R
Rolandas
member
Hello dear balding friends!
A lot of you guys asked for it so here you go! My "quick" report
I had a 2 day surgery done in Espinho, Porto, Portugal with Dr. Bruno Ferreira on 28th & 29th of January 2020.
Currently resting in my hotel and since I have all the time in the world I decided to write this up - "for whom it may concern" Grab a cup of coffee/tea/whatever you are into these days and enjoy reading!
To set up a base line, here's a photo of me before any hair loss (age 18). Never had extremely straight hairline (just a fact!).
I've been loosing hair for the last 7-8 years, obviously not extremely excited about this fact, so when I reached NW3a I became worried. I started my research for "natural cure" and tried Detumescence Therapy (vigorous scalp massages - mechanical stimulation) for 20 minutes morning and evening 6 months straight (according to researcher after doing this type me massage you can expect to START seeing some results from 6 months onwards),and then just gave up as I had big lifestyle changes all at once, so couldn't manage it. I don't want to go into detail of how it works, so google for yourself, but I strongly believe it halt my hair loss progression a bit.
Years went by and I slowly started loosing more and more hair until eventually in December 2018 (that's when I began my research 24/7),when I was full blown NW5a I decided to do something about it. Did minoxidil + dermarolling for a year & Finasteride for 6 months.
Here is my picture showing the extent of my hair loss before surgery.
While I was doing some treatments, I was also heavily researching (when I say heavily, I mean - on the way to work, at work, at lunch break, on the toilet after lunch, on the way back home, the rest of the evening, almost all weekend) Hair Transplant surgeons until end of November 2019 when I made my decision. More on that below.
https://www.hairlossexperiences.com...uno-ferreira-january-28-2020.8698/#post-68521
In this post, I didn't want to go into too much detail (nobody would really read it for 3 hours straight!),so I kept it nice and short with my main candidates.
28.01.20 - Quick breakfast and 07:30 am @ the clinic. First impression - Super early! The whole clinic looks like it was closed except Dr. Ferreira's part. In the building, a company Rejuvie are offering things like Aesthetic/Antiaging/Dental and many other treatments. However, don't be fooled! Dr. Bruno has his own part on the ground floor where he designed everything himself from consultation room to OR. There's no other things going on in there but Hair Restoration done by Dr. Ferreira. I met his lovely team consisting of 3 nurses and Dr. Bruno himself and been directed to patients room, which is dedicated only for patients himself. They gave me a key of the door, so I wasn't worried about my belongings being there while having my operation.
One of the nurses Ricardo (btw, this guys is absolutely amazing! He will take care of you every second you spent there and you will feel like you are a super star!) gave me a surgical "uniform" to change right away and shortly after Dr. Bruno came to see me to discuss procedure. Obviously while waiting I managed to snap a quick photo
We discussed bits and pieces, signed needed paperwork and headed to the other room for a photo shoot. Dr. Bruno took quite a few pictures and we started planning hairline design. It took a good 15 minutes or so to finalise it. I was actually quite amazed of his attention to detail! Not a typical hairline done in 2 seconds like you see in many videos from Turkey hahaha. After he showed me his final proposal I didn't even want to change a thing. It looked perfect! Now when I'm thinking it's probably because I didn't see any hairline for years , but his final design after careful examination of my facial structures was looking amazing.
Afterwards we buzzed my hair completely, made some more pictures, Dr. Bruno took measurements of recipient and donor areas and we headed to the other room "on the table under the knife". As I'm writing this post I don't have any pictures made by Dr. Ferreira, so once I've got them I will update this thread.
Tools used - Lion Implanters, Motorised 0.85mm punch, Manual 0.85mm punch (and probably smaller, not sure, Sorry! ) (more information coming soon)
Implantation approach - pre-made incisions + Implanters for the hairline and the rest using Lion Implanters alone (picture attached)
Area to cover - 75 cm2
Future hair transplant area to cover (crown & mid scalp) - 75 cm2, approximately 1500-2000 grafts (more information coming soon)
Donor area - around 10,000 extractable grafts, lots of multiple units (more information coming soon)
Hair shaft diameter - 51 micron
Picture below shows all extractions updated live by nurses on the screen next to the operation table.
Now, it might look like a lot of grafts for such small area, but because my hair shaft is quite thin (~51 microns),I would need more hairs/cm2 to have great coverage.
Everything started from Anaesthesia which to my surprise was almost pain-less! Dr. Bruno was using his fingers to gently massage the area while slowly inserting the needle and to my surprise that was incredibly pain-less. I asked him how is that everyone is talking about how the most painful part is anaesthesia and I almost didn't feel a thing, he replied "I'm just being very gentle". That's when I realised the difference between caring surgeon and money-making-minded surgeon. Anyways... Back of my head numb in few moments and we jumped right into extractions. The feeling of that.. Like a very quiet clippers. I kind of liked the way it feels hahaha (i guess I'm weird ). No pain.
