M36 | Dr. Bruno Pinto | 1716 grafts | 17 May 2022

[Harry Bosch]

And some pre-op pics, per requests.  I’ll share the pre-shave pics that Dr. Bruno once the clinic sends all the pictures over 👍🏼

[JPCF]

Nicely done mate!

Quick question, how many time did you have to wait until being contacted by the clinic?

[Harry Bosch]

5 hours ago, JPCF said:

Nicely done mate!

Quick question, how many time did you have to wait until being contacted by the clinic?

Most patients report a 6-9 month waiting period.  I was regularly in touch the patient coordinator Emilio and asked to be informed of cancellations.  I think we began a dialogue in January and at some point I was offered a date in March.  Ultimately 17 May became available and I booked it probably a month in advance.  So the short answer is that’s it’s initially a long wait but possibly shorter with the fluid surgical schedule.

[RTC]

42 minutes ago, Harry Bosch said:

Most patients report a 6-9 month waiting period.  I was regularly in touch the patient coordinator Emilio and asked to be informed of cancellations.  I think we began a dialogue in January and at some point I was offered a date in March.  Ultimately 17 May became available and I booked it probably a month in advance.  So the short answer is that’s it’s initially a long wait but possibly shorter with the fluid surgical schedule.

Took me months to even hear a reply from the clinic.. lucky guy!

Did you stay in the clinics accomodation?

 

Absolutely beautiful work

Edited May 25, 2022 by Aslitarcan sucks

[Harry Bosch]

31 minutes ago, Aslitarcan sucks said:

Took me months to even hear a reply from the clinic.. lucky guy!

Did you stay in the clinics accomodation?

 

Absolutely beautiful work

Thanks mate.

Dr. Bruno had remarked to me that he recently paused incoming consultations for new patients because their surgical schedule was booking almost a year out - he didn’t feel it was fair to evaluate prospective patients with such an existing business volume.  So that might explain the delay in communication.  The surest way to start and sustain a dialogue is to connect with coordinator Emilio through What’s App, if you haven’t already.  I think his contact details are available in JDee0’s thread, which was where my connection with the clinic began.

And yes I stayed at the clinics hotel, plus two additional nights.  Was a good experience.  Happy to share advice on how to maximize your enjoyment there.  For example, I was not super impressed with the room service menu …until I really thumbed through booklet and found a diverse full course dinner menu.  The staff is wonderful and I can tell they are acclimated to seeing HT patient bc nobody looked at me sideways after the surgery.  They even helped me get a rapid COVID test at a local pharmacy — I needed an actual swab & the printout to upload in order to check in for my United flight back to the US.

I paid for two additional nights but that turned out to be overkill - I was ready to return to the comfort of my own home after the post-op head wash + instruction tutorial.  

[JPCF]

10 hours ago, Harry Bosch said:

Most patients report a 6-9 month waiting period.  I was regularly in touch the patient coordinator Emilio and asked to be informed of cancellations.  I think we began a dialogue in January and at some point I was offered a date in March.  Ultimately 17 May became available and I booked it probably a month in advance.  So the short answer is that’s it’s initially a long wait but possibly shorter with the fluid surgical schedule.

Yeah, I traded two e-mails with them, but no more. And by whatsapp, nothing. Can't get a hold of them.

[RTC]

8 hours ago, Harry Bosch said:

Thanks mate.

Dr. Bruno had remarked to me that he recently paused incoming consultations for new patients because their surgical schedule was booking almost a year out - he didn’t feel it was fair to evaluate prospective patients with such an existing business volume.  So that might explain the delay in communication.  The surest way to start and sustain a dialogue is to connect with coordinator Emilio through What’s App, if you haven’t already.  I think his contact details are available in JDee0’s thread, which was where my connection with the clinic began.

And yes I stayed at the clinics hotel, plus two additional nights.  Was a good experience.  Happy to share advice on how to maximize your enjoyment there.  For example, I was not super impressed with the room service menu …until I really thumbed through booklet and found a diverse full course dinner menu.  The staff is wonderful and I can tell they are acclimated to seeing HT patient bc nobody looked at me sideways after the surgery.  They even helped me get a rapid COVID test at a local pharmacy — I needed an actual swab & the printout to upload in order to check in for my United flight back to the US.

I paid for two additional nights but that turned out to be overkill - I was ready to return to the comfort of my own home after the post-op head wash + instruction tutorial.  

Sounds like you had a great experience, Pinto's outfit seems top notch

[Harry Bosch]

1 hour ago, JPCF said:

Yeah, I traded two e-mails with them, but no more. And by whatsapp, nothing. Can't get a hold of them.

