Mark Fennell is a well-known life coach who regularly appears in the media and has been featured on the BBC, Virgin Media, Newstalk and other major TV and radio networks. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies as well as individuals, teams and some famous faces. Mark has recently had a hair transplant at HRBR. Here, he shares his experience, concentrating on the day of and the day after surgery.
Mark Fennell – Hair Transplant Surgery Day
“It all began at 7:00 AM where I was chauffeur driven to HRBR headquarters at Samson House in Dublin, Ireland. They give you a private room for the day with its own mini bar, which is a nice touch and some Wagon Wheels to suit. Love that.”
The surgery day starts with planning and agreeing the design of Marks hair transplant. Here the team along with Mark decide where the transplanted hair should go. This initial design stage is vital to Mark achieving a natural result from his hair transplant. Mark then had his head shaved as the team used the FUE method of donor hair harvesting for him. Learn more about the FUE Vs FUT (no shaving required) methods of hair transplantation.
Harvesting Hair from the Donor Area
In FUE, individual hair follicles are harvested one by one using a micro-punch tool. The extracted hair follicles are carefully handled, prepared and preserved in a solution to maintain their viability before being transplanted back into Mark’s scalp.
“The harvesting part has happened. That’s basically where they take the hairs that they’re going to use from the sides and back. The first part of the day, you’re face down, classical music playing in the background. It’s actually a really good experience. So, after the first part of the day, you stop for lunch and it was absolutely gorgeous with a huge menu.”
Hair Transplantation
The prepared grafts are then meticulously planted into the recipient sites by the team. They will pay attention to the direction, angle, colour and density of the hair grafts to mimic natural hair growth. The procedure itself is carried out under local anaesthetic and patients are awake throughout and able to watch movies and chat to the team.
“So, the second half of the day is where you’re sitting basically upright for the implant procedure. Now I had lots of medication in me at this point, so I was feeling very merry. The whole experience was pretty pleasurable and I was feeling really good at the end of my first day after the implants. And as you can see [from the video], swelling was minimal. The insertion sizes are tiny, and it was overall a really good experience.”
Post Surgery (Days 1 & 2)
Extra care is then needed with the newly transplanted grafts for the initial 14 days following surgery. In most cases patients will return to the clinic the day following their transplant to review the donor and transplanted area in the initial hours after surgery. Find more details on our post operative instructions.
“After I was spraying my hair every 20 minutes for the first 12 hours, I got some sleep and then headed back into the HRBR, and this is where they just want to check up on things, make sure it’s all going okay within the first 24 hours, and they give you a plan for the next two weeks.
Photos were taken, and then we were off, basically home to spray my hair every half an hour for the first four days. After that, you only spray your hair whenever you need it.
They gave me a bag of goodies, painkillers (which I never actually needed), the saline solution, the sprayer, the pillow protectors and pretty much everything you need.”
Follow Mark’s Hair Transplant Journey at HRBR
We will continue to keep you up to date with Mark Fennell’s hair transplant experience at HRBR. The next stage in the process for patients is to return at 6 months following surgery and again 12 months following this to monitor progress and assess the final result which is normally seen 18 months following the transplant.
Learn more about what to expect at HRBR on our patient journey page.
