1500 grafts, Dr Mwamba, Brussels, 26M

[jleysh]

Hi all, just thought I’d write a quick overview of my surgery with Dr Mwamba last week, particularly since this forum has been so useful over the past couple of years. Thanks to everyone who’s asked questions and posted results here, I couldn’t have done it without you!

Background:

I first noticed my hairline receding when I was 20 but didn’t start taking finasteride or minoxidil until I was 21/22, partly due to a fear of side effects and probably partly down to a subconscious denial that I was balding so young. Most of the males in my bald so I should’ve been ready, but I’m not sure anything really prepares you, especially as I’d only stopped growing a few years before. Luckily, once I started fin/min, I didn’t suffer any sides and everything seemed to stabilise. 

Since then, it’s been a combination of medication, on/off microneedling, and short, cropped haircuts that hid my recession relatively well. However, even if no one else could really tell, I could - and at the end of the day, our own opinions (should!) matter more than anything else, right? I didn’t want to spend the remainder of my youth stuck to one hairstyle and checking my hair in the mirror every 5 mins, so I knew a transplant was the only way to go. 

After a couple of years of stalking the Hair Restoration Network and the Hair Loss Conquerors FB page, I settled on Dr Mwamba as he had great results and seemed really good value for an elite doctor. (Turkey crossed my mind early on in my research, but being pretty young and with my family history I wanted to go to a clinic where I knew the doctor/s that’d be performing the surgery, and could near-guarantee good results and donor management. Totally respect people who do go to Turkey, though! Just wasn’t for me.)

The surgery:

I took the Eurostar from London the day before, and then stayed at a hotel 10 mins away for 6 days, would definitely recommend both as you’ll want everything to be as easy and comfortable as possible afterwards. 

On the day of the procedure, I arrived at 9am, filled out a few forms, and had my pictures taken before Dr Mwamba arrived to start my consultation at 11am. We went through my hair loss history before he analysed my hair and then drew on a hairline. I wanted to go conservative due to my age and potential for further loss, and his first suggestion was bang on (looking back now, perhaps I could’ve gone slightly lower in the corners, but I think once everything grows in it’ll look nice, and I guess I can always go back for a touch-up. Side note: does anyone have any tips on how to stop analysing everything in the mirror every 5 mins, and just get on with your life?!)

After shaving my donor, Dr Mwamba’s assistant doctor Dr Ali began the extractions. My surgery was split over two days, between 9am-11:30pm on the first day and 7am-4pm on the second. I’d roughly split the involvement of the doctors and technicians down to the following (however I’m sure this differs for every patient):

Extractions: 70% Dr Ali, 30% Dr Mwamba
Recipient sites: 100% Dr Mwamba
Implantation: 30% Dr Ali, 70% technicians 

It seems like they operate on 1.5 patients per day if that makes sense - i.e. they have one new patient, and another who’s finishing off from the day before. 

The day was pretty simple, and once you’re numb it kind of feels like you’re just getting a (very very) lengthy haircut - you’re aware of stuff going on behind you, but you can’t really feel it. The anaesthesia needles were fine (nothing that a clenched first couldn’t get me through), I watched the Commonwealth Games on the BBC throughout the two days which was ideal, and they ordered pizza/pasta for me for my lunches. Afterwards, I returned each day (for four days post-op) for an initial wash and then to use the laser/lights treatment that is supposed to speed up healing. 

Overall:

It's very early days, but so far I’m really happy. Everyone was really nice, I was given the opportunity to shave only my donor rather than my whole head, and hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to get a good result. 

The only thing I was surprised by was that the grafts were taken only from the back of my head, rather than the back and sides. I didn’t get a chance to why, but I guess maybe it was to leave the sides untouched for a future surgery? I think I’ve seen Dr Bisanga only extract from one side of the donor for this reason, but let me know if any of you have any thoughts. I just hope I can wear my hair fairly short without it being too obvious. 

Anyway, this is getting a bit rambly so I’ll leave it here - just let me know if you have any questions. Good luck, and thanks again!

(P.S. For speed and ease I’m gonna copy & paste this post into the Hair Loss Conquerors FB page too, so apologies if you see this twice!)

Pictures so far:

(Apologies for the lack of quality/professionalism!)

Hairline design

Directly post-op

Left temple post-op

Donor area post-op

Donor 7 days post-op

Hairline 7 days post-op (scabs removed that evening)

[RTC]

Good luck! I'm sure you'll get a sick result, Mwamba is great

[HappyMan2021]

1 hour ago, jleysh said:

does anyone have any tips on how to stop analysing everything in the mirror every 5 mins, and just get on with your life?!

Grow facial hair. Doesn't matter if its a beard, or just a mustache. Grow something on your face. Your attention will go from your scalp hair to your facial hair. 

'Additionally, when it is safe to do so, keep your hair buzzed down until growth actually starts (around Month 4). When you have no hair to focus on, its hard to obsess about it. 🤣. And, your facial hair will be complemented by the buzzcut. 

Along with the above, for social situations just invest in some nice hip hats and some good clothes. 

