Regular Member ablurker Posted June 19, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 19, 2022 (edited) I've been lurking hair loss forums since about 2014, thinking about getting treatment but always chickening out or deciding to wait for technology to improve (hair cloning was always right around the corner!). Late last year I decided that I was finally ready to just do it and did some research and found Hasson & Wong in Vancouver, a short flight from where I live. I have always had a high hairline, even as a kid. I wasn't looking for a restoration, but a nice age-appropriate strong hairline that I would love to look at in the mirror every day. I sent them some pictures and they determined that I was a good candidate. Recommended transplant was 4000 FUE units to get me from NW3 to not on the scale. Pretty thick donor area and plenty to work with. They scheduled me in approximately six months out and I waited. Along the way I received pre- and post-op instructions and a few pre-op questionnaires. The Transplant I flew out to Vancouver last week for my transplant. They comp a couple of nights at a hotel they like, but those aren't booked until you make the Big Deposit and by that time the hotel didn't have enough room and I had to make my own reservation at the Hilton Garden Inn. That hotel turned out to be a great choice as it's only a 7 minute walk along one side of the street to the clinic. They gave me a discount on the total price to make up for the hotel issue. I didn't think and didn't read the pre-op instructions carefully enough, so I had to rush out and buy some button-up shirts for the day after the procedure. The office has a beautiful view and the chairs are comfortable. They started with the standard pictures, shaved my excessively long hair, and then Dr Hasson came and took a look at what we had to look at. He was quite happy with the donor hair and suggested a hairline with about 4800 units (800 more than previous). I didn't have any specific hairline in mind and let him use his own judgment on what would look good. The procedure itself started with numbing and extraction. Lots of juice and water were provided along the way. There was virtually no pain the first day's extraction and it was uneventful. The sedation makes that pass pretty quickly. The FUE process has a weird feeling/sound, but eventually you get used to it. I never got a look at the tool itself but I'm curious in retrospect. One thing that surprised me: I was expecting them to extract from the back of my head, but they used both sides as donor instead. The next steps were making the incisions in the hairline, then spending a few hours watching Netflix while two technicians/nurses place each graft one-by-one. We did 2500 the first day and it ended pretty late. The day ran from 7am to about 9pm. I slept pretty heavily that night back at the hotel.Day 2 The plan for the second day was the final 2300 grafts. Day 2 started pretty quietly and we went right into numbing and extraction. The experience on day 2 was not quite as good as day 1. I'm not entirely sure why, but the anaesthetic was not nearly as effective and the pain was pretty bad. I kept asking to stop over and over. We got to about 1800 grafts and I was dying (it hurt so much I broke down), and was given some oral pain medication that helped sedate me and reduce the pain to a manageable level. It hurt, but I did the final 500 in one session and focused on the end result. It was long and sucked, but when it was done it was done. The remainder of the day was the incisions and implantation and that was somewhat uneventful compared to the start of the day. I was so exhausted I kept falling asleep during the implantation. I went home for the night after that day completely wiped out and slept.Recovery In retrospect I made a good choice to stay three extra days in Vancouver. The clinic performed a hair wash each of these days and checked the grafted area for ingrowns/pimples etc and made sure the hairs were all healthy. I highly recommend that you spend those extra days in town as I felt like the hair itself was in great shape for my short plane ride home. I started to swell up on the second day of recovery and ended up with my eyes nearly swollen shut. This part was pretty miserable as well, but I was lucky that the swelling drained by the time I left on the third day. I had to wear sunglasses because I was completely unrecognizable as a human and my eyes were swollen like I'd been punched in the face. The swelling on the cheeks was pretty bad as well but manageable. To manage the swelling I found some tips that avoiding sodium and drinking excessive amounts of water (to the point where you're peeing every hour or so) can help. I think this was pretty effective as each day was significantly improved and the last day I didn't even wear sunglasses in public as I felt pretty normal. I flew back right after my third morning hairwash and slept pretty heavily that night. I'm very happy with my new hairline and I'm excited to see what it looks like six months out. I'm ready for the shock loss/ugly duckling phase, but it seems to be in a pretty good place right now and I'm almost at the point where I can start cleaning it more deeply. Review From 4 days post-procedure, this is what I can say: Procedure: NW3, 4800 FUE Doctor: friendly, responsive to concerns and very good IMO Staff: very friendly, very nice, very capable (no complaints) Quality: very happy, early results are good Price: expensive Experience: one great day, one painful day Post-experience: awesome, but swelling sucked bad Overall: experience so far was very positive Dream: accomplished I'll follow-up further along the process. I have no idea how to style this hairline, as I've never had this much in my life. Edited June 19, 2022 by ablurker Moving pictures inline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member HappyMan2021 Posted June 19, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 19, 2022 How old are you? looks like it was a great surgery. i'm kind of surprised this is you're first post. You've spent years lurking and made a such a big investment and commitment with surgery, and yet not a single question to the forum lol? whatever though props to you, not everyone needs to interact publicly on here to get an amazing result. