Sitries1

5 weeks Post Op now guys so here is the update pics. Everything seems on track as far as I can tell. The shedding stopped completely at the 4 week mark and I would say I lost 80% of the implanted hair (rough estimate). I’ve had a few little white head spots on the donor area but recipient area has been good as gold and dare I say it  maybe some early growth! I can feel lots of stubble and little hairs sprouting up. It’s hard to say how significant this growth is since I’ve not been through this before. 

I’m taking 10,000mg Biotin and 5iu of Human Growth hormone daily and have been doing this since 2 months pre Op and will continue the same protocol for around a year to 18 months. 

11 minutes ago, NoComfortZone said:

Thank you for the reassurance. It's just that when you see a result like Charlii's in less than 5 months, I think it's inevitable to have some doubts, especially when you go to the same clinic. But yeah, thanks so much!

True but check out Rolandas’s result. He was a late bloomer and had an epic result 

4 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Just because you don't go to a clinic doesn't mean you can't have an opinion, there are plenty of threads here from that clinic, and it's enough for me to say the results are subpar and the donor management is abysmal.

As a moderator here I would expect you to be able to make judgements on most clinic’s because I’d imagine you read most of not all of the posts on here and are able to sort through the information in an informed manner.  However the OP isn’t a moderator here and I don’t think it’s fair for him to name and share/single out one particular doctor in the title of a post and then not back it up with any information as to why he’s saying that (no info on his case or others). Fair enough about HOI because he’s been there but not Asli Tarcan. I’m not saying Asli Tarcan is a good doctor, I’m just saying the way he’s been Named and shamed when really it could be any number of hair mills mentioned isn’t fair. 

5 hours ago, NoComfortZone said:

Charlii is having a truly amazing result. I know everybody is different but as a general guideline, is it normal for the hair in front transplanted area  to be already that long and dense at month 4 and 5? Or it's usually not the case?

I'm asking because I am about to reach the month 5 mark and my result is definitely not like Charlii's. I was told by the clinic (in the post-op document) that the first results start *after* the month 6.

Everybody is different in terms of speed of growth. I’ve seen some cases look terrible at month 5 but then growth is explodes in months 6-8! Be patient 

Just now, mmokin said:

HOI is the most expensive high end hair mill in turkey and i still got a poor result, what does this say about asli tarcan, you can find many bad results from asli tarcan going to any hair mill is a bad idea and something i very deeply regret.

if you dont heed my warning then go ahead to asli or HOI or whatever else its your hair im just sharing my experience for those who want to listen

I agree with you 100% regarding hair mills and techs doing the work however you only have experience with HOI and NOT Asli Tarcan so I don’t think it’s fair of you  to criticise him if you have not been there. 

The bottom line is that you pay for what you get - people go to Turkey because it’s ridiculously cheap and they cannot expect miracles for that price. If it seems to good to be true then it usually is. That being said I have seen some decent work done on acquaintances of mine who literally got 3000 grafts for £1500! Problem with using these cheap clinics is that you are rolling the dice and personally I would not do that with my hair which is a finite resource. 

On 1/3/2022 at 5:21 AM, mmokin said:

these two are very popular destinations for afro hair transplants in turkey due to results on social media like youtube, instagram, google reviews etc but do no be fooled they are very much hair mills, in fact if you do not know the name of the doctor working on you never get the transplant done it could honestly be your biggest mistake.

a bad hair transplant is life ruining levels of bad, you can never spend too much for a good result.

i couldnt find any bad reviews of hoi that lead to my botch job but now since ive started posting about them i've been dm'd by about a dozen afro hair people in about a week who went hoi they shared there experiences with me and all were as bad or worse, in fact there experience mirrored mine alot, stuff like having no consultation or grafts being put in places the patient didnt want, overharvesting, poor growth etc, the same sweet talking at the end of 12 months about how " we are the only clinic that can fix this" from the customer rep Mehmet.

the more i found out about this i was shocked at how evil a clinic could be, how these people take no responsibility for the damage they do...

at this point i can say that going to turkey for a hair transplant is a bad idea full stop, there are only  a handful of good clinics namely HLC but even they have had there fair share of botched results and it honestly may be because of the ecosystem of turkish health tourism where profits are the only motivator and not patient satisfaction  becuase of the very leniant laws around healthcare.

going to above clinics is 100% a bad idea and never worth the risk especially the former as they arent even cheap

 

So HOI botched your HT…… but what about Asli Tarcan? You mention his name in the title of your post and then say nothing anout him?

