Dr. Zarev - 7700 Grafts

[anxious6]

Hi all. I wasn't going to post anything here, but I see there's a lot of continued interest in Dr. Zarev and I feel I owe this community a lot in terms of researching my options to make an informed decision. Apologies if the write up is a little shorter and the pictures aren't the same quality others have provided. 

I'm 34 and first noticed hair loss at 18 or 19. I was a norwood 3 by 22 and then made a steady progression to a norwood 6 by around age 30. Apart from brief stints on minoxidil I was not on medication during this time. That was such a dumb mistake. Anyway, I've been on oral finasteride + topical minoxidil for a couple of years now and actually have seen stabilization and a tiny bit of regrowth, though not enough to make a significant cosmetic impact. My father's side of the family is all Norwood 1s and 2s - my grandfather had a thick ronald reagan head of hair at 89 - but mother's side is all norwood 5 - 7s. 

I made the decision about a year ago to get a hair transplant after seeing some of the surprisingly strong results from Eugenix and Hasson and Wong on this forum for people with Norwood 6+ patterns. I had consultations with Eugenix, H&W, Pitella and C*le. I had reached out several times to Zarev during this time, based on Hugo's results, but had not gotten a response. In February I sent in two final messages through his website (one in English and one in my best-attempted translation to Bulgarian) letting him know I'd be interested and willing to pay off schedule pricing. A couple of weeks later his coordinator reached out and set up a call with Dr. Zarev and requested more pictures. Dr. Zarev and I then spoke a few weeks after that for about half an hour on the phone about the photos, his techniques, family history of hair loss, etc. He said he thought i would be a candidate based on pictures / discussion, however there was no way for him to know without seeing me in person. He agreed to try and fit me in if they had a cancellation, but I would need to arrive 3+ days beforehand for an in person consultation as part of the same trip, and there was a real possibility I would get there and he would determine I was not a fit. I agreed. In early May I got a call asking if I could make it in for a 6/2 consultation followed by surgery on 6/5 and 6/6 if all checked out.

I'm not sure I have much to add to MTB's experience with Dr. Zarev in person. My consult with him lasted 2+ hours, most of which was taking pictures and taking measurements. We then talked about potential progression of loss. While it was apparent to me in my photos that my crown was dipping very low and wide, Dr. Zarev also let me know that my sides could dip further as well, which I did not know going in. If so, he estimated that in my final pattern and with an age appropriate / not overly high hairline I would likely need 13,500 - 14,000 total grafts for the coverage and density he thought was satisfactory, however I only have ~12,500 available without over depleting the donor area. At some point down the road I might have to make the choice between a thinner crown or over depleting the donor area and keep the side shaved at a 1 - 2 guard from that point forward, similar to the norwood 7 results that have been discussed on this forum. I was fine with either scenario as it was better than i had been expecting when I first started researching this. With that he agreed to move forward.  

Surgery both days started with a  10am arrival, roughly an 11am surgery start and we did not finish til after midnight. Roughly 3800 grafts each day. Dr. Zarev is the only one touching your head throughout the surgery. Sitting / lying there for that long is uncomfortable, but I didn't feel almost any pain throughout the process. Upon wrapping up the second day We ended up with a  total of about 7700 grafts. I should know the exact number but I can't remember exactly - I'll go back and check with Dr. Zarev in my next monthly update with him to confirm because I might be off by 100 in either direction. 

Like an idiot i bumped my head getting out of the cab going back to the hotel. I was distraught, but the next day, when i came back in for my first wash, Dr. Zarev said I had lost 10 grafts. He offered to re-implant there, but said it would not make a noticeable cosmetic difference, even though they were all clustered together at the convergence of midscalp and crown. I decided not to do anything else. From there my head swelled up like a balloon and then subsided over the 8 days post surgery in Sofia. I traveled back to the US on Day 9 post op and washed off my scabs the next day. Assuming all goes well we will be looking for a date to go back around month 10 for a second session. 

I feel like I have had slower growth than Hugo or MTB, and that kind of freaked me out around month 3. Ha, I know that it's within the normal range not to have any real growth showing at month 3, but given Hugo's insane amount of early growth and MTB's promising early returns, I was pretty worried. Then about 3.5 mos in things started to pick up. I'm at 4 month and 8 days now, and it's crazy to look back at how much has changed in that time. I still have a long way to go, but I'm not nearly as concerned as I was before. One last thing, is that even though it is difficult to get in touch with Dr. Zarev initially, once you are a patient he is very responsive. At the very least we text on whatsapp about progress each month and he's called me twice to check in. 

