Portugal25

You feel like you have landed in a small Russian city but with a lot of muslins.
Nobody speaks English at the airport! 5 star Hotel that had only 1 person that spoke English.  
City itself is ugly and stuck in time. 
Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are banned here and as you can imagine there’s no uber or uber eats.
Its not really a safe place to go to due to their government regime so I told my wife it was best for her to stay home with the kids (if I had went to Porto we would have gotten a babysitter and turned my HT into a second honeymoon). 

You hear the Mosk chanting on the loud speakers something that resembles a grown man crying/singing which seems to be the Mosk telling everyone in the city that it’s time to pray. It’s ok the first one or two days because it’s was something I never experienced but after 2 days closed in the Hotel room listening to this it can become very annoying.

Obviously what matters is the results of our surgery so I happily endured being in this weird place for 5 nights because i trusted I was getting a great crown reconstruction with a mega session of beard grafts.

If I didn’t need a mega session with beard grafts I would surely have went to the trendy European city of Porto instead where Dr. BF does a more advanced technique for a slightly higher price than Pekiner. 

Dr. BF is by the beach at Espinho (20m drive from the airport) but about 1h drive from the Airport you find the Douro Valley which is the oldest wine region in the world. In the city of Porto you have world famous Port Wine wineries so obviously nothing like going to Ankara. 

You can’t compare going to the Portuguese equivalent of Napa Valley (but with much more breathtaking scenery) to a small muslin city stuck in time.

To give you some prespective check out Six Senses Douro Valley below with the hillside vineyards  

@karatekid I agree that Pekiner has a lot more of his work available with more than 55 patients posting their results and several truly amazing results but @PT#31 went to both Pekiner (HLC trained) and Dr. Bruno (trained by Lorenzo) and he explained the several differences in Dr. BF technique that uses a smaller punch, pain free anesthesia and surgery, cleaner donor areas, higher number of grafts per day (reducing number of days of surgery). 

I have no doubt that at this price point 2.25€-2.5€/graft the best choices are Dr.BF, Pekiner and HLC but I tend to sway to Dr. BF because of his skills, the risk of aborted surgery at Pekiner and the European location of his clinic (Ancara is really really bad). 

56 minutes ago, PizzaWolf said:

Can I ask why you would have chosen Dr. Ferreira over HLC or Dr. Pekiner when it seems like he has limitations that they do not?

Dr. Ferreira is more skilled Doctor using a more advanced technique (works with Dr. Lorenzo’).

HLC and Pekiner are very good for mega sessions using beard grafts while Dr. Ferreira does smaller sessions around 600 beard grafts. 

Just now, Melvin-Moderator said:

If you want to share your report and it’s authentic, go ahead. I had to ban his rep, because he was all around shady. I had to keep a tab, because I have a feeling there was a couple of fake reports floating around. 

@Cristero as you can see HRN is all about us bald guys talking about our experiences managing our hairloss so obviously a HRN member like yourself would never be censored or not allowed to share your experience because that’s the whole reason why this forum exists in the first place.

Looking forward to reading your about your experience and hope you get the results your hoping for. 

2 minutes ago, Cristero said:

Did you see any further progress with your HT btw @Portugal25?

I think it’s better and I will post pictures on the 26th after I get  haircut. 

@Cristero there was a new post on Pekiner recently so I was under the impression HRN members could post about their experience with any Doctor regardless if his rep is banned (like Pekiner’s rep). 

You are a HRN member that contributed here before having the HT so I don’t understand why you believe you can’t show the rest of the members how was your HT experience with Dr. Pekiner (good or bad) as that’s something more likely to happen in the Italian forum but please check with @Melvin-Moderator 

@chyldom I had my firs HT when I was 25 years old and I lost all the hair in my crown and midscalp along with many transplanted hair because I didn’t take Finasteride. If you want to do a HT at such a young age then I highly advise to start taking Finasteride.

Regarding your choice I must say I was shocked! You are comparing a all inclusive low cost Turkish Hairmill to the best doctor in the UK??????

You do know that Turkey is the world capital of botched hair transplants and that hairmill have technicians without a medical background do your surgery (they could have been taxi drivers 2 months prior to doing your surgery).

Dr. Reddy is very good but for almost half the price at 2.5€/graft you have Dr. Bruno Ferreira in Porto doing the most advanced technique of the business (he also works in Madrid at Dr. Lorenzo clinic but you pay more at that clinic). With Dr. BF you get Dr. Lorenzo expertise one of the best in the world for half the price. 

Feriduni designs perfect hairlines but he still does pre-made slits. 
Bisanga is also very good but I’m not aware of his technique. 

These are two Doctors with a steady flow of great results but they are much more expensive.

