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FUE 2686FU - Dr Lupanzula - Medikemos

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?
 

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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Spear1.
Welcome to the forum.
Thanks for documenting your surgery so well. It`s good to hear you stabalised your hair loss with meds before proceeding with your hair transplant.
The 2686 grafts will make a big difference to your hairline and density. The work performed by Lupanzula looks nice and clean. Scabbing is not much of an issue when you use saline as often as you did and it seems to lessen the redness. Good to hear you`re sleeping ok now.
Your 8-9 day post pictures look like you have healed well.
I`ll look forward to following your progress.
All the best.
Bm.
 
Kevboy

Kevboy

Valued member
Dr Lupanzulas work looks very neat. Has your crown responded much to Finasteride? There is a guy who has been posting about an oily scalp after his transplant and says he can`t wash shampoo out. Have you had anything similar to this?
 
S

Spear1

member
I have a naturally very oily scalp and after 2 weeks of washing everyday with betadine post operation it was quite oily. Now I am washing it everyday with baby shampoo and although there are a few dandruff it is actually not dramatic. My crown has always been the way it looks on the picture as far as I can remember. I did not notice it getting any fuller. The pic before surgery showing my crown is a pic with very bright light facing directly my head so it might appear thinner but as far as I can remember it always looked like this. I still have redness now in the receiver zone and some part of my head are slightly itchy but I am making an effort not to touch my head at all. Some of the hair in the receiver zone started falling which is normal, I expect them to be gone by the one month mark. I think I will have the redness on the receiver zone for a while. I will keep shampooing with the baby shampoo for at least 2 more weeks unless I see many dandruff in which case I will use head and shoulders. I think it is quite unclear what is the contribution of the shampoo and I have read some people using nizoral 1 week post op and they were fine but just in case I am being extracareful. Anyway shampooing too often does not really contribute to hairloss but shampooing too little can. I try to not shampoo twice a day (I am going to the gym everyday but now I am going in the morning so I shower only once). I have not drank smoked or done anything else... since 2-3 months and I am going to keep it like this until I see some growth or at least the redness disappear. Maybe I will start to get occasionnaly a small drink but not more. Also I stopped all cafeine intake (since 1 month before the operation), which I think is completely ridiculous but for some reason I keep doing it, I am not even drinking tea, haha. Another thing is as I cycle or walk to work everyday, I wear a hood outside to protect my hair from the sun (which makes me look a bit dodgy as I also have a shaved head), also I live in the south of England so it is not like I do have to avoid the sun so much as the sun is already avoiding this country. I will post pictures again when something significant happens but now aside of a few hairs shedding from the receiver area (which is normal at this point) there is really nothing special happening.
 
Kevboy

Kevboy

Valued member
Thanks for answering my question. At least your crown is not suffering loss and the Finasteride will stop it happening later on. I keep my head shaved most of the time, when I wear a hoodie I get strange looks from people as well. I reckon your result will turn out great, Dr Lupanzula always seems to get good results.
 
S

Saint4805

member
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.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Could you please advise what the blood sample is taken for? Is this for PRP or do they check for serious diseases or viruses prior to surgery?
 
S

Spear1

member
Thanks for sharing your experience. Could you please advise what the blood sample is taken for? Is this for PRP or do they check for serious diseases or viruses prior to surgery?
I did not receive PRP. They take the blood sample because it is still a surgery and they want to make sure that there is nothing wrong with you. As you are going to bleed and to make sure your immune system is not compromise they check for HIV and heaptitis, I guess it is fair enough.
This is what they are exactly looking at:
- HIV serology test
- Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C serology tests
- Red Blood Cells and hemoglobin
- White Blood Cells
- Coagulation tests : platelets, PTT, INR
You can also send them the results of a blood test you did a month before if it includes all of this.
 
S

Spear1

member
Hi everyone,
This is a 3 months update with some photos with slightly wet and dry hair. These are all pictures taken the same day with very bright light directly facing the wet hair for some and for some natural light and dry hair.
Some hair started growing right away and look like they did not shed first; although probably more than 2/3 of the transplanted hair were gone by 1.5 month post surgery. Hair are now slowly growing back and have different length at the front. By now it is possible that I am around the 20-30% regrowth observed in general by patient in this clinic (it is what they indicate on their post surgery leaflet). Those hair are really thicker than my thin hair that are usually at the front and I think I can already feel it when I shampoo.
I am looking forward to seeing more growth and thickening over the next few months.
The donor zone has been impeccable and absolutely indistinguishable since 1-2 weeks post surgery.
What do you think?
 

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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Spear1.
You`ve been quite lucky with some of the transplanted grafts continuing to grow and seeing some new growth at 3 months. Everything sounds like it`s going to plan. Good to hear your donor is in excellent condition.
Thanks for the update.
 
S

Spear1

member
Hi, just another update with better picture so you can see individual new hairs at the front of the hairline.
 

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bullitnut

bullitnut

4 awesome repairs with SMG
Looking good at this early stage dude. You've chosen a very talented doctor so I'm excited to see your results over the coming months. I too had a very oily scalp....seemed to get really oily around the front and forehead area after each HT as well but it's much better these days....probably thanks to Nizoral
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi, just another update with better picture so you can see individual new hairs at the front of the hairline.

Has there been more noticeable growth this past month?
 
S

Spear1

member
I think it is noticeably growing but need to wait until at least the 6 month mark to really judge I guess. Right now I feel like the sides are filling in more quickly than the middle what do you guys think? Also I never had white hair on the front of my head those are definitely transplanted hair from the side. It is very hard now to style the hair at the front they are all very spiky and do not fall very well but I heard it is getting better naturally when they mature, what is your experience with this? I am trying to put no product on them, I ll probably start putting a bit of product to style them in 3-6 months when they will be longer though. I am avoiding volume powder for now (that are good for my har that always have been naturally thin) just in case it could impact the growth however minimal this impact could be.
By the way these are pictures from today (4months and 7 days post op)
 

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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
4 months is the beginning of your growth. Quite often one area or side grows in quicker than the other. It should all even out over 12 months. Transplanted grafts can take a few growth cycles before they return to their original state. I have seen hairs grow in white, then after shedding return as your normal hair colour.
Adding styling or volumising products should not harm the hairs or growth.
How is your donor looking?
 
S

Spear1

member
Honestly the donor look like nothing ever happened to it, it actually looks particularly dense. Even 10 days after the procedure it was already unoticeable. Here some bad picture (I am taking the pictures on my own) attached but nothing interesting really, you could see in the previous 3month picture it was also already super dense in the donor area as well. I do have white hair naturally though on my donor area that were there before especially on the side of my head , so I think it is jsut hair that is white that have been harvested. I was wondering if some doctor could, in the case of people like me with sparse white hair, specifically graft some white hair in one area to make a strand of natural white hair at the front for example, I guess it would require a lot of additionnal work from the technician but would be quite interesting and fun to see.
 

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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Spear. Yes, your donor has looked good for a while. It's been managed very well by the doctor with his extraction pattern.
If you or some other person has enough white hairs far enough apart from each other it would be quite easy to extract them and place in a group to create the strand of hair.
Maybe some doctor will read this and do it.
 
S

Spear1

member
Hi everyone,
So the results this months are good. This is a picture with natural light (not as bright as my former pictures though) and wet hair. Those new hair are difficult to manage when dry though and still need maturation, they are spiky and go all over the place, this is 5 months post op.


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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
That looks great for 5 months, it’s filling in very nicely. No more high receding hairline for you.
 
C

Coady

member
How we looking now. It looked good last update has it got better ?
 
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