Yaz89

3 months and 2 weeks update. Hope everyone is well and staying safe due to the current situation regarding the pandemic.

Just under 14 weeks now and not sure if this is early growth. Donor had recovered quickly. 

Far too early to judge the growth regarding the grafts placed in the crown and I know crown grafts take longer to appear. But I have a feeling, due to diffused hair loss pattern, that a 100% full coverage won't be possible. 
 

For diffused hair loss, minoxidil is the best solution. I will judge the crown growth in 18 months and will then decide whether to use minoxidil or not. 
 

I am still using fin. Have been since passed 7 years with no sides.

Stay safe everyone and I will update again in due time. 

Hi everybody, I had my 3rd surgery with Asmed on the 14th of Feb. Hopefully this is my final transplant. I had some hair line issues which we have rectified this time around and have also targeted the crown area. 

I arrived in Turkey, Istanbul on the 10th with the consultation with Dr Koray on the 13th. The new hospital is very modern and high tech. I did find it very quiet and less "fun" than the old hospital.

Consultation

During the consultation I was looked after Suzanna who has an great insight into patient care and of transplants. She is very knowledgeable regarding the tech around hair transplants and was the one who I had been in constant touch prior arriving in the country.

First, the standard photographs were taken with an handheld camera. Both dry and wet shots. Then the KE-Bot was used to calculate my donor. This machine/robot in my eyes is an amazing piece of equipment. In an space of 15 mins, it can take 3000 images of every single hair you have in the donor and also in the recipient. From the screen in front of me, I could see how thick my donor hair is and was amazed to see I have donor hairs consisting of 5, 6 and 7 hairs in terms of grouping. 

After the Ke-Bot, my donor again was evaluated using an small head held camera which they use (its pressed against the skin). Once again, the micron was measured at 70. The micron is extremely important. As greater the micron, the more thicker the donor hair shaft is. Thicker micron usually determines in an overall satisfying end result. This is why some people get "wowed" by results by surgeons such as Couto. Couto patients usually have thick micron's; if your donor hair is on the thin side then do not expect to have an result like Couto patients. You will only hurt yourself and your expectations will not be met. Have seen it many times on this forum. 

Finally Dr Koray arrived. It was great seeing him. Once again, he was an gentlemen and he took his time explaining everything. He was against transplanting in the crown as he stated I had some miniaturized hairs which may get shocked. But I wanted this to me my final surgery so he gave the ok signal. As a joke, I told him I don't want to see him again in another 5 years in an another new hospital and he burst out laughing. But if I am in Istanbul again, I will surely visit again. Thanks to him having hair again, it has turned my life around, made me more feel confident. He is an friend for life. I also met Dr Alp Bayramoglu who is part of the team. Great guy and took an great interest in my previous 2 surgeries. 

Finally the hair line drawing. Dr Koray said 800 grafts in the hairline and behind it. 300 grafts into the crown. I already had 700 grafts in the vertex area from my 2nd surgery but this time all the 300 grafts were concentrated in the black hole cow where my cowlick is. This time the hair line is much more systematic. Before it was too straight from the left side and too high from the right side. Much more rounded and unique.    

Then I was taken to the KE-photo. This is an photography machine. You sit, then the machine comes down and takes about 10 photos in one go instead of someone manually taking the photos with an camera. 

Then Dr Umat the anaesthetist arrived. He was still tough as old boots but humorous like last time.   

I was supposed to meet Dilek but did not get the chance during both days I was at Asmed. I then left Asmed for my hotel.

I understand a few people have stated the consultation felt rushed. This is not the case. Dr Koray has every single piece of information he needs to make decisions. Like the KE-Bot, the calculation of the donor, the micron of the donor. For me, I knew I am in good hands. He has all the information he needs from his tools. In my view Asmed is better now than they were before. 

Surgery day

Standard stuff really; arrive at 7am, change clothes etc. Met the team in the surgery room and was glad to hear the team had more than 8 years in experience with Asmed. The main tech was the same one who worked on me from the 2nd surgery. 