So that should wrap it up. I'll post pics below when I get a chance later today. 

 

 

[anxious6]

Pre: 

[anxious6]

1 day after:

[anxious6]

Day 8:

 

[anxious6]

Day 15:

 

[anxious6]

1 month: 

 

[anxious6]

2 months:

[anxious6]

3 months:

 

[anxious6]

4 months at various lighting... office bathroom pics might be strange setting, but they're harshest lights I can find: 

Edited October 15, 2023 by anxious6

[stephcurry30]

Posting for another Zarev patient! I'm sure this will be another home run!

[anxious6]

 A few quick current pics, 130 days in:

 

[asterix0]

Everyone grows a little differently so just stay patient, keep in mind usually for larger sessions the growth may be a bit slower, maybe @Melvin- Admin can correct me if I am wrong there. 

[mtb]

Awesome. Your experience of the pre-op eval, surgery, and post-op follow up are identical to mine. Things should really take off for you from this point forward. I'm happy for you. Other surgeons have got to step up their game so more patients can have access to these life changing results. 

[Gatsby]

@anxious6 for only four months this is excellent. 👌

[A_4_Archan]

@anxious6

Thanks for posting your journey ..even after extracting so many grafts from donor ,it is looking really good.

The growth will start to kick in from now on and you will soon have a head full of hairs...so get ready to get thrilled...Happy growing and keep updating brother ...

[hairman22]

4-6 months is the biggest growth period

3-4 isn't that much so no need to panic

I'm sure you will have a great result. Donor looks very good for a possible nw7

Edited October 15, 2023 by hairman22

[Mr. Clean]

Nice! Another Zarev patient. You do have resemblance with @mtb’s case. Thank you for sharing your experience with dr. Zarev @anxious6!

When you said schedule pricing, is that the off schedule price of 9 euro/graft? 
 

 

[MC117]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Clean said:

Nice! Another Zarev patient. You do have resemblance with @mtb’s case. Thank you for sharing your experience with dr. Zarev @anxious6!

When you said schedule pricing, is that the off schedule price of 9 euro/graft? 
 

 

Yes, off schedule pricing is indeed 9€ per graft. Which means our friend here has a nice buying power and I'm happy for him. He also chose the best in the game, the result gonna be great as usual. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by MC117

[Mr. Clean]

23 minutes ago, MC117 said:

Yes, off schedule pricing is indeed 9€ per graft. Which means our friend here has a nice buying power and I'm happy for him. He also chose the best in the game, the result gonna be great as usual. 

Yeah, If I had that opportunity, I would have done the same. At least he didn’t have to wait for years getting the service of the best in the game right now. 
 

@anxious6 What mode of payment does Dr. Zarev accept? Does he accept credit card payments? Does he offer installment payment plans? 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Mr. Clean

[formertrackstar]

I have tried to get ahold of Dr Zarev as well.  I am in the United States and would like to get a surgery with him.  I messaged him through his website, instagram, and facebook and never got a response back.  Can you or anyone let me know how I can have him contact me for a consultation. Btw your work looks great so far!  Glad you got in with him!

[Fox243]

14 hours ago, anxious6 said:

Hi all. I wasn't going to post anything here, but I see there's a lot of continued interest in Dr. Zarev and I feel I owe this community a lot in terms of researching my options to make an informed decision. Apologies if the write up is a little shorter and the pictures aren't the same quality others have provided. 

I'm 34 and first noticed hair loss at 18 or 19. I was a norwood 3 by 22 and then made a steady progression to a norwood 6 by around age 30. Apart from brief stints on minoxidil I was not on medication during this time. That was such a dumb mistake. Anyway, I've been on oral finasteride + topical minoxidil for a couple of years now and actually have seen stabilization and a tiny bit of regrowth, though not enough to make a significant cosmetic impact. My father's side of the family is all Norwood 1s and 2s - my grandfather had a thick ronald reagan head of hair at 89 - but mother's side is all norwood 5 - 7s. 

I made the decision about a year ago to get a hair transplant after seeing some of the surprisingly strong results from Eugenix and Hasson and Wong on this forum for people with Norwood 6+ patterns. I had consultations with Eugenix, H&W, Pitella and C*le. I had reached out several times to Zarev during this time, based on Hugo's results, but had not gotten a response. In February I sent in two final messages through his website (one in English and one in my best-attempted translation to Bulgarian) letting him know I'd be interested and willing to pay off schedule pricing. A couple of weeks later his coordinator reached out and set up a call with Dr. Zarev and requested more pictures. Dr. Zarev and I then spoke a few weeks after that for about half an hour on the phone about the photos, his techniques, family history of hair loss, etc. He said he thought i would be a candidate based on pictures / discussion, however there was no way for him to know without seeing me in person. He agreed to try and fit me in if they had a cancellation, but I would need to arrive 3+ days beforehand for an in person consultation as part of the same trip, and there was a real possibility I would get there and he would determine I was not a fit. I agreed. In early May I got a call asking if I could make it in for a 6/2 consultation followed by surgery on 6/5 and 6/6 if all checked out.

