I,m new to posting but have been researching hts from 18 month now on this and many other sites ,i started on propicia and minoxidil supplied from the begraivia centre in london in june 2006 this helped stablise my hair loss through mpb around my crowns ,i have a double crown .i first lost hair ,a 10 pence piece sized patch because of alopicia due to a stressful event when i was 24 ,this led to my friends nick naming me triple crown hahaha .

it never bothered me as my hair was spiky ,styled messy or dyed various coloures an it wasn't noticable ,and because i laughed about it people rarely mentioned it . when i reach my late 20s ,i,m 29 now ,my hair loss became more aggresive due to the inevitable onslaught of male patern sucks like shit baldness ,i had slight temple recesion but my double crown was left very thin due to miniturisation of the folicals ,this looked worse because of the earlier alopicia loss .

i dropped the ********* centre as 250 quid for 3 months supply was alot ,even for somebody who believed money shouldn't stand in the way of feeling good about yourself ,i found this site ,met spex and used dr ashbourn for my 120 quid supply of finasteride .

After aprouching the top hair surgeons around the globe, and even a couple in the UK for advice one name kept coming to the top the pile ,that name was DR ALAN FELLER .

Now i was scared of going to the states for ,what is life changing operation .but you know what ,it was easy ,very dawnting ,but very very easy ,i spoke to spex got the number and just rung the US and they did there best to shift dates to suit me ,i kept laughing at there accent ,but then being from yorkshire ,they kept laughting at mine hahahaha .

What made it even harder for me is that two days after i booked my date ,i had a motorcycle accident ,i'm a uk bike racer and nearly lost the lower part of my left leg at mallory park ,casts ,operations and leg braces didn't stop me going and having the best holiday of my life and hair surgery too .

Feller's staff where amazing ,feller does irony and sarcasm extreamly well for an american and is the most nerdy monty python fan i've ever met even the girls where big family guy fans so we just had a laugh ,the whole stay was amazing . feller askes you to rest the day after ,not me ,woke up feeling great ,had sex will my hot girlfriend then went back into manhatten wearing a cap backwards ,looking like a true new yorker ,did all the sites ,empire states ,broardway ,times square ,statue of liberty ,hard rock cafe ,toys r us and even met the legendary naked cowboy .

Now for the techy bit i know you all like to hear .i arrived at 7.45am i beat even the doc to work ,guess i was excited ,i'd met him the day before so it was relaxed ,we had some photos taken and i sat in the chair ,had some injections ,pinched a little but i've got tatoos so it only like thay that ,then its numb .

I had 2100 grafts by strip in my crown ,dr feller even recreated two new double crown swirls ,i was in surgery from 8am till 2.30pm ,my hot girlfriend visited manhatten on her own and felt safe doing so . new york is safe the bus's ,trains and subways are easier than in london as every thing is numbered .

I stayed at the anchor inn on northern boulevard 2.5 miles down the same road as dr fellers surgery .here,s some good tips,if you take cash visit dr feller the day before your surgery ,this helps you off load you cash and you know where your going ,when you arrive in US change you watch to there time and forget about what time it is the the UK ,this helps stop jetlag ,the bus's ,trains and subways all cost 2 dollars in coins ,not notes ,MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A COUPLE OF DOLLARS IN COINS ,then when you get to a main station buy a metro card for 24 dollars ,about 12 UK pounds ,unlimited use for 7 days ,this gets you anywhere and all you have to do is swipe it .

most people in new york are tourists so if you need to ask for directions ask a cop or bus driver ,all the streets are numbered so finding anywhere is easy .
We bought some cereal ,milk ,plastic bowsl and cutrely from a 7/11 to have breaky in our room before hitting starbucks for coffee and heading to manhatten by 8am ,there is so much to see and do so get up early and bed late ,sleep on the planes and when you get home .

i decreatly told and showed the british airways flight crew on board ,and got up graded to business class for the flight home ,i know some of you wouldn't want to do that but is was worth it when we had salmon steaks served with champagne.

Finally thanks to DR feller ,all his staff ,top guys like SPEX and people like PB who genually want to help ,use you common sence guys ,there are dicks on here who are payed to confuse and cause trouble ,for some hair loss is soul destroying and some people and companies will pray like vultures on that .