Dr. Ferreira used 0.85 mm motorised punch only because after examining my donor turned out a lot of grafts are placed almost in a straight line (e.g. 4 hair graft is not in a bunch but in a line),thus covering bigger area, thus larger punch is needed.
After all the extractions had been done we still had a little time before our food arrives, so Dr. Bruno decided to do some incisions for the hairline.
BTW selection of food was solid! Fish, Meat, Veg, Soup, Drinks, Dessert... I asked if it's possible to get Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice and turns out it was not a part of the deal, but to my surprise they got it for me!
While extractions went like a knife through butter, Implantation part was quite difficult and it took much longer than expected. I had a lot of popping due to my elastic skin (damn you Detumescence therapy I guess! ) and excessive bleeding. Dr. Ferreira used "every trick in the book" (that's what he said haha) to manage the situation and by the end of the day everything looked promising.
Post-op instruction and back to hotel... Had a great night sleep, 0 pain. Woke up just 2 times, so I used that opportunity to spray saline solution as per Dr.'s instructions.
The Plan - extract ~500 grafts and implant them immediately.
Total extracted grafts - 3611
Total extracted hairs - 9861
Total ratio - 2,73
Pardon me, I didn't make a picture of "Total" page! Hopefully will receive this information soon from Dr. Ferreira and will update this thread.
Overall day 2 was sooooo much smoother! The new approach Dr. Bruno decided to take this day worked like wonders! Almost no popping and no excessive bleeding.
Conclusion
I was extremely impressed by Dr.'s adaptability to situations. Taking different approaches "on the go" to control the process. I didn't even realised at first that he was using manual punch until one moment I was like "waaaaaaaaait a second.. Something is different!". No sound, just pure manual rotating movement. I asked Dr. Bruno - "Are you using a manual punch?" to what he replied - "yes, in some places it's easier to get into with manual punch".
The right tool for right situation. How about that?
Anyways, here's some post-op pictures.
I will keep updating this thread until the final result. Also, once I've got good quality pictures from Dr. Ferreira I will update that here.
Please feel free to give me your opinions! I'm super excited to finally get it done (especially the fact that I can see my hairline hahaha )
A lot of you guys asked for it so here you go! My "quick" report
I had a 2 day surgery done in Espinho, Porto, Portugal with Dr. Bruno Ferreira on 28th & 29th of January 2020.
Currently resting in my hotel and since I have all the time in the world I decided to write this up - "for whom it may concern" Grab a cup of coffee/tea/whatever you are into these days and enjoy reading!
A little bit about me
28 year old Caucasian male, Androgenic Alopecia, NW5a. Older Brother - NW 6/7, Father - NW 7-teen.To set up a base line, here's a photo of me before any hair loss (age 18). Never had extremely straight hairline (just a fact!).
I've been loosing hair for the last 7-8 years, obviously not extremely excited about this fact, so when I reached NW3a I became worried. I started my research for "natural cure" and tried Detumescence Therapy (vigorous scalp massages - mechanical stimulation) for 20 minutes morning and evening 6 months straight (according to researcher after doing this type me massage you can expect to START seeing some results from 6 months onwards),and then just gave up as I had big lifestyle changes all at once, so couldn't manage it. I don't want to go into detail of how it works, so google for yourself, but I strongly believe it halt my hair loss progression a bit.
Years went by and I slowly started loosing more and more hair until eventually in December 2018 (that's when I began my research 24/7),when I was full blown NW5a I decided to do something about it. Did minoxidil + dermarolling for a year & Finasteride for 6 months.
Here is my picture showing the extent of my hair loss before surgery.
While I was doing some treatments, I was also heavily researching (when I say heavily, I mean - on the way to work, at work, at lunch break, on the toilet after lunch, on the way back home, the rest of the evening, almost all weekend) Hair Transplant surgeons until end of November 2019 when I made my decision. More on that below.
https://www.hairlossexperiences.com...uno-ferreira-january-28-2020.8698/#post-68521
In this post, I didn't want to go into too much detail (nobody would really read it for 3 hours straight!),so I kept it nice and short with my main candidates.
Day 0
27.01.20 - Trip to Portugal. Quick flight from London to Porto about 2 hours. Afterwards got an Uber from the airport and in 25 minutes already in my hotel 1 minute away from the clinic! Booked via Booking, quite cheap. Plenty of options. Easy task.