Took 4 hours to extract 1126 grafts. Then lunch, then Dr Koray did the incisions. I think I fell asleep after and woke up right at the end when they finishing placing the final few grafts in the crown. I inspected the work and I was happy to see the dense packing in both hairline and crown area. They bandaged my head and I went back to the hotel. 

The next morning the bandage was removed, the work was washed and photos were taken again with the KE-photo. Then again, with the KE-Bot. Finally it was time to say goodbye to Dr Koray, Suzanna and everyone else. 

Final thoughts 

Like everyone else, I had been concerned about the quality of work declining and I asked the clinic. It is safe to say I am happy with their answers and before my 3rd surgery researched every patient forum where Asmed cases have been posted (real patient write-ups) such French, German, Italian forums and their work is still high quality.    

Dr Koay has been investing heavily into research and new technology and its only for his patients; to make a great result into an even greater result. The KE-bot is the world’s only robotic system to prepare a 3D model of the head, determine surface area, follicular unit density, hair density, the calculated density, the hair diameter, and coverage value. I know because it was used on me. The KE-photo also is an great technology. It is an photography system that takes six photos simultaneously in the same view to maintain consistency in before and after photography.

Expectations, Expectations, Expectations

Hair transplants is both an surgical procedure and an form of artisity. Actually it is way more than that. It is about donor hair, thick or thin hair shafts, the amount of hair loss, use of medication. These are all important. And for me, it has all worked out at the end. First, the usage of fin has greatly thickened my hair (I have been taking more than 7 years with no side effects). Secondly, I have an great donor. My patient lisaon (Suzanna) commented how thick my hair was. More thicker than Arabs and even more thicker than typical south-asian hair. I was astonished to hear this as I am south asian myself.  

I have played it safe with small surgeries of 2402 (2013), 2482 and finally 1126 (2020) grafts. I believe the gap in the years have helped the transplants mature and to see if any further hair loss has been detected...good to say it hasn't. It could be fin is still helping to maintain. I had my first transplant at 24 now I am 31. I have more hair than most of my friends. 

Usually again, the more surgeries you have the less thicker the donor becomes and the bigger grafts decline in number. It has not been the case for me:

2404 (2013) Single 489, double 1159, triple 700, multiple 54. Average 2.13 

2482 (2016) Single 409, double 1392, triple, 633, quadruple 54, quintuple 2. Average 2.14

1126 (2020) Single 122, double 697, triple, 283, quadruple 24

Total 6012 grafts

I will post when the need requires in the future, as hair loss is an battle which I have won (so far).

On 8/15/2018 at 4:17 AM, thatoldchestnut said:

Thoroughly deserved Yaz, hair looks great.

You went through some rough times, glad things are sunnier for you now and you have a barnet to match! All the best.

Thank you Chestnut...you have been supportive. Much appreciated. 

13 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Wow incredible work, even with a short haircut it’s dense congrats.

Thanks Melvin! Congrats on the new role!

14 hours ago, forgotpassword said:

congrats @Yaz89

how does the donor area look when you grow it out?

Did you tell your wife that you had some work done?

The donor area is just fine. I am blessed with an thick donor and have no problems growing it out. In the UK, skin fades and faded hair styles are more common than long hair. I usually get a zero blade for my hair style

Haven't told my wife at all...

15 hours ago, ersko72 said:

Amazing result Yaz. Your hair looks fantastic cropped so short. 

Thanks Ersko. How has yours turned out?

34 minutes ago, PeloDinero said:

I wouldn’t consider you to have had “a slicked bald head” as it looks like your crown has stayed intact. Crown loss is the kiss of death as I’ve had 3,700 grafts in my crown alone. Amazing result nonetheless. Happy for you. 

Thanks for the feedback. The crown has remained stable and thickened due to finasteride. I used to take it everyday since 2013 but reduced the dose to M-W-F. If it loses effectively I will consider adding minoxidil to keep the fight going. I did ask Dr Koray to add grafts to the crown but was told I had too much existing hair.