It's easy and life changinging ,it doesn't hurt ,it is uncomfortable but hey i nearly loss my leg so believe me ,when i say it doesn't hurt ,a couple of UK guys had been during the week and the doc does this every day ,there are littery thousands of men and some women getting this proceedure done every single day .At the moment i've been home 24 hours ,i'm tired and have stopped using the pain killers ,the graft site feels like sunburn and the donor site feels like i've pulled a pony tail too tight but put a cap on and i can do anything i want .

I will get dr feller to send spex my pics and will try to get them posted for you all to view i hope this thread will help and good luck to anybody wanting this done

richie

thanks for that, sounds like you took it all in your stride can you tell me which UK clinics you consulted with and what their opinion was. how much did 2100 grafts cost with Dr Feller?

i went to see farjo in manchester in the uk they were ok but only recomended 500 grafts ,he did suggest i continue with the meds and return to see him in 6 months ,so no hard sales pitch but even i knew 500 grafts wouldn,t give me anywhere near the density i was looking for ,this would have cost me 1500 UK pounds.

i use to take 1mg of propicia daily ,now i use 1.25mgs of finasteride daily ,it's the same drug however labeled as proscar its a lot cheaper to buy ,go see your gp and he will get it for you but it's not free on the UK nhs so you'll have to pay, this has definatily stableised my loss and made my hair look a lot healthier ,anyway i then rung the rogers clinic in stratford upon avon ,there abrupt manner on the phone put me off ,polite but pushy ,

i then read and saw some results on another forum and wasn't convince they where for me,doing my home work on forums like this and seeing beyond the bullshit i realised most of the uk hair clinics wern't worth a shit, this is due to lack of compertition in the uk ,everything in the US is private so you exel at what you do or ,with poor results you sink .

As well as DR Feller, i sent hasson and wong and rahal in canada and armarni on line consultations with photos ,hasson and wong advised 4000 grafts ,where very expensive and booked up till next year which didn;t fit with my plans .

rahal said 3000 grafts and the price was right but again booked till feb ,they did email me with a cancellation date in november but by then i'd spoken too ,and booked with Dr Feller ,armani didn't even bother to contact me or return my emails .

Dr Feller and his staff did a great job and shifted dates around to suit me ,this helped with time off and cheap flights ,incidentally the time off issue became irrelivent due to my racing accident anyway ,i first spoke to Dr Feller's staff on august 25th/ 07 and booked my surgery for november 2nd/07 ,i payed my deposit of 1500 US dollars over the phone on my credit card ,it took 10 minutes ,then i went on line to book flights and accomidation .

i payed cash in US dollars to settle the balance the day before my surgery ,the total including the $1500 US dollar deposit to secure my date was $7850 US dollars ,thats approximatally £3925 UK pounds .

My flights with british airways non stop both ways from heathrow to JFK where about £300 uk pounds and my US accomidation for four nights was about £300 UK pounds also.I hope i,ve answered you questions as honestly as i can
Richie

quote:

Richie,
I am very pleased that you had a good experience from Dr Feller , he is a top class surgeon who regularly produces first rate results.I was just enquiring to when you came to see Dr Farjo because i cannot recall any case in the past few years where he/she only recommended 500 grafts.
best regards,
Mick

hi mick ,i visited the farjo center in manchester on feb 14th this year ,my appiontment was at 3pm ,i met with DR bessam k farjo .my hair loss was diffuse around my crowns and DR farjo advised addressing the bald patch of alopica i'd suffered in my mid 20's as he had concerns over future loss due to male pattern baldness .he then advised me to continue with medication and revisit him in the new year ,i hope that clears up any confusion

thanks for that richie. £1500 for 500 grafts that seems expensive compared to fellers price.
i saw on his website he charges $7850(£3920) for anything between 2000-2500 grafts. thats very reasonable comparing against other clinics who are in the smae league like hw etc

farjo charge £3 a graft then? thats more expensive than hw!
can you give us abreak down of what the farjo clinic charge mick?

Richie,

Congratulations on your recent hair transplant with an outstanding hair restoration physician.

I encourage you to post your pictures by creating a hair loss weblog.

Keep us posted.

