MichaelD

Thank you for your optimism. My hair loss is rather extreme though. Having started when I was 15. My father and all of my uncles are bald. My mom and her mother even has recession as well. So that is why I highly recommend the use of DHT inhibitors! They really do work and I cannot comprehend why some men get transplants w/o the use of them. I understand some men might have sides, which is rather unfortunate.

Dr. Koray said estimated that I have around 9000 grafts available to use for FUE. I just had a 3222 FUE procedure so that leaves approximately 5000 grafts available. Regarding punch size, I believe he used a 0.7mm punch.

Exactly. My hair loss happened at a very early age that I had already known A LOT about hair loss at the age of 20. This allowed me to utilize rogaine at 18 and start fin & dut at 22. As a result my hair loss was minor as you say BUT only because I utilized preventative measures at such a young age.

Thanks for the positivity, I am hopeful everything goes fine. If anyone is wondering my current hair loss regimen is: 2.25mg of finasteride everyday 0.5mg dutasteride cap 3x a week (mon, wed, fri) 1ml of minoxidil only on transplanted area Multivitiman, omega three fish oil, msm I will keep everyone posted, if interested.

This is a picture of me when I was 16 years old. My hairline started to recede!

I told Asmed that one of the biggest hurdles was the fact that I did not see many patients of African descent being worked on by Dr. Koray. They assured me that they do have extensive experience dealing with african type hair BUT that patients are not always willing to share their results. That is one reason why I opted to share mine. To answer your second question: I am half black/mexican. So yes my hair isn't like the typical african yet not straight like indian. I was a little worried about this since there are not too many mixed people in comparison to other full raced people. They assured me that it will be no problem regarding the hair procedure.

Thank you guys! This is my first ever self post on this website and I intend to show everyone my results. Stay tuned!

