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3500 graft FUE at Hattingen, Switzerland

hairyhopes

hairyhopes

member
Hey everyone,

New to posting on the forum, although I've been a lurker for a while! I thought others might be interested in my recent experience at Hattingen Hair in Stetten, Switzerland.

I’d been looking into getting a hair transplant for a couple of years or so and, as a first-timer, I landed on the following priorities:
  • Thinking long term: for me this was the big one. I have a limited donor supply. It’s possible that I might want another hair transplant in the future. I wanted to ensure that I have flexibility in the future (e.g. not using too much of my donor supply, ensuring maximum chance of success so I don’t waste any of it etc.)
  • Aftercare and peace of mind: I have a colleague who went abroad for a hair transplant, had follow-up questions a month or so later, and the clinic won’t take his calls. I really didn’t want to end up in a similar situation. In particular I didn’t want to have a one-off, transactional relationship with the clinic.
  • Quality: this is something I might do just once or twice in my life and will permanently change my appearance, so I wanted to increase the probability that the outcome would be natural and successful.
In the end I landed on Hattingen, for a few reasons:
  • Communication with Dr. Muresanu: I jumped on a few Skype calls and met personally with Dr. Muresanu before going forward and we had a couple of chats about my family history and potential options. It was great to be able to speak directly to the doctor and to have an honest conversation. He’d also respond to my emails usually within 24 hours. It’s a small clinic (I assume that they only do a handful of ops per week) and you really have their full attention, which I appreciate. At some other clinics I reached out to, the communication felt a lot more transactional.
  • Quality: I saw that the clinic was highly recommended on a bunch of forums. I also knew exactly who was going to perform the procedure (ultimately Mrs. Muresanu and her team, with the extraction carried out by Carmen who was previously one of the FUE leads at the well-regarded Hasson & Wong clinic in Vancouver), and see previous examples of their work, which put me at ease. I also felt that we’d land on a natural-looking hairline, which was important for me.
Anyway, it’s been ~1 month since I had the procedure done. We originally agreed on 3000 grafts to focus on the front part of the hairline which is my primary concern, but on the day decided an extra 500 to fill in some of the crown area. I haven’t tried any medication yet, and am hoping to add more volume in that area with topical finasteride / minoxidil. Let's see!

WLJ-ANQ3XEyPZRN6llq1LiGoLinZPqCPPPHeiyz24i5tTd_bNb8CA1WqqP9tZZIacMLjnvf7vf6P5LzzCAVL9vstl0-aXc41FD-8yppXOUfqDulJPUNvqNYuUKHxwYTnpFmoLcOILDzVE-EbOMNu1Fw
KlMk-VH2KmBJIyVN7r7dxN9-afSNZBRRkfaByRACXP9iC0mzl3wyx2mULFgd-mWt7DWuwOvYpDIM7lW5HnPq4_4wU9duGBtGrsjuDkohmzuzTOYCTY9LNq7e6vcIT_nUQTrGkMPAuVMJTMxQ8ZRvirA

Day of surgery and 1 week post-surgery

vg0ILZMSS7eoe0PM_cAcPmMLhDnboJvoPygA-59jCRd7xrtS6mlk2DA_POSQS17HG5eudpOZYs_DD0pS8iz9xjTRkKACT1E7wUkVswMviy4qOE_fc-foRbXO0Fvx4bThJQJOaB6QPFeVkZDYAMhiLrs
tuCx35JC_1rDN8AYdLvEoepGt-PTMA74gQK8Q3tPIMu-mZd_869thLphIhdLTMZwlfr3WtvDjbUkFR1FELJxlnJ_vPVf5fSVKC8bbyL2wS43UGLpeD-C-MAG1QD3wPI4a2p6Yt5QeNmqQvmGJWMPGyg

Day of surgery and ~2 weeks post-surgery

So far my experience has been very positive. On the day of surgery, the Muresanus, Carmen, and the rest of the team were very accommodating. I was obviously apprehensive but they put me at ease. We agreed on a hairline, and then I left it in the hands of the team. The surgery lasted pretty much all day with a handful of breaks, but honestly it wasn’t really painful at all. I fell asleep for large chunks of it! I came back the next day for cleaning and they gave me a bandana to cover my head so I could take the train home without all eyes on me!

I didn’t have any issues post-procedure (apart from having a balloon for a head - for some reason I totally overlooked this part when doing my prior research!), but Dr. Muresanu gave me his private number just in case, which was great. Since I live in Zürich I came back a week or so later to have another follow-up clean with Carmen to remove most of the scabbing. Since the op we’ve been keeping in touch, and Dr. Muresanu has been responding to my follow-up questions, which I really appreciate!

