Rolandas

8 minutes ago, Portugal25 said:

@Jijypuru I wasn’t aware Pekiner refuses surgeries because the patient doesn’t want beard grafts you should confirm this with Pekiner. 

I do know he aborts surgeries if he finds miniaturized hairs. He basically takes Zero risks.

That’s why I recommend Dr. Bruno Ferreira more often even though my results with Pekiner so far are very good.

I remember the was a debate for one patient that went to Dr. Pekiner and after 100 extractions he refused to proceed with surgery due to short grafts. Dr. Pekiner thought they are miniaturised. I'm so glad I went to Dr. Ferreira as turned out I have short grafts as well. 
I can also confirm Dr. Pekiner refuses to operate if patient doesn't want beard grafts. That's the main reason I kept looking. It was kind of weird, he said "that's what I think and I will not change my mind".

3 minutes ago, Portugal25 said:

Since I don`t need a repair HT I think Dr. BF would be right choice to get a few more grafts out of my scalp but only if I don`t get enough density from this surgery (here`s hoping!).

Well good luck then! I'm sure it will be a major difference since it's already looks good!
It's interesting to see a patient of Dr. Pekiner with very close timeline as myself. I was considering him for my surgery as well until he refused to extract only scalp hairs.

1 minute ago, Portugal25 said:

BHT specialists are HLC and Pekiner. 
Pekiner is hyper cautious and said I have no scalp donor left so that would leave me with HLC (not sure if they are much better managing donor area because Pekiner came from HLC).

Dr. BF also has experience with BHT (he’s just not fond of it) and I know he can work better with a almost depleted donor area so if I have to go for a third round I will probably chose Dr. BF. 

Fair point. IF you can afford, I would choose Dr. Lorenzo directly as well. I've seen quite a few repairs with depleted donor area being "repaired" as well as controlled depleting of donor area, where overall density is getting lower, but due to controlled extractions it doesn't look bad.

1 hour ago, Portugal25 said:

@Kaya thank you!

Pekiner cherry picks the grafts and told me I had no more donor area in my scalp.

I`m pretty sure Dr. Bruno Ferreira can extract another 2000 grafts from my scalp donor but he`s not fond of beard grafts.

If I do go for a third surgery I will most likely go with @Dr. Bruno Ferreira but I would need to convince him to extract +1000 grafts from my beard. 

However, I`m hoping this surgery with Dr. Pekiner will be enough for a decent coverage.

Interesting observation. Dr. Pekiner said there's no scalp grafts available, but you think Dr. Ferreira would find 2000?
As much as you love Dr. Ferreira, I would say you need to go to a BH specialist.

So I decided to try out both Dermmatch & Hair Fibres 4 months after my FUE. The result blow me away!

Although I must admit Toppik color was a bit darker than I needed, so it looks a little bit off under direct sunlight, but nevertheless it looks absolutely incredible!

I'm just sharing this with you as it was extremely emotional day for me. Can't remember seeing myself with a full set of hair. Confidence spike is real for hair loss sufferers!

14 hours ago, rhstoned said:

@Portugal25 I saw on demirsoys website he does manual extractions too, does he not do that anymore?  I have yet to consult with his office.  My concern with motorized extraction is due to overharvesting, especially if done in a single day. 

Is the stick&place method considered FUE still or is it DHI?  Is this a new method or has this been done for years with consistent results?   I agree that i'd also prefer to have surgeon doing most of the work than the techs.  Aren't most FUE procedures done with pre slit method where the dr does incisions and techs do 100% implantation? 

I will check out HLC and Ferreira.  I've had 2 HT's (1 fut and 1 fue) and my head looks exactly like yours did pre op with Pekiner.   I'm looking to fill top and crown and have short listed demirsoy, my previous HT in US although expensive, and pekiner.  I did consider Bhatti but his results lately don't seem that great.   

any risk of overharvesting with dr Ferreira's method?  I have to see his results.

Thanks for the help!

I remember choosing my surgeon and Dr. Demirsoy was on my short list. He states on his website that he is doing manual extractions as well, however seems like he simply didn't update his website for a while now. His rep told me Dr. Demirsoy doesn't do manual anymore (it was almost a year ago!).

