THE TRUTH

I don't think any hair transplant surgeon in the US is "affordable" for the average Joe... Some are more expensive than others but none is budget-friendly. You're looking at at least 6$ per graft for a reputable doctor. I'd look into other options in Europe. I generally feel confident recommending Dr. Bisanga, Dr. Pinto, Dr. Ferreira, Dr. De Freitas, Dr. Ximena Vila, Dr. Zarev, BHR Malaga, HDC Cyprus. Feriduni and Mwamba are okay options too. I'd stay away from Turkey except the following clinics: Turan, Gur, Bicer and maybe Demirsoy. None of these is elite but if you are on a budget then they are the most decent budget options. Pekiner does solid work too for the most part but due to some issues with him, I don't feel comfortable recommending him to other people.

If your transplant was performed correctly and you followed the post op instructions for the first 2 weeks then NOTHING my friend can damage your grafts 2 months post op except some major trauma such as some major scalp injury from car accident for example, some severe accidental burn etc.... Other than that, even if you bump your head relly hard or even if you do a boxing match it will make absolutely no difference to the final outcome of your transplant. If you experience poor growth, then chances are your hair transplant was poorly performed to begin with.

So true. Agree 100%. Here is what I would do. Get on oral Dutasteride 0.5mg, oral minoxidil 2.5mg daily and a topical anti androgen once daily (RU58841 or fluridil) and give yourself 6 months. I guess it will reverse and thicken your diffuse thinning to SOME degree. Not give you full regrowth but chances are your hair will look somewhat better. It will strengthen it and thicken it and hence minimize any potential permanent shock loss that may happen later down the road if you ever decide to get surgery.... From there I would start saving for a VERY good HT surgeon and I would do a ton of research. A ton of research. Spend your life researching like crazy. Deliberately search for bad reviews and subpar results. Look for people with similar balding pattern to yours. Go with the best of the best. Ask the doctors to provide detailed cases. Avoid hairmills or recommended clinics with history of subpar results. And more importantly do a small test procedure first ! This is what I always recommend. Like 500 grafts in order to test the survival rate. If it turns out good, it would continue with 2-3 minor surgeries. Never go all at once. You risk poor survival and wasting your limited grafts forever. Go conservative, don't rush, take your time, take a step by step approach. Fighting and reversing genetic hairloss is a lifelong ultramarathon.

It's a trap and it's probably a hairmill looking for a way to attract new patients. Stay away from these clinics.

Hard to comment on this... I'll tell ya what... I know Dr. Glenn Charles. He is a well respected surgeon in the hairloss community. He's been around for a very long time. But this specific case shows the reality of the hair transplant world... Even the best surgeons have very bad results...although they are statistically minimal. Hasson & Wong too have similar cases, I've seen them and I'm sure Dr. Konior has had bad cases throughout the years too...Just like any other surgeon in the world. At the end of the day, surgery is always a lottery even with the best. It's a risk and a gamble and it is important to accept that before you decide to move forward and get it done.

You should avoid dermarolling at least 6 months after surgery. Minoxidil might at very best slightly speed up the growth of transplanted hairs but will make absolutely no difference when it comes to the final outcome. I would wait until 1 month post op provided that the redness/irritation is gone by that time.

The real goal is not to get surgery. If you've done your research and understand how all this works, then you should understand that the REAL goal is to avoid surgery. Surgery is always a huge risk no matter how "reputable" is your clinic....It should be considered last resort and certainly not the immediate go-to... Especially for difficult cases such as this one (Norwood 4 with severe and advanced diffuse thinning)... He should try a very strong pharmaceutical stack for at least 6 months and then from there do his research diligently and decide whether he wants to gamble his limited donor area and accept scarring and moth eaten look in exchange of more coverage on top (not even close to full coverage and this being the best case scenario). Be careful. Take your time.

You have very agressive genetic hairloss. Get on Finasteride/Dutasteride immediately. Don't you wait. You are already a Norwood 5 and you will require several surgeries. You seem to have a solid donor though. Side effects are overhyped. These drugs actually sligthly RAISE your testosterone...Do your research of course and talk to your doctor. This is the only way to save your existing hair and slow down hairloss significantly.

I am a bit worried about your donor area to be honest.

Looks like ASMED is attempting a comeback on this forum 🤣🤣🤣 I don't know if you are a true patient bro or some kind of undercover ASMED consultant but we all know this clinic is bad... Okay they do have a couple of good results on youtube (cherry picked of course) but we all know they are a hairmill that was removed from this forum because of constantly producing bad results and more importantly because their ethics are terrible.... Anyways, if you are a real genuine patient I wish you the best. 🙏 For other guys who would ever consider them based on your thread: avoid them.

I got one question for Dr.Pitella How good of an indicator of graft survival is the fact that transplanted hairs have reached a certain length before the shedding phase that occurs generally 3 weeks after surgery ? From my experience it's not a guarantee of graft survival but would like to hear his insight. Thanks

They are great. They increase BLUDFLOW ! Get some bludflow into that Galea Aponeurotica ! 🤣🤣🤣

Most doctors will tell you that you need 4000-5000 grafts. This is complete BS because they will destroy your donor and you will have no growth of the transplanted hairs and thus waste your limited resources forever. I would not try to implant more than 2500-3000 grafts. 3k grafts with the right surgeon and with optimal survival can make a huge improvement. Be careful which doctor your choose. Very few doctors know how to perform a surgery correctly on diffuse thinners without compromising the native hairs in between and without trying to dense pack too much which so often results in zero survival... Surgery is always a huge gamble. I would do a TON of research on this forum. Take your time. Trust me, a bad or even "a subpar" result can impact your life extremelu negatively forever... Definitely try medication first for at least 6 months !! Dutasteride 0.5mg daily. Oral minoxidil 2.5mg daily Optionnal: Fluridil or RU58841 in topical application once daily Discuss these options with a good doctor who specializes in hairloss (HT surgeon or trichologist). Not some local general practicioner... If you are very lucky and get a hyper response to medication like those guys on Tressless, you may even avoid surgery or minimize the number of grafts that you require.