On 9/9/2020 at 10:08 PM, 1talian said:

Hi all. A quick update, after your recommendations. I reached out to both HLC and Dr Ferreira. HLC recommended 3000 grafts and a further 1000-1500 from my beard in the 1st surgery. After 12 months a second surgery for the crown area. Dr Ferreira suggested 2800 grafts in the first session, wait 5 months and then a further 2800 grafts. He will check the progress and then he can look at the beard as a third surgery to fill any gaps / provide more density. I wasn’t actually aware Dr Ferreira performed a beard transplant however now I am confused as to which one to go with. They both seem to be extremely professional. 
 

any thoughts? 

 

@1talian you should PM @PT#31 because he went to Pekiner a former HLC surgeon (same technique) and after he had his surgery aborted he had his hair transplant with Dr. Bruno Ferreira.

@PT#31 expained to me that there are several differences in the stick&place technique used by HLC and Pekiner versus the DHI technique used by Dr. Ferreira but also the anesthesia was different because he felt only the first sting with Dr. BF but that was not the case with Pekiner (I can also confirm that wasn’t totally pain free like Dr. BF). 

If you don’t need +1000 beard grafts in this first surgery I wouldn’t hesitate and would just book Dr. BF.

1 minute ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I don’t know enough about them, doesn’t mean they aren’t good. Are they involved in the surgery? What are the doctors names. We only recommend surgeons, not clinics. 

I chose Pekiner (former surgeon at HLC) over HLC for this exact reason, I didn’t know what doctor at HLC would do the surgery and it’s pretty hard to compare HLC results when I don’t know the doctor responsable for the surgery. 

This being said all the results I saw from HLC were very good and they are masters at mega session using beards grafts just like Pekiner. However, I’m now aware that Pekiner aborts surgeries if he believes he can’t achieve a good result. 

If I didn’t need +1800 beard grafts I would not have considered Pekiner or HLC and would have booked Dr. Bruno Ferreira. 
 

15 minutes ago, transplantedphil said:

yep. 

hattingen are mighty impressive as well fro what ive seen, and there are cases by de freitas ive seen that i think are beautiful too.

Dr. Muresanu at Hattingen Clinic is the best option for a FUT mega session (3.45€/graft).

Feriduni designs perfect hairlines.

38 minutes ago, Portugal25 said:

 

 

@jonathande if you are asking about the world capital of botched hair transplants that is Turkey it can only mean that you are on a tight budget but the best in Turkey is HLC Ankara at 2.5€/graft which is the same price as Dr. Bruno Ferreira in Porto that has a more advanced technique. Dr. Bruno like HLC does the whole surgery himself on just 1 patient per day (no point in going to HLC unless you need a mega session beard graft like I did).

One of the best in Europe is is Dr. Couto and he uses the same technique as Dr. Bruno but Couto is booked solid for the next 2 years and charges 4.5€/graft. 

Thank you @JohnAC71 and @Egy don´t know if the prices are still correct because with Covid-19 anything can happen.

@Dalibor I know Vera Clinic because they were making false claims on their website suggesting they were affiliated with HRN and @Melvin-Moderator had to approach them so they would remove HRN from their website.

There`s 1 patient on the Turkish forum showing his results from Vera Clinic and he`s been clearly overharvested.

This is one of thousand of low cost Turkish Hairmills with shady behaviour and tech run surgeries. They will tell you what you want to hear for you to book your flight but when you arrive you will find the Doctor is either not present or doing several surgeries at the same time (most of the work done by techs that could have been Taxi drivers 2 months before doing your surgery).

Turkey is the world capital of botched hair transplants for a reason!

If you already have the plane ticket for Istambul then see if Dr. Demirsoy is available to do your surgery beacause he`s the cheapest doing 1 patient per day he does however have techs doing the implatation of the grafts in pre-made slits (for me this was a dealbraker).

There are several other Doctors with more precise and skilled techniques doing just 1 patient per day but all of them are more expensive.

Check the prices below:

18 minutes ago, Egy said:

Are you sure of this?  Yet @Portugal25a few days ago, posted a screen shot in which it was evident that he was interfacing directly with Doctor Pekiner, why can't you do that?  Unless his advisor also decides to have more important and less important patients 🤔

Dr. Pekiner gave me his mobile on my first day of surgery.
When I need answers I will send a WhatsApp to Dr.Pekiner and his rep.

10 minutes ago, Guano said:

@Portugal25Thanks brother appreciate it, yeah his assistant reckons its cause i hopped off minoxidil for that little while but I don't reckon it is.. 

 

Yeah he did offer a touch up but who knows when thats gonna be, Im in Australia and I wont be able to travel anywhere until god knows when.. Yes i am on fin 

Great to know you already have the offer for a free touch up.

Hope this pandemic situation clears up soon so you can book your flight to have it done but I`m also rooting you get a improvement in the next few months.

On 9/2/2020 at 10:52 PM, duchaine said:

Will it cause miniaturization of beard grafts?

answer: THIS IS A POSSIBILITY.

