Advice On FUE In The UK

[gregor100]

(Edit - For some reason it wont register a new paragraph, sorry for the wall of text... Admin feel free to edit for ease of reading)
Hey all, basically i'm looking for some help as i've found myself a bit confused by too much information!
The Story

Heres some full res pics from my consultation that will give you an idea of where i'm at. http://imgur.com/a/JDd15 - better follow that link than to bog down the thread with huge images!
Thing with me is that i've always had this hairline since I was a kid! Unsure whether thats good or bad for me. I use minoxidil and ketaconazole shampoo, no finasteride at this stage. Ive never noticed significant loss but always had this terrible high hairline!
Id say I have realistic expectations, id be happy with any kind of advancement in my temples to match up with where my frontal hairline sits.
Im 23 years old, father a NW5 age 53, grandfather on mothers side full head of hair into his 70s before his passing, grandfather dads side NW3 into his 50s before his passing.
The Problem
Was informed id need 2000 grafts, told i had a very strong donor area with mostly 3 hair follicles (saw with my own two eyes under a microscope) and that this would come in around £5700.
I was very impressed and nearly booked until i did some googling and came across this site. Ive basically gathered not to use anyone in the UK apart from the 2 or 3 recommended on here. Is this still true? Some of the threads i found were 2 and 3+ years old. Have things changed?
There was also a thread from 3 years ago regarding the consultant saying to watch out for him, however in that thread theres a guy who has since posted his results (which look great) and stated he's over the moon and couldn't fault them!
Ive since emailed probably the majority of clinics in the UK and await their responses but just wanted to see what you guys have to say!
Any recommendations for UK practices or any in Europe would be much appreciated. Ive gathered a lot of people don't like publically naming places as its a personal choice and what not but id really like some PMs/messages or even posts in here just to push me in the right direction.
Thanks for your time, from one very confused newbie!
(Havent included names or the clinic etc as im unsure if itd be fair at this stage, ive put all this info to them and await their response, perhaps it really was just a disgruntled few, never know...)

 

[Crudance2006]

Not sure if it's the angle of the pictures but the hairline drawing looks quite straight and low. I would go for higher more mature look.
Is it strip you've been quoted? I would go for FUE. You are young, you may experience more loss and why risk a scar when you have an abundance of donor.
The U.K. clinics on here all seem to post decent work, then you have the Belgium's and Turkish clinics, plus India. It's really up to you to research the clinics, get patient feedback, possibly meet patients before deciding who to choose.
You will read lots of accounts of unhappy patients halfway through their hair transplant, then several months later they are happy.

 

[Crudance2006]

I have just read my reply to you. I was thinking of another thread while I was replying to you which is the reason I mentioned strip. Disregard the strip comment as I am unable to edit the post.
It is a low price you have been quoted for FUE in the UK, are you being offered a discounted rate?

 

[gregor100]

Thanks for the reply. So you think that cost is too low? I've been offered between 5000 to 6000 from a few different clinics within the UK.
I'm just curious as to how the industry is here also. So surprising to me that in the UK in 2016 there's still only a couple of doctors that are recommended on here yet there seems to be loads carrying out surgeries, they can't be all bad or there'd surely be a media storm about botched hair transplants etc?
All the doctors are on the ISHRS but I've now been led to believe that doesn't mean an awful lot?
I expressed my concernes to 2 clinics (even linked them the threads on here and other forums that concerned me) and one of the clinics has just completely ignored me. (These were the guys that I physically had an actual consultation with. The others I sent the images that I've posted in here along with a description of my current status/family hair history etc)
The other clinic have responded and defended themselves and their doctor to the point I do feel that I trust them.
They've offered a Skype call where I can speak to the actual doctor himself and also they're gonna let me see/hear from his patients so I'll let you guys know how that goes.

 

[janna]

Hi Gregor,
You raise some good questions....You are right, there are loads of clinics offering hair restoration in the UK now. The problem within the hair transplant industry is that there really isn't a governing body that's set up to monitor and regulate physicians on the quality of results they produce. Any physician, even a dentist (so I've heard) can and have set up hair restoration practice or multiple practices. They then can tout that they're the best surgeon in the world. Who is able to tell them they can't say this? With standard of care being non-existent (barring CQC) and the whole process of hair transplant result taking a good year to find out if your result is good, it's no wonder there are loads of clinics producing poor work. In my opinion, the reason why these clinics stay in business for years and years is because when patient get poor results they don't tend to speak publicly about it. Many fear being ridiculed and feel ashamed. My experience is that patients in the UK have been the most secretive due to a self imposed stigma in place for hair transplants, although the "stigma" factor is now waning. But the fact remains that it's too easy for clinics to get away with sub-par work.
Do research really, really well in order to find a clinic you TRUST. Your donor supply is limited and no matter how low a price a clinic says they can do your hair restoration its not worth it if they waste your precious donor supply. Best of luck!

 

[bullitnut]

Hey dude welcome to the Forum, you mentioned a point in your thread saying there is only a handful of good clinics in the UK and asked if things have changed. IMO the short answer is no, things are still the same although things do seem to be improving very slowly.
That being said there is a handful of good Doctors/clinics here in the UK at the moment so please taking your time so you can make an informed decision. Janna makes some very important points and shes right when she stressed just how important your research is here in the UK.
I was taken in by a dodgy clinic years ago and its the worst thing in the world having to live with a sub par HT....it means constantly living under a hat or risking people staring at you all the time which totally destroys your confidence.

