Dr Konior - 15h Sep 2022 - 2124 grafts

[xabi86]

About me

I've had two surgeries with Dr Rahal in the past and for those that want to know the results of those surgeries the links are in the signature. My first surgery was to address the frontal third with Dr Rahal and I got good results from that. The second surgery was in Dec 2018 to address the crown and I feel the result was not what I expected. For those that want to look at the result, please refer to the second surgery link. 

Since 2019, I had been considering who is best equipped to address my crown and also build density in the frontal area. Dr Konior has always been the name that has been on the list for me. I reached out to him in 2019 and was scheduled for surgery in Dec 20. But then Covid hit. Long story short, we finally managed to get a date for Sep 22. 

Experience

My experience with Dr Konior was top notch as expected from a Dr of his stature and repute. Obviously time will tell if my results are as per expectation but from the onset, to be able to speak directly to the Dr was a breathe of fresh air. He answered every question of mine and at times when I wouldn't even expect a response given the time difference between Chicago and London (I am based in London UK) but I would get a response from him. All in all 10/10 for the pre op experience. 

I flew into Chicago on 13th of Sep given the surgery was planned for 15th Sep. I stayed at the Comfort Suites which is convenient as it's close to the clinic and also the supermarket is close. Must say I loved Chicago overall, much more spacious as compared to London and the outlets were nice and most importantly the weather, wouldn't mind living there at some point. With regards to the hotel, I must say Comfort Suites the staff were lovely but the hygiene of the room I was given was pretty bad so I had to change my room. Overall, not the best hotel I've stayed at but the people were helpful and is was close to the clinic so a good trade-off.

Anyway, back to the procedure with Dr Konior. I met Dr Konior at the clinic on the 14th just for a general chat about the procedure. He was kind in answering all my questions and I learnt more about hair restoration in that hour long chat with Dr Konior than I ever have. For example, he told me people ask him about what punch size that he uses. He said there is no one size fits all answer to that and followed it up with some examples which made sense. All in all a very informative chat. Dr did say my scalp donor was severely depleted and that the FUE I had previously did cause a lot of damage to my donor whereby it seemed to be overharvested. I'll be honest that did hit me quite hard and I was gutted because yes I could see my final result of the previous FUE (second procedure) was not good but I only learnt about the donor being severely impacted and nothing to show for it was disappointing. Anyway, it is what it is that is why I chose one of the best, Dr Konior, to operate on me next. Also he said for someone who has had 5200 grafts, my scalp was quite thin possibly because of donor miniaturisation as well as undesirable result from second procedure . He had a look at the donor area and said he will aim to get about 1500 from the scalp donor and the rest from the beard.

Op Day

I went to the clinic at 6:30AM as I was asked by the staff at Dr Konior's office and within a few mins of arriving, Dr Konior got to his work. Must say he is a perfectionist, he buzzed my hair a few times (shorter in length each time) to draw out the plan. The plan was 50% of the grafts will go into the frontal area and 50% into crown. If I were to guess, I spent 1.5 - 2 hours prior to the surgery just planning out the whole thing. It was great and was reassuring that one of the best in the world is so involved in the whole process and put my mind at ease. You certainly get what you pay for with Dr Konior.

Once the plan was done, I was given valium and then off to the op room. Dr Konior then gave me the anaesthetic and I'll be honest, it hurt a lot and I did ask the Dr why. He said it was because of the scar tissue from previous surgeries which made sense. He said I have very hard scalp which meant he had to push the anaesthetic into the scalp harder than he usually has to. Anyway, once the anaesthetic was in, rest of the procedure was a breeze. I started out at 6:30AM and finished around 10:30PM, Dr Konior doing each and every thing i.e. harvesting, making the sites and then implanting. It is refreshing to know that the Dr with you all the way in the process. Dr Konior was then very kind to drop me to the hotel. 

I won't go into further detail but a very good experience with Dr Konior and the time he spends with the patient is great. You are his sole focus on the day of the surgery which is brilliant and extremely reassuring as a patient. 

There was no pain or anything post surgery, I hardly had to take Ibuprofen. Went in for washes and change of dressing (for donor). At the time of writing this post, I am on Day 8 post surgery. The wait begins now. I have tried to keep this intro short but all I can say is if anyone is thinking about Dr Konior, don't think just go with him, you won't get his level of attention anywhere else. He is a perfectionist and you can see that in his approach. Hopefully, the end result lives up to the expectation now.

Here are some of the preop photos and also one immediately post op photo. I will aim to update from three months onwards. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by xabi86

[asterix0]

Post op looks excellent, I'd expect this be to a fantastic result 🙂

[xabi86]

Just now, asterix0 said:

Post op looks excellent, I'd expect this be to a fantastic result 🙂

Thanks. Yes I couldn't believe how clean the recipient area looked post surgery. 

[A Fue Good Men]

Wow looks like we missed each other by about a week. I can echo most of what you mention- top notch experience. Good luck with your journey!

[asterix0]

10 minutes ago, xabi86 said:

Thanks. Yes I couldn't believe how clean the recipient area looked post surgery. 

Dr. Konior and Dr. Zarev have the cleanest post op appearances out of any surgeons I have seen.

