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My strategy after a failed HT (repair & 0mm shave)


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6 minutes ago, SimpleLife said:

After the advice of @JimKan1 I contacted more doctors:

@BHRClinic- Impressive results with repairs & ethical. Consultation planned 27th.

@Dr. Patrick Mwamba - Impressive results with repairs & ethical. Consultation planned 30th

@Eugenix Hair Sciences - Impressive results, got a quote but I havent seen donor farming or plug extraction cases, so I'm waiting for the representative to show me one. Might do a consultation with dr Sethi/Bansal

dr Feriduni - Initially I was sold, but the best they could offer was a consultation in May 2023. He is in the top3 when it comes repairs imo (from what I've seen), but waiting 1 year just to speak to him? Idk..

@DrTBarghouthi - Impressive results & ethical

Hattingen - Youtuber Matt Dominance had some plugs extracted here with no scarring

Maitland Clinic - Saw a youtube comment from a guy that extracted plugs & said he couldnt detect any scarring, even with a microscope

 

These have a solid trackrecord, but I havent seen cases where they extracted plugs / donor repair

dr Freitas - dr. Arshad - dr Zarev - @Dr. Felipe Pittella - dr Pinto - dr Lorenzo - dr Couto - dr Lupanzula

 

Didnt research the following doctors, since the USA is out of my comfort zone. But they are respected amongst reputable members here, in case they show the confidence that they could take on my case I might go..

dr Bernstein  - dr Wong - dr Shapiro - dr Konior

dr Cooley - Seems to do excellent work with repair cases, but uses electrolysis which I dont prefer tbh based on my research. I intend to do SMP later on, so I can not afford to leave the skin sensitive for a long time.

 

As a Turk I have 0 faith when it comes to HTs in Turkey after my bad experience there, but contacted some anyway. Will only consider it once I see solid evidence of succesfull repair cases.

@Dr. Ozlem Bicer Clinic - No response after a couple emails back & forth

dr Sahinoglu - Never heard of him before, but saw a member named @in2deep who had extracted some grafts with no scarring 

dr Keser

 

My choice will depend on the trackrecord, confidence, timing and budget

Thats great,make sure to talk to all of them , ask them to show you cases similar to yours that they have trated recently and dont be hasty about making a decision

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@SimpleLife-- many of the doctors you've listed are top quality and indicate you did good research. I think you might be a bit young at 24 (depending on loss especially). Can you let us know what your ideal timing and budget are? That would cull the list significantly because American are on the higher end, and some elite European doctors charge around $5 a graft. So if you've got 2000 grafts needed, you're looking at least $10,000 for European doctors and with the top North American doctors (usually around $7-8 a graft) going to around $15,000 on average for that number of grafts. The North American doctors you listed are all very good and you can't go wrong with them imo, but just keep in mind they tend to be more expensive.

Timing is also important because Konior, Couto, Feriduni and Zarev have long wait times (1 - 2 years minimum). Might be a good thing given your age and speaks to their demand/quality, but that's something you'll need to prioritize and decide whether its worth it.

A picture of your hair as-is would also really help because some of the doctors listed are better for high norwoods (e.g. H&W, Eugenix, Pittella), whereas others I've seen (like Mwamba, Konior and Couto) have excellent repair cases. Dr. Barghouthi has some great experience with Middle Eastern men, so something to consider as well. 

I don't know if Zarev takes repair cases. Bicer is the only one I'd look into in Turkey, but if you have the budget and given her office's non-response, you have other solid options outside the country. Like I said, you did great research and have a wonderful list, but I'd focus on culling it down to five or so doctors who are best for your case. Let us know if we can help!

Edit: of that list, I haven't seen anything on Kesser, Sahinoglu, Maitlandm or Lapuanzula. I don't think I'd risk a repair with them. Look into Bisanga too and you should be okay.

Edited by Z--
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53 minutes ago, Z-- said:

@SimpleLife-- many of the doctors you've listed are top quality and indicate you did good research. I think you might be a bit young at 24 (depending on loss especially). Can you let us know what your ideal timing and budget are? That would cull the list significantly because American are on the higher end, and some elite European doctors charge around $5 a graft. So if you've got 2000 grafts needed, you're looking at least $10,000 for European doctors and with the top North American doctors (usually around $7-8 a graft) going to around $15,000 on average for that number of grafts. The North American doctors you listed are all very good and you can't go wrong with them imo, but just keep in mind they tend to be more expensive.

