EUGENIX | Norwood 3, Diffused Thinning 2,507 Grafts

[mkr]

Hi all, 

I have been lurking on this forum for quite some time. First of all, I have to thank everyone for their perspectives on the various topics and chats, as it's really given me a lot of insight into various different hair clinics. Based on all of the excellent results I've seen from Eugenix, I decided to go with them, and I'm currently sitting in my hotel room getting ready for the pre-op consultation with Dr. Arika Bansal. I don't know if it's the pre-hair transplant nerves or if these are things of legitimate concern, but I feel as if the last two weeks I've seen some subpar results from Eugenix on this forum that can't be blamed on unforeseen circumstances. Things from misangulated temples to mismanaged donor areas. 

I chose the Premium Package myself. I initially was very impressed with the level of communication from Aditya. After I submitted my photos, he called me asking if I was on Finasteride. At the time I was not, and I expressed my concerns around the side effects. He ultimately convinced me that with my progression of balding, that I would not be a great transplant candidate at this time without using it. Not what I wanted to hear, but I appreciated the honesty. His assurance gave me the confidence to give Finasteride a shot, and I've been fortunate enough to not report any side effects. It's worked quite well for me so far, thickening up my hair and bringing back some vellus hair at the hair line. 

However, once I had submitted my deposit, and I was handed off to a lower level coordinator to continue, I became a bit more concerned. Every bit of info I asked for became a chore to get.

The hotel's address, the check in process, the travel arrangements, more info on the blood reports, etc. I didn't think too much of it, because I was able to get most of the information by repeatedly asking. 

Now for the flight. My flight delayed by approximately two hours. My original arrival time was 12:55am, but by the time we took off, it was estimated to be 3am. I informed my coordinator and figured it would be late for her, so I asked if I could get driver's info beforehand or if I would be able to find them with a sign or anything so that I wouldn't have to bother her. She assured me that she would send the driver's info 2 hours prior to landing and that I could contact her if I needed anything.

Alright, I thought, I'll trust her. I had wifi on the plane, so when I didn't hear from her an hour prior to landing, I messaged her that I would be landing in an hour. No response. 

Get off the plane at 3am. I messaged her again. No response. I tried calling her multiple times. No response. I make it to immigration. And finally as I'm about to pass immigration, she messages me the driver's number, but not much else. I try calling the number, and I have difficulty connecting. Eventually, the driver messages me on WhatsApp, but it took about 20 minutes to find each other. I'd never been to India, so I was nervous I was going to be stuck at the airport trying to get myself to the hotel at 4am already exhausted from a long travel. 

It would have been much easier if she had just told me that there was a man standing with a sign saying "Double Tree by Hilton, Gurgram" but I didn't know that I was supposed to look for that... I honestly was never even told if it was going to be a driver from the hotel or the clinic or some other arrangement. Just that she would send me the driver's info 2 hours prior to landing. 

I didn't think much of it at first, to be honest, because quality of hair transplant doesn't directly correlate with coordinating travel... but today, as I decided to browse the forums again today, I just noticed recent mismanagement of donors / angulation of hairs being off, and I'm just wondering if in the process of scaling / expanding, they are hiring some subpar staff / techs... 

At the end of the day, it all went well and I made it here safely, but the lack of communication and care at this point already is terrifying to me. Basically at this point, I'm sitting in my hotel room wondering if I caught this clinic at a bad time of scaling and am reconsidering whether or not to actually go through with it.  

At the same time, I'm also encouraged by all of the past work that they've done, and I know that they can do a fantastic job... I will express my concerns to them and I think my pre-op discussion with Dr. Arika today will basically give me the answer to my question...

Anyhow, I'm attaching photos of my head that I took on March 11. I was not on Fin or Min at that time. I took Min for several years prior, but stopped in October thinking it would be a good idea to "clear real estate" prior to getting a hair transplant. That was a terrible idea. Hair loss was crazy. I've taken Fin since March 28. 

I actually feel pretty good about the results from fin so far, and am partially questioning if that will suffice for me without the transplant...