Your point on the “slicked bald head”. I am not outlaying the whole head. But the areas which were void of hair such as the hair line, focusing on the front and middle areas. Don't be fooled by the frontal forelock; it was extremely weak and only had a few hundred of existing hair. 

1 hour ago, Raman said:

Looking great Yas! Awesome result, cant believe its been over 2 years since your second FUE

Hey Raman, thanks mate. Time has flown. Can't believe it myself

Nearly 5 years post op from first transplant and 2.4 years post op from second transplant. 

This is how nearly 5k grafts look on an slicked, virtually bald head. This was an extremely close cropped hairstyle which I sported last month. 

Considering one small tranplant for the hair line to close micro-density issues but apart from that; life is good. 

A lot has changed in life; I am 30 years old and it has been one hell of a journey when I had my first transplant at 24. I got married in April which was also the 2nd anniversary of my second transplant. Talk about coincidence!

Hello there, what does the back of your head look like now please, you had a lot of FUE grafts and curious as to how it looks now.

My donor looks prestige after removing nearly close to 5k grafts. Photo taken a few days ago. I will try to upload some donor shots; preferably taken outdoors to show how realistic the donor looks

wow your result looks amazing for only 2400 grafts... I'm getting a transplant with erdogan for 4000-5000 grafts in 2 weeks, looks like I chose the right guy...! I have a similar hairline to what you had, with thinning on top, and similar thick dark hair, so am hoping for a similar result. But heck, if he can do that with 2400 grafts, what will 5000 look like?!

Hi, thanks for the feedback. I had additional 2490 grafts. I had charted my second transplant progress in my second thread. Take a look; maybe it help you.

Looking good my friend! We seem to have similar hair styles....great minds think alike ey.

As for the Hanz de Fuko products, they may be on amazon but I usually buy mine from Man.Kind. Its an UK supplier but they ship internationally. Trust me, Hanz de Fuko are one premium brand; they have smashed it with their products. The Claymation I use; no other product holds my hair well all day and the best thing about it is its reworkable. Other products I used in the past tended to hold up the hair for an few hours before getting floopy again.

Cool. Always like Dr Diep's work especially his youtube videos.

I believe you will see continuous improvement the coming months. 6 months is just the beginning mate. Comparing the last month to your recent one; its amazing. Crown does take much longer than the frontal.

In terms of styling products, have you tried Hanz De Fuko pomade? I use Hanz de Fuko Claymation. Does wonders for me

This patient is Italian. I have been reading his thread on the Italian forum. He is going back for an second surgery with Asmed for the mid-scalp/crown.

After an 10 hour night shift and 10 hour sleep. I'm back. I would like to apologise to Dr Feller and Dr Bloxham. Even this is the internet, we all have feelings and we are humans. I have edit my own posts and have removed bad language.

I feel I don't have an dogs fight in this fue vs fut thing. It doesn't benefit me or makes me money at the end of the day. For this reason, I am ceasing my participation in this thread.

Dr Feller and Dr Bloxham, I always liked you guys and always found your content interesting. My words were put down in an heated moment and I am sorry. Oh Dr Bloxham, some nice piece of marketing I read in the Telegraph (UK) about you done by Spex.

Dr Feller, shave off your donor and lets compare my fue scars with your fut scars.

Yaz-

 

When someone has to descend to personal attacks and foul language you have lost the argument.

 

Your potty mouth has been reported.

Yes Dr Feller. Next time do not mention me in proxy statements. And twist my words and posts for the benefit for Feller And Bloxham

 

Please see the conversation I and Dr. Bloxham recently had with another FUE patient like yourself named Yaz. He made the same argument you are trying to make. He claimed there was no way an FUT surgery could have allowed him to enjoy his current hairstyle. Then we showed him not only was that not true, but the FUT would have allowed him to enjoy an even more revealing hairstyle, with less injury to the skin, less scarring, a greater chance for growth in the recipient area, and more grafts available in the future.