1 hour ago, JoeMan said:

Can you please post a photo of the donor area post surgery? Do you have any pictures of when it was infected? 

Quick question that maybe you or someone else can answer. How was the terrain in Espinho? I just had ankle surgery and I'm wondering if it's hilly? I visited several months ago but I took uber to his office and didn't explore anything. I know Porto is very bad but didn't see Espinho much.

Sorry if I'm supposed to start a new thread. Just figured several people looking at this could provide a quick response and not take over the thread. Appreciate it 🙏 

Espinho is very flat so your in luck. 👌🏻

Get SMP if it bothers you mate but it’s def not over harvesting by Dr Ferreira. All his donor areas are exceptional and no sign of over harvesting in your post op pics. SMP would solve the problem well.

2 minutes ago, deeside81 said:

I had the infection for about 2 months. Big angry boils.  

How long after the procedure did the infection start? 

4 hours ago, SadMan2021 said:

you're right he "just" needs to fly to Turkey, have a 2nd surgery, and postpone his goal of full coverage by 1 year or more. 

Not to mention the psychological aspect of getting a repair, touch up (whatever you want to call it) at the same clinic that couldn't meet his expectations the first time around. 

If money was no issue, I don't see how anyone would go to the same clinic again for a repair job. If it were me I would need a d*mn good explanation from the clinic why this wouldn't happen a 2nd time

Not to mention repair cases and working on a previously operated on scalp can be more challenging than working on virgin scalp. 

I think your missing the point!!! It’s an operation - All operations have risks and  everyone who goes into a HT knows that there is a risk that all or some of the grafts will fail. You cannot blame the surgeon/clinic for this because there are so many things that may have caused this outside the Clinics control.

If we were talking about a hair mill here that had constant mixed/poor results then I would be with you on this and would also recommend the OP went elsewhere to get his repair but in this case we are not! HLC have a proven track record of quality and a good reputation in the industry for a reason. 

Yes, it’s not ideal to have to go back and get a touch up, but if the final result is excellent then that’s the main thing here. 

4 minutes ago, EvansLawrence said:

Dr. Couto is even more expensive than HLC but he is probably just the best in the world. I see why you think those pics lool better but thing is that lighting and the way you show the hair affects a lot. I havent seen any improvement since month 7 and then maybe it was to early to say that the result is not enough but now at month 10 and a half well, it should be different. My personal opion. Ofc you can dissagree on it.

I agree that Dr Couto is up there with the absolute best and he will be priced at the 5euro per graft mark i imagine and last time I checked he had a 3 year waiting list. What I couldn’t understand is that you then switched your preference to another doctor that I’ve never heard of and is charging you 3500euro for 2000 grafts? At the price point it does not scream ‘best of the best’ to me!?!? That’s why I said that you would be better sticking to HLC.

Personally I had my HT with Dr Bruno Ferreira in Portugal (2 weeks ago). Dr Ferreira explained to me that although it’s not usually required, he offers a touch up after 12 months once the final result is reached. He also explained that with some skin types can it can be difficult to implant with high density because fragile skin can break when you try and implant too many grafts next to each other. it really gives me peace of mind knowing that if I’m not happy then I can return to Portugal in 1 year to get in touched up. I think it’s very rare to get a perfect result 1st time every time. 

On 10/6/2021 at 9:20 PM, EvansLawrence said:

month 8 (almost)

almost at the end of the recovery.

So far my personal feelings: its better than before, no doubt about it. Very natural. Although for me it didnt worth it. 8000€ and 3150 grafts that look more like 2200 or 2500.

Still very conservative line. I have a day for surgery in Spain with Dra. Cotellesa on January to close better the temples and maybe lower the hairline a little bit.

