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G'day lads, thought i would give back to the community that taught me a lot and pushed me to a final decision to go ahead and get a hair transplant. I have loosely wrote up something, it is pretty long but should be a good read for you. I am going to share what i have learnt and my thoughts towards hairloss and of course a review of my experience at ASMED and in doing that hopefully help you guys as there is so so much information out there regarding hair transplants and it can become bit overwhelming who to believe because at the end of the day you are going to base your decision on people you have never met's advice and opinions on certain doctors and clinics and you have to decide who is being real and who is not and lucky for you this forum is as real as it gets as you can't be trusting clinics that have 1000s of 5 star 1 comment reviews when they are not all real reviews unlike what is being posted on here. So a little backstory to me, i am only 21 so i may be one of the youngest people i have seen on these forums who has gone and got this procedure done and for the record i do not want any negativity from people telling me i am was wrong getting it done so early. The bare truth is i either lived the next few years of my life creeping to a worse and worse state of mind and forever looking forward to a day where i can forget about my hairloss or as i did simply act on it in its early stages and beat the wrath of emotions and insecurities that came with losing my hair even more than what i had. So, i think i started losing my hair around 18 and it wasn't until i was about 19 i had accepted i was losing my hair as the whole year prior i was in complete denial as 50-100 hairs were coming out of my head everyday in the shower and i simply could not accept i was going bald at such a young age. As you do you start researching and you come across the big 3 (minoxidil, finasteride, nizoral) and i began with minoxidil and had some pretty darn good results from it going from very thin recided hair to 5 months later thickening up my hair quite significantly. Next, i implemented fin and noticed a hault to my hairloss at about the 3 month mark of using it and this lasted me about a year until it seems my hair loss got even more aggressive and my crown has begun to thin which i am now working on a solution for. One might be i was using generic propecia and now using the real stuff (prosper) which was given to me in a years supply free of charge by ASMED which will hopefully be the trick in halting my hairloss again. And for nizoral or any shampoo similar to it i was not using until a month or two ago as i had long hair tied up so it was hard to keep it clean and i later found out once i got my head shaved for the transplant i had some pretty bad dermatitis so that may also of been contributing to the hairloss but i am now taking good care of my scalp and keeping it healthy. With all the positives from using minox and fin i unfortunately started using them to late into my hairloss journey and my hairline had recided to a point where i was not at all happy with. I spent every living day outside my house with a hat on since i finnished school and being an outgoing active person it was seriously restricting myself from being myself. Luckily in doing this (always wearing a hat) no-one knew about my reciding hairline though they had their suspicions but never saw it so getting this procedure done before that day came was essential and i managed to pull it off. After 2 years of hat wearing and feeling insecure i started looking into hair transplants and was originally skeptical going to turkey to get it done and instead wanted to find somewhere here in Australia but as many countries like the UK and USA htp's are over priced but here in aus the quality is also not as good as the rest of the world so over time i slowly started getting more comfortable with the idea of going to istanbul to get it done. That was when i came across this forum and saw many good reviews of people going to istanbul and getting it done and the service provided by these clinics with airport pickup and drop off aswell as accommodation all included in the final price which i liked the idea of. Next was to find a clinic / dr i felt comfortable going with as being the kind of person i am and being friends with the kind of people i am friends with, there was no room for error in getting a below par transplant so i after lots of research i went with ASMED. Why ASMED? Dr Erodgen has many many years of experience and up until a year or two ago had a impeccable successful record with not a single bad review in site until about a year ago where some people have been talking down the clinics new move into a bigger and better facility and there thoughts that now he focuses on quantity over quality and they feel there results are a response of this and don't worry i will come back to this. Anyway, after compiling my list of ;clinics to pick asmed came out on top. I thought that the doctor, staff and website were all very professional looking and that with an array of good reviews (minus a few poor ones) made me feel safe going with this clinic. NOTE: for the record i personally believe hair transplants at the end of the day are the flip of a coin. not in the sense its a 50/50 chance you with get a good result but rather even if both the clinic and patient do everything right even then there are still things that can go wrong it seems so you never have a 100% chance at success with this procedure so always keep that in mind. I will run you through the process at ASMED and my experiences with the process. The Before: You apply online with photos and you will be assigned a co ordinator who speaks your language and is someone who you can ask questions and they will do the initial analysis of you getting basic information from you such as age, amount of hairloss, are you using fin? etc etc. If you tick the right box's she will then pass your photos and conversation onto Dr Erodgen himself who will review your situation and let you know whether you are suitable or not. For me this is a big tick as it shows he does not need the business and would rather instead make sure he can make a real difference in doing what he does best and give you the hair transplant that will accommodate for you now and also consider your future hairloss and what comes with that instead of what happened to me in 5ish consolations beforehand where i felt like they were selling me a product trying to rush me into a htp and trying to give me the cheapest price. Pricing is also something worth noting at ASMED as he is not cheap like the rest of Istanbul infact he is one of the most expensive dr's in all of Turkey but in comparison still cheap charging 2.5 euro per graft opposed to USA where the average is around 5 Euro per graft. And also for me my co ordinator was Suzana big shout out to her as she was wonderful always letting me know what the next step was and always comforting me and even though i knew this was her job i quickly forgot that once i got to the clinic and we started to just get along well and it really does make you feel a lot more relaxed knowing you have someone you can speak to through every step of pre, during & post the procedure. The During: So once a date is conformed and your funds are sorted you are next to make a 1000 euro deposit and to begin booking your flights, i originally didn't think much of flying to Istanbul but living in Australia flying to Istanbul is the other side of the world where including the 5 hour stopover in Bangkok it took me 24 hours to get to Istanbul and i will be honest i was very doubtful of myself the entire trip there as here i am at 21 year old not travelling alone before flying all the way to Istanbul to get this procedure done. However, once arriving at ASMED my doubts quickly disappeared. once arriving at the airport with a total of 1.5 hours sleep i was picked up by the ASMED driver and taken to the facility which was very modern and nice and is just under a year old and is apparently same design just an upgrade from there old facility. Also I'm not sure if it is a turkish thing and women are just good looking there but the staff at ASMED were all damn fine and always had a smile on there face. When you arrive you are taken to your room (thats if you are staying in the ASMED rooms) which was nice, no complaints there. Next your coordinator will come up and meet you in the eating area where patients who were being operated on that day were sitting in their ASMED uniforms all with shaved heads and drawn on hairlines which was bit strange when i first saw it but got use to it pretty quickly. Next, your coordinator will run you through the day and ask some more questions and get you to fill out some medical forms. Next, bloodwork is checked along with some other things. Next, you are sent to a waiting room where all patients that are being operated on the next day with you wait to see the dr himself for a final consultation before the money is handed over. It began with 3 patients but ended up with a total of 6 people waiting to see the dr which was abit alarming as 3 i was happy with and i believed they could manage 3 patients being operated on at once but 6 seemed like to much and i was bit worried. However, i am going to say now the team is very professional and they would not operate on 6 if they could not handle it and for those that don't understand