Some considerations: obviously, the clinic is in Switzerland. One should be prepared for the price that comes with that, but I would recommend discussing it with the clinic. I think there’s also an opportunity to improve the general admin. Dr. Muresanu was always there to answer my questions when they arose, but communication with the clinic regarding admin (e.g. booking an appointment) could sometimes be a bit slow, and I had to bump the email thread a couple of times. On the day of surgery we also realised that I hadn’t received a booking confirmation and had to handle the payment on that morning, which I would’ve preferred to settle beforehand. On a couple of occasions I also had to wait some time to be seen, despite having an appointment. These are relatively small points, but nonetheless some areas for improvement.

Anyway, so far so good - currently just in the shedding phase, but very excited to see how things go!

I’ll try to update the thread as things progress!
Nick
 
J

josh145

member
Welcome onboard. Excellent choice in clinic, and super detailed documentation. The recipient area is sweet.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hello Nick and welcome to the forum. I`m pleased it helped you with your research and ultimately choosing a clinic for your hair restoration surgery. You did your due diligence which is something I try to advise everyone.
Every thing sounds like your surgery went as planned with no issues and the aftercare has been good. The placement of grafts is nice and clean. The planning/design I believe will give you a very nice result. Post-op healing looks right on track. How did the donor extraction sites heal? Best of luck with the meds. Hopefully, you are a good responder.
I`m looking forward to following your progress.
All the best.
Bm.
 
hairyhopes

hairyhopes

member
Hey everyone,

Thank you for the warm welcome!

The donor has healed well so far! The recipient area is still quite red but I do have a fairly pale skin tone, and from what I've read it's not uncommon for it to take even 2 months to return to normal.

I'm very much in the shedding phase, but I'm taking (almost) daily photos. My goal is to create a timelapse after ~1 year or so.

So, fingers crossed! I'll post some more updates once the shedding phase is over! In the meantime I guess I'll be rocking the almost-bald look.

Nick
 
hairyhopes

hairyhopes

member
Hey everyone!

It's been a bit of time, so I thought I'd share an update!

It's been approximately 4 months since I had the transplant and so far I'm quite happy.

A quick summary:
  • For the first three months or so after the shock loss, it didn't really see any growth at all. Suddenly, a couple of weeks ago, I started seeing a lot more growth. Something which didn't occur to me is that this is not a linear process - for the first few months I think you just have to have faith.
  • The "new" hair is certainly not the same length as the neighbouring hair yet, but it's relatively early days, and this was not my expectation. I have a friend's wedding in three weeks so my hope is that I can simply wear my hair short and get away with it
    :)
  • I've been taking topical finasteride for around three months. My hope was that I could use that to thicken a lot of the hair around the crown since it wasn't *completely* bald in that region yet, and we didn't add too many grafts there. So far, no major changes there, and it's too early to see any impact.
Some pics to show the growth so far:
image.thumb.jpeg.cc4da535b96b2d49003a9f089073d318.jpeg

1st May
image.thumb.jpeg.cbfd12970a6360b68e19f94f282a7382.jpeg

Today (5th July)

Thanks, everyone!
Nick
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
You’re progressing quite well for 4 months. You have some nice growth which should look ok for the wedding if you get your native hair cut the same length. A little concealer would help as well.

The crown will take longer to show results.

Thanks for the update.
 
G

gregorix29

member
Your hair looks actually really good for 4 months , i am waiting to see your full result
 
hairyhopes

hairyhopes

member
Thanks, guys! I've actually been shaving it myself at home since the transplant, so now might be the moment to get an actual, proper haircut! When you say concealer, do you mean fibres, or something else?

I'll post another update in a couple of months or so!
Nick
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, fibres work well to add density. I always liked Nanogen when I used them.
 
borisbakers

borisbakers

member
New to posting on the forum, although I've been a lurker for a while! I thought others might be interested in my recent experience at Hattingen Hair in Stetten, Switzerland.

