Something of an announcement

[chrisdav]

Jimbob, I had a look through your blog, and again I am sorry to hear of this. 2500 grafts should have made a hell of a lot of difference to your hair, and clearly that has not yielded at all. You have made a similar mistake to me when I jumped into surgery at a young age.

Having been on the forums for a long while and read pretty much everything there is to read, I have noticed that most younger guys do tend to all want to get cheap FUE when they have little knowledge of this industry, that ultimately leads to some of the patients travelling to Turkey/Eastern Europe etc, and more often than not they get their fingers burnt like I did in the Uk.

You not only waste your hair earned cash going for the cheap alternatives, but you also reduce your finite donor supply, and therefore leaving you with less donor hair to gain the coverage you previously desired. Remember hair transplantation is illusion of density, and is a numbers game.

Chrisis,

Nice to see you back on the forums, and you have picked a very talented surgeon.

However, I thought I would make you aware of this as in hindsight and reflecting,you could same now having had 3 surgeries I am a veteran .

I am now 13 months post-surgery from my repair, and my hair is looking great after two failed, small procedures of FUE and FUT in which I will be updating with final pictures in the next week. I have been honest with my progress, updated my blog monthly with nearly all my pictures clear and taken in broad day light.

You are a young british guy like me (I am 27 years old now) embarking on surgery in exactly the same position I was around a year ago.

But I must admit that having participated on the forums for a long while, I am still not a big fan or convinced of FUE sessions of the larger kind, and I hope everything works out well. I am still yet to see not only the consistency, but the dense and fullness that is achieved from strip by the leading clinics.

I have been on finasteride for about 5 to 6 years now and fortunately, I have never had any side-effect. It has been excellent at keeping my hair loss stable, but in ten years who knows I have not got a crystal ball.

I know you mentioned that you could not take finasteride, but if you are not on it, being a youngish guy like me, I hope your loss does not accelerate to the point FUE can no longer facilitate the demand as hair loss in general is progressive, but obviously there are exceptions.

My opinion is that on larger FUE sessions are riskier whatever the claim is from the surgeon, whilst watching many cases over the last couple of years of doing research, and in particular more so in the last year.

On one of the forums that I tend to use more often, in the last year in particular there have been 5 well known documented blogs of FUE sessions of 2500-3000 grafts in size actually documented by the patients themselves, and not results presented by the surgeons. In my opinion, these do mean more as results presented by the clinics prove that can achieve great results, but they do not prove consistency as they can pick what they want to present to the forums. The more online patients a clinic has, it is the best sample estimate of consistency and quality of the surgeons yearly work.

Back to the subject, the procedures were performed by Dr Rahal (2 procedures) and Dr Feriduni (3 procedures) respectively.

They were all performed around a similar time to mine. The outcome of the sample of 5 from two of the world renowned and highly sought surgeons a year later whom I think are excellent and would recommend to patients looking at hair transplantation was the following:

Dr Rahal:
Sean 3000Fue-Complained and unhappy with the yield in which now he does not reply to emails.
Sugarhighs 2900 Fue- Again the same as above and will not reply to emails.


Dr Feriduni:
England 2500Fue- Good result after 5/6 months.
MPBsucks 3000Fue- Unhappy with yield again but he was very honourable,and kept the forum up to date regardless.
Jazzy 3000Fue-Fails to respond to emails usually meaning they are unhappy.

Out of 5 patients whom were the only patients in the year that had Fue procedures of that size that kept a blog with surgery performed by two of the most respected surgeons in the industry: 1/5 was happy.

Now in my eyes that is not a success, and not particularly good or something to advocate. I have read lots of times from surgeons who claim that they can promise this and give you that, but the harsh reality is they don’t.

Anyway, good luck and keep the forum posted.

[jimbob1966]

I think i've had a yield of probably 30% which obviously is not very good, the clinic is being advertised in Easyjet in flight magazines apparently, so I suspect there will be quite a few other people that get it done there.

I don't think price always reflects quality, spending £8,000 for example doesn't necessarily reflect good yield, but a good surgeon will account for some yield, I think it's pot luck really, i think maybe I could of gone to 5 different top surgeons and had varying results.

I'll see what the situation is this time next year, maybe I'll still have 500 FUE to play with to build up some density, the worst part for me is using up so much of the donor area, at least I can buzz down tho

[Spex]

Jim, Sorry to hear of your unsuccessful mega session FUE. The old EasyJet adds, so classy..

