Neopel in Tijuana - Tijuana Mexico

Grafts 1952, Hairs ~ 3500
I had 2 previous transplants to touchup my front hairline and rear bald spot. They were great and improved my appearance greatly. After 10 years the entire top of my head, the the natural hair not transplanted, was going bald, so I needed a large area done. I wrote 3 reviews, ordered from newest to oldest.

My final review at 1 year, 4 months (Sept 2013)
I've received 3 haircuts since the 1 year mark, and after each haircut, the quality of my hair improved significantly. As the thin initial growth was removed, the new hair is thicker, straighter, and controllable. The bare spot has mostly closed, though it looks better with Toppik in a small spot to darken the hair there. My stylists are not concerned about that spot. Their expressions told the story. I cut my hair yesterday and it reached the state of magnificence for a 54 year old man. The shape and fullness is better than when I was 28, since I had receding hair then. I never dreamed it would look this great, since the transplant density is less than original density. I'm single, and am again getting attention from ladies that I lost after aging in my 40's.

My conclusions about my Neopel transplant are
They gave me a massive amount of hairs, ~3500, appears more than the first 2 USA transplants combined.
Even though Shaving my head was a huge sacrifice for 6 months, it improved the distribution and evenness of the hair.

Also, it would have been worth $6000-$8000 for this transplant in USA, but I couldn't after the 2008-2010 recession, so by charging only $2600, Neopel enabled me to improve the quality of my life.

I saw Dra. Hernandez yesterday, and her price increased to $3000, but that's to be expected since the economy is better and Neopel is becoming known. That is still half price form USA or some male Mexican surgeons catering to the rich. She is doing Botox in 3 areas for $300 as well.

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Results At 1 year mark:
My hair became full on top, but overall, this transplant did not look as good @ 12 months than my first 2, and there were 2 problems:
1) Quality of the initial growth was low; it was weak, frizzy, stuck straight out, and uncontrollable. Since I'm 10 years older than the previous transplants, and the quality of all my hair has worsened, I concluded that it was my age that caused the initial growth to be poor quality. I was concerned that my hair would never look great again.
2) There was still a significant bare spot at rear part line. New hair grew in, but it was too fine to cover the spot. I couldn't blame this on Neopel since the previous 2 transplants had not covered this spot either.

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My feeling 3 weeks after transplant, in June 2012:
Pros:
1) Low Price
2) Friendly Personal Service, using telephone, email, and in person at clinic
3) Surgical team mature with good training and experience, but young enough be in their prime. I notice a lot of plastic surgeons in USA too old to be in their prime.
4) Good transplant techniques. I retained most of the transplanted hair after 3 weeks, so it looks good now, even though I expected benefit 4 months out.
5) Superior scalp cleanup resulted in a pleasant recovery.
6) Little swelling or saline solution "sagging" during recovery
7) Good followup instructions and support
8) No metal staples suture - No pillow pain from threaded suture during recovery
9) Dra Hernandez is flexible and listened to my concerns and agreed to my insistence on the amount of medications which I did not want to take.

Note: I took no medication after the procedure and had almost no pain. I walked and got 20 min of sun daily which killed any pathogens and sped the healing.

Cons:
1) Pre-surgery planning communication to patient was insufficient, in office and I missed an email. Neopel knew how and where transplant will be done, but I did not.

2) Payment method bickering after I was given medication was traumatic and stressful. The email said credit card or cash, I gave the option of check but Neopel delayed 20 min, interrogating me to locate a walk-in bank where to cash my check instead of using credit card. I think asking for cash from Americans will lead to danger. I know of several instances in Colombia, where Americans were targeted when locals discover cash is used. Safe businesses make it known that cash is not accepted. I am sensitive to this because a similar hassle occurred in San Diego from Dr Kahn.

3) Sterile operating room conditions not maintained. Strangers walked in and out, socializing or doing business. Some stuck their head through the door. The door needs to stay shut and there should be a window and intercom if non-medical people have to communicate with operating room personnel. One of the nurses coughed. I think Neopel covers this by giving antibiotics, but i refused them.

Volume of hair has increased and the bald spot is smaller I am learning to tame the hair frizziness with the right conditioners and shampoos, and things like Argan oil. After a recent haircut and style, my hair shape was spectacular, as good or better than my 20's. I also like the way a few gray hairs are mixed in on top due to the transplant, rather than the normal brown on top and gray on sides. Relocating my parts has worked so well that I have done a facial fat grafting from Dr Seare and will be posting on that.