Second HT at age 34, Eugenix (Arika Bansal)

[quillum]

Hello to all forum members!

I’m just here to briefly document my second (and hopefully last) HT journey, as I did it for the first HT. It was very useful and inspiring to see other people’s experiences and results, so I’m happy to share mine.

I am going to keep it brief but substantial! I’m not a native english speaker so excuse me for any mistakes and errors.

My first hair transplant

My first HT was in 2015, I was 27 y.o. and had a receding hairline (coupled with a big forehead!), NW2.

I already posted a thread in 2015 about it (but the pictures have for some reason disappeared so I will try to post them again), but to sum it up:

FUT technique with Dr Radha Palakurti (she did an incredible job in my opinion)

1 hair grafts 640

2 hair grafts 2064

3 hair grafts 319

Total number of grafts 3023

Overall, the experience was amazing and the results were very good, in my opinion.

 

Dr Radha was conservative on the approach, and luckily I have a very generous donor, so I had room for more surgeries in the following years.

Now the time has finally come!

 

My current situation

 

My hair have held up very well after my first HT, and I haven’t loss any crown hair, the receding has pretty much stopped (considering my family history I should be completely bald by now - all the men in my mum’s family are bald)

Probably this is also thanks to 0.5mg Finasteride a day, I started taking it 1 year ago (never taken before), because I was noticing more receding.
Minoxidil didn’t really do it for me anymore… I started when I was about 18 y.o. on and off, and it was very effective at the beginning, but I guess my body got used to it and it didn’t really work that much anymore.

Also, I hated the greasy and oily hair it leaves. I am just over it for good.

Furthermore, he staff at Eugenix told me to stop taking it at least 45 days preop (not looking to using it again, as they also suggested me not to)

Now at age 34, I have been told by all the surgeons that I have talked to that my situation should be finally stabilized, and I can consider my second surgery.

 

The upcoming surgery with Eugenix

 

My clinic of choice was Eugenix (with Dr Arika Bansal); I think they have outstanding results.

I am using the exclusive package option.

The staff member I am in contact with (Aditya) is super helpful and always available.

I had to change my surgery date from february 2022 to 12th of march 2022, and they were very accomodating with that.

So far great experience!

We expect to be using about 1700 grafts, but let’s see when we come to the in-person consultation. I believe we will need  more than 2000, to create a bit lower hairline and fill in in the receding areas behind the first HT (nothing too dramatic but there is thinning...)

 

That’s it for now, I will keep you posted and send updates as we go (I hope that I’ll be able to travel without problems, and that the flight doesn’t get delayed or canceled!)

 

[Gatsby]

You’ve chosen one of the best surgeons in the world. Aditya was also my contact person prior to my surgery at Eugenix one month ago. Stay on the Finasteride and ask Aditya all the questions you want. You will be treated like royalty at Eugenix on every level and I look forward to following your results which will be incredible. All the best! 

[Britanium]

Good luck with ht no2 👍🏽 You chose a fantastic clinic ! 

[SLA]

...and BTW, your English is fantastic. You sound like a native speaker :).

[MazAB]

Very happy for you already. They will guide you every step of the way and just be sure to let them grab your hand and lead you thru the process.

Trust is the key to success with Eugenix.

Do you have any before pics you care to include?

Follow my Journey with Eugenix and Dr Arika Bansal!

[quillum]

Sure I wanted to post some pics.

Photos just before my first HT (2015)

 

Here photos of hairline design and just after the first HT (2015)

 

 

 

 

Recent photos with wet/dry hair and natural light

[quillum]

On 2/25/2022 at 12:00 AM, SLA said:

...and BTW, your English is fantastic. You sound like a native speaker :).

thanks!

[quillum]

On 2/22/2022 at 11:29 AM, Gatsby said:

You’ve chosen one of the best surgeons in the world. Aditya was also my contact person prior to my surgery at Eugenix one month ago. Stay on the Finasteride and ask Aditya all the questions you want. You will be treated like royalty at Eugenix on every level and I look forward to following your results which will be incredible. All the best! 

great to hear that!! thanks so much

[quillum]

Ok so guys here is my update just after the HT at Eugenix. There was a bit of delay due to the clinic so most of the surgery was moved to the 13th!

Yesterday (the 12th of march) I met with Dr. Arika and she quickly drew an hairline (you can see that she has experience  - and no time to lose!), then I decided to lower it a bit more and she said it would have been ok. We didn't discuss about remaning donor hair if I will need amnother procedure in the future (hopefully not!, but I still would have liked to have a review aboiut this important aspect - but maybe there is still time for that!).

I was initially quoted with 1700 grafts needed but I knew it was going to be more. She said we might ahve reached 2000, we ended up with around 2240 slits, if I remember correctly.

I have no details yet about graft type and count.

