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My experience at the Hairpalace Budapest with 6,249 FUE

the-heff

the-heff

Member
Hello,

I have just returned home to the UK after an amazing experience at the Hair Palace (hairpalace) Budapest.

I would imagine the most people reading this are considering a hair transplant and struggling with the issues:
1. What is a hair transplant exactly​
2. How much does it cost?​
3. Where should I go?​
4. Does it hurt?​
5. What does it look like?​
6. How long does it take to recover?​

Well a lot of those questions are answered around the internet and some differ, but I would like to share my story with you all to help you make your own choices and I ll be updating this thread. I ll also keep it short and sweet so you don t get bored of reading - so there will be lots of images too.

Before I start I would like to thank the user Supersmooth for his great account of his experience at the surgery I chose the hairpalace. You can see his here as he s months ahead of me but I ll catch up soon http://www.hairlossexperiences.com/view_topic.php?id=7332&forum_id=3&highlight=hair+palace


It is this account that gave me confidence in the hairpalace and I would like to contribute to help others realise how great the team there are, so definitely consider them, if not use them.

Me, I am 39, live in the UK, married with 2 children and been loosing my hair since I was 24.

I have not had much luck with Regaine, which seemed to wet my bald spot and make my hair stick to it which ironically drew more attention to it than intended.

I was prescribed Propecia by my GP which actually cause relationship issues with my wife as I became half the man I was before so they had to go.

As my hair has got worse and worse hoping that the next big cure was just around the corner, has not come in time for me. So I looked at hair transplants again.

So some answers personal to me to the above questions that you may have are ¦


1. What is a hair transplant exactly?
When I first looked at hair transplants they were really expensive, when the money was better spent on a deposit for my first house, AND, the thought of having a 2x30cm strip of flesh cut out from my scalp made me feel that it was just too much of a serious procedure just to get over the fact that I was balding. Since discovering the FUE procedure existed that totally changed my mind about the whole thing.

2. How much does it costs?
Well different clinics charge per hair or graft, well, this is pretty important, I have looked at prices online and found the following examples but look around yourselves:
Ziering - http://ziering.co.uk/hair-transplant-prices/ charge £4.50 a graft for FUT and by my calculations where I averaged 2.6 hairs a graft then this would mean £1.73 a hair
Hairpalace - I chose the hairpalace and had my surgery over 2 days, I Paid £3,390 cash (to get a 5% discount) for 6,000 hairs, and by taking photos of the technicians results sheet, I ended up with 2,387 grafts and 6,249 hairs which makes it £1.42 a graft or £0.54 per hair

3. Where should I go?
Well, I m based on the UK and went to hairpalace in Budapest. The price was a MASSIVE factor in this decision but the other factors for me were the following, but we each have our own reasons for where we choose to go:
a. I have worked with a Hungarian company in my business for over 15 years and have found Hungarian people to be really nice, very proud and very particular. I have always found them honest and hard working, so this meant a lot.​
b. I employ a Hungarian designer in the UK who is realty nice, very kind, well mannered, trustworthy a proud of his work, he returns to Hungary to see his dentist as he rates Hungarian medical professionals very highly​
c. Multiple friends that have visited Budapest have said it is a great place, really friendly (unlike other European capital cities) and highly recommend it​
d. The price they quoted and I paid (above) included 3 nights accommodation with TV, wifi, personal bathroom and kitchen. It also included Airport transfers by personal taxi (both drivers were very nice),AND, 2x 2 course lunches they were very nice. My only expenditure was less than £16 in Lidl when I got there to buy supplies for the apartment for breakfast and dinner for the 3 nights yeah I couldn t believe it either.​
e. Flights to Budapest I live in Brighton so under a tenner for a train to Gatwick at peak time and Flights start from £46 each way if you book a months in advance, I ended up paying £80 including booking a seat and came back with Ryan air to Stansted for under £80 too (I booked late so had to return to Stanstead)​
4. Does it Hurt?
Well at the hairpalace in Budapest I was treated like a King (maybe that s why they call it the Hairpalace as you are treated so well). Anyway, the only times I was in a little pain was when I had the small injections for the local anaesthetic - but that s expected, all I can say though, is that the Doctor was really gentle and treated me very nicely while this happened and both doctors, as there were 2 alternating over the 2 days, were very kind and gentle throughout. I have some painkillers now (2 days later) to take, but if I don t take them it just feels like I have a helmet on no bother at all.

5. What does it look like?
Well below i'll be posting some, during and after photos, the team were really happy and proud to show me the spiral they made on the first day to make the hair pattern look very natural, which made me happy.

6. How long does it take to recover and re-grow? I am going to find that out but the basic instructions are

a. Week 1 no hair washing or sleeping on the recipient area, and spray recipient area with saline hourly when awake. Wear button-up shirts
b. Week 2 can slowly shower head for any crusts to massage off
c. Week 3 can shampoo hair and wear a hat
d. Week 6-8 can start being exposed to direct sunlight
e. Weeks 3-12 the implanted hair will fall out and shed, then it ll re-grow and you will see great results as you hair grows in it s new position on your head
So I will start adding photos of my progress weekly and monthly as it progresses so keep checking back if you are reading this early to me posting OR by the time it s Summer 2017, I should have posted some great images of my new hair by then.



I have thought of some FAQ s that you may ask as these were on my mind..

