SD1984

You ever reach out to the clinic that did this and try to get some sort of refund even if partial?

From what I've gathered over time it seems like Asmed was at one point the best clinic in Turkey but then something happened where he was no longer heavily involved in the surgeries and it was more of a technician spot. Not a hairmill but definitely not what it used to be. To the guy who said Bicer or bust in Turkey no offense but that is ridiculous. Dr. Khan Pekiner imo is one of the best if not the best there is over there.

I love their work. They were in my final few clinics before deciding. Good luck.

How old are you, OP?

Any before and afters of your donor?

Yes, retrograde. Though fortunately not too drastic (unlike mine, check out my thread). You're still a candidate for a HT. They just can't take many from that area.

What exactly are your concerns at this point? To me, your donor looks like it’s on the right track. It’s only been a week or so since surgery. Not everyone has that lucky scenario where after 3-4 days it looks like the donor was untouched. You also got quite a lot of grafts which adds to the likelihood of a longer recovery in the donor.

Yes, I know. I guess I'm just trying to see some photos for peace of mind as I have not seen many. Your retrograde is next to nothing. Very lucky. @Melvin- ModeratorThank you very much for sharing. The backs of our heads are quite similar. Hate to be a pest but do you have a direct post photo of your donor? Just curious to see how the extractions were done. Must have been in a very tight/narrow way, no?

Anyone on here with retrograde get a transplant and can share before and afters of their donor? Just asking as I have not seen many, or at least none that I can remember well. Thank you.

This answer makes zero sense, just fyi. The size/microns of the hair should be the determining factor of the punch size used. If it was all about protecting the donor from being overharvested as she said with no other factors, then every surgeon in the world would use a .07mm.

Looks very good. I personally don't think anything more than 2500 grafts should be done in one day, but it looks good. I wish you the best in your journey going forward.

I cannot have anything near that for a first procedure as I still have hair on most areas of my scalp. The first procedure would be relatively small, around 1500-1800 grafts to rebuild my hairline and close the temples. Down the road when there is more loss there would be a larger procedure. That's how I see things possibly playing out.

Dr. Phil in 1986 (36 years old)

Couldn’t ask for more at 5 months

Did you ever speak to them? I personally am not one to give the old "Well compared to where you came from!" line. I honestly think this was a poor result. That said, when styling it like I see you did in some pics, it looks very presentable. But we did need to be honest here. 4000 grafts is a lot of grafts. Clearly something went wrong growth wise with a good amount of grafts. I'm just not sure what. But bottom line is the density should have been better.

Nice fresh cut today. Hair cut a tad shorter than usual. @Melvin- Moderator and others, do you think I could pull off this length after a 2000 graft procedure?

It's not that I don't care about my crown at all. It's just really not very important to me in the grand scheme of what's going on and it's also me being very realistic about my hair and what's capable. I don't have enough donor to give me solid coverage everywhere and even if I did I'm not one of these guys who would be up for returning to the chair 3-4 times. For me it's a 2 surgery mindset. It's taken years to get to this point mentally and to understand my hair, transplants, and the reality of my goals. To understand that I have a limited donor and that each graft is crucial. Obviously I'd love my crown to be filled but that's just probably not in the cards for me. What's really in the cards is 2 surgeries, probably 2000 grafts a piece, giving me coverage everywhere except for the crown. I've also been a master with fibers and dermatch for years, so using those for my crown for many years to come would be no problem at all. Worse case scenario I also have no problem using a hairpiece back there one day down the road if it gets that bad, Ted Danson Cheers style.

When you say signs of surgery you mean just a thinner back and sides, right? It's interesting because with my retrograde alopecia, perhaps thinning out my back and sides might not be such a terrible thing. Might blend better with the retrograde.. ?

From what I've heard he can take months to get back due to very high influx of consult requests. Great up and coming doctor though imo so worth the wait.