Timing is also important because Konior, Couto, Feriduni and Zarev have long wait times (1 - 2 years minimum). Might be a good thing given your age and speaks to their demand/quality, but that's something you'll need to prioritize and decide whether its worth it.

A picture of your hair as-is would also really help because some of the doctors listed are better for high norwoods (e.g. H&W, Eugenix, Pittella), whereas others I've seen (like Mwamba, Konior and Couto) have excellent repair cases. Dr. Barghouthi has some great experience with Middle Eastern men, so something to consider as well. 

I don't know if Zarev takes repair cases. Bicer is the only one I'd look into in Turkey, but if you have the budget and given her office's non-response, you have other solid options outside the country. Like I said, you did great research and have a wonderful list, but I'd focus on culling it down to five or so doctors who are best for your case. Let us know if we can help!

Edit: of that list, I haven't seen anything on Kesser, Sahinoglu, Maitlandm or Lapuanzula. I don't think I'd risk a repair with them. Look into Bisanga too and you should be okay.

Thanks for your input man, appreciate the help👊 Yes youre right I did quite a bit of research. 

My goal is to have no hair on top with a repaired donor & a fullscalp SMP once everything is healed. I've given up on having a full head of hair, so in my case age is probably irrevelvant.

I can take $5 per graft or a little higher, as long as this mess is fixed. I'm afraid that it might be much higher tho, in the video of Matt Dominance he talked about some people getting quotes of 7k just to remove 150 plugs (if I remember correctly). Idk what I would do if thats the case..

Regarding timing, I want to fix everything asap ngl. I like to do some stuff regular people do before I turn 30. Only with Feriduni I would consider waiting 1 year for a consultation because I've seen 4 cases of him with no scarring after plugs were removed and he is a couple hours away from me

I've reached the max 3 messages today, but I'll PM you my pictures tomorrow

Edited by SimpleLife
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Btw I have changed my plan after doing some research so the initial post isnt really correct anymore. 

I thought that I could achieve a buzzcut look without the SMP, but concluced that this is not realistic

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3 minutes ago, SimpleLife said:

Btw I have changed my plan after doing some research so the initial post isnt really correct anymore. 

I thought that I could achieve a buzzcut look without the SMP, but concluced that this is not realistic

what is the plan now? donor repair and removing the grafts?

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6 minutes ago, SimpleLife said:

Thanks for your input man, appreciate the help👊 Yes youre right I did quite a bit of research. 

My goal is to have no hair on top with a repaired donor & a fullscalp SMP once everything is healed. I've given up on having a full head of hair, so in my case age is probably irrevelvant.

I can take $5 per graft or a little higher, as long as this mess is fixed. I'm afraid that it might be much higher tho, in the video of Matt Dominance he talked about some people getting quotes of 7k just to remove 150 plugs (if I remember correctly). Idk what I would do if thats the case..

Regarding timing, I want to fix everything asap ngl. I like to do some stuff regular people do before I turn 30. Only with Feriduni I would consider waiting 1 year for a consultation because I've seen 4 cases of him with no scarring after plugs were removed and he is a couple hours away from me

I've reached the max 3 messages today, but I'll PM you my pictures tomorrow

Np! Glad you found the forum. I'll keep an eye out for the photos.

Understood on the goal, and I think with $5 a graft, it should open you up to many of the elite the European doctors. I'd honestly drop the North American ones that that range. If it's repairing, Bisanga/Mwamba/Feriduni are all close by and strike me as good options. I do think repairs are a more expensive, but if it's just repairing, it might still be in a reasonable price range -- usually people try to get coverage on top of the repair, which might explain the pricing.

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38 minutes ago, JimKan1 said:

what is the plan now? donor repair and removing the grafts?

Yepp, place the grafts in the recipient back into the donor, so it looks like this

After everything is healed shave it down to 0 and do a full scalp SMP 

barandbench%2F2022-05%2F767d7324-70c3-4251-8b53-9ab528764050%2FKERALA_HC_WEB_PAGE_1600x900fg.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&format=webp&w=400&dpr=2.6

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33 minutes ago, Z-- said:

Np! Glad you found the forum. I'll keep an eye out for the photos.

