Dr De Freitas | 2907 grafts FUE | Aug 2024 | 36 yrs old

[Anything]

Hi everybody, 

Since the forum was really important for me to decide on doing the the hair transplant, i decided to post my progress here also.

I will write a short review on how it was because I'm kinda lazy to write =D But feel free to add questions

Before starting

I booked it around Jun 2023, and I was quoted with 2800 graphs originally. I was really worried because it seems too much and I didn't see myself as that bald (Classic denial), but anyway, i decided to follow up with the procedure.

I arrived at Valencia about 4 days before the operation, decided to book a hotel by myself just so I can know the city. I must say it really worth it. The city is beautiful and the Aquarium area is really good, with some many events happening. One down side is that the city is really hot, walking afternoon is exausting and discomfortable (Note that I'm from Brazil and really used to hot temperature)

The day

I got around 8:45am at the clinic, got prepared by the assistant, she gave me some new clothes to wear, sent me to a room that I would stay while waiting some parts of the process, gave me some bread and juice and, after some time, I meet the doctor. He draw the hair line, asked if it was ok, and took some picture. I was so tired of waking up "early" and doing things through the week that I didn't even question about the amount of graphs.

The process seems to be sessions of 1000 graphs, around 11:00, I got the 1000 graphs removed, got a lunch served, waited around 2 hours, then planted the hair, waited a little more, got more graphs removed, and then planted again. The whole process finished around 9~10pm and there was 2000 graphs transplanted, it was a total of 13h in the clinic. The next day was the same thing, but just one session with the other 907 graphs, and it finished around 2pm.

Removing the graphs and adding it back is kinda ok. I had a not lot of local anesthesia, so at some points a slept, although I could feel a small thing removing the hair. It bothered a little, but if I played attention on another thing it was really ok.

Must say also, that after opening my eyes after first removal, I was surprised by the amount of people in the room. I believe it was around 5 people working on organizing it to the implant. It was really surprising.

The doctor and the nurses were really great. Although I speak english and a little spanish, they searched for a nurse that speak portuguese to explain to me the steps. You receive a bag with a lot of thing to protect the sheets, some shampoo, lotions, neck pillow, pills to take and a lot of papers explaining the recovery process day by day, including dates when I should take the medicines.

Tips:

• Getting your own neck pillow was really worth it. The clinic give you that in inflatable, but it is not as good to sleep and it was kinda soft.
• Be ok with asking for more anesthesia. After the second session, my left side had a pressure that was giving headache. I thought it was ok because I had other surgery before and I felt the same pain. The doctor noticed that and insisted in adding more anesthesia and it was a life saver. The relief was immediate.
• Go to the hotel breakfast next day is kinda strange, since your back will have some blood and you will have some scabs on your hair. But be ok with just ignore it. They stare at it but you really should care.

Recovery

Recovering was ok. The first 3 days was annoying because the donor area was sore, you can't turn around, and I'm a belly sleeper. After the sore was gone, sleeping was really easy. The recovery was extremely ok. 

Tips:

• Book some more days to recover. My feeling was that taking the train back to my city would be way to exausting and I'm really happy I stayed 7 more days. At the first 3 recovery days I was with my GF, but having rested 7 days, I was able to go back by train without any worries.
• I had some swelling going down to my eyes, staying lay down suppose to prevent this but maybe I did it wrong. Either way, it passed before the 7 day mark.

Final thoughts

Overall, I would really recommended the clinic. All the process was really smooth.

• Although I was worried about the graph count, after I see the transplant, I understand why the amount
• Everything is really well explained
• Smooth recovery
• I saw some complains about row implant. I must say that seeing my hair this short, I would be really ok with doing a buzz cut. And also, the amount of people working on it and the time it take to do it, it really makes sense. If you think the first day he arrived at 9 and left the clinic around 10 pm and it was on a holiday!!

Pictures

Before HT:


Day 1 session 1:

Day 1 session 2: (Top head already really swollen)

Day 2:


Day 9: (After some scab removal)

Edited August 28 by Anything

[Ccd99]

The work looks great, happy growing!

Are you on any hair loss medication? eg Finasteride or Minoxidil?

[Jackdaniels]

Happy growing. The work looks great. Can you tell us the role if the doctor in your hair transplant ? Who did the extraction of grafts ?

Also what was the price per graft for your hair transplant ?  

[Anything]

34 minutes ago, Ccd99 said:

The work looks great, happy growing!

Are you on any hair loss medication? eg Finasteride or Minoxidil?

I'm on finasteride and dutasteride. I stopped Minoxidil because it was giving my heart problems. Even if I use the topical one, just 2 days of use gives me heart palpitation
 

23 minutes ago, Jackdaniels said:

Happy growing. The work looks great. Can you tell us the role if the doctor in your hair transplant ? Who did the extraction of grafts ?

Also what was the price per graft for your hair transplant ?  

The doctor implanted the graphs. The extraction was made by a nurse and there was 3 other doing something on the microscope with it. It was a good extraction. I don't have a picture, but it was well spread and my GF says that now, she can't even see it.

I couldn't find the price per graph but it was 8400 euros for 2800 graphs. In the end, they discounted 255 so I could pay the hotel

Edited August 28 by Anything

[Al - Moderator]

Thank you for posting about your experience. Good luck with the growth. Please keep us updated on how everything turns out.

 

[Anything]

I just got into a little problem with the clinic.

Before the operation, I contacted the clinic saying that I could not use Minoxidil because it causes me heart palpitation and they said it was ok to continue without it. 

I asked again in the chat with the clinic and they told me that it is a requirement for the treatment success. 

I feel fooled now

[baddecisions]

Oral minoxidil can't, by any means, be a requirement for a succesful hair transplant.

[Mitsen]

It will give you faster results for sure, also thicken the hairs you have all over your body (that's what it did to me at least). Other than that It doesn't do much for the transplanted hairs. Others don't take anything and have successful hair transplants not even finasteride etc.

Edited Tuesday at 04:15 PM by Mitsen

[Anything]

I confronted them.

They change their response now, saying that as long as I continue the other medications (Fin and Dux), everything will be ok.

I also never heard about this requirement. I believe it is not the doctor that answers it but a nurse.

Lets see how it goes

[Al - Moderator]

It sounds like there was a simple miscommunication and all they were telling you when you mentioned minoxidil is that you do need to stay on meds to prevent further hair loss of native hair.