Bongo
Member
Dr Ball David Anderson Janna Shafer please feel free to use any of my photos from the surgery day no mug shots though please!
Good evening to all. **I have tons of photos and have tried to upload them but I get a message saying I do not have permission - hope someone can help!**
A few on here may recall my deliberation and research had narrowed down my first ever HT procedure would be with Dr Ball at his new clinic in Portsmouth.
I'm just back home in Suffolk after having a 1,100 FUE procedure yesterday and wanted to give other forum members a full and frank overview of how I got to this point and how the day went. I`m still a little full of drugs so please forgive typos and any non sensicle ramblings...and also the length of my write up ¦congratulations if you make it to the end! But I hope you do.
Background
I'm a 37 year old from Suffolk, England. I began receding in temple regions about 12 years ago and it has been creeping back steadily since then. The pace seems to have picked up in the last couple of years and this, together with having 4 brothers with full heads of hair (who love to rib me about my hair loss), lead me to this point. Most of my friends are also either totally '8 ball' bald, or have full heads of hair. They have therefore either accepted their hair loss fully with the shave or like to remind me how mine is creeping back. It reached a point where I was constantly thinking about it, and I therefore wanted to do something about it. So I began my research...
The forum was great in providing much of the leg work regarding who to use. Two names kept coming up Dr Ball, who recently set up his clinic after leaving Ziering, and Dr Eberson, who I believe left the Glasgow clinic to move back to his native Holland and set up there.
I sent both a very long and identical email with tons of questions and thoughts around my expectations. Within a couple of days, each had responded with very similar points of view and thoughts which was reassuring, but also gave me a tough decision of who to favour. I wanted future proofing (therefore not being too aggressive with graft amount of my hairline), a natural undetectable soft looking procedure with the current length of the top hair kept in place (shaving down all over my head was simply not an option for me), not too much downtime, and for the price not to be a king's ransom.
From where I live in Suffolk, I can be in Amsterdam almost as quick as Portsmouth (due to Stansted Airport being 45 mins from my house) and at one point there was literally a fag paper in it for who I would want to progress with.
Some may recall a message I put on here on who may be best to use and the more I thought about it the more it seemed to make more sense to stay in the UK, particularly as others were posting really clean and good looking results from Dr Ball as I deliberated.
I had initially decided on doing all the consultation by email/Skype rather than having a face to face one in Portsmouth, due to it being an 8 hour round trip, but at the 11[sup]th[/sup] hour and on further discussion with Janna (who I have to say has been so helpful throughout this process) I decided to visit in February 2016. Within a few minutes of meeting Dr Ball I knew id made the right call. I was put at ease, listened to as he planned my potential new hairline as he answered literally 101 questions that I threw at him. Once I saw the new inked out hair line in the mirror and visualised it, I knew id be coming back and booked it all up a few weeks later with Janna`s help.
Accommodation
There is a large Marriott hotel almost next to the Maitland clinic, but after checking the prices I decided to look at alternatives (I was planning to stay 2 nights and they were after over £150 per night!)
I`m so glad I did because I stumbled across a place called Cavendish Lodge in Southsea on Trip Advisor, a boutique 3 bed B & B which was around 5 miles south of the clinic. Wow, what a place and what a host! £75 per night and it's honestly better than any hotel I`ve ever stayed in. I drove down in the afternoon (Wednesday) with my surgery booked for yesterday (Thursday). I could park outside the front door and was welcomed by Jean with open arms, a delightful host who can`t do enough for you. I popped out for a Chinese a 2 minute walk away (Mr China bloody brilliant food!) and watching the UEFA Cup final after my food helped distract me from my nerves that were building in anticipation of the next day.
Surgery Day
I`m an awful sleeper at the best of times. So being on foreign property and with masses of anxiety in me, I was delighted to wake up after at least 4 hours sleep on the board testament to the comfort of the huge double bed I had!
Jean then cooked me scrambled eggs on toast with smoked salmon and I was on my way to drive the short trip to the clinic. However, I should have left slightly earlier. Surgery was booked or 8.15am and although I allowed 30 minutes it did take at least 40, mainly due to a variety of road works in my way (although as is customary in the UK, no people actually working on or around them. I called Dr Ball on route as I hate being late for anything, his reply was typical of him, no problems, relax, we have all day, see you when you arrive. If anyone reading this decides to stay there, then 45 mins would be more than enough time.