how it is possible Dr Erodgen has employed surgeon who do the the taking out of the grafts and organising them aswell as the placement of grafts the DR himself simply does the most important part where the most error's occur this being the slits and incisions for where the grafts will be placed so if you view it like this he does only 1 step (the main one) of 3 steps so he truely can operate on 6 patients on 1 day so don't let that alarm you. Initial consultation: After waiting for what was quite awhile for the dr to Finnish surgery patients for today i was called upto his room where we shook hands had a small talk about where i was from and if i plan to taken fin long term etc etc then he stared assessing my donor area and grafts in general. I am going to just quickly say i was sure i was going to have a weak donor area. my hair doesn't go far down my neck nor does it go close to my ears and overall my head is small so that all adds up to a very limited amount of sq cm's for potential safe zone donor area to be used and i was almost certain he was going to asses it and tell me i have very limited options and i could barely accommodate for 1 single procedure and i had almost accepted this only to be told i had a donor area of around 8000 grafts which blew me away, by no means is this a crazy amount but it is average amount which i was very happy with meaning i have 5000ish grafts for future hairloss which is such a comforting feeling. So, for blokes who are worried about their donor zone not being suitable rest easy because you will be fine as the hair compacted in that area is just very dense. For how the dr. can just look at my donor and estimate its capacity without equipment was bit confusing but he is an expert so i trusted him and so have 1000s of patients before me. He next told me my hair density and hair thickness saying that my hair is quite thin so we would need about 48(i think) hairs per square cm and couple other things also telling me i had a pretty bad case of dermatitis (dandruff) which would need to be treated before tomorrow. He next asked what i wanted and i said my hairline lowered so he got a marker and started drawing a rough hairline and there were i think 2 other dr.s / surgeons that i think gave second opinions on his work and helped with the drawing of the hairline. I sat in a chair and he would draw some, step back look at my face, draw some more until he asked me to look in the mirror and ask what i thought. He said we can do it more aggressive if you would like and i said yes so he drew it again and i was happy with it. It then seemed like my consultation was over and i understand they are on a tight schedule but it all moved pretty fast and i almost forgot to tell him i wanted my temple points done so he drew those up aswell and told me it will be 300 grafts for each temple point and 3000 for the hairline coming to a total of 3600 grafts. I then shook his hand again and we then went to the finance room to pay. I'm going to be straight up and mine costed 3600 x 2.5euro (per graft) came to a total of 9000euro - 500ish euro for flight reimbursement cost so about 8500 euro total which was paid in full cash and they have a CASH only payment, quick note on that it is not as scary as it seems just have all the cash on you in a pouch around your waist for the flight there and you will be fine and also you can bring 10, 000euro into the country without question so it is not a problem. After payment you are taken to the barber place where you head is shaved by the nice turkish women as suspected my dermatitis was pretty bad and treated there with some stuff which got rid of it over night. Next you are taken to the photo room where your photos are taken of all angles and then taken to a high tech machine that slowly asses each square cm of hair on your head and measures its density and all of the single, double, multi grafts and it is here you can't truely see how dense your donor area is as it is all conveyed on a screen infront of you. Next you are taken to the next room where your rough drawn on hairline is finalised and this was interesting. You are sat in a chair with no joke about 10 ASMED staff in the room also being surgeon dr.s etc and also dr Erodgen and he begins drawing and the other dr.s are giving their opinions on what he is doing and it is like watching a master painter in his element. dr Erodgen is in the zone and draws and edits and asses some things and is all done with free hand no machines to draw a symmetrical hairline that everyone in the room agrees on for you to then view it in the mirror while they all look at you and await your response. I was happy with mine but if i wasn't i would of been bit nervous to go in there and tell them to do it again hahaha i don't know this part was abit strange but done very professionally. Again another hand shake with the Dr and all his staff gave me a smile as i left the room and the next patient went in there after me. I believe that was all for the first initial day and the rest of the day consisted of going up to the food area eat some dinner while talking to the patients that got operated on the day with their bandaged heads and catching up on some much needed sleep. For the other patients at the clinic its a strange thing having people from all over the world in my case people from Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Spain and me from Australia but its strange because you all have something in common and this is a common insecurity one this is big enough to make you come to this clinic from all over the world and get it done so that gives you all something to talk about and makes the experience a lot more comfortable as i ended up speaking with a lot of the boys there those 2 days about all my personal stuff on hairloss that i honestly haven't told anyone before so that was actually a good part just speaking with the other blokes during my stay. Surgery Day: early start with breakfast at 6am and surgery at 7;00 sharp, i was told to take antibiotics and a zanex that was given to me when i woke up. I was surprisingly not that nervous as after the first day i knew i was in good hands and i didn't let any nerves get the better of me and i walked into the surgery room with a smile and met all my surgeos that would be doing the procedure on me aswell as your coordinator right by your side running everything by you before it happens. I was given an iPad and told to sit in a chair with my chin sitting in the holder thing to sit my head in a fixed position so they could extract the grafts from the back of my head. First the local anestheisa injections which are very over rated, the pain was certainly bearable about a 6 or 7 out of 10 as far as pain goes and they did a total of like 10-15 injections all over the back of my head. After this is done they then get what felt like a pin and started poking the back off my head asking if i felt it and simply if i did they would inject more until i didn't, so it began... i put on a Joe rogan podcast and tried to forget there are sharp objects being pushed through the back of my head and i tried to not look into the reflection of the iPad as a couple times i saw a little to much blood that began making me feel uncomfortable but all in all this first step of 3 was fine and my only concern was the position you are put in with your neck down is extremely uncomfortable and i remember after about 20 minutes i was like sheit i don't know how much longer i can do this so i started counting down minute by minute in some pretty unbearable pain to only find out i wasn't even halfway through the extraction procedure, But as you do you man up and push through it and eventually it is done. Next you are bandaged up at the back of your head and given a 5minute lunch break were me and the other patient both talked about how much our necks hurt after that first part haha but so far so good for me atleast. Next you are taken back to your operating room for the long session where dr Erdogen himself does the incisions and slits for the rest of the surgeon to place the grafts into.This is obviously important as this is where the hairline is designed it shape, desity etc. Now for this part, man i got knocked the fuck out and i don't remember a single thing only faintly remembering seeing Dr Erodgens face for a brief second before i closed my eyes. it begins and they sedate you with something (morphine maybe, i might be wrong on that and they do tell you before they do it) and very quickly you feel like your having abit to much fun and then as i said i got sent straight through space and woke up who knows how many hours later to a real painful rubbing sensation on the front of my head. I was super startled as i forgot where i was and what was happening and i was in some pretty serious pain as the front area that was operated on was being washed and the surges were rubbing it was pretty unbearable. In my head for some reason i thought something had gone wrong and i woke up from a coma or something and i was pretty stressed. But quickly i calmed down and started grasping was was going on and relaxed again and took my headphones out and asked my corridnator what was going on and she said they are almost finished they have 100 grafts left and then its over and i was like holy shit i slept through the entire procedure, epic. The last 15 mins was yeah pretty painful and i asked for more injections to numb the pain but they said its not recommended as they would