FUE HT with two sessions planned with Manchester UK clinic HGC (Hair Growth Centre)

[Stewie]

I contacted HGC out of the blue earlier in 2021 off the back of my brother in law having his done with them in a bit of a spur of the moment type thing after one of his employees had it done at the same place and it looked good, I have been bald since around 19, I had grown my hair out at college and then it hit bad and shaved it ever since I was 20 and never thought about a HT as they seemed to costly and I didn't like the stigma attached to them, which I didn't realise had changed so much. I did however around the age of 18 get talked into an absolute shocking FUT procedure that I didn't understand totally as I was to young, information wasn't out there and then they kind of promised me this and that and next thing I was operated on and I lots a lot of hair on top from shock loss, plus they sent me home with a bobble hat on, shocking to what I know nowadays, that company doesn't trade anymore and I can't even remember the name, but it left me with them two scars which don't bother me, but the same triangle plug hair piece on top of my head which was left after all my hair fell out was shocking, I lived with it in shame for about ten years before I realised I could do something about it and got it lasered off, best thing I did as it was so unsightly

So after seeing my brother in laws and looking great so early on in him having it done I jumped on board, the standard package was £2000 per session and I signed up for two courses of 3xPRP (£800 for 3) with each HT to help keep everything in tact. My brother in law let slip that he negotiated a better price and then after a bit of a chat I got them down to £1750 per session which seemed reasonable compared to similar places in Turkey where friends have gone.

I had the first procedure done 20th June 2021 and they concentrated on the front, with building me out a hairline etc, this was weird as I have had no hair on the front of my head for 25+ years (44 now) at first over the next month or so I was very worried about my donor area as I think I had a lot of shock loss as I had bald spots for a while, but after a few months this was back growing well and at just over six months even cut short it looked alright and barely noticeable (3mm all over)

As you can see on my images I was a total skin head bald Norwood 6, I think with my OCD and a lot of measuring and calculating I got to an area of baldness (taking into account the new hairline) between 200-220cm2, my ideal in my head was always to reach around 40cm2 density all over.

With this first procedure they roughly put around 3000 in, mainly packing out the hairline with lots of singles and then using what they had left for something in the bridge to build on next time, I have no idea on true density as they are not as whizz bang on the tech like a lot of clinics I have seen in Turkey etc.

After six months it seems to be growing alright, nothing really happened till around 4+ months stage and then lots of hairs started coming through, whilst very thin, but I believe these thicken up as you go on??

I think I lost the odd graft here and there, not many I think? with the only bit I really lost a few was the big scab that hung on for dear life for a while after all the others went

 

[Stewie]

I have just had my second procedure Monday 10th January 2022.

With HGC in general I have only dealt with the Manchester branch, and the Dr I have dealt with Dr Ditta is very good indeed and knowledgeable and takes time to speak to you if you ask for a call back etc, my main gripe with HGC is the main admin/management team in London are shocking to deal with and hard to find things out with, if you can over look this then actually the Dr's and surgeons are all good people and good at their jobs.

This time is around it lasted a bit longer as I think the crown is a trickier area to do, I was hoping they could hit high numbers in the graft count but seems to be around 3000ish again after talking with them, so a bit off my dreams of 40cm2 all over, but I haven't touched my beard yet which grows thick and also there are quite a few bits they just have not touched on the back and sides of my head yet which are still in the general zone for taking out of.

Looking at what they did I think it looks well packed out and they got more in the bridge area which I asked about as that was lacking big time after the first.

My main concern is that I wanted them to avoid the area they took from last time and It looks like the majority of the hairs have been taken for the same sort of area so ill have to see what's what when its healed on the donor starts growing again, as last time I had shock loss for around three months.

The post procedure healing seems a lot quicker this time, I am only on day 2 and the pain is minimal, pretty much no swelling and no bleeding, the scabs are tiny and coming off already and now looking forward to what happens April onwards.

So in total atm I have had around 6000-6100 scalp grafts with mixed densities through the areas to give (hopefully) a good illusion of density and hair in general, I know for me I had more doubles than anything, with higher hair counts like 3 and 3+ being in very short supply, and then singles all day long, so in hair counts I have no idea as I see lots of videos when they are averaging 2.7/2.8 hairs for a session, I reckon I am down around 2.2, but lets see.

