Hi Guys

Sorry, this is a fairly lengthy post, but may be of particular interest to any guys in the UK considering an HT.

I am sitting in an airport lounge in Heathrow on my way to see Dr Feller for my first HT.

Whilst waiting I though I would share my story of my HT journey thus far.

I have been seriously thinking of having a HT for the last couple of years, I went to see a clinic in the UK but felt uncomfortable that I was only seeing a “glossy” side of a HT, my brother in-law is a plastic surgeon in the UK and he warned by of bad scarring from HT’s (he is not aware of the advancement by the quality clinics).

I pretty much ditched the idea until I stumbled across a HT forum early in 2008. I felt pretty excited by the find (amazed at my stupidity for not seeking forums out before).

A HT was now a definite possibility, I just need to decide how to choose a surgeon. I set myself the following simple rules:

1. The choice would be made on grown out results, a number of quality results would indicate consistency.
2. Travel would not be an issue, I realised from what I had read thus far that the HT journey is less than convenient (downtime immediately post op, growing out 6 to 18 months) – the thought of a few hours extra travelling really should not influence my decision.
3. Cost should not influence my choice – (as I discovered the top clinics seem to charge similar amounts in any case).

The important part about excluding travel and cost is that if you really feel you need to compromise you can gauge the level of that compromise by excluding them as factors in the first place.

I narrowed down my search to a few top clinics (top as evidenced by posted results).

Dr Feller was in my shortlist and I had seen Spex was associated with Feller Medical. I searched back on Spex postings and satisfied myself he was genuine and his posts seemed to give good advice.

I called Spex and told him that I had narrowed down my search to 3 clinics, he was very complimentary about the other two clinics, he also made it clear that he only wanted to talk about HT’s in general and help me with any questions I might have – he did not want to influence my final choice.

Spex was a huge help – it is enormously helpful having someone in the UK to discuss HT issues and over the course of numerous phone calls, emails and a face-to-face meeting I gained the confidence to make my final decision.

Even when I told Spex I had decided on Dr Feller, he suggested that I wait a few days, digest the decision and if I felt the same, then proceed.

Above is bit of a Spex ‘plug’ but I feel a debt of gratitude for his unbiased, straight talking and advice, and for giving me the confidence to proceed.

In summary, if I can offer any advice to anyone considering an HT is not to let travel or cost be an issue in your initial selection process. The “top” clinics based on my selection criteria are not the only great clinics but sitting here in the departure lounge with an hour or so to take off I feel really comfortable that I have seen enough results / patient comments to give myself a best chance of a great outcome.

I will keep my weblog regularly updated and would like to say a big thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences.

I nearly forgot, I am hoping for circa 4,000 grafts (strip).

Is anybody still awake?

Tubs

Hey Tubs,

Thank you for sharing your story. You've made an excellent choice in your decision to go with Dr. Feller. I have full confidence that you will be happy with the whole procedure. I think 4000 grafts will make a huge improvement for you. It seems you need to address both your crown and your front and I'm sure Dr. Feller will lay out a detailed plan the morning of your surgery to meet your satisfaction.
Good luck with everything! Feel free to swing by or call room 402 at The Andrew as I'll be here til Tuesday, August 12th

I have plenty of beer

Hey tubs

Seriously good luck and try not too worry too much , it's easy now , the hardest parts are making that first call and the 12 months after while it grows hahahaah

New York is ace and Dr Feelgood is one of the worlds best at this , so sit back and enjoy the ride .


4000 wow ! big session , are you doing the whole head , temples and crown , where you having the 4000 go ?

Thanks buddy and good luck

richie

Good Luck with your surgery. Congrats on taking the big first step on your path to getting your hair back! You're in great hands..you have nothing to worry about!

Hey Tubs - Thanks for the kudos - Glad i could help!

Good luck with everything mate - you have researched long and hard - it will pay off!


