2500 grafts with Dr Arshad

[Toot]

Hi everyone, 

How i got to getting a HT

Since birth, I have always had a bald spot on the left side of my head, and as a result, I have always hated my hair. I could never style it or do anything with it except part it over as a comb-over style look. That was fine until I turned 29, and my hair began to thin, which became difficult. Given it was something, I was already self-conscious of, I couldn't really look at a mirror without that being the only thing I saw. 

At this time, I started looking into hair transplants and learned that in Australia, you need to be rich to get one, and i could not find any before or after photos. Then I found Turkey and could not believe how cheap it was. But I was sceptical if something seems to good to be true it usually is. But at this stage, I had no clue about anything to do with the process. FUE, FUT or meds, nothing. Around this time, there was a post on Lad bible of a young guy who had a bad procedure done in Turkey, and Dr Arshad had fixed their work. 

This was when I realised there was such a huge gap in my knowledge, and if I wanted to have a procedure done, I needed to educate myself on the subject before taking another step. 

Over the next 12 months, I researched extensively but hit a roadblock, and that was the meds. Everything I read online basically told me that after taking finasteride, I would lose all of my sex drive, my penis would stop working, and it might never work again. Seriously the fear-mongering around this had me petrified to the point I just paused and decided to accept my fate of going bald. 

Around 18 months ago, my hair started to thin out, and it didn't look good, so i started shaving my head. I didn't hate the way it looked, but as you can see in the driver's license picture, I posted my hairline sits on one side of my head and not in the centre ( i have slight OCD and need things to be even ) So every time I shaved there were 2-4 days of being happy before this off centre mohawk thing would appear. 

As a result, my confidence took a massive hit, to the point where I didn't want to bother dating or talking to girls because I felt like shit about my appearance. Now I will add many friends who liked the new look and couldn't understand what I was worried about. Unfortunately, i just really couldn't get on board with it and decided i had to try something. 

The consultation process/choosing a clinic. 

After going with the shaved head and hating it in November 2021, I decided a HT was the move for me. After all my research, I felt Dr Arshad and his team were who I could get the best result. I based this on photos of his clients and their level of baldness compared to mine and their before and after pics in particularly the hair lines Dr Arshad had created for them it seemed he was quite skilled in this field of HT. 

My consultation was with Sommiya. She was so upfront with me from the beggining. She asked if I knew this could be done closer to home and explained how an HT only moves hair from one section to another. We then discussed the meds. She explained to me if I really wanted to commit to this journey, the smartest thing I could do was try the medication and if I don't have a bad reaction, I would give myself a really good shot at a successful HT.

She was also very honest in saying the bald spot on my left side could be from a medical condition and that I should have a scalp biopsy done to ensure there isn't a medical condition preventing me from growing hair there. That she wouldn't want me to come all the way to the UK and the operation to be a waste. 

I will skip the next three months here as i did the tests through a hair transplant clinic in Sydney ( i needed a hair surgeon here to give me a referral for the biopsy). By April, I had my results -  no scarring Alopecia, no side effects from the finasteride or oral minoxidil ( the topical burnt my scalp - stopped instantly ). From there, I booked another consult and was given a quote for 3000 grafts. 

At the time, I thought there was no way I could afford this once I added on the travel costs of going to the UK and reluctantly decided to look closer to home here on the network. I messaged two clinics in Thailand and one in India and was shocked that there was not much price difference between all the trusted surgeons on the network. 

I will add the clinic in India did have some more affordable options. But after I messaged them for a quote, they called my phone three times within the first hour and again the next day, which put me off. I really don't like pushy salespeople. 

So once I assessed all of my options from here, the reality was the travel costs to the UK were an extra 3K. Dr Arshad had been my personal preference for so long that I decided If I don't go to Dr Arshad and I am unhappy with the result I will always regret it. If I go there and am not happy, I can live with that at least I did everything possible to get the best result IMO. 

My Procedure

Dr Arshad's team found me a fantastic Airbnb close to the clinic, which is incredible. It is a brand-new facility and looks incredible. I arrived the day before so we could meet each other rather than just jumping straight onto the table. After our consult, one of the team drove me back to my Airbnb, which was kind of her. 

The following day I arrived at 7 am, and we created the new hairline, I thought Dr Arshad would possibly want to keep my hairline higher than I had wanted, but I was a bit shocked when I saw what he had in mind. It was even better than I anticipated, and i was thrilled at the potential temple lines he had drawn for me. So from there it was no complaints from me let's get on the table. 

The procedure went well, Dr Arshad had to keep switching his Choi machines ( used for extraction, i think that's the name). He commented many times that my hair was quite thick and he was very happy the quality of my grafts but they were difficult to extract - post procedure, I was told they went through 12 of these machines on me and usually go through six and that it took probably an hour and a half longer to do my extractions than usual ( THIS IS THE TYPE OF STUFF YOU PAY FOR FROM A TOP SURGEON THAT YOU DONT EVEN THINK OF ). 

A key moment I want to share from the procedure was when the girls were inserting my grafts into the channels. They mentioned one of their partners had been to Turkey and had an HT, which did not go too well, and that Dr Arshad had redone the procedure and reshaped the hairline. They showed me the photos and i was blown away. At this time i had been on the table for over ten hours which is rough, i was feeling fragile by that point, as you do in that situation. But knowing that even members of his team have experienced in their own lives what we men go through on this journey and what the impacts on us are if the procedure isn't done right just gave me the greatest sense of relief. 

I can't thank Dr Arshad and his team enough. They looked after me so well the whole time I was there; they made it very clear to me that if I needed anything, just to pick up the phone and that nothing was an issue. Now i am back home and the shedding has begun, i will post on here after 1 month 3 months 6 months and 12 months wish me luck!