Already thinking to the future about using my beard and maybe an FUT around the top part of the donor that they have left, but that's real future thinking as ill have to see how this grows and take it from there, as the front was only just starting to come through good before this procedure.

[Stewie]

Has anyone been to the same clinic or got a similar situation to me? would love to see some results to put my mind at ease, I mainly had singles/doubles overall and my hair is not thick also, so be interesting to see how it pans out, I am already thinking about a filling in session next year with beard hair and what's left of the donor, but I suppose I need to calm down and let it be for a bit

[Berba11]

2 hours ago, Stewie said:

Has anyone been to the same clinic or got a similar situation to me? would love to see some results to put my mind at ease, I mainly had singles/doubles overall and my hair is not thick also, so be interesting to see how it pans out, I am already thinking about a filling in session next year with beard hair and what's left of the donor, but I suppose I need to calm down and let it be for a bit

I’d certainly wait and see before committing to using this clinic again. I don’t know much about them but to my knowledge there’s only a couple of clinics in the UK I’d recommend to anyone. Using beard hair is a fine art that not many clinics do - and even less do it well. 
 

Im curious to see how this all pans out for you though. I’ll be following!

Good luck!

[Stewie]

On 1/14/2022 at 8:58 PM, Berba11 said:

I’d certainly wait and see before committing to using this clinic again. I don’t know much about them but to my knowledge there’s only a couple of clinics in the UK I’d recommend to anyone. Using beard hair is a fine art that not many clinics do - and even less do it well. 
 

Im curious to see how this all pans out for you though. I’ll be following!

Good luck!

I think next time ill be doing a lot of research and consultations about filling in and use of my beard etc and make sure before hand I know what's what.

My main gripe with HGC is that they state unlimited grafts, but in brackets it says 3000, and then when I questioned this after my first surgery and again when setting up the second I asked if they could extend the donor area to get more grafts which they said this is fine, yet now its come and gone and I asked about it they said they took 3000 again, so it seems to be a strict limit with them, whilst on one hand the less you move keeps it safer, its annoying to think ill have to have a touch up down the road again and recover and wait around yet again

But I have now decided I am going to give finestaride a go and see if I don't get any side effects from it as I need something to give me hair a boost in general really and my scalp is full of miniaturised hairs all over and hoping it could maybe do something for them too???

[Berba11]

13 minutes ago, Stewie said:

I think next time ill be doing a lot of research and consultations about filling in and use of my beard etc and make sure before hand I know what's what.

My main gripe with HGC is that they state unlimited grafts, but in brackets it says 3000, and then when I questioned this after my first surgery and again when setting up the second I asked if they could extend the donor area to get more grafts which they said this is fine, yet now its come and gone and I asked about it they said they took 3000 again, so it seems to be a strict limit with them, whilst on one hand the less you move keeps it safer, its annoying to think ill have to have a touch up down the road again and recover and wait around yet again

But I have now decided I am going to give finestaride a go and see if I don't get any side effects from it as I need something to give me hair a boost in general really and my scalp is full of miniaturised hairs all over and hoping it could maybe do something for them too???

Finasteride may certainly help with miniaturised hairs. Consider starting on a smaller dose rather than jumping straight in at 1mg per day though. I cut mine in half and have .5mg per day. Some will do every other day etc...

Do you have any new pictures of things as they stand one week post surgery? Would be interesting to see how your donor is looking, in particular.

Looking more closely at your photos, the density in your midscalp doesn't appear to be very high. The frontal hairline band seems decent but as you go further back, it doesn't seem like many grafts were placed there. I was expecting to see more placed there on the 2nd pass but that doesn't seem to have been the case. Did you have much hair there to begin with, or was it slick bald? Also wondering if you have any pictures with your hair grown out fully 6 months post op number 1?

[Stewie]

2 hours ago, Berba11 said:

Finasteride may certainly help with miniaturised hairs. Consider starting on a smaller dose rather than jumping straight in at 1mg per day though. I cut mine in half and have .5mg per day. Some will do every other day etc...

Do you have any new pictures of things as they stand one week post surgery? Would be interesting to see how your donor is looking, in particular.

