T
Tyler Durden
Valued member
Hi,
This is my first post, so be gentle...
After very careful consideration, I elected to have FUE surgery with Dr Bisanga one month ago.
He recommended 3000 FUE to fill in my temple recessions and pre-emptively fill in the miniaturised frontal third. I had not yet noticed the thinning apart from in the temples, but upon examination, BHR determined that there was clear evidence of miniaturisation and so had they not treated it together with my temples, I would have had uneven thickness in the frontal third and been condemned to a second surgery within a few years at most. I am certain less scrupulous clinics would have taken advantage of this. I am also grateful they operate with such concern for a patient s longer term interests.
Review (initial and brief):
The journey was easy Eurostar takes you almost to their door...
The surgery lasted two days first day from 7.30 am to 10.30 pm (!!) complicated by my cow s lick that only the very best like BHR can cope with well and the second day from 8.30 am to about 5.30 pm.
Everyone at BHR is very friendly and thoroughly professional. Dr Bisanga himself is impressively skilled and possessed of an evident passion for his work.
Steve is an absolute star. He is welcoming, reassuring and understanding in a way only a HT veteran can be.
My post op experience so far:
The post operative swelling was bad for a few days but quickly subsided. There was minimal discomfort after surgery in the donor area some nerve tingling but this has all but vanished.
The small donor marks faded fast and are now all but invisible. The recipient area was red for a few weeks and then seemed to fade. However, the redness has returned since the grafted hairs began to shed a few days ago and seems particularly noticeable at the hairline. I hope this is normal for the redness to fade and then return during the shedding phase...
I do seem to have some shock loss in the frontal third where they wisely pre-emptively filled the miniaturised hairs out. Coupled with the rapid shedding and the extremely short hair precluding any attempt to hide the loss with styling, I am not ashamed to admit to becoming very alarmed and having a bit of an emotional crisis...
Steve truly excelled here, taking the time to answer my worried and even frantic emails and then speaking to me at length to reassure me that all was well and to be a patient patient (pun intended).
I am still in a bit of a panic about the persistent redness, shock loss and shedding exposing the true severity of my hair loss, but BHR and Steve in particular have been incredibly supportive during this emotionally draining time. Their service really does not end when the cheque clears!
If anyone is still reading by this point, I would like to seek reassurance on a couple of things:
Is it normal for redness to fade and then return somewhat in the recipient area during shedding (and perhaps exacerbated by minoxidil to combat shock loss)?
Some of the hairs have not yet shed and the sparse effect is worse than a clean scalp. This makes the temples and the hairline a bit ugly at present. Is this also normal and how long should I expect it to last?
Finally shock loss I seem to have a small streak of thinner hair in the frontal third. I think part of the unevenness is due to differing lengths of the hair after shaving. They were not attempting an even shaving down as it was functional rather than a cosmetic haircut, but the relative difference in length will hopefully become less of an issue over the next month or so. Some may also be explained by persistent unshed grafts in one area rather than another. Anyone else have experience with uneven hair in areas that have been supplemented to pre-empt miniaturisation and future loss?
This is my first post, so be gentle...
After very careful consideration, I elected to have FUE surgery with Dr Bisanga one month ago.
He recommended 3000 FUE to fill in my temple recessions and pre-emptively fill in the miniaturised frontal third. I had not yet noticed the thinning apart from in the temples, but upon examination, BHR determined that there was clear evidence of miniaturisation and so had they not treated it together with my temples, I would have had uneven thickness in the frontal third and been condemned to a second surgery within a few years at most. I am certain less scrupulous clinics would have taken advantage of this. I am also grateful they operate with such concern for a patient s longer term interests.
Review (initial and brief):
The journey was easy Eurostar takes you almost to their door...
The surgery lasted two days first day from 7.30 am to 10.30 pm (!!) complicated by my cow s lick that only the very best like BHR can cope with well and the second day from 8.30 am to about 5.30 pm.
Everyone at BHR is very friendly and thoroughly professional. Dr Bisanga himself is impressively skilled and possessed of an evident passion for his work.
Steve is an absolute star. He is welcoming, reassuring and understanding in a way only a HT veteran can be.
My post op experience so far:
The post operative swelling was bad for a few days but quickly subsided. There was minimal discomfort after surgery in the donor area some nerve tingling but this has all but vanished.
The small donor marks faded fast and are now all but invisible. The recipient area was red for a few weeks and then seemed to fade. However, the redness has returned since the grafted hairs began to shed a few days ago and seems particularly noticeable at the hairline. I hope this is normal for the redness to fade and then return during the shedding phase...
I do seem to have some shock loss in the frontal third where they wisely pre-emptively filled the miniaturised hairs out. Coupled with the rapid shedding and the extremely short hair precluding any attempt to hide the loss with styling, I am not ashamed to admit to becoming very alarmed and having a bit of an emotional crisis...
Steve truly excelled here, taking the time to answer my worried and even frantic emails and then speaking to me at length to reassure me that all was well and to be a patient patient (pun intended).
I am still in a bit of a panic about the persistent redness, shock loss and shedding exposing the true severity of my hair loss, but BHR and Steve in particular have been incredibly supportive during this emotionally draining time. Their service really does not end when the cheque clears!
If anyone is still reading by this point, I would like to seek reassurance on a couple of things:
Is it normal for redness to fade and then return somewhat in the recipient area during shedding (and perhaps exacerbated by minoxidil to combat shock loss)?
Some of the hairs have not yet shed and the sparse effect is worse than a clean scalp. This makes the temples and the hairline a bit ugly at present. Is this also normal and how long should I expect it to last?
Finally shock loss I seem to have a small streak of thinner hair in the frontal third. I think part of the unevenness is due to differing lengths of the hair after shaving. They were not attempting an even shaving down as it was functional rather than a cosmetic haircut, but the relative difference in length will hopefully become less of an issue over the next month or so. Some may also be explained by persistent unshed grafts in one area rather than another. Anyone else have experience with uneven hair in areas that have been supplemented to pre-empt miniaturisation and future loss?
