JustJax

ASMED can take a few days to respond although when I've emailed them back recently they've replied really quickly. When did you contact them? I had a consult with Dr Erdogan in London about 3 weeks back and I asked about wait times and if I recall she said about 2 months ahead but I guess it depends on the specific dates. I'm sure they get cancellations too.

Thanks Mav, I think I might just opt for it. Part of me is looking for small ways to save money as its a pretty expensive operation but then at the same time I flip the argument around and tell myself that in the grand scheme of things, an extra couple of hundred euros is nothing and considering I'm already starting to compile post-surgery tips on how to maximize healing and regrowth its probably short sighted not to opt for it.

Yes definitely check out local bureau de change branches/stores as I think they'll offer better rates. Looking forward to reading about your journey too. I love all the detailed threads as they really do help and set expectations, etc. Out of curiosity what made you choose Dr Erdogan/Asmed? I hadn't overly considered the airport. From what I've read Ataturk is very busy due to running at max capacity. I'm actually flying in and out of SAW (Istanbul Sabiha G?k?en Airport) which while busy, I think its probably better than Ataturk. Doesn't look like they have Prime Class at SAW, but it seems like they have something called FastTrack and for 65 TL (which is about 15 GBP/pounds) and that seems to give you fast track for passport and access to international lounge. Can't seem to find much info on it on the airport site but if its just 15 GBP then its probably worth it just to have a slightly more relaxed area to wait in.

So I'm booking my surgery this week and while I can probably add it if it decide otherwise. I'm curious as to whether most people given the option, add PRP unto their HT surgery? I think with ASMED it's an additional 300 euros which I don't mind paying but it the concensus is it makes little or no difference then I might skip it. Thoughts?

No harm in asking the clinic. I'm sure I read on one thread that someone paid in British pounds. In terms of exchange rates, I'm not sure where in the States you are? But maybe Google "bureau de change" and your local city and see what comes up. Small Bureau de change tend to have better rates. For example we have a London based chain called Thomas Global Exchange and today they are offer 1.30 euros or 1.00 GBP/pound, while Barclays, one of the UK's leading banks are only offering rates at 1.23 which would means I'd be paying approx ?316 pounds more for the same amount of euros. So when exactly is your surgery? I do hope you are planning to share your experience on the forum, particularly as you are having your HT done at Asmed as I'm also paying my deposit this week with Asmed for surgery on Oct 11th :cool:

Have a look online for other companies that have better currency rates, you'll probably find plenty with better rates than the bank. Not sure with American banks, but UK banks charge a fee for withdrawing cash from overseas ATM's. I think its something like 2%, so if you withdrew the equivalent of $10k then you'd also land up paying $200 in fees too. Have you paid for the airport transfers with ASMED? If you have then you'll be picked up straight off the flight at the airport, so you could get a money belt and as soon as you get to the hotel put it in your room safe. Also, you could get your Euro's in very high denomination notes (they have 200 and 500 euro notes) so you could easily carry quite a high amount very discreetly.

Cool, I'm inclined to fly Turkish Airlines, but if the price shoots up quick a bit more then I might go with Pegasus, just a shame each only seem to have one flight daily.

No worries You know what, I've kinda made peace with this now. As you suggest more people die each year from accident. On balance I think the odd's of getting caught up in anything is very unlikely. I'm just trying to make the decision now on what day to come back. With surgery on the Tuesday I can't leave before Wed afternoon anyway, but I'm inclined to stay until Friday. That way I can get my hear/hair washed again at the clinic on Thursday and then get a flight early morning on Friday back to London. No to decide as darn price with Turkish Airlines has already just up from ?115 GBP a few days ago to ?137 GBP today. :mad: BTW, who did you fly with?

Thanks wibbles180, I already follow him on Instagram and YouTube, so I'll be sure to reach out. What time did you see Dr Erdogan in London? I had the last appointment of the day at 18:30. I saw a guy who had his HT a year earlier and it looked great. Not sure if he's on the forum or not.

Thanks Yaz89. Not sure if we have chatted via email before? was it under a different user name? Anyway thanks helping with so many of my questions, that really helps. Thanks Leindub, between your comments and Yaz89 I'm now thinking I might head back home back sooner. Trying to find the balance in my mind between wanting to get home and having the peace of mind of the clinic nearby so I panic about the swelling etc. Lol, not sure any of that statement reassured me To be honest I didn't actually realise there had been any (let alone four) terrorist attacks in Istandbul this year. I'll be honest and say this info does scare me somewhat, although I have being doing some research online and the last few attacks haven't been anywhere near the clinic or the surrounding area. Also while the UK Governenment (Foreign Office) travel advice does have a warning for Turkey, its only that they peoiple should avoid travel to within 10 km of the border with Syria and to the city of Diyarbakir. This all gives me a little more peace of mind, but equally, sightseeing is now off the agenda. I think I'll follow your lead Leindub and limit my travel between the airport, hotel and clinic. Anyway, thanks all again for help with my quesitons, its really helped and also the clinic email back earlier and advised I should be fine with regards my folliculitis concerns as Dr Erdogan examined my scalp and it was fine. Its a bank holiday in the UK on Monday so I think I'll take a few days to decide on how many nights to stay and then try and finalise everything next week.