Falc

Certainly seems that way buddy ,i now know from the relaxed but extreamly professional way in which the world class Dr Feller and his team delt with me and my girlfriend ,that i ,without doubt made the right desision to travel to New York . I read on one site that geography should never be an issue with a life changing proceedure like a hair transplant . I travelled 6000 miles to New York ,employed the sevices of the best hair surgeon in the world ,was treated with the same respect as a celebrity and payed less ,including flights and accomedation ,than staying in the UK and having an average job by a UK surgeon .That is the truth .THANKYOU DR ALAN FELLER AND YOUR TEAM ,you've made a little guy from yorkshire a very happy man

as soon as i recieve my pics from Dr Feller i will endever to post them ,absolutally unbelievable the doc created two new crown swirls to recreate my double crown ,seeing is believing guys and these pics are worth seeing

richie

hi richie,congrats on your proceedure im sure you will be very happy with your results.
i read that your a racer,im quite an avid fan of bike sport. care to ellaborate on your career at all?i also see your from yorkshire,why do all bike racers come from t,north foggy,hodgson,witham etc

the best racers are from the north england ,scotland or ireland ,this is cos of all the bendy roads they have hahahahah won a few national championships ,got trophies from some irish road racing i did ,moved classes last year and crashed alot ,then got taken out by someone else at mallory ,leg dislocated and faced the wrong way ,not pretty ,close to losing it .so when i say that this hair surgery doesn't hurt ,believe me it doesn't hahahah uncomfy as hell but not painfull .

ouch!i smashed my suzuki into the back of a bt van 7 years back, lost half my elbow still cant straighten my arm havent been on a bike since(missus wont let me)i envy you.
your right though ht,s dont hurt,glad to hear you had a good experience.i also had a consult with rogers but found him far from pushy,almost uninterested.ended up going with farjo and very happy with results.anyway heal well (leg and head)
ps any pics of this hot girlfriend you keep on about?

the more i read the more i realise i need to travel.thanks for your informative postings. i am intending to see dr feller in january for him to assess my previous very poor ht to see what can be done for me.

Hey Richie, great to see you on here and glad to hear you finally made it to NYC against all odds especially after your recent accident! You are a tough cookie i will give you that - Must have been an entertianing mission to NYC to get your HT B) They do say Northaners are tough! I have spoken to a few guys that declared their HT at check in and got upgraded - fair play!! B)

Here are your pics that you sent me - sorry they took a while to get up - Kinda of had my hands full at the mo but its all good!!!

Heal and grow well and great to hear you are doing so well!!!!! Will try get the pics off the doc and up asap!

Spex

[u]Pre op[/u]



[u]Post op[/u]

More pics form the Doc:

looks really good. does crown work take longer to grow?

that is a really strange baldness pattern, its more in front of the crown than on the crown itself.is this due to the alopecia richie/spex?

crown restoration grows at the same rate as the frontal region ,by that i mean there is no evidence to say that the physiological differences between the front or the back of the scalp change the growth rate .frontal regions seem to grow quicker simply because you see it easier than the crown , at flat angle to see the hairs easier ,were as at the crown it's with two mirrors directly from the top making it harder to see the hairs ,i hope you understsand what i mean ,as with most of hair scrutinising it's psychological and not physical ,this then borders on body dismorphier .As well as racing bikes and being an electrician i've also studied psychology hahahaha .

now for the other question ,if you look carefully at my FELLER before pics on the left of my crown i have diffuse thinning due to andronic alopecea ,male pattern baldness ,but on the right side of my crown i suffered from alopecea ariarta due to stress and catching shingles (adult chicken pox) when i was 24 .I saw a dermatologist ,skin specialist ,at the time and they said it may grow back ,but it never .DR FELLER said i would have lost it due to male pattern baldness anyway . i hope that answers your questions .ive also answered some simila questions on the stop hair loss now forum ,take a look guys
richie

i see,im not familiar with the characteristics of alopecia ariarta,is doctor feller confident new hair will grow on that part of the scalp?
what i mean to say is how does it stop hair growng as apposed to mpb which as we know is follicles sensitive to dht.

alopecea areata is an autoimmune desease with confuses the hair folicals for forienge bodies and attacks them ,in my case this was due to my body having shingles and my immune system getting confused while fighting it .doctors don't really know why it effects only a small area or on some people their entire bodies .eventually i was diffuselly thinning around the crown due to male pattern baldness so who knows if it would have ever grown back anyway . Because the blood supply is still there and i'm healthy any transplanted folicals will grow normally as with any hair transplant ,Dr Feller expressed no concern over future issues with it .

Richie, looks great. Hope you are taking propecia and a quality omega 3. Omega 3 are great for inflammation.....good luck.