After my own experience I can 100% confirm extractions method (motorised or manual) doesn't really matter in a professional hands. Like Portugal said already, I've got extremely clean donor, at 1 month mark I shave it do 1mm and it was undetectable already! It all depends on extraction pattern and what punch size is being used. If extractions are done too close to each other, you will have chance for permanent shock loss for surrounding grafts. 
If you look closer at my post extraction pictures you will notice that extraction pattern is extremely good, quite enough space in between them.
Also worth mentioning that Dr. Ferreira is doing around 1500 extractions/day even with motorised. If you have faster tool, doesn't mean you have to rush. That was one of the main reasons I was put off from Dr. Demirsoy in the first place as he proposed 4000 grafts in 1 sitting for me. Imagine my donor after that... 100% would be overharvested to some degree.

In conclusion i believe donor is as important if not more than recipient area, as if something goes wrong with implanted grafts and they won't grow, if extractions were done correctly, you will still have lots of donor available to fix it. Again, looking at my case, I feel like i never had anything done, although I had 3659 grafts extracted, which is quite a lot.

6 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

When patients stop posting 9/10 it’s because their hair grew and they forget about hair loss. To many, they visit the site to help with a problem (hair loss), and once that problem is solved, they forget about us. 

Couldn't agree more!
I'm currently 4 months post op and I already don't think about my hair at all... I always had this mindset: If you have a problem - take care of it. Hair loss was a problem. Jumped on propecia, did transplant, did everything i can so why would i think about it. I know I'm doing everything right. Technically it's solved.

5 minutes ago, BD99 said:

Yeah, I saw in your video that it's now a marked difference between the thicker frontal third hairs and the more sparse mid-scalp/vertex hairs. I think once you're able to use clippers on the frontal third, it won't be as bad, at least to the eye. I really liked the strategy to break it up as opposed to doing multiple passes and spreading it out over the entire head, as you do get that chance to go over the frontal third again, and you've already had great success with the meds on the vertex (where hair fibers will also help a great deal as well.) 

On another note, was watching some of Joe Tillman's videos, and heard you calling in to the radio show. Felt like I was witnessing the magic moment when you realized Dr. Bruno was the one, haha.

My tactic is more like growing front longer and slicking it back or something similar
Haha! You exposed me  Yep, that was me. Few times

1 hour ago, BD99 said:

Yeah, "devastated" is too strong a word in regards to a hair transplant given the terrible pain this virus is inflicting on the world. "Bummed" is more accurate.

I know all along you've been considering doing a second surgery for the crown. The nice part is you can also do a small second pass on the frontal third at the same if the density isn't 100% where you want it to be. That said, I think the next few months are gonna be super exciting for you and the results are gonna be great. 

And yeah, I vote "yes" for the Toppik if you want a bit of a sneak peek. 

Funny enough Dr. Ferreira said he would definitely go back for another pass on the hairline because my hair is very very thin.. After he said this my expectations of final result went down a bit But hey, before surgery my expectations were "having a hairline", so I guess I already achieved it! 

6 hours ago, BD99 said:

I heeded your warning and didn't skip and I finally subscribed (sorry it took so long.) I think it looks great at 4 months and can't wait to see what it looks like a few months from now. Still loving the hairline design. With your donor, I'm pretty sure you could have movie star hair if you did enough surgeries. I'm still scheduled for middle of July. Gonna be pretty devastated if I can't get into Portugal (which, as an American, is a very real possibility) after already rescheduling my March surgery. Not sure when work will allow it once we likely reopen in the fall. Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you though, haha.

Thanks man!

It's very rough situation right now... Don't forget, HT will always be there for you. Don't rush! Safety should be priority.

Hello fellow baldies and ex baldies,

Here I am, 4 months after my FUE with Dr. Ferreira.

I'm proud to present you this update. I've managed to make quite good close ups of both donor and recipient areas.

To be honest, from 8:27 I can keep watching over and over again. It's oddly satisfying to see me combing my donor area with this beat

P.S. After 3659 grafts extracted I feel like i still could keep going back and take more and more and more!

Enjoy!

20 hours ago, Portugal25 said:

@Nugget I believe Dr. Couto is fully booked for next 12 months (maybe even longer but do call to confirm and let us know). 

Dr. Lorenzo is delegating surgeries to the other Doctor at the clinic Dr. Bruno Ferreira. You can go directly to Dr. Bruno Ferreira own clinic in Porto and pay 2.5€/graft instead of paying 5/€graft at Dr. Lorenzo Madrid clinic and still have Dr. Bruno do your surgery. 

