Alphafit

6 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

The pictures are blurry. I think this result is what you can expect in one surgery, if everything works well.

 

Wow only for one surgery? That beats my expectations for the first one to be honest. After that one more for the crown throw whatever I have left at it and i be quite happy to be honest.

sides and back shaved, number 2 on top  is what i want anyway.

1 hour ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

What are your expectations? I think you have to be very realistic before you undergo surgery. Honestly, you need at least 3 surgeries to cover the scalp with adequate density. It’s a serious journey. Really ask yourself is it worth it to you? If you just want some improvement, then one surgery may be enough. But in all likelihood even one won’t be enough. 

Hello Melvin,

i have posted 3 photos of my exceptions, in the top of the post.Would you mind taking a look at them and saying if its realistic?
 

I don’t mind 2 transplants to be honest and I am not in a rush or anything. Just prefer to act upon it, plus

I am not expecting a result that makes me look like when I was 14. I want a receded conservative hairline with a covered scalp and crown

I will be keeping a close eye on this thread! I am considering dr Bansal

i have same thinning pattern, simillar beard color and thickness.

Everything looks great. Hoping you have an amazing and satisfying result.

13 minutes ago, mister_25 said:

Dr Sethi from Eugenix would be the perfect suit for you. I cant think of any other surgeon that matches your case than him.

You would be in a similar case as our moderator. Who also is a Norwood 6/7 with Retrograde

He will get very good mileage out of your beard.

The dr. Sethi has amazing results, yes. However the price would be high for me, i won’t be able afford that I think.

The most I can do is doctor Arika Bansal or doc Das

12 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

As a fellow Norwood 7 patient myself, you need to be reasonable with your goals from what surgery can achieve. I would be picking the best Norwood 7 surgeon results that have been shared on this forum. For me that means Dr Pradeep and and Dr Pittella. As to your scalp donor and being a candidate you will need to have a consultation with both. What is in your favour however is that you have an excellent beard donor source and this is what Eugenix excels in utilizing the most over other clinics just in the sheer number of beard grafts obtainable by them. Still, beard grafts only work if you have enough scalp donor to work with. I wish you all the best and hope that you have considered meds such as finasteride to strengthen your donor, etc. If the cost is prohibitive then I strongly recommend that you avoid clinics that will tell you what you want to hear. Dr Bicer is an excellent surgeon and will give you a straight answer as to whether she feels you are a candidate for her or not.

Would you feel that Dr Arika Bansal or Dr Das would be sufficient for me as well.

Doctor Pitella and Sethi are genius, but the price is out of my budget.

Hello everyone,

I have posted here before was thinking on going to Turkey to a doc Demir, got convinced otherwise by the forum, so i have done my research and started to dig deeper.

I narrowed down to 2 clincs Dr. BIcer and Eugenix. Still not sure which one to choose, though I am leaning to Eugenix, even though Instabul is 4 hours drive from where I live in Bulgaria.

i am planning to contact Eugenix and ask for a custom plan if possible.

i am contemplating  between 120 rupee package and the 210 rupees.

Not sure which one I should go for to be honest.

if I go for the 120 rupee one, i am specifically gonna ask for doctor Das to carry out the entire surgery. 
 

just as a reminder this is where i am now. Age 27. Also never took Fin and never plan to take it.

I believe my beard and chest hair which i also have a lot of is key for my saving.  shave my head everyday but I find a tedious task, that’s one of the main reasons, i want HT.

As for what I want to achieve it’s something like this.

Would you say that my expectations are reasonable and achievable?

Which package should I go for?

Any input on Dr. Bicer for such cases?

Thank you!

On 2/21/2022 at 3:37 AM, jackofall said:

Hey Everyone,

First post here and I am new member. This site helped a lot with my research for almost a month and this document definitely helped with narrowing down. I decided to post my experience to help others and also to document for myself. I had FUT back in 2013 and lost all pictures and the progress and it was not easy to share to the doctors I contacted for the last month or so.