Keep us informed mate and updated as there is a great deal of people reading your posts - even if some choose to not offer you their support.

Good luck and i hope you hit the numbers you want!! 4000+ here we come!!!!?

Best regards
Spex

good luck dude you will be fine. keep us posted buddy

Tubs,

Good luck dude....you are in great hands....(of course talking like a person who has never had HT done yet lol) but from I see as far as results Dr F is one the best in the world...you are in great hands. Heal and Grow WELL!!

Best of luck today mate!!! Hope you get the numbers you want

Support will be here for you when you return, rest assured!

Thanks for good wishes guys.

Feeling pretty relaxed, pleased to be making another major step forward in my HT journey. I am going to be sooooo bad at waiting for the results to start showing!

Hope to report back tonight.

Tubs

Tubs!!! Happy Friday afternoon to ya! You must be finishing up or finished up already with Dr. Feller. I will try and swing down to your room around 8pm to check on you. Congratulations!!!

Tubs,

I imagine you're pretty much finished with your surgery by now (or soon will be). We'll be eagerly awaiting your surgical experience and photos.

I look forward to watching your new head of hair sprout in the coming months

Best wishes,

Falc

Hi

Phew - thats that done, now the waiting!

Huge thanks to Dr Feller and his team - really great down to earth people that made me feel very relaxed.

Dr Feller managed to get 3,500 grafts, short of the 4,000 I was hoping for but still a big number - I had good laxity at the side but it fell away at the back (I really noticed this when I was doing my laxity exercises - I almost have corners on my bump that causes the scalp to really tighten up).

Although the surgery itself is a long day, pain is minimal, you can obviously feel the injections but it is no big deal.

Last night was fairly tough, I just watched movies and took pain killers until I eventually fell asleep.

This morning the pain feels a lot better, I took a couple of Tylenol rather than the Vicodin and they seem to do the trick.

I am really pleased with the procedure and really look forward to seeing the result as it grows out.

Dr Feller said he would send his pictures to me and I will post on my blog. I'll also ask for the hair count. I have attached a post op picture - apologies quality not the best.

Tubs

CIMG0035.JPG (108 Kb, 94 downloads)

wow well done tubs dude bet your thrilled thats done with now the best bit waiting ha ha anyway im happy for you man hope you have a speedy recovery and a good flight home well done tubs and feller medical

Hey I recoginize that room!

It looks great Tubs and looks even better in person. The part in the back where it doesn't look like Dr. Feller put any grafts is where he had native hair and it was just shaved down. I think the final result will be awesome. Congrats again Tubs!!!

Looks good Tubs, but here's a question:

It looks like the Dr. drew the 'whirl' lines in your crown, does that mean you had some grafts put in your crown area?

I remember my doc drawing some back there, but then I think we didn't put any grafts in my crown so I'm a little confused about this part of it all.

Do they draw those lines on the crown even if you don't get any grafts there?

Hi Dewayne

The following is my understanding:

Until the strip is actually removed, any graft quotation can only be an estimate.

Dr Feller’s philosophy is to maximise the session without compromising the donor. My donor laxity was good at the sides but less at the rear (I could feel this when I was doing my pre-op laxity exercises). The marking on the crown was more of an outside chance that the donor would allow coverage back to the crown; the fact that the area was marked not shaved indicates that it was "outside chance".

During the process of removing the strip Dr Feller adjusts the width of the strip according to what he gauges as the true laxity.

Dr Feller manages expectations well so the fact we didn’t get all the way back did not come as a surprise.

Hope this helps.

Tubs

Glad it went well mate

Tubs, Sorry for the delay on your pics mate - been away and finally got in touch with the Doc to upload them.

Looking good mate - heal and grow well!!!

Spex - Thanks for posting pictures.

Healing well, many of the grafts now shed, really pleased with how the scar is healing.

I will post some updated photos at the weekend.

Tubs

No probs mate - look forward to your updated pics!