Day 1
28.01.20 - Quick breakfast and 07:30 am @ the clinic. First impression - Super early! The whole clinic looks like it was closed except Dr. Ferreira's part. In the building, a company Rejuvie are offering things like Aesthetic/Antiaging/Dental and many other treatments. However, don't be fooled! Dr. Bruno has his own part on the ground floor where he designed everything himself from consultation room to OR. There's no other things going on in there but Hair Restoration done by Dr. Ferreira. I met his lovely team consisting of 3 nurses and Dr. Bruno himself and been directed to patients room, which is dedicated only for patients himself. They gave me a key of the door, so I wasn't worried about my belongings being there while having my operation.
One of the nurses Ricardo (btw, this guys is absolutely amazing! He will take care of you every second you spent there and you will feel like you are a super star!) gave me a surgical "uniform" to change right away and shortly after Dr. Bruno came to see me to discuss procedure. Obviously while waiting I managed to snap a quick photo
We discussed bits and pieces, signed needed paperwork and headed to the other room for a photo shoot. Dr. Bruno took quite a few pictures and we started planning hairline design. It took a good 15 minutes or so to finalise it. I was actually quite amazed of his attention to detail! Not a typical hairline done in 2 seconds like you see in many videos from Turkey hahaha. After he showed me his final proposal I didn't even want to change a thing. It looked perfect! Now when I'm thinking it's probably because I didn't see any hairline for years , but his final design after careful examination of my facial structures was looking amazing.
Afterwards we buzzed my hair completely, made some more pictures, Dr. Bruno took measurements of recipient and donor areas and we headed to the other room "on the table under the knife". As I'm writing this post I don't have any pictures made by Dr. Ferreira, so once I've got them I will update this thread.
Procedure
The Plan - extract and implant around 3500 grafts over 2 days
Tools used - Lion Implanters, Motorised 0.85mm punch, Manual 0.85mm punch (and probably smaller, not sure, Sorry! ) (more information coming soon)
Implantation approach - pre-made incisions + Implanters for the hairline and the rest using Lion Implanters alone (picture attached)
Area to cover - 75 cm2
Future hair transplant area to cover (crown & mid scalp) - 75 cm2, approximately 1500-2000 grafts (more information coming soon)
Donor area - around 10,000 extractable grafts, lots of multiple units (more information coming soon)
Hair shaft diameter - 51 micron
Picture below shows all extractions updated live by nurses on the screen next to the operation table.
Now, it might look like a lot of grafts for such small area, but because my hair shaft is quite thin (~51 microns),I would need more hairs/cm2 to have great coverage.
Everything started from Anaesthesia which to my surprise was almost pain-less! Dr. Bruno was using his fingers to gently massage the area while slowly inserting the needle and to my surprise that was incredibly pain-less. I asked him how is that everyone is talking about how the most painful part is anaesthesia and I almost didn't feel a thing, he replied "I'm just being very gentle". That's when I realised the difference between caring surgeon and money-making-minded surgeon. Anyways... Back of my head numb in few moments and we jumped right into extractions. The feeling of that.. Like a very quiet clippers. I kind of liked the way it feels hahaha (i guess I'm weird ). No pain.
Dr. Ferreira used 0.85 mm motorised punch only because after examining my donor turned out a lot of grafts are placed almost in a straight line (e.g. 4 hair graft is not in a bunch but in a line),thus covering bigger area, thus larger punch is needed.
After all the extractions had been done we still had a little time before our food arrives, so Dr. Bruno decided to do some incisions for the hairline.
BTW selection of food was solid! Fish, Meat, Veg, Soup, Drinks, Dessert... I asked if it's possible to get Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice and turns out it was not a part of the deal, but to my surprise they got it for me!
While extractions went like a knife through butter, Implantation part was quite difficult and it took much longer than expected. I had a lot of popping due to my elastic skin (damn you Detumescence therapy I guess! ) and excessive bleeding. Dr. Ferreira used "every trick in the book" (that's what he said haha) to manage the situation and by the end of the day everything looked promising.
Post-op instruction and back to hotel... Had a great night sleep, 0 pain. Woke up just 2 times, so I used that opportunity to spray saline solution as per Dr.'s instructions.
Day 2
29.01.20 - Arrival to clinic at the same time 07:30 am. Quick check up, donor wash and right into the action. Dr. Ferreira decided to change his approach to make implantations much smoother and avoid complications.
The Plan - extract ~500 grafts and implant them immediately.
Total extracted grafts - 3611
Total extracted hairs - 9861
Total ratio - 2,73
Pardon me, I didn't make a picture of "Total" page! Hopefully will receive this information soon from Dr. Ferreira and will update this thread.
Overall day 2 was sooooo much smoother! The new approach Dr. Bruno decided to take this day worked like wonders! Almost no popping and no excessive bleeding.
Conclusion
The right tool for right situation. How about that?
Anyways, here's some post-op pictures.
I will keep updating this thread until the final result. Also, once I've got good quality pictures from Dr. Ferreira I will update that here.
Please feel free to give me your opinions! I'm super excited to finally get it done (especially the fact that I can see my hairline hahaha )