be finished soon so i just pushed through the pain and dealt with it until it was done. And that was that, all over. A serious blur but i would of way prefered that over being awake the entire procedure as i later found out other patients were. i then slowly got up and was taken to a sitting room of some sort. It was at this time i started feeling really cold and started shivering so i was given a blanket and after about 10 minutes i was back to normal-ish and actually felt pretty good considering what i just went through, later other patients came into the room some looking bit worse off than me as one was sweating pretty bad and looking pretty light headed. Next Dr. Erodgen came in and assessed the final work off all the implanted grafts by the surgeons and gave the thumbs up and this was the last time we saw him. Now we were put under a laser machine to help with the recover process and taken back to the photo room for a photo of all angles of our now pretty disgusting head. And i think that was it, we were told the rules of sleep with a neck pillow and some other stuff on medication we will need to take for the next few days and all went up had dinner and i went to bed and actually had a good night sleep before my first wash tomorrow morning and flight home tomorrow arvo. After: i think it was a 7:30am post op wash back in the barber room. Here you are shown how you are going to wash your hair for the next 10ish days and they do it for you here and you are given all the products needed with labels on them aswel as a usb stick with all photos of before and after aswell as other details from your stay. A barber actually came in and cut some of the boys hairs who did a partial shave and fixed it up to hide the transplanted area. And that was it i said goodbye to the ASMED staff and thanked them and also hugged my co ordinator and said goodbye and i went to my room to wait a couple hours for my pickup to the airport. Can honestly say i was kinda sad to leave which makes no sense as this procedure should be somewhat a traumatic experience and something you just want to get it over and done with but i don't know i didn't feel that way at all, rather i couldn't believe it was over and how smooth sailing the entire thing was. I next started looking in the mirror and tried to figure out how the fek i was going to cover this up on my way home and we were given a bucket hat to wear which i put on. I then went to the airport bit stressed about having to take the hat off even though i don't know anyone and would never see them again. Also it was pretty funny how many people at the airport had just undergone a hair transplant and were on their way home. Unfortaunly for them they were not wearing hats and i counted a total of 13 people from entering to leaving the airport who had undergone a FUE procedure. Now for my little hiccup that almost everyone seems to get atleast once, mine was when i was wearing this hat. I placed it loosely on my head and throughout the day it got tighter and tighter and since i just had surgery the day before the grafts were leaking and causing the hat to stick to my recipient area and i had this hat on for about 5 hours until i sat down on the plane (note ASMED advised me to take the hate off every 45 mins i believe to allow my head to breathe, but i couldn't pull myself to do it) and couldn't put my headphones in so i tried to lift the hat and i felt all the grafts sticking to it and holding it down. My face instantly went red and i started stressing and i was like what the fuck is wrong with me i have just blown a 9000euro procedure cause i was to scared for random people i have never met to see my head. I was sure when i was to take the hat off i would see hundreds of grafts attached to the hat and this was at the start of my 10 hour flight... i then sat in my chair over thinking this and stressing out until i finally got the balls to go to the aeroplane bathroom and slowly shift the hat from side to side to take it off. annnnndd, thank the lord no damage was done with all grafts intact and everything still looking the same. From here on out i wore it so so loosely on my head sitting on on my back of my head and barly on the front and made sure to take it off every 45 mins for a breather as this would further not give grafts the chance to stick to that hat even if that was possible which i later thought it probably was not... why? well these hairs are planted pretty deeply and firmly into your head and loose hat shouldn't be able to pull them out. However, keep this in mind that you will need to take it off from time to time and how i did this was if it was dark on the plane or at the airport i would go to a gate where no-one was and take it off for bit. Now, my ride home was a very eventful 26 hours, my swelling started once i got to the airport initially just in my forehead, and by the time i got to the stopover i had gone down my face into my eyebrows and unevenly spread across my lower forehead and i remember when i looked in the mirror for the first time on the plane i literally started laughing at my own face as i couldn't believe how fucked i looked. I was one of the unlucky few who got bad swelling and i can't stress enough how ugly it can make you look. I remember saying i should take a photo so people can know what your talking about but i didn't ever want to see this face again nor post it somewhere for people to see so here are some links so you get an idea what you can look like, i seriously looked like some sort of star wars alien and this further made me not want to take my hat off so i was caught in this problem off worrying I'm damaging grafts and taking it off only to have hundreds of people look at me. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=elephant+mans+head&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnxuTL4pXjAhVW63MBHY4kAwsQ_AUIECgB&biw=1285&bih=649#imgrc=Oy7S58xqNEIQ4M: https://www.google.com.au/search?biw=1285&bih=649&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=xA8bXZvKEKHYz7sPvN-okAI&q=star+wars+alien+head&oq=star+wars+alien+head&gs_l=img.3..0i8i30l2.111302.113523..114813...0.0..0.79.336.5......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0.yUT6wRjFIYU#imgrc=Nop23vXwpYsRLM: Progressively the swelling got worse and peaked by the time i got to Bangkok customs (i am staying in bangkok for 3 months studying before i go back home) here i stood infront of a camera sunnies and hat off feeling like the first alien to ever try get into Thailand and the customs people had some questions for me like, why am i coming into Thailand where is my proof of study etc but after some time i made it in and finally got to my room and relaxed. i quickly took my meds did my post op wash for the day and finally let my transplanted hair breathe. Overall: My experience at ASMED was 10/10 i cannot fault any part of the procedure and you get what you pay for. By no means is 9000euro cheap especially for me at 21years old trying to study a uni degree and pay this off over the next few years of my life But as i said you really do feel you get your money's worth as everything was done very well and at the end of the day if your going to go get this done and your hairloss means this much to you which it does if your getting it done in the first place you want that piece of mind knowing you have given yourself the best chance possible. My thoughts on my hairline writing this 3 days after the procedure is i love it i think it looks great and compliments my face and finally makes it all symmetrical which is what you want from a procedure like this. In saying that i like what i see but this is only the early stages, i will judge the final result after 12 months and hopefully it is similar to this density wise and there are NO double or more grafts placed in the hairline, that is what i am most stressed about and that is the work of the surgeon who picks and places the grafts in the already pre slit incisions done my Dr Erodgen so i can only hope they have done a good job. I can honestly say i am going to do pretty much everything known to man to compliment this hair transplant and give these hairs every chance possible to grow so me as an example can be a good one, good clinic, good patient (doing everything right) and we will see the final result because as stated sometimes things just don't go your way and your body won't accept all the grafts or whatever. Below are some photos of before during and after and a quick note i don't want any negativity unless it is constructive... please just be respectful and understand i am going through a stressful couple of months ahead and negative comments can plant bad idea's in post transplant patients heads and that is the last thing i need. Would like to know your thoughts on the hairline and ill post a couple swelling photos and i will make sure answer any questions you guys have. In regards to how often i will post, I'm planning monthly till month 6 then 3 monthly or maybe just 3 monthly in general, i will wait and see the response of this first. -