The front is completely shot. Severely recessed temples and a forelock that is so thin you can see through it unless it's combed over which it is in the pics. The pictures and the dark hair make things look a lot better than they are. There has been no official quote yet as I have to be seen in person the morning of the potential surgery (overseas) but there is a ballpark number of I'd say 1500-1800 grafts needed to restore something decent at the hairline. It would be a very conservative hairline of course given the circumstances. Aand given the limited donor in general, I'm hoping it all can be pulled off with 1500, but I'm leaning towards a higher number as you really want to get some sort of density up front more than anywhere else.

It's one of the few areas left that I'm not really knowlegeable on. Can you explain? Do the scars heel differently?

I was told by another HT doc that my beard is 10/10 and they could harvest a LOT from it if need be. Now if only I could get that kind of growth on my head!! 🤣 I still don't really understand how beard grafts work though. So guys end up showing off 1,000 FUE scars under their chin whenever they shave forever? No thanks.

Well fortunately I don't care about my crown. I'm VERY low maintenance in all of this which is a positive. Simply ending up with a framed face again a presentable frontal third when all this is said and done would leave me on cloud 9. I cringe when I see all these guys freak out about wanting more coverage on their crown area or being upset about light density in the front when meanwhile I'd kill for a decent hairline again, haha With regards to no stabilization, I get it all, and have been talking at length with a HT surgeon about it all. As noted in my original post, I understand that I'm looking at 2 surgeries minimum, or some sort of hairpiece/transplanted hairline combo, with hair fibers and everything else forever. No problems with that here. Everything is on the table for me at this point as I've reached this critical point in my hair loss journey. I know I'll never ever have a full head of hair again or anything close to it. I guess I just get nervous about the very narrow and limited donor. It's one thing to have a result that will never give me what I really want (which I understand), but it's another thing to not have a donor that doesn't look right after 2000 grafts are extracted from it. As far as going bald and having enough donor, the doctor has assessed my photos several times and beleives my goals are realistic, though again, he knows that I know my result from surgery #1 will end up not being the best case scenario.

The estimation I got was for FUE. I know FUT would give me a bit more room but I really don't have much interest in FUT as it really only gets done in the US which I could not afford. I am looking at clinics overseas. When you say get "baseline density" measured what do you mean exactly? As far as meds go I'm first going the route of looking into oral minox and PRP. Topical Fin would be a last resort. I know trying to preserve what I have is huge, but also as noted I am open to the possibility of a hair system behind a trasplanted hairline.

Looking to get thoughts from some experienced members. What do we think based on the photographs? I've had my donor assessed by a top HT doc in Manhattan who said 4-4500 max for my donor, but another surgeon beleives that was a conservative number and we can definitely get more. Based on all I know and have seen with many years of experience and knowledge, I really think things would max out around 5k before overharvest. The problem with the donor isn't the lack of density. It has that. The problem is its a VERY narrow area in person. The retrograde is obviously a huge factor which hurts a lot as I'm sure you can understand as you can only harvest so much from there until you run into serious problems with an overharvest appearance. As far as my hair in general goes, my fear is the unknown. I'm now 36 yrs old (37 next month) and am not on Finasteride as it gave me a bad experience and it appears I am heading up sh-ts creek without a paddle considering my family's hair loss history of NW6's on my Father's side. Though I will say I'm in the process of getting a prescription for Oral minoxidil and even considering PRP. Now there IS a NW7 in my family (paternal grandfather), but can we all agree that if I was headed to Norwood 7 my hair would be much worse by now? But I just don't know sometimes, as even though the lateral humps are still kinda hanging on (I guess?), you can clearly see a horseshoe pattern forming. My mothers side of the family has immaculate hair, for what that's worth. What are the odds in your guys' minds that the neck hair recedes up and I'm left with a legit Dr. Phil horseshoe by the age of 55? I have been in touch with a great HT surgeon and I told him I'm fully aware that there will be challenges after a potential hair transplant surgery, whether that means another surgery or two down the road or even having to wear a hairpiece behind what will be (hopefully) a beautifully reconstructed hairline. Thanks in advance .