Eugenix - Grade 3V - Dr. Bansal - 4000 grafts - April 27-28 2023

[readyforresults]

So, I’m on my way to JFK airport for a 15-hour flight to New Delhi! I’m excited and terrified at the same time. I keep looking in the mirror and touching the back of my head because I know my body will soon be forever changed. It’s a very strange sensation and mix of emotions. I just keep telling myself it’s worth it and I will be in good hands (but if you have encouragement and personal tips/comments from experience I would certainly appreciate it). 

Like so many people here, I’ve been considering a hair transplant procedure for many years. I’m 43 now and began noticing significant hair loss in my late twenties. Luckily, I was an early and positive responder to oral finasteride. I’ve also used topical minoxidil for around the same amount of time. These treatments effectively slowed the process significantly and, if your body responds well, I can recommend using them. I also immediately began saving for a hair transplant surgery. 

Fast I forward to discovering hairrrstorationnetwork and YouTube. I saw many videos of the before/after results and narrowed my choice of surgeon down to Eugenix due to the many positive reviews, scientific, empirically-informed approaches, responsiveness to me, and attention to detail. I also chose them because I am impressed with Dr. Arika Bansal and wish to support women in science and medicine when I can. I am looking forward to meeting her. I will be there from April 25th to May 3rd with the surgery happening on the 27th and 28th. 
I’m hoping to fill my crown area and restore my hairline along the front. I think I have a pretty good donor area. Any suggestions for a better outcome?

Here is my review of Eugenix so far: 

Pros so far:

• they are very available, responsive and kind regarding my many questions
• They are affordable considering what my Stateside options were. 
• The many, many positive reviews and plethora of outcome content build a great deal of trust
• They are highly reviewed here on this site
• They are willing to do long sessions to cover all the area I wish to address. 
• They have been honest and direct in helping me to shape my expectations. This includes level of density, feel/texture if they need to use beard grafts, limits to how many grafts they are willing to use, etc. 
• great communication around pre-op/post-op care. 

Cons so far:

• it’s really, really far away 😒
• I chose the super premium package with Dr. Bansal which, while cheaper that any other option, was still quite expensive ($20K for an estimated 4K grafts). 
• The exact blood tests and how soon to get them respective of the surgery date were unclear. This resulted in me needing to go back a few times for blood draws. Not necessarily the fault of Eugenix but their list made it difficult for the scheduler to interpret which to schedule so some were missed. What I finally was able to interpret was that you can get tests done anytime PRIOR to two weeks before the scheduled procedure. This is convenient but unusual as most surgeries prefer tests inside of that two week window. 
• Eugenix is not great about co-managing the international challenges that come up. I needed eVisas for myself and my partner that required documentation from them. Itwas on me to figure that out and was quite stressful. I found myself wishing for a bit more hand-holding in the process of getting from the US to India for a medical procedure. Would have calmed my vibrating nerves just a little bit. I have also been chasing them down to get information on airport pickup. They are very responsive when I need them but I am wishing for their better leadership in these areas. 

That’s all for now. I will update as soon as I get settled and the process begins!

[Melvin- Admin]

Thanks for sharing your detailed review, happy growing 🙌🏼

[duckling]

First, namaste 😄 

second , please document your experience during surgery and post-ops in the same detailed manner in which you have written your consultation review. (use that pros and cons list style if you want , i liked that ) .  Be extremely thorough as this will help others a lot in deciding. You can be critical of every small thing as its your hard earned money and i hope they treat you well.

third, wish you good luck for your surgery. I hope to see your results in HRN and also on their youtube page. (for this your result has to be good i think )

[Berba11]

Good luck on your surgery.

Bit late now but you could have flown on a tourist visa and you could have had the blood tests done in India - Eugenix would organise someone from a local lab that they use to do it for you (providing you arrived two or three days before surgery to give enough time for the results to come back). Would have been easier and cheaper than doing it at home. But, that's done now... Good luck with the surgery, and don't be afraid to ask questions or to ask to visit the clinic before the day or surgery/meet Dr Arika etc. Eugenix will make accommodations for you - their hospitality is excellent and after all, you've travelled a long way!