I myself was operated on by Mwamba in early June and am doing all of the above. I am looking killer even though I am knee deep in the ugly duckling phase. 

1 hour ago, jleysh said:

looking back now, perhaps I could’ve gone slightly lower in the corners, but I think once everything grows in it’ll look nice, and I guess I can always go back for a touch-up

I agree Mwamba gave you a conservative hairline. 

But....26 is quite young to be getting a HT, so this was appropriate. 

[Oscarxbird]

hey, this looks really good - the donor area is so discreet.

Was there a discussion about shaving your whole head or not? it's nice to see you didnt have to (as I'd rather not) and how long did you have to wait to see him?

thanks -

[Mike10]

I think the hairline is exactly right, considering that you'are only 26 and will need more surgery in the future. It will look very natural even when you age.

 

[HairRun]

Interesting change in flow. 1500 isn't a lot compared to other surgeries, but it was still split up over two days, but there were 2 patients each, so on average it's still one patient per day. I read another surgeon only does something like 1000 a day so that they can heal better, I wonder if this is Dr Mwamba's approach, or if there was something else in the flow that was optimized. 

[jleysh]

22 hours ago, RTC said:

Good luck! I'm sure you'll get a sick result, Mwamba is great

Thanks mate, I hope so! Loving your YT videos btw, keep them up!

[jleysh]

21 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

Grow facial hair. Doesn't matter if its a beard, or just a mustache. Grow something on your face. Your attention will go from your scalp hair to your facial hair. 

'Additionally, when it is safe to do so, keep your hair buzzed down until growth actually starts (around Month 4). When you have no hair to focus on, its hard to obsess about it. 🤣. And, your facial hair will be complemented by the buzzcut. 

Along with the above, for social situations just invest in some nice hip hats and some good clothes. 

I myself was operated on by Mwamba in early June and am doing all of the above. I am looking killer even though I am knee deep in the ugly duckling phase. 

I agree Mwamba gave you a conservative hairline. 

But....26 is quite young to be getting a HT, so this was appropriate. 

Thanks for the tips man! Haha I'd LOVE to be able to grow decent facial hair, still lagging far behind on that front!

I think we actually exchanged a few PMs earlier in the year when I was considering Mwamba, so really glad to hear you're looking great already  

On the hairline front, to be fair I specifically requested that shape, so I wouldn't want to put any blame on Mwamba - he nailed it! I just think I'm already getting greedy haha, you're definitely right - hopefully it'll look perfect when I'm older. 

Thanks again!

[jleysh]

21 hours ago, Oscarxbird said:

hey, this looks really good - the donor area is so discreet.

Was there a discussion about shaving your whole head or not? it's nice to see you didnt have to (as I'd rather not) and how long did you have to wait to see him?

thanks -

Thank you! Yeah, I think I was initially booked for a fully-shaven procedure, but during my consultation on the day I asked if it could just be part-shaven (as I couldn't face walking around bald just yet) and Mwamba said that was totally fine, which was awesome! I booked the surgery in early Feb, so around 6 months. 

[Speoj]

Looks great! Keep us updated mate. Did Mwamba charge extra for going partial shaven? Was it €3 a graft still? 
 

 

[crazytimess]

This looks awesome. How much was the entire surgery?

[Oscarxbird]

23 hours ago, jleysh said:

Thank you! Yeah, I think I was initially booked for a fully-shaven procedure, but during my consultation on the day I asked if it could just be part-shaven (as I couldn't face walking around bald just yet) and Mwamba said that was totally fine, which was awesome! I booked the surgery in early Feb, so around 6 months. 

Did you use the email customer.care@mywhtc.com? 

[RTC]

38 minutes ago, Oscarxbird said:

Did you use the email customer.care@mywhtc.com? 

You can use that or info@fueclinic.com

[Oscarxbird]

20 minutes ago, RTC said:

You can use that or info@fueclinic.com

just fyi this one just got a bounce-back rejection email, I'll wait a few more days to see if customer.care@ replies

[RTC]

1 hour ago, Oscarxbird said:

just fyi this one just got a bounce-back rejection email, I'll wait a few more days to see if customer.care@ replies

that's weird, Joshua Siebelink usually replies from that. Yeah then try the customer care one

[jleysh]

On 8/14/2022 at 6:38 PM, Speoj said:

Looks great! Keep us updated mate. Did Mwamba charge extra for going partial shaven? Was it €3 a graft still? 
 

 

Thanks man! Yeah it was still €3 fortunately  

[jleysh]

On 8/15/2022 at 6:37 AM, crazytimess said:

This looks awesome. How much was the entire surgery?

Thank you! It was €3 per graft plus 21% VAT, plus fees for the consultation and medication

[FITA]

On 8/16/2022 at 1:44 PM, jleysh said:

Thanks man! Yeah it was still €3 fortunately  

Amazing. From my calculations you’ve saved 1815€… I bet others reading this will be kicking themselves!

[Speoj]

On 8/16/2022 at 1:44 PM, jleysh said:

Thanks man! Yeah it was still €3 fortunately  

Nice one, thanks man. 

