Klinika Przybylski - 2096 grafts - 6 August 2022

[gottobestrong]

So the time has come for my report, although I have to admit that I took quite a long time to get around to it. Not because the results are poor, rather because I just didn't feel like going through all the details. On the other hand, I've often browsed opinions posted by various forums members, so it's probably only fair that I share my impressions.

NOTE: I'm a Pole, and a very similar review has been posted on one of the Polish forums about hair transplants (cannot attach the link here, sorry), almost 1:1, except for the fact that it's written in English here, so the content had to be amended a bit. 

Introduction

I am 28 years old. I've been losing my hair since I was 19, I think, and it literally happened all of a sudden, i.e. my hair started to recede (at the time it was something in between NW1 or NW2) and I started to notice more hair growing on other parts of my body (mainly my shoulders, back and arms). At first I wasn't too worried about it, I had other things on my mind (as teens/young adults tend to be at that age, gosh). However, as time went on, the receding hairline started to bother me (as well as body hair, but I could somehow ignore it, probably because body hair is unlikely to be seen unless it's by the pool or somewhere) and I decided that something needed to be done about it.

First I went to a dermatologist who recommended that I start treatment with finasteride and minoxidil, which I didn't agree to at the time (~20 years old) because I was afraid of the side effects. In time, however, I eventually started the treatment, but after ~6 months, despite satisfactory results, I stopped the treatment because of the side effects that I happened to experience (in my case: mood disorder, decreased libido, erectile dysfunction). In addition, I was not very physically active at the time and did not pay much attention to my diet.

And so it went on until the age of 23, when the receding hairline (now, inbetween NW2 and NW3) began to bother me to such an extent that I underwent a repeat treatment with finasteride in combination with minoxidil.This lasted for a year, but I stopped again because of the side effects (at the time I still had no secret knowledge of these subjects, I'll talk about it later in this post). I also started to doing regular excercises (broadly: HIIT, cycling, traditional strength trainings etc.), supplements (vitamins: D, A, E, K; EPA and DHA; probiotics and nootropic agents) and regular blood tests. I have to admit that this definitely helped to stabilise my hair loss, but it didn't stop it completely. My hair just got weaker year on year, even though I had relatively little DHT, i.e., as much as an adult man of my age should have.

In general, I would like to give a rant here about doctors who prescribe finasteride and do not suggest ANYTHING related to actully taking it. Guess what, you CAN actually take a lower dose or apply it directly to the scalp, or both. In general, with the scalp application it's not as free of side effects as some write, but you can more easily manipulate the dose and go down to, say, .25 mg a day or even less. If I had been more interested in the subject in the past, this is how I would have started my finasteride treatment and therefore, probably stabilise my hair loss even faster. Eh.

I went back to finasteride at the age of 26, in topical form and at a dose of .1 mg a day. It is great. I also use minoxidil, obviously.

Origin of interest in hair transplant and consultation with clinics in Turkey

I've been interested in this topic for a very long time (let's say since 2018), starting of course with YouTube videos, which mainly talked about the safety of this procedure. Then I got out of the loop related to the hair transplant business for a while because it was very expensive for me at the time and I didn't want to bother thinking about something that is simply a no-go for me.

Then I came across a YouTube channel called Provokator TV (somewhere in the year 2020, where a man had a transplant at the Aestepool Clinic and his latest video was this one; actually, I've no idea if you've ever come across this clinic, it's probably more known there in Poland). Well, because of the affordability, I became quite interested in the topic of hair transplant in Turkey in general and especially in the aforementioned clinic. In the spring of 2021, I made an appointment for a consultation in this clinic, unfortunately online (clarification: we could have met in person, in Warsaw, but I couldn't go there at that time). I took a couple of photos of my hairline for the clinic to determine the amount of hair that could potentially be transplanted. I had the pleasure of talking to (I think) the only consultant from this clinic in Poland at that time - Damian. I was offered a transplant of between 3k and 3.5k grafts. Seemed cool, but I was discouraged by the average-looking PDF document sent back to my mailbax, which presented the offer of the clinic (especially, I've got turned off by the recipient area marked with a pencil tool from MS Paint, eh).