I narrowed down my list to 8 FUE doctors suggested here but due to time constraints and doctors availability I went with Dr Ahmet Yildirim from Long Hair Center. The final list I contacted was Dr Bicer, Demisroy, Pekiner, fuecapilar, haircentermexico, hlc, ferreria, Ahmet. Almost all of them are booked till March and only due to some openings Dr Ahmet and Demisroy had availability in February or March. I dint have a budget constraint but wanted to get it done by 2nd week of March. The price quoted for FUE in USA was way expensive compared to prices offered in Turkey.

All the contacts of the doctors who responded were helpful and friendly. After 2 weeks of chatting with Dr Ahmet's agent Maide, I got the confidence to go ahead with the earliest available date. Maide answered all my questions promptly and been the bridge between me and the doctor.

My earlier experience with hair transplant was FUT and had 2200 grafts. I lost remaining hair and only the transplanted hair in front and anterior areas is left. I have been on finasteride 1mg pill since 1 year and never used anything after HT. After 8 years, decided to not go with one more FUT although I dont know why most doctors on East coast USA pushed me to go for another FUT.

Dr Ahmet took a detailed look at my photos, asked a lot of questions, and suggested he could do a Sapphire FUE of 4200-4300 grafts, but also informed to be circumspect till we meet in person to confirm the correct number after looking at my scalp.

I reached Istanbul on 17th evening and was picked up by their shuttle and translator helped me with hotel checkin. I chose Ramada of 4 options they gave in the package. Ramada was clean, neat and offered best breakfast but its an industrial area with not much options for food except for Hotel restaurant.

Overall rating: 8.5/10 - Great customer experience, skillful doctor and techs, excellent after care, one package price, quick and friendly response, understanding patient requirements. Specific to my case, could be improved things are - translator taking more customer photos during surgery, being available for more time during all stages explaining things, offering water and pain management, less painful anesthesia for sensitive skin like mine.

Surgery Day

I was picked up by the shuttle and reached the hospital building in 20 mins. Building had other clinics apart from Long hair center. I think I was taken to 8th floor and the translator took me to Dr Ahmet’s office room. I was given a health questionnaire to fill up and then Dr Ahmet asked me some more health related questions. When everything look good with my health conditions, Doc looked at my hair and scalp condition and was optimistic with his virtual estimate that he could do 4200 and 4300 but said once into surgery based on muscle and donor sparseness it could be around 4000. For the agreed price, he said they would transplant as much as safely possible around 4300 to 4500. Now after agreeing to all these, I was asked to pay the remaining balance and then then taken to the operating room on a different level. The OR looked clean and had bathroom that was meant to be for patients only.

All my worries were about injections and anesthesia, as from my FUT procedure I remember how terrible it was due to my sensitive skin. I asked the Doc and he said it wont be that bad but should be painful if I have sensitive skin. I was informed that would be 7 to 8 hours for the entire procedure to be done.

I was asked to change to apron, and Dr Ahmet asked me what my expectations were on the hair line and density. He suggested to stick to my current hairline and add more density to front and anterior scalp. I preferred to fill a little on my hair plugs and he said we could do it. Then he draw the lines and confirmed with me if I am fine with the design. After things were confirmed by me, a tech shaved my head. Dr Ahmet shaped the lines to keep this clear and fine and took some pictures. He meant to shape the hairline look natural and asymmetrical.

I was asked to lay down on the back and the person who shaved my head, started with anesthesia shots on the front of my head. This definitely was painful for me and was similar to what I expected. After 5 or 6 shots, I could feel the numbness and the next 5 shots were not that terrible. They also drew blood from my right hand to run their tests and said will the spot open to inject any fluids and to collect blood later for PRP.