 

[gregor100]

Cheers for the responses guys.

After a phonecall from the Farjo clinic i've decided im gonna wait a while before getting it done. At the very least im gonna go for a consultation with one or two of the real TOP clinics and physically see what they tell me.

For those interested he basically told me he feels strongly about not getting it done so young and to see through all the sales nonsense. Also said he was happy for me to state this to anyone as he felt that strongly!

 

[charty]

Hey man, Im very new to this forum and this thread has been so helpful for me! I don't wanna bombard you/this thread with my story but I'm in the same boat as you ... I have two uk clinics in mind! I have had a response from one (although it was rather forward) and now I'm just doing more research! I tried to PM you to ask you a few questions, but for some reason it won't let me!

 

[Coopman]

Gregor

Good to see you are taking some time to further evaluate your decision.

Rushing into a decision on impulse can lead to many regrets in the future.

When I was your age at 22/23 the best advice I got about HTs was that in 10 years time you will not be too concerned about temple recession as you are now. Think about hairstyles you would be happy with in a decades time. What im getting at is by having a slightly receded look 1. You will save a lot of grafts and 2. When you are 35 with slighhtly receded temples to other people you are not considered to have a hairloss problem.

There are a lot of people around your age having 2500-3000grafts to their hairlines and temples. What will they do when the rest of their hair falls out? Bad planning.

When you have your consults find out how many donor grafts you have available.

Best wishes.

 

[gregor100]

I have pm disabled for some reason!
I've just had a consultation with Vinci in Glasgow today and was impressed.
Didnt get sleazy salesman vibes and seemed very professional.
They suggested I take it back a bit and have 1500 grafts so as to have a slightly higher hairline and allow for more 'planning for the future' if you will.
I'm waiting on them to email me through at the details.
They showed previous patient pictures which were 100% authentic (Could literally see them standing in the clinic, unlike some other questionable ones i've seen in the past).
One of the consultants had actually had SMP that very morning and had a bit of a red head! haha, the other guy said he'd had a transplant with Vinci himself,maybe shoulda asked to see before and after pics but I didnt have any suspicions to be honest.
All I can say is,go and get one or two consultations, some proper images and some realistic expectations, then just do what I did,email EVERYONE! And see what they say. Dont be afraid to ask forward questions either as it's always a good way of telling who's lying to you. You can generally tell who is just telling you what you want to hear and who has actually got a legitimate answer for you!
Good luck mate, i'll keep you guys posted.

 

[gregor100]

Just to update anyone who's been interested in this, I've booked my procedure with Vinci, as stated above 1500 FUE grafts at their Malaga clinic with Dr Sebastian Deme.

Any advice/previous patients etc always appreciated though, the procedure is not 'till October due to various work & financial commitments.

I work a shift pattern which requires me to wear a hard hat for a few weeks at a time in rotation, so i've booked it directly after one set of shifts which gives me a 7 week gap where I dont need to be wearing anything on my head!

Extremely nervous/worried but at the same time looking forward to it. Hoping everything goes according to plan and i get some results even close to what the clinic has achieved before.

I've noticed 'Salvar' on here post for Vinci quite a lot, would be good to hear a bit from you, have my PM's disabled for some reason,possible because i'm a new poster... Anyway i'll report back with any more news.

 

[Bigmac]

Hi Gregor.

I`m pleased the forum has helped you in your research, Sounds like a good plan going to the Malaga location between shifts.

1500 fue should make a nice difference to your hair line, at 23 the clinic will provide a cautious approach, not wanting to pack your hair line with more grafts than needed as your hair loss will need to be monitored considering your family history. With careful planning from the clinic you should be fine.

I`ll look forward to seeing and hearing about it later in the year.

All the best.

Bm.

ps, your pm is available now.

 

[gregor100]

Update - I've changed the location from their Malaga clinic to the London clinic.

It's essentially just for the obvious reasons. The closer I get to it the more I'm dreading such a big journey so fresh after the surgery. I also just feel like I'd be more comfortable in a familiar country and closer to home.

Much happier now, was beginning to actually quite dread it, the consultant dealt with my questions within 3 emails and it's all sorted now, impressed with Vinci so far, now onto the most important part.... Haha

 

[gregor100]

Well tomorrow's the day... Simply put im bricking it! Haha, praying everything goes well and I'm gonna be satisfied with the result. Looking forward to speaking to the team and calming myself down a bit.

Just had an even bigger stressful day being dragged around all of Londons tourist spots by my girlfriend!

 

[Bigmac]

All the best for Today Gregor. Looking forward to hearing all about it.

 

[gregor100]

Thanks, that's me just home, it was a long day but they managed to get a lot of strong grafts, I'll post my full thread and pictures tomorrow once I've relaxed a little bit, feeling pretty achey and shattered just now but it looks pretty good!

 

[Bigmac]

Good to hear it went well, rest up and take it easy.

 

[moorpark1263]

Hi Gregor, just to find out how your HT went with Vinci. I have been to see them in Glasgow also and considering my options.