London Geezer

I was told the midscalp area lags behind the frontal area by Dr Yaman so I'm hoping it picks up in the last 2 months

Morning gentlemen, Here is my updated pictures as requested. In just over 2 weeks I'll be at the 10 month mark where 90% of results are supposed to be achieved. I'm hoping the midscalp and crown area gets filled in more and becomes more dense... let me know your thoughts as I thought it would be a little thicker by now

Thanks my friend. Do you know how doctors actually calculate how many grafts were made based on whether it's single, double etc. Does the machine automatically count it when hairs are extracted?

Thanks mate. Also, from just noticing your signature I'm a bit confused on the number of grafts I had haha. Basically the number of single, double and multiple hairs I had transplanted resulted in the sum of 4610. Does this not meah I had 4610 grafts?

What's your thoughts on minoxidil post HT if one never really saw the benefits from using it in the first place? Is it worth continuing? Thanks for the input Melvin, seeing your video on YT is what brought me here in the first place

He just said it looked like it was a bit damaged from using something topical. It didn't look red or flaky on the computer under the microscope from what I saw though so I'm not sure. Unless my scalp is damaged from the use of Nizoral twice a week for the past year. I'm in two minds on whether to resume minoxidil use in the upcoming months

7 day update photos immediately after a wash

Hello people, A few days ago I returned from an amazing 3 night trip in Istanbul where I underwent FUE surgery with Dr. Yaman and I thought I should share my results to similar people like me out there as I have learnt a lot from this forum. I'm 34 years old and have been suffering from hair loss gradually since the age of 25. It's mainly been diffuse thinning on top so I've used minoxidil for the past few years but I haven't seen many positive results from it. More recently (4 months ago), I have been using finasteride as recommend by my Doctor before surgery and so far I have not experienced any negative side effects. My diet is good, I weightlift daily and have been getting optimum sleep each night (8 hours) so these may also be contributing factors. I originally looked at various clinics like Asmed and Dr Cinik, but I decided to go with Dr. Yaman after seeing some fantastic results from other people here on the forums who had similar male pattern baldness to me. I decided that Turkey would be the best for me as I'm half Turkish myself and I have family in Istanbul so it made sense for me to make a trip from London to visit this wonderful city after many years. Previously, I'd also looked at London doctors but the results seemed somewhat average compared to specific Turkish doctors like Yaman who seemed more experienced and who were also considerably cheaper so I booked my flights. From the moment I landed in Istanbul at 6am I was picked up by my driver and taken to a lovely 5* hotel where I checked in and had 3 hours sleep before my consultation with Dr. Yaman as I was very tired from the night time flight from London at midnight with no sleep. A few hours later, I was then notified by hotel staff that my driver was outside and I was then off to see Dr Yaman for my consultation. Upon arriving at the clinic, I was welcomed by Fikret who was my contact at the clinic and also my translator as I'm not fluent in Turkish. He's a good guy and has helped answer all my questions on my hair loss journey this past year. I was actually meant to have my surgery booked in for April but due to the pandemic with covid I had to postpone it to August. This was actually better for me as it was quiet and the clinic were only seeing 2 people per day. It also meant that the airport was quiet which was nice and I ended up having a whole row to myself on the aeroplane both arriving and departing. The clinic looked clean and professional and had many floors for different plastic surgery procedures. From meeting Dr Yaman in person, I knew I made the right decision in choosing him to be my doctor for the hair transplant... he seemed very trustworthy and genuine and I liked his attitude. Dr. Yaman first looked at my hair through a computerised microscope and told me my donor area was strong and that I was a good candidate for the hair transplant because I had lots of double and triple grafts and he thought I wouldn't lose the majority of the remaining native hair left on my head. After analysing my hair he suggested I needed roughly 4500/4600 grafts and that the majority would be in the mid scalp area as he said I had a strong hairline so only single grafts were needed there. He also recommended that I do not use minoxidil for some time as my scalp seemed damaged from it. This was fine by me because I think minoxidil has had no positive effect on my hair from the moment I started using it. I've never actually seen any positive results from minoxidil, I used to think it actually made my hair loss worse in the past. Grafts: 4610 Single: 705 Double: 2863 Multiple: 1042 Surgery: On the day of my surgery I was picked up at 9am after having breakfast at my hotel and then met Dr. Yaman at the clinic who