Houston123

These are my current 5 months results. I have been travelling, so I couldn't take these pics at the exact location as previous ones were taken. I still feel, with my hand, a lot small hairs are coming out. Other thing I noticed is that I hardly see any hair falling out on the sink or in the shower pretty much since I had the operation. Please make a note that I exercise 4-5 times a week, do not smoke and really watch my diet. Not taking any meds.

Hello everybody! I am a 49 year old Turkish American living in Houston since 2003. I had a 3344 graft FUT with Dr. Arocha (Houston) in December 2012. Then, my hair continued thinning over the years. I have been using only Minoxidil since the first transplant. I had been thinking about getting an other transplant for the last year or so. I had a chance to go to Turkey and spend 5 months this summer. I had read about and following Dr. Doganay in this network along with few other doctors in Turkey over the years. I made a decision to get a FUE from Dr. Doganay. In addition to his results, my parents living in Antalya where Dr. Doganay operates were main drivers help me decide. First, I sent pics to his office and they told me that since I had a FUT before, they are looking at around 3000 grafts and mentioned that the number may change as I see him in person. They gave me two options, 1) Transplant by his team, 2) Transplant by the Dr. himself. I choose to have my transplant done by the doctor himself. Then, I travelled to Antalya and went for a face to face consultation. Dr. Doganay mentioned that my hair in general looked better then the pics, and that even though he can not promise, they may be able to harvest more then 3000 without significantly thinning the donor area. I must say I had a very pleasant experience interacting with him and his team. We had lost of time to chat during the two day operation:). The operation took two days on Octorber 21 and 22, 2021. Each day, his team extracted 1700 grafts and doctor himself implemented each graft himself with pens totaling 3400 grafts. They constantly kept track of graft count on a white board during the extraction and the implementation phase. Since my parents were living in the same city, I ended up staying there for a month and went to have a check up on day 10, when they also took some more pics. I am attaching some pics they took in the clinic and some that I have been taking. These pics are taken at Pre-operation, Day 0, Day 5, Day 10 and Month 2. I noted on the pics themselves when they were taken. I also tried to take multiple pics for especially for Pre-operation and Month 2 in different light conditions for a better representation. Couple additional points: 1) I don't think I lost all the implemented grafts until now, my guestimate is may be 30-40% are fallen off. I had a similar experience with my first operation. 2) I used sterilized Seawater in a spray bottle (normally used for healing tattoos or primarily used as nasal decongestion) during the first 10 days. I believe it help me heal faster and reduced itching and gives relief and cool feeling. No burning or discomfort at all. I had also used it after my first operation 9 years ago. 3) I started back using Minoxidil after 30 days (Nights). Also, Dr. Doganay gave me a solution which he created to use everyday (Mornings) in addition to Minoxidil. 4) I told the clinic to leave the hair on the recipient area as long as possible, so I dont have to wait as long for my existing hair to grow. That's why my haircut looks the way it is right before the transplant . I am personally very happy with the results so far even though it has only been 2 months. Looking forward to your valuable feedback. Thanks to everyone who keeps this network and form going everyday.

I actually disagree that the exercise is more important than the diet. I think diet is 75%, exercise is 25%. Minimum, I would say 50/50. It all depends on what stage you are in losing weigh begging all the way trying to get really lean. The secret to loosing weigh in any stage is to create a Caloric deficit. It is really no brainer! It is simple math! You can establish this caloric deficit by eating less calories or exercising or the healthier way which is to both eat less and healthier with less calories and exercise. First you have to identify how much calorie you need maintain your current weight. Search Google for BMR calculators to figure this. Then you can do searches such as “how much calories I need to eat to lose weight” or similar words. I have seen a lot of helpful videos on you tube on this subject. Basic logic is you need to create 3500 calorie deficit (eat less or burn or both) to lose 1 lbs of fat. So, if you want to lose 1 lbs every week, then you need to create caloric deficit of 500 every day / seven days a week. It is very important that you need to take your calories from balanced food sources. Ideal distribution of calories should come from: 40% Protein (Each gr of protein generates 4 calories) 40% Carbohydrates (Each gr of Carbohydrates generates 4 calories) 20% Fats (Each gr of fat generates 9 calories) Search Google for good source of fats, protein and carbohydrates! Other important point is tracking all these numbers daily! I know it sounds time consuming, but only way! Read food nutrition labels and pay attention to serving sizes. I am 41 and have always exercised but never could get lean enough to see my abs definition (6 PackJ). 6 weeks ago I decided to do the diet changes I have mentioned above and created 350-500 cal deficit daily. I started 169 lbs. At week 2, I was 168lbs and 16% body fat. At week 6 I am 163 lbs and dropped down to 12%. I exercise 3 times a week (M,W,F) each day lift weight 60 min and cardio 30 min. I know it is a lot of exercise, but the point I would like to make is that I was doing this type of exercise before, but I really saw big difference when I really started to watch my diet. Good luck!

I have seen this thread before my HT in Dec 2012 and it sounded interesting so, I did some more search in Google. Looked like H2Ocean Spray is mainly used by Tattoo and Body piercing guys. I read some reviews in other webpages, including amazon, relating to Tattoo and Body piercing and they were very positive. So, I decided to use it on the new grafts and the donor area, after mentioning to my doc. This was my first HT, so I do not have anything to compare to but, I did not experience any redness, itching and it felt good on grafts. I used it 3-4 times a day for 7-8 days, on dry hair and let it dry on as per instructions on the can. The scabs from the recipient area were gone around the day 7-8 or so.