 

Am I being perfectionist? Yes

Am I in my right to be perfectionist? Ofcourse

Were my expectations in HLC fulfilled based on the videos they post? Definitely not

 

Just my thought process.

You are free to think what you want

Your hair looks awesome in these photos but yet I see your not happy and going to Dr Couto….. then a different doctor in Spain who sounds pretty cheap and if I’m honest I have never heard of!?  If your not happy with the end result then my advise would be to go back to HLC and let them sort it. HLC are more than capable of producing you a great result. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. 

20 hours ago, asterix0 said:

I have not done extensive research to see how many transplants from this clinic failed. You can look for yourself and compile them, or someone else who has the time can do so. But certainly there have been enough that, for me personally, it would be enough to dissuade me not to proceed with them.

Your small test surgery of 400 FU is not comparable to what would happen with a 2900 procedure, which is what you stated to have had afterwards. The number of grafts is so much larger that the factors that can contribute to a failed transplant are much higher, i.e. competition for blood flow, overall trauma to the head and dermal tissue, potential nerve damage, etc. It is much more likely that you were always a good candidate and had the right dermatological "fertilizer", so to speak, for your grafts to grow well. And also that you went to a better clinic than the OP did. 

Overall though I am not interested to debate this with you, rather I came in to this thread to try to help OP figure out why his transplant failed. I don't think the "just because" helps in any way, nor do I think it's valid. I think there is always a scientific explanation as to why, it may be difficult to find it, but we are talking about cause and effect relationships here. 

There are three possibilities. Surgeon error, OP's biological condition, or both. You pick one and continue down the path to see what about how the surgeon performs can lead to such a result. You see if other patients had similar results and is there a pattern. If not, do a scalp biopsy and a full blood panel to see if it is your own deficiency somehow. 

So, my advice for OP is:

1) Do some research and see how many patients from this clinic have published testimonials similar to yours. If you can, reach out to them and see if the grafts ever grew. If there is a significant enough pattern, you can feel more confident that clinic/surgeon error is likely. Meaning, perhaps the implantation was not done right, perhaps the grafts were transected, perhaps they were not handled/stored properly when outside of the skin, there are many, many potential reasons.

2) If you cannot find anything significant here, go seek additional opinions from other surgeons/dermatologists. Do a complete blood and health panel, and perhaps a biopsy if it is recommended enough.

3) If there is nothing in (1), and everything is fine in (2), then perhaps there are no more tools left in the toolbox for OP to use to try to figure out why this happened. His best bet is to find the best surgeon he can then to minimize his risk of failure, and try for another procedure to correct this one. This would literally only be De Freitas, Cuoto, Konior, Dr. Pitella, Dr. Zarev, Dr. Bisanga, etc.

His transplant didn’t fail though. He has a small patch that needs a touch up! HLC are probably the best clinic in Turkey and they will sort that out for him no problem! If they turned around and didn’t want to know and didn’t offer to sort it then it would be unacceptable but I very much doubt that is going to be the case. They don’t have such a good reputation for no reason  - they consistently produce outstanding results.

There are lots of potential reasons why that patch didn’t grow so slandering the clinic before they have had a chance to sort it is not on!  There is no guarantee of success when it comes to any operation due to a multitude of factors - the blame cannot always be laid at the surgeon/clinics door.

Unfortunately the OP has just been unlucky on this occasion and he will have the inconvenience of going back out to Turkey to have the patch filled in but if you look on the bright side, I’m sure the clinic will not just touch up that area, they will look over the whole transplant and offer some more density to any other weak areas so you may get an overall better final Result. 

I wish you all the best in getting it sorted and I’m confident HLC will give you a great end result even though it may have taken longer than anticipated. 

16 minutes ago, SadMan2021 said:

Great result! Interestingly there are 2 HLC patients who recently posted poor outcomes from HLC. 

Just goes to show so much of a HT can come down to dumb luck, genetics, luck of the technicians who end up working on you, etc. 

can you point me in the Direction or the 2 people who had bad results from HLC?? That surprises me as I’ve never seen a bad result come out of that place!

Btw - there are no technicians at HLC (only doctors). It’s a high end clinic, not a hair mill. 

Fair play mate. Fingers crossed it goes ok for you. 