 

[HairEnthusiast101]

Wow looks very clean. I’ve enjoyed Dr A works recently. What is his mm punch size? Keep us updated

[Toot]

@JoDimaggio22 thank you. Unfortunately most of my post wouldn’t upload I’ve sent it to Melvin and he’s going to throw it up later for me. 
 

i actually don’t remember. I want to say 1mm as I have that number in my head for some reason. I will ask next time I message the clinic. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Looks very good, do you have any before pictures? 

[Toot]

@Melvin- Moderator thank you. I do the first picture is the day of my procedure. The second is my drivers licence and last is a photo from when i was four. You can see the section of my head that hair just never grew

. 

[RTC]

Hope this goes well for you mate

[Toot]

Little update. I am around 10 weeks post op. Not too much happening quite a few little hairs on the left side compared to the right. 
 

The waiting game is pretty crap tbh. I made friends with a guy who had his procedure a few days before me by Dr Arshad his is coming in great so looks like I might be a slow grower. 
 

Will keep updating as I go. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Looks standard for 2.5 months. I don’t see any shock loss, so that’s good. Growth usually starts 3/4 months, so you’ve got another month or so, keep taking monthly pictures. 

[Marko7t4]

Looks fine for 2.5 months mate. I had mine done by Dr Arshad in June 2021. Looking forward to seeing your progress. Your native hair does look really thick, so if your grafts grow like that you’ll end up looking fantastic. 

[Speoj]

Liking the temporal peaks work from those post op pics, hopefully grow through nicely. The waiting game is long but keep us updated mate! 

[RTC]

Stay patient mate

[nl502c]

Looks good for 2.5 month mark

[maxamill]

Looks good - any update mate?

[Marko7t4]

Any update on this?

[Throwaway2233]

Any update @Toot?

[Toot]

My apologies guys. I had turned notifications off in my emails as I got too many replies from posts. I will try and keep this short and sweet. I am a week shy of 10 months post-op and couldn't be happier. The first three months of the journey were okay, I was a bit self-conscious about the redness which lasted for around 6-8 weeks. I remember wanting to do monthly updates but during that phase, I was avoiding taking photos as much as possible. 

Months 4/5 were a bit of a challenge for me. Not much was happening at all and I was a bit scared I was the unlucky one who the procedure had not worked on. Also factoring in that I was having hair transplanted in an area that had never grown hair. During this time Dr Arshads team were so kind and professional. They called me around the 4-month mark and had a chat and talked me through everything again and explained it wasn't a long time period etc. That really did help to ease my mind. 

By the end of my 5th month, I started to get tiny little hairs shooting through and started to notice some signs of life!! My hair has gone from strength to strength since. I am so happy with my results, I am still hoping to get more density and I have no doubt I will as I am seeing new little hairs still poke through all the time. 

 

This has changed my life, I cannot thank Dr Arshad and his team enough. Anybody out there thinking about getting a procedure done to find a way to make it happen! Also, I will add lastly I still take 1mg Fin and 2.5mg Min daily. No side effects. 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Toot
Spelling

[Marko7t4]

Glad you’re happy with it mate. Congratulations 👏 

[Melvin- Admin]

Looks awesome 👏🏼 very happy for you.

[RTC]

You look like a new man.. congrats 

[Toot]

Thanks Guys! And once again thanks Melvin for providing the platform. It really helped with the early research. 

[maxamill]

Huge change, looks amazing mate!

[A_4_Archan]

@Toot looking excellent my friend👌👌 ....happy for you...🍻

[AhmadChaudhry]

 First of all congratulations. Secondly I can see on the right side still less density. If it is after a few months, acceptable but if after 12 or 13 months then density is not up to mark. Anyway, overall nice result.   

[sharpshooterer]

On 7/9/2023 at 10:52 AM, Toot said:

My apologies guys. I had turned notifications off in my emails as I got too many replies from posts. I will try and keep this short and sweet. I am a week shy of 10 months post-op and couldn't be happier. The first three months of the journey were okay, I was a bit self-conscious about the redness which lasted for around 6-8 weeks. I remember wanting to do monthly updates but during that phase, I was avoiding taking photos as much as possible. 

Months 4/5 were a bit of a challenge for me. Not much was happening at all and I was a bit scared I was the unlucky one who the procedure had not worked on. Also factoring in that I was having hair transplanted in an area that had never grown hair. During this time Dr Arshads team were so kind and professional. They called me around the 4-month mark and had a chat and talked me through everything again and explained it wasn't a long time period etc. That really did help to ease my mind. 

By the end of my 5th month, I started to get tiny little hairs shooting through and started to notice some signs of life!! My hair has gone from strength to strength since. I am so happy with my results, I am still hoping to get more density and I have no doubt I will as I am seeing new little hairs still poke through all the time. 

 

This has changed my life, I cannot thank Dr Arshad and his team enough. Anybody out there thinking about getting a procedure done to find a way to make it happen! Also, I will add lastly I still take 1mg Fin and 2.5mg Min daily. No side effects. 

Congratulations dude, your new hairline and density looks good and yet there's more to come! I am considering Dr Arshad for my 1st HT, front hairline 2500 grafts FUE.

I can already tell from your write-up you are pleased with your results and the clinic's performance overall. Would you rate his work and attention to detail with the best of them?  Alternatively, I am considering Dr Sethi at Eugenix, but thought id investigate a UK clinic that is within budget. Any feedback would be hugely appreciated. 

[Melvin- Admin]

You’re almost at a year. Let’s do a final update 🙏