Vinci Hair Transplant - My Experience

Hair Transplant at Vinci Malaga

Having suffered for many years with thinning har and an ever increasing bald patch, I decided this year to finally bite the bullet and take some action to mitigate the effects of this, basically I avoided looking in the mirror! and I was finally convinced when a photo of me taken with strong downward lighting made me look like I only had the classic horseshoe of hair left ...

I am a 63 year old male with what was assessed as a 'Norwood 6' (bad!) hair loss category and I understood that I had some limitations on what might be possible so I think that my aspirations were realistic in that I wanted bring the hairline forward a couple of inches and thicken up on top but of course I knew I could never lose the whole bald patch and accepted this.

I think with any kind of cosmetic surgery realism in expectation of the results is incredibly important.

I read many of the forums on hair loss and eventually decided to go with Vinci Medical as the surgeon they use in Malaga seemed to have good ratings.

I arranged an appointment with them at their Manchester office and I felt the person assessing me was honest and realistic with what could be achieved without the hard sell I had anticipated, so decide to go with them for an estimated 3000 grafts at their Malaga clinic using the FUE technique as I considered FUT to be a bit too invasive for my liking. Cost was £7500 including accommodation and transfers, £1000 payable on booking and the balance I transferred just before the treatment.

I flew from Liverpool to Malaga and was efficiently met at the airport and transferred to the hotel booked by Vinci which was quite acceptable and a 5 minute walk to the clinic.

See my TripAdvisor review here

As I was quite early I visited the clinic to say hello and take a look around, its situated on the 6th floor of a rather anonymous office building which seems to house a few health type of companies, the clinic is quite small but very plush inside and
seems well equipped for the job, the staff were very friendly and supportive and arranged to arrive at 0845 the next day for the surgery.

Day 1

On arrival met with the Surgeon and the two assistants and had some initial discussions on what I hoped could be achieved and some photos were taken.

                                                                 Day 1 Prior to Surgery

I then went into a changing room and changed into a surgical gown, socks and shoes, then had my hair shaved, first time ever , very weird for me...

I was pretty nervous but the Valium tablet they had given me soon started to work and I felt calm and relaxed, the Surgeon proceeded to inject the local anesthetic around the first donor area which was a bit painful but only comparable to dental injections but there we about 5 or 6 in this area, this was the only part of the procedure with any pain.

The Surgeon and the two assistants (one of which was a qualified nurse) proceed to removed the donor hair follicles with a small punch, once again, no discomfort during this process.

1,500 follicles were removed and by the time this was done it was time for lunch  and after some more photos they sent out for Chicken and chips, perfect!

                                                                    Day 1 Donor area

After lunch we continued with more injections this time in the graft area and the surgeon made many fine incisions to accept the grafts which were then placed by the assistants, once again after the injections no pain or discomfort.

                                                             End of Day 1 Graft area


After changing and being given the required tablets to take away, painkillers, antibiotics,  they gave me a pillow cover to protect from bleeding and a cap to wear back to the hotel.

I actually felt quite ok and went out for dinner that night, near to the hotel.

My biggest problem was trying to sleep on my back to avoid damaging bthe implants but managed ok in the end.


Day 2

After changing I was back in the operating room, more injections and removal of follicles for the next stage.
By lunchtime these were all removed ready for implantation and some more photos taken.

                                                                Day 2 Donor Area


During the afternoon the remaining 1,500 more follicles were implanted.

Then more photos before leaving with the post-op goody bag of painkillers, antibiotics, shampoo, hair oil etc

                                                       Day 2  Completed implant area

                                         With the medical team after completion of the transplant

Now back at home and all seems to be progressing nicely 7 days post-op, I will add photos and info as things progress as its still early days.


My thoughts on the procedure and on Vinci Malaga...

Pain- not too much, mainly just the local anesthetic injections, I had expected a lot of soreness afterwards but this did not occur perhaps due to the excellent painkillers?

The Clinic- Well equipped and very friendly and supportive

Staff - Doctor Nestor was very competent as far as I can judge and I just wish I had his fab hair!
           The Girls were amazing, so funny and so caring.

Result - So far very happy, I'm sure it will turn out as expected, looking forward to it:)


Update 11th Oct 2014

9 days post-op photo

All healed up and hair growing!