So I’ve gone back to ASMED as asked to book me in for surgery on Tue 11th October. They sent me an email this morning with lots of info and I need to pay the deposit within the next 10 days to confirm the booking. But before I go ahead and make it official (i.e pay the deposit) I wanted to check a few things and get a bit more advice. 1) Folliculitis - One of the conditions that ASMED lists as potentially presenting a problem with the operation is folliculitis. Now I don’t believe I have folliculitis on my head as I’ve never had an issues and Dr Erdogan didn’t say anything when he examined me during my London consult so hopefully that’s fine but I do sometimes suffer from folliculitis on my chest, back and thighs (think it was caused by waxing a few years back). If I’ve had it on these areas should I be worried about my head? I plan to speak to the clinic of course but curious as to whether any others had had folliculitis elsewhere on their body but then had a HT with no issues? 2) Five-night stay? – I’m a bit of an anxious person so I was going to stay on the full 5 nights in case there are any post-surgery issues. I know a lot of people fly back ASAP but in hindsight would you have stayed longer? I’m going to be off work for 2 weeks so I’m happy to stay but I'm thinking I might be bored. 3) Washing your head post-surgery – I think I'd be super nervous doing this especially in the crucial first few days. If I say on an extra few days will I be able to go to the clinic and get one of the team to do it? 4) Swelling – Assuming I stay until the Saturday morning (4th post-surgery day) will any or most of the swelling have subsided by then? 5) Radisson Blu – Has anyone paid the extra 40 euros a night for the suite? Wondering if I should treat myself or is it not worth it? In terms of payment, do I settle the room (and any extras, room service etc) all directly with the Radisson or do you pay the main accommodation costs to ASMED? Just wondering as I'd ideally like to put them element on my credit card? 6) Paying the deposit via UK bank? I have a branch of my bank just up the road from the office so I was going to pop into do the transfer but I’m curious as to whether it’s a big issue as it’s a UK bank account into a non EU account and its also in euros? 7) Istanbul - Did you do any post-surgery sightseeing? Does the city feel safe? If I'm staying a few extra days and I'm up for it (is that likely?) then it would be nice to do some sightseeing although whenever I mention Turkey everyone looks at me like I'm entering Syria or something.:rolleyes: Okay, sorry for all the questions. Any answers/advice appreciated.

Thanks all for the encouragement. I think I'm going to get it down in mid Oct. I was hoping to do it sooner but combo of public holidays in Turkey and work commitments mean I'll have to do this after the 2nd week of Oct. Little annoying as I was hoping to have some nice growth by the time I went back home for Christmas. Anyway it's not the end of the world. Rashid, as far as your comments, I don't really know enough about his full body of work to comment on whether he does avoid the more challenging cases. However the more challenging case are just that and thus if a surgeon thinks he can't achieve a result that both he and more importantly, the client is happy with, then it's better to turn that person away. Sure there will always be surgeons that will do the procedure. Some surgeons perhaps take a different viewpoint and maybe believe that an improvement can be made while others no doubt would encourage someone to proceed purely for their financial gain. As much as it would frustrate, I would have more respect for someone who turned me down and said that I didn't need a procedure or that they couldn't achieve the result I was looking for. Finally, I believe you have had three in person consults and all suggested you could have a HT. You may very well find that an in person with Dr Koray might result in a different assessment. As I noted above, based on my original email and pictures the team suggested 3200 grafts but on seeing me in person this was revised down to 2700 so clearly it's always going to be best to get an in person consult to get a through assessment.

Thanks, you are both right. My biggest issue now is finding a suitable date. I was all set in my mind to get booked in for mid-Sept but appears its a national holiday in Turkey 11th-15th Sept which the exact week I was considering. I have emailed the clinic to get some dates..

