice guys. With HLC, there's a doctor with you the whole time, albeit a different doctor at times. HLC has many more people there, it's a larger clinic and up to 4 patients per day. BHR is much smaller facility.

I think I made the right decision with these two clinics. HLC did great with my front and it continues to improve. While it's too early to talk Bisanga results, I'm very impressed with the work on the crown. He moved my head around so that he could get the swirl pattern right. It sounds easy, but it certainly isn't and he took great care to get that part right. Finally, he surprised me with his attention to my donor. He only extracted from my right side (to save the left side) and went lower on the back than HLC did. So he used area that wasn't touched before and avoided areas that were a little thinned out. And the temples are notoriously hard to do, some doctors won't do them. Only time will tell, but I can see the direction and angles of the grafts look quite promising.

HLC is a larger, more formulaic yet polished "concierge" experience. BHR is a smaller, more detail-oriented boutique experience.  

Edited August 14, 2021 by MachoVato

[Fernand]

Thanks a lot for the wonderful experience that you shared. It's really a pleasure to read all these details. Happy growing and looking forward to the updates!

[MachoVato]

I was told not drink alcohol, but I fly back tomorrow and I had to have some Belgian beer. I love blondes!

*This photo is not endorsed by BHR Clinic or its representatives*

 

[sl]

Hahah! Brilliant! Safe trip home!

[EvansLawrence]

Great! Cant wait to see the whole evolution

[giegnosiganoe]

Really looking forward to this one. I've been thinking of improving my crown as well and I think I have a similar level of loss.

Focusing on the crown: Do you have more pre-op pics you can share? How was the graft count determined? Was risk of shock loss discussed?

[MachoVato]

12 hours ago, giegnosiganoe said:

Really looking forward to this one. I've been thinking of improving my crown as well and I think I have a similar level of loss.

Focusing on the crown: Do you have more pre-op pics you can share? How was the graft count determined? Was risk of shock loss discussed?

I'm waiting on the photos from BHR. But for now, here are a few pics before my first transplant. 

[giegnosiganoe]

Oh and how many grafts were placed in the crown vs temples?

[MachoVato]

25 minutes ago, giegnosiganoe said:

Oh and how many grafts were placed in the crown vs temples?

If I had to guess, 1400 in the crown & 128 in the temples. I wasn't given a breakdown of that.

[giegnosiganoe]

6 hours ago, MachoVato said:

I'm waiting on the photos from BHR. But for now, here are a few pics before my first transplant. 

Based on these photos, it hardly looks like you have any loss in your crown. The ones in your OP show a little more skin though. Maybe the BHR photos will shed some more light.

I'd have thought you'd only need 500-1000 grafts at most for a touch up.

[MachoVato]

11 hours ago, giegnosiganoe said:

Based on these photos, it hardly looks like you have any loss in your crown. The ones in your OP show a little more skin though. Maybe the BHR photos will shed some more light.

I'd have thought you'd only need 500-1000 grafts at most for a touch up.

No, I didn't have a big problem in the crown area. I didn't *need* to get it done. I was more "thinning" than bald. But what convinced me to do it was seeing me in my security cameras. Here's a picture of me mowing my lawn 8 days ago. Lighting sucks.... direct, harsh sunlight... camera exposure set to high contrast... but still! 

I freaked out when I saw this! I mean, if I was a woman, I wouldn't give him my phone number!  haha!

 

 

500 - 1000 would cover the most thin area, certainly. But Bisanga really extended well beyond that area. 

I told him to use his judgement on number of grafts. If he only needed 1000, that's fine. If he needed 1000 more (I was quoted 1500), that's fine too. I brought cash to cover it.

Edited August 17, 2021 by MachoVato

[MachoVato]

16 minutes ago, giegnosiganoe said:

Based on these photos, it hardly looks like you have any loss in your crown. The ones in your OP show a little more skin though. Maybe the BHR photos will shed some more light.

I'd have thought you'd only need 500-1000 grafts at most for a touch up.

I have zero regrets, but for me, it was a toss up between Bisanga and De Freitas. This thread by De Freitas *really* impressed me!

https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/60531-dr-rafael-de-freitas-2-interventions-3019-fus-front-2535-fus-vertex/

 

[giegnosiganoe]

Yeah with how good your donor is, I'd have had no problem doing the same. Just wondering what the minimum number of grafts you would've needed for the clearly thin spot, and I guess 500-1000 sounds about right.

[MachoVato]

Day 5

The swirl pattern. Pretty neat!

 

[MachoVato]

Also, just noticed how my temple peaks are wildly different. I flipped the image on my right temple. The hair grows in very different directions. I never knew this!

 

[MachoVato]

Got my suture removed today (day 7). Nurse said it's healed great.

Donor area looking like it's healing nicely. Really happy with this. Most recipient area scabs are gone. 

 

[Britanium]

Looking super clean and healing very nicely 👌

[bw77]

Great write up! Thanks man, I'm looking to have similar work done and I've considered both offices. I'll be watching closely.

[Curious25]

Why did you not opt to go back to HLC out of interest?

[Hrnzaire]

On 8/19/2021 at 7:29 PM, MachoVato said:

Got my suture removed today (day 7). Nurse said it's healed great.

Donor area looking like it's healing nicely. Really happy with this. Most recipient area scabs are gone. 

 

Wow you’ve healed really well.