On reaching the clinic, myself and Dr Ball went through all the pre op stuff, hair cut, hair wash, form filling and design. He bragged about his hair dressing skills as he gave me the shortest back and sides I`ve ever had, and to be fair it wasn`t a bad effort with the blend in! By round 9.45-10am I was in the surgery room where I began to pop a variety of pills to relax me as the aesthetic was prepared. They use a vibration distraction tool when applying the needle and it really did work for me, particularly as I`ve always had a bit of a phobia about needles. I can`t remember exactly how many went in but after the first couple began to take effect and the drugs kicked in I felt so relaxed I barely noticed as I tried to flick through the Apple TV options in front of me (a very nice touch).
The team working with Dr Ball were fantastic and consisted of two women (I think one was called Anna) and a chap called Stan, who was preparing the grafts as Dr Ball firstly made the incisions in the recipient area and then extracted from the donor whilst I lay flat and listened to the radio. I believe the extraction took around 2 hours but it went pretty quick and whilst a little uncomfortable (only due to laying face down without moving),it wasn`t anywhere near as bad as id anticipated. We stopped for lunch (prawn sandwich!) and then the afternoon was the easiest part where Dr Ball, Stan and one of the female technicians (I think it was Anna!) put the grafts in place. After a final angulation check by Dr Ball at the end I was done at around 5pm, before the debrief with Dr Ball and a nice chat with his new Senor Patient Advisor, David Anderson, who introduced himself and gave me lots of useful post op information also.
Although I felt ok to drive back to the B & B I was reminded it would invalidate my insurance so jumped in a cab that was ordered for me and was back in my room not long after 6pm, and proceeded to spend about 2 hours looking at where the new hairline will hopefully be growing in soon! The post op pack is full of useful bits and pieces and although I`ve had a bit of discomfort and swelling today its no where near close to what I had envisaged and after a pain killer or two there`s no issues at all. I`ve also received an email from both Dr Ball and David since yesterday to check on me a small gesture but something that goes a long way and demonstrates their commitment to their clients. All in all I`m glad I did it, so far, but I guess I won`t really know how it went until a few months down the line so I will be sure to keep you all updated, as I very much enjoy seeing the progress of others on here with their thoughts and photos.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to message me.
Kind regards
Bongo
Good evening to all. **I have tons of photos and have tried to upload them but I get a message saying I do not have permission - hope someone can help!**
A few on here may recall my deliberation and research had narrowed down my first ever HT procedure would be with Dr Ball at his new clinic in Portsmouth.
I'm just back home in Suffolk after having a 1,100 FUE procedure yesterday and wanted to give other forum members a full and frank overview of how I got to this point and how the day went. I`m still a little full of drugs so please forgive typos and any non sensicle ramblings...and also the length of my write up ¦congratulations if you make it to the end! But I hope you do.
Background
I'm a 37 year old from Suffolk, England. I began receding in temple regions about 12 years ago and it has been creeping back steadily since then. The pace seems to have picked up in the last couple of years and this, together with having 4 brothers with full heads of hair (who love to rib me about my hair loss), lead me to this point. Most of my friends are also either totally '8 ball' bald, or have full heads of hair. They have therefore either accepted their hair loss fully with the shave or like to remind me how mine is creeping back. It reached a point where I was constantly thinking about it, and I therefore wanted to do something about it. So I began my research...
The forum was great in providing much of the leg work regarding who to use. Two names kept coming up Dr Ball, who recently set up his clinic after leaving Ziering, and Dr Eberson, who I believe left the Glasgow clinic to move back to his native Holland and set up there.
I sent both a very long and identical email with tons of questions and thoughts around my expectations. Within a couple of days, each had responded with very similar points of view and thoughts which was reassuring, but also gave me a tough decision of who to favour. I wanted future proofing (therefore not being too aggressive with graft amount of my hairline), a natural undetectable soft looking procedure with the current length of the top hair kept in place (shaving down all over my head was simply not an option for me), not too much downtime, and for the price not to be a king's ransom.
From where I live in Suffolk, I can be in Amsterdam almost as quick as Portsmouth (due to Stansted Airport being 45 mins from my house) and at one point there was literally a fag paper in it for who I would want to progress with.
Some may recall a message I put on here on who may be best to use and the more I thought about it the more it seemed to make more sense to stay in the UK, particularly as others were posting really clean and good looking results from Dr Ball as I deliberated.