I speak with so many guys who got sold the BIG FUE sessions as its what they wanted so desperately, only to be left unsatisfied and in many cases worse off than when they started due to shock loss as a result of the trauma.

FUE is great in the right hands however smaller sessions tend to result in greater success in my opinion. I base my opinion on having liaised with many FUE patients over the years and the fact i have had 6 FUE procedures personally.

Best
Spex

[Follicle Death Row]

Very best of luck Chrisis. Dr. Feriduni is definitely one of the better and more experienced FUE guys out there. Still Researchin got a fantastic result so I hope you get a similiar result.

Keep us posted.

[jimbob1966]

I am still getting tiny new hairs sprout through, (im only month 10) So I guess you know what i want for christmas! lol

[MrBlonde]

Hey Chrisis

Goodluck with your HT and congratulations on making the decision.

It takes a lot of balls to go through with something like this and I admire anyone who takes the leap.

I never had a HT but did have a surgery relating to the hairline area where I needed to be put asleep. Basically I had some scarred and damaged skin removed from that area caused by an accident and this operation was going to drastically effect the natural shape and look of my hairline but I had to get it done. It has left me with a scar at the front of my head, not an FUE type scar but a noticeable one none the less but I was already scarred there and it was to improve the apperance. So I really cant afford to go bald with that scar sitting there so I plan to get a HT eventually, I will wear wigs if it comes to it

The point of my rambling is that I have been through the experience of flying to another country and having someone redesign my head Spex has already eloquently talked about the HT experience in his advise thread but I'd like to offer a bit more on the emotional side of the experience.........

As the surgery date gets nearer and the costs of the surgery, flights and hotels are all booked it will start to dawn on you more what you are about to do, things such as visualisation and fearing the worst outcome possible will happen so the stress/anxiety levels will naturally increase. You will find yourself at work or lying in bed and you will have one of those moments where you sit up and go "Oh god! What have I agreed to, have I made a horrible mistake?"

Don't let those moments get to you. Of course its natural to stress but its because your are venturing into the unknown and no matter how much you read up about it, this time its not some guy in a thread getting it done, its you. I can guaruntee you though once you have been through it you will look back with amazement at how easy the experience was. The flying out and meeting your Dr and his team and everything about it will seem like a doddle once its done and you will more than likely be itching to have another one it was so easy.

As long as you have picked a good Dr (and it seems you have done your homework here) or team with a good reputation and good results behind them you will be totally at ease. You may even enjoy the experience knowing that you are being pro active and making positive moves to getting the best hairline you can. I don't know if you are getting it done in one session or not but on the day itself you don't have time to worry or feel stressed as it is all go, meeting the team, going through the pre op procedures and then the surgery itself. Tbh honest its a longer version of being in a dentists or GP's waiting room and then going in to get a tooth or mole removed, it really is, they have the same sanatised enviroments, professional approach and procedures for making you feel at ease.

I had a 14hr trip to Beverly hills in LA to see a specialist plastic surgeon. I was on my own every step of the way and told no one about it. The financial and emotional stress did get to me a little but looking back now I have only fond memories and although my surgery outcome wasn't 100% what I wanted I had realisitic expectations that I wasn't going to get the picture perfect result I has in my head. I actually had a good time in LA the seven days I was there and would love to go back on a holiday. Its a shame I didn't have anyone to share it with or a shoulder to lean on before and after as it was tough lying in a hospital bed for two days but its something I had to do and it wasn't that hard, plus this was a more invasive op than a HT, I had to sign all sorts of disclosures on the day before that were never mentioned, next of kin, Dr's getting my permission to step in and take life saving measures should I react negatively to anything during the operation etc but rest assured these are merely precautions in case the unimaginable happens, I don't think they will apply to a HT.

My post is to hopefully take some of the worry or emotional sting out of it for you because I can tell you once again that you will be going through your HT saying this is easy and you will look back saying that was so easy

I don't know if you have a friend going with you but I would advise it if possible. Its the only thing I would have done different, a bit of moral support and someone to talk too can be priceless, that reassurance can be pricless in bringing the stress levels down and the only complaint I would have was the loneliness I felt at times, which we all know is a horrible feeling. I kept it all to myself which was not ideal but I felt it was right for me and I doubt I could find someone willing to spend there hard earned cash on 7 days in a beverly hills hotel unless they really wanted too.