 

What I understood from both Dr. Pekiner and Dr. BF is that the possibility of miniaturization of the beard grafts is not enough to throw away to benefits I will have from taking Finasteride like keeping my NW6 natural sides and not evolving to a full NW7. 

21 hours ago, Vpac said:

Back to the original question...

For the hairline, the best in Turkey is most likely Keser from the results I have seen. I just wish they were more cases, not enough are posted on this and other forums. The fact is he does everything himself, that is a big big plus.

ASMED or HLC - it depends on you. Do you want to put trust in Dr Koray and his technique, they are probably the most popular clinic in the world doing 4-5 patients a day. State of the art clinic, and countless testimonials. He's had a bit of a bad rep lately, but just think how many people post results from there compared to others. There's probably like 30 Keser cases I can find online but hundreds from Asmed.

With HLC the doctors perform the entire operation, so you have that piece of mind. Who the doctors are and how long they've performed FUE, you will have to investigate that yourself.

@VpacASMED is a expensive hairmill with technicians doing surgery on 8 patients per day and several complaints of unethical behaviour so you can`t compare it with HLC where you have a surgery fully performed by the best Doctors in Turkey (Dr. Akin and Dr. Ozgur) using a much more advanced and precise technique called stick&place (the same used by Dr. Konior considered by many to be the best FUE Doctor in the world).

@GuanoI do hope in the next few months you may get more growth but I would advise you to approach Dr. Pekiner to understand why you are not getting a dense result at 8 months post-op. 

Surely if there`s no big change in the next few 3 months you will be offered a touch up surgery as Dr. Pekiner does this if anything goes wrong with his surgery. I say this because he also offered a touch to that Russian guy that didn`t get a dense result.

Are you on finasteride?

4 minutes ago, Curious25 said:

Maybe you misunderstood, but I was alluding to my interest surrounding the same doctor (Pekiner) reportedly giving conflicting advice to @duchaine and @Portugal25 with regards to this matter. 

I understand that you have it out for Pekiner but you need to understand that this a results thread and I’m posting my experience with my HT.

I got this WhatsApp from Pekiner and it matches the advice I got from Dr. BF so I’m doing what any patient does, follow the doctors advise.

14 hours ago, duchaine said:

I specifically asked Pekiner about fina and he said that people having BHT should not take fina because it weaken that FUs.

Whatsapped Pekiner last week and he said I should take it to avoid going full NW7 on my sides.

He also said some thinning on the beard grafts could happen but it`s unlikely.

I trust that with the acumulated experience he has implanting beard grafts on people taking Finasteride he knows what side effects to expect for beard grafts implanted on the scalp and thus advised me accordingly.

Dr. Bruno Ferreira also said I should be on Finasteride despite my implated beard grafts.

Since I`m not a Doctor I spoke with 2 Doctors to get 2 opinions and their opinions were the same so I`m following their advice.

@Guanohave shown your latest photos to Dr. Pekiner? If so what was his response? 

It would be great if you could post a image of your frontal hairline before the surgery so we can understand the difference.

7 minutes ago, PizzaWolf said:

A bit of a cop out there, bud. You went all kindergarten tattle-tale on me a few posts ago for saying mean things about your boy Pekiner.

You don't think there's something really strange going on with these aborted surgeries? Still attempting to charge or hold deposits after taking hundreds of grafts?

Any theories?

If someone calls the doctor that successfuly performed your surgery a “Hack” I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t reply as politely as I did. 

My answer was not a cop out but instead I was again stating facts. 

8 minutes ago, LonelyGraft said:

Obviously. But you’re backing up his decision to abort surgeries like it was the right/ethical thing to do when there’s several unanswered questions 

I talk with Doctors regularly and from what I know of the health world when a Doctor tells you he’s not comfortable doing your surgery you thank him and go ask for a second opinion.

Unfortunately in the hair transplant world many Doctors aren’t humble enough to walk away from a pay day and many times it’s not even Doctors you are talking with but rater underpaid technicians that only get paid if they do your surgery.

So yes I will defend any Doctor that says he’s not comfortable doing a patient surgery as for the reasons why he’s not comfortable and why he needs to extract grafts that’s something only the Doctor can explain.

23 minutes ago, LonelyGraft said:

@Portugal25you seem to ignore this question but why does pekiner abort dupa surgeries in the first place? You consider dr Ferreira and Lorenzo authorities in regards to dupa but they evaluate patients microscopically before even heading to the operating room. Why can pekiner not catch this with microscopic evaluation? He has to start surgery and go 100+ grafts deep then diagnose the patient with dupa. Makes absolutely no sense

@LonelyGraft you seem to be forgetting that I’m just a patient of Dr. Pekiner. 
Your questions is something that only the Doctor or his representatives can explain properly. 

2 minutes ago, duchaine said:

you deleted your previous comment...
did you regret for the compliments? lol

Double Posted by mistake