Looking more closely at your photos, the density in your midscalp doesn't appear to be very high. The frontal hairline band seems decent but as you go further back, it doesn't seem like many grafts were placed there. I was expecting to see more placed there on the 2nd pass but that doesn't seem to have been the case. Did you have much hair there to begin with, or was it slick bald? Also wondering if you have any pictures with your hair grown out fully 6 months post op number 1?

yeah was thinking that with starting low, have you seen good results with a lower dose?

ill take some pics of donor later, its a lot better but also still raw looking

with regards the bridge area this is one of my gripes, they packed the hairline last time and kind of threw a general amount of grafts in there, and I said as part of this surgery I wanted that to be at least doubled and they have not put a lot extra in again, so whilst the crown looks like its got a decent amount and hopefully will grow well, that bit is lacking, but the fact I had nothing behind the front of my hairline and its been slow to grow (with majority of growth after around 4.5 months) I haven't grown it at all and kept it around a number 3-5mm

this is what makes me think long term after this heals and grows I am going to have to get another done A. for touch ups as obviously not all grafts survive B. the bridge area needs quite a bit more density adding to bulk that mid scalp up and allow me to grow it

as they have left a big chunk of hair at the top of the donor area that goes right around the sides too, I am wondering if I would be better getting a decent FUT next time as I haven't got much left for a big FUE session again, and then get beard grafts too

[Stewie]

Donor area after one week, hair is super short at around 1-2mm and still red in places, had shock loss last time and took around 3 months to grow properly again, not sure if its happened again, to early to tell

[Berba11]

To my eye they needed to extract more from above the ears as that’s usually a safe area to take from and appears to have been untouched across both surgeries. 
 

On the one hand, that might be a good resource for later on. On the other, it could well mean overharvesting elsewhere. Only time will tell. 
 

I can’t lie (but dont want to alarm you either) - I’m not really liking what I’m seeing of the work carried out here.
 

Even if things turn out well, I’d avoid this clinic for any future work. 

[Stewie]

1 minute ago, Berba11 said:

To my eye they needed to extract more from above the ears as that’s usually a safe area to take from and appears to have been untouched across both surgeries. 
 

On the one hand, that might be a good resource for later on. On the other, it could well mean overharvesting elsewhere. Only time will tell. 
 

I can’t lie (but dont want to alarm you either) - I’m not really liking what I’m seeing of the work carried out here.
 

Even if things turn out well, I’d avoid this clinic for any future work. 

agreed about above the ears and I brought this up with them and both times they didn't go near it or in to the upper region of my hairline on the humps or crown, my family all have the same baldness and mine hasn't changed since around 25, so stable for 19 years or so, so makes no sense to keep in the same area

judging from last time I think on the sides they have taken a bit to much and the back will just be thinned, as last time if I shaved down to 1-3mm you could see it was thinner than the hair around it, but only time will tell now

with what they have done on top its a good start, not really a good and finished conclusion I was hoping for though, even if finestaride helps with all the mini hairs I can't see how I have enough to grow properly, but again ill have to try it and see

but I think maybe late this year or some point next year ill be sorting a 3rd and hopefully last surgery to add density all over

[Stewie]

15 minutes ago, Berba11 said:

To my eye they needed to extract more from above the ears as that’s usually a safe area to take from and appears to have been untouched across both surgeries. 
 

On the one hand, that might be a good resource for later on. On the other, it could well mean overharvesting elsewhere. Only time will tell. 
 

I can’t lie (but dont want to alarm you either) - I’m not really liking what I’m seeing of the work carried out here.
 

Even if things turn out well, I’d avoid this clinic for any future work. 

But yeah I won't be using them for more work in future as there is no personal touch at all

[Berba11]

1 hour ago, Stewie said:

But yeah I won't be using them for more work in future as there is no personal touch at all

I mean, I'd be delighted to have surgery performed by a team that isn't very good with general service but achieves outstanding results. The "experience" aspect of it is a bonus.

There's no results from this clinic on this forum, and the couple of threads that are on here don't make for good reading. I'd recommend staying away from this clinic on the basis of a lack of good results (I note you know someone that had been to HGC previously) rather than their (lack of) personal touch. You've had two pretty sizeable surgeries now, which people on here would normally recommend be left in the hands of the highest caliber of surgeon.

I'm hoping this turns out great for you and hopefully you keep updating!

[Stewie]

4 hours ago, Berba11 said:

I mean, I'd be delighted to have surgery performed by a team that isn't very good with general service but achieves outstanding results. The "experience" aspect of it is a bonus.