Then I came across, among other things, this forum + a Polish forum called pokonajlysienie, where I had the pleasure of seeing many reports of both successful and unsuccessful hair transplants in Turkey, Poland and Western Europe. I learnt what a hair mill is and it generally put me off transplants outside Europe. To be fair, even in Poland it's hard to expose a doctor's incompetence if the contract is well structured. BUT it is easier to go to court in Poland, or Europe in general, than in Turkey, which is outside Europe. I eventually gave up on the transplant at the Aestepool Clinic for fear of a botched operation. Instead, I became interested in doctors like Resul Yaman and Dr Özlem Bicer. Both had documented good and bad results there and elsewhere on the Internet, and I consulted both online. Bicer refused to conduct a hair transplant procedure on me, saying I was too short on finasteride (it's still 2021, winter), while Yaman said he would do a transplant and estimated that 3.8k (!) grafts would need to be transplanted. I almost made up my mind, but after reviewing this topic (the result is good, but the temporal peaks done rather clanky), I gave up. Don't get me wrong, the clinic is fair, it's just that the result was not what I had seen in previous reports.

Consultations in Poland and Klinika Przybylski

So (somewhere in September 2021 and yes, this was before the consultation with the clinics in Turkey), I decided to give OT.CO Clinic a shot  I made an appointment for a consultation, came to Warsaw. An assessment of my hair in the donor area as well as in the recipient area was made, using a microscope. Piotr Turkowski, the main physician, assessed (based on the photos from my childhood as well as the quality of both areas and, obviously, my appearance) that I would need ~2k grafts. The amount (I can't remember exactly!) for which I was offered a transplantation there was ~$8k. I even got a discount, as much as 5%, if I decide to have the transplant on the same day. A finger-licking offer. I decided not to go through with it, because the doctor, Piotr Turkowski, made a negative impression on me, i.e., he seemed like a person who wanted to, colloquially speaking, rip me off. By the way, he behaved like a boor

In February 2022, having looked at results from other Polish clinics, I found that the NEW results of Andrzej Przybylski, MD (this topic and forth) looked cool and I contacted him, initially by email, later in person. The clinic itself (I mean the place) doesn't give the impression of awesomeness when you see it, it's rather inconspicuous (comparing with e.g. OT.CO Clinic, although maybe it's just a matter of it being Warsaw and not Kalisz). On site it was assessed, using the document-sleeve-and-millimetre-paper method (I like it, that's the way I'd probably do it myself), that ~2.1k grafts are needed. The clinic website lists the price for the graft + there is a discount for pokonajlysienie forum members. It should be noted that Przybylski still does things outside of hair transplants (although from what I understand this is due to change) and gave the impression of being busy as I consulted him. He wasn't unpleasant, but the consultation felt rushed. Nevertheless, he was much more meticulous in explaining to me what the whole transplant procedure was about and what to expect than, for example, Turkowski from OT.CO Clinic. I doubt that any hair transplant specialist wants to be friends with their patients, but in my opinion a good relationship with the patient is important and you have to keep an eye on it, it comes back to you later (e.g. when the patient does such a review as I am doing at the moment). I brought up finasteride, but we didn't discuss it at length. Unfortunately, it didn't come out of the conversation whether it was good or bad that I was taking finasteride.

I decided to have the procedure at this clinic, although not immediately at the consultation. I gave myself about 3 days to think about it. The procedure was to take place at the beginning of August 2022.

Hair transplant in Klinika Przybylski

I arrived in Kalisz the day before with a buddy, he was the driver. You have to arrange a place to sleep (hotel or whatever) by yourself. On the day of the procedure I was to appear at the clinic at 7 o'clock, there I was greeted by the doctor. I was drawn a final line and it was assessed that, all in all, 2.3k grafts might have to be transplanted, but as I wasn't prepared to pay extra, well, we stayed at 2.1k grafts (there's nothing for free there, haha). At 8 o'clock with a piece (~10-20 minutes after) the procedure started. It involved Dr Przybylski, as the main physician + three assistants. It consisted of two parts (quite obviously):

• grafts extraction 
• graft implantation

In my case, the extraction took ~4 hours and the implantation, quite similarly, also took ~4 hours. Oh, and there as short break in between these two parts, you are oferred a lunch, a rather small treat, but whatever. The procedure lasted for a total of 8 hours. During the extraction, the doctor used equipment from Devroye Instruments (I have no idea if it was WAW DUO or something older), one assistant helped with the extraction and the other two took care of the grafts (I don't know how else to put it, but here I mean checking if a graft is definitely a single, or just taking care of those grafts so they don't go to waste). During implantation, it was the doctor who planted the grafts and the assistants who prepared them for him to plant (here I completely forget the name of the equipment they use; it was something pen-like).

I don't know about others, but I happened to be awake during the entire procedure. The team talks about various topics and its members are unlikely to chat up the patient, but sometimes there is some interaction tehre. This is not a gigantic problem, I would not like to sit 8 hours in silence, as a patient obvioulsy.

