1935 graft FUE hair transplant NW2 Dr mwamba Brussels

[Dillpickle123]

Hey guys my time has finally come for my fue procedure, I decided on doing with dr mwamba I first consulted with him in April and was booked for November in New Jersey, one of the major reasons I choose dr mwamba was his donor management and the cleanliness of his work his donors look pristine after just a few days!.

the Nj clinic was sold so as the clinic closed there I was offered to come to Brussels where flight would be paid and there’d be free accommodation! After examining my scalp he saw almost no miniaturization with an avg density of 76 grafts which means the finasteride has done its job very well and he said that I do t seem to have an aggressive hairloss pattern the plan was to fill in the temples and a bit of the forelock, in the forelock I have vitiligo which makes the hair grow white, after examining my scalp there there was not a lot of hairloss there but since the follicles were white it looked more thin, he spent an hour designing the hairline and said that at a density of 65 grafts 1800 would be needed over two days split between the 2 temples the anesthesia was not too bad but I did need more then the normal person since I metabolize it quicker as I’ve always needed extra such as when doing dental work.

I just finished my first day so this figure could change dr mwamba and his staff have been amazing He is very kind and understanding here are some pictures of before and during procedure I will try my best to update as this forum has helped me tremendously 

One thing if your traveling from the states is to get a SIM card in Belgium as some phone companies will not have service here.

Cheers!

 

fun fact about mwamba: him, bisanga are childhood friends and neighbors and him and lupanzula attended hs together in Congo 😂 

here are my before 

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by Dillpickle123

[Dillpickle123]

As of right now 

during the consult the donor had a avg density I always thought I had a great donor, it was discovered that only the donor was being affected by telogen effluvium, dr mwamba said that because of perhaps the vitiligo or stress in life but not dupa as the crown, vertex and hairline didn’t show anything because of this we have to slowly and selectively pick the grafts for implantation 

Edited November 17, 2022 by Dillpickle123

[pkipling]

Congrats on a successful first day! 

Any insight as to why he broke up an 1,800 graft procedure into two days? 

[Dillpickle123]

3 minutes ago, pkipling said:

Congrats on a successful first day! 

Any insight as to why he broke up an 1,800 graft procedure into two days? 

He says he like to break up all procedure into two days just in case he feel like he needs to add more grafts, he quite the perfectionist and I’m all for it! I def want quality over speed 

[Dillpickle123]

Donor at the end of first day 

[Mike1J]

Hey bro @Dillpickle123
First of all congrats, looks to me like your case is not too complicated and that the results would be great
As always very clean and nicely done job, I love his post-op work always seem neat compared to butchers elsewhere

True that he splits his procedure to 2 full days, they harvest approximately 500-1000 grafts per day max, take breaks to refresh and focus, and take their time which is literally your moneys worth
Remember that the doctor himself does the majority of the work and when you get a true job done, it takes time

I am 2.5 months post-op after Mwamba's procedure and so far healing has be on a whole different league compared to my first FUE in Turkey.
Take good care and don't forget the laser massage chair at the end  best thing ever

[Melvin- Admin]

Some of the cleanest extraction’s I’ve seen. Happy growing 🙏

[Dillpickle123]

1 hour ago, Mike1J said:

Hey bro @Dillpickle123
First of all congrats, looks to me like your case is not too complicated and that the results would be great
As always very clean and nicely done job, I love his post-op work always seem neat compared to butchers elsewhere

True that he splits his procedure to 2 full days, they harvest approximately 500-1000 grafts per day max, take breaks to refresh and focus, and take their time which is literally your moneys worth
Remember that the doctor himself does the majority of the work and when you get a true job done, it takes time

I am 2.5 months post-op after Mwamba's procedure and so far healing has be on a whole different league compared to my first FUE in Turkey.
Take good care and don't forget the laser massage chair at the end  best thing ever

That laser chair is so great!! 😂 the massage is amazing after a 12 hour day on the chair tomorrow the last of the grafts will be implanted he was telling me and lots of the grafts the first day we’re 3’s the place provided by them is only 100 meters away from the clinic up the street he even said that if I have doubts about the hairline that tomorrow we can add more then the right side I’ll probably add more grafts but doesn’t look like I won’t even reach 2000 grafts with plenty of donor left  for any additional work but there’s little to no hairloss everywhere else crown had a few wispy hair in the microscope but 95% of the hairs were dark and strong 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Dillpickle123

[Dillpickle123]

26 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Some of the cleanest extraction’s I’ve seen. Happy growing 🙏

Agreed that’s 750 grafts but I def couldn’t tell and that was literally one hour post op! By the time I leave for Cali then donor will look great 

[HappyMan2021]

@Dillpickle123 how much is the Belgian cost per graft? I saw Mwamba in NJ and it was $5/graft. I'm seeing him in Brussels in January but still unclear what the cost per graft is there. 