designed my hairline with me before taking me through for surgery for the incision phase. Before the incision process, Dr Yaman administered several anesthetic needles into my head to numb the area so I wouldn't feel any pain from the incisions he does with the sapphire blade. The only way to describe it is a crunching sound you hear as the blade penetrates your head several times as the doctor makes the channels in your head where the grafts will later be implanted. My hairline around my ear was slightly pointed and I wanted a more curved look so Dr Yaman even made some incisions there for me (see photo). The only pain I felt was from the needles and also the anaesthesia from a staple like machine which feels like your head is being stapled. You don't feel any pain from the incisions thankfully. After the channels were made I was given lunch containing koftes (Turkish meatballs) which were lovely and gave me the energy I needed for the next phase which was the extraction. The extraction phase was done by a great guy called Ufuk who was friendly and made me feel at ease straight away. More anaesthetic was given with the staple like machine which was uncomfortable before another round of injections were given to numb the pain During this process, holes were punched in my donor area with a motorised machine in order for my grafts to be extracted later by the implantation team. The extraction did not hurt but it was uncomfortable laying in the same position on your front for so long. After the holes were made by Ufuk, some members of the tech team entered the room and extracted my grafts. It basically felt like all your donor hairs were being plucked out in big batches. The last stage was the implantation process which was the longest part of the experience and took almost 3 hours by 3 women in the implantation team. They used Dr Yamans implantation tool to transfer my grafts into the incisions in my head which was very time consuming. At this point I was very tired after 9 hours and was given IV to help me through the last stage and this was also a painkiller. After they finished, my head was bandaged up and I was given some instructions on how to sleep with the inflatable pillow provided. The following day I returned to the clinic for my bandage to be taken off and then the next day I had my first hair wash by the clinic before being transferred back to the airport with my aftercare medications and shampoo for the next 10 days. I am very pleased with the whole experience and the doctor seems to think I will have positive results after seeing my transplanted hair after surgery. Thank you to Dr Yaman, Fikret, Ufuk and Tuncay for making my trip smooth and easy. I highly recommend Dr Yaman if you're thinking about a hair transplant in Turkey. They take care of everything from start to finish and the customer care is brilliant. I am still in contact with Fikret who has been great in answering all my queries after my operation. Today is day 8 and since day 4 I've been in excruciating pain day and night in my donor area (which has only allowed me to get an average of 3 hours sleep per night). The pain is a mixture of a burning and electric shock sensation. Apparently this is uncommon in people but is due to the severed nerve endings during the extraction process which takes a while to regenerate so right now all I'm taking is ibuprofen to help ease the pain but it isn't really helping. Hopefully the pain will subside soon because it's pretty unbearable. Below are some before pictures of my hair loss condition in normal and harsh lighting conditions aswell as my hair transplant result pictures on the day. I would like to say thank you to the forum mods for how this site is run and to the members/doctors who contribute to help spread knowledge on the battle against hair loss.

Thanks. I believe minoxidil actually ruined my hair and I felt like I was forced to continue it once I had started. I wish I never touched it. Now that I've had my surgery, I feel like I'm in a position to never use it again. I feel like minoxidil actually deteriorated my hair condition

That's reassuring to know

Dr Yaman was my surgeon. I trust my doctors advice, I'm just wondering why the majority of other surgeries recommend it. If the graft is safely under the skin then hopefully it's fine.

Hi, Is it an issue that I wasn't given saline spray post surgery to spray on my head for the first 12 hours? I've heard it helps with the healing of the recipient area and graft survival but it wasn't part of my surgerys protocol. I was just given shampoo and a foam to use daily and no saline spray whatsoever. Will this affect my results? I'm on day 7 post FUE and my head is starting to scab/crust. Thanks

Thanks guys. I have just used the gel from the plant and although it feels very sticky I'm hoping it does the trick

That sounds like a brilliant idea, thanks pal. I'll see if I can get some from a garden centre or something. I don't trust the packaged commercial stuff either

Hi, Which aloe vera is recommended to help heal the donor area post FUE? I've read that dr organic is ok but having read some reviews on Amazon, it appears it's not actually 100% organic and contains chemicals that actually affects peoples skin?