Understood on the goal, and I think with $5 a graft, it should open you up to many of the elite the European doctors. I'd honestly drop the North American ones that that range. If it's repairing, Bisanga/Mwamba/Feriduni are all close by and strike me as good options. I do think repairs are a more expensive, but if it's just repairing, it might still be in a reasonable price range -- usually people try to get coverage on top of the repair, which might explain the pricing.

Yeh also with the travelling, assuming that I need at least 3 surgeries, its not realistic. Nevertheless I'm open for it, as long as everything is fixed

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2 hours ago, SimpleLife said:

Yeh also with the travelling, assuming that I need at least 3 surgeries, its not realistic. Nevertheless I'm open for it, as long as everything is fixed

I don't have too much advice, but I used to have a TON of dandruff. It's really bad for your scalp health and annoying in general. I'd highly recommend using ketoconazole shampoo once every three days for 3-4 weeks. It got rid of dandruff for me completely, didn't even use the whole bottle. All I have to contribute lol, good luck!

https://www.amazon.com/Nizoral-Anti-Dandruff-Shampoo-Ketoconazole-Dandruff/dp/B00AINMFAC?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

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2 hours ago, stephcurry30 said:

Op I am sorry about your awful results. I'm rooting and praying for you. Do you have any photos of the surgery of before and after? Also who was your surgeon?

Thanks man, appreciate the kind words

It wasnt done by a surgeon, but a Turkish clinic which I found on insta🤦‍♂️

Ive reached the limit of 3 messages today so I'll PM my pictures to you tomorrow

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36 minutes ago, Axel said:

I don't have too much advice, but I used to have a TON of dandruff. It's really bad for your scalp health and annoying in general. I'd highly recommend using ketoconazole shampoo once every three days for 3-4 weeks. It got rid of dandruff for me completely, didn't even use the whole bottle. All I have to contribute lol, good luck!

https://www.amazon.com/Nizoral-Anti-Dandruff-Shampoo-Ketoconazole-Dandruff/dp/B00AINMFAC?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

Thanks for the advice

I remember when I got the transplant they had to brush off the dandruff in an aggressive way, it simply wouldnt come off

I've used Nizoral for a while, without much results but will try it again with more consistency

Atm I use babyshampoo, saltwater and a brush but it doesnt help that much. 

I never moisturize my scalp tho, maybe thats the missing piece..

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I'm really sorry you are going through this. 

I am just speculating as I have not seen photos or true specifics of your case. 

But I would say really heavy duty repair cases with an elite surgeon could, at worst, be 3-4 surgeries, $80k cost, and span 2-3 years. 

If you can accept this as the worst case scenario, then you have nothing to fear (who knows, perhaps the repair will be much easier than this 🙂)

If you are able to wear a hair system while you are going through the repair process, I think you will at least be able to enjoy life and to some extent keep your hair stresses separate from your everyday life. 

Edited by HappyMan2021
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1 hour ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I'm really sorry you are going through this. 

I am just speculating as I have not seen photos or true specifics of your case. 

But I would say really heavy duty repair cases with an elite surgeon could, at worst, be 3-4 surgeries, $80k cost, and span 2-3 years. 

If you can accept this as the worst case scenario, then you have nothing to fear (who knows, perhaps the repair will be much easier than this 🙂)

If you are able to wear a hair system while you are going through the repair process, I think you will at least be able to enjoy life and to some extent keep your hair stresses separate from your everyday life. 

Appreciate your input man, will PM you pictures today

If its $80k or even half of that I'm royally screwed. 

I plan on extracting a lot of grafts (2000?) from the front, so I dont think wearing a wig is an option, it might have an effect on the healing process there with all the glue etc. 
I dont mind living in isolation for another 3 years

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3 minutes ago, SimpleLife said:

Appreciate your input man, will PM you pictures today

 

that would be great. I actually had my own repair HT with Dr. Mwamba last week! I don't believe my case was as bad as yours (I had 600 badly angled grafts) but I can try to help

4 minutes ago, SimpleLife said:

If its $80k or even half of that I'm royally screwed. 