Hi guys, So I am just "another dude" with a hair loss problem like all of you here haha. I am 28, diffuse NW5 pattern. Been losing my hair since 21 years old. Once I lost my hairline completely (except forelock) i became self conscious about it and started growing out hair to cover that spot and for the last 3 years I've been doing it quite well (thanks to hair spray!). Medical Treatment This year in January I started using Minoxidil 5% with dermaroller with some good results. I felt like I'm not loosing any more hair, but actually regaining it back. You can check out my separate thread for that. After long debates I also decided to get on board with Finasteride, but started with super low dosage of 0.25 mg twice a week to check how my body will react to that. Looked like it was all good, so I increased dosage to 0.5 mg 3 times a week and eventually 1 mg/day. Been on a full dose for the last 3-4 months now and looks like it works great for me. Don't see any hairs falling out for quite some time already, so I feel my MPB is stable. At this point I believe medical therapy will keep improving my crown and mid scalp, so I just need to get the front done via HT. Today, in day to day life I'm not thinking too much about my hair, unless it's windy and it blows away my comb over and gives a great view for people of my bald front lol! That's the worst thing that's happening in my day haha. Well, anyway.. Moving on.. Hunt for a surgeon After a year of intense research, long debates and countless before & after's I finally decided to book in a surgery! Super excited to finally get it done. Originally I started looking at Turkey for it's affordability. Checked pretty much every clinic out there where Doctor is involved in surgery at some point (bypassing all these hair mills!). Learned a lot of things a long the way so it made my list much smaller. Got tons of proposals from different clinics starting from "one and done" types of clinic, to more expensive ones like Asmed. Most of doc's are doing incisions only and leaving the rest for techs and since we all have limited donor supply and truly just 1 shot to make it or brake it, I have decided for myself that I want Dr. himself to do most crucial parts of surgery. Following that mindset I found couple of surgeons: Dr. Demirsoy Does 1 patient a day Does extractions & incisions himself Lots of great reviews on forums Fits my budget One thing bothering me he wanted to do 4000-4500 grafts over 1 day. After some debates I decided not to go for it. I am a proponent of smaller amounts over few days to preserve grafts, donor and doc could focus more on procedure itself, especially extractions and not waste any precious grafts. Dr. Pekiner Lots of positive feedback Does extractions & incisions himself Does 1 patient a day Charging almost twice more At this point I decided not to focus on money (thanks for my research!) and be open for more expensive options. Now, here is a things that was bothering me. He suggested 3000 grafts for the frontal part, from which 2500 would be extracted from scalp and 500 from beard. I really don't feel like using beard grafts for my first procedure! Just doesn't sounds right. Also patient adviser said that Dr. Pekiner will not change his mind and that's the only thing he would do. No negotiations. Obviously I didn't feel nice about it, so I decided to keep looking. I decided to get out of Turkish market and start looking from across the world. I had 2 live consultations with Dr. Bisanga and Dr. Lupanzula where both confirmed my great donor. Both suggested to be conservative and everything looks great, but the amount of money they are charging was sadly out of my reach. At some point I been watching so many videos on YouTube from Dr. Jose Lorenzo and always been amazed of his work. Obviously he was charging a big buck for his stellar job, but one thing that got my attention was he started working with Dr. Bruno Ferreira at some point over the last few years. I was "mhm.. If this guy is good enough for Dr. Lorenzo, he must be good". So I looked him up. Turns out Dr. Ferreira has a lot of experience in HT. He was mainly working for other clinics and now for Dr. Lorenzo in Madrid. He has also his own clinic in Portugal where he is based. The problem I found is he has very, very limited exposure online of his own work, only because most of his time he was working for someone else, meaning, someone else owns the rights for before/after. Despite this fact, every case he presented for me was a "wow" case. Recently I spoke with Joe Tillman & Spencer Kobren on their show and asked what's their opinion on this young doctor and was pleasantly surprised that they know this guy very well and in their opinion his job is stellar. So here we are. I send him my standard email and I've got the best online assessment I've ever seen! It was a great surprise of his attention to detail from his initial impression, to medical treatment, to prognosis, to HT plan consisting of two separate surgeries to achieve full recovery. Not a typical "copy - paste" type of response. He even convinced me to jump on Finasteride full dose 1mg/day, which I'm glad I did! Dr. Ferreira proposed 3000-3500 grafts (will decide on live consultation after he "gets his hands on my scalp") Surgery will be done in 2 consecutive days. At this point we decided to go for frontal restoration first, which is my main concern. After almost 40 emails back and forth and ~45 min video chat (Yes, with Dr. himself!) I finally decided - this is it, this is my Dr! Booked my surgery with him on January 28-29, 2020. Fingers crossed! P.S. Dr. Ferreira is quite OCD/perfectionist. I guess that's the best thing a patient could hear about his doctor! What I'm looking for right now is I need advise from you guys. I booked my hotel in Porto (30 seconds away from clinic hahaha ) from 27th of Jan to 2nd of Feb, so transplanted grafts will have 4 days to "settle down" and will less likely to be dislodged and whatnot. What shall I buy before surgery so I stay as comfortable as possible? Any special travel pillow? Aloe Vera gel for donor post-op? Any special hat for post-op? Tie my hands to bed for the first 7 nights, so I don't scratch recipient area while sleeping? Any help is appreciated! Super excited to get this finally done! Many thanks. Rolandas -
Hi, I am 28 years old and writing this to help others in their hairloss journey as others have helped me in mine. Today I underwent a DHI transplant at Dr Cinik in Istanbul, if anyone has questions they can reply in the thread. Day before procedure Arrive at Istanbul airport Went to meeting point Luxury car took me to an amazing hotel Consultation was evening of arrival, blood taken, hairline drawn by Dr Cinik, payment taken, pictures taken. Day 0 (day of procedure) Leave hotel for clinic 7.45am next morning for procedure Head is shaved Taken to procedure room Anaesthetic administered, lots of needles and a little painful. Hooked up to antibiotic drip entire time First they extract the grafts with an electrical instrument of which the sound reminded me of going to dentist Another person is collecting the grafts and another person is sorting them into petri dishes Snacks and drinks provided intermittently Some of the positions you are in can be uncomfortable For DHI two people loaded the grafts into 'pens' and another person inserted them into the recipient area Following this the whole area is cleaned, grafts are padded down to made sure they are secure, PRP administered, bandages applied Once finished I was given a take home pack with medication, hat, neck pillow, 10 year guarantee. Total 9 1/4 hour day, 7.45am - 5pm The area stings and throbs after procedure and can only sleep in upright with inflatable pillow provided Dr Cinik did not perform the transplant, but checked in a few times during the operation All staff are extremely friendly and accomodating
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After much hysteria on the forum, this issue has to be addressed. Anyone reading this that is interested in getting a hair transplant, it will either deter you away from one or entice you. If it does either my job is done. First of all, pictures can be deceiving both to present good and bad results. However, most only think that pictures can be deceiving to present good results, this is not true. I would like to start off by saying, I’m ecstatic about my hair transplant and it has changed my life, but I do not have true density. I have the “illusion of density” meaning I have to comb my hair a certain way and have it dry for my hair to lookst its best, but certainly it can look bad if I intentionally try too. I will be writing an article on this, because it is important to get out there. I’ve always said, id rather someone not get an HT if they’re not gonna be satisfied with the reality. Here are my pictures first one hairline spread apart in bright light looks horrible. Second one in normal room lighting, but not facing the light. Third one in bathroom lighting, with the light source behind the hair. See how each lighting changes the appearance and also how combing and layering the hair provides “illusion” of density. -