I’d been looking into getting a hair transplant for a couple of years or so and, as a first-timer, I landed on the following priorities:
  • Thinking long term: for me this was the big one. I have a limited donor supply. It’s possible that I might want another hair transplant in the future. I wanted to ensure that I have flexibility in the future (e.g. not using too much of my donor supply, ensuring maximum chance of success so I don’t waste any of it etc.)
  • Aftercare and peace of mind: I have a colleague who went abroad for a hair transplant, had follow-up questions a month or so later, and the clinic won’t take his calls. I really didn’t want to end up in a similar situation. In particular I didn’t want to have a one-off, transactional relationship with the clinic.
  • Quality: this is something I might do just once or twice in my life and will permanently change my appearance, so I wanted to increase the probability that the outcome would be natural and successful.
In the end I landed on Hattingen, for a few reasons:
  • Communication with Dr. Muresanu: I jumped on a few Skype calls and met personally with Dr. Muresanu before going forward and we had a couple of chats about my family history and potential options. It was great to be able to speak directly to the doctor and to have an honest conversation. He’d also respond to my emails usually within 24 hours. It’s a small clinic (I assume that they only do a handful of ops per week) and you really have their full attention, which I appreciate. At some other clinics I reached out to, the communication felt a lot more transactional.
  • Quality: I saw that the clinic was highly recommended on a bunch of forums. I also knew exactly who was going to perform the procedure (ultimately Mrs. Muresanu and her team, with the extraction carried out by Carmen who was previously one of the FUE leads at the well-regarded Hasson & Wong clinic in Vancouver), and see previous examples of their work, which put me at ease. I also felt that we’d land on a natural-looking hairline, which was important for me.
Anyway, it’s been ~1 month since I had the procedure done. We originally agreed on 3000 grafts to focus on the front part of the hairline which is my primary concern, but on the day decided an extra 500 to fill in some of the crown area. I haven’t tried any medication yet, and am hoping to add more volume in that area with topical finasteride / minoxidil. Let's see!
It sounds like you put a lot of thought into choosing Hattingen Hair, especially with your focus on long-term planning, quality, and aftercare. Now that you're about a month post-procedure, how are you feeling about the results so far, particularly with the additional 500 grafts for the crown area? Also, given your concerns about aftercare, how has your experience with follow-up communication and support from the clinic been since the procedure? Would you recommend any specific questions or considerations for others who might be evaluating clinics based on these same priorities?
 
hairyhopes

hairyhopes

member
Hey everyone,

Firstly, apologies for the delay - I'm currently travelling for an extended period, and somehow I missed the email notifications.

Things are progressing well! Here is a picture I took a few days ago. As you can see, it's filling in! I would say that the newly-transplanted hairs have merged quite well with the "native" hair, whereas before I felt that they still lacked a bit of "density".

Screenshot 2024-10-22 at 10.45.55.png


Some more pics:

Screenshot 2024-10-22 at 10.49.53.png


Screenshot 2024-10-22 at 11.21.27.png


Regarding the other questions:
  • Now that you're about a month post-procedure, how are you feeling about the results so far, particularly with the additional 500 grafts for the crown area? I probably wouldn't recommend having a few extra grafts thrown into the back like I did. It was a bit of a last-minute on-the-day decision. I can certainly see a difference, but it did not fill the entire area in, so the balding remains, which I guess is kind of what you'd expect with so few grafts. In any case, it doesn't really bother me because I basically never see it and it has zero impact on my quality of my life. I see it basically only when I enter my local supermarket and I catch a glimpse of the CCTV livestream taken from a camera directly above my head :) I've been using topical finasteride on this area (as well as the front) and haven't seen too much of an effect in the area that didn't receive any grafts. At some point I may choose to just throw a bunch more grafts in that general area, but right now it doesn't seem worth it. Also, I want to save some donor hairs in the bank for if I ever need to bolster the front hairline again.
  • Also, given your concerns about aftercare, how has your experience with follow-up communication and support from the clinic been since the procedure? It's been great! Dr. Muresanu generally responds within a day or so. Fortunately since around a month or two after the procedure I haven't really needed to message him very often because everything has gone pretty smoothly. At the beginning I had some questions (e.g. how to deal with itching and irritation in the donor area, to which he recommended some shampoos). I'm very satisfied with the level of communication!
  • Would you recommend any specific questions or considerations for others who might be evaluating clinics based on these same priorities? Honestly it's a bit of a struggle because I do wonder to what extent most online reviews in this industry are legit. Fortunately in my case everything worked out, but I had the luxury of being able to pay for a HT in Switzerland. I think if you're looking in a more saturated, lower-cost market, like Turkey, it can be really tough to differentiate between good and bad clinics. I have a friend who went to a clinic in Turkey and, although the result was good, the clinic basically no longer takes his calls, which led to some stress. Aftercare was essentially non-existent. I suppose it could be worth asking in advance to what extent you can reach out to the clinic / receive support after the procedure. Obviously this is harder when the clinic is abroad, which is one of the reasons why I chose a clinic relatively close to my home. When it came to knowing whether the result would be "natural", I'd say it's a combination of 1) seeing other work by the doctor and 2) seeing what kind of hairline he or she proposes during consultation.
One last thing: I actually took one photo per day from various angles for the first six months or so. I hope to create a timelapse from these and publish it here soon to show the speed of development. Honestly, this is something I wish there were more of since, as I mentioned before, it wasn't intuitive to me that growth would not follow a linear trajectory. In my case, I had a few months of almost nothing and then BOOM, the hair kind of showed up.

I hope this is helpful!

Best,
Nick
 
janna

janna

Valuable Member
Your result is progressing quite nicely, very happy for you!! You’re fortunate to have some curl to your hairs that gives more body and density too. Soon you’ll be going about your life without worry of hair loss! Looking forward to seeing your timelapse photos of your result.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Your hair is looking great so far. Still plenty of time for more improvements. Thanks for popping on with your update.
 
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