 

I just really threw this # out there and have no clue. Definitely ask about price when you are in your consults. There is no shame in that and doctors get asked that all the time. Hair transplants, especially repairs, are expensive

 

6 minutes ago, SimpleLife said:

I plan on extracting a lot of grafts (2000?) from the front, so I dont think wearing a wig is an option, it might have an effect on the healing process there with all the glue etc. 
I dont mind living in isolation for another 3 years

true about the wig. Hmmm. Maybe you can just shave it all and live life bald until your repair is complete. Regarding the scars, perhaps you can do SMP in the interim on those areas (really not sure).

At the very least, on a daily basis, you could likely use concealer or something and cover up those scars. 

In my case, for my own badly angled grafts, it was literally impossible to style my hair naturally. But after much trial and error I was able to style it pretty well with product. I hated how high maintenance it was - I could never simply spend a second brushing my hair and be done, but it did its job concealing the bad angles. 

I definitely realize your case is more challenging than mine, but point being there are loads and loads of beauty and fashion tips and tools out there that can make your scalp appearance manageable while you wait to get repaired. 

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4 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

that would be great. I actually had my own repair HT with Dr. Mwamba last week! I don't believe my case was as bad as yours (I had 600 badly angled grafts) but I can try to help

I just really threw this # out there and have no clue. Definitely ask about price when you are in your consults. There is no shame in that and doctors get asked that all the time. Hair transplants, especially repairs, are expensive

 

true about the wig. Hmmm. Maybe you can just shave it all and live life bald until your repair is complete. Regarding the scars, perhaps you can do SMP in the interim on those areas (really not sure).

At the very least, on a daily basis, you could likely use concealer or something and cover up those scars. 

In my case, for my own badly angled grafts, it was literally impossible to style my hair naturally. But after much trial and error I was able to style it pretty well with product. I hated how high maintenance it was - I could never simply spend a second brushing my hair and be done, but it did its job concealing the bad angles. 

I definitely realize your case is more challenging than mine, but point being there are loads and loads of beauty and fashion tips and tools out there that can make your scalp appearance manageable while you wait to get repaired. 

I'm happy that you got it fixed man, dr Mwamba is an excellent choice based on what I've seen.

I could do to the things you described, will see. A bit early to think about those things and living in isolation wouldnt bother me tbh as long as there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

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On 6/12/2022 at 2:03 PM, SimpleLife said:

After the advice of @JimKan1 I contacted more doctors:

@BHRClinic- Impressive results with repairs & ethical. Consultation planned 27th.

@Dr. Patrick Mwamba - Impressive results with repairs & ethical. Consultation planned 30th

@Eugenix Hair Sciences - Impressive results, got a quote but I havent seen donor farming or plug extraction cases, so I'm waiting for the representative to show me one. Might do a consultation with dr Sethi/Bansal

dr Feriduni - Initially I was sold, but the best they could offer was a consultation in May 2023. He is in the top3 when it comes repairs imo (from what I've seen), but waiting 1 year just to speak to him? Idk..

@DrTBarghouthi - Impressive results & ethical

Hattingen - Youtuber Matt Dominance had some plugs extracted here with no scarring

Maitland Clinic - Saw a youtube comment from a guy that extracted plugs & said he couldnt detect any scarring, even with a microscope

 

These have a solid trackrecord, but I havent seen cases where they extracted plugs / donor repair

dr Freitas - dr. Arshad - dr Zarev - @Dr. Felipe Pittella - dr Pinto - dr Lorenzo - dr Couto - dr Lupanzula

 

Didnt research the following doctors, since the USA is out of my comfort zone. But they are respected amongst reputable members here, in case they show the confidence that they could take on my case I might go..

dr Bernstein  - dr Wong - dr Shapiro - dr Konior

dr Cooley - Seems to do excellent work with repair cases, but uses electrolysis which I dont prefer tbh based on my research. I intend to do SMP later on, so I can not afford to leave the skin sensitive for a long time.

 

As a Turk I have 0 faith when it comes to HTs in Turkey after my bad experience there, but contacted some anyway. Will only consider it once I see solid evidence of succesfull repair cases.

