Deeceydeece

Sup boys Apologies for the absence, been travelling with work. Just hit 4 months so here is my progress. Seen a lot of change in the last 2-3 weeks. Delighted already with the temples, hairline is slower, kinda looks like my temples did about 5 weeks ago. Guess bc the temples have so much blood supply it makes sense they grow first? Anyway I'm a happy boy. Been walking out not worrying about my hair for about a month now. Hair is now at a length where most people I meet don't know I've had a HT unless I tell them. Been in regular contact with Dr Bicer as always, she is very happy with overall progress and the way my donor rapidly recovered given I had a small amount of shock loss. Let me know if you have any questions, always happy. To anyone who didn't check it out, I've now added quite a few posts to my blog www.3000grafts.com. Knowing how overwhelmed I was at the beginning of my search I am just trying to provide anything that I would have personally found useful at the start. Any comments always welcome. Cheers boys x

Yeah absolutely. I've seen enough results to know donor takes months to fully heal especially when you have thinner hair like mine. I'm only 7 weeks and that is under bright daylight. Perspective always important... plus I think my development stopped for 1-2 weeks bc of COVID.

Hey boys Sincere apologies for the delay. Got the dreaded rona meaning I had to change Xmas plans. Things were so hectic I kept forgetting to update here. Anyway, today is 7 weeks and here are my photos. I am neck deep in the shedding phase atm. As you can see, very few hairs remain around the transplanted area. I knew this stage is part of the deal, and the sooner it begins the sooner you get growth- so it's all good really. A silver lining of the current situation is also being able to work from home/wear a hat in the cold weather. I've still shown it off to all my friends/neighbours etc but I am definitely still grateful that during the three months after my HT, the entire world is basically hibernating as well. The pic of me in the Fenerbache shirt (which cost 2 quid!!!!) is when I had jusr started shedding about 4 weeks ago. Thought I would post bc the light is very strong. Since my HT I've Facetimed Dr Bicer a lot of times and have spoke with her on Whatsapp even more. I started topical minox yesterday just to accelerate growth and thicken my hair post HT. As my hair is curly I just assumed it was thick but its actually 0.7mm so I thought maybe a year of minox would be good especially if I can time the medication's shedding phase with the ugly ducking that I'm currently in. Anyway, Dr Bicer sent me a few voice notes on her reccomendations, that I should do minox for at least a year and not the 3 months I was initially planning. As always, the level of contact is super reassuring. She said in general she is very happy with my progress and thinks the result should look very good once I've properly started growing. Any exact questions on day of the procedure/aftercare/anything else please just lmk. This group was such a resource to me when I was first looking. On that note I am making it an effort to dump all of these randoms things I learned across the 18 months of research into one place for anyone else which you will be able to find on www.3000grafts.com. My intention is to try and create the resources and hacks that I wish I knew when first searching rather than spending months looking at random clinics. In any of my writing I will NOT recommend any place to go. Everyone's case is unique. But I do believe there are a set of questions that can be put to any clinic that should help filter out the ones who simply aren't right for you and only want your money. Anyway would love any feedback. Peace boys. Will endeavor to check in again soon. happy 2022 and hope everyone reading gets the hair they want whatever that looks like to you.

Thank you bro. Indeed it really does stand out, major reason I went with her. I may have seen you in the clinic actually. By any chance did you come the day after for your head wash with your friend? Best of luck to you too, bro. Will be interesting to follow each other's journey given we went to the same surgeon at the same time!

Thank you Gatsby, i've found massive value in reading your posts during the time I was researching, so I'm happy to return. Was on fin for about a month but unfortunately got sides. My hairloss isn't very fast atm though. My mid to longterm plan is to try either microdosing i.e. 0.25mg per day or maybe topical. Any thoughts?

Cheers mate! I love the hairline she has given me: straight yet natural. Never heard of "traction alopecia recession pattern" before but yeah, basically the corners receding. Will be sure to keep you updated.

cheers bro, now just to wait!!

cheers mat, i dont know if 100% fair comparison as the long hair photo is birds eye with my hair pushed up... either way my hair will be kept shorter now my hairline is better... am 28!

