S
Spear1
member
Hi everyone,
I am creating this new thread to share the story of my hair transplant.
Hair treatment:
I have been treating my hair for 3 years in order to improve their quality and slow down the balding.
I started 3 years ago using oral finasteride 1mg everyday and minoxidil 5% foam solution applied twice a day. After 8 months and observing no side effect just improvment in hair density and quality, I switched to dutasteride 0.5mg everyday. Eventually after a year I stopped minoxidil because the slight improvement mostly in thickness and few baby hairs was not worth it. It was very difficult to style my hair with minoxidil and whens styled they looked better...
Hair transplant:
Following 3 years of documentation I decided to go for a hairtransplant with Dr Lupanzula (medikemos) because he is consistently cited as one of the best surgeon in the world and praised for reconstructing natural hairline and being very involved in the procedure.
I got 2686 grafts on the hairline which is a total of 5001 hairs:
592 follilcular unit of 1 hair
1874 follicular unit of 2 hairs
219 follicular unit of 3 hairs
1 folliclar unit of 4 hairs
This is a ratio of 1.86 hair per FU which I guess I on the low side but that's just how my hair grow.
Overall the clinic is very clean, modern and lcoated in the posh part of Bruxelles. I met Dr. Lupanzula a day before the surgery to confirm the number of graft and to design the hairline. He took the time to answer all my questions, I first draw my hairline myself and then he showed me based on my expectation what is realistic to do, etc... He also shaved my head, took pictures and blood sample himself.
Day1
On the day of the surgery we started a 6:30AM at the clinic. I cannot remember who clean my head but I think it was the doctor haha. Then Dr Lupanzula performed the extraction with a punch. Cannot remember exactly which punch I think it was a motorized 0.8mm but I might be wrong. While extracting a team of 3 technicians were sorting and counting my hairs. Then Dr Lupanzula took a needle and made the incision in the receiver zone while counting each incision one by one. After that 2 technicians placed the graft in the incisions made by the Dr. Overall I was very impressed by everyone's skill I could see the technician holding their breath while inserting the graft, etc.. everyone was really doing their best, I was moved around a bit in order to perfectly recreate the natural way my hair grow (at some point they swirl a bit, see pictures)
We were done at around 5:30PM. The only painful moment was the injection of xylocaine, apparently it is not the needle itself but the solution which is very painful (due to the low pH of its buffer solution). I then slept a little took all the medication provided at the end of the surgery (ant inflammatory, paracetamol, antibiotic) and sprayed the 0.9% NaCl saline solution every 20min on my receiver area until I slept. As recommended I slept at a 45 degree angle with a neck pillow to reduce the swelling of my head and avoid the development of a massive oedema.
Day2
My head was very slightly swollen (I did not personnally noticed it, the Dr did notice though). The bandage were removed at 7:30AM by the Dr at the clinic and my hair were washed with a spray solution of betadine and then an antibiotic antiseptic anti inflammatory cream was applied to my donor area. I wore a black bandana and took the train back to the UK. I sprayed the saline solution on my reciever area every 20min. Technically it is every 1hour from day 2 but the doctor told me if you can do every 20min you might heal faster. I slept at a 45degree angle with a neck pillow
Day 3 to 5
I washed my head and applied the cream once a day exactly as recommended and done by Dr. Lupanzula on day 2. I sprayed the saline solution every 20min (I had to buy some to top up at the pharmacy) and I kept sleeping at a 45 degree angle. The small oedema on my forehead was really barely noticeable.
Day 5 to 9
I slept now in a less awkward position and keep the same treatment. On day 8 and 9 I removed pretty much all my scabs by gently rubbing my receiving area with circular motion, everything came out quite easily, the scabbing was never really bad or horrible. I had some pain in the donor area, which is apparently nerve repair, I did not notice any alarming redness or swelling. I took some paracetamol when the donor area was painful. Everyhting looks better every day.
Now it is Day 15 and except that my scalp was a bit oily and a bit of dandruff overall everything is OK. I still have redness in the recipient area but it seems to diminish.