You can, and probably should, tell the team that the anaesthetic has worn off and that the doctor is going to apply it to the area where you feel pain. Sometimes I didn't need to tell them because it was obvious from my body movements that I was in pain, but other times I managed quite well even though I was in pain, so I politely informed the team.

It should also be noted that with Przybylski's regime, the patient is not allowed to look at their stuff on their phone because it distracts them. No issues with taht, but if this is a concern for someone, well this is probably not the clinic for them

And finally, Przybylski did some training just before he did the hair transplant on me. He met Ximena Vila - who worked very closely with Jose Lorenzo. As far as I can remember (from Przybylski's conversations with his team during my procedure), he happened to be involved in one or two transplants (probably as an observer). That's probably a good thing, especially considering some of the results before August 2022 (all available on pokonajlysienie forum).

The hair transplant procedure went well with me, no extensive bleeding, no complications, all OK.

Results

Screenshot from WAW.

Photos taken by Przybylski on the day of the hair transplant procedure.

Photo of already shaved hair with a hairline drawn.

Photos after the hair transplant procedure.

Przybylski said that if I had a driver I didn't need to stay overnight in Kalisz as everything looked fine (assuming that you're unlikely to drive after such a procedure and anaesthetic, I'm not surprised; I suppose if I was bleeding heavily they would have suggested I stay in Kalisz for additional observation). I was given a bottle of water to spray on the grafts regularly for the first few (I can't remember how many) weeks, and instructions on how to treat the transplanted hair. I was also given something like a nappy for my head to prevent my pillowcases from getting dirty while I slept (I was supposed to sleep on a travel pillow, of course).

I have no complaints, I felt pretty good after the transplant, we even went down to McDonald's with a mate to get something to eat.

IMPORTANT: I didn't consequently and succintly take pictures after the transplant, so some are from the selfie camera, some were taken by someone else, the light is different, etc., etc. It's difficult, I didn't want to document everything. I think there are some interesting photos though.

A photo from the day after the transplant.

A photo from 3 days after the transplant.

A photo from 10 days after the transplant.

Bonus: me, aged 15, versus after the transplant.

Photo from 15 days after the transplant.

Photo from 1 month after transplant.

Photos from 1 month and 3 weeks after transplant.

Photos from 2 months and 1 week after transplant.

Photos from 2 months and 3 weeks after transplant.

Photos from 3 month and 2 weeks post-transplant (you can finally see something!).

Photos from 3 month and 4 weeks after transplant.

Photos from 4 months and 4 weeks after transplant.

Photos from 5 months and 3 weeks after transplant.

Photos from 5 month and 3 weeks after transplant, but vertical.

Photos from 6 month and 1 week after transplant, vertical.

Photos from 6 month and 1 week after transplant, donor, vertical.

Summary

Now it's month 7, I'll upload the photos in a separate post in a while. Or maybe not, we'll see, it might be worth waiting until the 12th month after transplant. So far, I like it, I feel much younger and more confident than before.

Yeah, sorry, my writing is certainly not impeccable, but to be completetly fair with you, I didn't want to extensively review everything written above, it is what it is and hopefully, you'll enjoy it!

Edited March 16, 2023 by gottobestrong
Clarifications on the trainings the main physician did.

[A_4_Archan]

Nice results....actually i jst have one query ...you said the grafts where extracted using waw system where as the website on the clinic mentioned that the grafts are extracted manually and not using any mechanical tool...

[BaldReaper]

Looks fine, what is the distance from brows to hairline?

[gottobestrong]

1 hour ago, BaldV said:

Looks fine, what is the distance from brows to hairline?

About a third of the whole length of my face, I just have a high forehead, you have a reference from when I was still a teenager in one of the photos.

[BaldReaper]

1 hour ago, gottobestrong said:

About a third of the whole length of my face, I just have a high forehead, you have a reference from when I was still a teenager in one of the photos.

I meant in cm

[Stefaniwicz]

Sorry but looks like a review for the purpose of advertising this clinic lol 

[gottobestrong]

8 hours ago, BaldV said:

I meant in cm

As soon as I get my hands on the measuring tape, I'll tell you.

28 minutes ago, Stefaniwicz said:

Sorry but looks like a review for the purpose of advertising this clinic lol 

Sorry to hear that, I put a lot of effort into writing a reasonably concise and as informative report. On the other hand, I'm pretty happy with the result, so I don't see any reason to complain about the clinic.

[Dillpickle123]

Donor looks immaculate 

[gottobestrong]

@BaldV ~7.3 cm.

[BaldReaper]

9 minutes ago, gottobestrong said:

@BaldV ~7.3 cm.

thats perfect 

[Pbaird98]

Looking good bro 😎