maltesefalcon

So guys here's a quick update. I'm at Week 5 now. As you can see from the photos, the transplanted hairs have since shed - going through what they call the "ugly duckling" phase. I took those photos shortly after rinsing my hair, so it's slightly damp. Pretty much gotten back to normal. As I said in an earlier post, the itch from the donor area can, at night, be annoying. But it's subsiding more and more as the days and weeks progress. I continue to take finasteride 1mg and biotin supplement daily. I hadn't taken either (nor minoxidil) pre-surgery. You can note from the photos that there are hairs still noticeable in my temples. Not sure if I'll lose these too going forward. I don't know if this is a good sign or not, or whether more should be visible? Not sure generally whether I'm "doing well" or not. I think perhaps it's hard to say until Week 12-16 when growth "may" happen. Though I acknowledge from reading other threads that growth for many is only noticeable from weeks 20 - 32 particularly. Anyway, do let me know what you think if you have any comments. I think my next update will be week 12. I don't suspect I'll see much difference in terms of transplanted hairs until then (if then).

Exactly. And if you think about it, a patient needing 3,000 grafts earns the clinic 7,500 euros and, if six are performed, that's a whopping 45,000 euros per day. You can see why he's pushing ahead with the same strategy.

That email is itself a sales ploy. It doesn't address any of the concerns raised here. It's an iteration of what currently exists - dressed up in propagandistic garb. For example - use of "surgical assistant", when in fact he means "technicians" - but it doesn't sound as good to say the procedure was carried out by technicians and occasionally overlooked by a surgeon here and there.

There's nothing wrong with profiting from a forum. I think everyone here can appreciate the value that advertising can bring. But on a moral level, surgeons should only be advertised as recommended if the results are to a sufficiently high standard - otherwise that advertising should be swiftly withdrawn and another surgeon recommended. In this way, the forum can evolve with the best surgeons whilst also generating a profit. It doesn't need to be one or the other. Both can be achieved if a conscious choice is made to go down that path.

Hey, Yeah, I'll be posting a comprehensive update on Wednesday or Thursday this week - that'll be the 5 week mark. I've pretty much gone through the shedding phase. I've noticed quite a few new hairs have stayed in place, which is encouraging. I'm pretty optimistic as things appear to be going well. The only thing I find challenging is itch. The itch isn't during the day but instead when lying down. It's not the recipient area either, but the donor area - which for some reason has suddenly become very itchy when I lie down at night. I'm sure it'll pass, but it's pretty annoying to say the least. But in terms of photos, yeah, I'll make that comprehensive post in just a few short days!

Now it's starting to make more sense as to why this is allowed to continue unchecked. As I suspected in my earlier post, the ulterior motive was indeed the naked acquisition of wealth. As well all know, the naked pursuit of wealth often, for some, trumps the morality of how they receive their money. Now I realise that the faux concern over people's hair is nothing more than a show. Second, that I also now realise why there is so much discussed on threads which come from "recommended surgeons" but almost no conversation on threads for surgeons who are not recommended on the site. Not always, but almost always.

I went to Dr. Demirsoy in Istanbul.

After reading that, I'm now grateful that I chose a non-recommended surgeon (at least on here), but one based on the quality of output and how the surgeon works with his patients. I think the idea of a website profiting off of incompetent surgeons, who are having enormously damaging effects on many people's lives, turns my stomach to the point of gastroseizure.

I cannot understand why ASMED is still a recommended surgeon after a tsunami of poor reviews over the past 12-18 months. It's not as if these are one-off experiences, either. After all, if a surgeon is "recommended" on a forum such as this, which has a large following, it's incumbent upon the powers that be that this recommendation is not made. Having surgery to adjust one's appearance is no small thing. It can for many lead to depression, and that's without discussing the physical scars and financial loss that comes with poor surgical practice. I believe, as do many others, that a moratorium should be held on their recommendation until such time that results have restored to a sufficient standard. If this action is not taken, there must be an ulterior motive - such as finance. If Dr. Erdogan was recommended by popular vote, then ANOTHER popular vote should be held. If not, why not? These results are an absolute disgrace.

Hi guys, I'm just over 3 weeks post-op and notice a significant amount of shedding. I know this is normal, I just have a fear that perhaps follicles might die or something (don't know if I'm being too paranoid or not). I've noticed over the past 2-3 days a sort of very soft crust over my transplanted right temple area. It's easy to peel away, and often has a hair or two attached. I'm concerned that if I "just leave" it there that I will be doing damage to follicles. At the same time, I don't want to be too aggressive and create a red "rawness" in the area that could also prove damaging. Should I just keep the area moisturized or do nothing at all? How have you dealt with this, if at all? Thanks!

Clinic was exceptional in terms of communication both before, during and after surgery. I had no issues and found the clinic very easy to deal with. I arranged pick-up with the clinic and I was promptly picked up at the airport and shuttled to my hotel. The following day, I met the coordinator, Muzaffer, at the hotel lobby well on-time to bring me to the clinic.

Good to hear. Oddly, it seems that people are almost only ever interested in conversing on threads where Dr. Erdogan is in the title. Almost every other thread goes empty!!