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Would love to get your guys' thoughts! 

MARCH 11

 

MAY 17

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Melvin- Moderator
added graft count

[Monero]

I will be there next week. And yes, the original agent was way more knowable than the second one. I suppose they are paid very different. I did not checked much this forum last months, but today noticed one bad review of Eugenix. I think you should not be worried that much. They are still good clinic. 

I do hope you will write more in next days. Can you ask them how many patients will Arika manage at the time you will be there. 

[SLA]

Finasteride is definitely having a positive effect on you!

Hang in there and definitely express your concerns to Dr. Arika as I am sure they will then pay special close attention.

[Mike10]

I think you should be comfortable with your decision, the clinic and the whole process. If you have doubts, you shoudlc cancel in my opinion. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Finasteride is definitely working, though I would say you are a diffused Norwood 5 not 3. There is no perfect clinic, what you should look for is how the clinic handles poor cases. That is the most important thing. That said, if you don't feel comfortable, nothing wrong with not getting surgery. After all, doing nothing is never a bad choice. 

[Ryan Daniel]

Hair growth from medication is more appreciated than it is with surgery. It is a delight to see that you are responding to it

I've just starting taking oral finasteride 3 weeks ago, 1mg everyday.. and so far it's been good

You are a good candidate for hair transplantation, focus on making sure you get an age appropriate hairline to ensure maximum coverage behind it, rather than going for a lower hairline and bringing temple points forward... eventually after a few years once you have everything established you can decide to do this, but you are not in a position to go for aggressive hair line designs. For the current situation, I estimate you will need around 2500 - 3000 grafts. It could be less but for the hairline zone and also fill all gabs in midscalp.. this will definitely give you a satisfying result full of density in one session

When you arrive at the clinic, take your time with everyone, you are in control.. nobody else is. Everyone is nice and helpful at the clinic! Don't get overwhelmed by the staff members telling you to do this and that,  and that... and this...  whatever happens, make sure you have a sit down discussion with the doctor exactly before entering the surgical room. Making sure all plans and designs are agreed and both parties are happy.  Other than that... you will be in good hands with the clinic

Good luck @mkr

[drawdownfx]

Hey man sorry you had to go through that scare but am glad you and driver eventually linked up! Hope your journey goes smooth I completely understand your concern with the clinic but see what kind of vibe is given to you and make your decision from there. Remember this is a life changing procedure , ONLY go ahead if you feel 100% confident in the clinic. There is nothing wrong with cancelling at the last minute it’s your head. With that being said I do hope that if you do decide to go ahead with it that you have a very successful surgery and they look after you 🙂 

[mkr]

Thank you, everyone for the support. I’ve decided to go ahead with it. I figure it’s a combination of nerves and my coordinating experience, but at the end of the day, coordinating isn’t the same as hair restoration… so I shouldn’t let one experience cloud the other. 
 

I’ll fill you all in more on my meeting with them yesterday, and keep everyone updated on the journey. I can only hope it will be for the best and ultimately helpful for others who are considering Eugenix. 

[Eugenix Hair Sciences]

17 hours ago, mkr said:

Hi all, 

I have been lurking on this forum for quite some time. First of all, I have to thank everyone for their perspectives on the various topics and chats, as it's really given me a lot of insight into various different hair clinics. Based on all of the excellent results I've seen from Eugenix, I decided to go with them, and I'm currently sitting in my hotel room getting ready for the pre-op consultation with Dr. Arika Bansal. I don't know if it's the pre-hair transplant nerves or if these are things of legitimate concern, but I feel as if the last two weeks I've seen some subpar results from Eugenix on this forum that can't be blamed on unforeseen circumstances. Things from misangulated temples to mismanaged donor areas. 

I chose the Premium Package myself. I initially was very impressed with the level of communication from Aditya. After I submitted my photos, he called me asking if I was on Finasteride. At the time I was not, and I expressed my concerns around the side effects. He ultimately convinced me that with my progression of balding, that I would not be a great transplant candidate at this time without using it. Not what I wanted to hear, but I appreciated the honesty. His assurance gave me the confidence to give Finasteride a shot, and I've been fortunate enough to not report any side effects. It's worked quite well for me so far, thickening up my hair and bringing back some vellus hair at the hair line. 