Does the hairpalace take £50 notes? Yes I bought a concealed money belt to tale them over, it was fine through customs and HSBC gave me the cash immediately when I asked for it (Some banks I hear don t like large cash withdrawals)

Do the people in Hungary speak English? Yes (the ones involved with you),the taxi drivers that met me did, and the main people in the hair palace the you speak with do

Do you look a mess when you fly back? This was my biggest fear, you don t look perfectly normal, I finished my 2x days at 5pm and my flight was at 6am the next day. I have the obvious marks and redness, but I booked the rear window seat on the return flight and priority boarding. However, I was so happy with myself and the work done, I had none of the anxiety I thought I would, people rarely took notice as actually, people don t care, you re just another person that happens to have marks on their head that you ll never see again

Did you have a consultation in London?No I sent 7 photos of my hair that they could work out what I needed

Were blood tests included? No you can get them via the hairpalace for just over £100 inc another nights stay, but I chose to get mine done in the UK privately. I paid just under £500 with Blue Horizon Medicals who were great, but it is more expensive. My advice would be to arrive a day earlier in Budapest, have your bloods done there as there s no panic about receiving the results in time, and you get to have some time to tour the city, something I regret.

OK wish me luck with the re-growth and I wish you all the best with your decisions.;)


One final thing, if I have not made this clear enough...
My whole experience of my hair transplant at the hairpalace in Budapest, Hungary was AMAZING.
The whole team were great and I do not think you could better the treatment and communication you receive. THANKS GUYS!

GOOD LUCK ALL!
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 1 of the surgery - my head shaved
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 1 - Donor area at the end of the day with bandage off before bedtime
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 1 - top of head with relocated hairs
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 2 - the morning, i'd not followed instructions and been resting on my donor area a bit too freely
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 2 - teatime - nearly there...
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 2- complete
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 2 - complete (without the hairy chest)
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 2 - donor area at night from rear
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 2 - donor area complete from right side
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 4 - top - looking good (and yes I know that i'll need a bit more work at the mid and front in the future - and i'm strangely looking forward to it now.
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Day 4 donor area from right - I've been told not to clean the donor area for a week, so it doesn't look that pretty, but it will when it has a wash and the hair has grown a little more
 

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M

Martinman

valued member
Good detailed write up.
A couple of points. How come you never had any grafts placed in the front? Some of the extractions appear on the high side, out of the safe zone.
Otherwise looks very good.
 
the-heff

the-heff

Member
Martinman wrote:
Good detailed write up.
A couple of points. How come you never had any grafts placed in the front? Some of the extractions appear on the high side, out of the safe zone.
Otherwise looks very good.
Hi Martinman, you have some good questions there ;)
My front has never been a concern to me, just the crown for 15 years. I have noticed my front in the last year thinning but the way i styled my hair made this a non-issue.
The doctor did say before surgery that if we have some hairs left them we could put them in the front but all the hairs harvested were used for the crown.
I discussed the front with the doctor after the surgery, to see if i had enough donor hairs to cover it and when i could do this. She said to wait a year for the donor area to recover and then we can take 3,000 hairs to complete that, it would not be a problem.
As far as your question on the safe are goes, i have seen many photos of FUE that have hairs harvested this high, so it did not occur to me that these could be a problem in the future. I will ask the doctor about this and keep an eye on it on the future.
Thank you.
 
D

Dazzster26

Valued member
Hi Mate

Thanks for sharing your experience with us and posting quality pictures as well , I also was curious why you never put any grafts in the frontal third but as you clearly explained its not a problem for you, that amount of grafts should give a nice improvement the crown does take a lot of grafts , anyway all the very best wishing you great recovery and growth


Cheers

Daz
 
the-heff

the-heff

Member
I'm 5 days post-op now and the pain is reduced a lot - well nothing on the recipient area and just a bit on donor area so i'm taking ibuprofen now. Still sleeping on my face and will for another 5 days as grafts take... 2-4 days to connect, according to some experts, and 10 according to others, so i'm playing safe and not going to risk disturbing it.

The saline solution is spray on hourly is doing a good job at keeping it crust free so it's not too bad.

Anyway, the reason for this message is to share my front as it's been the cause of the messages above.
I attach an image that shows the front 6 months pre-op and then 3 weeks pre-op - so you can see (i hope) that when my hair is longer and styled than it's hardly noticeable. I do expect to change though, so there is a plan for the front.
Thank you.
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
Week 1 is over and i am very happy with the progress.
I have compared the new implanted hairs with the photos i took 3 weeks pre-op.
The implanted hairs look great around the crown, a real piece of art... I hope it all works out.

 

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H

HairHunter

Valued member
Post op pics look really good and clean. Good density and direction of the grafts.
 
the-heff

the-heff

Member
I've refrained from posting photos between weeks 3 and this week 10 - since the operation as there has been more loss than growth, so a bit of a non-event really.
Well at week 10 i can safely say that the hair is really starting to grow back, it's pretty impressive that this works to be honest.
The shiny bald patch i once had is now sprouting hairs.
Looking at the other patients posts I think that this is the turning point now and will post more positive images as my hair takes over :)
 

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the-heff

the-heff

Member
I just realised i didn't post the images 3 weeks post op, well here they are, the hair transplant was looking really positive here :)

 

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