Regular Member Stewie Posted February 5, 2023 Regular Member Share Posted February 5, 2023 So I feel quite nervous about starting this thread about my new surgery, like I have an added weight on my shoulders for it to work out if I post about it, yet I feel like I owe it to the forum to show my progress as it happens so people can always see a variety of cases. As mentioned in my previous thread I went aggressively bald at 17 and by 19 was shaving my hair and by around 21/22 my baldness stabilised slick bald as NW6/7, and I no longer worried about being bald to be honest, the only thing I did worry about is I ws talked into a small FUT surgery at 18, it was around 200-300 hairs and they was placed in a triangle formation in the mid scalp and had about 10+ hairs coming out of each graft, and with me going slick bald rapid, it really did not look the best and played on my mind for a long long time until early 30s when I realised finally I could do something about it and got them lasered off and it never bothered me again. Fast forward to the global pandemic and after it was calming down a bit in 2021, through sheer boredom and friends having HTs I committed to having one with a local place in Manchester UK, it was a hair mill as I know nowadays and I had 2 x 3000 graft sessions 6 months apart. Aside from losing around 200 grafts on the first session due to a mega scab not coming off my head for four weeks it all grew fine, the one thing I really had not thought about in my lack of thinking behind going through with this was what if I did not like it etc. Well I didn't mainly because the hairline was to straight and also I could not grow it if I wanted to as I had to much bald head to cover with just 6000 grafts. So I have continued shaving it which does not bother me, but the straightness and unnaturalness of the hairline really played on my mind, and as I said to a few people, after living all my life bald and not worrying about my head, I was now at 45, worrying about my head and my appearance and that bothered me, so I needed to do something about it. The reason behind going to Eugenix is an obvious one, they are leaders in what they do and I personally think with their tiered pricing system have a very affordable product. I would of gone there for my first one but really it was only seeing the likes of @ZoomsterKarl, @GatsbyAdrian and more recently the infamous @Bandit90 John (now poster boy of Eugenix) that convinced me that maybe traveling to India to get this done was not ridiculous and to far away. Probably like many others living in other counties my initial assessment was through photos and webcam chats, we decided we would push for around 4500 grafts between what I might have left in the scalp and what the beard might offer. I had no idea if this was enough tbh, but I trust them and trust the outstanding results I consistently see on this forum from them. The package I went for was for the senior tech team, I don't have endless pockets and needed it to be in budget with my savings tbh, so this worked out well, and I trusted the training they all have, so it was 120INR per graft, but they phoned and asked if I would be interested in going for 150INR and have Dr Arika do the hairline incisions, of course I said YES! and then 18% tax on everything, so 177INR in the end. I have to give a big shout out to John as I was stressing since ever booking to go here and I would constantly bother him with questions and how this and why that, I am sure he has had enough of it all haha, but with him literally living down the road from where I live I thought he is best placed to offer all the advice I need Couple of stresses in the final weeks before travelling was that all my bloods etc were still not completely back from the docs and the medical visa I applied for 2 months previous still had not surfaced, and then lucky UK went back to online applications and a managed to sort it in days which was lucky for sure. Travelling to India was fine, but I was gutted to have free alcohol on offer and to be just drinking Diet Pepsi 😞 and then upon landing I was picked up and taken to the Hilton, one thing no one has really mentioned is how crazy the driving is over there, if you imagine the old Outrun game from the 80s and how all the cars constantly just changed lanes and was always hitting you, it was just like that but with around 100 times more cars, I have never been nervous in any vehicle in my life, this was a first for me, more so traveling back to the airport afterwards as I banged my head a couple of times as I think I had Colin McCray driving me back to the airport 😐 Once at the hotel late afternoon 26th, I was told on previous calls they wanted me in that day to plan what they was going to do on 27th, the first day of my surgery. So I text the clinic and then was told I would not be coming in that day, this was weird as the whole point in being there quite early the day before was they said they wanted to do the assessment, planning and get ready for starting the next day. So I was just about to chill in the hotel when next thing I got invited to the Farm house via John mentioning to Dr P I was here, it seemed they was doing some mini event/evening for some of the patients and I got asked to go to, so I made my way to the clinic, next thing I was being filmed for around 30mins about why I have come to Eugenix etc and then we was taken to the Farm house, it was really cool, but I was super tired as I had not slept for nearly two days at this point, the evening went on forever and I did not get back to the hotel till around 2am, but it certainly was great meeting some other people and seeing the work they had done, especially the Great @Gatsby, it was weird how much we had in common with our