Hi Everyone! I want to thank you all for being such a great resource in my hair transplant journey. I used this site extensively to learn about hair transplants and I would like to share with you all my hair transplant experience thus far so people can benefit. My profile: Age: 27 Clinic: HDC Clinic in Cyprus Surgeon: Dr. Kyriakos Maras Date of Surgery: April 1, 2017 Type: FUE # of Grafts: 3200 I started my hair loss in my late teens, receding heavily at my temples. I wish I had done something much earlier to combat my hair loss as I have lost a lot of my hair in the front and top since then. I started shaving my head to a 2 the last few years after growing tired of a combover. How I found my clinic: I did a lot of research online and compiled a list of top clinics in North America and Europe. Then I contacted each clinic for an online consultation where I sent them pictures and videos of my hair. I found the best way to organize info I receive and to compare and narrow down the clinics to what suited me best was to create an excel spread sheet. I recorded many things which included the number of grafts they recommend, the expected hairline design, and price. After narrowing down a few clinics, I looked extensively at patient reviews on hair transplant forums to make sure people are getting great results. I found that Erdogan at ASMED produced wonderful results at a reasonable price, but had a long waitlist and wanted me to be on finasteride for at least 6 months. Several others like Bisanga and Feriduni also produced great results but was a little more expensive. HDC is a clinic that one of my friends had gone to about 6 months earlier than I did. He got good results from them and so did a lot of other people online. Their price was also a little lower than Bisanga and Feriduni. So after contacting them for a consultation, they made me feel comfortable with their level of service and I went ahead and set up a surgery. The transplant experience: The clinic made me feel very comfortable that I was in good hands the whole time. Dr. Maras and the techs that worked there were very experienced, professional, and courteous. I was picked up from the airport by a driver sent by the clinic and they provided free accommodations for up to 7 days. At HDC, Dr. Maras does the punching and excision and the techs do the extraction and placing of grafts. The techs have all been working there for a long time, so I felt very comfortable. The surgery itself took over the course of 2 days, about 4/5 hours each day. Like most people on here say, the most uncomfortable part was having to lie down in an uncomfortable position. There was no pain at all aside from the anesthesia injections. The clinic offers free accommodation for up to 7 days, which I took advantage of. Post surgery I went into the clinic everyday and got my hair washed by them and they made sure everything was going well. By the time I left Cyprus, the scabbing had already been washed off my head. Here is a picture with Dr. Maras 4 days post op. Swelling has gone down considerably by then. Vlog of my hair transplant journey: I feel the best way to share my experience with you all is through visuals rather than words, so I decided to make videos documenting my whole experience in a vlog format. I have just finished and uploaded my first two vlogs on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrXSnH6jHAsX1EIgXECbIhQ/videos Vlog #1 shows my arrival to Cyprus and getting picked up at the airport. I also give a tour of the apartment that I lived in for a week. Vlog #2 shows the first day of surgery where Dr. Maras provided my consultation and designed my hairline. I am spending a lot of time to try to make these videos professional (first time video maker), and will upload a new vlog whenever it is done. I hope that people will find these videos documenting the whole process helpful. I will post in this thread whenever a new vlog is uploaded, but you can also subscribe to my channel to be notified. I really appreciate your support! Progress pictures: I have just hit 5 months and have already seen a lot of results. Here you can see a before after shot of the top and front of my hair. You can see that my hairline has been lowered by quite a bit. The hair is looking really great in pictures and even in sunlight. However, up close I am really hoping the front will gain more in density. I will continue to post more old pictures that I took after the surgery and update you guys with my progress here. Also I made an Instagram account where I upload my progress pictures, so be sure to support, follow me there, and check that out too! https://www.instagram.com/hairplanter/ Current hair loss regime: I am currently doing the big 3 regime. I started finasteride in January 2017 and luckily had no side effects. The Minoxidil I started 2 months after surgery and Nizoral I just started a week ago. Nizoral has caused a bit of shedding after I incorporated it into my regime. I'm planning on continuing for longer before I decide if want to keep using it or not. 1) 0.5mg Finasteride daily. 2) 5% Kirkland Branded Minoxidil Foam applied morning and night daily. 3) 2% Nizoral shampoo used once a week. Thank you so much for reading my post! I hope that you find my content helpful if you are considering or have had a hair transplant. Feel free to reach out with any comments and questions. I look forward to providing more content for the hair loss community! -Hairplanter Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrXSnH6jHAsX1EIgXECbIhQ/videos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hairplanter/ -
Hey guys my name is Zakaria i have already done hair transplantation i kept searching for the right clinic but it was hard as a lot of clinics had something about them that is off but then i came across this clinic AISHA HAIR great clinic good treatment and most of all the promise of great result as shown in thier results constantly i have done my hair transplantation with them in 11-9 they did 5000 grafts for me and you can see it in my pictures so what do you guys think? i belive it is great.
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Hi everyone, I’ve been a long time reader of this site while I’ve been on my own hairloss journey, and similar to many other people, I’ve decided to share my story and details of my procedure here to help anyone else who may be planning a similar path and would like to see my experience. The background I’m now 33, and I initially realised I was thinning around 10 years ago. My older brother thinned around a similar time, my Grandad was bald though my Dad (in his 60's) still has thin hair coverage. Initially it was just on the crown of my head before it thinned on my temples and I tried a number of solutions before realising I needed to take Finasteride and to look into Regaine / Rogaine products. I joined the hair restoration programme at Boots here in the UK, and paid the equivalent of £1 a day for Propecia. I’m very fortunate in that I don’t think I have had any side effects at all! I tried Regaine, but after a year I really didn’t notice any difference so I stopped it. About two years ago, when I moved to Barcelona, I started taking a generic form of Finasteride which is available over the counter in Spain. It’s in 5mg pills which I cut into four segments and I take one a day, at a cost of about 10 Euros for about 4 months’ worth (far more cost effective…). I also began shaving my head short (not skinhead, but shortly cropped) – and I had a micropigmentation procedure (basically a tattoo on my head) that certainly helps my head look a darker shade, but didn’t really solve the hairloss issue. While I feel happy that the finasteride has slowed down the hair loss and the pigmentation procedure helped disguise my situation, I’ve never been happy with the crown / corners of my hair and so I’ve worn either Toppik or Mane Hair Thickening Spray (dark brown) for a while which I feel covers up my hair loss really well. However, as soon as I lean against a white wall or sleep in a bed that doesn’t have dark bedsheets, I leave behind a black mess and I always knew I’d go down the hair transplant route one day. Plus I was recently with a dude who ran his hand through my hair then saw the black mess on his hand and was like ‘what’s this?’. Let’s just say I’d prefer not to deal with that kind of embarrassing situation again. Deciding on the hair transplant An ex of mine told me he’d gone to Este Grande in Istanbul for his transplant but it seemed a little too cheap to be true. He’s only just had his procedure and I think it looks great, but it’s too soon to tell and I didn’t want to choose price over quality reviews. Another ex had gone with DHI Global in Greece (I seem to have dated a lot of people with hair loss issues huh?), though I’d read some reviews of DHI that didn’t make me feel confident. I used these forums and found out about Dr. Erkan Demirsoy / Armamed and took some time looking through his work and reading through forum posts from people who’d chosen him, and I was sold. As I don’t need to create a new hairline (just lots of focus on the crown and temples) then I feel confident that for his price, it would be the best for me. He’s quoted me the standard 3500 – 4000 hairs, for 1.25 Euro a graft. I booked, and fortunately he had space in about 6 weeks’ time from when I booked. Today I'm flying from London (where I currently live) into Istanbul and my procedure is tomorrow on April 17th. I fly back to the UK on the 19th where I’ll spend a week with my family recovering and stuffing my swollen face with Easter Eggs. I’ve included some pictures here which show my hair before the MSP procedure and after the MSP procedure, and my current situation where I’ve grown my hair a bit which will help Dr D see the whole hair picture, which isn’t so easy to see due to the MSP procedure I had. You may notice my hairline isn’t all that straight (ironically) but that doesn’t really bother me – I’m happy with where my hairline is and would only want the temples filled in. I usually use Mane HT spray as I think it provides a really good cover up solution and some of you reading this may find it’s a better, temporary solution while you consider the transplant path. Final words I’m really looking forward to the procedure and will do everything I can to get the best yield. I’m a non-drinker or smoker, and I'll do my best to follow all the professional advice I can to get a good result. I play sport a lot – mainly cycling, lots of rowing, weightlifting and I walk everywhere so I’ll be keen to get back into that afterwards. My biggest fear in all this is being 6’5” (195cm) and the fact I hit my head everywhere I go….the metro…doorframes…lampshades…low hanging branches. Finally, something I’ve learnt from what I’ve read is to manage my expectations. I’m not expecting that I’ll come out of this (after a year) with a full head of hair. I just want MORE hair in the places that are thinning, and to not feel like I’m 53 when I’m 33 and to not leave a dark brown trail mark in white areas. All future posts will be shorter but I wanted to give you the background to my journey. The following post will show the pictures on surgery day and please feel free to ask me anything or comment as I’d love to share my experience with you all. -
