I had my FUE procedure with Dr. Thomas Mantse in May 2014 at his clinic in Budapest. I had a very positive experience. Dr. Mantse was quite skilled and well informed. He was also reasonably nice. I feel that the best proof is in the results. The transplanted hair was placed in a very skilled way, and it grew in faster than I would have expected. It looks great after two and a half years, and I am very happy that I did it. My older children have remarked repeatedly how much younger it has made me appear.
The procedure I had was what Dr. Mantse calls a "No Look" Hair Transplant (NLHT), in which he harvests hair from the back of the head without the need to completely shave the back of the head. (Other clinicians may refer to a similar procedure as Unshaven Hair Transplant, or U-FUE.)
I posted pictures occasionally on the Hair Transplant Network blog over the first 8 months of my experience. My entries are at: http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/home-page.asp?WebID=2968. If you click on the dates in the column on the left, then you can see photos over several months. I was 48 years old at the time.
I chose Dr. Mantse because he does not insist on shaving the back of your head. The fact that he does not shave the back of your head makes the recovery relatively fast. I had to wear a hat for a week or so, and then after that you really had to look closely at the top of my forehead to see the surgery results. Now you cannot tell that I had surgery at all. The hair looks perfectly normal and absolutely wonderful.
Dr. Mantse was great during the procedure. He explained everything as he went along. He always answered my questions. During the morning and early afternoon, I was face down on a massage table, so there was a cutout for my face. I kept my eyes closed and tried to relax. Dr. Mantse's wife was there also as an assistant in the morning. She was also very nice and very professional. He also had a local plastic surgeon come and assist in the morning, just to speed the procedure even more, which was fine with me. (Removing the plugs takes less skill than the artistry required to implant the plugs correctly.) They harvested about 2,000 grafts (FUEs).
In the late afternoon and evening, I was sitting upright, and he let me watch a movie(s) on his TV in the procedure room while he transplanted. He has a big selection of movies to watch. He sketched (with a washable pen) the area that he was going to fill with plugs and showed it to me. I agreed, and he began implanting. He insisted that only he do that part, because he is very picky about the aesthetics. I can see why afterwards, because it looks great. He really has an artist's touch when it comes to putting the plugs in the right place.
I was as relaxed and comfortable as anyone could be who is undergoing a minor surgical procedure. One thing that I would note is that the procedure is performed under a local anesthetic. I could feel nothing most of the time, but very rarely he would reach the edge of the anesthetic and I would start to feel it. I let him know immediately, and he would stop and apply more anesthetic.
I highly recommend Dr. Thomas Mantse for an FUE procedure without the back of the head being shaved.
My experience with my hair transplant was great. Please see my review of ProHAIR Transplant Clinic and Dr. Thomas Mantse above.