147break

DAY 5

The scabs are starting to crust and crack a little on the front but the Dr. assured me that this is normal and nothing to worry about. I started moisturising the donor area scabs and working a lot of them off. This has helped massively with the itching.

DAY 4

The scabs are starting to take good shape at this point and the yellow has almost cleared up from the use of the antiseptic. The itching on the previous night on the donor area was absolutely insane. Worst nights sleep of my life

DAY 2

This is the day I flew back home. I was supposed to be picked up at 7:10am but there was a small delay with the transfer so I was picked up at 7:30. I arrived at the airport, checked my bag in and went to get some food. I just went to the burger king, stuck with what I know  I boarded my flight at around 10:30am I think. There were honestly about 15 of us on the flight who had had hair transplants, so if you're worried about stares then don't be!

After the flight, I drove back home no problems. I noticed some yellow appearing on my head which did not look good at all.

I contacted Muzaffer and he told me to get some antiseptic and apply it 4-5 times per day. My good old mam came to rescue and brought a bottle to me because I didn't fancy facing the world looking like this yet  

DAY 1

I was picked up at 8am again by Muzaffer after breakfast, who took me to the clinic to get my hair washed. The Dr. looked over everything again once I arrived and said it all looked good and then a nurse took me to the studio room. She removed the bandage and cleaned my head, then took more photos

I was then taken back to the hotel by Muzaffer where I just chilled in bed for the day watching netflix and doing work. I also ordered some room service and ate some more from the minibar. This is how I slept that night - not too uncomfortable, even though I normally sleep on my front!

Hey guys, I had my surgery on the 7th January at Armamed by Dr. Demirsoy.

The whole process was very easy and they took care of everything for me. Top quality service, let's hope the results are the same

I drove to the nearest airport that had a direct return flight to Istanbul so I wouldn't need to worry about changing planes on the way back and getting public transport home. I drove there on the morning of the 6th and worked in the airport for a few hours up until my flight. I ended up landing in Istanbul around 7pm Turkish time I believe after the most turbulent flight I had ever been on! They were dealing with storms at the time, and the following day the airport was closed because a plane was blown off the runway so I got a little lucky there.

Once I arrived, I met the transfer company and got talking to a couple of other people there for hair transplants but with different clinics. It seems that multiple clinics all use this transfer company. It was cool to meet people there for the same thing. One guy was getting the same return flight as me so I saw him that day too, but we didn't get a chance to speak.

I was taken to the hotel and unfortunately the WiFi was down because of the storm, and I didn't have any data over there so I was worried in case something went wrong with the pickup in the morning. I went to sleep straight away because I had nothing to do without the internet, and all of the TV channels were in Turkish.

DAY 0

I woke up at 7am, had a shower and went down for breakfast. Then I was picked up at 8am by Muzaffer on the dot. He is a very friendly and nice guy who can answer any questions you might have about the procedure.

We arrived at the clinic after a quick 20 minute journey. The clinic is over 40 floors high so you get some nice views! I went through a couple of questionnaires with Muzaffer and signed a disclaimer and then finally Dr. Demirsoy came into the room. He doesn't speak English so all communication went through Muzaffer but it was a very smooth process.

Dr. Demirsoy examined my hair and asked where I would like my hairline. I explained that I always had a high hairline and I don't really want it much lower than I currently have it, just the temples filling in and overall strengthening in the front.

He drew the hairline and they gave me a hand held mirror, then asked what I thought. It was exactly how I wanted it, not too much lower. I did not want to use too many grafts because I think I will need a second surgery later in life, even though I am taking finasteride.

After the consultation we went through to the photography studio and they took some photos, before shaving my head and taking the same photos again.

After these were taken, I was taken to another room to change into a gown and some slippers. I was also given a Xanax to calm any nerves and make me a little sleepy. I went to another room and removed my shirt, then put on a gown and some slippers.

I was then taken to the surgery room and told to lay on my side. I was a little cold at first which I think they realised because they brought over a blanket straight away which was nice. I had the option of using my phone throughout the procedure but I just tried to sleep through the whole thing. The time flew by very quickly.

They started the anaesthetic, which was almost painless on this side of the head. Then the Dr came over and started the harvesting. As promised, it was completely painless. You could hear the micromotor but it just reminded me of getting a haircut with clippers. I was then flipped onto my right side and the process was repeated.

After the extracting phase, they put an antiseptic cream and then a bandage onto the back of my head. They then numbed the front of my head. This was a little more painful than the back of the head.

Now that my head was busy numbing, I had a 20 minute break and they gave me a choice of food. I chose chicken breast with roasted vegetables. It was very nice!

After the break, the Dr. started the incisions. This did not take too long. When he was finished, he held up a mirror and I was impressed with where my new hairline was going to be! It has been a very long time since I saw myself with a hairline like that. I had a 5 minute break so I quickly went to the toilet, and then it was time to place the grafts.

