Mycroft

It's so upsetting to see people all repeating the same thing about "messing with hormones." Just to be clear, it's the hormonal activity that creates the conditions causing androgenic alopecia. "I don't want to mess with my hormones" in this instance is essentially "I don't want to address the cause of my problem."

If you had a good response to medication that middle part of the forelock that's thinning could bounce back entirely. If you don't take preventative medication you can almost guarantee yourself a second procedure for when that goes, and if that goes there could very well be more after that. You want a stable solution, but a transplant without medication is the definition of unstable because you're shooting at a constantly moving target.

I'm not saying don't have the transplant, but if you're not willing to take medication you're probably setting yourself up for failure in the long run. Ignoring the fact that you obviously want to keep your native hair, the donor/transplanted hair can still miniaturize and thin if you're not using medication. Something to consider.

As one of the few Turkish clinics offering strip, I'm just curious when the last FUT was performed in her clinic. As you discussed with Dr. Wong the demand for FUT is lower, and because Turkey in particular is a magnet for young guys looking specifically for FUE on a budget, it feels like most of them have never even considered strip.

This is an astounding result in one pass.

9 hours ago, MrProfessor said:

 

Thanks

 

No, never had wavy hair, almost sure about that. Only transplanted hair has become a bit wavy

Also, I'm not taking any meds (no propecia, no rogaine)

Texture will likely become a bit more uniform with native hair in the 18-24 month mark.

Very nice coverage with only 2,000 grafts.

The one and done attitude is probably the biggest problem with the entire industry, and a big part of what makes it predatory for many patients. Full stop.

Choosing not to even try medication is always going to be a dumb choice, in my opinion. Without it, your donor area is less reliable and you're chasing a moving target unless you're already full NW 6-7. 

You see this often in younger guys with aggressive loss who "won't care" what they look like when they're "old." What a ridiculous idea. 

Advice for this is don't. You're just going to make your situation worse or end up disappointed. There are outliers, sure. But he's probably not one of them. Shave your head, try a hair system, but stay away from surgery. You're not willing to play ball so you might as well be shooting yourself in the foot at the start of a marathon.

Definitely a noticable difference in the definition of the hairline. The shape and position is clear and distinct, whereas before the diffuse thinning had eroded the frame. Top down looks to have noticeably fuller coverage as well.

@Carl Counts I had stumbled across your video elsewhere on the internet and was horrified by the way you've been treated. A reality of cosmetic surgery is that every doctor, regardless of how skilled and respected they may be, has messed a few patients up over the course of their careers. This is on another level from what I usually see.

The way the doctor proceeded despite your discussion about the scars is one thing, but the way you seem to have been treated in the post-op is appalling. What ultimately separates a great doctor from the others isn't just the results they produce, but how they handle that reality of a few messed up patients to try to make things right.

We had a doctor touch base with a patient on these forums just the other day when progress looked like it maybe wasn't on track for a home run just to show some compassion to the patient and reassure him they'd work with him on living up to the original expectations of the work if needed. That patient was on no way disfigured, just not seeing the growth he expected at his stage in the process. To see your situation as the flip side of the coin is sobering.

Did the doctor ever commit to putting any of your discussions in writing, or was that avoided? One thing I have learned the value of in business is the value of getting things in writing. It's occurred to me that a benevolent doctor would have no issues doing this for a patient and hesitation to do so should be a red flag.

7 hours ago, Curious25 said:

Not really, if you read the initial post, patients hair calibre was designated as ‘fine’ and had a low HGI of 2.06. 

Fine hair or not, the patient has a pretty clear natural wave to his hair. Wavy and curly hair is always going to create better coverage than straight hair when allowed enough length to do its thing.

Looks like this was a tricky case, and a huge impact on the entire scalp for the graft count.

This guy obviously had good hair characteristics, but this is still a gorgeous result.

This is a beautifully subtle improvement. The transition from the newly grafted area to the native hair is seamless and the post-op donor still looks great.

On 3/20/2021 at 3:09 PM, DrTBarghouthi said:

Not necessarily hair characteristics. In some cases skin tightness, laxity, and how tightly tethered the hair follicle is to surrounding skin. In some cases, a sharp punch puncturing the surface of the skin and the underlying tissue is enough to free the hair. In some cases you need more depth but then the sharp punch might injure or cut the follicle, so we use more blunt or hybrid punches for example. 

This kind of custom approach is critical any good transplant result, but especially with FUE. If a surgeon is not willing and able to adjust to the patient's physiology as much as possible they are setting the patient up for failure.

This case looks like a very judicious use of a modest number of grafts. A little really went a long way.

The work I've seen looks good, and what I think is particularly noteworthy is the fact that she has performed and offers FUT. This is largely unheard of in Turkish clinics and the pricing for it looks very reasonable. 

I'd love to know if the clinic has some FUT scar photos from their archives just to see what that looks like, but I definitely think Dr. Bicer is one of the only surgeons in Turkey worth looking at.

I tend to be a bit cynical, but I'd also say it's a mixed bag. A lot of people with hair loss are distraught enough sharing their situation as it is, and just imagine how they feel if they have a bad result that may make them look even worse.