Personally, I went ahead and asked for a quote from ASMED and it was around the 12,000 euros mark. I ended up having surgery done with another clinic for 4,700 euros for a similar number of grafts. Don't let price dictate. ASMED have been over-promoted on places like here and, as a result, it has led to more clients but also less focus on those patients and, from that, we've seen a steady and consistent stream of not just "subpar" results, but actively terrible results. Clearly, they've had trouble keeping standards up with the demand for their service. Spending 12,000 euros with these risks hanging in the air is a significant risk. I would rather opt for a cheaper clinic with good-to-excellent results and, if needed, have a second surgery done a year or 2 later - and you'd still save more money with more grafts than by opting for ASMED. Until they clean up their act and go back to how they performed 1-2 years ago, I would personally advise you to opt for a different surgeon and, again, never base it on price - but on the quality of the surgeon and their recent output.

I think you've had a pretty good outcome thus far. I'd be pleased if I were you, at least compared to your pre-op photos; there's a night and day difference between the two. I think you'd look better if you cut your hair more so it's more cropped and perhaps trim your eyebrows. I think that would look much better overall. I understand you would like more density etc., but that will probably always be the case.

Okay, so here we are on Day 10. You can see that all scabs have been cleared. You can also see how weird my hair loss pattern was before - how one side was receding at a considerably faster rate and how uneven / asymmetrical the hair loss pattern was. So far, I haven't experienced any noticeable loss of hairs etc. No losses from showering / sleeping as yet. I expect the ugly duckling phase to kick in at any moment though. Sooner I'm through that the better. Apologies again for the weakish resolution in the photos. Again, my phone isn't the best, so it doesn't relay the fine details on grafts / hairs that make the result look better up close / high resolution compared to these images. That said, they give you a good idea. My sleep has returned to normal, except that the donor area can be a little painful at time. It's very mind and only sets in when I'm lying down with my head against pillows etc. Still, it's annoying. I've read from other accounts that this isn't unusual. Hope it passes soon. I plan to post my next update on Day 30 - so here's hoping all goes well. If you have any questions / comments in the meantime, please go ahead and ask / post!

You've got to be kidding. More promotional spam.

I've just reported the thread. I'm surprised the duplicates weren't removed by now. It's well over 24 hours.

So today is Day 8 and it's when I decided to go ahead and remove all scabs. I set up another thread on this, as I was genuinely worried I might be too aggressive and disrupt follicles or something. Today though I just went ahead and decided to get it over and done with. I implemented the advice of the surgery to shower under lukewarm water for around 20 minutes and, with shampoo and a bit of pressure, things came loose and easily removable. I hope I didn't apply too much moisturizer over the last 2 days though. It layers, and so I hope I wasn't "suffocating" the newly implanted hairs. As of now, I'm unsure if I should apply moisturizer as I'm thinking maybe it would be better to let it out in the open air as the hairs have been stuck under a slab of scab over the last week. I didn't have time to take good photos and upload them here, but I will over the coming days. I think now I can go back to normal sleeping habits, too - which is much of a relief as I've been finding this 45 degree "sleep" process completely intolerable. My body goes into spasm and complete restlessness. It's a horrible experience.

Sounds like a fake advertisement for the clinic. Could be wrong, but the lack of depth and photos seems suspect.

Hi Mr S. To the contrary, I was given extensive instruction on what to do etc. Even still, I'm paranoid about being too aggressive or waiting too early etc. The issue is more me than anything.

Hi guys. I'm at Day 8 now and haven't yet removed scabs. The clinic I went to advised that I should remove scabs between days 7-10, yet it just appears as one immovable slab at the moment. I'm applying moisturizer, but have yet to see a "breakthrough" moment when they can be safely removed without damaging follicles. I plan on following the recommendations from the surgery, but just wondering what you personally felt helped the process move along? Also, one thing I noticed is that in other hair transplant reviews, peoples transplanted hairs etc. seemed to grow much longer. Mine seem very short / black stubs etc. Is this normal?

More shocking results from ASMED. I was seriously considering ASMED before opting for another surgeon in Istanbul. Glad I did now, after seeing thread after thread of what appears to be a dramatic decline of consistency / quality over the past 1-2 years. This goes to show that reputation + price can become almost worthless overnight.

Aren't Hair Restoration Network profiting from having these surgeons highly advertised / recommended on the forum? If so, I can see why moderators / admin see good results, but everyone else bad results.

Thanks for all the replies thus far. So here we are on Day 5. It's just 2 days away when I'm supposed to clear scabs - or at least between days 7 and 10. At the moment, scabs aren't as formed perhaps than I've seen in others, but there's a few days yet for them to completely form I guess. Apologies for the lack of photo quality. My phone is pretty old and so it doesn't provide the resolution I'd like. In terms of the donor area, it's healing very nicely. From after the 2nd night, there was no exudate from the wounds. Some slight itchiness here and there, but that's to be expected I guess as scabs start to form. I still find sleeping on my back, with my head raised, to be extremely uncomfortable. I usually wake at 3am or so, and end up staying awake for the rest of the night until around 7.30am, when I must get so exhausted that I refall back asleep. I literally cannot wait to go back to my normal sleep routine. I'll post an update again once I'm at the scab removal phase and let you guys know how things are shaping up. As always, I'd like to hear your comments and questions if you have any!

No problem! Yes - they still do 1.25 euros per graft. As we had planned 3,500 - and it went up to 3,740 - the additional 240 were given free of additional charge. Antibacterial drugs, shampoo and painkillers are included as part of that cost. For accommodation, I chose my own but used their services for transfers. I think they can arrange accommodation on your behalf too - obviously not included as part of the overall price.