urbanite88
member
Hi guys, been lurking around these forums for months now and just wanted to introduce myself before I start posting!
Background
37 yo healthy male based in UK with Norwood 5/6 level hair loss pattern. Been losing hair since 21, really became noticeable around 25.
It was enough of an issue to affect my mental health and my confidence in certain situations. Overtime that only got stronger. Started finasteride at 31 through a private prescription years after my useless doctor tried to make me feel vain for seeking out this treatment at age 25, when according to him I had "plenty of hair"!?. MPB runs through most of my family, though mine seemed to have started/progressed a lot earlier compared to older relatives.
While the finasteride stabilized the loss somewhat, it never really helped grow back any hair. Thinking I probably could have halted half my loss had I started finasteride at 25, is rather upsetting. I had tried Regaine (5% minoxidil ) in earlier years with little success. Also used 12% from Belgravia alongside the fin, which I have been on for around 3 years, with a little better success of thickening existing hair. While my hairline/temples has probably receded between 2-4 inches since my youth, what really bothered me the most was my crown. I always felt conscious of it every time I got a glimpse of it on the mirror and could not shake off for days on end. I tried laser light treatments too, but that just seemed way too clunky. In the last 3 months, I also started derma-rolling with a 0.5mm roller, just to keep my existing hairs in good shape in prep for the HT more than anything.
I had been thinking about hair transplants for years, but wanted to explore all non-surgical avenues first, which I think I well and truly have now. Really started serious research over the last 18 months, and it's been a process of real highs and lows, at times feeling disheartened and ultimately just exhausting. I discovered various HT forums in the last 6/7 months, which really helped with my research based on following concrete case studies which helped rule out doctors who just were not up to it. So I am ever so grateful for communities like this
My initial focus was just in the UK, but ultimately, I had to broaden the search to consider Turkey, Belgium, as far as India. In total I have had 20+ consultations with various doctors. The range of proposals were as varied as the countries the doctors were from! I was offered between 1800-2000 grafts, just for the hairline/top half to 5000+ grafts over two day sessions to cover the front and crown. The assessment of my donor area ranged from "limited" to "very good". All 4 UK doctors I visited in person however were consistent in their assessment that my donor was good for 2 procedures up to 4000-4500 grafts. I was starting to build a consensus of what was possible/achievable for me and what aligned with my preferences.
Given the current state of the world, I really just wanted to find a good doctor in London, but the options of suitable doctors for my specific case were thin on the ground. There are several good doctors in London but unfortunately, I just could not find any with a convincing history of working on NW5/6 patients.
I should state, I also tried to reach out to Dr Ball in the UK, Dr Couts and Dr Freitas in Spain but they were all oversubscribed and I was looking at a timeline of late 2022, just not an option for me. Eventually I shortlisted 3 doctors.
Dr Arshad from the Hair Dr in Leeds, Dr Ozlem Bicer in Turkey and Dr Arika Bansal of Eugenix in India. Dr Bicer was an unlikely contender for me, due to patchy communication and it generally being difficult to really build a rapport with the clinic, many things lost in translation. At first look she seemed mostly to do very dense packing front hairlines, great results but fewer crown work. But there was something about Dr Bicer's profile and some of her patients that really captured me, I was drawn to couple of patients I found relatable and who were in similar stages of hair loss to me, who underwent transplant and reported a good experience.
Unfortunately, India was soon not an option at all. Then also in early January I believe, Turkey banned UK travellers from entering. For a few weeks, I thought the choice was pretty much made for me. Dr Arshad seemed to be a great, so I was happy to explore further into that. Problem is, when I eventually managed to talk to him on video (I already had a date booked in April just prior to it) it was very very short. A couple of things he said concerned me, in particular that he may not be able to give me any coverage in crown if I wanted good results in the hairline/top first. This off course, after I had already had extensive discussions with Sommiya, the practice manager about my concerns and wishes and how I wanted even a little coverage in my crown so that I wasn't totally bald in one area.
I had to take a step back and could not proceed with the April date. I tried to arrange a further call, even suggesting to get a train up to Leeds for a face to face consultation, but unfortunately that was not possible due to the clinic no longer offering face to face meetings as the best way to minimize the covid risks to the clinic.
In the meantime, I followed through with a final consultation with another Harley Street clinic I had already arranged months prior, which ended up being rather disappointing. I kept communications with Ozen, Dr Bicer's coordinator, and toyed with different scenarios in which I could achieve the results I would be happy with there. Dr Bicer stated I would need 7000+ grafts over 2 sessions a year apart to get both crown and hairline/top done. First session would be for 3800 grafts, and the second session only confirmed after that, if my donor was good enough. Initially they had a couple of dates in May and then no availability until September. But the May dates came and went by.
At this point I was all too aware how much time and energy I'd already dedicated to this process, and I felt like I had already waited too long to do this, I just wanted to make a decision and get it done this summer/autumn. And with covid still lingering on, it seems now is as good as ever for some downtime to recover and being able to work from home during the worst bits!
By a twist of fate, in the last days of May, I heard Turkey was allowing Brits in again and got in touch in Ozen and they also coincidentally had a cancellation in June!
When I spoke to Dr Bicer, suddenly all the prior communication problems seemed a mute point, she seemed very warm and I did not feel rushed in the call. She assessed my donor again in video (not in the best lighting) and again reiterated my donor might not be strong enough to support both procedures. So I put forth my bottom line, given I had 3800-4000 to play with, I confirmed I would like us to sit down in person and decide how we put those to use before the surgery. As I hung up, I had a date booked in June!! Slight problem, Turkey was on UK's RED list of countries, an effective travel ban.