What is your opinion on all of that?
I am creating this new thread to share the story of my hair transplant.
Hair treatment:
I have been treating my hair for 3 years in order to improve their quality and slow down the balding.
I started 3 years ago using oral finasteride 1mg everyday and minoxidil 5% foam solution applied twice a day. After 8 months and observing no side effect just improvment in hair density and quality, I switched to dutasteride 0.5mg everyday. Eventually after a year I stopped minoxidil because the slight improvement mostly in thickness and few baby hairs was not worth it. It was very difficult to style my hair with minoxidil and whens styled they looked better...
Hair transplant:
Following 3 years of documentation I decided to go for a hairtransplant with Dr Lupanzula (medikemos) because he is consistently cited as one of the best surgeon in the world and praised for reconstructing natural hairline and being very involved in the procedure.
I got 2686 grafts on the hairline which is a total of 5001 hairs:
592 follilcular unit of 1 hair
1874 follicular unit of 2 hairs
219 follicular unit of 3 hairs
1 folliclar unit of 4 hairs
This is a ratio of 1.86 hair per FU which I guess I on the low side but that's just how my hair grow.
Overall the clinic is very clean, modern and lcoated in the posh part of Bruxelles. I met Dr. Lupanzula a day before the surgery to confirm the number of graft and to design the hairline. He took the time to answer all my questions, I first draw my hairline myself and then he showed me based on my expectation what is realistic to do, etc... He also shaved my head, took pictures and blood sample himself.
Day1
On the day of the surgery we started a 6:30AM at the clinic. I cannot remember who clean my head but I think it was the doctor haha. Then Dr Lupanzula performed the extraction with a punch. Cannot remember exactly which punch I think it was a motorized 0.8mm but I might be wrong. While extracting a team of 3 technicians were sorting and counting my hairs. Then Dr Lupanzula took a needle and made the incision in the receiver zone while counting each incision one by one. After that 2 technicians placed the graft in the incisions made by the Dr. Overall I was very impressed by everyone's skill I could see the technician holding their breath while inserting the graft, etc.. everyone was really doing their best, I was moved around a bit in order to perfectly recreate the natural way my hair grow (at some point they swirl a bit, see pictures)
We were done at around 5:30PM. The only painful moment was the injection of xylocaine, apparently it is not the needle itself but the solution which is very painful (due to the low pH of its buffer solution). I then slept a little took all the medication provided at the end of the surgery (ant inflammatory, paracetamol, antibiotic) and sprayed the 0.9% NaCl saline solution every 20min on my receiver area until I slept. As recommended I slept at a 45 degree angle with a neck pillow to reduce the swelling of my head and avoid the development of a massive oedema.
Day2
My head was very slightly swollen (I did not personnally noticed it, the Dr did notice though). The bandage were removed at 7:30AM by the Dr at the clinic and my hair were washed with a spray solution of betadine and then an antibiotic antiseptic anti inflammatory cream was applied to my donor area. I wore a black bandana and took the train back to the UK. I sprayed the saline solution on my reciever area every 20min. Technically it is every 1hour from day 2 but the doctor told me if you can do every 20min you might heal faster. I slept at a 45degree angle with a neck pillow
Day 3 to 5
I washed my head and applied the cream once a day exactly as recommended and done by Dr. Lupanzula on day 2. I sprayed the saline solution every 20min (I had to buy some to top up at the pharmacy) and I kept sleeping at a 45 degree angle. The small oedema on my forehead was really barely noticeable.
Day 5 to 9
I slept now in a less awkward position and keep the same treatment. On day 8 and 9 I removed pretty much all my scabs by gently rubbing my receiving area with circular motion, everything came out quite easily, the scabbing was never really bad or horrible. I had some pain in the donor area, which is apparently nerve repair, I did not notice any alarming redness or swelling. I took some paracetamol when the donor area was painful. Everyhting looks better every day.
Now it is Day 15 and except that my scalp was a bit oily and a bit of dandruff overall everything is OK. I still have redness in the recipient area but it seems to diminish.
What is your opinion on all of that?