That was my experience with Dr. Ferreira.  Every time I asked if consultations were available, his assistant would respond a day later saying they were still not accepting new patients.  Both Pinto and Ferreira are full service surgeons, doing literally ever aspect of the procedure & treating just one patient per day.  So there’s no way for them to scale up when business demand increases.  If you can, stay patient and periodically circle back in case their availability improves.

Fwiw, in addition to Ferreira, Dr Pinto is also a big fan of Freitas.  I consulted with their clinic as well, which took a couple months to respond to my photos with an assessment and quote.  They were booking about a year out.  I ask if cancellations occurred, and Freitas advisor said “yes” but I had to book a date & pay the deposit in order to be eligible for a cancellation date.  If you have the freedom to go this route, I say do it — you might wind up waiting just 6 months instead of 12 months.  My work responsibilities vary by season so I went with Pinto when they offered me a date during a down cycle. Definitely got lucky in that sense, the only drawback is that my summer socializing will take a bit of a hit!

Edited May 26, 2022 by Harry Bosch

[JPCF]

30 minutes ago, Harry Bosch said:

That was my experience with Dr. Ferreira.  Every time I asked if consultations were available, his assistant would respond a day later saying they were still not accepting new patients.  Both Pinto and Ferreira are full service surgeons, doing literally ever aspect of the procedure & treating just one patient per day.  So there’s no way for them to scale up when business demand increases.  If you can, stay patient and periodically circle back in case their availability improves.

Fwiw, in addition to Ferreira, Dr Pinto is also a big fan of Freitas.  I consulted with their clinic as well, which took a couple months to respond to my photos with an assessment and quote.  They were booking about a year out.  I ask if cancellations occurred, and Freitas advisor said “yes” but I had to book a date & pay the deposit in order to be eligible for a cancellation date.  If you have the freedom to go this route, I say do it — you might wind up waiting just 6 months instead of 12 months.  My work responsibilities vary by season so I went with Pinto when they offered me a date during a down cycle. Definitely got lucky in that sense, the only drawback is that my summer socializing will take a bit of a hit!

yeah, I know, but I just decided with Dr.Pinto, and when you put something in your mind is hard to take it back. Plus, I'm portuguese and I live in Portugal so I thought it would be easier to go with Pinto or Ferreira, but Ferreira is out of the equation budget wise.

[limeyaz]

On 5/20/2022 at 4:06 PM, therambler said:

Booked in with Dr. Pinto next week so been on the lookout for any posts from his patients! Congrats on the surgery and making a great choice! Work looks super clean.  You're starting from a great base in comparison to me though 😀

Hi mate, how long did you have to wait for your surgery with Dr.Pinto. Do you think it would be longer than 6-8 months? Thank you

[therambler]

Hey @limeyaz, I was extremely lucky to get a cancellation date so only actually had to wait a couple of months.  I know there's usually a long waiting list now though, even for a consultation.

Get in contact with the patient coordinator - Emilio via whatsapp is the best way to go. If you're in a position where you're available at short notice in case someone cancels advise him of this and you might get lucky as well!

[limeyaz]

 

4 minutes ago, therambler said:

Hey @limeyaz, I was extremely lucky to get a cancellation date so only actually had to wait a couple of months.  I know there's usually a long waiting list now though, even for a consultation.

Get in contact with the patient coordinator - Emilio via whatsapp is the best way to go. If you're in a position where you're available at short notice in case someone cancels advise him of this and you might get lucky as well!

Thanks @therambler for the quick reply, I'll definitely do that. Good luck with your upcoming HT with Dr Pinto 👍

[Harry Bosch]

Two weeks in the books.  Here’s an update.  Some shock loss, especially in that peninsular region where Dr. Pinto found that some type of fibrosis had really thinned me out.  He implanted about 200 grafts there.  It’s also an area where I have a significant gray patch, which makes it look more sparse imo.

Also, question for the HT vets: in the hairline where the grafts where implanted, I’ve got a little ridge upon which the graft were placed — during the shampoo phase of the head wash, I can feel where the native hair ends and the implanted grafts are very very slightly elevated — is that common?

Pictures:

 

[Harry Bosch]

For frame of reference, here are the pre-shave, pre-op, and immediate post-op pics.

(fwiw both Dr. Pinto and Emilio feels everything looks perfect at this time, but in this game it’s not easy to diminish any anxiety!)

