W
William
member
Dr. Thomas Mantse (Tamást Mantse)
ProHair Clinic, Budapest Hungary
TL;DR:
After:
4 months after:
15 months after:
Transplanted hairs (my hair is usually completely straight):
Full review:
I have always had a high hair line and, by the time I got to my 30s, I figured it was time to do something about it. The reviews for this clinic on WhatClinic seemed excellent and so was the price – €1900 (£1600) for the 1500 FUE + PRP option; a 2-day procedure with 750 hairs being transplanted per day. However, based on my experience I cannot recommend this clinic.
The problems began before I even got to Hungary. I had paid a €200 deposit but the date of the appointment was fast approaching and I still hadn’t heard anything back. I even sent a message asking about this, but was told that I would receive pre-op information soon. 72 hours before my flight, I received a long WhatsApp message telling what food and drinks to avoid ‘1 week before the hair transplant.’ He also suddenly asked me to bring the remaining €1700 in cash! Banks are closed at the weekend in the UK, and I couldn’t even use ATMs in Budapest, as Hungary uses the Forint. I explained this and he reluctantly agreed to accept a bank transfer, but the two-night hotel cost was now no longer included, and I would have to pay for it myself (€50 per night).
The day of the surgery, I got there bright and early. Dr. Thomas Mantse speaks a native level of English, having spent his formative years in Canada. He told me that the surgery would now take only one day (originally, I was told it would take 2 days), so I didn’t need to come back again tomorrow. I changed into a hospital gown and lay face down on the operating table. He trimmed some areas of the back of my head with scissors and injected local anesthetic. Then his wife and someone else began extracting hairs. This is the most painful part of the surgery – lying on your front for a prolonged period is extremely uncomfortable, especially with people leaning on you, and the mouth hole in the cloth didn’t line up with the table very well, so it was difficult to breathe.
This first part finished at around lunch time. At this point we had a break. Thomas gave me a very nice meal that his wife had cooked. I noticed that a lot of my hair was in the bin. During the break, Thomas asked me if I had brought my blood test results, something which had never been mentioned before. He told me that he needed a blood test, even if it was done after the operation, so I would have to go into central Budapest and get one the next day. At this point, he asked me gave me a pen and a small mirror and asked me to draw my new hairline. Note. this was the first time we had discussed what my hairline should look like.
The second part of the operation allowed me to lie on my back, which was incredibly comfortable by contrast with earlier. Thomas proceeded to insert the implants. I think I fell asleep at this point, because when I next opened my eyes it was dark outside. We watched CBS Reality during the surgery, which is one of my favorite channels. Before long it was complete. Thomas gave me a hairnet to wear back to the hotel and we parted ways. He had originally said that a PRP treatment would be included, but I never received any.
The next day, I went to the shopping center Thomas had mentioned and got a blood test. I recommend enabling roaming on your mobile before traveling, as Wi-Fi access was limited, and the very rude receptionist at Centrum Lab didn’t exactly help things. For security reasons, some providers (e.g. Vodafone) don’t let you enable roaming once you’re already abroad.
It is strongly advisable that you sleep sitting up for several weeks after the surgery, so you don’t put any weight on the implant site. My head was a bloody mess for a while afterwards, so I recommend booking some time off work for recovery. I can’t understand these reviewers who claim there was no pain or swelling, or that no one could tell they had it done. My head was covered in blood and scabs, which you couldn't wash off in case I damaged the transplants, and the back of my head will weeped plasma for several days. I didn’t look normal again for several weeks. Apparently, the implants will bleed if you damage them, but I never had this, so I think I retained all of mine.
I was disappointed with the follow up I received from Dr. Thomas Mantse. I asked about how long I should wait before washing etc. but only got terse replies (‘Not yet’, ‘Keep waiting’). I ended up Googling information from the websites of American hair clinics.
15 months have now passed, and I can see what the full result will look like. Unfortunately, I have a gap at the front between my old and new hairlines, especially at the sides. It’s also clear that fewer than 1500 hairs were transplanted – I would guess 750 at most. Perhaps he was annoyed with me for doing a bank transfer, so he didn’t want to waste two days on me. The hairs have also come through very fuzzy (my normal hair is completely straight). So now I have just a small amount of fuzzy, uneven hair at the front. Also, the hair density of the new area is very low, so it doesn’t look that great. In addition, the hairs at the front of my head still hurt when I touch them – I guess that’s permanent.
Overall, it’s slight a improvement on how I previously looked but I am disappointed with both the procedure and the results. Maybe I just got unlucky but I was still hoping for more, especially as all the other reviewers seemed to have such a great experience. In hindsight, I wish I had spent a bit more and had the procedure done in the UK.
I obviously need to go to another surgeon but this experience has made me very cautious. Hopefully I can find somewhere good on this website.
Note. This review was rejected by WhatClinic.
ProHair Clinic, Budapest Hungary
TL;DR:
- Paid £1600 for 1500 implants but got about half that amount.
- Was told that hotel cost and PRP was included, but had to pay for the hotel myself and was never offered any PRP treatment.