 I was then informed by translator that Dr Ahmet will do a small test sample to determine the punch. I was asked to lay on my tummy for head facing down. Doc gave a small anesthesia shot(10 secs of pain) at donor and said I had good hair of doubles and triples and transplant should look good. He then asked me to lay on my back and asked me to relax. He worked for 10 min on the punches sizes using my hair samples. He then did some punches on my scalp and confirmed if I felt any pinch or pain. It was all numb for me and the Dr Ahmet did all the insertion holes with different punches in different recipient areas. He took almost 1.5 hour to finish this. I was given a 5 mins break before going to the extraction process. Doc left saying he will come back to check on me in some time.

2 new techs walked and asked me to lie over on tummy, head facing down. 1 of technician said she is going to do more anesthesia shots on my donor now. This was excruciating for me compared to recipient area. It almost took 20 shots to numb the entire donor area. During these shots, I felt that I cant go for another transplant, but its my personal thing due to my skin and pain reception. I am not sure how other doctors would do this to ease my pain.

I checked with the translator who these 2 techs are and he confirmed one of them is Dr Ahmet’s wife who is a highly trained at extraction and was the one who gave the anesthesia shots. The other tech would be helping collected the grafts. Extraction and collection process was almost for 2 hours. I have lower back pain and it was not comfortable after an hour and I had to ask for tiny breaks. During this time the translator was not available and I wish he was there to talk to me about how its going. Dr Ahmet checked on me couple of times and said things are going well. He asked the techs some questions in turkish. All this time, the techs are talking in turkish but it was better to listen to their voice rather than the extraction machine whirring and hair pricking sounds. My head felt like a rock.

During the 2 hours, there was a new translator for a few mins to help me out.

I was given a 20 min lunch break. A new male tech was into the room who I initially thought was the translator but he is going to plant the grafts. Since I was mostly head facing down I was not sure how the techs looked like. In all apart from the Doctor, I think 3-4 techs worked on my head. 2 techs worked at the same time on both sides of my head. I felt the pain on my forehead as soon as they start planting the grafts. I informed the techs and I was given 5 to 6 more shots of anesthesia. I told them during my 1st FUT, after lunch my anesthesia wore down and told them to load me more before I feel the pain. But it was late and I had to bear the pain for 10 more mins before it all kicked in. I think there was another person spraying some water while the other 2 techs for planting. Some spots on the hair line was still a bit hurting while planting for almost 30 mins. Then I was given some saline through the right arm which got me a bit sleepy. The whole planting took around 2.5 hours. Doc was checking on me every 30 mins during this process. 15 mins before the end of the long OR day, one of the techs showed me 4 injections and asked me not to move while they are injecting the PRP’s.

It was almost 8 hours I spent in the OR. Started around 12 noon and ended by 730pm. I was cleaned up by 2 techs, rest all left, changed to my shirt and was helped by translator to the elevator. I was offered some dinner for free in the cafeteria before the shuttle came. I was handled with care till I was dropped off to my room by the driver.

First wash and after care:
I was picked up for my first hair next day. Hair wash are in Long hair center clinic which is 5 mins away from hospital. I was greeted well by Jamshid, a translator at the clinic. It was a warm and friendly talk with him and Dr Farooq who established long hair center walked in. He explained me all the care and precautions to be taken for the first 10 days and the documents too. I was given a first 10 day care kit and explained how to use it. I had my first wash and it handled so smooth and comfy by Dr Farooq. He is well spoken and me feel confident that surgery went well and I am in good shape. Since I decided to stay in Istanbul for 8 days, I asked them if I could come for hair wash daily and they agreed to me with no hesitation with no extra cost. That was very nice of them. I have been going to them daily and I feel good to see them. My translator facilities daily wash and spends 30 mins talking to me and this experience has been the other factor to consider to go back to them for next transplant. They are thorough and really care about patients and strongly promote to take care of hair health for the first 3 months. On asking about continuing finasteride, I was suggested to wait for 10 days before to continue.