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 12345 Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 im surprised you needed 4,800 grafts for a norwood 3 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member HappyMan2021 Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 2 minutes ago, 12345 said: im surprised you needed 4,800 grafts for a norwood 3 I agree. looks like OP does not have crown loss and no work was done on the temple points. OP has thick hair and getting 4800 grafts as a NW3 just to restore the hairline and temples really does seem like a ton.... @ablurker did Hasson tell you what the density is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 12345 Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 can you share the cost also?this has to be the price of a new car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Buck Naked Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 That looks like too many grafts for that level of hair loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Buck Naked Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 38 minutes ago, 12345 said: im surprised you needed 4,800 grafts for a norwood 3 I agree. Looks like 2,500 grafts were all that was needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member civic Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 31 minutes ago, 12345 said: im surprised you needed 4,800 grafts for a norwood 3 Yes, i am also surprised why he needed that many grafts, i guess h&w has different philosphy than other top surgens. I am not by no means implying they are not good, they are one of the best, its just i think those surgens who can do similar with less grafts should get more praise. The art of ht, inmo is to create more with less. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 12345 Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 2 minutes ago, Cantstandya said: That looks like too many grafts for that level of hair loss. looks like one of the surgeons needed to pay for a car, or college tuition that month 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Buck Naked Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 2 minutes ago, 12345 said: looks like one of the surgeons needed to pay for a car, or college tuition that month Inflation is crazy mate 😂😂😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Buck Naked Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 (edited) 6 minutes ago, civic said: Yes, i am also surprised why he needed that many grafts, i guess h&w has different philosphy than other top surgens. I am not by no means implying they are not good, they are one of the best, its just i think those surgens who can do similar with less grafts should get more praise. The art of ht, inmo is to create more with less. The other thing is that you have to account for future hair loss. They used too many grafts and left him with fewer grafts if he continues to lose hair. That is poor planning on the part of the surgeons. Edited June 20, 2022 by Cantstandya 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Vann Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 do you have any other photos where we can see your forehead and sides from a leveled spot? maybe any photos from the surgeon that they take? Also thanks for sharing and do you have any future plans to commit to while growing you hair out? ex: prp, lasercap. etc.? How long have you been on meds (if any), how old are you, and also why choos H&W? Follow my first hair transplant journey 3,252 Grafts a minimum of 6,712 hairs June 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member ablurker Posted June 20, 2022 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 @HappyMan2021I'm in my early 40s. It was pretty good and I'm happy with the results! I don't mind lurking and searching. I found that I could answer most of my questions in previous discussions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sukh123 Posted June 20, 2022 Share Posted June 20, 2022 im sorry am i missing something or is that a typo "4800" to cover that area is insane, that how many grafts are used to potentially cover over 2/3 thirds scalp of a norwood 5 or 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member nicoandgello Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 Dr Hasson went full retard with the graft count yet again. Will someone stop this man? I doubt it. The work looks clean anyway and Im positive you will get a decent result. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member civic Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 28 minutes ago, sukh123 said: im sorry am i missing something or is that a typo "4800" to cover that area is insane, that how many grafts are used to potentially cover over 2/3 thirds scalp of a norwood 5 or 6. Actualy that many grafts cover entire NW5-6. Look at Eugenix, Dr Vories, Dr Cuto. I honestly think this has to be called out. I would like for them to explain themselves why they do that, because almost anyome given 5k grafts in that small region can & will produce perfect result. There is no challenge with that . We bash hairmills for overuse of grafts..-)) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 12345 Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 8 minutes ago, civic said: Actualy that many grafts cover entire NW5-6. Look at Eugenix, Dr Vories, Dr Cuto. I honestly think this has to be called out. I would like for them to explain themselves why they do that, because almost anyome given 5k grafts in that small region can & will produce perfect result. There is no challenge with that . We bash hairmills for overuse of grafts..-)) maybe its a case of paid for 4,800 grafts, but did not receive 4,800 grafts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member civic Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 35 minutes ago, 12345 said: maybe its a case of paid for 4,800 grafts, but did not receive 4,800 grafts Not sure about that, but i don't agree with their philosophy of using crazy amount of grafts on small regions. It sets a wrong example in my opinion. Think about it, if some dude who is NW5-6 sees this, he will think "OMG if such small NW3 required almost 5k grafts, then wtf my shiny NW6 would need? 15k grafts? hell no," & that would discourage many by thinking they can't get good result if they don't have astronomical amount of donor. Also, it kind of discredits other top surgens who work with less grafts, potential NW6 sufferer will be doubtful that 5k grafts will give him good result for wider area of baldness. The art of ht is in working with less to produce more. This art should not be lost. Just my opinion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member HappyMan2021 Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 2 hours ago, ablurker said: @HappyMan2021I'm in my early 40s. It was pretty good and I'm happy with the results! I don't mind lurking and searching. I found that I could answer most of my questions in previous discussions. nice. maybe since you are in your earley 40s and only a NW3, that seems like super stable and a minimal case of MPB. So he felt comfortable with the really high graft count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Buck Naked Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 10 hours ago, nicoandgello said: Dr Hasson went full retard with the graft count yet again. Will someone stop this man? I doubt it. The work looks clean anyway and Im positive you will get a decent result. Definitely. I've noticed H&W use too many grafts in their cases. The results look great. However, another surgeon can get similar results using like half the number of grafts. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairBear Posted June 20, 2022 Share Posted June 20, 2022 4800 grafts based on that hairline is not a number I would have guessed, nor would I feel comfortable with. This high graft number is what steers me away from looking at Hasson as a possible surgeon for me. I'm sure it will turn out great and wish you the best outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Savemyhairline Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 Thanks for sharing. I just got my email consultation back from them and they recommended I get 3,000 grafts FUE for my case. It was higher than the other doctors so far have recommended (typically in the 1500-2500) but not excessively. 4,800 does seem like an extreme amount for your case. They are one of my top choices I’m considering, if I go through with them that price is gonna be a beast for 3k grafts, if you’re price/graft quote was similar to mine then man you really paid handsomely. My hairline for reference on their 3k recommendation: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 12345 Posted June 20, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 56 minutes ago, Savemyhairline said: Thanks for sharing. I just got my email consultation back from them and they recommended I get 3,000 grafts FUE for my case. It was higher than the other doctors so far have recommended (typically in the 1500-2500) but not excessively. 4,800 does seem like an extreme amount for your case. They are one of my top choices I’m considering, if I go through with them that price is gonna be a beast for 3k grafts, if you’re price/graft quote was similar to mine then man you really paid handsomely. My hairline for reference on their 3k recommendation: can you share their $/graft? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Savemyhairline Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 “Our FUE fee schedule is $8.00 USD ($6.00 for FUT) per graft for the first 2000 grafts and $6.00 USD ($4.00 for FUT) for each graft above 2,000 plus a 5% tax. For our out of town patients that receive 2,000 grafts or more we will credit the procedure $400.00” im in the US, willing to travel almost anywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Savemyhairline Posted June 20, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2022 6 minutes ago, 12345 said: can you share their $/graft? Sorry didn’t reply to you directly, see above Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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