Berba11

You can already get a feel and sense of the difference this will make with the parts you want removed shaved down. Really pleased to hear you had such a thorough planning session - this is the level of attention and detail you deserved last time around. How long will you have to wait between this and the next round of extractions?

Ideally need immediate post op pictures, where we can actually see the extraction/punch sites. Did Asli Tarcan not take high resolution pictures? Shock loss can take up to around 6 months to rebound in some cases, so I'd hope to see improvements over the next three months. You'll know a lot more by month 6 if this is shock loss or overharvesting.

UK would have been my second guess. Lots of clinics in Turkey & the UK run an "all in" pricing model. In terms of how it looks... It's usually very difficult to say with absolute certainty at this stage when everything is a bit bloody and scabs are forming. My own initial impression (for what it's worth) is that the density looks ok - maybe on the slightly less dense side, but within reasonable density boundaries - and that the hairline graft placement looks a little bit linear and lacking irregularities for a softer, more broken up hairline. However, I again have to caveat and say that it's hard to make those kind of technical assessments at this stage with real conviction. It's also virtually impossible to know if they've used nice, soft single graft hairs in the hairline and if the angles and directions of the grafts are optimal. I do like that they've gone a little more conservative and not lowered your hairline, and it's almost always a nice touch to leave a few finer native hairs at the centre point of the hairline in front of the newly transplanted hairs to aid the naturalness (which it looks like they've done). Lastly, the donor extractions are decently spread out though it looks like they didn't utilise the side of your head very much (but maybe that's the single upside down picture not telling the full story!). I'd have maybe liked to see the full donor used if that is indeed the case, but it doesn't look like you'll have any donor issues as far as I can tell.

Thanks for sharing. 🙂 I’m guessing this is around 2,000-2,500 grafts. I’m also guessing that you not knowing how many grafts this is means you didn’t pay per graft, which probably means you went to Turkey? Who was your surgeon/which clinic?

Do you have any pictures of the extractions immediately post-op? Shockloss - if that's all it is - can take a while to recover. However, Asli Tarcan's reputation is such that it's not unreasonable for you to be concerned. They have a history of butchering people I'm afraid to say. Just some semantic hygiene... Any hair that was extracted will not "grow back". The hair didn't "grow back" after your first surgery either, it just sounds like they did a decent enough job with the extractions such that it didn't leave your beard looking patchy. If on this occasion they have indeed overharvested the area underneath your chin, then the only way to resolve this would be to have hairs transplanted back into that area. For now all you can do is give things more time and hope the situation improves. You'll know more definitively where you stand in two or three months time, as frustrating as that is.

There's still loads of terrible practitioners in the UK I'm afraid, but running concurrent to that is some newer options that are exciting. I don't know why Dr Ball isn't more widely discussed on here or reviewed though. He's been around for ages - all the way through the barren years - and is an excellent surgeon.

Avoid Wimpole. In the UK we have Dr Ball, Dr Ted and Dr Mani who are all very, very good options. There's also Dr Reddy, Dr Farjo and Dr Arshad. Whilst I'm sure there's a few hidden gems on the brink of emerging in the UK that aren't yet known, these six are by far your best & safest bets in the UK. Personally I really like the former three (hence mentioning them first), but other posters may take a different view. I would guess you need around 1500 grafts, give or take. Make sure you opt for a conservative approach to preserve your donor to meet the future needs of your hair loss.

1. Design looks nice and appropriate. Not seeing any issues there. 2. Always very, very difficult to tell to be honest unless there's something obviously amiss, which there doesn't seem to be in your case. If it's not 2,800 grafts, then it can't be too far off. 3. Too soon to say but everything looks nicely spaced from the pictures you've provided here.

It's an ethical issue in the vast majority of cases because it risks serious harm to the recipient patient. Your case is very unique (and fascinating!) as you were already taking immunosuppressants prior to the HT, mitigating that same risk that others would be subject to. That's the critical difference in your case it would seem. Would be great if you could share more photos and details with us.

Still not sure I follow. Some of the grafts never shed, which is normal and a nice little bonus. The ones that did shed will start to emerge in due course. Those that will start to grow out will not impact upon the ones that didn’t shed, and I’ve never heard it be suggested that this could cause inflammation. That said, it’s not uncommon for newly transplanted hairs to irritate the scalp to some degree given that ultimately they are a foreign body. But that’s a bridge you cross if & when you come to it.

I’m not sure I fully understand what your doctor is recommending you do, but as far as I’m aware it’s just a waiting game. The hair will shed in the first 4-6 weeks post op and then start to grow back in from 3 months onwards. There’s nothing you can do to alter the speed of that process and I personally wouldn’t be messing around trying. Who is your surgeon?

