Dr Ball, Maitland clinic, 1187 grafts, March 2022

[jamie1985]

Hi All,

I wanted to create this thread to help with anyone else considering a hair transplant in the UK and as my hair transplant experience this time around is a repair i thought it could help others in a similar situation, and will also help track my progress. I had seen a very usefuly thread by another user (sussexhair) which i found extremely useful so i may try and follow a similar format.

info about me
Age - 36
From - Edinburgh, Scotland
First started noticing hair loss - 22 yrs old
Norwood 6

Hair loss Background
I first started noticing my hair loss around 21/22 years old. Mainly in my temples and crown as you would expect. By the time i was 25 i had lost a lot of my frontal 3rd and a bot of my crown, this was in 2011. Wayne Rooney was all over the papers at the time having had a hair transplant as well as people like James Nesbitt so i started to look into getting one done. I looked at a lot of results online mainly Hasson and Wong but wrongly just thought every clinic acheives the same results. I picked a clinic based in Edinburgh at the time called Transform (wrongly due to convenience). This was nieve on my part but i belive social media and forums like this have helped prevent people from making similar mistakes, hence why i wanted to post.

First surgery

I travelled to Manchester for the surgery
FUT surgery
Grafts - approx 2200
2000 in the front
200 in the crown

12 months on i was relatively happy with my result and it gave me a hairline and wrongly thought that was it complete. I did not take Propecia as i was wary of the side affects at such a young age. However my exisiting hair within my frontal 3rd, mid scalp and crown fell out over the next 10 years. I will post pictures below of how my hair looked prior to my 2nd surgery.

now
over the last 2 years i was looking at correcring my new hair loss and i looked at lots of clinics abroad as social media made results a lot more accessible. I then kept watching Joe tillman podcasts and youtube videos as felt my story related. He mentioned the maitland clinic and David Anderson and again looking at David's story on the Maitland clinic website it felt very relatable. I then watched some video diaries of the maitland clinic on youtube and was blown away by their work and loved the fact they were based in the UK. I knew that my donor had been comprimised because of my previous FUT and really just wanted my frontal 3rd of my hair repaired to acheive more density and avoid the see through scakp effect from my previous surgery. I know this was going to require a personalised surgery toavoid making my old scar visible and acheiving what i want.

maitland clinic
this is what i belive the Maitland clinic offered from the first consultation. David Anderson and Dr Ball carried out a thorough examination of my previous transplanted hair and Donor area and from this gave me a realistic plan and a surgery personalised to fit my expecations and my concerns about my scar and previous surgery.
My next thread will talk about the plan and surgery itself.

 

[Bigmac]

Welcome to the forum Jamie. I’m pleased you had a good experience with The Maitland Clinic, that they answered all your questions. I`ll look forward to reading all about the surgery and seeing your pictures.
All the best.

 

[Kevboy]

Adding your pictures to compliment your journal would be super.

 

[jamie1985]

Apologies for the delay but going to start by putting some pictures circa 2010 when i was 25, apologies for the quality but you can see my frontal 3rd has nearly gone, i also had thinning in thw mid section and into the crown at this point.

 

[jamie1985]

I then had my first hair transplant around March 2011, below are some pics around 3 and 4 years after, you will see my hair line was reconstructed and with quite a mature hairline but some multi grafts in the front are obvious.

Below are now some recent pics pre 2nd hair transplant. Over the last few years i have lost my remaining hair from the frontal 3rd and a lot more in the mid scalp and crown and this makes my hair see-through/wispy in certain lighting, to the point you can see my curve of my scalp from the front in some phots.

Around 2016/17

2020/2021

 

[jamie1985]

Below are the pics i sent to David Anderson in 2021 to set up an initial skype consultation.

 

[jamie1985]

I had my initial skype call with David (Feb 2021) and discussed my previous surgery experience and expectations. The consultation was great and very informative and David gave his opinion from experience of what the Maitland clinic could achieve. It felt very informal and comfortable and at no point did I feel under pressure as I have done with other clinics in the past based more local to myself. I went away with all the information to hand and actually took quite a bit of time (months) to think it over (partly due to having a child so being very busy). But at no point was I chased or rushed to make a decision.

So there were 4 main reasons I decided on the Maitland clinic:

1. The results spoke for themselves, especially the video diaries on youtube
2. Great results with some smaller graft count numbers (this was important to me because of my compromised donor area/wide FUT scar)
3. What David proposed was aligned with my expectations.
4. It was clear the clinic would personalise my surgery (where possible) for my procedure, i.e. hide scar/not shave my head.

Face to Face consultation
I then had my face to face consultation with Dr Ball in November 2021. This really just gave me further confidence as Dr Ball carried out a thorough examination of my scalp, donor area and recipient area and listened to my concerns and expectations which were to add thickness to the middle section of my frontal 3rd/half to address my see through scalp issue. The crown doesn't bother me as much for now as I don't see it, only in photos. However I know this is a journey that I have started and that hairloss is progressive so I would not rule out looking at this area in the future.

