mrknid

It has been a while for me to update this post. Have been very busy at work and wasn’t really bothered to update as regularly as previously. However..... today it is exactly 6 months! I am still very happy I’ve done the HT. Not using any toppik hair fibre for 6 months now. People around me that know I had the HT have been very positive about the results. Others have stated there is “something different” haha. Personally I am happy so far but I am really wishful that my hair will thicken more as seen from the top. I am quite happy already with the front view however. no flash flash No flash flash what are your thoughts ?

Hi! Here is day 111. One month after last update. I think I’m right on track. Already quite happy with the current progress but off course I hope I will see much more thickening over the next months. I am quite happy with the short hair and how it looks so I might keep it this short for a few more months (usually I keep it a bit longer). I didn’t really have a look anymore at pictures from over a month ago but looking at my last post now it is all starting to look a bit more human/normal haha What do you think? no flash no flash all others with flash

Hi all! Day 80 is here! Time flies. I think definitely something is happening. However far from what I hope is the ultimate result of course. I feel it looks promising as it is only day 80. This Wednesday I’m getting another haircut which is probably that last one before trying to grow it a little longer (or perhaps once more after that as my hair grows so quickly). Decided to do this it as my hair now has a certain length I should really be using some hair product but I don’t like the way it looks yet with product in. I will share some more pictures right after shortening the hair Looking forward to your opinions! no flash all others with flash:

@narayan21 I will around day 80. Which is in 11 days.

Day 59! I think all is good. Sensitivity in transplanted area slowly getting better. Trying to spot white baby hairs and I think I might have spotted a few in the hairline but I’m not 100% sure 😜. A bit more patience I guess. I got a haircut and we buzzed the donor down to a #3 and also the transplanted area was cut down a little bit using scissors so it’s looking more neat now. The light makes it look a bit less thin than last time but not sure that is really the case (yet).

This is completely normal at two months. Most transplanted hairs have shed. You shouldn’t be judging any results yet. New hairs should start coming in at 3+ months which will take at least until the 12th month to mature. Patience is your best bet!

Day 46.... I don’t think much has changed in the past two weeks other than hair growth of the native hairs. Started going to parties again and drinking alcohol, so seems the self-confidence is back again. But that also implies some sleep deprivation hehe. Just hoping it won’t ruin my HT but I can’t really imagine as it should be well healed now. Might be looking a little less dense even when compared to last update, but that is most likely due to the longer hair. Donor is looking very good imho. Well. Off course I hope to see some (early) growth in the coming weeks to months. But I think I’m on track currently. Will update again once it seems to change again or if I buzz my hair again before growing it out again. Probably around day 65-70. Thanks for all the positive replies !

I can only hope to get these results! Happy for you. Amazing

1 month mark! The redness has really been getting less and less in the past 1,5 week. The shedding seems to have stopped approximately 5 days ago. Definitely in the ugly duckling stage now but not as bad as I expected. I’m a bit in doubt about shortening the hair in like 2-3 weeks as I think it will look less thin, then growing it out after. Just worried a bit about the redness and donor that will become obvious so haven’t decided yet. I guess from now it on it will be a waiting game for a few months until the first baby hairs start to pop (hopefully early growth)! I’ll be doing 2 weekly updates from now on as I don’t expect much progression weekly.

Hi! 3 weeks passed since the day of my surgery on 20th December. Pain like sensations have disappeared. Approximately 25 hairs in my hands daily in the shower so the shedding seems to have started but it seems that so far my native hair is kind of doing it’s best to cover up my scalp, it just needs to grow a bit longer. No massive shock loss I think. Donor looking good. Redness is not really clearing unfortunately in the recipient area. I started using tea tree oil as I read @lukeyb1687 was using in this stadium as well, hopefully that will speed up fading of redness a bit, who knows. I really want to go back to sports again. Think I will go for a run this weekend (@3,5 weeks) I can’t wait any longer. top with flashtop without flash

@AK_49 Yes. They give you quite a lot of meds: 3 days of prednisone (swelling) 7 days of antibiotics (cefuroxim I think) 10 days of pentoxyfilin twice daily (redness) 14 days of ascal twice daily (not really sure tbh, perhaps to prevent micro-embolus/clots from forming in the new vascular supply to the transplanted grafts) I must day that being a doctor myself I’m not to sure about the necessity of all those meds but I chose to just follow Ciniks protocol....

@clerksband if you are buzzing any transplanted hairs that are not shed yet you might damage the hair follicle by using to much force. It’s probably not scientifically proven but more common sense. I think Cinik advises to use scissors only for the first 6 months.

Yes I actually read this post before I went to Istanbul (but after I booked my flights) and initially was scared the hell off as well. But I think if you read his post properly most of his issues are because of not being prepared properly. And to be honest I think you probably will run into these kinds of issues in any clinic in Istanbul. I can’t tell you as I went to one clinic only. Yes there are quite a lot of patients there daily, yes they are trying to reduce total surgery time by working quickly (in order to reduce the deprived oxygen state for the hair follicles) and yes 7-8 hours is a hell of a wait. Yes I was told 3000 grafts by the technician then it said 3200 grafts on my certificate. Yes they offer you a lot of overpriced vitamins and shampoo etc. but don’t insist if you refuse. Personally I didn’t feel dr Cinik was rushing in our pre-op consult, nor was he rushing when opening the channels. It’s big business, and you can sense that all the time because it just feels protocolized at times. But it works! I was probably most nervous when going there about my experience being as bad as LostSoldiers but although I recognise a lot of what he describes I experienced it in a completely different way. And I felt the most important things: pre-op consult, communication and the procedure itself were perfectly taken care of. Like I said. I think a lot of it is about expectation management. If you know what you can and can’t expect then that makes a big difference.

