2268 grafts FUE - 38 M - Oct 2023 - Dr. Marwan Saifi - Wroclaw, Poland

VCA · April 11

Hi guys, now it is my turn to share my experience following a hair restoration procedure.

Huge thanks to this community for its content, mutual support, format, and positive insight. HRN is the best source for hair loss in my opinion.

A little about me

I am a 38-year-old male. I have been noticing hairloss for the last 10-12 years. My father, grandfather and brother were/are all bald (I would say NW5-6). My case is not as aggressive, but it was noticeable and it was bothering me quite a lot.It also doesn’t help the fact that I always had a big forehead.

In general, I didn't like to see myself in pictures, avoided mirrors, wore hats all the time, couldn't change the haircut and spent quite some time almost everyday to try and hide my bald spots with a combover.

After many years ignoring the possibility of undergoing surgery I found this website. Before that I thought HTs were either unnatural or too expensive, a privilege of the superrich, ball players or movie stars.

Research

After some months of reading obsessively multiple threads in this forum, gathering information, starting with Finasteride and Minoxidil, watching videos and reading blogs I decided to take the plunge. I nailed my options to a few doctors: Ahmad, Pinto, Pekiner, Saifi and Bicer.

Ahmad is by far my favorite surgeon in terms of results. He was very nice to me in our communication. Unfortunately, I could not afford him.

Pinto's waiting list was too long - almost a year just for the consultation - and the clinic was not the most responsive.'

Pekiner had an opening in 2 weeks (!) and quoted me 2500 - 3000 grafts - but the dates wouldn't work for me for different reasons.

Bicer's consultant seemed nice, quoted me for 3500 grafts, which I thought was a bit too much, but while I was still in touch with them I visited dr. Saifi at his clinic in Wroclaw for an in-person consultation. The communication with Dr. Saifi was just fantastic. I wrote him one evening and got a reply the next morning with suggested consultation dates for the end of the same month.

Consultation

Upon arriving at the clinic I immediately had a great feeling about him, his staff, the structure. My partner, who went with me, had the same good feeling about the whole experience. Before my visit, I had also corresponded with some of his previous patients via this forum and another platform.

I had also checked everything related to the doctor I could find online, dating back decades - I had time off after quitting my job and am very curious by nature. I saw multiple good cases and also a few that were not that good, with some poor growth, lack of density, etc, but never a botch job or similar.

During the consultation, which lasted approx 30 minutes, Dr. Saifi analyzed my hair, and donor area, took his time to explain how he approached a hair transplant. He also showed me pictures of previous results and some repairs. The results he showed me on his computer were much better than the ones he had on his website, by the way.

Among other things, he said I had very good donor hair and that in his estimation I would need more or less 2.200 grafts to do the hairline and frontal scalp. He also said I'm likely to lose more hair and would probably need to do a second procedure in the future. The doctor then drew a hairline with care, took multiple photos, and spoke about how a surgery works at his clinic.

Decision

After driving back home - I live in Germany, a 5-hour drive from Wroclaw - I thought about it for a couple of days and decided to write the doctor to schedule the surgery. It was mid-March. We booked the surgery for October. I paid a deposit; Dr. Saif sent me some pre-op and post-op instructions PDFs to read in preparation for the big day. His staff took care of booking a hotel for me.

Surgery

I drove to Wroclaw with my girlfriend on Saturday and we stayed at a very nice hotel, which had been booked by dr. Saifi’s clinic. I had asked for an extra night at the hotel, so we could relax a bit over the weekend and enjoy the city, which is quite beautiful and full of history and life. The decision to book the extra night was great.

On surgery day (a Monday) I was picked up at 08:35 in the morning by a very friendly taxi driver who works for Dr. Saifi. She has been driving his patients on a regular basis for over 10 years. It was a 20-minute ride from the hotel, which is in the city center, to the clinic.

I was welcomed at the clinic by the receptionist, signed some paperwork, and was greeted by Dr. Saifi, who invited me to his office. There, after a little chat, he presented me with the pictures he had taken during my March consultation, examined my scalp and hair, and went into detail on how things were going to be during the surgery, step by step. He also asked if I wanted concentrated growth factor injection during the surgery. I accepted it and was about to ask for it anyway since I knew it was an option after reading a post from user @Scree of this forum. I felt completely at ease and relaxed. The doctor gave me some pills to take before the surgery.

I was then conducted by a nurse to a small room, which is connected to the surgery room by a glass door. In this room, I undressed and put on a gown.

Once inside the surgery room, I met with Dr. Saifi’s team of 5 or 6 nurses (I can’t remember the exact number). They had the room prepared and were adjusting the operation table and instruments, taking turns and moving almost choreographically, speaking just the necessary and quite low. Dr. Saifi then positioned me on a stool to do the pre-op photos. He took many photos from different angles and then shaved my head for the procedure, paying special attention to the direction my hair grew.

While I was on the stool, he also drew my new hairline, based on the previous one he had done during my consultation, but this time using measurement tools. He showed me the hairline, I liked it, and we went ahead. The doctor said we were going to achieve excellent density.

The numbing hurt less than I expected and during the whole process, Dr. Saifi was talking to me, explaining every step. Then the doctor did the extractions using a motorized punch. I was relaxed and felt no pain. I was facing the floor, so I cannot say if he did all the extractions or if he took turns with one nurse, but I felt his presence all the time there, so I believe it was him using the tool the whole time.

The following parts of the surgery went smoothly, with the team of nurses working like clockwork, sorting the grafts, as the doctor did the incisions with a sapphire blade. He was very careful and took into consideration the natural angulation of my hair when doing the slits. During most of the implantation four of the nurses, two at a time took turns on my scalp. Two of them, who seemed to be the lead ones, worked more towards my hairline.

One of those nurses was particularly nice and we spoke a little. She is the newest addition to the team and arrived 8 years ago (!). The others have been working with Dr. Saifi for 15+ years – which for me is a big indication of standards. I also really appreciated the way the doctor and the nurses interacted – one can feel the mutual respect and admiration.

The doctor then did implantations on the hairline using a stick-and-place method as the last step.

Right after

After the surgery, I went to see the doctor in his office again. If I’m not mistaken it was around 17:00. He said everything went well, that he was very optimistic about the results, expected great density, and told me they implanted a total of 2.268 grafts. He gave me a baseball cap and explained how I should put it on. He kindly invited me to come back the next day in the afternoon to wash my head at the clinic, which I did. He also invited me to come back in a year for a follow up and to send him pictures if I wished to via email.

6 months later

I am very pleased so far. I don’t use hats anymore and am glad to see myself in pictures. I also like my image in the mirror. Friends always mention how much they like my haircuts – and don’t suspect (or at least don’t mention) that I had an HT.

Other than my partner and my barber no one else knows I did the surgery. During Christmas and NYE, meaning less than 2 months after the procedure, I sprinkled some Toppik when together with the family of my girlfriend and they just mentioned I looked good with a buzz cut.

My family lives in my home country in South America, so they have no idea.

Well, I think I have written quite a lot already and I hope this is helpful for other people in similar situations as mine.

Below you can find some photos. Six more months to go to the result, I guess.

Pre-Op (Feb 2023 - I had just started taking Fin and Min):