Anyway, you can look back on this post for reassurance and I'm confident you will be telling me you were so right in the future. I'd be only too happy to answer any questions/concerns or help in anyway as the date draws nearer.

[chrisdav]

Jimbob- You can go to the best surgeon in the world, and still not get the result you want. Choosing a good surgeons reduces the risk signicantly, but does not eliminate the risk inherent in any surgical procedure.

Gillenator- Thank you. You give great advice on the forums and equally you represent great surgeons, so I have a lot of respect for you.

[gillenator]

Jimbob- You can go to the best surgeon in the world, and still not get the result you want. Choosing a good surgeons reduces the risk signicantly, but does not eliminate the risk inherent in any surgical procedure.

Gillenator- Thank you. You give great advice on the forums and equally you represent great surgeons, so I have a lot of respect for you.

Thanks for the kind words my friend and you too have been of great help to other hairloss sufferers. And you make a very valid point. I find that the patients who do their research and fully understand the risks along with the benefits make the best "informed" decisions. But as you stated, there are no guarantees.

Best wishes...

[chrisis]

Sorry for taking so long to reply to everyone, I've been pretty busy lately.

Chrisdav, thank you for your thoughts, but I'm a little concerned about what I can only interpret as bias in your response.

Let's focus on your criticism of Dr Feriduni's FUE work. This first one is easy.

Dr Feriduni:
England 2500Fue- Good result after 5/6 months.

No comment necessary.

MPBsucks 3000Fue- Unhappy with yield again but he was very honourable,and kept the forum up to date regardless.

This is unfair representation of the truth. Just yesterday MPBsucks wrote:

Dr Feriduni is an excellent doctor and you would be in good hands.

While you're correct to suggest that MPBsucks is not entirely happy with his yield, overall he is content about the outcome and refers to his situation as a "work in progress". Furthermore, he mentions suffering shock loss, which can happen in FUT too. He is in discussion with Dr Feriduni about options to improve density, which suggests that Dr Feriduni will acknowledge comparatively poor results and work to resolve them.

Jazzy 3000Fue-Fails to respond to emails usually meaning they are unhappy.

This is an absurd conclusion to make and far from the truth.

4 months post surgery Jazzy wrote: "I had my op with Dr Feriduni and very pleased with the op so far and i was really happy the staff and the way they work."

Jazzy even directly told you that he was "getting on good." What part of "getting on good" suggested to you that he was unhappy? Is it reasonablee to draw the conclusion that he is unhappy 4 months later, just because he hasn't updated the forum? Perhaps he is getting on with his life?

You raise a valid point that it is important to be realistic going into surgery, but it is unfair to imply that FUE is all bad and FUT is all good. Sure, FUT has advantages over FUT (cost for one!), but FUT has clear advantages over FUE too. There are also risks involved with both and no doctor will offer 100% guarantees with regard to yield. Just as you've argued against FUE - albeit unfairly, I could make a strong case against FUT, illustrating it with photos of grotesque scars and poor outcomes caused by shock loss - even from top surgeons. For me, I decided that I'd rather risk comparatively inferior yield with FUE (that could be improved if necessary), than an unsightly scar that could arise if I chose FUT.

Jim, Sorry to hear of your unsuccessful mega session FUE. The old EasyJet adds, so classy..

I speak with so many guys who got sold the BIG FUE sessions as its what they wanted so desperately, only to be left unsatisfied and in many cases worse off than when they started due to shock loss as a result of the trauma.

Jim's case has nothing to do with the fact his surgery was FUE, he would have had just as bad a result if that doctor had performed FUT. Worse in fact, he'd probably have a terrible scar as well.

Very best of luck Chrisis. Dr. Feriduni is definitely one of the better and more experienced FUE guys out there. Still Researchin got a fantastic result so I hope you get a similiar result.

Keep us posted.

Thanks

Anyway, you can look back on this post for reassurance and I'm confident you will be telling me you were so right in the future. I'd be only too happy to answer any questions/concerns or help in anyway as the date draws nearer.

MrBlonde, I wanted to say a big thanks for the time and thought you put into your response.

I am lucky enough to have a couple of friends going with me to Belgium for the surgery. They plan to do some sightseeing while I'm in surgery. I will be looking back on this thread and posting about my "journey" in the months (and years...) to come. Regardless of a positive or negative outcome, I will keep the forum updated and be posting plenty of photos.

[chrisis]

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