MachoVato

Last I heard Bisanga is €5/graft plus 21% for Belgium VAT. It is cheaper if you elect for his partner, Dr. Kostis, to do extractions. I'm the one person that disagree that Eugenix is uniquely the best place for high norwoods. Their success with high norwoods are always over multiple transplants. If you have 10-12k grafts in the donor, most good doctors can tackle high norwoods if you have 3 transplants by them.

BHR Athens is the only clinic I know of.

This is true.

I think it's brilliant. I still maintain that De Freitas has the best hairlines at any price.

scabs

I like Bisanga, of course. You can read my thread in my signature and see the work he did on my crown.

Only other Portugal option I know is Dr. Ferreira, but he's at €3. Spanish options start around the same price. Belgium is the same but you also have to add 21% VAT. Good Turkish alternatives at €2.75/graft or below are very limited. HLC and Dr. Pekiner are about that price. Dr. Turan and Gur are about half that price and are excellent options. Scheduling is tough right now. I believe Bicer is even booked through the end of the year. People have been locked down from the pandemic for so long, they are now traveling for transplants.

It's just my opinion and it has nothing to do with Turkey (I went to Turkey for my first HT). I've seen the same cases from Bicer that everyone else has on this board and I agree they are good, but I don't think they are great. I don't see particularly great density or particularly great hairlines. One thing that keeps popping up with Bicer is her "ethics". Results are more important than ethics. Most doctor led clinics (as opposed to classic hair mills) are ethical. Honestly, this is a red flag for me and I've seen no evidence that she's more ethical than anyone else. And frankly, I can show a Bicer case on here that I thought she made a poor ethical choice for extractions. Again, her clinic is good not great, but I would still feel safe recommending her. I believe she's perfectly nice and caring and has excellent communication practices. €2/graft is low for a "top surgeon" because they generally start at €3, but I simply don't put her in that category. I feel differently about Pinto. His outcomes are very good. I like his densities and hairlines are very nice. And I've seen a couple successful repairs, which are harder to do. This is why we all say DYOR... do your own research. Go through the cases, look for completed cases, not just post-op posting where most people fail to report after a few months. That said, Bicer might be the better choice in this case. Because, as you said, you will need more than one transplant. 4000 grafts will rebuild your hairline and mid-scalp but not your crown. Bicer will save you money and give yo most of the grafts. But for the second transplant, go to Pinto. He can improve density and make any refinements you want. It's a similar strategy that I did. I went to HLC first and they did the majority of my grafts and gave me great density. But for my second transplant, I went to Bisanga for crown and refinement (at twice the price).

As perfect of a hairline as you can get. He was my very first choice for a transplant, but the pandemic changed all that.

I think Bicer is expensive at €2/graft. And Pinto is cheap at €2.75/graft.

Excellent choice! Let us know how that goes!

Everything looking on track. This is the very beginning of the growth phase. They next 2-3 months will be exciting!

Pekiner is manual extraction (not motorized) and he uses the stick and place technique for implantation. Very hands-on approach and it takes a lot more time. I agree that you shouldn't use beard grafts unless you have a limited donor area. There's nothing wrong with 200-300 grafts from there, but use them sparingly because they will feel different. The life improvement from a great head of hair is worth far more than $10k, trust me!

I agree that the only elite option for high norwoods is Zarev. But Zarev charges €4/graft. If you're very limited by budget, consider Dr. Gur. He's €1.25/graft, 17 years experience and he performs the extractions and channel openings himself. The trick is that you have to be prepared for multiple procedures, minimum 2. And a very conservative hairline.

Emotions are hot! 😂 With respect Melvin, 2 weeks ago you asked Konior how would he do his research... and his answer was to "dig dirt up on me". And he even said to go to other surgeons. In the voice of arguably the best hair transplant surgeon in the world... look at my worse work, ask questions, and compare to others. I've never seen a rule that we can only compare our own photos, besides how would we do that if we are researching our first transplant? You have several threads on celebrities/footballers/etc. who have had transplants. Research without comparing patient results is just reading a brochure. I respect what you do, totally. And it isn't easy to work with crazy hair people. But this if that "no comparing" rule was in effect, this would hurt the community.

No, that wouldn't be a repair. A repair usually includes things like taking out poorly placed grafts, excessive scarring, overharvested donor areas, etc. Adding density is normal.

I have a distaste for Joe Tillman. Leave it to a guy who has made poor transplant decisions to give you advice on where to go.

Cool! Thanks for making this!

I think it should be encouraged to discuss the differences in tools and techniques. A person considering multiple doctors may not know about those differences. For example, one doctor may use manual extraction, while another uses motorized. One uses stick and place for implantation, another uses implanter pens. One uses technicians, another is all hands-on. One implants in rows, another has a bias towards soft hairlines. One uses microscopes, another only loupes. Etc. As a patient, my research is based on comparing these things. Patient results are great but there are many great results here. Personally, I used to have a preference for manual extraction but I don't any more. I still have a bias towards stick and place. So knowing these things are important. As are the hairline design approaches and biases. As a community, we owe it to each other to be respectful and civil. But comparing doctors and their results is, in my opinion, essential to decision making.

It helps if you only need it on a small area, like your crown or something. I have diffusion so I needed it everywhere. No way topical works for me. That said, I'm starting testosterone injections soon. I need to consider that if I'm going to ease up on finasteride. 😎

There's a LOT of groupthink on here. No one heard of Bicer 1.5 years ago and now she's the undisputed best in Turkey. /sarcasm All forums, Facebook groups, Reddit, etc. all have this groupthink. And it changes over time.

I agree. I tried to go topical myself. But once my transplant started growing, I couldn't apply it to the scalp any more, it just got an the hair. So I went back to oral. I'm thinking of quitting for a few months to see if there's any impact. I'll stay on oral minoxidil, though.

Half life is interesting. Let's say you take 1mg pill. In 5 days, half of it will be gone, leaving you with 0.5mg in your scalp. Then 5 days later, half of that is gone, leaving you with 0.25mg in your scalp. Then 5 days later you will have 0.125mg... and on and on. So even if you take a pill every 5 days, there is still residual build-up.

Exactly that. What makes a large clinic like this better than any other doctors for a high norwood? Are they able to do more grafts in one session? No. Their high norwood cases are done over 2 or 3 procedures. Any good doctor can do that. Especially if the donor is there. Are they better at using body hair? No. In fact, in one video, Sethi himself says that the best beard hair is from the cheek, not from under the chin/jaw, but he uses them all the time. And in my personal opinion, using chest/pubic hair shouldn't be done. Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in seeing those results, but it's not good donor and most doctors wouldn't do it. So what makes Eugenix special? That they are willing to go into "last resort" areas for grafts? I suppose. But making a blanket statement that Eugenix is the best for high norwoods is silly. All good doctors can do it with multiple transplants. The only doctor I see that seems to specialize in extreme, mega sessions cases is Zarev. Just my opinion.

Looks like excellent work. Good luck!