Not out of coincidence they both do all parts of the procedure themselves.

You're in good hands man enjoy the process 🙂

[xabi86]

1 hour ago, asterix0 said:

Dr. Konior and Dr. Zarev have the cleanest post op appearances out of any surgeons I have seen.

Not out of coincidence they both do all parts of the procedure themselves.

You're in good hands man enjoy the process 🙂

Dr Zarev not aware of him. Does he use beard as donor and where is he based?

[HappyMan2021]

Mind sharing the price?

[1978matt]

Damn, your donor did really take a hit those first two procedures.

On a more positive note your beard looks a close match to head hair.

Edited September 23, 2022 by 1978matt

[Melvin- Admin]

The post-op looks incredible 🤩 

[xabi86]

On 9/23/2022 at 4:53 PM, 5BetaReductase said:

Wow looks like we missed each other by about a week. I can echo most of what you mention- top notch experience. Good luck with your journey!

Thank you very much. Did you travel into Chicago from another country?

i stayed at the comfort suites. Blimey the hygiene in that hotel was abysmal. 
Loved Chicago though.

On 9/23/2022 at 10:10 PM, 1978matt said:

Damn, your donor did really take a hit those first two procedures.

On a more positive note your beard looks a close match to head hair.

 

[xabi86]

On 9/23/2022 at 10:10 PM, 1978matt said:

Damn, your donor did really take a hit those first two procedures.

On a more positive note your beard looks a close match to head hair.

Yes Dr Konior did say it doesn’t appear you have had a head of hair that has had 5200+ grafts implanted. 

[Z--]

Nice man - Konior is brilliant. You went around a month or so after me and we have very similar hair characteristics. Really excited to see how it grows. Following.

Also, 100% agree with you. The Comfort Suites was a bit unpleasant; smells like cigarettes everywhere and the staff seem to be in a state of consistent anger lmao.

Who did your first two surgeries?

[xabi86]

18 minutes ago, Z-- said:

Nice man - Konior is brilliant. You went around a month or so after me and we have very similar hair characteristics. Really excited to see how it grows. Following.

Also, 100% agree with you. The Comfort Suites was a bit unpleasant; smells like cigarettes everywhere and the staff seem to be in a state of consistent anger lmao.

Who did your first two surgeries?

Thanks buddy.

Rahal did my first two surgeries. The threads for them are in my signature or at the bottom of each post of mine.

Yes definitely the hotel needs a crash course on customer services haha.

Dr Konior spent at least 2 hours planning the whole thing and also met me for an hour the day before the surgery. That was reassuring. Brilliant guy. All aside, I hope the result pulls through as per my expectation. 
 

Where did you travel in from?

[Flapjacks]

I have an FUE procedure with Dr. Rahal coming up soon to address my hairline, would you recommend against using him?

[Z--]

2 minutes ago, Flapjacks said:

I have an FUE procedure with Dr. Rahal coming up soon to address my hairline, would you recommend against using him?

rahal is decent. Had some incredible results a few years ago. that said, a few recent results here unfortunately indicate that he may not be the best at planning around future loss...

If i'm in Canada, I'd opt for H&W imo.

[A Fue Good Men]

On 10/9/2022 at 5:02 AM, xabi86 said:

Thank you very much. Did you travel into Chicago from another country?

i stayed at the comfort suites. Blimey the hygiene in that hotel was abysmal. 
Loved Chicago though.

 

No, came in from the west coast.

 

My gf became friends with one of the front desk girls who ended up moving us to another room that was much better than our previous (which smelled like cigarettes)

[stephcurry30]

Any update on the surgery? How is everything looking? 

[xabi86]

14 hours ago, stephcurry30 said:

Any update on the surgery? How is everything looking? 

I’ve only just hit 3 months. Not much to report at the moment. Not much difference at the moment in comparison to pre op.

[drawdownfx]

Love that personal touch from Konior and the planning he put into you (I am mind blown) as well as being with you for the whole thing. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to him. Wishing you great success in your transplant man!

[Henry]

Have you been on fin this whole time? Your result from your 1st transplant was great but looking at your hair now, that is a significant difference, you almost look like you didn't have surgery for how thin it is  and considering you had a strip for your first procedure, there should be a low chance of that hair minitiurizing. How old are you if I may ask? 

[Ads]

Good luck with the results, having seen other cases on here and other forums you won’t need luck as he is a top notch surgeon. How was the travelling to Chicago? I’m also in the UK and it’s one of the bits that concerns me, to travel so far, how long to stay for, how to get about when there, etc. Also read reviews of that hotel so have been exploring others in the area for if/when the time comes! 🫣

[stephcurry30]

Any update?

[A_4_Archan]

Waiting for ur update..😊

[CharlesBarkley]

We all know Dr Konior is among the best. Then I read that he not even did the whole HT process by himself but HE even drove you to the hotel! That is something amazing, sharing such valuable and caring time with his patients. 
How was the final count of scalp grafts and beard grafts?
How much have you payed per graft? 
An update with photos would be great.

[TheDemon]

In the pre op, you seem to have continued to have hair loss, compared to your first HT with Rahal.
Do you do treatments?