Thank you! Sorry if I use wrong words or phrases. As a Iranian born and raised in Germany, English is not my mother language
I am 31 and suffer from hair loss since my early 20s. I thought about getting a procedure for a long time. Probably would've done it 2 years earlier without Covid. I started using Fin and Min since 18 months which was perfect timing, so I guess it's alright to have done it now.
At first you have to know here in Germany there are 2 clinics which are very popular. Elithair and Cosmedica both have 2 small clinics/offices here in Dusseldorf to consult their patients and they do a lot of marketing here. Dr. Levent Acar even speaks german and they have german YouTube channels with tons of content which makes them very popular in here. I discarded Elithair right away as I knew they had many bad results but Cosmedica seemed fine and I liked some of their work. However after consulting with them I started researching more intensely and got to this forum and the famous Facebook group where I heard about those hair mills. Cosmedica quoted 3700€ for up to 5000 grafts with the team doing all of the surgery or 5000€ for Dr. Acar doing the implantations.
After some more research I contacted Fuecapilar in June and they sent me 2 proposals (Dr. Turan and Dr. Gur). Dr. Turan proposed to do 4000 grafts, restoring and lowering the hairline without transplanting the crown in a 2 day procedure (4000 Euros). Dr. Gur wanted to go with 3000 grafts without lowering the hairline (3500 Euros). My biggest priority was to go at least a bit lower with my hairline instead of transplanting more densely because I have thick and wavy hair which helps making my hair look more dense than it actually is.
So I went with Turan. They told me I can come in February 23, but soon after someone cancelled his surgery which was scheduled 22/23 December and I took the date happily. I flew to Istanbul 2 days earlier with my fiancé and asked Fuecapilar if they could pick me up from the hotel in Istanbul instead of the airport, which was no problem. On Wednesday, 21st they picked us up and drove us o the hospital to take some blood and then to the hotel in Avcilar. The Hotel was really nice and clean. We had a large room with a large bed.
The next day our driver, who was perfectly on time always, picked me up at 9.15. At the Hospital we did the consultation first. My translator Jon is a cool guy, very friendly, speaks perfect english. They asked about my expectations, which I told them (restoring and lowering the hairline). We agreed that I continue my current treatment, which contains 3mg Finasteride per week and Minoxidil once daily. However, I will top up my Finasterid dosage by 1 and after some time 2 mg per week, as I have zero side effects.
I signed the papers, they took pictures, shaved my head and began to draw the hairline after measuring my face. At this point 6-7 people were staring at me, speaking in turkish and discussing my hairline. However, their first approach was fine by me. I remember thinking that I did not even expect them to go that low. Now I think it's still a bit conservative but it fits my facial proportions and age and everyone tells me it's perfect.
After that they gave me a Xanax, which somehow never really kicked in. Jon told me I would definitely feel it, but I guess it came very softly and made me relax a bit during the surgery. Then they took more pictures with the drawn hairline and I went into the surgery room. Really felt nervous at this point and I think my blood pressure was saying the same After they put in the needle for the IV into my hand (really hurt) I felt dizzy. Really not a great start for all of this. They told me to lay down which immediately helped. They gave me 5 minutes to relax, asking up to 10 times if I was okay lol. Generally, during the whole 2 days they asked at least every 30 minutes of everything was fine and if I was okay, making me feel being in good hands. After the 5 minutes their anesthetic guy started to do the pre anesthetic. To be honest somehow this was more unpleasant than the needles. Don't get me wrong, the needles burn. The first one burns the most and with every single other the burning gets lighter. But I really expected it to be badder than it was. The pain is gone after 2-3 seconds. Some areas of the scalp hurt more. The forehead is really not a good place to get needles into, but it's really nothing to be too afraid of. After the incisions are done, you don't feel anything. They start taking out the grafts which sounds funny, but you can relax.
On day 1, they took about 2000-2100 grafts. The last 1,5-2 hours were the worst. I didn't go to the bathroom prior, so I really had to take a pee and my back hurt bad from laying. So I was really really happy when they told me I'm finished for the day. I entered my hotel room at 6 PM looking like this:
The next day, I was picked up at 9.15 again. Went straight into surgery room. This time the IV-needle was no problem, but my blood pressure was. I didn't feel as nervous as the day before but somehow my body reacted like this. After 5-10 minutes blood pressure was fine again and they started to do the anesthetics again. No problem again, maybe slightly more painful than the day before, but really tolerable still. I squeezed the stress ball they gave me and went through it. Btw: they asked me to tell them immediately if I feel anything during the implantation phase. They told me I shouldn't feel anything while they're implanting because this could affect the grafts from being placed properly. Maybe 5-8 times I felt it and told them to give me more anesthetic. To be clear, it didn't hurt, but I felt it, so I told them. At this stage the needles didn't even hurt as bad, because my scalp was so numb I guess.
After lunch break I saw a lot of people running in the floors, which made me curious. Jon told me the doctors mum has an emergency, nothing serious, but Dr. Turan needs 30 minutes to check after her downstairs in the hospital. I took a chat with Jon about football and turkish politics. They brought me fruits and tea. After maybe an hour Dr. Turan was back and we went on.
At the end of the day they took another 1500 grafts so after the 2 days they implanted about 3600 grafts. They told me my donor area has very soft skin which made it a bit complicated to extract the grafts. It bleed more than it does with other patients. This was the first reason they didn't go with the full 4000. Other reason was that after examining my hair they saw that I don't need more than that, as I have thick and wavy/curly hair and can expect very good results with this amount.
The whole team is very nice and friendly, they took great care of me and really did a great job. I can recommend going to Dr. Turan. He is an expert and really knows what he's doing.