However, once I had submitted my deposit, and I was handed off to a lower level coordinator to continue, I became a bit more concerned. Every bit of info I asked for became a chore to get.

The hotel's address, the check in process, the travel arrangements, more info on the blood reports, etc. I didn't think too much of it, because I was able to get most of the information by repeatedly asking. 

Now for the flight. My flight delayed by approximately two hours. My original arrival time was 12:55am, but by the time we took off, it was estimated to be 3am. I informed my coordinator and figured it would be late for her, so I asked if I could get driver's info beforehand or if I would be able to find them with a sign or anything so that I wouldn't have to bother her. She assured me that she would send the driver's info 2 hours prior to landing and that I could contact her if I needed anything.

Alright, I thought, I'll trust her. I had wifi on the plane, so when I didn't hear from her an hour prior to landing, I messaged her that I would be landing in an hour. No response. 

Get off the plane at 3am. I messaged her again. No response. I tried calling her multiple times. No response. I make it to immigration. And finally as I'm about to pass immigration, she messages me the driver's number, but not much else. I try calling the number, and I have difficulty connecting. Eventually, the driver messages me on WhatsApp, but it took about 20 minutes to find each other. I'd never been to India, so I was nervous I was going to be stuck at the airport trying to get myself to the hotel at 4am already exhausted from a long travel. 

It would have been much easier if she had just told me that there was a man standing with a sign saying "Double Tree by Hilton, Gurgram" but I didn't know that I was supposed to look for that... I honestly was never even told if it was going to be a driver from the hotel or the clinic or some other arrangement. Just that she would send me the driver's info 2 hours prior to landing. 

I didn't think much of it at first, to be honest, because quality of hair transplant doesn't directly correlate with coordinating travel... but today, as I decided to browse the forums again today, I just noticed recent mismanagement of donors / angulation of hairs being off, and I'm just wondering if in the process of scaling / expanding, they are hiring some subpar staff / techs... 

At the end of the day, it all went well and I made it here safely, but the lack of communication and care at this point already is terrifying to me. Basically at this point, I'm sitting in my hotel room wondering if I caught this clinic at a bad time of scaling and am reconsidering whether or not to actually go through with it.  

At the same time, I'm also encouraged by all of the past work that they've done, and I know that they can do a fantastic job... I will express my concerns to them and I think my pre-op discussion with Dr. Arika today will basically give me the answer to my question...

Anyhow, I'm attaching photos of my head that I took on March 11. I was not on Fin or Min at that time. I took Min for several years prior, but stopped in October thinking it would be a good idea to "clear real estate" prior to getting a hair transplant. That was a terrible idea. Hair loss was crazy. I've taken Fin since March 28. 

I actually feel pretty good about the results from fin so far, and am partially questioning if that will suffice for me without the transplant...

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Would love to get your guys' thoughts! 

MARCH 11

 

MAY 17

 

We are sorry to hear that you had to go through such an experience with the travel coordination. We shall definitely look into it and try to improve on that aspect.

Please do not worry about your transplantation procedure. You are in safe hands and we will strive to give you the best of results.

[mkr]

Greetings! 

The surgery went extremely well, in my opinion! To be quite honest, I was still tossing and turning prior to going to the clinic about whether or not I should go through with it, but I am glad I did. 

As promised, here's my update and why I decided to proceed. 

TL;DR -- Eugenix really showed exceptional care once I expressed my concerns at the clinic, and took every step they could to take care of me going forward. 

Pre-Op Consultation, May 17 

I went to Eugenix and met with Anil, who was very kind. He asked me if I had any questions or concerns, and I expressed them, including the ones I mentioned in the original post. My concerns definitely seemed to be more what he was expecting to hear, but he handled it very well and proceeded to introduce me to Aditya in person. 