Would love to see an update on this when you get a sec

[Hairy Henderson]

Only 1500 grafts?  Wow, seems like a decent amount of head to cover w/ such a small amount of grafts.

[Iceee222]

Hey curious if there are different packages that involve mwamba more in the surgery or is he always kind of delegating different tasks?

[Vortex]

Looking forward to your next update man, you must be approaching 5 months post op by now? Fingers crossed it’s all going well for you 🤞🏽 

 

[Speoj]

How's it looking now man? 

[RolyPolyBird]

@jleysh Be great to see an update of how your hair is coming along! Any tips for someone who is having a non shave transplant?

[BaldingEye]

On 8/13/2022 at 7:35 PM, jleysh said:

Hi all, just thought I’d write a quick overview of my surgery with Dr Mwamba last week, particularly since this forum has been so useful over the past couple of years. Thanks to everyone who’s asked questions and posted results here, I couldn’t have done it without you!

Background:

I first noticed my hairline receding when I was 20 but didn’t start taking finasteride or minoxidil until I was 21/22, partly due to a fear of side effects and probably partly down to a subconscious denial that I was balding so young. Most of the males in my bald so I should’ve been ready, but I’m not sure anything really prepares you, especially as I’d only stopped growing a few years before. Luckily, once I started fin/min, I didn’t suffer any sides and everything seemed to stabilise. 

Since then, it’s been a combination of medication, on/off microneedling, and short, cropped haircuts that hid my recession relatively well. However, even if no one else could really tell, I could - and at the end of the day, our own opinions (should!) matter more than anything else, right? I didn’t want to spend the remainder of my youth stuck to one hairstyle and checking my hair in the mirror every 5 mins, so I knew a transplant was the only way to go. 

After a couple of years of stalking the Hair Restoration Network and the Hair Loss Conquerors FB page, I settled on Dr Mwamba as he had great results and seemed really good value for an elite doctor. (Turkey crossed my mind early on in my research, but being pretty young and with my family history I wanted to go to a clinic where I knew the doctor/s that’d be performing the surgery, and could near-guarantee good results and donor management. Totally respect people who do go to Turkey, though! Just wasn’t for me.)

The surgery:

I took the Eurostar from London the day before, and then stayed at a hotel 10 mins away for 6 days, would definitely recommend both as you’ll want everything to be as easy and comfortable as possible afterwards. 

On the day of the procedure, I arrived at 9am, filled out a few forms, and had my pictures taken before Dr Mwamba arrived to start my consultation at 11am. We went through my hair loss history before he analysed my hair and then drew on a hairline. I wanted to go conservative due to my age and potential for further loss, and his first suggestion was bang on (looking back now, perhaps I could’ve gone slightly lower in the corners, but I think once everything grows in it’ll look nice, and I guess I can always go back for a touch-up. Side note: does anyone have any tips on how to stop analysing everything in the mirror every 5 mins, and just get on with your life?!)

After shaving my donor, Dr Mwamba’s assistant doctor Dr Ali began the extractions. My surgery was split over two days, between 9am-11:30pm on the first day and 7am-4pm on the second. I’d roughly split the involvement of the doctors and technicians down to the following (however I’m sure this differs for every patient):

Extractions: 70% Dr Ali, 30% Dr Mwamba
Recipient sites: 100% Dr Mwamba
Implantation: 30% Dr Ali, 70% technicians 

It seems like they operate on 1.5 patients per day if that makes sense - i.e. they have one new patient, and another who’s finishing off from the day before. 

The day was pretty simple, and once you’re numb it kind of feels like you’re just getting a (very very) lengthy haircut - you’re aware of stuff going on behind you, but you can’t really feel it. The anaesthesia needles were fine (nothing that a clenched first couldn’t get me through), I watched the Commonwealth Games on the BBC throughout the two days which was ideal, and they ordered pizza/pasta for me for my lunches. Afterwards, I returned each day (for four days post-op) for an initial wash and then to use the laser/lights treatment that is supposed to speed up healing. 

Overall:

It's very early days, but so far I’m really happy. Everyone was really nice, I was given the opportunity to shave only my donor rather than my whole head, and hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to get a good result. 

The only thing I was surprised by was that the grafts were taken only from the back of my head, rather than the back and sides. I didn’t get a chance to why, but I guess maybe it was to leave the sides untouched for a future surgery? I think I’ve seen Dr Bisanga only extract from one side of the donor for this reason, but let me know if any of you have any thoughts. I just hope I can wear my hair fairly short without it being too obvious. 

Anyway, this is getting a bit rambly so I’ll leave it here - just let me know if you have any questions. Good luck, and thanks again!

(P.S. For speed and ease I’m gonna copy & paste this post into the Hair Loss Conquerors FB page too, so apologies if you see this twice!)

Pictures so far:

(Apologies for the lack of quality/professionalism!)

Hairline design

Directly post-op

Left temple post-op

Donor area post-op

Donor 7 days post-op

Hairline 7 days post-op (scabs removed that evening)

Design looks great. And the donor extraction is just perfect.

Dr Mwamba will give you a beautiful new hairline. Hope you can share some photos soon!