Overall, I had a 5 star service and experience in terms of arrangements, courtesy, help and guidance. I have been a happy patient so far and wishing for great hair results in a year. I was helped in every way possible, food ordering, shuttles, taxis etc all my stay by Maide and felt approachable any time.

Pre-Op photos

 

 

 

Post Op Photos after coming back to Hotel Room

 

Day 1 after 1st wash at Long Hair Clinic

 

Hello there my friend. I am considering using this clinic as well.

Did the doctor look at your grafts with microscope to see if they are single or double or triples?

He did perform the incisions himself right?

I was already in contact with the the clinic they made me a plan. 
They will be using 4300+2500 2 sessions. Donor will be scalp and beard and since scalp is not strong enough on it’s own.

6 minutes ago, Ryan Daniel said:

Hi again, I agree with the beard that beard donor would be placed into the depleted donor area. 

 

Good luck sir 💪

Sorry I meant from not for haha

Thanks it will be an interesting 3 year journey I guess 😅

42 minutes ago, Ryan Daniel said:

I totally understand your concern. I had an FUT procedure in 2015 and it took alot of smp and even some grafts to cover it up.

Whatever Dr you choose, make sure that they have excellent donor area management, since you wish to have very short haircuts.. it is important that your donor area remains decent.  As you might know,  both FUE and FUT can leave terrible scarring in the wrong hands. 

So, we go to the other option.  In my thinking, a reputable Dr can for sure manage to squeeze out 2,000 grafts from your donor area and maybe if they are skilled enough another 2,000 grafts from your excellent looking beard. If the procedure is done within a day, DO NOT go to this doctor. This is a serious case and it should be done in separate days for extra care and scalp health for the grafts.  With both these combined you may get full coverage from front to back, keeping in mind that you should get your hairline lower not bringing the temples out as this will cause you to require even more grafts that you do not afford to use.  With 4,000 grafts you can have your scalp covered and you may manage to have a buzz cut look as if you were someone who never went bald.  Keep in mind that its not always about having thick density, this is all about a natural illusion

Hope what i said helps you in some way or other 😄 💪

I am going to Dr Demir TurHair he had the following to say:

you are a high norwood, it’s common to experience retrograde alopecia. your nape does not seem to be affected which is good.

You should be expecting 2/3 sessions all one year apart.

I am confident we can extract 2500 grafts from the scalp to the hairline for the 1st procedure, the aim will be a mature natural hairline.

For the 2nd we will be able to extract between 1800-2300 from the scalp from the donor area and we can get about 3k from the beard under the chin area without compromising the beard.

For the 3rd session(if necessary) I feel the donor on the scalp will be depleted so we will have a go at the beard for another 1-2k , and we will evaluate your chest hair which also seems to be thick and and aim to get as much as possible.

I believe the  end result will be quite enjoyable for you and I am aware you of your expectations which I feel is realistic  for your circumstances.

29 minutes ago, Ryan Daniel said:

Nothing is impossible, but after looking at your donor area.. it will probably get exhausted and completely destroyed after 1 or 2 hair transplants if you go with FUE route.

In my opinion you have two options.

• Either gamble with your donor area and pray it gives you enough grafts for 2 sessions + a healthy amount of beard grafts aswell for density illusion.
• Or else ............ I wonder if you found an amazing Dr who makes impeccable FUT procedures? I can see you with 2 clean strip scars and a full head of hair.

To tell you the truth i’d rather have a gamble and go FUE route.

I like my head shaved really close to the skin on back and sides, and feel that 2 stripes  on back is out of the question for me.

4 minutes ago, aaron1234 said:

Don't bother with HT's or even SMP... just shave it.

I been shaving it, just grew out for the photos.

main reason i am willing to get a transplant or smp is shaving every single day is bothersome😂

8 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

Jesus. Yeah, that's some commitment lol. Good job man. 