I had initially decided on doing all the consultation by email/Skype rather than having a face to face one in Portsmouth, due to it being an 8 hour round trip, but at the 11[sup]th[/sup] hour and on further discussion with Janna (who I have to say has been so helpful throughout this process) I decided to visit in February 2016. Within a few minutes of meeting Dr Ball I knew id made the right call. I was put at ease, listened to as he planned my potential new hairline as he answered literally 101 questions that I threw at him. Once I saw the new inked out hair line in the mirror and visualised it, I knew id be coming back and booked it all up a few weeks later with Janna`s help.
Accommodation
There is a large Marriott hotel almost next to the Maitland clinic, but after checking the prices I decided to look at alternatives (I was planning to stay 2 nights and they were after over £150 per night!)
I`m so glad I did because I stumbled across a place called Cavendish Lodge in Southsea on Trip Advisor, a boutique 3 bed B & B which was around 5 miles south of the clinic. Wow, what a place and what a host! £75 per night and it's honestly better than any hotel I`ve ever stayed in. I drove down in the afternoon (Wednesday) with my surgery booked for yesterday (Thursday). I could park outside the front door and was welcomed by Jean with open arms, a delightful host who can`t do enough for you. I popped out for a Chinese a 2 minute walk away (Mr China bloody brilliant food!) and watching the UEFA Cup final after my food helped distract me from my nerves that were building in anticipation of the next day.
Surgery Day
I`m an awful sleeper at the best of times. So being on foreign property and with masses of anxiety in me, I was delighted to wake up after at least 4 hours sleep on the board testament to the comfort of the huge double bed I had!
Jean then cooked me scrambled eggs on toast with smoked salmon and I was on my way to drive the short trip to the clinic. However, I should have left slightly earlier. Surgery was booked or 8.15am and although I allowed 30 minutes it did take at least 40, mainly due to a variety of road works in my way (although as is customary in the UK, no people actually working on or around them. I called Dr Ball on route as I hate being late for anything, his reply was typical of him, no problems, relax, we have all day, see you when you arrive. If anyone reading this decides to stay there, then 45 mins would be more than enough time.
On reaching the clinic, myself and Dr Ball went through all the pre op stuff, hair cut, hair wash, form filling and design. He bragged about his hair dressing skills as he gave me the shortest back and sides I`ve ever had, and to be fair it wasn`t a bad effort with the blend in! By round 9.45-10am I was in the surgery room where I began to pop a variety of pills to relax me as the aesthetic was prepared. They use a vibration distraction tool when applying the needle and it really did work for me, particularly as I`ve always had a bit of a phobia about needles. I can`t remember exactly how many went in but after the first couple began to take effect and the drugs kicked in I felt so relaxed I barely noticed as I tried to flick through the Apple TV options in front of me (a very nice touch).
The team working with Dr Ball were fantastic and consisted of two women (I think one was called Anna) and a chap called Stan, who was preparing the grafts as Dr Ball firstly made the incisions in the recipient area and then extracted from the donor whilst I lay flat and listened to the radio. I believe the extraction took around 2 hours but it went pretty quick and whilst a little uncomfortable (only due to laying face down without moving),it wasn`t anywhere near as bad as id anticipated. We stopped for lunch (prawn sandwich!) and then the afternoon was the easiest part where Dr Ball, Stan and one of the female technicians (I think it was Anna!) put the grafts in place. After a final angulation check by Dr Ball at the end I was done at around 5pm, before the debrief with Dr Ball and a nice chat with his new Senor Patient Advisor, David Anderson, who introduced himself and gave me lots of useful post op information also.
Although I felt ok to drive back to the B & B I was reminded it would invalidate my insurance so jumped in a cab that was ordered for me and was back in my room not long after 6pm, and proceeded to spend about 2 hours looking at where the new hairline will hopefully be growing in soon! The post op pack is full of useful bits and pieces and although I`ve had a bit of discomfort and swelling today its no where near close to what I had envisaged and after a pain killer or two there`s no issues at all. I`ve also received an email from both Dr Ball and David since yesterday to check on me a small gesture but something that goes a long way and demonstrates their commitment to their clients. All in all I`m glad I did it, so far, but I guess I won`t really know how it went until a few months down the line so I will be sure to keep you all updated, as I very much enjoy seeing the progress of others on here with their thoughts and photos.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to message me.
Kind regards
Bongo