[Hims]

Quote

$20K for an estimated 4K grafts

That seems super expensive indeed at $5 a graft, maybe even close to what you might pay in the US?

The following post a few months back said: "Exclusive Package at Eugenix, which is 120 INR/graft + 18% tax (so about $1.45 USD/graft right now)".

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Hims

[readyforresults]

2 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Thanks for sharing your detailed review, happy growing 🙌🏼

Thank you Melvin for all that you do! I’m still in shock that this is actually happening. 

[readyforresults]

1 hour ago, duckling said:

First, namaste 😄 

second , please document your experience during surgery and post-ops in the same detailed manner in which you have written your consultation review. (use that pros and cons list style if you want , i liked that ) .  Be extremely thorough as this will help others a lot in deciding. You can be critical of every small thing as its your hard earned money and i hope they treat you well.

third, wish you good luck for your surgery. I hope to see your results in HRN and also on their youtube page. (for this your result has to be good i think )

I do plan on providing more details as the procedure commences and will make sure to add pro/con lists. I am trying to level-set my expectations but not going to lie, I hope my results are feature-worthy!

[readyforresults]

1 hour ago, Berba11 said:

Good luck on your surgery.

Bit late now but you could have flown on a tourist visa and you could have had the blood tests done in India - Eugenix would organise someone from a local lab that they use to do it for you (providing you arrived two or three days before surgery to give enough time for the results to come back). Would have been easier and cheaper than doing it at home. But, that's done now... Good luck with the surgery, and don't be afraid to ask questions or to ask to visit the clinic before the day or surgery/meet Dr Arika etc. Eugenix will make accommodations for you - their hospitality is excellent and after all, you've travelled a long way!

Yes, these details are exactly what I’m talking about. A more knowledgeable care member would have been able to give me better advice. Great tip about visiting the clinic! I get in with one day to spare so I’ll check with them to see if I can visit the clinic and meet the great Dr. Bansal. 

[readyforresults]

32 minutes ago, Hims said:

That seems super expensive indeed at $5 a graft, maybe even close to what you might pay in the US?

The following post a few months back said: "Exclusive Package at Eugenix, which is 120 INR/graft + 18% tax (so about $1.45 USD/graft right now)".

 

Thanks for your reply Hims! Your journey has been phenomenal to watch and your results are great so far! 
I went for the super premium with Dr. Bansal which will have her doing most slits and extractions. I saved up enough to go ham so I went for it. I have some second thoughts now but too late to turn back now! 

[Hims]

59 minutes ago, readyforresults said:

Thanks for your reply Hims! Your journey has been phenomenal to watch and your results are great so far! 
I went for the super premium with Dr. Bansal which will have her doing most slits and extractions. I saved up enough to go ham so I went for it. I have some second thoughts now but too late to turn back now! 

Hi @readyforresults, just to clarify, I am not the OP of that post, and have not begun my HT journey yet. Best of luck! 

[general-etwan]

Yes, so I can attest that Eugenix is very likely to do a great job no matter the level of package you chose. I, a NW6, chose the $1.45/graft package and have gotten excellent work and results so far, and so if you can afford to pay the higher price for the top doctor, great. Just know to get a great outcome it’s not absolutely required. That’s why I like Eugenix so much. They made it affordable for me when I was worried I’d never be able to afford a transplant. It’s been life changing. 

You’re in great hands with their techs too. They’re going to treat you like royalty, even though the language barrier. 

[DeltaV]

Good luck. Trust but verify everything at Eugenix mate and stand for your rights firmly. Many of us former Eugenix patient have regretted poor/rushed planning, minimal doctors involvement for supervision, technicians turnaround during surgery, post operative discussion.

If you could take care of these things then I believe you will be alright. Cheers.