There's no results from this clinic on this forum, and the couple of threads that are on here don't make for good reading. I'd recommend staying away from this clinic on the basis of a lack of good results (I note you know someone that had been to HGC previously) rather than their (lack of) personal touch. You've had two pretty sizeable surgeries now, which people on here would normally recommend be left in the hands of the highest caliber of surgeon.

I'm hoping this turns out great for you and hopefully you keep updating!

yeah the results I have seen from HGC are average, the Dr who did mine seems to have some of the better results when you look through his work and he makes a real effort on the crown to match the flow and natural shape where as some of them in their other clinics I have notice disregard that altogether and end up with totally unnatural looking crown areas, this was on thing I kept banging on about in each conversation with the Dr and made sure he drew it on before hand and I could check it out etc, 

apart from that they seem to get some good results but not the likes of Euginex and the like, ill definitely look somewhere like that for filling in next time, but ill leave it be most of this year at least to give it time to grow and see what I am working with as I have options moving forward and a lot of time to plan once I know what I am planning for

thank man

[Stewie]

Around the 5 month mark from the 2nd 3000 graft session at HGC, they have a very active Instagram profile but don't seem to have anything on here apart from bad reviews, which dealing with their sales team etc I can totally understand, the doctor who oversaw my surgery was brilliant on both days, but its not a personal touch kind of place and I know I should of done more research ahead of time, I just went there because a couple of friends have gone and had decent results and it was on my doorstep and in-expensive.

Currently sorting out a trip to Euginex later this year to help with the overall density of my two HTs I have had currently, whilst its only been 5 months since my second one, they haven't done a bad job, but they have hit the same donor area twice hard so that'll probably need SMP now (not the end of the world) but in general it all needs evening out to not have the thinner looking donor next to natural thickness next to thinner transplanted area

I generally keep my hair between 1-2mm in length as I am to used to shaving my hair after doing it for 25 years, last week I let it grow to around 5mm on a couple of them pictures and it felt like it was super long, but as its all transparent fluff on my head atm I have just shaved it back again

I am hoping with a trip to Euginex it can all get more density and a more homogenous look about it, I am looking at their exclusive package as really that's the top end of my budget, wish I had more money but with traveling there etc this is the best I can stretch to, but seeing all of the amazing cases on here from them I am really only considering them for this and I want them to hopefully use a lot of my beard because its been untouched and I reckon it could bulk this up a lot

[Berba11]

3 hours ago, Stewie said:

Around the 5 month mark from the 2nd 3000 graft session at HGC, they have a very active Instagram profile but don't seem to have anything on here apart from bad reviews, which dealing with their sales team etc I can totally understand, the doctor who oversaw my surgery was brilliant on both days, but its not a personal touch kind of place and I know I should of done more research ahead of time, I just went there because a couple of friends have gone and had decent results and it was on my doorstep and in-expensive.

Currently sorting out a trip to Euginex later this year to help with the overall density of my two HTs I have had currently, whilst its only been 5 months since my second one, they haven't done a bad job, but they have hit the same donor area twice hard so that'll probably need SMP now (not the end of the world) but in general it all needs evening out to not have the thinner looking donor next to natural thickness next to thinner transplanted area

I generally keep my hair between 1-2mm in length as I am to used to shaving my hair after doing it for 25 years, last week I let it grow to around 5mm on a couple of them pictures and it felt like it was super long, but as its all transparent fluff on my head atm I have just shaved it back again

I am hoping with a trip to Euginex it can all get more density and a more homogenous look about it, I am looking at their exclusive package as really that's the top end of my budget, wish I had more money but with traveling there etc this is the best I can stretch to, but seeing all of the amazing cases on here from them I am really only considering them for this and I want them to hopefully use a lot of my beard because its been untouched and I reckon it could bulk this up a lot

Thanks for the update. 
 

You’ll struggle to get a buzz cut to look quite right even after going to Eugenix for a 3rd HT I think. HT’s work by creating an illusion of density. By keeping everything super short, you expose the reduced density in the recipient sites and also patchiness in the donor area. 
 

Good SMP may help fill-in a buzz cut look, though I’d question going through the hassle and cost of 3 HT’s to then buzz it off and SMP over it?

Your donor looks over harvested but may look better with more length. 