Regarding Retrograde Alopecia, it's not always 100% the same. Just as hair loss is different, you can have it over different areas like the nape of the neck, the sideburns/temple points and even over the ears where it seems to affect you. 

Honestly and i know it sucks to hear, but i would recommend you take some medication like Finasteride, Minoxidil and Microneedle for about a year and take monthly pictures and see if it helps around the donor, crown and mid scalp. 

You said you haven't had anything to help in the gym, so i guess it just comes down the roll of the dice on genetics. 

The "Just shave it bro(!)" advice requires a jacked physique and you got that down, the beards there too and you even got tattoos so overall you're probably in a pretty good position to deal with the best fall back option imo. 

i am quite familiar with the subject about gear use and TRT and their effect on DHT. I understand, i would have been less mad at my hair if I had used anything of that sort😂 But i have not.

Well in the end of day if I do decide to go ahead with the transplant I’d  have to be ready for 2 sessions at the very least and my beard to be the main donor at least it’s crazy thick 😂

if mot I am going down the SMP route and just embracing the shave

or I might do both 

7 minutes ago, JDEE0 said:

Damn, if you're natty you got some crazy good genetics... out of interest, and without sounding weird haha, what do you weigh and what's your arm size? I'm 6 foot, about 82kg at currently just under 15 percent bf, 16.5 inch arms cold, and you look like an absolute monster in comparison to me! Granted, I've only been lifting for a fraction of the amount you have....around a quarter of it, but jeez, props to you. 

Anyways, nah the working out has very little to do with AGA, yeah it raises T levels a little, but you would've gone as bald as you did at a very similar if not the exact same speed whether you ever stepped into a gym or not. Just genetics!

Ahh 6ft that’s some proper viking height.

I am 5ft8, 71kg , arms are 44cm ( not sure in inches) bf is variable. During the winter i get up to 11% In the summer i go down to about 7-8

waist is 70cm

bench pr is 150kg 1rep

18 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Are you on gear or TRT dosage? 

Nothing.

never did gear as well. Just 11 year of working out, naturallly.

but i do believe all the working out is has a part in alopecia.

My dad was the same great physiue natural, but lost all his hair around my age.

1 hour ago, NARMAK said:

Biggest problem right now is your age and how aggressive the hair loss has been. It could be the lighting but in some pictures the donor looked better and then in some it was what appears to be retrograde alopecia in areas and that's a big problem usually. 

OP, you do have a good look for the beard to basically look like Kratos from God of War if you bulk up. 

That's not to say you shouldn't try for hair btw, i know how devastating your situation must feel but don't take any drastic action and that you'd regret. 

Kratos has nothing on me💪hahaha

Retrograde alopecia? Does that not affect the nape? Mine seems to be thick

1 minute ago, JC71 said:

Pray tell who is the Dr you mention ? 🤔 I see Eugenix being your best chance in going forward. Be wary of anybody promising too much… 

Doc is Doctor Demir TurHair. He is part of ISHRS.

3 minutes ago, digi23 said:

I would be interested to see your friend that looked "exactly" like you. So he was a full Norwood 7 with thinning also on the sides? Some Dr in Turkey cured his Norwood 7 with two procedures with good density?

Cases like these is usually considered as miracles, but its not impossible if you have some great donor, but I doubt two sessions from full NW7 from some clinic in Turkey.

For you I think two mega sessions with Eugenix with ALOT of harvesting from the beard area could get you decent coverage, but its also if you want to take the gamble at your young age. It will be difficult to shave down if you do it because of FUE scars, you will need to keep some length to hide them.

He also got a lot of harvesting from his beard, but I don't think his sides were thin like mine. 

I am not talking for full blown out model hair, he became from norwood 6-7ish to a norwood 3. Receded mature hairline, crown is not perfectly thick, but it's not bald, you can still see the halo around the crown, But for me it looks natural, plus he fades his sides looks great.

