I went to have my hair transplant with Dr. Yaman on 21st Oct 2023. The whole process from start to finish was very straight forward, I'm someone who never travels abroad and I managed to get there and back on my own without any problems. I contacted a few of the turkish Doctors and Doga (Yaman's representative) was the first to respond with a very good price so I decided to go with him. I did look through Yaman's results on here first and although they were hit and miss they were no different to the other Turkish Doctors I'd contacted who also had some hit and misses so I think it's just a bit of a risk you have to take when going to Turkey.
Before I set off Doga told me the driver picking me up would be at gate 9 holding a sign with Dr Yaman on it but when I got there I couldn't find him so at this point I was panicking as I had no way of contacting Doga as I could only contact him using whatsapp and I had no internet. Luckily after about 10 mins walking back and forth I caught a glimpse of a man's fleece top with a logo on it just as he was turning round so I approached him and asked to see the logo and thankfully it was Dr Yaman's. So my advice to anyone else going there would be if you don't see a sign then look for the fleece jacket. Not much advice but it would have helped me out if I'd have known that, so hopefully it helps someone else.
The day of the surgery I got picked up about 8.30am with one more guy and we headed to the hospital. We both paid and got our bloods taken then parted ways as we both went into surgery. Had the injections by one of the nurses which were very painful then Yaman came in to open the channels. After that I think I had more injections and then the process of extracting the hairs started. After about 4 hours or so it was dinner time and I went into the little dinner room only to see a different guy from the one in the taxi with me in the morning, this was a bit of a surprise as at the time I didn't know Yaman did multiple operations in one day, then after a few minutes the original guy who I was in the taxi with came in so at this point there were 3 of us all having operations. After dinner I think the implantation started, tbh I'm not sure as nobody talks English so it's hard to ask what process is being done. This was done for maybe another 4 hours, then towards the end and this is the only complaint I have and that is I was starting to feel pain from them placing the hairs in my head and I was making noises to hint of my pain but they were't giving me any more injections so I eventually said "This is hurting now" and the technician said "only 10 minutes then we're done" so after hearing that I was buzzing and I said ok let's push through as I just wanted it to end. Well 10mins came and went and it must have been half an hour until they finished, they just stood up and walked out and I thought that was it, but no, after being left for about another 20 mins wondering what's going off, two techs came in and carried on working on me and I could clearly tell it was a trainee being shown what to do, this laster approx another 30 mins. I was pissed off as I was in pain, it had been a long day and I didn't pay for a trainee to put hairs in my head.
After the operation was done, we all sat in the taxi ready to go back to the hotel and a 4th guy came in the taxi who had also had an operation that day, so all in all that was 4 people being operated on on the same day. Some might say that's ok because some top surgeons have multiple operations in a day but it all comes down to how well the techs are trained and I think it can be a bit of luck of the draw if you'll get good techs or not with Yaman, but that's why his prices are so cheap.
So I'm now 6 month post op and thought I'd upload my photos of my progress so far. I was a norwood 6/7 ish, pretty much slick bald and I don't think my donor was the best so I think my results are ok from where I started, I had the grafts put into the frontal third and then I'll go and finish the rest at a later date. Yaman said 6k grafts ( 4k in front and 2k at back) in total to cover my head but I know I'll need at least 8k as I need the front more dense than it is now. I think my donor is looking a bit patchy and supposedly I had the best "Extractionist" according to Doga.
Before operation:
After operation
Please note that the photos were taken outdoor so the lighting is as harsh as it can be. some people on this forum take photos in very flattering light to make their hair look better but that's not a true representation of what their hair is really like. I also shaved my head for the first 5 months so this is approx 6 weeks growth.