2500 graft transplant at HDC Cyprus

Hi guys,

after being an active member on this forum for over 7 years now, I finally decided to do something against my hair loss and went through with a transplant.

I stopped holding out hope on having a viable hair multiplication or cell based treatment any time soon as there have simply been too many disappointments with little hope on the horizon for the near future, which is why I started doing research on hair transplant clinics and singled out a couple of clinics which have shown very consistent results for years with little or no negative feedback.

Taking all variables into account I decided get in touch with the HDC clinic in Cyprus via email to discuss my expectations. We agreed on a 2-day transplant which took place on 12. - 13. Dec 2013.

HDC took care of the flight arrangements and picked me up from the airport. I was brought to one of their apartments which was located directly across of the clinic which is extremely convenient when having to come in for daily checkups and hair washes post-op.

On the day of the surgery a blood test was first taken and we began to discuss the procedure and my expectations. Despite the fact that I have quite some hair loss in the crown area as well as in the frontal area I decided to only focus on the frontal area for my first procedure.

After taking the advice of the doctors and the technical staff into consideration, I decided on a hair line which was drawn on my forehead. The number of FUs required to fill in the frontal half of my scalp was estimated to be something between 2500 and 3000 grafts.

The procedure took place over two days.

Also, at this point I would really like to thank the HDC staff for their dedication in ensuring that I get the best possible results and experience at the clinic.
I spent several hours chatting with the technical staff during graft extraction and placement and really felt that they were sincerely devoted to providing me with the best possible experience and results.

The technical staff involved in my procedure all looked back on several years (5 - 10 years) of experience in hair transplantation and appeared to do their work with a lot of devotion and professionalism. At no point did I feel that the clinic was trying to sell me anything that was not in my interest or beyond realistic expectations. I literally do not see how the staff could have possibly done a better job.

Unfortunately however, although the operation was quite pain-free, I did have quite a bit of pain in the donor area even at 1 week post-op. But I was able to get relief with the help of over the counter painkillers (ibuprofen and paracetamol), luckily I am now at day 12 and the pain has largely subsided already. Nevertheless, I will keep you updated.

before:



day of the procedure:







wishing you a merry X-mas,
hairman2

Wow, this is huge. Why HDC? I have seen good before and after from them but Cyprus is a little out of the way for me unfortunately.

Well I did a ton of research on clinics and found that HDC has consistently shown excellent results for years. Further I was quite surprised to learn that HDC was actually founded and operated by Dr. Cole who trained the much of the staff and continues to visits the clinic regularly to share experiences and innovations (http://www.coleinstruments.com/cole-instruments-demo-hdc-cyprus-dr-cole). In fact the technician I spoke to has been working for HDC for 10 years and continues to work for HDC to this day.

The combination of excellent results (I really could not find any negative feedback on HDC) and their competitive pricing is what convinced me, and so far I do not regret the decision.

Anyway today is 2-weeks post-op, so I will share some pics. Please excuse the quality, I am visiting my parents over xmas and only have my phone to take pictures.

2-weeks post-op:


Also I would like to add, that it may appear as though my hair line has been lowered in the front, but in fact it was not. The reason why my hair is short in the frontal area is that I had a tuft of hair in the middle of my forehead surrounded by empty temples. The doctor said he would like to shave a bit of my frontal tuft in order to implant some hairs in the first few centimeters of my hairline so that my hair line will not cave in, if I lose the frontal hair tuft over time. I hope that explanation makes sense to anyone. If someone has questions, please ask. :slight_smile:

I will try to upload some pics of the drawn hair line shortly.

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by helpmeout[/postedby]
Wow, this is huge. Why HDC? I have seen good before and after from them but Cyprus is a little out of the way for me unfortunately.[/quote]

Hey Hairman, I noticed that your hairline is more jagged than others I have seen, any reason for that? Is that your idea or doctor’s idea? Will that still look natural when the hair grows out?

hey norwood3,

it was dr Maras’ suggestion which I agreed to because I have read and seen that jagged hairlines look more natural when grown out than straight hairlines. In fact, already today (at day 15) my hairline looks quite natural since the hairs are just about 7-8 mm (I measured) and the jagged line has diffused.

Picture of day 15:

Sorry if the picture is a bit dark, I will ask my girlfriend to take some pictures of my hair line when she gets back.

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by Norwood3[/postedby]
Hey Hairman, I noticed that your hairline is more jagged than others I have seen, any reason for that? Is that your idea or doctor’s idea? Will that still look natural when the hair grows out?[/quote]

They did the blood test the same day of your surgery? When did you get the results? When I had my surgery I had the blood test done weeks before the day of the surgery. This would really suck if you are flying from out of town and only to find out the day of the surgery that your blood work fails.

yea they test the blood on the same day. I guess if something is wrong they would have to cancel the operation, but my values were fine. I booked on really short notices as I had to get leave from work first and so there was no other alternative than to have the blood test on the day of the surgery.