10 DAYS POST OP PICTURES

This is a brief summary of my experience dealing with Dr. Koray Erdogan. If you have any more questions, go to his website and contact them or comment on my post. I will try my best to answer. I will also post up monthly so you can see my results. BACKGROUND Hello, my name is Michael and I have been fighting hair loss ever since I was 15 years old! I do not remember much of high school but there is one day that I would never forget. So, there was this girl who I had a big crush on… I remember I was showing her my high school ID’s throughout the years one day during lunch. I remember her clearly comparing my freshmen, sophomore and junior ID’s and she said to me that my hairline had receded a lot over the years! I was devastated and remembered being depressed and unmotivated, always thinking about my hair. I instantly was self-conscious to the point where I didn’t want to participate in any activities due to my balding head at the ripe age of 15-16 (hair loss is a bitch, I know). That was the beginning of my hair loss journey. Anyways fast forward 10 years, I decided what better time to get a hair transplant in the middle of a pandemic when most places are going to be closed for quite some time. I decided to pull the trigger and get this done! I have been using finasteride together with dutasteride for 3 years now. I have no sides at all. I have also been using minoxidil for 6 years as well. How I choose ASMED? What people must understand is that a hair transplant is a freaking SURGEY! If you do not do your due diligence when it comes to finding reputable clinics, then you my friend are in deep shit. With that being said, I decided to take my time and analyze various clinics around the world. Now my budget was around $8000 usd, which eliminated nearly all the clinics in the united states, which wasn’t really an issue since I had discovered other clinics not located in the states to have the same if not better results that the ones in America. After months and months of research I decided to go with Dr. Koray, and I am so glad I did so. I have to admit that I utilized Joe Tilman and Spencer Kobrens, Bald talk truth videos immensely during my search of doctors. I only considered doctors that were IAHRS certified, I know that some of you may not agree with my reasonings, but I felt confident in my decision. Dr. Koray/ASMED, which had many great reviews and I had a gut feeling that they were the clinic for me. Flight: I booked a nonstop flight from LAX to IST which cost me around $800 USD one way. It was a long ass flight but something I had to do. I booked via Turkish airlines. Coming back home was a different story, Turkish airlines cancelled my return flight 3 times! So instead of going directly home from Istanbul, I had to get a connecting flight to Germany, then to LAX. The cost of the return flight was around $750 USD. Arrival: When I arrived in Istanbul, I was immediately greeted by one of the ASMED drivers. This was a huge relief because I was jet lagged after a 14-hour trip. That last thing I wanted to do was to look for my driver in a foreign country all by myself. The drive was around 40 min to ASMED Clinic. The driver was a young man who was very nice, professional and accommodating. Cool Guy! COVID Precautions: The moment that I landed in Istanbul; the driver drove me to the clinic for a blood test that test for Covid 2019. The clinic will not operate on a patient that is displaying Covid 2019 symptoms. In order to even get in the clinic, one must pass through these doors that launch disinfecting spray all over your body. Then they test your temperature to see if you have a fever and make you change your mask for a new one and make you put new gloves on. I was very pleased by how serious they took these preventative measures. I have my bachelor’s in public health, and I know first-hand that there is no way you can eliminate Covid 2019 transmission 100% completely, but you can decrease your chances of contraction. ASMED went above and beyond in this aspect, making me feel very safe. Hotel Accommodations: The Radisson Blu- a hotel that is located near Asmed Clinic. It is walking distance & priced at 75- 90euros a night for 5 nights, I believe. Asmed Clinic- You can opt to stay at Asmed, as they have their own rooms. I believe the max number of nights you can stay here is 2 – 3 nights for around 50euros a night. Surrounding Hotels- You can find accommodations a few minutes away from the clinic for lower prices. There are numerous hotels you can stay at such as (Asia City Hotel, A11 hotel etc.) I decided to stay at Asia City Hotel for around 30 euros per night. It wasn’t a 5-star hotel but at least the rooms were clean, free breakfast, working A/C, hot water etc. TV didn’t work though but as long as you have your phone, you should be fine. How long did I stay? I decided to stay a total of 12 days! I know it was a long time BUT I did this because of the sole fact that I did not want to jeopardize messing up any grafts. Call me extra, but I took the aftercare very seriously. I decided it was best to stay in a cool, clean, relaxing environment to let me heal as the first couple of days post op was brutal. I did stay at Asmed clinic for 3 nights. ASMED rooms were very state of the art, clean, quiet, and everyone who worked there was amazing. They were all very helpful and answered every and any questions I had about the procedure. You will not regret staying at Asmed. Suzana Suzana is one of the English coordinators who literally helped me step by step. She is the best, she was so kind, professional and had a deep passion for what she does. She doesn’t rush you or make you feel like you are a nuisance, which made me feel at home. Her English was advanced and all of the instructions that she gave me were clear and easy to comprehend. She is able to be reached in her WhatsApp, which is the primary method of how she will be in contact with you. I really mean it, that she is amazing and Dr. Koray did an awesome job of hiring her as one of his staff. If I had to come back to ASMED, I will definitely request that she be my coordinator, no doubt! Pre-Op Pre surgery was straight forward. I went in for a couple of pictures, blood test, ecg test, consultation with Dr. Koray, drew the new hairline etc. Pretty straight forward, easy. The total time it took was a couple of hours the day before the surgery. Day of the Surgery Surgery Day! The surgery is split into 3 parts. Extraction, incision and graft placement. The doctor does not do the whole surgery himself and I understood that. His techs will extract the grafts from the donor area. Regarding the incisions, you have the option of choosing Dr. Koray to conduct the incisions OR you can choose to pick Dr. Alp Bayramoglu and head surgical assistant to do the incisions at a cheaper price. If you choose to have Dr. Koray do the incisions, the cost is more. You will have to make that decision for yourself. As for myself, I decided to go with Dr. Koray to do the incisions during my hair transplant surgery. The surgery took around 8 hours from start to finish. I had 3222 FUE Graft procedure done. Post Op The first couple of days are the hardest. Your head will swell up like a bowling ball, and you feel fatigued and restless since you cannot sleep like you normally do. Tip bring your own neck pillow as the one that the clinic gives you is plastic and hard to sleep with. The staff at Asmed will wash your head and teach you how to care for your hair. They will provide you with a lotion and shampoo that they advise you to use for the first 10 – 12 days. Overall: I am more than happy that I decided to go with Asmed. They are a very professional clinic that truly care for their patients. From the moment that I filled out the online consultation to the day that I left back to LA, THEY (SUZANA ESPECIALLY) WERE WITH ME EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! Covid has scared many of us but I can assure you that Asmed is doing their best to filter out covid at their clinic. I have nothing but positive things to say about Asmed. Now, are there people out there who are not found of their results, yes but there is no clinic that has 100% approval ratings. You cannot show me one clinic in ANY field that has 100% approval from all of their clients. With that being said, some people have expectations that are not realistic. Dr. Koray is a true artist when it comes to hair transplant, but he is not god. Trust me, I have absolutely no regret about going to Asmed, say what you want about their clinic, but I personally had an amazing experience dealing with them. It has only been 15 days since the surgery, but you cannot even tell that I had the procedure done. I am so happy that if I had to keep my hair at buzz cut level, I would be more than satisfied.

Thanks for the info. Sorry to hear that you suffer from fin sides. I just got my procedure done by Asmed 4 days ago BUT i have been using Dutasteride and Finasteride together for the past 3 years with no sides at all. 2.25mg fin daily, 0.5mg dut 3x a week, minoxidil 2ml daily, multivitamin, fish oil and msm/glucosamine pills I strongly believe that if you had been on a dht inbitor such as fin or dut that you would have seen greater results. I understand why you aren't taking the meds tho. Thanks for this wonderful post!

Does anyone know if he has been using minoxidil and/or finasteride after his hair transplant procedure?

Your hair is coming along nicely. Don't get caught up with hair greed. I understand that you want to have a "perfect" set of hair BUT i strongly belive that 99% of the public wouldn't be able to tell if you had a HT, unless you gave them a microscope and told them. Relax, it's 5mo. You still have a ways to go dude. Thanks for keeping everyone updated tho.

Exactly. All i know forsure is that if you are hoping to stop hairloss or looking to get a transplant you better be on an DHT inhibitor. Especially if you were like me, who started experiencing a receding hairline at the age of 15!

Yeah you definitely have had the back of your hairs damaged during the extraction process. I just did my surgey with Dr. Koray (Asmed) and my donor area already healed 4 days post op. You literally cannot even tell i got 3200 grafts extracted.

To be honest, instead of choosing between fin or dut, i just decided on stacking the two. Some may think it is unnecessary/dangerous but in my case i have not suffered from any sides at all. My current regimen is 2.25mg fin daily and .5mg dut every 3 days. This combo has allowed me to hold onto my existing hair. It stopped any further hairloss i was experiencing. Good luck