Here is my review of my experience with Dr Bicer exactly one week ago today. Due to COVID, it was two years in the making so my review is going to try and cover why I picked Dr Bicer in the first place, my travel over to IST, the actual procedure and some tips I think would be useful to anyone. Being on annual leave this week, I have all the time in the world so I've tried to include everything I think is useful / wish I knew before I had a HT. Tl;dr - my experience with Dr Bicer was brilliant + Istanbul is one of the best cities I've ever visited. Here is the link to one of the best kebabs I've ever eaten, cost 4 quid for two of us. We stayed in the local area and would 100% recommend if you don't want to be super touristy. Restaurant is ran by three teenage boys who absolutely boss the show. Hair thickness: 0.7mm Extraction type: Micromotor FUE Grafts: 3000 Price: 1.5 euro per graft Why I chose Dr Bicer I joined this group about two years ago. Prior to joining, my shortlist of clinics was comprised of what I'd found through Google and what was being rammed down my throat in paid ads. Not a great place to be. The real experiences in this group were a Godsend. Quickly my shortlist became FUECap and Cosmedica. I am roughly a NW3 with little active hairloss, rather I was just born with a receding hairline. From the reviews, I felt I would be in good hands with both of these clinics where the focus would be on my hairline rather than my hairline. I got quotes from both clinics at roughly 3500 euros for approximately 2200 grafts. In the end I booked with FUEcap in March 2021 for July which was cancelled due to COVID. During the 4/5 months between my booking and the proposed date I found the Hair Restoration Network which I'd highly reccomend anyone looking for a HT to check out. Absolute wealth of info. Through the Hair Restoration Network I found Dr Bicer. A number of younger patients with my style of hair had just posted their 6 month results, which I thought were fantastic. Seeing that she had 20+ years of experience, only did one patient a day, was an IHRS member and just generally considered one of the better surgeons in all of Turkey I bit the bullet and decided to rebook. As I was only expecting a max of 3000 grafts, I felt the 20-30% price difference was more than worth it. For not that much more money I could get someone considered an elite surgeon in Turkey who had done a lot of work with similar cases. I reached out to Dr Bicer, and her assistant Ozen gave me an estimate within a few days. After telling Ozen I was happy with the information, Dr Bicer then personally Facetimed me to assess my situation. I showed her my hairline and the first thing she said was "it would be easy for me to just book your surgery and take your money but to be honest, you don't need the surgery. If you really want it done I can do it for you but it is not something you need." This level of honesty stood so stark much against what I had experienced from other places. Having reached out to maybe 10 clinics before speaking to Dr Bicer, I had almost routinely received the opposite response of "Yes, we can do it. Book right now, this very second or we won't be able to get you in until 2024." Between booking with Dr Bicer and actually travelling in November, I facetimed her two more times to essentially discuss the procedure and my expectations. Baring in mind she is the sole surgeon, the fact she didn't palm this off onto one of her assistants again really impressed me. Her time is clearly limited and my questions were probably so routine. Throughout the 6 months between booking and travelling I stayed in contact over Whatsapp with her colleague Ozen who was absolutely fantastic at finding me a date when COVID did COVID. The procedure I got an Uber on Tuesday morning to Dr Bicer's clinic in Atasehir which is on the Asian side of the city. Pro tip: if you are arranging your own transport to a clinic, I would honestly leave double the amount of time that Google Maps suggests, the traffic is just that bad and you don't wanna be stressed on the day. I left 25m early and got there just on time Got to Atasaheir just after 9. The district is one of the main financial districts of Istanbul- lots of skyscrapers, embassies and fancy cars. The clinic itself is on the top floor of a luxury flat block. To get inside you need to tell the security guard who will then let you in. Obviously a building is just a building, but going inside it gave me the same reassuring feeling I had up until now that everything was very professional. I took the elevator up to the 17th floor and was greeted by Dr Bicer's assistant, Ozen. The clinic is extremely modern. All white, split across two floors, immaculately clean. I was straightaway offered a tea and was introduced to a number of the staff. After that Ozen gave me a number of forms to fill. After completing the forms I met Dr Bicer. She then gave me a blood test before taking me to her office to discuss how the day would go and to assess my requirements. I have a medical condition which means I've come into contact with a lot of doctors over the years and can say their demeanour varies enormously, some actually listen to what you are saying while others will assume they are right and just rattle off what they told the last patient. The former is what happened here. On Dr Bicer's desk I noticed a folder with my name that I later found out contained every piece of communication between me and her staff. Dr Bicer looked through the folder and went through one by one all the points I had ever raised during consultation with her team. She then asked if I had anything I wanted to tell her and I made it clear during this time that I really wanted my temples done. She was more than happy to oblige given I was young and she had experience doing temples, but said this would push the grafts beond 2,200 which was absolutely fine by me. We were probably just talking for