You can always just put the finasteride on hold for now. As for buzz cut versus your current hairloss - a buzzcut will obviously look better than visibly balding, so if you’ve buzzed down two days ago you’re in a better place than you were there days ago just by cutting your hair differently. Once you’ve done whatever you need to do marriage-wise, you can then try the medical intervention. The other option is to not take medication at all and still get a HT, but you’ll likely be look at two or three transplants needed and you’ll really want to make sure you’re going to a top doctor who can plan for the long term with you. This won’t come cheap or quickly.

Side effects aren’t common, but the ones to watch out for would be any kind of sexual side effect or general low mood with finasteride. It doesn’t really make a difference whether you keep your hair short or not as far as the medication goes. Buzzing your hair and keeping it that way for a while is really so you can get used to that look and routine. If you like it, great - you’ve saved yourself a lot of money and a lifetime of medication.

I was about to post the same. The hairline design and irregularities are really, really nice, so it's a bit of a shame to see so many multigraft hairs where they shouldn't be as this would be a 10/10 result otherwise. The soft native hairs being left at the front is a nice touch indeed.

Forget PRP - won’t do anything. A multi vitamin won’t hurt you but it’s not going to save your hair either. Finasteride over minoxidil if you only want to take one medication, but both is always better in combination. You’ve got oral & topical options for each, with oral being more effective. The key is to see if you can tolerate the meds without any side effects and, if so, stick to them long term. The other thing if you haven’t already is to just buzz that hair off and rock it. It’ll look far better than the balding look, and you may like it enough to move on without having take medication and put yourself through more than one expensive surgery. It’s risk free, cheap and convenient (and universally looks good), so should be done first as part of the process.

Sweating won't be an issue two months after the transplant. As far as swimming goes, you'll be fine if you a) keep sun exposure to a minimum, b) use factor 50 suncream as a precaution on your head for those times when your hat will be off. So don't spent a long amount of time in the pool or sea and you'll be fine. Basically just simple common sense stuff.

Love the hairline design and can’t wait to see the results. Happy growing.

I don’t see why PRP would necessarily work for temporary hair loss either. Like I said, if the cause of temporary loss is known (stress, for eg), then reducing or eliminating that stress will be key to hair recovery. If you have robust evidence that PRP is a reliable and testable remedy to stress induced or “vax-induced rapid aging” hair loss, I’d be keen to read it. If not, then I don’t see the basis for parting with a decent sum of money for it.

This isn’t even a comparison in terms of quality of result: Smile will leave you with a pluggy hairline as they always do, whereas Eugenix produce overwhelmingly great work. Eugenix isn’t without its issues, and the clinic has been extensively reviewed on here over the last few years so they are very easy to research - worts and all - but if it’s Eugenix or 99% of what you’ll find in Turkey then it’s no contest. But why only those two clinics? What criteria narrowed it down to just those?

Can you share some high resolution close ups of the hairline so we can see the level of detail and refinement? The growth looks very good, which isn’t uncommon for lower cost Turkish clinics. Where most of them fall down however is by putting multiple graft hairs in the hairline. The only close-ish hairline pic you shared looks like it has multis, however that may just be the lighting.

You’re likely going to need at something close to 5,000 grafts - and even that would require a bit of compromise in terms of coverage/density. You might get away with fewer grafts, but again it really depends on how much coverage you want to achieve in a single surgery. So even if you went with a good lower cost option like HDC in Cyprus at €2.2 per graft, you’re looking at around €11K plus travel costs for 5,000 grafts. You have good lower cost options in Thailand and India to consider as well, but in your case I’d certainly be looking to budget upwards of €10K in order to keep the better options on the table.

99% of the Turkish market is absolutely terrible. What is your maximum budget? This will help us figure out where and what is realistic for you.

As the others have said, do not rush into a surgery in Turkey because you happen to be there. That would be a very stupid way to go about getting a life-long surgery on your head. That said, what dates are you going to be in Turkey? If it's in the next couple of month, you're not likely to be able to make a booking with a good clinic at short notice. If it's next year, you'll have time to do some proper research at least.

Then why would you limit yourself to Turkey?

Which is fine - I'm not really asking why you didn't go to Yaman. I'm asking why would you ignored loads of advice to avoid Hermest? I'm genuinely curious why you ignored that advice. Clearly something I said or other people said didn't land with you, so maybe the messaging was wrong. Would be useful to know as clearly our collective warnings to you were not very effective!