Hello everyone,
I would like to share with you my hair transplant operation experience with Dr Yaman in Istanbul, Turkey.
I had my HT operation with Dr. Resul Yaman on 17 Nov 15. I arrived on the 16th early morning at 5.30 am, picked up by the clinic driver and transported to the hotel.
In the afternoon, I met Dr Yaman at his clinic for consultation; he checked my head, donor area density, hair thickness and evaluated my case. I was told that I had a very good donor area density of about 6200 grafts and that he will need to extract 4750 approx. for the operation. He drew my hairline and showed me the proposed allocation of grafts on front, middle and the crown areas (pic. attached). During the consultation I asked Dr Yaman to carry on a Thyroid gland test in addition to the normal blood test as I doubted that it could be a reason for my hair fall due to gland disorder, Don’t ask me why I thought of that
Next day around 9 am, the driver picked me up and went to the clinic, blood test was done, hair shaved, hairline was drawn again and the operation started by 11 am. Dr Yaman did the Anastasia himself for the transplanted area, the incisions and the extraction of the grafts; where as the Anastasia in the donor area and placement of the grafts were done by his staff, a total of 4 nurses.
My operation took around 10 hours, from 11 am till 9.30 pm. The grafts were extracted in three sessions, the second session was the longest because grafts were extracted from the back of my head which is a large area compared to the sides.
After completion of the operation Dr Yaman told me that he extracted about 4700 grafts.
My donor area was bandaged and I was given inflatable neck pillow and white sheet to place under my head, I was also given pain killers in case I felt any pain.
Next day, I went to the clinic to remove the bandage and I got the medicines, Lotion, shampoo and antiseptic ointment and went back to the hotel.
2 days post-op I had my first wash at the clinic and I was given a CD that contains procedure for washing my hair, also contained my photos that were taken in the clinic pre, during and post-op. I attached most of them in this post. After my first wash, I told Dr Yaman that my hairline doesn’t look even on both temples and a couple of bald/empty spots on mid scalp area. He looked at it and told me not to worry and that he will retouch it. Next day I went to the clinic for second wash.
On 21st Nov (4 days post-op) I had my hair washed at the clinic and an hour or so after that Dr Yaman did the retouch to my hairline and inserted few more grafts to mid scalp as well, a total of 150 grafts were extracted from the left side (left temporal)for the retouching.
In the evening I felt pain in my donor area with few pinching and itching sensation which drove me to take pain killers. I took pain killers twice a day for three days and after that the pain reduced and pain killer was taken just once a day at night before going to bed for 2 nights only. Meanwhile my donor area was healing as predicted and scabs started falling around day 4 post-op and by day 10 all scabs fell off (few scabs on forehead can be seen in the 10-day photo)
On my 10 and 11 day past-op, I had a wash with massage of the scalp in the clinic to remove scabs and dead tissues from the transplanted area and all scabs have fallen off by then (photos attached).
Dr. Yaman recommended me to continue using Propecia as long there is no side effects; I also came to know about Xpecia which is a Turkish-made multi-vitamins medicine which can be used with/in lieu of Propecia (photo attached of its contents) and I bought a one-year supply. I also purchased a 6-month special shampoo and spray from the clinic that cost me 200 Euros as I was told that they will help with growth as they contain certain nutrients that are good for hair.
During my visits to the clinic I met with patients from all over, from Italy, UK, Turkey, UAE and Belgium, and some of them are members on this HRN and some of them were having their second HT operation with Dr. Yaman.
I stayed for two weeks in Istanbul in a 3-star hotel; first week covered by the clinic and paid 200 Euros for the second week and left Turkey on 30th November. As of my experience so far I’m quite happy with the surgery and the treatment I had at the clinic.
I’d like to thank Dr. Yaman and all the staff who were really nice, polite and professional and give me about 7 washes at the clinic (I was a regular patient at the clinic ) and special thanks to Dr. Yaman Assistant/interpreter Fikret (amico mio) who was really helpful and fun and nice enough to show me around the city a couple of days before my departure.
I hope you guys find this post helpful and will try to keep you updated on monthly basis or so.