After hairline design, Dr Arika did all the slits, silently, quickly and efficiently. Her strong presence reminded me of Dr. Radha, with whom I did my first HT (btw, is she still active? She never replied to my last emails, she always used to).

Then we went into the first 200 something grafts (thats all we could do in that day - it was already late), done by members of the  team - I don't know who exactly, as they move between different surgery rooms...  on that day they told me they did 7 surgeries. Wow... As long as they keep the quality to the top, it's fine by me...

Some of the names I wrote down are: Sushant, Sudhir and Bapun. They were all very young.

Next day I got picked up at 9am and we went for the main extraction and implantation session. To be brief, I have to say the staff works really well, even though you never know exactly who's working on you, and they don't tell you much about what's going on (except mainly asking if you're feeling pain - then you get some more anestesia shots)... but everyone seems and feels professional.

Some of the staff members speaks good English, normally the ones in the blue shirts - I guess they are the Sr doctors - but most of the time I was with red shirt doctors (I assumed they were the juniors - i might be wrong though). Even 5 people at the same can be working on you!

The procedure lasted until 4pm approx. I leave you to the pictures before / during/ after that I took (I will also post the ones from Eugenix whe I Have them)

 

 

[quillum]

Now I would ask you guys an opinion. I was suggested by Dr Arika to cover the FUT scar with 800 grafts of beard hair. I still have not decided. 
What do you think? I can still decide if doing it tomorrow...

 

[Ryan Daniel]

It's a very thin scar. 

You can easily cover it with beard grafts, why not? I would! 

Also since it's thin you also cover it with Scalp Micro Pigmentation. It's your choice!

[quillum]

8 minutes ago, Ryan Daniel said:

It's a very thin scar. 

You can easily cover it with beard grafts, why not? I would! 

Also since it's thin you also cover it with Scalp Micro Pigmentation. It's your choice!

micropigemntation i'ts a really good idea in this case, actually... I guess it's also cheaper

[quillum]

Hi guys so I'm on day 6 after HT, and before leaving (2 day after main surgery), I decided to put some beard grafts in the FUT scar, as suggested by dr Arika.
She said I would have needed 800 grafts, but in the end only 400 were necessary, so that's great.

All is going well, scabs are not removed yet so, so I will post some photos of that once that I was them in a couple days.

So far, the only worry I have is the way the donor looks, it seems a bit uneven and patchy in natural light.

approx 2200 grafts were taken from there (and my whole scalp was previously untouched, except for the FUT scar that now is covered by beard hair)

Give me your opinions please! thanks guys

Edited March 19, 2022 by quillum

[quillum]

Some more pics with artificial lighting this time - to me it looks a bit rough over where FUT scar used to be..

Any feedback at all? 

Thanks!

 

 

[MazAB]

Wow! Looks amazing! FUT scar has vanished, donor is healing great as well. They did very good, clean work on you!

[quillum]

17 minutes ago, MazAB said:

Wow! Looks amazing! FUT scar has vanished, donor is healing great as well. They did very good, clean work on you!

Thanks for your feedback @MazAB

[quillum]

18 minutes ago, MazAB said:

Wow! Looks amazing! FUT scar has vanished, donor is healing great as well. They did very good, clean work on you!

Actually they told me that survival rate is about 80% for scars as there is less blood flow in the area, but it could be less!

I hope the best and thay they will all happily stay in there and grow healthy!

[Sam-SYD]

Hey

 

What was the reason you didn't go with Dr Radha for your 2nd HT?  I spoke to her and she is also doing FUE

[Steady45]

Hey man, any updates?

I'm booked in and ready to go with Dr Bansal in a month from now so would be great to hear how you're going

Edited August 16, 2022 by Steady45

[MazAB]

Same here, would love to see an update.

[quillum]

Hi Guys, very sorry for not getting an update eariler, but have been really busy.

The ugly ducking phase was bad, but I guess that's the same for everybody. Now I am at month 7, and things look better.

I am quite happy with the result so far in the frontal area (still some months to go). Not very happy about how the donor looks and the amount of grafts I have left for the future

I found out (after the surgery) that I maybe have some sort of diffuse thinning or retrograde alopecia on the sides, and probably I wouldn't have been an ideal transplant candidate.

I talked about it also with Dr Sethi via Whatsapp (I had a great dinner with him and other patients, even though he didn't  participate in my surgery), and basically he said "let's hope that Finasteride keeps working or it will be a problem".

I have something in the range of 2k grafts left in my donor, if all goes well... that's worrying me a bit of course.

My current concerns (pics will follow) are:

1) donor looks quite depleted and patchy, I think too much to be acceptable. I want to be able to have relatively short hair without looking like this (the first HT I had left a FUT scar but that was MUCH better than this, and easier to hide). even with long hair you can see that scarcity is obvious compared to the top. looking forward for your feedback

2) the front looks ok, and I know I still have a few months to get the final result, so it's hard to give a final thought about it!, but the air behind the frontal area, especially when wet, it's not very dense (I know some of it is behind the transplanted area, but still, I have to think about it. I have been taking Finasteride regularly.