 

 

The Yaz conversation starts at post number 18 in the following link. He too wasted his time on FUE when he could have gotten a better more reliable result with FUT AND had less donor scarring and more grafts available for the future. When he realized this he disappeared from the thread:

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/186983-why-not-get-fue-interview-dr-willaim-reed-dr-feller-bloxham-2.html[/size][/color]

You and Dr Bloxham showed nothing. Dr Bloxham showed pics of FUT scars at grade 3's. I cut my donor at grade 0.

I would have got better growth with FUT! Yeah right. I was an total eight ball. My FUE surgeries were successful. Anybody who reads my threads knows this.

Disappeared? Naaa, enjoying my life thanks to Koray Erdogan!

I agree with Spanker. I have lost 3 people in my family. 2 uncles who committed suicide after lengthly fights with severe depression. And 1 aunt, again with severe depression. All 3 were on anti-depressant meds and not on fin! This Mark guy who posts garbage like this should show empathy when posting such links.

Yaz that sounds really good for me.

I am at the end of my FUT journey and if I need more it will have to be FUE.

I have dental chair anxiety, which is actually much worse "face down".

So I worried about being "face down" for hours.

Glad to hear it's possible to do without being "face down".

 

 

 

If you dont mind, can you share how long you were in the chair if you

combine 6-7 hours for extraction followed by placement of 2400 FUE grafts?

Looking back it took 6-7 hours (maybe 5 hours) of extraction. Then 1 hour of slits making. The tiring part was graft insertion. I believe 4 hours. I do remember we started 8.30 am and finished around 6.30pm.

What was the longest continual "face down" position for harvesting you had for FUE?

 

The "face down" position even for FUT is not something I enjoy,

and it seems "face down" for FUE is much, much longer?

 

Also how many days in the surgery chair did "nearly 5k grafts" take?

 

And what was cost of 5000 FUE grafts?

I wasn't face down. I was in prone and sitting postion. Very comfortable indeed.

I had 2 separate surgeries. First one in 2013, second in 2016. 1st surgery 2400 grafts took 6-7 hours to extract manually. Same for 2nd surgery but 2492 grafts

wow....that's a much more "invasive" scar than my 3 procedure FUT scar, and that can't all be safe-zone" hair can it?

I don't give a damn. I'm very happy with my results. I had no nerve pain. Was back to normal within 10 days and pumping weights in the gym within 2 weeks. Shame FUT guys can't go gym in the fear of stretching the scar

Yaz,

 

I'm sorry but you don't get to "hit and run" like that. When people attempt to retreat from arguments like this, it ruins the discussion for researching patients up the road.

 

Like I said before, you're pleased with the results of your surgery and that's what matters. However, you are the one who said you can shave your donor to a zero guard, but then only showed a fade cut with very long hair above the upper part of the donor. And I did not display your donor in a terrible manner. This is the way you presented your donor in your very own thread. I didn't dig this up or present it in any other manner; I copied the link from the thread you created.

 

Nor do I think any of this has to do with "terrible work" at all. This is regular FUE scarring. And it's not abnormal for any skin type. If you have hair transplant surgery, you have scars. Period. There are different types and ways to conceal it, but to pretend that you can "shave it to a zero" and only a "trained eye" can spot the scars is harmful to future patients.

 

Best of luck with everything.

Dr Bloxham, I have far better things to do with my time than being on an online forum. I have not retreated from any arguments. It is you and Dr Feller misleading my words. My fade is zero guard! What don't you get it? Bottom is zero, the fade is 0.5 and the bit I leave it "longer" like Dr Feller keeps talking is grade 1. Are you now an barber as well an surgeon?

Yes, keep banging on scars. Even in FUT, you cannot shave to zero.

I bid you guys farewell. Was nice to have an decent conversation without the bitching. Once again, I am happy with my surgeries and I have not denied the flaws with FUE. Similar flaws also exist with FUT. I can pull out terrible FUT work from the internet just like the way you have displayed my donor. Good day gentlemen