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by NeverAgain[/postedby]
They did the blood test the same day of your surgery? When did you get the results? When I had my surgery I had the blood test done weeks before the day of the surgery. This would really suck if you are flying from out of town and only to find out the day of the surgery that your blood work fails.[/quote]

I thought FUE is supposed to be relatively pain free, did you find out why you were experiencing pain in the donor? What about swelling? Any swelling?

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by NeverAgain[/postedby]
They did the blood test the same day of your surgery? When did you get the results? When I had my surgery I had the blood test done weeks before the day of the surgery. This would really suck if you are flying from out of town and only to find out the day of the surgery that your blood work fails.[/quote]

Hi NeverAgain,

It is a standard procedure first to request and review a medical history from the patient and if all clear then request patients to have their blood test done prior to their arrival in order to verify that no condition can influence their hair transplant. If for any reason the blood test is not provided it takes place once near the clinic.

It is very rare for a medical issue to arise by the blood test that can affect the procedure or the patient’s health that is not included in the medical history review.

Regards
Alex

Any word on the pricing of this HT? Either per-graft clinic prices, or perhaps the total for this HT? Even ballpark figures would be better than nothing if the specifics won’t be given out.

Really Working…:slight_smile:

(Never mind my last post, pricing is listed on the clinic’s website. So many clinics don’t list it that I had not even bothered to check.)

Hairman2 -

What about Acell and PRP, were they offered or used? I know Dr. Cole is a fan of them.

Does the Cyprus HDC clinic do the same kind of “low depth extractions” that Dr. Cole claims can offer some amount of donor regeneration when treated with Acell?

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by NeverAgain[/postedby]
They did the blood test the same day of your surgery? When did you get the results? When I had my surgery I had the blood test done weeks before the day of the surgery. This would really suck if you are flying from out of town and only to find out the day of the surgery that your blood work fails.

[postedby]Originally Posted by Alex1[/postedby]

Hi NeverAgain,

It is a standard procedure first to request and review a medical history from the patient and if all clear then request patients to have their blood test done prior to their arrival in order to verify that no condition can influence their hair transplant. If for any reason the blood test is not provided it takes place once near the clinic.

It is very rare for a medical issue to arise by the blood test that can affect the procedure or the patient’s health that is not included in the medical history review.

Regards
Alex[/quote]

I am not trying to tell you how to run your clinic but if I were the boss, I will absolutely not schedule any procedures unless blood work is received and evaluated weeks in advance. The patient should be asked not to make any flight arrangements until he has the OK from your clinic that the blood work is fine.

I would be very pissed if I fly across the Atlantic only to find out that my blood work fails the day of the surgery and I have to head home. I know you said the chance that this happens is small why even subject your patients to that risk at all? It is borderline unethical in my opinion.

hey guys,

here are some quick snapshots of my 4 week update, with wet hair:



as you can see virtually all the small transplanted hairs have fallen out. Looking forward to seeing them grow back in the next months.

regards,
hairman2

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by NeverAgain[/postedby]
They did the blood test the same day of your surgery? When did you get the results? When I had my surgery I had the blood test done weeks before the day of the surgery. This would really suck if you are flying from out of town and only to find out the day of the surgery that your blood work fails.

[postedby]Originally Posted by Alex1[/postedby]

Hi NeverAgain,

It is a standard procedure first to request and review a medical history from the patient and if all clear then request patients to have their blood test done prior to their arrival in order to verify that no condition can influence their hair transplant. If for any reason the blood test is not provided it takes place once near the clinic.

It is very rare for a medical issue to arise by the blood test that can affect the procedure or the patient’s health that is not included in the medical history review.

Regards
Alex

[postedby]Originally Posted by NeverAgain[/postedby]

I am not trying to tell you how to run your clinic but if I were the boss, I will absolutely not schedule any procedures unless blood work is received and evaluated weeks in advance. The patient should be asked not to make any flight arrangements until he has the OK from your clinic that the blood work is fine.

I would be very pissed if I fly across the Atlantic only to find out that my blood work fails the day of the surgery and I have to head home. I know you said the chance that this happens is small why even subject your patients to that risk at all? It is borderline unethical in my opinion.[/quote]

Hi NeverAgain,

I understand your concern but you must uderstand that with the medical history report we screen if there are issues that can affect the hair transplant before the patient books his flights. Unethical is when clinics or doctors do not request the patients to do any blood work at all risking the health of all of their patients as tranmitted infections with blood contact can take place.

Regards
Alex

Hi guys,

I am reaching week 7 tomorrow. Nothing much to report since it is still to early to be seeing any regrowth but I did find some during operation pictures of the drawn hairline:

looking forward for the hair to grow in.