Dr. Bruno Ferreria - 2411 Grafts - June 1-2nd 2021

[ReticentRaccoon]

Alright, this post has been a long time coming. I originally meant to post this thread months ago, but a combination of self-consciousness and procrastination got the better of me...until now lol. Better late than never!

 

So, I'll try to keep this as succinct as possible. I'm a 28 y/o male who had a procedure with Dr. Bruno Ferriera on June 1-2nd 2021 to restore my frontal third. I started losing my hair at 22 and after years of wearing hats and avoiding the wind and rain like the plague, I finally saved up enough scratch to get this done. The total grafts 2411 for a cost of 6,091.99 Euro.

 

I arrived at the clinic at around 7AM, and the first hour or so were mainly spent taking a ton of pictures of my head in the "before" stage, and designing the hairline. I did convince him to lower the hairline a bit around the temple points, and he said we could afford to be a little aggressive with the design so he agreed.

 

Surgery itself was honestly quite a bit more painful than I was anticipating, at least on the first day. According to Dr. Ferreira, I was probably in the Top 10% of patients he's had in terms of bleeding, and this really messed me up with the local anesthesia, as the bleeding I think flushed the meds out. I sat there for like two hours thinking "man, this really hurts a lot more than I was thinking it would!" until Dr. Ferreira asked how I was doing with the anesthesia and we realized it had worn off. The second day was significantly less uncomfortable with this newfound knowledge.

 

One thing I definitely regret is leaving the morning after the procedure was done. Between the bloody pin pricks all over my head and the swelling, it looked like I had gotten my ass kicked by a porcupine.

 

Oh, and as an aside, this surgery was the first time I had ever had my head fully shaved, and jeez, it confirmed that getting the surgery was really my only option. My head shape is absolutely tragic lmao.

 

The first few months went relatively smoothly.

 

At around 4 months I started to feel like my progress was starting to fall behind where it should have been, and I became rather obsessive. Checking my hairline with a fine tooth comb a dozen times a day was really starting to take a toll on my mental health, so for the past 3 or so months I've actively avoided looking at the hairline. I'm sure the more neurotic among you can relate. 

 

At 7.5 month though now, I'm starting to approach a good final estimation of what my end result will be. I definitely wouldn't say I'm disappointed overall with the surgery, as it still is an undoubtedly huge improvement over where I was before, but I'm not at my goal yet either. I want to be able to style my hair upwards without feeling the need to use dermmatch or toppik to conceal my scalp at the hairline from being see-through, and I'm just not there. I still have to avoid the wind and rain. Now, to be 100% fair, Dr. Ferreira did tell me in my initial consultation all the way back in Summer 2020 that, depending on my expectations, a touch up may be necessary to achieve my goals in terms of density. I was kinda hoping the first surgery would be an absolute home run and that it wouldn't be necessary, but well, in baseball terms, this result is shaping up to be more of an on-base double than a home run. I'll need to take another swing at the ball if I want my home-run end-result, plus I need to get my crown taken care of anyways, so I will be returning to Dr. Ferreria this September to put the finishing touches on this whole years long endeavor. Dr. Ferreira is a cool dude and he did a good job overall, where I’m at right now is honestly more a combination of my high expectations and relatively poor donor area density. But I do feel like I’m 3/4 of the way to where I want to be, and overall am happy I took this plunge, even if the journey is not quite yet complete.

 

I know this post didn’t have any pictures, I thought it would be neater if I just put them all in a timeline in their own post, so that will be posted shortly too.

[ReticentRaccoon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by ReticentRaccoon

[ReticentRaccoon]

Sorry for the absolute mess the pictures are in; I couldn't figure out how to annotate them to show when they were taken, so I just put them in chronological order, starting from the day of the surgery and going until present day, 7.5 months later. If anyone has any tips on editing, I'm all ears.

 

It's funny, just posting these pictures and seeing JUST HOW BAD my hair was before the surgery has given me a whole new sense of appreciation for my results. I had forgotten just how bad it was. I'm still planning on touching up the density at the hairline, so I can be able to style my hair up with zero concerns about dermmatch or toppik or wind or rain or my scalp being see-through. But at the end of the day, I still look so much better than I did before.

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by ReticentRaccoon

[JoeMan]

How many grafts do you expect to get on your next surgery? At what point did you schedule your touch up? He's booked up for a year now so I'm assuming several months ago you decided that you wanted it touched up? 