Hi guys, I am 40 years old and had been thinking on/off about a HT for the last 2 years. Finally, I decided to go for it. I am originally from Turkey and living in Houston for a longtime and my first instinct was to have the HT in Turkey considering the lower cost. I started researching the native forums in Turkish. I also talked to 2-3 family/friends in Turkey who had decent HTs there. I am sure there are many great HT Clinics and doctors in Turkey. As per my research from distance-USA, I could not be convinced enough to take the risk of having the operation in Turkey. Meantime, reading forums/reviews extensively in this site and couple others, I decided to consult and have the operation with Dr. Arocha on Dec 15, 2012. Additional factors I considered when choosing Dr. Arocha were: 1) Not wanting to shave my head for HT 2) Preferring FUT to FUE 3) Local Access to Clinic if any complications arise or follow up visits needed I had a great HT experience with Dr. Arocha and his team. They are very personable, professional and caring people. Obviously, we “HT Patients” choose our clinics mainly because of their talent and expertise but it really helps when they are also easy to deal with and friendly. During the operation, I only felt discomfort / pain during the first couple of injections in the donor area and surprisingly less pain on the recipient, front area. From start to finish, the team constantly asked how I was doing and if I was feeling any pain/discomfort. The surgery was a breeze after the initial discomfort. After I came home from the surgery, I noticed a very small area on my right corner of the hairline that, if I had the chance, would have liked to be filled a little more. I decided to mention it to Dr. Arocha, when I went to the clinic next day for my first shampoo. To be honest, I was a little nervous about mentioning this to him considering that I just had the surgery with one of best hairline designers around. I started telling him what I was feeling about this small area and as I was thinking I need to justify my feelings further, he jumped in and said “Let’s do a little touch up, the way that you would like to have it. It is important that it is exactly the way you want it and be happy with it.” He scheduled a touch up session for 6 days later and did not charge me anything. He could have easily argued against it or suggest waiting for hairline to mature etc. but he did not. He also knew that if we did not touch it up or waited for couple of months, it was going to bother me every time I look in the mirror;). This experience showed me truly how much he cares about his patients’ satisfaction and understanding he is. Since then, I went to the clinic two more times to get my stitches removed and had the same great experience with him and his team. It has been 4 weeks since my HT, and very happy with the results so far. Many thanks to Dr. Arocha and his team, guys who are maintaining this site and also to everybody contributing & sharing. I have learned a lot of useful information here. I will continue to update as the months go by. Cheers! I posted the details of my daily events for the first 4 weeks PostOp and lessons learned! http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/168939-my-experience-first-4-weeks-postop-lessons-learned.html

I had a HT with Dr. Arocha (3344 grafts) on Dec 15, 2012. I posted my overall HT experience in another forum. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?p=2331896#post2331896 These are the daily events I went through for the first 4 weeks and thought to be useful to share: Day 0 - Surgery (Dec 15, 2012). At night, started sleeping 45 degrees with U shaped travel air pillow and no leaning forward/down until Day 4 to prevent swelling. Day 1 – They washed my hair in the Clinic and showed me how to do it by patting gently down, on the grafts, and horizontal rub on the donor area. Started spraying “H2Ocean” 3-4 times/day to both donor and recipient areas until Day 7-8 to keep moist and speed up healing. Day 2 – Washed hair with Graftcyte Shampoo / Water mix that clinic gave me. Used spray bottles, on “Mist” setting and from a safe distance, both for shampoo and rinse. Alternated with Baby Shampoo until Day 7. Actually, I did not like how neither of the shampoos made my hair feel. Day 4 – Started washing grafts with very gentle circular motion, gradually increasing pressure until day 7/8 when all the scabs from grafts were gone. Never saw any graft come out! Did not need any pain meds for donor area since Day 3. Day 10 – Removed stiches. Switched to my normal (Pre HT) shampoo Nioxin 2, after consulting Dr. Arocha. Felt great by going back to Nioxin, no burning or too strong feeling. Started washing donor area with more pressure to help remove scabs. Started applying Aloe Vera Spray to donor area at nights. Day 14 – Started to see light shock loss especially from donor area. Recipient area looks completely healed. Started work Day 20, nobody noticed I had a HT. Day 23 – Shock loss increased from donor area (pics posted on my site). I do not notice shock loss from recipient area. Started going back to gym, light weights with avoiding certain moves. Concentrating on cardio. Week 4 – From what I can see, I still have estimated 80% or even more of the grafts in place, continuing to grow. Light tightness I originally had in donor area is almost gone, never had numbness. The numbness in the recipient area is gradually going away from out towards center area. The shock loss increased from my donor area, very obvious if I lift my hair up with my hand, otherwise not visible. Started using Minoxidil 5% on crown and some on donor area. Obviously, I did not do everything right:D. Lessons Learned:rolleyes: 1) Got bored sitting at home and was feeling great! So, I went shopping on day 3 PostOp. I felt pressure all over my head after walking around about two hours, came home put some ice on my forehead and problem was solved. Lesson Learned: Take your time and rest! 2) I should have listened doc’s PostOp advice and at least start using Minoxidil 5% right away. My guess right now is that, it might have helped some with my current shock loss. Started Rogaine Foam 5% yesterday (End of Week 4) General Notes: 1) I did not experience any swelling, itching, or redness on recipient area. Minimal itching at donor area. 2) I decided not to take Propecia/Fin. Thinking about starting Nizarol 2% once a week, starting at week 8 or so. 3) I have been taking supplements B6, B12, Fish Oil, Biotin 5000mcg, Mag/Zinc/Cal for the last 3-4 years, will continue those. Recently, stopped Mag/Zinc/Cal and started eating 1 cup of Pumpkin Seeds, instead.