I will post very soon to let you all know what happens next! But here are some pics of my scalp and donor area for now.
Background
37 yo healthy male based in UK with Norwood 5/6 level hair loss pattern. Been losing hair since 21, really became noticeable around 25.
It was enough of an issue to affect my mental health and my confidence in certain situations. Overtime that only got stronger. Started finasteride at 31 through a private prescription years after my useless doctor tried to make me feel vain for seeking out this treatment at age 25, when according to him I had "plenty of hair"!?. MPB runs through most of my family, though mine seemed to have started/progressed a lot earlier compared to older relatives.
While the finasteride stabilized the loss somewhat, it never really helped grow back any hair. Thinking I probably could have halted half my loss had I started finasteride at 25, is rather upsetting. I had tried Regaine (5% minoxidil ) in earlier years with little success. Also used 12% from Belgravia alongside the fin, which I have been on for around 3 years, with a little better success of thickening existing hair. While my hairline/temples has probably receded between 2-4 inches since my youth, what really bothered me the most was my crown. I always felt conscious of it every time I got a glimpse of it on the mirror and could not shake off for days on end. I tried laser light treatments too, but that just seemed way too clunky. In the last 3 months, I also started derma-rolling with a 0.5mm roller, just to keep my existing hairs in good shape in prep for the HT more than anything.
I had been thinking about hair transplants for years, but wanted to explore all non-surgical avenues first, which I think I well and truly have now. Really started serious research over the last 18 months, and it's been a process of real highs and lows, at times feeling disheartened and ultimately just exhausting. I discovered various HT forums in the last 6/7 months, which really helped with my research based on following concrete case studies which helped rule out doctors who just were not up to it. So I am ever so grateful for communities like this
My initial focus was just in the UK, but ultimately, I had to broaden the search to consider Turkey, Belgium, as far as India. In total I have had 20+ consultations with various doctors. The range of proposals were as varied as the countries the doctors were from! I was offered between 1800-2000 grafts, just for the hairline/top half to 5000+ grafts over two day sessions to cover the front and crown. The assessment of my donor area ranged from "limited" to "very good". All 4 UK doctors I visited in person however were consistent in their assessment that my donor was good for 2 procedures up to 4000-4500 grafts. I was starting to build a consensus of what was possible/achievable for me and what aligned with my preferences.
Given the current state of the world, I really just wanted to find a good doctor in London, but the options of suitable doctors for my specific case were thin on the ground. There are several good doctors in London but unfortunately, I just could not find any with a convincing history of working on NW5/6 patients.
I should state, I also tried to reach out to Dr Ball in the UK, Dr Couts and Dr Freitas in Spain but they were all oversubscribed and I was looking at a timeline of late 2022, just not an option for me. Eventually I shortlisted 3 doctors.
Dr Arshad from the Hair Dr in Leeds, Dr Ozlem Bicer in Turkey and Dr Arika Bansal of Eugenix in India. Dr Bicer was an unlikely contender for me, due to patchy communication and it generally being difficult to really build a rapport with the clinic, many things lost in translation. At first look she seemed mostly to do very dense packing front hairlines, great results but fewer crown work. But there was something about Dr Bicer's profile and some of her patients that really captured me, I was drawn to couple of patients I found relatable and who were in similar stages of hair loss to me, who underwent transplant and reported a good experience.
Unfortunately, India was soon not an option at all. Then also in early January I believe, Turkey banned UK travellers from entering. For a few weeks, I thought the choice was pretty much made for me. Dr Arshad seemed to be a great, so I was happy to explore further into that. Problem is, when I eventually managed to talk to him on video (I already had a date booked in April just prior to it) it was very very short. A couple of things he said concerned me, in particular that he may not be able to give me any coverage in crown if I wanted good results in the hairline/top first. This off course, after I had already had extensive discussions with Sommiya, the practice manager about my concerns and wishes and how I wanted even a little coverage in my crown so that I wasn't totally bald in one area.
I had to take a step back and could not proceed with the April date. I tried to arrange a further call, even suggesting to get a train up to Leeds for a face to face consultation, but unfortunately that was not possible due to the clinic no longer offering face to face meetings as the best way to minimize the covid risks to the clinic.
In the meantime, I followed through with a final consultation with another Harley Street clinic I had already arranged months prior, which ended up being rather disappointing. I kept communications with Ozen, Dr Bicer's coordinator, and toyed with different scenarios in which I could achieve the results I would be happy with there. Dr Bicer stated I would need 7000+ grafts over 2 sessions a year apart to get both crown and hairline/top done. First session would be for 3800 grafts, and the second session only confirmed after that, if my donor was good enough. Initially they had a couple of dates in May and then no availability until September. But the May dates came and went by.
At this point I was all too aware how much time and energy I'd already dedicated to this process, and I felt like I had already waited too long to do this, I just wanted to make a decision and get it done this summer/autumn. And with covid still lingering on, it seems now is as good as ever for some downtime to recover and being able to work from home during the worst bits!
By a twist of fate, in the last days of May, I heard Turkey was allowing Brits in again and got in touch in Ozen and they also coincidentally had a cancellation in June!
When I spoke to Dr Bicer, suddenly all the prior communication problems seemed a mute point, she seemed very warm and I did not feel rushed in the call. She assessed my donor again in video (not in the best lighting) and again reiterated my donor might not be strong enough to support both procedures. So I put forth my bottom line, given I had 3800-4000 to play with, I confirmed I would like us to sit down in person and decide how we put those to use before the surgery. As I hung up, I had a date booked in June!! Slight problem, Turkey was on UK's RED list of countries, an effective travel ban.
I will post very soon to let you all know what happens next! But here are some pics of my scalp and donor area for now.