Do you have pictures of the crown or even the Dr's pictures? Personally I think it came out good but I'm sure a few grafts in the front will thicken it some. I just had mine done with him so I'm following this closely. 

Good luck!

[ReticentRaccoon]

I did ask his assistant for the before pictures on whatsapp a few times but they never got them back to me, and at this point I feel like I'm being a bother asking for them, as I know how busy they are.

 

I knew for sure I was going in for a minor crown procedure (500-800 grafts for the crown according to the Dr) anyways a few months ago, so I got the ball rolling on that. The Dr. said that depending on the final results, we could do a hairline touchup at that point as well, and it's looking like that's what's gonna happen. Not sure how many more grafts will be needed to touch up the hairline density.

[Harry Bosch]

dark hair with light skin is tricky, cosmetically, but I think the vast majority of people would say you've got great hair. 

the gaps in the hairline are so minor, it's something nobody in everyday life would notice or criticize. I see why you'd like the touch up for the full expression of your goals, but definitely appreciate in the meantime that your hair looks good and most guys would be fairly envious of that appearance.

if you need some crown work, then it certainly makes sense to touch-up the hairline too with a follow-up procedure. Dr. F's star patient Rolandes needed two passes to fully hit his mark.  No shame in that.  Having to shave and further deplete donor and endure a second procedure is something I would personally hope to avoid, but if youre comfortable with short hair and have an excess of donor and find yourself at an age where aggressive progression isn't likely (commitment to meds is key, too) then go ahead and do the damn thing

 

[MachoVato]

I think it looks pretty dang good! Remember that you're only at 7.5 months. It will improve in density over the next few months. The hair will improve in thickness.

Most people.. and I do mean MOST people, need at least 2 transplants. It's the only way to get exactly what you want. Some spots won't come in as dense as others, you might want to tweak the hairline, or improve the temple peaks, etc. 

If you want Ferreira again, you need to book now. Most top doctors will need 4 or 5 months lead time. 

[JoeMan]

Can you post a normal picture where you are not trying to expose the issue with the hairline? I'd like to see how noticeable it is just head on like most people will see you.

Edited January 17, 2022 by JoeMan

[ML488]

Very good write up and thank you for sharing ALL those pics. But am I missing something? In all honesty this does look like a home run result to me, wow. Those post op pics from whenever they were, a few weeks or a month after, are some of the best I've ever seen. This doc's work is very clean, always. I like it.

[RandoBrando517]

How much is Ferreira charging?

[JoeMan]

3€ per graft up until I believe 4k grafts, then 2.5€

[ReticentRaccoon]

I told you guys I'm neurotic as hell haha! The point about the light skin is a really good one, my dark hair and skin color do exasperate the issue. I'm trying to be as relistic and understanding about my results so far as possible, because again, they ARE a huge improvement still over where I was, and he absolutely did tell me a touch up for frontal density would be potentially needed depending on my density goals. He's been nothing but above board and cool, nothing bad to say about him. I just want movie star hair lmao, and it's gonna take more than 1 procedure most likely. Here's a few pics of it styled normally, no toppik or dermatch or anything, just how it sits naturally with some hair gel styled to the side. For some reason the hair on the right side of my hairline feels much more wispy/less mature than the left side. Like, it feels like it has less "weight" to it, if that makes any sense? I'm sure someone else will know what I'm talking about lol.

Edited January 17, 2022 by ReticentRaccoon

[ML488]

You have movie star hair. A hairline any straighter or denser would look off in my opinion.

[JoeMan]

Where are you from? I think it looks pretty good to me. Seems like if you blow dry it, might add density? But in the end, you have to like it. Crown picture? 

[ReticentRaccoon]

Orlando, FL. I do like it! I can go out now without feeling the need to hide my hair behind a hat! It's a massive improvement. Just want more density at the front so I can style it up more confidently. I really don't like the scalp see-through when I style it up, it's just a lot more than I'm comfortable with and what my initial goals were. I know I'm being greedy compared to some guys situations on here, I realize this.

 

@JoeMan crown pic

 

@ML488 maybe this better illustrates what I mean? Still an improvement, but just too much scalp see-through and not enough density for me to be comfortable styling it up.

Edited January 17, 2022 by ReticentRaccoon

[JoeMan]

Yeah I think you might be getting a bit greedy but I'm sure he can add a little density for you. I'm just not sure with a white scalp and really dark hair, you'll ever have it to your liking.