3 hours ago, JoeMan said:

Actually, I tore my Achilles 4 weeks ago. I'm still on a knee scooter at the moment. I'm from the US so I'm not looking forward to 20 hr travel days in my condition but in 3 weeks hopefully I can wobble around in the walking boot. Of course this has me quite anxious at the moment. 

I was looking at the same hotel. Did you book it or did you let Alexandra book it?

 

Would you not be better trying to switch your date and go back when you can walk? 

4 minutes ago, SD1984 said:

How did the post-op sleeping go?

Wasn’t too bad at all to be honest. Dr Ferreira said is was ok to sleep flat on my back so I did that and just wore the neck pillow and propped up my head with multiple bed pillows 

14 hours ago, SadMan2021 said:

looks like the doctor used some donor hair from outside the donor safe zone. This would only be a concern if your native hairloss pattern is destined for a NW 6 or NW 7. But given you're before pic and your age, I doubt there is concern for this. 

Some people on this forum would kill for your "Before" hair. 

I agree with everyone this is looking like a homerun so far. 

I wouldn’t of thought my hair will ever hit a Norwood 5 or more luckily. Dr Ferreira said my hair was healthy which was a bonus. 

Here’s a few pictures of 10 days post Op with all scabs off. Really happy with it so far. 

Will keep you guys updated but I’m super happy so far. The hairline shape is everything I wanted and it’s healed really well. Looks even better now scabs are off and swelling has gone down. Will post som pics tomorrow. 

5 hours ago, Ajamilo said:

Mwamba

Please elaborate?? Have you seen good results from him with regard to beards??  Also does he have a good record of using body hair? 

2 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Bare in mind that you have had a hair transplant. You may require more surgery for your MPB over the life span which means that you need to preserve your donor. The beard hair transplants that I have seen posted on here that look realistic are from patients who are not suffering from MPB and use their scalp hair as the donor source for the beard. I'm not aware of any great results that were based on chest hair (although I am happy to be corrected). All the best with your research!

As mentioned - I won’t be using scalp hair for that very reason (I want to preserve my donor hair). 
 

Dr Ferreira belives even scalp hair is not ideal for beard transplants anyway. 

I’ve recently had a hair transplant with Dr Ferreira in Portugal which I’m really happy with so far (should be a great result). I also want a beard transplant using beard and body hair.  Dr Ferreira is not comfortable using anything other than beard hair for beard transplants (not scalp hair or body hair). I don’t want to use scalp hair anyway as I want to save my donor for potential 2nd HT in the future If required but I don’t have enough beard hair really to get good density. I probably need a total of 1250-1500 grafts I would say and only have 800-1000 available to move around (beard grafts). I was hoping to make the balance up with chest hair as I have an abundance of that!!

are there any surgeons that specialise in this area (beard transplants). 

14 hours ago, JoeMan said:

Looks good! I have surgery scheduled in mid January with him. I'm a little nervous as I still don't see many results from him, but more and more people are starting to post. I traveled to meet him several months ago and he seemed like a good Dr. I really enjoyed Porto so I'm contemplating just staying in Porto and Uber back and forth. But in the end I might just stay in Espinho at least for the surgery days. Unfortunately I just had ankle surgery 3 weeks ago, so I'm know I won't be able to walk much, especially up/down hill. That really has me nervous.

 

Anyways, thanks for sharing and good luck with your results. I'll likely start my own thread afterwards. Also can you share the Airbnb you used as I may look into it? 

It’s called ‘The Blue Twenty Two House’. 
 

I really would recommend staying in Espinho buddy - getting a cab from Porto at 6.30-7.00am will not only be  expensive but it will likely get you in a panicky disposition before surgery (traffic/not being able to find a cab etc). It’s much nicer being just down the road within a  short walk away. You won’t feel like doing a great deal after surgery anyway so you won’t be able to enjoy Porto. Another thing to consider is that getting in and out of cars is a prime way to bang your head after surgery so I’ve been thankful I’ve not had to do that. 
 

Good luck for January. I wish you all the best.

4 hours ago, Min12 said:

Looking great! What was the name of the air bnb apartment?

It’s called ‘The Blue Twenty Two House’