This part of the procedure is done laying on your back. Again, I just closed my eyes for the whole thing and tried to sleep. Unfortunately I had some paid during this part. The Dr. said that my skin was hardened in the front and it meant that the anaesthetic could not spread properly, and you can't use too much anaesthetic so he couldn't just keep injecting more. I was given an oral painkiller.

At certain parts of the head I could feel everything that was happening and it wasn't pleasant, but knowing that if I didn't let them do it the grafts would be wasted helped me to get through it  Dr. Demirsoy said it's not normal to feel anything through this and I was an exception because of the hardened skin so don't let that put you off!

Dr. Demirsoy does the extractions and the incisions, and then the nurses place the grafts. After the grafts had all been placed, they washed my head and then took a few more photos

The Dr. looked over everything once more, then I went and sat with Muzaffer who went over all of the aftercare instructions. I was also given a slice of cake because it was one of the nurses birthday

I was taken back to the hotel. I think I arrived back at about 6pm although I'm not 100% sure. I had a few snacks from the minibar and then just lay in bed with the neck pillow and dozed off a few times. The WiFi was back on at this point so I was watching movies or doing a few bits of work between sleeps. I managed to sleep about 6 hours in total before the next morning

Your title says FUE but your text says FUT. I believe it's recommended to wait a while because it can cause your FUT scar to stretch

https://youtu.be/tcwQ7cxWIjo?t=211

I've timestamped the link. I can't remember how many FUTs he has had

Thank you, I did not realise there was an issue harvesting FUE from a stretched donor area. Joe Tillman on youtube had a small FUE procedure recently and I believe he has said at some point that his skin is too tight for any more FUT's so maybe you could reach out to him or see if anybody with more knowledge replies here

Your donor area around the scar already looks a little thin but I don't think it would look bad afterwards considering how small an amount of grafts you would need to fill in the scar. Did he say why he thought you were a bad candidate?

Looks good, nice write-up! I was there two days before you. I'll post a thread in a couple of days

Different doctors recommend different amounts of time. I just had my surgery yesterday and he recommended starting it after 3 weeks for example

If you're 8 days post-op, there's no way removing the scabs could have damaged the grafts. Especially if they came off easy with no bleeding. Try not to stress  

Do you have an update?  

Great write up! Do you have any photos of your donor area prior to surgery? I'm curious to see what was considered not very strong. Thanks!

Hello guys. I am scheduled for an FUE procedure on the 7th January and I have a trip booked to the maldives in June, a little over 6 months afterwards. Obviously there will be a lot of diving activities available which I'd like to take part of.

Am I right in thinking that there will be no issues 6 months after the transplant? I've read that it's not recommended to go swimming afterwards but I can't find a minimum recommended time anywhere.

Thanks!

2 hours ago, pkipling said:

Huge improvement - and I would expect that it will just continue to get better.

Attaching pics of my donor at 4 months, 6 months, and 12 months as a reference for how mine continued to improve. I keep the sides significantly shorter now and there's never anything noticeable. 

How many grafts were they able to take from your donor in that photo?

Looking good! Do you have any photos of the donor area also?  

On 11/27/2019 at 6:21 PM, JohnCasper said:

Looking forward to seeing pictures in 3-4 months.  How many total grafts?

It's in the title of the thread - 3711 grafts

I'm pretty sure they do not offer PRP and I've never seen it mentioned in any of the results threads

On 11/14/2019 at 11:56 PM, grzegorz said:

This picture is from today

Looks good man! Has anyone ever told you that you look like Roy Trenneman? 😂

Happy growing mate, looks good! Will be following your progress as I'm going to Dr. Demirsoy in January

From studying before and after photos for a while, it's likely you'll need a second transplant to thicken up the middle. However it is possible that if you start with your finasteride and Minoxidil, it may thicken it up enough to be satisfactory. In cases like yours, I see a lot of surgeons put at least a thick dense strip across the front of the forelock, joining up to the temples. Good luck with the growing!

15 minutes ago, Gman1 said:

Did you ever find the cause of your hair loss? And are you taking any regimen for it?

Just plain old MPB. However I also took accutane when I was younger and that thinned my hair out considerably which didn't recover very well, and I think it sped up the MPB. I say this because I have an identical twin who did not take accutane and my hair loss is more advanced than his.

I took finasteride for 18 months and that thickened up my hair by a crazy amount. See the pics below

Unfortunately I decided to shave my head and stop taking finasteride for 10 months and I'm closer to the first image rather than the second image now  I'm back on finasteride for a few months and I'm hoping it comes back

On 11/10/2019 at 9:42 PM, Gman1 said:

My diet is still the same to be honest but I started taking protein shakes every morning from September. But I’ve lost atleast 30-40% hair density should I see another dermatologist to get a second opinion about the health of my hair? Could it be some type of vitamin or mineral deficiency that my hair is not getting? And how can I test for that?

I went to my doctor a few years back and said I was losing my hair and they ordered some blood tests for me. I believe they tested my thyroid along with some vitamin levels. Turned out I had anemia caused by a folate deficiency lol, but fixing that did not help my hair loss

Hope the MRSA treatment is going well, following your results 😁