Obviously, there are also the guys who have a great result and just stop thinking about hair loss very much at all, so of course they won't spend much time, if any, posting on forums.

I do think that I myself would not be super inclined to share a bad hair transplant result with the community at large unless I had already been successfully repaired later or hoped the bad PR would convince the clinic to try to make things right if they'd previously refused.

I honestly feel it's wishful thinking to believe that all or even the majority of MIA posters live happily ever after. This is serious surgery and sometimes things go wrong, even with good doctors. Posters on this very forum have shared poor results from doctors that many would consider to be the best in the world, and many times through no fault of the doctor. It's important that prospective patients fully understand this reality so they can make an informed decision. 

You look like you're a bit above baseline at this point, which is a pretty good place to be for four months. No major shock loss or issues with redness, and growth rate looks reasonable so far.

2 hours ago, UnbaldEagle said:

Thanks for the info on PRP, that makes sense. Honestly I'm not impatient about hair growth as I know (or hope) that's bound to happen soon. 

Nothing comparable, although my first procedure was a small one of temple work only. I do realize this time around there was some dense packing in certain regions which could take longer to heal. No major lifestyle changes either, in fact I gave up smoking prior to the procedure. Do you have any ideas perhaps on what could have caused this?

I'm really unsure what's the best course of action. It's perfectly fine to wait when it comes to hair, however scars tend to heal slower as they mature.

There are so many possible variables that I'm not sure, especially since the work was done by a different clinic. It could simply be a difference in the incision and implantation process. It might also be the fact that adjacent tissue in the scalp previously had some work done, and the vascularity being compromised by the old scarring has impacted the healing of the new incisions. I'm not a doctor so it's hard for me to speculate.

Mobile is being a bit finicky so apologies if this was covered, but did you ask the clinic about consulting a dermatologist for a scalp examination? I saw something about laser work for redness.

 I've seen the occasional member have to do a biopsy or examination with a derm where they'll get something to help with additional inflammation, but I personally wouldn't bring in another doctor without running it by the clinic first.

I definitely understand your concern with how irritated the scalp looks.

One thing to note is that the PRP could potentially impact the growth cycles of your hairs (donor and recipient), so definitely bear that in mind if things seem to be moving slowly for you. You seem like you have the right mindset so far.

Did you have this kind of scalp irritation on the first go around? Is there anything in your lifestyle that may have changed to possibly cause greater levels of inflammation?

Even the harsh light photo looks pretty good for only 5.5 months. There was another Bisanga patient who had a similar situation around 6 months in but closer to 12 it held up pretty well even under unfavorable light. I suspect you'll end up with something similar based on your photos this far.

2 hours ago, Style22 said:

So people know depending on Surgeon and how much exosomes are injected, you are looking at around 5k per 5 cc’s. 

This is what I've been told as well, and that this is the amount it takes to treat the entire top of the scalp.

16 hours ago, Style22 said:

What you said is 100 percent correct! If I had it to do over again I’d test the waters with PRP first from a Regenerative medicine standpoint... Way less expensive than exosomes.

As someone who had pretty good PRP results I will say that the cost difference struck me right off the bat. Exosomes to treat the whole scalp are essentially twice the cost, but I haven't seen anything to indicate that the efficacy in a positive responder is twice as good as PRP. Cost isn't everything but I think all of us factor it in to a degree.

For what it's worth to interested parties, I am not fluent in Spanish, but Google translate generally does the job over there if you can put up with the occasional awkward turn of phrase. Posts will sometimes sound a bit "off" but it's extremely rare to find a post where you can't understand what's being said. 

I believe it was Dr. Vories who at one point made a comment about how his level of involvement reduces overall overhead for the clinic and allows him to charge patients less than some of his contemporaries. I've noticed that a lot of Latin American clinics with high doctor involvement charge lower rates relative to the U.S. while also keeping the number of patients per day very low. You bring in less money overall, but you also don't need a very large staff to support you.

The points being made about U.S. Healthcare and medical procedures are all very accurate. We are not exactly a shining example of affordable medicine in general, and cosmetic surgery is considered an extra luxury above and beyond here, so the costs of simply being a surgeon and staying viable tend to be higher (equipment, leasing space, paying techs).

There's also the fact that the surgery in general is just a huge pain, especially FUE. It's a very long and laborious process compared to other forms of cosmetic surgery, and it requires more artistry to boot.

For what it's worth I have read a number of the Spanish clinic patient result threads and I've generally been impressed with the work. I appreciate that he is a doctor who takes a significant hands-on approach in his surgeries because I believe this goes a long way to establishing consistency of results. I have only ever seen his clinic reps behaving professionally in public forums, and from what I've heard his price point seems like a reasonable option for patients. 

For the sake of the other posters who maybe haven't read  I'd love to see if the clinic would be able to get permission from some patients to share their posts/reviews here, but honestly if people are curious it's pretty easy to find his name over on recuperarelpelo. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing him on the recommendation list.

Are you combing over in the back? If not that's definitely an improvement already from the pre-op photos. That's not to say that it could not improve still but to say it's the same doesn't seem to be the case.