hair journey. The next day 27th was the big day, and also turned out to be a truly crap annoying day, I didn't get taken to the clinic till around 12, I was told my assessment would be in about 30 mins time and to wait, I did not get seen till around 5:30, I then got the planning done and it felt a little rushed (maybe it wasn't but after waiting around for so long the whole thing was over in minutes) I did ask them please not to lower my hairline as it was more about a natural look than anything and then got told my donor was very poor and my beard was very poor, this knocked me massively as I knew the area where the other clinic took from twice was 100% no go, but all the untouched native bits were good and my beard is definitely no painted on ones some people rock, but its also quite dense really so this threw me and then next thing I was told at the very most it would be 3500 grafts and I had to agree to it to move forward and was told they would pack out the hairline mainly so I could grow it to give a good illusion and comb it back, I was a bit broken by this news but composed myself and thought well I am here now, paid for the amount of grafts and then I was finally taken through about 6:30, I had 3000 slits done and sent back to the hotel and hour later, it was honestly a waste of a day. I was then text and told my surgery would start the next day now and that they would complete it all in one day, I text back and said It was agreed to be two days and I would rather not rush through one day. 28th (new day of start), I was taken to the clinic around 10am and it kicked off as soon as I got there which I was happy about. I was told because my donor was bad that they would only be trying to get around 1500 most from it and then the rest from the beard, I asked if the beard could be pushed to 3000+ maybe, and was told yes but lets see if you can tolerate it. Having had two previous FUE surgeries its strange how different this one was with the DHT method and the fact they are harvesting and implanting at the same time pretty much, a lot slower going than the last two, but they know what they are doing so I just lay back and let them crack on. I had Dr Soumesh looking after me and I have to say he was great, I told him that really even though they had the plan to just go mainly on the hairline that really I wanted it just to look natural and then after that it was just about getting some density in the rest of the head, especially the mid scalp, and that I really did not want the temples touching that much as really I was asking them to maybe leave the temples as I have very faint ones still that I was happy with. Dr Soumesh took all this onboard and kept a close eye on the team consistently throughout the day. Around 5pm Dr Arika came in and took over for a bit to do the hairline, she said the team had done a great job in putting a super dense packing behind the hairline and she would now sort the key parts. By the end of that day I was told they had moved around 2200 grafts and then Dr S mentioned that my scalp donor was holding up loads better than expected and they could push for around 2000 grafts from it, so this sounded positive. 29th Day 2, got there at 9am and got right to business, about two hours in Dr S came in and said your scalp is going even better and they took more, in the end they left some bits untouched and managed to get just over 2700 from it, they then moved to the beard and pulled back on what they was going to take, he said the beard is nice and dense and I would not notice it being taken, in the end they only took 1800 from it and at the time of writing this Day 7, I can honestly say it looks like it was never touched. The final count came in at 4544, which oddly is inline with the original estimate. It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster but I have to say the team were amazing and can't do enough for you, sometimes when you have to move position a couple of the lads would grab hold of you and start giving you a real good massage all over, at one point I had four of them doing my arms and back at the same time, I would of paid good money just to have that for an hour on its own ha One odd thing that no one has really mention on the forum (or at least I have never seen it) is that I was filmed around 4/5 times before and after my surgery, loads of photos taken of me and others like when at the farm house, just strange that no one else has ever really brought it up? And also that the anaesthetic, wore off constantly or had dead spots where it never seemed to take, I never had this in the UK and normally its 1 sore 2 sore 3 going number by the 4th prick its numb, but here literally every prick was sore and then just didn't seem to last long so I had periods of feeling discomfort and just putting up with it whilst getting it done, not sure if its just a different technique or drug used? Couple of funny things and nice parts was that each time I was asked how old I was they was taken back as I am now 45 and they couldn't believe it ha, and then also I have a LOT of tattoos, and people kept coming in my surgery room to see them, a couple of the other senior docs come in back end of day 2 to check them out and was having me show them whilst getting grafts put in haha, even had staff around the hotel asking the same about the tattoos, I am guessing thats a cultural thing and maybe they don't normally have people with lots of tats? The food in the clinic and at the hotel was a dream I would eat curry every day if I could, and it was so good, and I think out of all 5 nights I only had to pay for two evening meals in the hotel. The hotel itself and the room was fantastic, and for the price was a steal, room was great. Overall how am I feeling and what