[Gatsby]

Wishing you all the best. I’m three months post op from Eugenix myself for a second time and they have literally thousands of incredible results. Looking forward to following your journey if you choose to share here. 👍

[Tommy1991]

51 minutes ago, DeltaV said:

Good luck. Trust but verify everything at Eugenix mate and stand for your rights firmly. Many of us former Eugenix patient have regretted poor/rushed planning, minimal doctors involvement for supervision, technicians turnaround during surgery, post operative discussion.

If you could take care of these things then I believe you will be alright. Cheers.

Well said! 👌🏼

[Hims]

1 hour ago, DeltaV said:

Good luck. Trust but verify everything at Eugenix mate and stand for your rights firmly. Many of us former Eugenix patient have regretted poor/rushed planning, minimal doctors involvement for supervision, technicians turnaround during surgery, post operative discussion.

If you could take care of these things then I believe you will be alright. Cheers.

Hi DeltaV, this is good advice. Could you please elaborate on what exactly and how to follow-up/verify? Thank you.

Edited April 25, 2023 by Hims

[EricEdwards]

10 hours ago, Berba11 said:

Good luck on your surgery.

Bit late now but you could have flown on a tourist visa and you could have had the blood tests done in India - Eugenix would organise someone from a local lab that they use to do it for you (providing you arrived two or three days before surgery to give enough time for the results to come back). Would have been easier and cheaper than doing it at home. But, that's done now... Good luck with the surgery, and don't be afraid to ask questions or to ask to visit the clinic before the day or surgery/meet Dr Arika etc. Eugenix will make accommodations for you - their hospitality is excellent and after all, you've travelled a long way!

Thanks for sharing this. I was going to do blood tests in my home country before travelling but it cost alot more.  I'll be saving having them done in India. 

[Spring15]

That's quite pricey, more than most top European surgeons. Good luck pal

[Melvin- Admin]

@GeneralNorwood

Please don’t de-rail someone else’s journey. If you want to discuss this, use your own thread. 
 

Dear Community,

 I understand some of you may be unhappy, but it isn’t fair to try and push that on to other members who’ve just started their journey. This causes unnecessary anxiety, and that is not what this community is about. If you’re unhappy about your own results.

Speak about it on your thread, if you see something when a situation arises, speak about it. This goes for all new journeys. Hair transplants are stressful, especially in the beginning. Causing unnecessary stress in the beginning before we can objectively judge results is not fair or balanced. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by Melvin- Moderator

[GeneralNorwood]

2 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

@GeneralNorwood

Please don’t de-rail someone else’s journey. If you want to discuss this, use your own thread. 

Dear Community,

 I understand some of you may be unhappy, but it isn’t fair to try and push that on to other members who’ve just started their journey. This causes unnecessary anxiety, and that is not what this community is about. If you’re unhappy about your own results.

Speak about it on your thread, if you see something when a situation arises, speak about it. This goes for all new journeys. Hair transplants are stressful, especially in the beginning. Causing unnecessary stress in the beginning before we can objectively judge results is not fair or balanced. 

 

Well, he is graded wrong isn't he? I am informing him about this, so you won't have to say 1 year later that he was delusional about his hairloss level. 

I think that is very important to know at which stage of hairloss you are, before you jump into procedure and agree to the procedure plan.  I think you can agree with this. 

 

From the picture of the top of the head, it is visible that miniaturisation is taking place not only at crown and frontal part, but at midscalp too. From the top it looks like Norwood 5. He has 2 days to operation and he can do what he wants with this information. 

 

And don't worry, i won't be informing now all the patients in their journeys, that they have wrong Norwood classification, i simply don't have time for this.  But even if i did so, i don't see how it is de-railing someone's journey 😆 

 

And it's not like i am now 100% unhappy about my procedure from Eugenix and now i am pushing it to other patients. I am more like 50-50. 