Hello all, I just wanted to share a recent hair transplant experience I had of mine. A little backstory, about 8 years ago I was going out with a girl, and I thought that my balding would ruin my chances. So in a moment of weakness, I decided to go to the Philippines to get a cheap hair transplant because that's all I could afford at the time. I supposedly got a 2000 graft transplant, but the end result was sparse hair, somewhat wiry and also had pitting in some areas. The experience was pretty horrifying because after the procedure, I was bleeding pretty heavily and probably lost lots of grafts. I had scar procedure, because that was all that was offered, but thankfully the scar was horrible. A couple days after the procedure I was swelling so bad, I looked like I had elephantitis in my face, and I was really worried it wouldn't go down. Basically for the past 8 years, I've had to grow my hair long because it looked pretty unnatural otherwise. Going to the barbershop was embarrassing...I was lucky enough to find an understanding hair stylist a few years back. Fast forward to last week, where I had an actual 2000 graft transplant from Dr. Gabel in Tigard, OR. He and his staff were very courteous and thorough. He mentioned that a good portion of his patients are hair transplant repairs, which gave me a lot of confidence in him. Well, I also researched sites and forums like this and was pretty convinced that he was the real deal. He was great, I'm still recovering from the procedure, but it looks amazing compared to the results of my last transplant. I'm currently on my 3rd day post-op and just trying to be really careful to not mess it up. I've swelled up a little bit, but it just looks like I had a wisdom tooth removed. It was nice also, because I paid the upper estimate for the procedure, and it ended up that I didn't have as many grafts as the higher estimate so I'm getting refunded the difference. Basically, anyone who has suffered like me who has had a bad transplant from the past, give Dr. Gabel a try. He's honest, and he'll let you know what can be done. His staff is really supportive, and he seems to be really picky about who works for him, which is a really good thing. I haven't taken any personal pictures yet, but if you PM me, I can see what I can do. Also, if you're really thinking of getting a HT for the first time as well, don't go to anyone who doesn't have a good reputation like I did. If you don't have enough money, save up for a good doctor. Whatever you do, don't go the cheap route, because you'll more than likely have to get it repaired anyways, plus you have to live with awkwardness of having to cover up something that doesn't look natural. -
Hi All, I am Dima from Russia, 32 years old. I faced balding in my early 20s. First the frontal line went up and then my crown start balding. So the classic story of hair loss. At the age of 27 I already was with a bald crown and temples. I started to research about hair transplant, but first I asked in local clinics, they gave me very high prices, which I could not afford, also I started to read the reviews and all the positive reviews were without photos, just negatives with photos and I even contacted some real people from my country who did in Russia and their results looked ugly, really bad donor zone and unnatural hair. At some point I lost hope, like if it will look so ugly after transplant why should I pay for it, better get used to my bald head. But I saw a photo on instagram from hair transplant hashtag, it was posted by a clinic in Turkey called Bellus Clinic, I went to their page and saw a lot of people from Russia, interviews, results. I know clinics post best photos not showing the reality, so I never believe just to photos, so I told a consultant, her name was Anna, if it would be possible to contact some people whose results are posted on their page to contact them directly. She asked me to wait for 1 hour so she can contact her patients and ask for permission before she can share their numbers. I first thought it was an excuse and she would disappear but she really sent me like 10-15 numbers of Russian speaking people in 1 hour. I did not contact all of them, I talked with couple of guys and it was enough for me, I called them via video call and saw their results were real. I asked them a lot of questions, all of them confirmed I could trust the clinic so I already start to think about transplant seriously. I started to research about transplant in Turkey and understood most of clinics work without doctor, one guy on net told me to ask the clinic for diploma and pics of actual doctor, because they can send you a diploma of whoever and another person can do your transplant, you will never know, you go to different country, without knowing their language. So I asked Anna to send me diploma, she sent me the diploma of dr Kurshat and also his photos, so I got calmer. And the best thing is dr Kurshat speaks fluent English, so I could explain to him everything directly when I was already in a clinic. So I decided to go there, sent Anna my ticket, when I reached at the airport we met and went with a car directly to the clinic. As my flight was in the morning I wanted to end everything in the first day. So I reached Istanbul on 17.12.2018 I met dr Kurshat at the clinic, he started consultation, when we discussed all the topics and he answered all my questions they took a blood test and then shaved my head. And we started. Anna was saying before the anesthesia can be painful so I was nervous, but frankly speaking it did not feel painful but of course it was not pleasant, but not so painful I expected. First they collected the grafts, the another anesthesia and after that dr started to open the channels. He is a very pleasant man, around 1 hour he was opening the channels and we were talking. Then I had a dinner and some rest, then the techs started to transplant the grafts and it was finished. I think everything took like 8-9 hours approximately. Then the guys took me to the hotel, explained how to sleep and etc. On the third day they took off the band and washed my head, dr Kurshat met me again to see how everything is going. After that they took me to the airport. So I had been transplanted around 4500 grafts on my frontal part and crown. It was FUE, I paid approximately 2000$, as the price was 1800eu I think it makes around 2000 in dollars. And it was everything included, like hotel, transportation, medications, vitamins, spray, shampoo and all these things. During one year I was in touch with Anna and Ali, the consultants of the clinic, especially first 4 months I think they hated me )) Because it is the period when the hair were falling and not growing and I was going crazy eally, I know everybody explained it to me before but I was nervous. After 5th month my head changed very fast. on the 6th month I already had good result, especially on frontal part, the crown grows slower, the people who did HT they know it. So I relaxed at last. On September I sent my friend also there for hair transplant. He was making fun of me first but when he saw my changes he also wanted, but his head was much balder then mine, just his head is very small) they did 5000 grafts to him, so we wait ow fo his results, when he gets any I wll also post his photos. I dont have any before photo as I was always wearing a cap, but you will understand with my photos from the period when hair fell how my bald head looked. Later I will do some photos of crown and post here. Now I ll add the photos from computer. The last photo is me with my friend on the same day he was leaving to Bellus Clinic for his HT and I was dropping him at the airport. Later I will post him also. -
