Hesediel

Bleeding from the donor is expected, but if you see blood on the recipient area that is a reason for alarm because it usually means a graft has fallen out.

 

Yes, I also had swollen forehead on days 3-5, corticosteroids prevented it from going really bad but keeping some ice also helped a lot.

 

As for the sleeping, perhaps you should avoid taking sleeping pills to prevent your body from relaxing too much and inadvertently hurting the grafts. Just roll a pillow under your head and lie on your back so that your neck is completely bent forward and your chin almost touches your chest. It is surprisingly less uncomfortable than it sounds, and the next morning you'll wake up in exactly the same position

Yes, majority of the blood spots were from the donor area. However, today a graft has fallen out from the hairline. I rushed to take off my hat at the passport control and doing so one of the graft got stuck in the fabric and it fell off. I had to wipe the blood from the hole, but its fine now, I'll be more careful!

Ice sounds good, I didnt think about that. Gotta continue taking this Prednol 16mg/metilprednisolone until wednesday but I'm pretty sure majority of the swelling will be gone by then!

I have to try your suggestion for sleeping because in the past couple of nights my sleeping has been awful. I usually sleep on my side plus the donor area was getting sweaty, and this lack of sleep is.. no good hahah.

Hey guys, I'm finally back in my beloved country.

Today is forehead swelling day so I'll keep taking the corticosteroid tablets as prescribed.

Has anyone else experienced this? It looks like my head got hit by a bat or something.

No bleeding/itchyness from donor area or recipient area (yet) but I'm just waiting for it.

I might take a sleeping pill tonight since its still hard to find a comfortable position at night to prevent pain/sweat on the donor area.

I remember it like as if it was yesterday! Can't believe a year has passed since my HT with Dr Maral, did you get your hat today! What hotel are you staying in, My Rose or The Levent.? Your pictures show that everything looks really good so far!

Yes, I've got the hat hahah! Its like a rite of passage!

I'm staying at My Rose hotel, its clean and breakfast is good. I'm glad to know from you guys that so far its healing well, I got a little scared when after my nap I found the blood stains (not much blood anyway but still), everything is new to me and I guess I'm freaking out for even the smallest things

Today is day 2 and in the morning we've been visiting Dr. Maral, whom took care of our bandages and gave us shampoo/lotions as well as a hat.

My donor area is healing (i guess), but is it normal thats still a bit bleeding? I took a nap this afternoon and when I woke up there were blood stains on the little absorbent towel the clinic gave me yesterday

Heres two update pics:

What made you choose dr. Maral? I'm also considering to go and see him for my HT, so I'm wondering why did you chose him? I also sent you a friend request

First thing that made me choose him was the good impression I've got from emailing with him, thing that absolutely did not happen with Dr. Erdogan.

Second, I'd be an hypocrite if I didnt say "the price". Around half of other surgeons in Turkey and around 1/3 of what I would have payed in my country. Being a college student sometimes forces you in a specific direction... I know I shouldn't consider price over quality, but I also thought "afterall, thinking about my genetic and my hair loss at 24yo, it can't get that much worse.. might as well try it!".

Final price btw was 1700€, including hotel staying, transportations to/from hotel/airport and post operation drugs and care. Plus, I've got the Venice-Istanbul direct flight for only 140€ round trip. I can't ask for more

Thanks everyone, will be updating as soon as anything new pops out!

Hey everyone! This is my first thread but I've been lurking this forum for years and this is my chance to thank all of you guys for the great amount of informations I've found in this wonderful forum.

I'm here to share my experience with Dr. Maral and my FUE transplant happened today in Istanbul with the hope to help those of you that are still not sure about his clinic/work or FUE transplant.

Long story short, I'm a 24yo Northern Italian guy who started developing male pattern baldness at the age of 19. Genetics family wise are NW 4-5 for males and NW 1-2 for females (some exceptions).

Here's some of my photos pre operation:

Front view

Right side

Left side

Back/donor

Upper zone

If it might help, here's also my father's baldness

I discovered about FUE thanks to this forum and you guys. At first I was heading towards Dr. Erdogan in Turkey, but I did not have a good impression from him e-mail wise so I kept looking. When I found out about Dr. Maral, we had some consultation via e-mail and I had a feeling I found someone competent, knowledgable and patient (I can be very anxious about my hair and I tend to ask a lot of questions).

Booked FUE with him for end of January, which happened today (had couple of days of delay due to university classes).

The clinic is nice and clean, in a busy business district in Istanbul. We were provided with full transports from and to our hotel/airport, which was very nice.

Dr. Maral appreciated my donor area explaining how, even if my back hair are very healthy and thick, it would be wise to keep a slightly high hairline eventually for future follow up operations, avoiding to use all the donor area. He said my hairloss covers only the front side (with a bit of central thinning), which is not bad compared to way higher NW levels, and I have the possibility to achieve a great result.

After a quick undressing (we were given surgical gowns) and a quick shave, I was asked to lay down on my front to proceed with the graft extraction. An assistent (a woman) was "piercing" my scalp with the motor and the other assitent (a man) was picking out the grafts and putting them first on a gauze and then in a petri dish. This process started around 10 am and it was done at 1:30 pm when I got asked what I wanted for lunch.

After a quick lunch with doner, I was asked to lay on my back so the same assistent could proceed to start piercing the holes on the front area. This was a very quick process. Seriously, I don't think it took more than 1 hour. Meanwhile, a LCD TV screen in front of me was playing some nice National Geographic documentaries, allowing time to fly faster.

After the piercing, the graft implantation begun, which honestly was the most boring part. It lasted from 2:30pm to 5:40pm.

I'm currently at the hotel (provided by the clinic) and I'm honestly a bit in pain, however the medical staff gave me 3 boxes of drugs to take for 3-4 days: paracetamol/acetaminophen (paninkiller), metilprednisolone (anti inflamation) and doxycycline (strong antibiotic). I'm dreading the night, to be honest. But oh well, the worst part is gone I guess.

Even if I do not have a donor pic yet, I'm going to share the front area. Consider that its very fresh (less than 6 hours) and that my hotel room is quite dark (only two lights? what the hell!)

I have such a huge instinct to scratch my head right now but its strictly forbidden to avoid making the grafts fall.

So yeah, here's my story if it can be useful to anyone. If you have any question feel free to ask, consider I'm all by myself and pretty bored at the moment so I'll reply quickly!