Wimpole Clinic - London - 2512 FUE - Dr Michael May - September 2021

[OAH]

I had a hair transplant on Monday at the Wimpole Clinic on Harley Street. I wasn't able to find any recent reviews on this forum about the clinic so I thought I'd post my journey so there's a reference point for people in future. For context, I am in my mid-twenties, have been balding since 18 and decided to take the plunge after stabilising my hair loss over the past year through daily 1mg of finasteride. I am starting a very public facing City of London job next year so I thought 'now or never'. In person my original hair looked better than the pre-op photos below as my thick sides made a comb-over fairly easy but I disliked having to always comb it straight across.

Based on the initial hairline outline and donor area I am fairly optimistic at present. It is now day 2 post-op and I've had 0 pain, itching, bleeding or anything really. I have had a few cousins who went to Turkey with positive results so I am hopeful my results will be equally good. I asked the clinic to focus almost entirely on the front/top as I don't particularly care about crown balding and my main goal was a lower hairline so I looked my age again.  

For context: 2512 grafts: 202 singles, 982 doubles, 1328 triples. Extracted using 0.8mm punch over around 6 hours. £6.6k total.

Pre-op crown with flash:

Pre-op front with flash:

Immediate post-op front/donor area/top: 

Edited September 22, 2021 by OAH

[JDEE0]

22 minutes ago, OAH said:

I had a hair transplant on Monday at the Wimpole Clinic on Harley Street. I wasn't able to find any recent reviews on this forum about the clinic so I thought I'd post my journey so there's a reference point for people in future. For context, I am in my mid-twenties, have been balding since 18 and decided to take the plunge after stabilising my hair loss over the past year through daily 1mg of finasteride. I am starting a very public facing City of London job next year so I thought 'now or never'. In person my original hair looked better than the pre-op photos below as my thick sides made a comb-over fairly easy but I disliked having to always comb it straight across.

Based on the initial hairline outline and donor area I am fairly optimistic at present. It is now day 2 post-op and I've had 0 pain, itching, bleeding or anything really. I have had a few cousins who went to Turkey with positive results so I am hopeful my results will be equally good. I asked the clinic to focus almost entirely on the front/top as I don't particularly care about crown balding and my main goal was a lower hairline so I looked my age again.  

For context: 2512 grafts: 202 singles, 982 doubles, 1328 triples. Extracted using 0.8mm punch over around 6 hours. £6.6k total.

Pre-op crown with flash:

Pre-op front with flash:

Immediate post-op front/donor area/top: 

Hi,

As much as it pains me to say it right after you've had surgery as I know it will most likely fill you with anxiety and despair, I feel it's best to give the truth.

The graft count is too low for the area covered and I can see that the density that they've been placed at seems low - there are large gaps in between the incisions/newly implanted follicles. You really could have used roughly double the amount you had for the area covered for decent density, somewhere between 4-5000 would have been a good bet considering they went right back to the crown. 

That said, the work doesn't look particularly bad or anything, which is the most important thing, I don't think any damage has been done per se (although I can't really see the extractions/donor are very well from your pics), so it should be a simple case of adding density once your result from this procedure has come in (around a year from now).

Maybe it will provide ok coverage for you, but to be bluntly honest, I don't think it's going to satisfy you and I think a touch up will be needed. 

[OAH]

1 minute ago, JDEE0 said:

Hi,

As much as it pains me to say it right after you've had surgery as I know it will most likely fill you with anxiety and despair, I feel it's best to give the truth.

The graft count is too low for the area covered and I can see that the density that they've been placed at seems low - there are large gaps in between the incisions/newly implanted follicles. You really could have used roughly double the amount you had for the area covered for decent density, somewhere between 4-5000 would have been a good bet considering they went right back to the crown. 

That said, the work doesn't look particularly bad or anything, which is the most important thing, I don't think any damage has been done per se (although I can't really see the extractions/donor are very well from your pics), so it should be a simple case of adding density once your result from this procedure has come in (around a year from now).

Maybe it will provide ok coverage for you, but to be bluntly honest, I don't think it's going to satisfy you and I think a touch up will be needed. 

Cheers for the message and best wishes. I went into this with the expectation that I will need a top-up as I wanted to see how my balding develops as I age further given I am relatively young still. My next significant career break, i.e. 6 weeks off in a row, will be in August 2024 and my plan is to evaluate at that point whether I care enough to have further density added.