Hi Cristian, Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the clinic itself that I can show you, but to me it all looked very tidy and neat. It’s all inside the Kolan Hospital so it just looks like a hospital. I work in a more western hospital myself and while it isn’t like going into an Operating Room there, I felt it was quite similar to going to your dentist. I guess it’s all related to what you expect, but I wouldn’t be to worried about the cleanliness.

Thanks! I think so too No worries. I paid cash, in euros. That was easiest for me. They accept basically all currencies. An additional 300€ fee is charged if you pay by card, which probably has something to do with (avoiding) Turkish taxes ;-) Do you have a date in mind to go there?

Hi all! Today I am at 2 weeks. The pain-like sensations in my donor area have almost disappeared now. I have buzzed the donor area to make it more equal which I think has been a good choice. I am just a bit worried about the redness in my recipient area which might raise questions at work. I hoped it would have faded a bit more by now but I guess as a fair skinned person this can take quite some time to heal completely. Because of the redness I’m working from home for a few more days but after this weekend I really have some appointments to attend so that makes me nervous a little bit. Have tried to conceal the redness a bit using hair fiber / make up powder but it doesn’t really do the trick and I’m afraid it might be bad for the healing process. So hopefully a few more days growth will hide the redness a bit more! Other than that all seems to go quite well. There’s like 20 hairs in my hands every morning in the shower, but it seems like still no massive shedding apart from a few areas that are less crowded by hairs. what do you guys think? Redness under different light circumstances

Looking great man! You look so much younger now. Does your doctor think you have enough donor left to fill the crown?

Here are my 10 day results. Pretty much all scabs are gone. Redness still present but seems to get better everyday. Few hairs lost in the shower (like 10-15) so far but no signs yet of massive shedding. Applied some hair oil last night for dry skin due to washing with shampoo daily which seems to have worked pretty well. So far so good and happy with what I see. Will need to be reminded of these pictures once I go through my “will the hair ever return?!” phase which should start pretty soon after shedding. Ohhhh I am NOT looking forward to the wait during the ugly duckling stage....

Wow! It is exactly one week ago when I had just returned to my hotel in Istanbul with my head covered in bandages. This week has flown by. Redness seems to fade now in both donor and recipient area. The hair in donor is just a bit shorter so I’m thinking about buzzing the non-transplanted area to make it appear more equal. Scabs are loosening up in the recipient area and are starting to fall. Few had broken hairs in them, but luckily no bulbs (follicles) so all seems fine. Tomorrow is my 7th wash so after that I can gently massage the remaining scabs off. Can’t wait !

Yes they take photos after drawing the hairline which they print and then hang in your operating room, so they must use that.

Just contacted Cinik and they advised me to not use it at least 7-8 months after transplant (rationale being the chemicals in it might be bad for soon to become the newborn hairs). So I’ll stay away from minoxidil for now and await results without it first

@lukeyb1687 we haven’t talked about that to be honest. Did you speak to him about this ? My donor actually looks quite good already now at day 6 regarding amount of hairs, check the image below. So to me it seems there should be some reserves in case needed. It is just still quite red and dry. I’m hoping really I will never need a second procedure haha. If I can get a similar result to yours I would be so happy and never touch my donor area again. And these scabs, man I want to pick them off now ! But Cinik advises to wait until after 7th washing, which means I can start trying to shower them off this Saturday @Lyubo93 from what I have learnt it slows hair loss especially in remaining hairs that are sensitive to DHT, not so much in donor area as the hairs here are “genetically” less vulnerable to DHT. So I don’t think it will help the transplanted hairs a lot but will assist in preventing future native hair loss, if that makes sense. donor at morning of 6th day I am in doubt a little about whether or not to start using Rogaine (minoxidil) in 1-2 weeks. Any recommendations ? I don’t want my hair to get “used” to the minoxidil as I don’t want to use that forever. Some people say it strengthens the transplanted hairs. Anyone? Secondly, I want to wear a warm winter hat going outside after removing the scabs (instead of the ugly fisherman’s hat). You think that’s OK at day +- 10?

Hi everyone! I'm a 27 y/o male and after hiding my thinning hairline (which started when I was around 20) for a good two years or so with a hair fiber concealer now I finally took the decision to go for a (hopefully) permanent solution by FUE. It was performed in the clinic of dr. Cinik in Istanbul on 20 December 2018 Starting this topic to keep track of my results! Have seen some impressive results on here and hope I am lucky to get similar results ! Looking forward to the growth phase already! 3200 graftspre op from toppre op sidepre op frontpre op shortened to 5mmdirectly post op3 days post op side3 days post op front/top view I had dr Cinik open the channels. My overall experience with this clinic has been good. Much has been said about this clinic already on this forum and other forums alike. I was well prepared by reading many reviews. Everything was very well arranged from pickup to drop off, taxi was always there on time. All spot on. The days around and of your surgery feel a little protocolized at times and the downside of that is that sometimes you might feel like you are "one of many". But like I said I was prepared by reading reviews and this didn’t bother me. Cinik is nice, we took all the time I needed to discuss questions, draw hairline etc. Staff were nice and post pre and post op communication so far is good. They offer you a 6 or 12 month package of supplements after your surgery but I decided not to buy as I felt it was overpriced. They never pushed me again afterwards to purchase the package. I started finasteride 1mg daily a month prior to surgery and continuing now. No side effects. Also taking multivitamin once daily and 5000mcg of biotin once daily. Looking forward to posting about my progress here! Can't look forward to shedding phase and hope I can go to work in 7-10 days without anyone noticing, as I decided to not tell anyone.