About five years ago, I got my first transplant done by a doctor recommended on this site. Being a desperate 21 year old, I kind of rushed into surgery without doing my research and it definitely came back to bite me on the backside. I had 3300 grafts placed however for some reason only a third of the grafts grew. Of course the clinic offered a free touch up but I decided not to take them up on the offer. Before my first surgery I was told I had thin, fine hair which would require higher number of grafts to cover the area. I consulted a few other doctors since I was unhappy with the density and a couple of them felt as if the result looked natural and made it seem like the result was what I should have expected, which kind of put me off having a second procedure done. Fast forward to this year and I finally took a plunge with a clinic in Turkey back in Nov, which is also recommended on here. The difference between the two procedures was night and day and I am really happy with how things are proceeding thus far. The main reason why I waited so long was because the initial clinic I got the procedure done from claimed my hair type was unfavorable for surgery due to the nature of my hair being thin and fine as mentioned earlier. However before my second procedure in Turkey the doctor measured my hair and determined that I had good density with medium hair, instead of fine hair as the other clinic claimed. Since then I have kind of been thinking about why both doctors would have differing opinions on my hair type. The first doctor did not measure it, while the second doctor did which is why I trust the second doctor more. Is it possible that hair characteristics change over time or am I right in assuming that the preop before the first surgery was done poorly -
I start lost my hair around 25 years old - quite young. I've losted until 33 or so! I losted on front and up my head. Searching for clinics in my country - PORTUGAL - all of them (and they are few) have prohibited prices - about 2€ per graft!!! I quite my search and got used to my hair... until January 2017 when a friend of mine told me that a client of his went to Turquey to made a FUE transplant for around 2000€! I start dreaming again... I start to Google to get as many information as possible, reading forums, reviews, watching lots of images before and after procedure, seing videos... all day during about 3 months! I spoke with a friend of mine with same problem and decide to do the surgery together... After filter some information we decide to Dr. Cinik clinic... BEST DECISION EVER !!! One day I contacted Ozlem, Dr. Cinik assistant and the other day she give all information that I need besides being so kind and available to answer all my doubts. After plan our trip we send flight details to Ozlem she reply with surgery confimation on 24/4 and our accomodation at 5* hotel 200m distance to the clinic. After we land on Ataturk Airport a driver took us to the hotel where we rest (we arrive at 1h30 AM). Next day we visit the city... beatiful, big and with lots of places to visit. A huge city with 15 millions of habitants... very friendly people but with one problem... they don't spoke very well english! Catching a taxi or metro we went to Taksim Square, Bosphoro, mosque of Santa Sofia, Grand Bazzar, Galatasaray Stadium and walk a lot through the city... Nice food, lots of things to buy in Grand Bazaar (4000 tipical stores) and amazing views all over the city! I look forward to coming back again. Second day we went early to clinic that is in 10th floor of Kolan International Hospital, meet Dr. Cinik that was very frendly and available to answer all questions. After check my head and explain how the surgery will be we went to shave the hair and prepare for about 8 hours lying down to be operated - this is the "worst" part, not because pain, but disconfort to be so many hours laying down! From time to time we can get up to stretch our legs... this helps! All Dr. Cinik and his team are very professional, the clinic have very goods conditions and all the surgery went well! 4250 grafts implanted... I'm ansious to start getting results... After surgery we were given all the medication we needed and a driver took us to our hotel where we rest. Next day we went to clinic by morning where Dr. Cinik check our head and gave us more advices to get full results. Then we put a hat (another offer) and we went back to the city After surgery no pain and good sleep. If we don't see our head It seems nothing happened! Next day final visit to the clinic where we learn how to wash our hair.. the package includes a foam and shamppo for week recovery. We spoke again to Dr. Cinik thanking him and his team for all the attention and care they provide us...once again... A BIG THANK YOU AND HOPE OF GREAT SUCCESS! I strongly recomend Dr. Cinik and his team to do yours FUE hair transplant and watch out for other clinics as they are so many of them that don't have a specialized doctor perfoming the surgery... Dr. Cinik does the FUE transplant himself. Resuming we payed each 1.990€ and get special offer of 2 extra nights in a twin room. Amazing price comparing with rest of european countries plus the opportunity to visit and amazing city like ISTAMBUL! If you have any question you can send me private message. I will updating my review with photos along time... -
The index patient was 39 years old. His details are: Hairline augmentation required Grafts done: 2500 Donor site: scalp donor Donor quality: Good Hair calibre: Good Package opted for: Exclusive package with Dr. Pradeep Sethi Extraction done by: Dr. Priyadarshini Das Below are his results after 5 months. -
Hi Guys, I have been struggling with hair loss for about 4 years now and I have decided to make a change. I want to get a hair transplant, with two conditions. I only want it done once, and I cant spend a ridiculous amount on it. Im thinking more in the $5k range. I live in New York, and am undecided on two options. I am considering Dr. Scott Boden, who I met and liked but is a little pricey, or going to Madrid with a gentleman named Dr. Juan Andrade. I would ideally like to go somewhere in the US, but it needs to be affordable. Is it worth it to go to Europe, or are there affordable great doctors in the US? Any affordable great ones in NY? I also don't want to go to Turkey as I am worried it's a little too dangerous.. Please, I need some help. I have my wedding in Nov 2020 and I cant look bald then. Thanks everyone, I have never openly spoke about this to anyone but my fiancé.
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Hi, Has anyone had any experience or any opinion on Özlem Biçer for HT? I can't seem to find much but she is a associate member with IAHRS. Any information/opinion/experience would be appreciated. Thanks
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I underwent hair transplantation about 7 months ago with fue method. Before the surgery, I had vellus hairs which disappeared after the hair transplantation. My transplanted hairs also fell after one month of the transplantation. About 3 months ago, new vellus hairs have appeared. I am very mystefied of this new vellus hairs: Is the old vellus hairs returned which means that my transplantation is failed (and transplanted hairs did not grow)? Or do the transplanted hairs start to grow as vellus hairs at the beginning and it will transform to normal hairs later? Please give me your opinion -
I have been browing this awesome forum for past one week ever since i finally decided to have a transplant. I am a 32 yr man, mpb has almost stablised, minoxidil doesnt suit my skin at all . In north india, probably dr bhati, dr pardeep,dr arika, dr dua are most popular. But price seems out of pocket. Dr bhati charges 100rs per grft whereas eugenix charges 120rs per graft..that too excluding taxes..so a 3000graft surgery wl cost arnd 4-4.5 lac. My budget is somewhere around 2-2.5 lacs. Can someone plz suggest a good clinic in delhi, someone who is at par with thesw doctors and within that budget, there must be some talented unknown HT guys out there, please share their names. -
Hi, My name is Akash, I am from India, I had a HT surgery (9weeks back). I just wanted your honest, clear cut opinion about a query I have and it would be very kind if you can spare a few minutes to respond to my query. During my surgery (9 weeks back) I was told by the doctor that I have a very hard skin and there is a popping effect (when they were trying to insert one graft the surrounding grafts were coming out), and after 9 weeks now I can see that most of my grafts (specially in the temporal area) have neither grown nor shed. I am very worried as I read that shedding normally occurs after 1-5 weeks of the transplant, and also heard from a youtuber that if transplanted hair doesn't grow or shed within 3-4 months then they are as good as dead and new hair won't come out from them. Please can you confirm this?, if it is true then my transplant most probably has failed. And, is there any way to soften scalp skin, in case I go for a 2nd transplant in the future. Regards, Akash
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How many of you guys shaved your head before having a hair transplant? Was getting a hair transplant worth it? Why or why not? I want the communities input. Should I Shave My Head Or Get A Hair Transplant?
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This question has come up a lot on the forum lately, what do you guys think? When Is It Safe To Travel Back Home After A Hair Transplant?
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The index patient is 26 years old was balding at a fast pace. He came in for a wholesome treatment. He was worried about the already bald area but also about the ongoing hair loss. His details are as follows: Total number of grafts: 4030 Scalp donor: 3480 Beard donor: 580 Hair calibre: Good Donor density: Good Package opted for: Comprehensive package with Dr. Alok Sahoo The results displayed are only after 5 months of the transplantation procedure. He has developed a good growth and has enhanced his look already. He shall be getting more growth and density in the coming months.