Do you have to pay a VAT tax on top of everything? I'm already paying a fortune, it makes me nauseous thinking there is going to be a 20% VAT tax on top of everrything. 

Awesome you got a free flight and accommodation, I'm jealous. 

How was the surgery broken up between Mwamba and Dr. Ali? With Dr. Ali assisting, did you still feel like Mwamba was fully in control and calling the shots?

Did you tour Brussels beforehand? Any tips besides the SIM card? that is a good one. 

How long are you staying in Belgium before your flight?

5 hours ago, Dillpickle123 said:

1800 would be needed over two days

I will say....even as a Mwamba patient myself who had a 3-day procedure with him in June and will have a 2-day procedure in January, I am still pretty surprised you needed a 2 day procedure for 1800 grafts. 1800 grafts is a drop in the bucket for an elite doctor like Mwamba, he and his team could do that small amount in his sleep and still give a 10/10 result. .

Yes Mwamba is a perfectionist, but he is also very hard working with many patients commenting how he works well into the night to make sure everything is well done. 

If I had to guess, your surgery is going to end tomorrow with plenty of time remaining still. I would ask for even more grafts than 1800. Let Dr. Mwamba go ham on your scalp. When is the next time you are going to have Mwamba in front of you? Even if you don't need more than 1800 grafts, I'm sure Mwamba can work his magic and make additional grafts look good on you. Better than just 1800. 

Go big or go home 🙌

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by HappyMan2021

[Dillpickle123]

5 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

@Dillpickle123 how much is the Belgian cost per graft? I saw Mwamba in NJ and it was $5/graft. I'm seeing him in Brussels in January but still unclear what the cost per graft is there. 

Do you have to pay a VAT tax on top of everything? I'm already paying a fortune, it makes me nauseous thinking there is going to be a 20% VAT tax on top of everrything. 

Awesome you got a free flight and accommodation, I'm jealous. 

How was the surgery broken up between Mwamba and Dr. Ali? With Dr. Ali assisting, did you still feel like Mwamba was fully in control and calling the shots?

Did you tour Brussels beforehand? Any tips besides the SIM card? that is a good one. 

How long are you staying in Belgium before your flight?

I will say....even as a Mwamba patient myself who had a 3-day procedure with him in June and will have a 2-day procedure in January, I am still pretty surprised you needed a 2 day procedure for 1800 grafts. 1800 grafts is a drop in the bucket for an elite doctor like Mwamba, he and his team could do that small amount in his sleep and still give a 10/10 result. .

Yes Mwamba is a perfectionist, but he is also very hard working with many patients commenting how he works well into the night to make sure everything is well done. 

If I had to guess, your surgery is going to end tomorrow with plenty of time remaining still. I would ask for even more grafts than 1800. Let Dr. Mwamba go ham on your scalp. When is the next time you are going to have Mwamba in front of you? Even if you don't need more than 1800 grafts, I'm sure Mwamba can work his magic and make additional grafts look good on you. Better than just 1800. 

Go big or go home 🙌

 

He is 3 euro per graft shaven, 4 unshaven yes there’s a 21 percent tax on top of that unfortunately plus paying for the meds the vat was implemented in 2016 in Belgium, dr alli did the anesthesia and about 30 percent of the extractions while mwamba did 70 percent and all of the incisions, dr mwamba is calling the shots

i didn’t visit around yet as I was extremely jet lagged from the flight the first day then the next day was my first day in the procedure but plan to leave the 18th it was indeed a long day 9am to 9 pm with a lunch around 9:30 provided by them a delicious shrimp Alfredo and at the end las cap massage chair that Feels amazing after a long day on the chair 

your right he said we may not even reach 1800 grafts but he said that at amount it leaves the hairline at a density of 65 almost matching my 76 grafts per sq cm native density so today I will def ask if we can lower the hairline even more since I was anticipating 2000 grafts from the beginning but the forelock didn’t end of needing as much grafts as anticipated I will probably tell him today to lower the hairline a bit as he said my hairloss is very stable and he doesn’t anticipate I’ll need any work soon as long as I stay on medication, I will be getting prp since if I have vitiligo which is an autoimmune disease which is inflammatory 