 

I think I am going to get permanent SMP, surely for my donor and sides, and most likely also for the front and midscalp, to better disguise the not dense frontal and upper area.

I would like to know the memebers opinions on this.

Apart from this, team at Eugenix all have been very helpful and supportive, but I think that with some more forward- looking I might have considered not doing the surgery or doing it with another approach. I recognize my fault in this, but I also have to say that they might take a better look at eat patient - I did not get assessed very deeply and with a lot of "thinking about the future". I can't just hope that Finasteride keeps my existing hair forever, what if I lose them? not much backup plan at that point!

The team at Eugenix told me they will help me in the future in case I need, we'll see how that goes and mean!.

Looking forward to have your feedback regarding SMP for giving an illusion of density on my scalp - it will be great to hear your opinions!

So I have to be honest, not amazed by it, but I recognize my fault in not "studying" enough.

Now I am looking to solve the estethical issue with permanent SMP, and I look forward to your opinions on this. THere is a very good SMP artist if Florence, where I live, this one. I am going to probably have the first session in a few months. 

 

[Z--]

I think it's a decent result in terms of the what grew -- the hairline holds well and I don't think anyone with a transplant will look "great" with wet hair; when wet the illusion of the hairs not being native is readily apparent. I think it looks more natural now.

That said, I say this as someone who likes Eugenix and thinks they do good work, but there are unfortunately serious red flags here.

I don't understand why each less than ideal result with them partially (or mainly) stems from a rushed planning stage. This is now the 4th case or so I've seen on the website alone where folks say that the planning phase just seemed to go by and alternatives not properly discussed, particularly trade-offs like lowering the hairline and needing future donor reserves. Completely unacceptable that risk of future loss/diffuse loss wasn't made clear. That isn't your fault at all.

I would also be disappointed with the donor overharvesting. Third time this has happened here...SMP should fix it and make it easy to hide, but that really shouldn't be happening.

Again not your fault. I think the clinic should reduce the number of patients each doctor sees per day. I assume with this doctor that you picked a higher package, which is even less excusable that these problems occured.

[quillum]

3 hours ago, Z-- said:

I think it's a decent result in terms of the what grew -- the hairline holds well and I don't think anyone with a transplant will look "great" with wet hair; when wet the illusion of the hairs not being native is readily apparent. I think it looks more natural now.

That said, I say this as someone who likes Eugenix and thinks they do good work, but there are unfortunately serious red flags here.

I don't understand why each less than ideal result with them partially (or mainly) stems from a rushed planning stage. This is now the 4th case or so I've seen on the website alone where folks say that the planning phase just seemed to go by and alternatives not properly discussed, particularly trade-offs like lowering the hairline and needing future donor reserves. Completely unacceptable that risk of future loss/diffuse loss wasn't made clear. That isn't your fault at all.

I would also be disappointed with the donor overharvesting. Third time this has happened here...SMP should fix it and make it easy to hide, but that really shouldn't be happening.

Again not your fault. I think the clinic should reduce the number of patients each doctor sees per day. I assume with this doctor that you picked a higher package, which is even less excusable that these problems occured.

Yes I agree with what you say. the growing results are good - let's see how it looks in a few months anyways, there should be more growing.

The planning and slits were done by Dr. Arika, so I was not on the basic package. Even if, honestly, there was not much "planning" involved.

I rememberon my first surgery with Radha there was a lot more discussion and not only about my hairline position but my future hairloss and more.

Anyways, I was not very smart willing to lower the hairline or to have a second transplant, and I feel that's my "fault". But again, if I was presented with a long term plan and if someone had a proper look at my donor density etc, I would have easily changed my mind.

Also, the way the donor is depleted and patchy is really not satisfying to me (considering this is just my first FUE procedure). Even with longer hair, it looks pretty bad. Before, with the STRIP scar by the FUT procedure, I only had to worry about that linear scar, now all the back of my head is pretty messed up, and I have to spend more money for SMP.

Again, team at Eugenix have been doing follow-ups with me and I appreciate it, and told me I shouldn't worry, but I don't feel too sure about that.

 

[Zinedine]

Hi quillum,

I am sorry to say this but, I think your hair and overall look was a lot better before this FUE procedure. And it's not just your donor but your hairline looks really diffused... What are your thoughts on the before-after? The quality of the hair seems a lot worse now.

Are you still taking your Finasteride? Have you consider increasing the dose to 1mg? Or even changing to Dutasteride, maybe? Have they suggested this from the clinic? And Minoxidil? 

Well, let's wait a few months since all might recover a bit and get better. Thanks a lot for sharing your story.

[Ryan Daniel]

Your hairline will get fuller because you're still at month 7

Unfortunately your donor area will stay as it is. SMP is the soluction, especially if you keep it longer it will look great