The Plan
After looking at my donor area Dr Ball set out a plan for me that I was happy with. My scalp was too tight to carry out an FUT surgery and I could have ended up with an even wider scar, so Dr Ball advised a small FUE surgery taking 600 grafts from the back below the scar, 300 from the sides and above my ear, and also 200 punch outs from my previously transplanted hair line where there were some multi grafts which annoyed me.
These would all be placed in the frontal 3rd to give a fuller appearance from the front. As I had my scar I asked Dr Ball if it possible to not shave my head fully for an FUE, Dr Ball advised he could shave the bottom and sides and leave everything above the scar and work through my existing hair on top (like a peaky blinders haircut!), he advised doing it this way could mean after around 2 weeks it would look like my normal hair style above. I booked the surgery once I arrived home as this personal approach is exactly what I was after.

 

[jamie1985]

Day of surgery
I won't go into to much detail here but what I will say is this was such a relaxing experience from start to finish. It doesn't feel like you are having surgery and is so relaxing with multiple entertainment streams available to pass the time and such a great team around you that are there to help with anything. Dr Ball and the team put you so at ease. From the night before the surgery where Dr Ball was with me for around 2 hrs just chatting and planning the next day, it was actually so informative and exciting. Dr Ball drew on my head the plan for the graft placement, I have posted some pics of my hair on the plane on the way down and a picture of the outline of the proposed placement of the grafts.

 

[jamie1985]

Dr Ball Managed to extract 1135 grafts from the back and sides of my head and 52 punch outs of previous grafts from my hairline so a total of 1187 grafts, The Maitland clinic provided me a care package and instructions to protect the grafts for the first 10 days. This also had a breakdown of the Hair count from the grafts.

 

[jamie1985]

Immediately post suregery

My hair remained wet and sticky for the first 3 days as I was spraying the ATP solution provided every half and hour. I was cup washing from Day 3 and was able to wash it in the shower from day 6 onward which was a relief.

 

[The Maitland Clinic]

Thank you very much for posting your story online to share with others. I am sure many will find it very helpful. Glad I was able to help you initially. We look forward to following your progress on here and meeting up at the 1 year stage to take a look.

David

 

[Bigmac]

Hi Jamie. Thanks for the detailed write up and pictures that illustrate your journey. Good to hear you had a great experience from the initial contact with David (very knowledgable and patient caring guy) to having your face to face with Dr Ball and then the surgery. Dr Ball and David are very thorough with their consultations and pre surgery protocol.
I could just make out the multi grafts from the pictures as the earlier ones are lower quality. It`s good that @SussexHair documentation helped you with your research. He may chime in as I’ve tagged him. It’s a shame your scalp laxity was too tight for another FUT as you may have had the option of a scar revision. Those 52 punch outs will help in creating a natural looking hairline and I’ve seen Dr Ball work wonders with lower graft numbers. Some say it’s a more conservative approach while others say it’s accomplishing more with less. I think you’ll be very happy with the end result.
As your hair loss has progressed since your first transplant, are you considering using hair loss prevention meds?

 

[jamie1985]

Hi Jamie. Thanks for the detailed write up and pictures that illustrate your journey. Good to hear you had a great experience from the initial contact with David (very knowledgable and patient caring guy) to having your face to face with Dr Ball and then the surgery. Dr Ball and David are very thorough with their consultations and pre surgery protocol.
I could just make out the multi grafts from the pictures as the earlier ones are lower quality. It`s good that @SussexHair documentation helped you with your research. He may chime in as I’ve tagged him. It’s a shame your scalp laxity was too tight for another FUT as you may have had the option of a scar revision. Those 52 punch outs will help in creating a natural looking hairline and I’ve seen Dr Ball work wonders with lower graft numbers. Some say it’s a more conservative approach while others say it’s accomplishing more with less. I think you’ll be very happy with the end result.
As your hair loss has progressed since your first transplant, are you considering using hair loss prevention meds?

Thanks Bigmac, excited for what is to come and have found the process very syraight forward so far. I am on week 5 now so will post some weekly pics soon to show how well everything healed up.
I am currently using regaine foam mainly on the crown and then some of the leftover into the front to style my hair a bit too. I want to start finastride tablets too but my wife is pregnant at the moment. I aim to begin taking them once she stops breast feeding, so around 9 months from now bit will keep going with the regaine for now.

 

[Bigmac]

Congrats on the future new arrival. I don’t think you taking Finasteride runs any risk to your pregnant wife but it’s your decision to error on the side of caution.
Good communication and an efficient clinic does go a long way in helping the whole process run smoothly. Good to hear everything healed well. Hopefully, the foam will work well on your crown.
I’ll look forward to seeing your updates.