about half an hour and never once did I feel rushed. I then went to get my head shaved. Initially we intended to do a 'no shave' FUE but really I should have cut my hair before going to Istanbul. By the time I got there I literally looked like Mowgli. The length and curliness meant that a no shave would be very difficult for implementation according to Dr Bicer. However this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, having not shaved my hair for maybe 10 years, I was actually pleasantly surprised with how it looks on me. Realizing the worst case scenario actually wasn't that bad was very liberating. After my head had been shaved and bloods were taken, Dr Bicer drew my hairline and temples with a white chalk stick. She then called in her head nurse (forgot her name) who then came in to give her opinion. Both of them were going back and forth, talking and measuring my face for what felt like ages, rubbing out and refining my hairline. For my temples, Dr Bicer drew a number of different versions ranging from hard edges to rounder in order for me to gauge exactly what I wanted. I gave her some general feedback before deferring to her. By the end, I looked in the mirror and was absolutely delighted with what she had drawn: a filled in corners, slightly lower hairline and beautiful temples. About 15 minutes later I was taken into the room for surgery. I was introduced to the two technicians who worked alongside Dr Bicer, one of them being the head nurse from earlier. I was given a pill to relax me, which I broke in half, swallowed and then lay on my front. Then began the needle-free anathstehtia. I know this is a point of contention among forums, but to me the pain really wasn't that bad. The description of a elastic band getting flicked hard against your head is pretty accurate imo. The only time it actually hurt was when they were directed to the lower parts of the head near the ear. The next thing I really remember is it being lunch time. By now the extractions had been completed. I was led into a private room where my lunch was waiting: a very good kebab with bread, salad and a coke. I wolfed it down and was ready to restart soon after. I lay back down and Dr Bicer began the incisions. Again, my face was down but I saw everyone in the room using microscope loops which my research tells me is a very good thing. I took the other half of my pill and Dr Bicer got on with it. The extractions felt a bit weird but not painful. It was more amazing lying there just thinking it was finally happening after all of the delays. Obviously drowsy and pretty tired, the next thing I remember is hearing "okay, we are done" and the procedure was over. In all honesty I would rate the pain/discomfort perhaps a 3 out of 10 for the entire experience. I was led to another room where Dr Bicer bandaged me up and then I went through my aftercare plan with Ozen. Maybe 45 minutes after I had been bandaged up I was thanking the team and ordering an Uber back to my apartment. My Uber driver couldn't speak any English but used hand gestures to say my hair transplant was good, although I sort of wished he was just focusing his eyes on the road. I came back the next day for my first wash which was performed by Dr Bicer. She said she was delighted with how it had gone and the final design that had been created of which agreed. She even offered to do the second wash the following day but because of my flight I wasn't able to accept. Either way, I don't think this was initially included and so I was grateful at the offer and speaks to the level of commitment I have felt throughout the journey. Will be sure to update as I go... any questions anyone has please feel free to shoot me a DM. This is my first HT so I have nothing to actually compare it to, but I can't imagine having a much better experience. When booking a HT I not only wanted to get a brilliant result, I wanted to avoid putting myself in a situation where a nightmare outcome is possible. How ethical Dr Bicer works, with one patient per day, her level of involvement and how much she consulted me makes me think I've put myself in the best position. Since getting back to London Dr Bicer has facetimed me twice to assess my recipient and donor, and her assistant Ozen has reviewed three sets of pictures that I sent her. Obviously, now is the waiting game and only time will tell. Nothing is guaranteed but the actual experience was immaculate. Advice for Istanbul FILL YOUR PASSENGER LOCATOR FORM BEFORE YOU GO TO THE AIRPORT: seriously. Both outbound and inbound I saw people getting rejected from their flight as they scrambled to fill out these ridiculous forms before check-in closed. Inevitably they couldn't connect to the internet or the form didn't recognize their Day 2 test reference number. Don't let this happen to you. Do your locator form the day before you travel each way. Try to go watch a football game, and you'll realise there are levels to fan support and us English are basically amateurs. Get a ferry in the evening... boarding the shores as the call to prayer rings out is an experience I will never forget. Try to learn a bit of Turkish: literally just numbers 1-10 and a couple of phrases like "how much?" (ne kadar?). It goes a long way and really seems to endear you to some of the locals when you're ordering a coffee etc. Don't be self concious after having it done. In Istanbul nobody could care less. Half of the people on your flight back are likely to have either bandaged scalps or noses. Tip generously. Freefall of the lira means a full meal with a soft drink is likely to cost you less than three quid if you are away from the tourist places. DON'T talk to them about how cheap Istanbul is atm, this is the last thing they would want to directly hear from a tourist. On your way back pay the extra 15ish quid for a seat near the front with leg room. Gives you ultra peace of mind rather than worrying about someone disturbing you.