But what you are doing Melvin it's not fair. I only "called" for you in this topic, because we recently had this conversation about wrong classification at Eugenix. I saw this topic today and immediately noticed that classicication is wrong. So i wrote about it. Should i just be silence about this, because i am not 100% satisfied from my procedure? 

So maybe just give your opinion about Norwood stage here and don't make this disscussion about my personal feelings towards the clinic. 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by GeneralNorwood

[Melvin- Admin]

13 minutes ago, GeneralNorwood said:

 

Well, he is graded wrong isn't he? I am informing him about this, so you won't have to say 1 year later that he was delusional about his hairloss level. 

I think that is very important to know at which stage of hairloss you are, before you jump into procedure and agree to the procedure plan.  I think you can agree with this. 

 

From the picture of the top of the head, it is visible that miniaturisation is taking place not only at crown and frontal part, but at midscalp too. From the top it looks like Norwood 5 going into Norwood 6. He has 2 days to operation and he can do what he wants with this information. 

 

And don't worry, i won't be informing now all the patients in their journeys, that they have wrong Norwood classification, i simply don't have time for this.  But even if i did so, i don't see how it is de-railing someone's journey 😆 

 

And it's not like i am now 100% unhappy about my procedure from Eugenix and now i am pushing it to other patients. I am more like 50-50. 

But what you are doing Melvin it's not fair. I only "called" for you in this topic, because we recently had this conversation about wrong classification at Eugenix. I saw this topic today and immediately noticed that classicication is wrong. So i wrote about it. Should i just be silence about this, because i am not 100% satisfied from my procedure? 

So maybe just give your opinion about Norwood stage here and don't make this disscussion about my personal feelings towards the clinic. 

 

 

Patient journeys are for discussing the patient’s results/ journey. If you want to discuss something different create a separate thread or send me a private message. 

[GeneralNorwood]

9 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Patient journeys are for discussing the patient’s results/ journey. If you want to discuss something different create a separate thread or send me a private message. 

He is Norwood 5 at least. I wrote about this to him in private message, so he got this information and your effort to delete my posts is meaningless. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by GeneralNorwood

[Melvin- Admin]

2 minutes ago, GeneralNorwood said:

He is Norwood 5 at least. I wrote about this to him in private message, wo he got this information and your effort to delete my posts is meaningless. 

I’ve already asked you nicely to stop de-railing this thread. It stops now. 

[Eugenix Hair Sciences]

@readyforresults 

Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding your recent experience with Eugenix. We apologize for any inconvenience or stress you may have experienced during the visa and airport pickup process.

We strive to provide our patients with exceptional care and support from every possible angle. We understand that traveling for medical procedures can be a daunting experience, and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure a smooth and stress-free journey for our patients.

We take your feedback seriously and will work to improve our communication and support during the visa and airport pickup process. Our team is always available to answer any questions or concerns you may have, and we encourage you to reach out to us at any time.

Thank you again for choosing Eugenix for your medical procedure, and we look forward to continuing to support you throughout your journey.

Best regards,

 

[readyforresults]

7 minutes ago, Eugenix Hair Sciences said:

@readyforresults 

Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding your recent experience with Eugenix. We apologize for any inconvenience or stress you may have experienced during the visa and airport pickup process.

We strive to provide our patients with exceptional care and support from every possible angle. We understand that traveling for medical procedures can be a daunting experience, and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure a smooth and stress-free journey for our patients.

We take your feedback seriously and will work to improve our communication and support during the visa and airport pickup process. Our team is always available to answer any questions or concerns you may have, and we encourage you to reach out to us at any time.

Thank you again for choosing Eugenix for your medical procedure, and we look forward to continuing to support you throughout your journey.

Best regards,

 

Thank you and I look forward to meeting some of the team today!

[readyforresults]

I finished up my first day of surgery and all I can say is that the positive reviews I’ve read are spot-on! I feel so well taken care of. I will give a more comprehensive write-up down the line but right now, I’m just feeling reassured I made the right choice in coming here.