- Very little in the way of follow-up advice / information from Dr. Thomas Mantse.
- Was asked to draw my new hairline myself with a pen and a small mirror. This happened half-way through the surgery, after I’ve been given a valium (diazepam) and was half-asleep.
- Poor result with low density and bald patches. I also have on-going pain in the implant area over a year later.
After:
4 months after:
15 months after:
Transplanted hairs (my hair is usually completely straight):
Full review:
I have always had a high hair line and, by the time I got to my 30s, I figured it was time to do something about it. The reviews for this clinic on WhatClinic seemed excellent and so was the price – €1900 (£1600) for the 1500 FUE + PRP option; a 2-day procedure with 750 hairs being transplanted per day. However, based on my experience I cannot recommend this clinic.
The problems began before I even got to Hungary. I had paid a €200 deposit but the date of the appointment was fast approaching and I still hadn’t heard anything back. I even sent a message asking about this, but was told that I would receive pre-op information soon. 72 hours before my flight, I received a long WhatsApp message telling what food and drinks to avoid ‘1 week before the hair transplant.’ He also suddenly asked me to bring the remaining €1700 in cash! Banks are closed at the weekend in the UK, and I couldn’t even use ATMs in Budapest, as Hungary uses the Forint. I explained this and he reluctantly agreed to accept a bank transfer, but the two-night hotel cost was now no longer included, and I would have to pay for it myself (€50 per night).
The day of the surgery, I got there bright and early. Dr. Thomas Mantse speaks a native level of English, having spent his formative years in Canada. He told me that the surgery would now take only one day (originally, I was told it would take 2 days), so I didn’t need to come back again tomorrow. I changed into a hospital gown and lay face down on the operating table. He trimmed some areas of the back of my head with scissors and injected local anesthetic. Then his wife and someone else began extracting hairs. This is the most painful part of the surgery – lying on your front for a prolonged period is extremely uncomfortable, especially with people leaning on you, and the mouth hole in the cloth didn’t line up with the table very well, so it was difficult to breathe.
This first part finished at around lunch time. At this point we had a break. Thomas gave me a very nice meal that his wife had cooked. I noticed that a lot of my hair was in the bin. During the break, Thomas asked me if I had brought my blood test results, something which had never been mentioned before. He told me that he needed a blood test, even if it was done after the operation, so I would have to go into central Budapest and get one the next day. At this point, he asked me gave me a pen and a small mirror and asked me to draw my new hairline. Note. this was the first time we had discussed what my hairline should look like.
The second part of the operation allowed me to lie on my back, which was incredibly comfortable by contrast with earlier. Thomas proceeded to insert the implants. I think I fell asleep at this point, because when I next opened my eyes it was dark outside. We watched CBS Reality during the surgery, which is one of my favorite channels. Before long it was complete. Thomas gave me a hairnet to wear back to the hotel and we parted ways. He had originally said that a PRP treatment would be included, but I never received any.
The next day, I went to the shopping center Thomas had mentioned and got a blood test. I recommend enabling roaming on your mobile before traveling, as Wi-Fi access was limited, and the very rude receptionist at Centrum Lab didn’t exactly help things. For security reasons, some providers (e.g. Vodafone) don’t let you enable roaming once you’re already abroad.
It is strongly advisable that you sleep sitting up for several weeks after the surgery, so you don’t put any weight on the implant site. My head was a bloody mess for a while afterwards, so I recommend booking some time off work for recovery. I can’t understand these reviewers who claim there was no pain or swelling, or that no one could tell they had it done. My head was covered in blood and scabs, which you couldn't wash off in case I damaged the transplants, and the back of my head will weeped plasma for several days. I didn’t look normal again for several weeks. Apparently, the implants will bleed if you damage them, but I never had this, so I think I retained all of mine.
I was disappointed with the follow up I received from Dr. Thomas Mantse. I asked about how long I should wait before washing etc. but only got terse replies (‘Not yet’, ‘Keep waiting’). I ended up Googling information from the websites of American hair clinics.
15 months have now passed, and I can see what the full result will look like. Unfortunately, I have a gap at the front between my old and new hairlines, especially at the sides. It’s also clear that fewer than 1500 hairs were transplanted – I would guess 750 at most. Perhaps he was annoyed with me for doing a bank transfer, so he didn’t want to waste two days on me. The hairs have also come through very fuzzy (my normal hair is completely straight). So now I have just a small amount of fuzzy, uneven hair at the front. Also, the hair density of the new area is very low, so it doesn’t look that great. In addition, the hairs at the front of my head still hurt when I touch them – I guess that’s permanent.
Overall, it’s slight a improvement on how I previously looked but I am disappointed with both the procedure and the results. Maybe I just got unlucky but I was still hoping for more, especially as all the other reviewers seemed to have such a great experience. In hindsight, I wish I had spent a bit more and had the procedure done in the UK.
I obviously need to go to another surgeon but this experience has made me very cautious. Hopefully I can find somewhere good on this website.
Note. This review was rejected by WhatClinic.