@Dr. Ozlem Bicer Clinic - No response after a couple emails back & forth

dr Sahinoglu - Never heard of him before, but saw a member named @in2deep who had extracted some grafts with no scarring 

dr Keser

 

My choice will depend on the trackrecord, confidence, timing and budget

The following surgeons are off the table:

dr Lorenzo, ''your donor area is depleted so it is very difficult to fix'' & he doesn't accept young patients that don't use finasteride

dr Zarev - dr Pittella, no response and probably a very long waiting list

dr Pinto - dr Couto, don't take new cases because of the long waiting list

dr Freitas, still possible but it takes 2 months for him to take a look at the pictures and evaluate the case so I'm not counting on it

 

Progress:

dr Barghouthi - Had a good chat with him, he is defintely an option. Checked ticket prices to Jordan and its not skyhigh. I need multiple operations, so planning for it might be difficult tho..

dr Bicer - Will do an online consultation, didn't pick a date yet

Eugenix - The correspondent confirmed they could solve my problem, so I will probably do an online consultation with dr Sethi or dr Bansal to confirm

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Just had an online consultation with dr Bicer.

To sum it up, she warned me against making impulsive decisions. Her advice was to try to stop the hairloss first and make decisions based on the progress rather than making assumptions for the future. She also pointed out that if scarring in my donor bothers me, scarring in the frontal hairline would bother me even more.

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4 hours ago, SimpleLife said:

To sum it up, she warned me against making impulsive decisions.

I don't think you are being impulsive at all really. You have come to the forum, doing your research,, getting as much advice and getting as many consults as possible. 

I think its just hard for alot of these doctors to look past the fact you are 24. Despite what you may feel, 24 is still incredibly young. 24 year olds really shouldnt be having any hair transplants at all in the 1st place, and you are presenting as a 24 yr old with a complex repair case. 

I think a super valuable tip as you do all these consults as well is please keep in mind that HTs are an elective cosmetic surgery and doctors can and absolutely do cherry pick the cases they want to work on. It's not like being injured and going to the ER where doctors are sworn to care for you. 

Doctors may reject you for a variety of stated reasons, but when it comes down to it they may feel they lack the experience to handle a complex repair case like yours, or quite frankly perhaps they don't want to deal with the drama and baggage of a jaded repair patient, when they have lines out the door of eager, happy, easy 1st time HT patients. 

So dont get your hopes down if some consults don't go as planned. Bicer is not known as a repair doctor. I don't think Zarev is either. Still do consults with as many reputable doctors as possible, but really only take stock on what the elite repair docs say. 

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3 hours ago, hairman22 said:

i wouldnt risk damaging your donor.

maybe smp for the donor and use the rest of the donor for your scalp

There is no donor left brother🤣

I'll send u pics so you understand what I mean..

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9 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I don't think you are being impulsive at all really. You have come to the forum, doing your research,, getting as much advice and getting as many consults as possible. 

True, but they dont know that. I could tell m that I did my research, but ''research'' is a very open word. They will probably think that I checked a couple articles on google, thats it🤣

9 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I think its just hard for alot of these doctors to look past the fact you are 24. Despite what you may feel, 24 is still incredibly young. 24 year olds really shouldnt be having any hair transplants at all in the 1st place, and you are presenting as a 24 yr old with a complex repair case. 

Yes true, if I was a doctor I would be hesitant towards operating on a 24 year old as well. Feel like she wanted to protect me from myself which is totally understandable. 

9 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I think a super valuable tip as you do all these consults as well is please keep in mind that HTs are an elective cosmetic surgery and doctors can and absolutely do cherry pick the cases they want to work on. It's not like being injured and going to the ER where doctors are sworn to care for you. 

Doctors may reject you for a variety of stated reasons, but when it comes down to it they may feel they lack the experience to handle a complex repair case like yours, or quite frankly perhaps they don't want to deal with the drama and baggage of a jaded repair patient, when they have lines out the door of eager, happy, easy 1st time HT patients. 

Thanks for pointing that out man. When I think about it that way youre right. At the end of the day they are effectively artists that want to have a good portfolio of their artwork. Nevertheless, it doesnt feel good to be told that my case isnt fixable

9 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

So dont get your hopes down if some consults don't go as planned. Bicer is not known as a repair doctor. I don't think Zarev is either. Still do consults with as many reputable doctors as possible, but really only take stock on what the elite repair docs say. 

The reason I do consultations with doctors that are not really known for repairs is because they might show me one their cases in private. But I got green light from dr Barghouthi & Eugenix and have high hopes from dr Bisanga and dr Mwamba so the battle is still on

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