[Stewie]

@Berba11 oh yeah for sure, I know its never going to be properly dense and look like a buzz cut full of hair, I just mean after so many years of shaving it and especially whilst all the new hairs are like fluff atm, I am just going to continue to keep it short as looks better in my opinion, but will try and grow it a bit in the coming months. But yeah I just wanted Euginex to even it out both from density on top to making the donor more balanced.

Yeah its been over harvested as they have took the 6000 grafts from the exact same place in both surgeries, I am not that fussed and even when it was 5mm the other day it didn't look that bad, so not that bothered about that. But it was the donor I was thinking of maybe just getting some SMP down the road if it did bother me

[THE TRUTH]

Looks like decent growth with correct angles but poor density since the balding area was very large and of course slightly overharvested donor...

Sorry for your experience brother. As a hairloss sufferer myself I know how hard it is to go through this.

I believe Dr. Zarev or Dr. Pitella would have done a much better job in your case. 

There many bad clinics in western Europe too. Not just in Turkey. I've recently seen some really bad results from clinics in the UK, Spain, France too unfortunately...

I guess getting SMP every year is your best bet at this stage. 

I don't think Eugenix could do much at this point except overharvest your donor even more and give you very limited coverage on top. I wouldn't chase any transplants anymore. 

But please do a ton of research for SMPs. Take your time please.

There are a lot of bad SMP clinics and too....It's also a minefield. Be careful.

[Berba11]

1 hour ago, Stewie said:

@Berba11 oh yeah for sure, I know its never going to be properly dense and look like a buzz cut full of hair, I just mean after so many years of shaving it and especially whilst all the new hairs are like fluff atm, I am just going to continue to keep it short as looks better in my opinion, but will try and grow it a bit in the coming months. But yeah I just wanted Euginex to even it out both from density on top to making the donor more balanced.

Yeah its been over harvested as they have took the 6000 grafts from the exact same place in both surgeries, I am not that fussed and even when it was 5mm the other day it didn't look that bad, so not that bothered about that. But it was the donor I was thinking of maybe just getting some SMP down the road if it did bother me

I'd bite the bullet from here on mate and just let it grow out. You've got enough hair up top sprouting through now so that with some length the coverage might be pretty decent - only one way to find out though!

The fluffiness of the hair will pass after a CM or two of length, but the hair will probably be a bit wiry and kinky - some conditioner, some product and a comb will sort that out no problem though and it should naturally improve over time as the newly transplanted hair starts to mature.

[RTC]

HGC Is a garbage British hair mill, sadly I see their name popping up more and more

Edited June 12, 2022 by Aslitarcan sucks

[sukh123]

8 minutes ago, Aslitarcan sucks said:

HGC Is a garbage British hair mill, sadly I see their name popping up more and more

Just like I see your name popping up on every post on this forum, your addicted i can tell lol

[RTC]

6 hours ago, sukh123 said:

Just like I see your name popping up on every post on this forum, your addicted i can tell lol

You got that right

[Berba11]

12 hours ago, Aslitarcan sucks said:

HGC Is a garbage British hair mill, sadly I see their name popping up more and more

That may be the case but let’s not jump the gun on Stewie’s thread/case whilst he’s halfway through his journey. Causing unnecessary alarm to a patient is rarely helpful during an already anxious period. 

[Stewie]

Ah I know they are bad, I think I got away with it lightly as until I really looked into all this and researched properly (after I had been) I didn't realise how bad this can go, no grafts coming through, plug unnatural looks etc, I have had mates go to bad hair mills in Turkey, and again they didn't know but luckily they ended up with good results. Its scary how many bad clinics there is out there, and then the misinformation around it all. Good that forums like this exist

[sukh123]

Only one person I’d ever considering going to In the Uk and that’s dr reddy, the rest would not even think about,  considering europe is so close and has some of the best . 

[Berba11]

On 6/13/2022 at 3:52 PM, Stewie said:

Ah I know they are bad, I think I got away with it lightly as until I really looked into all this and researched properly (after I had been) I didn't realise how bad this can go, no grafts coming through, plug unnatural looks etc, I have had mates go to bad hair mills in Turkey, and again they didn't know but luckily they ended up with good results. Its scary how many bad clinics there is out there, and then the misinformation around it all. Good that forums like this exist

How are things coming along @Stewie?