Aditya is wonderful. He took the time with me to make me feel more comfortable. I explained what had happened and how uncomfortable I felt not knowing how to get to my hotel in the middle of the night after arriving, and he listened empathetically. 

What I didn't realize was that this pre-op today was supposed to be without Dr. Arika, but since I had expressed such concern, they brought her in to meet with me for a few minutes. I suppose I shouldn't have assumed that I would speak with the doctor prior to the day of surgery without directly asking. I knew she was good based on all the reviews here, but I'm very happy that she met with me prior. 

I told her how the donor area is very important to me, and how I want to be able to keep my hair fairly short on the sides. She reassured me that it can be done by taking more from certain areas and staying away from others, and emphasizing it will be a sparse extraction. 

My previous estimate by Eugenix was 3,000 grafts, but due to my response to finasteride, Dr. Arika actually lowered it to 2,500.

What definitely impressed me was the amount of time they gave me to ease my concerns and nerves, and how Aditya listened quite empathetically without ever dismissing me or rushing me. There obviously was nothing they could do about what had already happened, but they assured me as much as they could in this meeting. 

Operation Day, May 18

Pre-Op

I had messaged @Namrak on May 17, since I knew he was arriving. We met during breakfast, and he definitely helped me calm my nerves! We both spoke about our experiences. He told me that his coordinator was wonderful, and that his experience is not at all reflective of what mine was. 

He encouraged me that I should go do the hairline design, emphasize my concerns again, & ask all my questions, and if at that point I still didn't feel comfortable, to pull the plug. Kamran is definitely a wonderful, encouraging energy to be around! 

The last little hiccup I experienced was that I was told to be at the clinic at 9am, and that I would be picked up around 8:45am. When I didn't hear anything by 8:50am, I asked if my driver would pick me up, to which they then responded promptly, and I was picked up at 9am. After I had thought about it, I figured maybe they also weren't sure if I was still doing it, since I didn't fully confirm the night before. So I'll take the blame for that one, since I wasn't particularly communicative in this moment myself. 

Once I arrived, I sat in the waiting room for a few minutes before meeting with Rajat. He ran me through everything that would happen, and asked me if I had any concern.

I just re-emphasized the donor area again, and he assured me that Dr. Arika will make everyone aware. He assured me she would, and if at any point in the procedure, I felt uncomfortable, I could tell them to stop and he would come at a moment's notice to talk with them. 

The hairline design went quick and smooth. Dr. Arika drew it, and to be honest, I didn't have any comments. It was simple, but great!

I also reminded her about wanting to be able to still keep a short haircut on the sides, and she proceeded to mark the areas that are not to be taken from. I was probably overdoing it by mentioning it so much, but I just wanted to make sure! 

They took the photos and showed them to me in another room to approve the hairline design. Seeing those photos, honestly, made me want to go through with the operation. I couldn't stand seeing my current hair as is, and seeing the hairline that I could have... really pushed me forward. 

They washed and shaved my hair. What I didn't realize prior to this, is that they weren't shaving my entire head prior to the surgery, and left my hair untouched in the areas they were not touching during the surgery. 

The Operation

It went so smoothly. The injections of the anesthetics were quite painless, which I was surprised by. Only on occasion did I feel a little discomfort. I don't know if it was the anti-anxiety medication or what, but boy was I at peace at this point. I even dozed off on occasion! 

Dr. Arika made all the slits and began the extractions before the techs came over. She mentioned that my skin was soft and I wasn't bleeding too much, so that was a good sign! She told me she was using a 1mm size punch for the extraction. 

Before I knew, we broke for lunch. I had a delicious sandwich and some coconut water, which comes in an actual coconut! 

Satyam came over to me and asked me if everything was going well, and apologized for my experience arriving in India. If I'm not mistaken, I believe he was Kamran's coordinator. Satyam also gave me his number in case I needed help with anything further, and that spoke volumes to me as well. 

After lunch, we resumed the procedure. We basically just kept going. They asked me if I needed a break at all, but surprisingly, I did not. I was just so zen & relaxed the whole time & occasionally napping. 

Anytime I began feeling slight discomfort or pain, they would top off my anesthesia, and it would go well. 