Dr Koray Erdogan consultation experience London May 14th Just thought I'd share my experience yesterday with Dr Koray Erdogan and some of his team who were in London this weekend for consultations. I had the latest appointment (6:30pm) and by the time I arrived they were running a bit behind. All in all they landed up being about an 45 mins behind schedule, but I didn't mind too much. While waiting I got to see a previous client who'd had HT about a year ago (he looked great) and to speak with Sevinc to answer so questions. It was also interesting seeing the others there. I have to say all the team were very friendly (Sevinc, Alex and two other ladies) and when I finally got to see Dr Koray Erdogan I was greeted by a big friendly smile and handshake. Having had a disappointing consultation with a UK surgeon a few years back, I was very happy and relieved that Dr Koray Erdogan was so warm and friendly. Anyway, once in the room with Dr Koray Erdogan he checked my donor area/density of my hair. He said I had really good hair and a very good donor area. I think he calculated I had a donor capacity of approx 8100 grafts. I think he said my hair was 50 microns. He did note a few other things technical things about the hair and the procedure but I didn't have a chance to note the info down. In terms of grafts, I was pleasantly surprised. Based on the pictures I'd previously sent over, I was told I would likely need around 3200 grafts. Having examined my hair in person, he revised this down to 2700 grafts, which is good as it means I use less of my donor area but also it will save me approx 1,000 GBP (1,250 Euros) too. Overall he was very positive and felt that given my hair quality and density he would be able to achieve a very good result. I certainly left feeling very positive and keen to book. Thinking about it today the nerves are kicking in sightly at the idea of booking and confirming (which I'm sure is very common) but even so I think I am pretty certain I want to go ahead with Dr Erdogan. I just need to find at time that works in terms of taking time off from work. I'm thinking mid-Sept at this stage. :cool:

Congrats on pulling off the BBQ. Looks awesome, makes me excited for my potential op with Erdogan. I can see what you mean by the gap, but its not that noticeable and I'm sure that will fill out overtime as its early days yet. I'm actually seeing Erdogan in London next weekend, so I'm pretty excited. BTW, I'm curious, did Erdogan challenge you at all on the placing of the hairline during your consult? I see your 43 (I'm 47) and it looks like he lowered your hairline and filled in your temples? I know some surgeons won't lower the hairline on older guys. Back in 2014 when I first considered a HT I sent my pics to Dr Doğanay and his assistant came back and said they wouldn't lower my hairline because of my age so I ruled him out.

I have a consult in 2 weeks and I need a haircut soon. Did I read someone that it's best not to have a short haircut before a consultation or am I imaging it? Ideally I'd like to cut it next weekend as I have an event the day before the consult that I want my hair to look fresh for?

Thanks for sharing, looks like a great result. So are you happy with the results 12 months on?

I was wondering about this too. I currently take a multi vitamin tablet, but also have just started taking Biotin and was thining of adding in MSM to the mix.

Can't believe you traveled that far, I think I would have had the confidence to chance it. Thankfully your gamble is clearly paying off, loving your results so far. So how long was the flight from Australia? TBH, the lack of a consult in advance is one of the reasons I've been dubious about going overseas, the good news for me is that it looks like I've secured a consult for London next month, I'm just waiting confirmation on times, etc. I just hope that when I see him he doesn't think I need more than the 3000-3200 grafts estimated based on my pics as that'll throw my budget out the window.

Okay so I got a reply this morning with the report back from Dr Erdogan suggesting 3000-3200 grafts (inline with what I expected) and the coordinator suggested she would be in touch soon with more details regarding the London consultation so that hopefully means I have a slot to see him. :cool: Update, I replied to the above and she came back and confirmed availability for Augsust and also asked me to make the charitable donation (for the constualtion) and to forward on the receipt for that and having done that she's replied and confirmed for the consultation.

Thanks both. Clinic still hasn't replied so thanks for the info. I've been on and off about doing this for a few years but if I can get a consult with Erdogan in London next month and its a positive experience I can totally see myself booking this in.

Does anyone know roughly how far in advance you need to book for ASMED clinic in Turkey? I got a reply back a few days ago re my request to have a consult with Dr Erdogan when he's in London in May (they replied to say they'd pass my pics and notes on to Dr Erdogan and would come back to me) but I haven't received a reply to my further request on have far ahead I need to book. I'm curently thinking I would like to do this either in August or early Oct but not sure if I need to rule of August already if he's booked up?

Ersko72, just found your thread. Looks awesome for 4 months, can't wait to see further updates. I am seriously considering Erdogan for my FUE treatment so your results/hairline is really inspiring. I'm hoping to get a slot to see him in London when he's visiting next month.

Buzz2 thanks for the update. Its a terrible shame that the result was so poor. Given you were happy with Saifi twice previously, what made you opt for Doganay? Any thoughts on what went wrong? I've been considering Doganay, Erdogan and Demirsoy, but as you noted, when searching the forum the great results seem to be more from surgeons rep posting rather than regular forum members. Thats not to say they aren't having good results, but it would be nice to see their work back up my lots of patient posts.

What area are you having done? From what I'd read you would look the same as you were pre surgery although the might be some redness on the scalp. I I believe some people can get a small amount of shock loss with HT, but I think thats only when people have HT in the crown area.