are my thoughts on Eugenix so far? The first day which ended up not being the first day really knocked me, but once I was over that they was honestly amazing, so kind, could not do enough for you, and honestly at the end of the day I was so happy when I saw what they have achieved and its super clean and honestly the day after it looks great and no soreness, only tiny scabs localised to each grafts, no oozing or blood, it truly was a beautifully well done job. I would really love to go back and truly thank each team member individually, they were all really lovely people and great at their job. And a big massive thank you to Dr Soumesh who really looked after me as I think he sensed my total anxiety about it all and would come in with his iPad and take a photo and show me what great work they was doing. And he said and I quote "you have great hair follicles, just as good as @Bandit90John's and they will grow equally as good" Thank you so much, hahaha I am not sure myself but thats high praise getting compared to the god of MW6/7 😄 So now I am home its been a week of survival and watching I don't bang my head like I normally do, I have made it through and just done my first head wash today, exercised too and had a shower, still looks and feels like 50% of the scabs are still there but a lot softer so I think they'll be off in the next couple of days. Now the nerves and anxiety had kicked in for real, I am already starting to tell myself that it won't grow well, that there is no point etc. It looks great so far and I am going to have to stay calm, get sad when it starts falling out next week and wait patiently for month 4 onwards and hope it's all good. But I just keep thinking can I really have enough on my head now to grow it and have it look good and something I'll be happy with? I really hope so 🙂 I'll try and get some regular updates going once a month too, and I am so sorry for war and peace, and if you make it through this novel I commend you hahaha Lastly with the photos I am putting one up of my first surgery at 6 months and then second at 6 months so you can see what they had to work around, and then from before, during and after the surgery up to today Day 7. 4 1 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Z-- Posted February 5, 2023 Senior Member Share Posted February 5, 2023 Work looks really clean -- wouldn't be surprised if you were the next big Eugenix success case. Given the previous surgery history, it was definitely the right call to not lower the hairline. You have a wonderful attitude and I'm hopeful that this transplant will grow very well. Good to see more Dr. S cases as well. Separately, I'm quite sad to hear for the 6th+ time about the rushed planning stage. They really need to do something about this... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stewie Posted February 5, 2023 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 5, 2023 8 minutes ago, Z-- said: Work looks really clean -- wouldn't be surprised if you were the next big Eugenix success case. Given the previous surgery history, it was definitely the right call to not lower the hairline. You have a wonderful attitude and I'm hopeful that this transplant will grow very well. Good to see more Dr. S cases as well. Separately, I'm quite sad to hear for the 6th+ time about the rushed planning stage. They really need to do something about this... Thanks man, I really appreciate that. There was lots of nice little things like they have a floor manager and at times he would come and sit with you (mainly before surgery days) and tell you what is going to happen, great for your anxiety as you know what's what. The planning stage really needs to be minimum 30 minutes, you need to have time to process and have a conversation, it honestly felt like a one sided process that I had no say in. I am just so so glad Dr S was so cool and I had a small word when we first chatted the first day of surgery and I told him what I wanted with just hairline natural and density, he was really a great guy, they all were 1 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Berba11 Posted February 5, 2023 Valued Contributor Share Posted February 5, 2023 Fantastic write up, Stew. Work looks stellar and the the added softness and breakup they’ve added to to hairline will make it look nice and natural. Good coverage too! Looking forward to your future updates mate! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Gatsby Posted February 5, 2023 Valued Contributor Share Posted February 5, 2023 Stewie what an awesome write up. And what an awesome guy you are. 👍 I really wished we had more time to chat at the farm when we met. You are the only other person that I know of who also had a hair transplant at 18. That blew me away. What blew me away even more was your calm, philosophical demeanor. I can’t think of anyone who is more deserving of a great result than you and I will be following your updates. Wishing you every success. 🙏👌 1 GATSBY 'UNPLUGGED!' 15,671 (3 surgeries) Grafts FUE+BHT Dr. Sethi Eugenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Rafael Manelli Posted February 6, 2023 Regular Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 My first thought seeing your pre op pics was that you look AI generated or CGI. That hairline was too smooth.and your eyes just look big and dark and like you’re doing that thousand yard stare, dead inside. You can really see the emotional turmoil on your face. Massive improvement after the surgery, this will fill in nicely and the previous surgery although poorly designed at the front will end up bolstering the density, you will end up looking even younger. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member BaldGuy Posted February 6, 2023 Regular Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 Happy growing..Looks nice and clean work. So Dr Arika just did the incisions in the hairline and dr Soumesh did the rest insisions in the scalp plus the plan-design of your hair transplant ? Finally extractions were done by techs? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Fox243 Posted February 6, 2023 Regular Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 This looks cool especially for the number of grafts used – interested in seeing how this turns out density-wise. Are you on meds? Did they recommend beard grafts? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member bear56 Posted February 6, 2023 Regular Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 that work looks superb!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member mrmane85 Posted February 6, 2023 Senior Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 Thanks for writing up such a detailed and honest review 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stewie Posted February 6, 2023 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 8 hours ago, Gatsby said: Stewie what an awesome write up. And what an awesome guy you are. 👍 I really wished we had more time to chat at the farm when we met. You are the only other person that I know of who also had a hair transplant at 18. That blew me away. What blew me away even more was your calm, philosophical demeanor. I can’t think of anyone who is more deserving of a great result than you and I will be following your updates. Wishing you every success. 🙏👌 Ah man, right back at you, shame it was only a couple of hours that one night, would of been good to trade more stories 🙂 and I was truly blown away by what an amazing job they had done to your head up close in person, such beautiful work, I think you'll be a very happy man with this 1 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stewie Posted February 6, 2023 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 3 hours ago, Fox243 said: This looks cool especially for the number of grafts used – interested in seeing how this turns out density-wise. Are you on meds? Did they recommend beard grafts? Honestly thats where its a little weird for me, I have seen people on this forum get 2000, 4000 or even like Adrian 6000 beard grafts, and I get why they are hesitant to always exhaust the scalp so its as natural as possible, but I did say about still keeping on the plan to get 3000+ from the beard, but they just stuck with their plan and that was that, ill just have to hope its enough for now. But at least I have it in the bank down the road as I would only say my scalp has around 500-1000 max left, maybe more if they pushed the humps. In terms of meds I have just been taking biotin, multi vitamins and 1mg daily finasteride, have been for over a years now, personally not had one side effect and seen zero improvement, and my baldness like all the males in my family stabilised at around 22, between then and now at 45, the humps and crown or anything has moved, neither has my dads in 40+ years, so with that I am wondering why I am continuing my use of finasteride tbh and might stop it, only reason I continue is the fact its cheap and causes me no bother 🙂 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stewie Posted February 6, 2023 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 7 hours ago, BaldGuy said: Happy growing..Looks nice and clean work. So Dr Arika just did the incisions in the hairline and dr Soumesh did the rest insisions in the scalp plus the plan-design of your hair transplant ? Finally extractions were done by techs? Thanks man 🙂 Dr S did all incisions apart from the very soft ones at the front f hairline which was all handled by Dr A. All extractions and implantations done by the normal tech team. 1 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stewie Posted February 6, 2023 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 One thing I forgot to mention was what they said about graft placement, so when they thought it was 3500 max grafts, Dr S did the 3000 incisions and then I think the last 500 were just going to be soft hairs on front and tiny bit on temples. But as they moved and started getting more and more from the scalp they added more in the temples, ( which I did keep asking for them to not put a lot of hair there, I think final count was around 200 per temple, and as I said I had faint temples I was more than happy with ) and then also started putting a lot more incisions around the crown, I think around 900, and then at the end of day 2 when they got more hair again Dr S came and put just over another 200 in the crown area to pack that out more. So from what I can gather is that the first 2000 was heavily concentrated around the front 3rd, soft hairline, temples and packing behind it and a bit of mid scalp, where as the rest of the 2500 was mid and crown. Lets hope its enough overall now between this and the first surgeries I have had around 10000 grafts, but I know my hair type isn't the best, its fine, its straight, not a great skin to hair colour ratio, and I am rocking mainly singles and doubles, but as I explained to @Gatsbyand my crazy OCD is that a bit back I mapped out my head with precise measurements so I knew what I was dealing with and it came in around 215-230cm2 baldness give or take, so by that math I should have around 30-50cm2 varying in places, so fingers crossed on how it grows in the coming months And again with the DHT technique they use, the surgery is a hell of a lot slower than normal FUE techniques, I have had mates get 4000-5000+ in a day in other places and have mega results, but when you see how small and precise the placement is, this for me is where this technique shines, its slow going, but especially on the hairline to create that softness and pack in small fine hairs so tight, I can not see how else you could do it without multiple sessions 1 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Bandit90 Posted February 6, 2023 Senior Member Share Posted February 6, 2023 Cheers for the shout Stewart! The work looks very clean! Looking forward to see this growing in. The subtle improvement to the hairline and temples by Dr Soumesh will go a long way in giving you a natural and fulfilling result! Now the for the toughest part to begin... The waiting game! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stewie Posted February 8, 2023 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 8, 2023 All scabs finally off Day 10, I am going to be gutted next week onwards when it all falls out again ha, hair is between 0.25mm for some tiny one and maybe 2-3mm most, and tried to take under my light to get a true sense of what's there atm 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor A_4_Archan Posted February 8, 2023 Valued Contributor Share Posted February 8, 2023 Work looks clean and u will have full head of hair with acceptable density in coming months..happy growing ... 1 Check Out My Hair Transplant Journey --> My Thread 3611 FUE Grafts With Dr Kongkiat Laorwong | Norwood 5 | 2nd May 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenix Hair Sciences Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 @Stewie, Right on track. Thank you for putting your trust in us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member bigmistake Posted February 8, 2023 Regular Member Share Posted February 8, 2023 On 2/6/2023 at 3:01 AM, Stewie said: Stewie, thanks for posting this. My recipient and donor condition is similar to yours. I am also considering Eugenix for a repair and will be following your journey closely. By posting your experience you are really helping others in making their decisions. Hope to see monthly updates from you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stewie Posted February 8, 2023 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 8, 2023 20 minutes ago, bigmistake said: Stewie, thanks for posting this. My recipient and donor condition is similar to yours. I am also considering Eugenix for a repair and will be following your journey closely. By posting your experience you are really helping others in making their decisions. Hope to see monthly updates from you. Thanks man, tbh I think the ugly duckling stage will hurt me this time, never bothered me on first two, but I am loving seeing my hair in the mirror and how full its feeling atm, once it starts shedding next week onwards it'll make me cry ha 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member ThinningIndian Posted February 8, 2023 Regular Member Share Posted February 8, 2023 Hi StewieI This write up has been so useful as it's the night before my surgery at Eugenix and so much stuff you've mentioned that I've not heard from other people. The first part def made me feel nervous but I'm glad you had an overall good experience. Looks amazing and wishing you well and will post up my journey this week too! 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Stewie Posted February 8, 2023 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 8, 2023 47 minutes ago, ThinningIndian said: Hi StewieI This write up has been so useful as it's the night before my surgery at Eugenix and so much stuff you've mentioned that I've not heard from other people. The first part def made me feel nervous but I'm glad you had an overall good experience. Looks amazing and wishing you well and will post up my journey this week too! 😊 Ah good luck. I am sure it will all go great. I just thought there is no point not being completely honest about everything as that’s the only way we can make true informed decisions The team are amazing and in time will get better and better again who is leading your surgery? 4 x HT - 10806 Scalp - 1800 Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member ThinningIndian Posted February 8, 2023 Regular Member Share Posted February 8, 2023 Dr Arika is doing the incisions but I don't know which doctor is leading the surgery...I probably should have asked or did they tell you on the day? Also on day 1 do they just do the incisions and send you back to the hotel? Sorry one more question (it's 4am and I can't sleep thinking about everything now)..do you just not wash the head at all for two days after the surgery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Gatsby Posted February 9, 2023 Valued Contributor Share Posted February 9, 2023 All the best @Stewie. I hope you continue to update your results and wish you happy growing! 👌 1 GATSBY 'UNPLUGGED!' 15,671 (3 surgeries) Grafts FUE+BHT Dr. Sethi Eugenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Gatsby Posted February 9, 2023 Valued Contributor Share Posted February 9, 2023 2 hours ago, ThinningIndian said: Dr Arika is doing the incisions but I don't know which doctor is leading the surgery...I probably should have asked or did they tell you on the day? Also on day 1 do they just do the incisions and send you back to the hotel? Sorry one more question (it's 4am and I can't sleep thinking about everything now)..do you just not wash the head at all for two days after the surgery? @ThinningIndian don't worry. You have chosen an excellent doctor in Dr Arika. Eugenix will tell you what is needed. Having said that, do not take a back seat and ask them as many questions as you feel you need to. There is no such thing as a silly question. All the best! 👍 1 GATSBY 'UNPLUGGED!' 15,671 (3 surgeries) Grafts FUE+BHT Dr. Sethi Eugenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now