 

I'm assuming it's just a 1 day procedure next time. Do you know what day its on? I was just curious since it seems he does Tuesday/Wednesday the Thursday/Friday. Didn't know if 1 day procedures just fall on a Monday or if he booked 2 one day procedures back to back. 

 

[JoeMan]

Is there a minimum procedure cost? Just seems like with minimal crown and hairline work, it's hardly worth it for him. Since typically I'd imagine he gets 1500 grafts a day at least. Again just curious in case I require a few hundred grafts touch up myself. 

[ReticentRaccoon]

@JoeMan 1 day, scheduled for September 22nd, which is a Thursday.

If there is a minimum cost, he's never made it known to me. He seemed willing to proceed when I told him I wanted the crown done even though according to him that would only be 500-800 grafts. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a previous patient and he doesn't want to leave a job unfinished lmao, I'm really not sure. Between the 500-800 for the crown and a couple hundred for the hairline, I feel like we'll end up probably in the 1200ish range total grafts for the 2nd procedure, maybe a little more.

[JoeMan]

Yeah I guess that's close enough to his usual figures to not worry about it. I bet the Wednesday before you is a single day patient as well. 

 

[HappyMan2021]

this is a great 1st procedure and many people would be over the moon if this was their final result for life. 

That being said I can relate to being picky about wanting my hair styled a certain way. 

[AA1989]

Great result! And more time for your HT to mature.

I think it's OK to look for improvements but not to over obsess (easy for me to say I know😊).

The hair/skin contrast is a factor. To put it all in perspective, have a look at pics when you were a kid.
I'm guessing to some degree, the contrast factor was even evident then,  before any hair loss.

[ReticentRaccoon]

OK guys, I'm stressing a bit here. 

 

So, I've been using dry shampoo as part of my daily hair routine for the past 4 or so months due to the extra volume it gives. I

 

Well, the past couple of days for some reason I had been feeling like my hair wasn't as think when I ran my hands through it in the shower. No big deal, right? Well, I just took a picture of the side of my head and all of a sudden I'm noticing a huge amount of what looks to me like thinning and damage. And, no so coincidentally, it's right on the side of my hair where I usually spray the dry shampoo before coming it all the through way through my hair for the added "poof". 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by ReticentRaccoon

[ReticentRaccoon]

I've searched this board but I'm finding a dearth of information on dry shampoo and whether it can cause damage. Google is also giving me conflicting information, with some sources saying not to use it more than two days in a row, while others say it's fine as long as you wash it out and don't let it stay in for multiple days at a time (which I never do).

Obviously, that's not a common area for mpb-related thinning to manifest, so I don't think it's my natural hair loss progression. I can't think of anything else BUT the dry shampoo that could be causing this. Does anyone have experience with dry shampoo damage? Any advice? I've obviously sent this to Dr. Ferreira but I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with dry shampoo and it's effects before, because I'm kind of in the dark with the lack of information here. 

Edited January 20, 2022 by ReticentRaccoon

[JDEE0]

12 minutes ago, ReticentRaccoon said:

I've searched this board but I'm finding a dearth of information on dry shampoo and whether it can cause damage. Google is also giving me conflicting information, with some sources saying not to use it more than two days in a row, while others say it's fine as long as you wash it out and don't let it stay in for multiple days at a time (which I never do).

Obviously, that's not a common area for mpb-related thinning to manifest, so I don't think it's my natural hair loss progression. I can't think of anything else BUT the dry shampoo that could be causing this. Does anyone have experience with dry shampoo damage? Any advice? I've obviously sent this to Dr. Ferreira but I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with dry shampoo and it's effects before, because I'm kind of in the dark with the lack of information here. 

It's just the flash from the camera, it's not thinning. And nah, unless you are allergic to whatever you're putting on your head or something very unusual like that, any product you apply isn't going to cause hair-loss. This is a hormonal issue related to androgens, whilst certain products may be bad for overall 'hair health', they're not going to lead to balding.

[ReticentRaccoon]

2 hours ago, JDEE0 said:

It's just the flash from the camera, it's not thinning. And nah, unless you are allergic to whatever you're putting on your head or something very unusual like that, any product you apply isn't going to cause hair-loss. This is a hormonal issue related to androgens, whilst certain products may be bad for overall 'hair health', they're not going to lead to balding.

Idk man, even with no flash I'm definitely still detecting to a thin patch, and again, it's right where usually spray my dry shampoo into my hair before combing it through. We'll see what Dr Ferreira says, but I'm starting to think I may have fucked myself over inadvertently in my quest for "poofy" hair. 

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by ReticentRaccoon