 

[Harry Bosch]

20 hours ago, Harry Bosch said:

Two weeks in the books.  Here’s an update.  Some shock loss, especially in that peninsular region where Dr. Pinto found that some type of fibrosis had really thinned me out.  He implanted about 200 grafts there.  It’s also an area where I have a significant gray patch, which makes it look more sparse imo.

Also, question for the HT vets: in the hairline where the grafts where implanted, I’ve got a little ridge upon which the graft were placed — during the shampoo phase of the head wash, I can feel where the native hair ends and the implanted grafts are very very slightly elevated — is that common?

 

@Falconary

@JDEE0

 

Did your recipient grafts live in a smooth tiny little hill early on while the scalp was still recovering from the surgical trauma ?

[Falconary]

2 hours ago, Harry Bosch said:

 

@Falconary

@JDEE0

 

Did your recipient grafts live in a smooth tiny little hill early on while the scalp was still recovering from the surgical trauma ?

It looks exceptional! About your question, I didn't notice that visually but I could feel it early on and It went away after a few weeks. 

[MazAB]

2 hours ago, Harry Bosch said:

 

@Falconary

@JDEE0

 

Did your recipient grafts live in a smooth tiny little hill early on while the scalp was still recovering from the surgical trauma ?

Definitely common

 

23 hours ago, Harry Bosch said:

Two weeks in the books.  Here’s an update.  Some shock loss, especially in that peninsular region where Dr. Pinto found that some type of fibrosis had really thinned me out.  He implanted about 200 grafts there.  It’s also an area where I have a significant gray patch, which makes it look more sparse imo.

Also, question for the HT vets: in the hairline where the grafts where implanted, I’ve got a little ridge upon which the graft were placed — during the shampoo phase of the head wash, I can feel where the native hair ends and the implanted grafts are very very slightly elevated — is that common?

Pictures:

 

Everything looks great! You'll have a killer result! Totally normal by the way as you still have inflammation in the recipient area after the first head wash. Mine settled down after a few weeks.

[Harry Bosch]

3 weeks out of surgery.  Some outdoor pictures from this morning.  Looks like right on the cusp of the shed and can see some sparse areas where the recipient has likely already shed slightly.  Temple peaks, especially the left one, seem to be shedding already.  Also evidently I have a much more prodigious gray patch than I initially thought !
 👴🏼 

[therambler]

Looking good!, I have the dreaded shed to look forward to now in a couple of weeks as well!

[MazAB]

Right on track! Usually by week 3 you see more shedding which is a good sign that you keep more hairs after the shedding. 

[Harry Bosch]

4 weeks in the books.

Sharing some progress pics.  Can see a good amount of shedding in the temple peaks & temporal regions (or “entrances” as they say overseas).  Hard to say what % of the implanted hairs have shed.

In earlier posts, I detailed how Dr. Pinto discovered a peninsular region that extends into my mid scalp.  It had been significantly thinned by some type of fibrosis, he speculated.  That same area is defined by a stark gray patch, and I’m wondering if there is a relationship?  And if I have anything to fear with the overall outcome.  It looks must unusual right now with such short hair.  Curious to hear commentary on that topic, along with the health of the recovery & progress.

thanks!

 

[rambo man]

For being now four weeks post HT you are looking good. The new hairline looks still fully there, some people would have shed nearly all of it by now.

the grey patch although is strange as it is that exact area you had the issue I wouldn’t give it that much worry because grey hair is just a loss of pigment. Some men go grey  in early twenties but keep a full head of hair until later life. Grey hair still grows strong and long so whilst it might stand out from your other hair shouldn’t be cause for alarm result wise.

all of your updates show a pristine condition donor as usual with Dr Pinto his donor management is exceptional and having seen a lot of his cases I don’t remember one yet where a patient got shock loss in the donor so I wonder if this is something to do with how he does things. Anyway whatever he does works and you are in for a great result 

[MazAB]

Norwood Zero here we come! You will be a one and done my friend!

Follow my Journey with Eugenix and Dr Arika Bansal!

[Harry Bosch]

Here is a quick update at 7.5 weeks.

Fully immersed in The Desert, and navigating the best I can.  Got a haircut on the sides, following Dr. Bruno’s advice to scissor the cut the temple peaks.  I think the shedding phase has (hopefully) concluded and hope that the growth of my native hair up top starts to hasten - I am following @MazAB’s suggestions on supplements to facilitate faster and healthier growth of native hair.

Looking forward to feedback & any suggestions on general hair care for this humbling step in the process !

 

[RTC]

I think most people won't be able to tell you've had a thing done to your head. Pinto is a craftsman. and you're gonna have a great result