I don't want to interrupt this conversation, but just my 2 cents on this comment.
Dr. Ferreira told me during my surgery that while he is working in Dr. Lorenzo's clinic he MUST follow his guidelines, while in Porto he is/might be using different approaches. (don't ask me for specifics, I'm just repeating what Dr. Ferreira told me). I would still say surgery under Lorenzo's supervision in my opinion is better/safer than without as he has much more experience in different situations. Like they say, 2 heads are better than 1. Not to discredit Dr. Ferreira, he is fantastic surgeon and I'm over the moon so far with what I've got, but purely from perspective point of view, if I had this 2 choices, I would go for Dr. Lorenzo's clinic.

Looks like it starts to fill in, very nice! I'm almost at 4 month mark and have quite some growth started as well 🙌
I hope your donor will recover as well!

Thanks both!

Yeah redness is something else.. But it's fading, which is good!

I went with dr. Ferreira. Check out my journey in my signature

What's going on guys! 14 week Update!

Looking back where I started I'm already extremely happy. Think about it. I had almost zero hairs in the frontal area and now there are 3!

Interesting things happening, growth of new hairs started and it gets better daily! Such a great time I've been waiting for 3 months!

Enjoy the update.

Definitely consider starting with minima dosage and slowly increase it. That's how I did https://youtu.be/cVF49myjgbU

4 hours ago, Jijypuru said:

@Rolandasdo you microneedling?

Do you recommend one specific?

I stopped microneedling 1 month before my surgery and I'm not planning to go back to it for the next months. I prefer to leave my head alone for some time to let my HT best chance possible without any risky interference.
I used to microneedle for 12 months, you can check my progress here 

Also check out my YouTube video where I'm talking in depth about dermarolling, what are different needle length for, how and when to use and proven method that works.

13 minutes ago, LonelyGraft said:

Rolandas did bruno give you your total donor capacity numbers?

He estimated about 10 000 total usable grafts.

I think it's quite accurate, considering its been 3659 grafts extracted already and donor still looks impeccable.

2 minutes ago, BD99 said:

Thanks for the update! Looking good! I was worried you got covid when you didn't post videos for a few weeks. Turns out you were just mastering your special effects haha.

Lol Haha it's a real thing isn't lol

Been involved in other projects, so to be fair didn't prioritise YT 😁 Besides cloning myself took me 5 min to film and 5 min to edit 😁👌

Hey guys, here's a quick update on my journey. It's 3 months now! Can't believe time flies so fast!

Enjoy!

It's been fun, but also shocking reading this thread.
My personal experience - Turkey was a great place to go some years back. There was several doctors doing good ethical job. Nowadays almost everyone in Turkey is transforming into hair-mill type like @Portugal25 said.
I understand, very high demand for cheap HT and doctors are taking advantage of this. Nothing bad about it. Everyone has to make a decent living, however it gets less and less "personalised" procedure. That's why it's called "hair mill". You come in and go out and you've been forgotten.
You still can get great results from such clinics mentioned above no doubt about it, however I would think for my self: What would I do if I would be one of bad ones? (I've seen so many people preaching good doctors and then coming here or other forums and asking for help as their donor been destroyed or hair doesn't grow).
Personally I would go with someone where I could have the highest chance to get "lucky". Yes, every doctor has bad result. But who cares? I don't care about other results, I care about MY result.
Your job is to figure it out which one has the least amount of bad results for your hairloss type (everyone has different loss and different strategy). That's why it's called "research". Do your own research.

P.S. Just my 2 cents.

On 4/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, Jijypuru said:

@Rolandasdo you recommend a specific nizoral shampoo? Following your journey 

I use 2% ketoconazole (EU standart). I know in US it's 1%.

3 hours ago, Fantaz said:

Hey, just want to say I like watching your youtube videos! Keep it up, and looking forward to seeing your progress bro

Thanks man!

It's called hair greed. We all have it! Hair Transplant will always look better with longer length as it creates more illusion.
When you're doing such job like yours I would say it's very likely to expect a shock loss as the grafts are very close to each other. Trauma from surgery forced some of the surrounding grafts to go to "sleep".  The good news is this hair will grow back after 3-4 months.