[Dillpickle123]

Also when you reach immigration make sure to have a SCEENSHOT of your return flight reservations and your hotel, just in case you can’t get internet I unfortunately didn’t have neither only on email and I couldn’t pull it up and let’s just saw they weren’t too friendly and was sent to a jail looking room where they took my passport as I frantically tried to get Wi-Fi to get the address of where I was going from dr mwambas team after an hour of waiting I finally showed them everything and was let go, this was why I went straight to the SIM card place in the airport and paid for European SIM card for 30 euro a month and was then easily able to call dr mwamba and his driver to pick me up

[Dillpickle123]

I will probably lower the hairline a bit more although the first row of singles are already in place the only reason is because my scalp analysis surprisingly didn’t show much of any hairloss besides the obvious places and the donor being good 

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Dillpickle123
Trying to flip

[Mike10]

you picked a good surgeon. how old are you now?

[Mike1J]

Wow @Dillpickle123your procedure reminds me of mine nearly identical, same methodolgy of work (about 70% done by Mwamba, 30% by Ali) which instils great confidence in the process, and the laser chair at the end literally minimizes the swelling and makes the healing quicker, that's genius 

The spacing between grafts is something that has been a concern to me, as I've seen some similar jobs with less dense grafts that ended up looking bad, I have been writing to Mwamba about this and he advised me that there shouldn't be any issue and that we should wait to see the result. 

I do agree, that if you are still there you might as well go full on with the procedure and implant more grafts to your liking, even though you plan a 2nd visit, still, you're already on the chair  go crazy, I kinda regret I didn't ask for more grafts to be added 

Good luck!!!

[Dillpickle123]

6 minutes ago, Mike1J said:

Wow @Dillpickle123your procedure reminds me of mine nearly identical, same methodolgy of work (about 70% done by Mwamba, 30% by Ali) which instils great confidence in the process, and the laser chair at the end literally minimizes the swelling and makes the healing quicker, that's genius 

The spacing between grafts is something that has been a concern to me, as I've seen some similar jobs with less dense grafts that ended up looking bad, I have been writing to Mwamba about this and he advised me that there shouldn't be any issue and that we should wait to see the result. 

I do agree, that if you are still there you might as well go full on with the procedure and implant more grafts to your liking, even though you plan a 2nd visit, still, you're already on the chair  go crazy, I kinda regret I didn't ask for more grafts to be added 

Good luck!!!

Have you posted your journey? I think it depends highly on hair caliber I have thick wavy hair and how many triple grafts are extracted for me the de commented that I had tons of 3 hair grafts follicles and that I should have no problem achieving nearly identical native density he says he’s had patients get as high as 80 graft density because they insisted on it but 65 too me is a good balance of density and graft survival as of right now I’m at lunch with them wish I knew French 😂 as they’re always positives vibes, I spoke to doctor mwamba about lowering the hairline a tad bit and he said will do it! So maybe it will go closer to the 2000 graft mark, the goal is for this to be a one and done but after years on being on this forum it is rare and it’s ok if I need to return for another touch up luckily there’s no balding everywhere else and even if there was there’s thousands left in the donor and thousands more in the beard just in case 

[Dillpickle123]

18 minutes ago, Mike1J said:

Wow @Dillpickle123your procedure reminds me of mine nearly identical, same methodolgy of work (about 70% done by Mwamba, 30% by Ali) which instils great confidence in the process, and the laser chair at the end literally minimizes the swelling and makes the healing quicker, that's genius 

The spacing between grafts is something that has been a concern to me, as I've seen some similar jobs with less dense grafts that ended up looking bad, I have been writing to Mwamba about this and he advised me that there shouldn't be any issue and that we should wait to see the result. 

I do agree, that if you are still there you might as well go full on with the procedure and implant more grafts to your liking, even though you plan a 2nd visit, still, you're already on the chair  go crazy, I kinda regret I didn't ask for more grafts to be added 

Good luck!!!

Did you do prp? Since it helps with inflammation I may do it since I suffer from vitiligo on the forelock which is an autoimmune inflammatory reaction and it couldn’t hurt Ik it’s quite expensive though and I would probably only do it once, how many grafts do you get and what was your hairloss before? Thanks 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Dillpickle123

[JP28]

13 hours ago, Dillpickle123 said:

I will probably lower the hairline a bit more although the first row of singles are already in place the only reason is because my scalp analysis surprisingly didn’t show much of any hairloss besides the obvious places and the donor being good 

 

How come there is so much space in between the grafts? Is it a budget reason? 