Looks like a good result. But it seems like you are thining behind the transplanted area. Are you on oral medication ?

Both Pinto and Ferreira are good. They are friends and their are equal in terms of quality. I'd go with Pinto since he is a bit cheaper but feel free to go with Ferreira.

They used to be the best in Turkey for hairlines. But recently there were many subpar results to the point that I don't feel comfortable recommending them anymore. As for crown, it is definitely not their specialty. On the german forum alopeziede there are many poor results on the vertex. Ferreira has some incredible results, the most famous being Rolandas of course, but a couple of subpar ones too. For the crown I recommend you look into Dr. Zarev' work. His ability to close bald spots on the black hole that is the vertex is superior to all others clinics including Hasson & Wong and Eugenix. For the hairline yes Bisanga, Freitas, Feriduni are all safe bets 👍

Don't get a hair transplant unless you are willing to go with the best of the best for advanced hairloss. Hair transplant is a huge deal especially when you are a Norwood 5. Stay away from Turkey. They are crap when it comes to vertex work specifically. They'll just botch up and waste your best grafts... Erdogan is a hairmill whereas Pekiner is decent in terms of results but just like any other turkish clinic, he struggles with crown work. I recommend you like into Dr. Zarev or Dr. Pitella for FUE. Hattingen or Hasson & Wong for FUT. Bruno Pinto and Rafael de Freitas are also solid options for your pattern.

I will be honest. This is one of the best looking donors I've seen on this forum... At least with this fade, angle, lighting etc... Barely anything is even noticeable. It's really curious because your surgeon did an excellent job in the donor area showing great extractions skills and planning but gave you a poor result on the recipient area... May I ask who you went to ? You could probably get another 1.5k to 2k grafts but that would not ne sufficient to give you full coverage on top. You are Norwood 4-5 diffuse and the reality is you need 5000 grafts. I wouldn't chase transplants anymore at this point. I would rather go for an SMP every year.

100% agree. There was a very similar case to yours published a few weeks ago. Zero survival. 5000 grafts wasted. And instead of offering a refund or at least a free touch-up (which should be unwise to accept of course bcuz they would destroy even more grafts..), Koray requested more money for a 2nd surgery....🤦‍♀️ Their ethics are terrible. But like you said, the good news is their reputation has become very bad now on most hairloss forums and Koray was busted. They have many bad results on the international hairloss forum too (the french forum). I agree that ASMED is by far the worst clinic in the 2.5€ price range...

The reality is most of your result is already visible at 6 months. After the 6 month mark you shouldn't expect any miracle. Most of the growth has already happened. It can still thicken up and "mature" a little bit until month 12 so yes density can marginally improve between month 6 and month 12. But the improvement is generally subtle and mostly in hair pigment and thickness. People often refer to the common misconception that at 6 months you have 50% of growth and 100% at 12 months. The reality is 80-90% at 5-6 months and 10-20% at 8-12 months. There are very rare cases of delayed growth aka late bloomers. I've seen it. It does exist but they are really exceptionnal. Dr. José Lorenzo mentions in his practice around 75% of patient get most of their result by month 5. He has documented cases showing it. He's got tons of videos showing results at 5 months and at 10 months. There is generally very little difference.

Looks like decent growth with correct angles but poor density since the balding area was very large and of course slightly overharvested donor... Sorry for your experience brother. As a hairloss sufferer myself I know how hard it is to go through this. I believe Dr. Zarev or Dr. Pitella would have done a much better job in your case. There many bad clinics in western Europe too. Not just in Turkey. I've recently seen some really bad results from clinics in the UK, Spain, France too unfortunately... I guess getting SMP every year is your best bet at this stage. I don't think Eugenix could do much at this point except overharvest your donor even more and give you very limited coverage on top. I wouldn't chase any transplants anymore. But please do a ton of research for SMPs. Take your time please. There are a lot of bad SMP clinics and too....It's also a minefield. Be careful.

I agree 100% bro. Linkov better show your results instead of discussing celebrities hair transplants 😂😂

This looks impressive for 5 months. I generally don't like saying "this is going to be a homerun" because when someone says that, it usually turns out to be failed hair transplant or a crap/subpar result 😂 But this time I gotta say this is REALLY a homerun ! Looking great 👍

Honestly at day 7 if you pull a scab with a graft attached to it during headwash, you can still remove the follicle be careful. I would be very careful. I would wait until the 14-15th day before attempting any scab removal at all and I would try to sleep in a position so that your recipient area does not touch the pillow.

Koray Erdogan is one the worst hairmills out there. I've seen so many bad results from his uneducated nurses over the years.... He's ruined so many lives. From what I see, I would say a good 30% (if not more) of cases in his practice have extremely poor survival. And I've seen several cases of overharvesting. His "fame", fake online reputation, coverage value theories, conferences, futuristic clinic is all complete BS... It's sad that so many young folks fall into the trap. Anyways, I am happy you were able to get repaired by Couto and restored a normal appearence. Enjoy your great head of hair !