7 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Your beard is definitely dense and thick, this would be the main source of donor, as your scalp is a small source and the sides look low density. My main concern are your expectations. Really, the only clinic for a case such as yours is Eugenix.

You would need at least 2-3 HTs, and well over 10k grafts. I’d say the beard has about 3,500 under the chin, maybe another 2,000 in the cheeks, while still maintaining a good beard. Also, keep in mind the beard won’t be as thick as this after several surgeries. The truth is you’re a Norwood 7. Are you willing to put in the time and the money? Look at my journey I was very similar. But had higher sides.

To be perfectly honest, there’s a difference between being a candidate and being a good candidate. You are not a good candidate. But you can still get several procedures and with the right clinic have something that looks decent. But of course the time and money are an aspect you must consider at 26. Too often young guys want a fast and simple solution, believe me surgery is not it. Maybe smp is a better option?

To be honest I already looked at your transformation and it looks quite good, hell amazing I would say. I actually though I had great donor for some reason thought hair on the side was really thick, guess I was wrong.. Though I was Norwood 6 ...damn .

I also have some thick dense chest hair(A sentence I never thought I would be writing on hair loss forum 😂 ) 

I am very aware of the fact that multiple sessions would be needed. The doc I was planning to go to said the same both sessions would be 1 year apart,said he won't use any beard hair on the hairline restoration, but for the crown and mid scalp would use both donors but will rely on beard heavily.

SMP is something I am considering  eitther way. Even if I get a hair transplant SMP will be needed.  I liked the shaved head look.

As for realistc give it to me straight, would you consider this a realistic goal and achieveable goal?

1 minute ago, JC71 said:

Damn man, that’s very aggressive loss. Sorry 😞 Did he loss continue to a full on Norwood 7 .?

He looks pretty much like me , i don’t think he reached 7.

i think since both of us started early bodybuilding at about 14 years old(no steroids) test leve hit us quite hard.

2 minutes ago, JC71 said:

What age are you now ? How long ago was the pic above ? Just wondering how fast you have been progressing through the Norwood levels… 

Started noticing thinning  quite early 16-17 years old. Same pattern like my dad

currently 26 years old.

23 minutes ago, JDEE0 said:

I think your donor looks decent enough at the back, but the sides/above your ears look to be quite thin and it will probably be impossible to harvest grafts from there.

Combine this with your advanced level of loss and it makes you a not so good candidate, with that said, if you go to the right doctor and have reasonable expectations, I think you can have work done. You'll need to use beard, which luckily looks very strong, and to be honest I would just go straight to Eugenix for a consultation.

Well this is what I am aiming for. Is it achieveble.

3 minutes ago, JC71 said:

@Alphafit Your beard does look strong, can we have a better pic of it ? Thanks 🙏 

Sure. My beard is my pride  haha

1 hour ago, hairman22 said:

I think your donor looks good enough.

 

I would only go to the best though. Eugenix should be your choice I think

 

who did your friend go to?

Turkey. Forgot the name of the clinic and the doctor, but will check when i go home.  Doc performs the operation himself the incisions and everything.

Mate was high norwood 6/7ish( don’t really know much about that, quite new to hair restoration, did not really care much, just finding shaving my head everyday bothersome, that’s the reason)

quite impressed with my mates result and the way it changes his look. The  guy did not have a single  hair on his head, and now gets fades and stuff.

Hello everyone,

i would like to know what do you think of my donor area. Am i a good candidate for hair transplants.

One of my mates was full baldie like me and in 2 sessions restored his hair, same pattern as well.

i don’t take any medications.

i got in contact with his doc and doc said

2 sessions:  both followed by PRP

1st to restore hairline(mature natural looking) 2500 FUE

2nd to restore crown 2500 from scalp and 2000 from beard. FUE

i also don’t mind if there is a bit of over harvesting, mostly due the fact i want my sides and back shaved as close to skin as possible(peaky blinders)

what do you guys think?