Dr. Arika came in on occasion to make sure everything was going well. She came back for the crucial hairline implants, and made sure it was done well. She then proceeded to add a little density herself to the area. 

I have to say, I was always most at ease when she was there. 

We finished around 7:30pm. 

From there, they shaved the rest of my head and cleaned my donor area. They ran me through the post-op procedures and medications, and took me back to the hotel. 

 

Here are the photos.

Pre-OP

 

POST-OP 

[mkr]

Also, here are the Day 1 Post Op Photos. 

I'm terrible at taking these myself... but I tried! 

[Eugenix Hair Sciences]

Thank you for your updates.

[NARMAK]

9 hours ago, mkr said:

Also, here are the Day 1 Post Op Photos. 

I'm terrible at taking these myself... but I tried! 

It was an absolute pleasure to meet you Michael and its been great having somebody else to pow wow with everything too whilst going through this immense journey. 

Honestly, having seen you pre-op and then post op, i gotta say Eugenix did smashing with the result and i think you'll have a knockout result in 12 months alongside the response to medication. 

I just hope everybody here is really able to see it happen too in all your updates

[rob7331]

Work looks great, post-op looks great, hairline design looks great.

Happy growing

[Melvin- Admin]

Glad you had the issues sorted. Happy growing 🙌🏼

[drawdownfx]

Hairline looks amazing man. I am glad your concerns were thoroughly looked into!

[Big Rome]

hairline looks perfect, very natural 

[mkr]

On 5/17/2022 at 6:01 PM, Monero said:

I will be there next week. And yes, the original agent was way more knowable than the second one. I suppose they are paid very different. I did not checked much this forum last months, but today noticed one bad review of Eugenix. I think you should not be worried that much. They are still good clinic. 

I do hope you will write more in next days. Can you ask them how many patients will Arika manage at the time you will be there. 

Hi Monero, 

sorry for just replying to you now, but she had one other patient the same day. 

[hairlossPA]

following 

[mkr]

I'm a little late to update, but wanted to update my post here. 

Last Day In India

My last day in India was fun & memorable. @NARMAK and I went to the clinic to have our donor washed, and were invited to the Farmhouse for dinner w/ Anil. He brought his family, and it was a wonderful night. The property is gorgeous, and we had a chance to FaceTime w/ Dr. Sethi and also with @Melvin- Moderator to just talk about our experience and how this forum has been helpful for us in our journey. It was as if having joined the Eugenix family, and says a lot about their care for their clients even beyond the operation. 

Travel Home (with a tip)

The journey home was long, but good. I traveled on my 4th day post op. Was definitely very wary of not bumping my head anywhere. Kamran & I had discussed this, and someone else had also posted this, but it is a helpful tip to go to the check in counter at the gate and mention to them that you just had a procedure and that you would like to avoid bumping your head at all if possible. Since my flights weren't full, they offered me seats with no one next to me on both of my flights, as well as priority boarding on the second flight (I presumed they didn't understand me at the airport in Delhi, because I initially just asked for priority boarding to avoid people's luggage moving, but instead they moved me to an empty row, which I appreciated even more, to be honest) 

First Headwash

The first head wash was a little daunting. i was careful to follow their video instructions very carefully. It ended up taking two days for me to remove all the scabs, but I didn't want to force it on the first wash. 

Three Photos here below: 

Immediately after 1st Head Wash 

 

After 2nd Hair Wash

[NARMAK]

It's looking fantastic bud. Honestly excited to see your results shake out in 12 months time alongside your stellar Finasteride response. 

You definitely look like you have from those pictures avoided getting a lot of redness and the donor is looking great too.

[Melvin- Admin]

Looking great man! Are you back home?

[fualopecia]

Hey MKR,

Any updates?

[MazAB]

On 1/28/2023 at 8:26 AM, fualopecia said:

Hey MKR,

Any updates?

I definitely echo that! Would love to see an update here. Tons of potential for yours to be a knock out result. 

Follow my Journey with Eugenix and Dr Arika Bansal!