I'm not sure I have much to add to MTB's experience with Dr. Zarev in person. My consult with him lasted 2+ hours, most of which was taking pictures and taking measurements. We then talked about potential progression of loss. While it was apparent to me in my photos that my crown was dipping very low and wide, Dr. Zarev also let me know that my sides could dip further as well, which I did not know going in. If so, he estimated that in my final pattern and with an age appropriate / not overly high hairline I would likely need 13,500 - 14,000 total grafts for the coverage and density he thought was satisfactory, however I only have ~12,500 available without over depleting the donor area. At some point down the road I might have to make the choice between a thinner crown or over depleting the donor area and keep the side shaved at a 1 - 2 guard from that point forward, similar to the norwood 7 results that have been discussed on this forum. I was fine with either scenario as it was better than i had been expecting when I first started researching this. With that he agreed to move forward.  

Surgery both days started with a  10am arrival, roughly an 11am surgery start and we did not finish til after midnight. Roughly 3800 grafts each day. Dr. Zarev is the only one touching your head throughout the surgery. Sitting / lying there for that long is uncomfortable, but I didn't feel almost any pain throughout the process. Upon wrapping up the second day We ended up with a  total of about 7700 grafts. I should know the exact number but I can't remember exactly - I'll go back and check with Dr. Zarev in my next monthly update with him to confirm because I might be off by 100 in either direction. 

Like an idiot i bumped my head getting out of the cab going back to the hotel. I was distraught, but the next day, when i came back in for my first wash, Dr. Zarev said I had lost 10 grafts. He offered to re-implant there, but said it would not make a noticeable cosmetic difference, even though they were all clustered together at the convergence of midscalp and crown. I decided not to do anything else. From there my head swelled up like a balloon and then subsided over the 8 days post surgery in Sofia. I traveled back to the US on Day 9 post op and washed off my scabs the next day. Assuming all goes well we will be looking for a date to go back around month 10 for a second session. 

I feel like I have had slower growth than Hugo or MTB, and that kind of freaked me out around month 3. Ha, I know that it's within the normal range not to have any real growth showing at month 3, but given Hugo's insane amount of early growth and MTB's promising early returns, I was pretty worried. Then about 3.5 mos in things started to pick up. I'm at 4 month and 8 days now, and it's crazy to look back at how much has changed in that time. I still have a long way to go, but I'm not nearly as concerned as I was before. One last thing, is that even though it is difficult to get in touch with Dr. Zarev initially, once you are a patient he is very responsive. At the very least we text on whatsapp about progress each month and he's called me twice to check in. 

So that should wrap it up. I'll post pics below when I get a chance later today. 

 

 

Thanks for the writeup. Why did you not use beard grafts?

[Berba11]

Work looks great as we'd expect and things very much look like they're about to kick off. I know Dr Z is typically reluctant to use beard grafts but it looks like you'd definitely be able to get a good bounty of grafts out of your beard if you ever wanted to boost the midscalp & crown somewhere down the line.

Great write up!

[anxious6]

Dr. Zarev prefers not to use beard grafts, which is one of the things that drew me to him. I have slightly wavy hair and a pretty curly beard, so I was hesitant to rely on beard grafts. I also don't have a very dense beard - it probably looks thicker than it actually is from straight on after growing it for a month. I only started wearing it after I hit norwood 5 and started shaving my head. I'll probably get rid of it here in he next couple of months. If it comes down to it, I have some beard grafts that I could use down the line, but I won't have to look to that resource for awhile.

[johnto]

How long from when you offered to pay 9 euro per graft were they able to get you in for a procedure ?  I feel like now that some people will pay $9 a graft the $5 a graft will get pushed off to the long end of the waiting list 

[mister_25]

Zarev cases are rarely shared but always followed with great attention due to the consistent extraordinary results. Looking forward to seeing your results

On 10/16/2023 at 8:39 AM, hairman22 said:

4-6 months is the biggest growth period

3-4 isn't that much so no need to panic

I'm sure you will have a great result. Donor looks very good for a possible nw7

In my case a majority of my growth happened between month 7 and 8, everyone really does grow differently.