[Dillpickle123]

37 minutes ago, JP28 said:

How come there is so much space in between the grafts? Is it a budget reason? 

Because only the first row is in place today the majority are going in today, no budget as I insisted on getting closer to the 2k graft goal and lower the hairline more then the pictures above by a 1mm or so 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Dillpickle123

[JP28]

3 hours ago, Dillpickle123 said:

Because only the first row is in place today the majority are going in today, no budget as I insisted on getting closer to the 2k graft goal and lower the hairline more then the pictures above by a 1mm or so 

Great make sure you double check everything is right and that you’re happy with the density when you’re done! 

[Hairy Henderson]

2 days for 1800 seems kinda crazy 

[Dillpickle123]

First morning after yesterday the (2nd day) this day was when the real fun happened Dr mwamba and dr Ali’s work ethics are amazing they were in good spirits listening to Congolese music and just having great conversation made the day go by faster then the time may say. it was an extremely long I went in at 9am finished at midnight dr Ali and dr mwamba worked late into the night making any additional slits he needed to be made while they both implanted. even

after dr mwamba was in his office doing consults 😂 final number is 1935 grafts after lowering hairline 1mm further the the corners hair greed got to me I joked to him and said I wanted a hairline as good as his (nw 0). in one day Dr mwamba did all slits and all of the hairline and temple implantation and is truly a perfectionist making more slits if needed and extracting again, I did PRP at the end as well

during the consult it was found that I had telogen effluvium in the donor which sucked because if not my donor area should’ve been 95-100 grafts density so they had to choose what to extract it interestingly only in the donor area seemed affected not the upper scalp, the nape area wasn’t affected as much he said it might have to with vitiligo which is auto immune inflammation or stress related so that’s maybe why it took longer as they had to be selective with grafts taken hence the 12 hour day on day 1 and the 15 hour day on day 2

Edited November 17, 2022 by Dillpickle123

[Mike1J]

10 hours ago, JP28 said:

How come there is so much space in between the grafts? Is it a budget reason? 

I am also concerned with this, I have the exact same spacing ratio and I did 2000 grafts. Too early to judge though, I can't say I am confident in the results but as this is an FUE repair, and not on virgin hair, the goal is to achieve coverage with the double and triple grafts once hair has grown out.

I was unhappy with the first 2 weeks where the grafts are kind of "showing" what the density is going to look like, and when addressed this to Dr. Mwamaba he wrote that it's way too early to tell, and often misleading.

So, I'm optimistic, and so should @Dillpickle123be
BTW no I haven't posted my pics or anything yet, I'm waiting to see what kind of post will it be based on the results. 
Still, will say this again, have to bow down to Mwamba and his team for the entire process, they do pay full attention when extracting, grafting, etc. 

[Dillpickle123]

6 hours ago, Mike1J said:

I am also concerned with this, I have the exact same spacing ratio and I did 2000 grafts. Too early to judge though, I can't say I am confident in the results but as this is an FUE repair, and not on virgin hair, the goal is to achieve coverage with the double and triple grafts once hair has grown out.

I was unhappy with the first 2 weeks where the grafts are kind of "showing" what the density is going to look like, and when addressed this to Dr. Mwamaba he wrote that it's way too early to tell, and often misleading.

So, I'm optimistic, and so should @Dillpickle123be
BTW no I haven't posted my pics or anything yet, I'm waiting to see what kind of post will it be based on the results. 
Still, will say this again, have to bow down to Mwamba and his team for the entire process, they do pay full attention when extracting, grafting, etc. 

can you pm your pics? Id love to see as I do worry a bit about the density as most ppl here with my hairloss get 2500 grafts+ I will definitely ask if he can check the density today although after being here for years Ik one thing you must have patience and very rarely you get it right in one try so if I need a touch so be it at least now I have the general shape of what I exactly wanted besides I think it depends on hair caliber color and donor density, native density etc I’ve seen many results from Dr Konior and Dr couto where they achieve amazing results with the amount of grafts I got and that’s what I’m hoping for hoping for good density and a natural result 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Dillpickle123

[Dillpickle123]

4 hours ago, Calihome1 said:

2 days for 1800 seems kinda crazy 

Indeed but I’ve had worse pain in my life I have high pain tolerance and I would def do this again