One thing I'd add though is that I attended the majority of UK clinics, including those with lots of positive reviews on here, for consultations and they all suggested between 2100-2500 FUE, albeit only focussed on the frontal area for those who quoted closer to 2100.

My hair has been around this level since 22 now, so I'd genuinely be ecstatic with any further coverage, but perhaps in 2024 I'll think 'why not' again. Onwards and upwards regardless.   

[Britanium]

I have to agree with @JDEE0Im sorry to say. The work isn’t particularly refined and the density implanted Isn’t what we would expect to give adequate coverage.

Here in the Uk we usually consider Dr Arshad, Dr Reddy, Dr Farjo and Dr Ball. I have never been impressed with the work coming out of the Wimpole clinic this is just my honest opinion having followed Uk clinics for the last decade.

I think it will grow in fine and you will just need a second pass to get better density and a more refined hairline. 

[Fue3361]

Hm, I'm pretty sure you will need another hair transplant in the future to be satisfied.  Also, the hairline looks very regular and straight to me, so that might be an area that a future hair transplant will need to add some irregularities to.

That said, nothing "wrong" seems to have been done here.  There isn't any permanent damage or problems that it will cause you, and I'm relatively sure the end result will be way better than what you looked like before the transplant, especially if you wear your hair down a little, have bangs, etc.  

A second session down the line to make the hairline a little less regular, and some more density, and you'll be golden.  

[broski]

hey hows this all going ? any updates - i hope its working out for you  

[Tomi]

@OAHhey man how was your result? 
i am going in for a surgery in two days at Wimpole and would love to hear some feed back as I feel we have a similar case  

 

thanks 

[OAH]

Hi @broski and @Tomi, 

I am happy with the result given where I started at and am no longer self conscious about it in the slightest, but I do sometimes think in hindsight another say 500 grafts on the front would have made a noticeable difference and that the density could have been better, but it appears almost all the grafts have survived. I have also balded slightly on the crown since the surgery (and reducing my finasteride dosage) but I couldn't care less about hair loss there. Everything has healed nicely and you cannot really tell anything was harvested. 

If I had to criticise Wimpole it would be because a) the surgery is technician led almost entirely from start to finish, so don't expect the chosen doctor to do much in practice or even be in the building for the final two/three hours in my case. I have no issues with this but they should have been open from the start b) There is no real post-op care beyond a leaflet (i.e. any check ins or even messaging you to see how it goes/asking you to come in and check the result at any point) c) most of the things (they used to say anyway) on the website are provided were not (e.g. a hat that fits post-op or the coming in for a wash of the scabs) and d) the lack of pre-op analysis of how many grafts I actually needed was not great, as the technicians themselves during the surgery noted that I should have been quoted more grafts/questioned how many grafts were actually harvested and if they were miscounted, and frankly a guesstimated number during an initial consultation is not the best approach in my view. These were the main issues that stuck out.

On the positive side, I am quite happy with the result and have included my professional work headshot below (ideal lighting/styled with blow-dry and hair oil) and some natural photos from 20 minutes ago in my flat lighting (direct spotlight above) with hair unwashed/unstyled/generally dry with London hard water. I have had many positive comments from friends/family, and it is quite easy to make my hair look like great if styled properly. I would probably be tempted to have a second in a few years when my further balding pattern is more clear, but it's not a priority for me in the next 2/3 years at least. Realistically I would consider going elsewhere though and the main appeal of the Wimpole for me was the price/ability to do it in the two weeks last year I was not working. Overall, I have no regrets and think it was money well spent. 

[Tomi]

@OAHthanks so much for getting back to

me I think your results look great and would be happy with that personally. Notes about the negatives and will see if I can do anything about them.

thanks again, helped put my mind at ease. 
cheers 

[sinbar]

Hi thank you for sharing this very interesting to read more and I haven’t read much on dr Michael May yet. Did you say he left the building for the last three hours! Anyway is all ok now one year on? You said the Technician did all your fue graft harvest that’s interesting because I thought it was not legal it says on the gmc website only doctors should perform surgery in the uk including Hair transplants anyway I hope you’re happy at least if not maybe you can sue