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Hey guys I am a 35 yo male from London and arrived home last night from Istanbul so I will talk about my experience at Asmed. I wanted to keep this brief but to hell with it I couldn’t help it. Firstly a big thank you to both Sema and Suzana who were my coordinators. Sema - who helped me over the past year since I contacted Asmed and Suzana who was with me throughout the experience and never left my side. She is very fluent in English and communication and organisation was excellent. In fact everyone at Asmed looked after me very well and never made me feel awkward. Not to forget the anesthetist Dr Umat who is a very interesting individual :). Initially I sent Asmed (Sema - my initial coordinator) my photos 12 months ago and Dr Erdogan recommended 5000 grafts and for me to start finesteride before surgery as without it I may not be happy with the end result because of my type of hairloss. I was a bit weary of finesteride side effects so it took a month for me to decide what to do because for me hair transplants and finesteride go hand in hand. So a couple of months went by (sept - dec 2017) eventually I got on brand name Propecia 1mg by Merck. I started slowly as advised by a hair loss expert we all know - it took me till January until I was using it more or less every day. In this time I was in constant communication with Sema discussing dates etc. And getting my finances sorted. So in January I asked to book the surgery in May however they had very few dates and I could not get the amount of time I wanted from work. I use Toppik hair fibres and Asmed advise patients not to use it for 6 months so I wanted as much time not using it as possible after surgery. So my work allowed me to take 3 months leave (mix of unpaid and paid) - yes a lot of time but only 6 weeks was unpaid. So in February we decided on 3rd and 4th Oct. 2018 (2500 grafts per day) this was actually good because I would have been on Propecia 10 months. You can send from 1000 to 3000 euros - I sent 1000 initially and just before I went I sent another 2000 just after Dr Erdogan looked again at my updated photos (as it was nearly a year since the initial ones)to confirm. I used TransferWise as they take the actual exchange rate on Google and not lower rates like banks provide. I would need to arrive before 14:00 on 2nd Oct for the consultation however there were no flights that arrive before that time on BA from Heathrow Airport. There were other flights from different airlines but I wanted BA as I could get the flight for £75 return and free long stay parking (as I know someone who works there), I was already spending so much on the surgery so I wanted to keep costs down. Sema very kindly allowed me to arrive in the evening of 1st Oct, 2nd Oct - consultation, 3/4 Oct surgery 5th Oct shampoo/clean and departure for home at 1625. This extra night came at no extra cost. Initially I booked the clinic’s own suite but there was a problem with the room so they booked me into the Raddison blue hotel (5 mins from clinic) all days free and breakfast included. This turned out much better because although Asmed can make you breakfast, they close in the evening and the only people there are security and local restaurants are not very close. Just take a yellow taxi (with meter) from the hotel for 10 liras (just over a pound) and ask to go to the Palladium shopping and restaurant complex 5 mins away. If you need to change money into Turkish Lira change it at this complex just ask anyone for "change office" which is in the shopping center. I wanted to see the famous blue mosque and grand bazaar but it is an hour away. Day of Arrival (Mon 1st Oct) Flight arrived at 1630 just a 4 hour flight from London Heathrow Airport. The Asmed driver was there with my name written on an iPad (transfer from airport to hotel and all journeys between hotel and Asmed are free). He gave me his phone as Suzana (my day to day coordinator) spoke on the phone me and welcomed me to Istanbul and said she will be in constant touch with me on whatsapp and in the clinic she will be taking care of me the entire time. The car was a large Mercedes people carrier with beautiful red leather seats and plenty of snacks to enjoy. Because of the time of day it took close to an hour to get to the hotel because of rush hour. The Hotel room was very good and I took a taxi to the Palladium center. You just need to tell the hotel reception to get you a taxi and it comes right away, they have a meter on so you won't be ripped off. Took 5 mins cost me a pound and walked around the shopping center, ate some delicious kebabs and got a taxi which are always there and got back to my room to get some sleep. Day 2 (Consultation) Suzana sent me a whatsapp message saying that the driver will pick me up at 12:45. I got into the car with 2 other people who also were having their consultations. You should know that you won't be the only patient in the day as I will come to later. We were greeted at reception by our respective coordinators and reception staff. The clinic is amazing, clean, modern and very classy at the same time. There a couple of women who are playing the piano and violin in the reception area. So Suzana sat me down and said that she will wait here with me until we are called for the consultation. Dr Erdogan and his team were very busy during this time and surgeries were still going on so we needed to wait an hour before they could see us. However, in this time I was offered some snacks and asked to read through some paper work and sign that I understood all the terms. All of this would have been sent to you when you booked so it is just the same. After that I was taken downstairs for blood tests to test for HIV etc.. All clear. I then went into the photography room and had my photos taken both dry and wet hair shots from all angles. A while later I and my coordinator were called into Dr Erdogan's office. It was like meeting a king and I told him so - I have very been following him for few years and on social media so it was quite a hair raising moment for me. So in the consultation it was Dr Erdogan, another doctor, one of his senior surgical assistants and my coordinator. Dr Erdogan very quickly broke the ice with me and told me how happy he was to see me as when he saw my name he realized I am of Pakistani descent (born UK) and how happy he was about that because he has always liked people from there so that was a nice start. He went over some basic things with me and said that I am a candidate for hair transplantation after looking at the blood tests. He had a screen in front of him with my photos from just earlier and discussed what he can do. He said that my hair loss pattern was more Ludwig patterned rather than the usual norwood cases. He analysed my hair in detail with his apparatus and said that my hair is of very good quality with a total donor of 8500. In general he said that safe zone hair can be effected by DHT as seen by very old people and looking at my age (35) it is possible to lose 10% of safe zone hair in my lifetime and that if I came off finesteride later in life it is possible that my total donor capacity is at 7500 so even though my real donor is 8500 he sees it as 7500. He drew a hairline and asked what I thought. It was probably a tiny bit higher than I would have liked but he said that once transplanted it will look lower but my main concern were no temples drawn because mine are quite faint. He said in a funny way that he really does not like my crown. I have not got a massively receding hairline and that patch on the top really does stick out like a sore thumb. So he drew my temples and it looked great but he said he would need 700 grafts just for that and he can't cover the top properly as well in 1 operation so if want that it would be 700 less grafts in my crown and it still won’t look that good on top. He wanted 2000 grafts just for the crown 2500 for the hairline and just above and the remainder 500 in the mid-scalp as he said it has a lot of and hairs. He said it was up to me but if I leave it to him that is the way he would do it and I can always come back and do the temples after a year or so. I thought about it and knew already that the crown was my priority - it is a different type of hair loss pattern. So I said to him I will go with his instinct and he said I will be very happy with my result. He actually told me later on that he would in fact put 2100 in the crown and 400 just below that instead of the 500 so my crown should have a big difference he said. This was not the final hairline and he would refine it after hair shaving. Consultation lasted about 20 minutes I had a bunch of questions for him but he really is to the point and just gets on with his analysis and what he can do for you. After that Suzana took me to the finance department where I paid the outstanding amount in Pounds Sterling cash. If your home currency is pounds or USD I advise you to pay in that currency to them. It saves you changing into euro where you won’t get a good rate and will have to pay some fees. The rate the clinic gave me was much better than at home and they don’t charge you for them to change it into euros. After this I got my hair shaved off! It actually looked alright! I waited for Dr Erdogan to make his final refined hairline plans. He told me that he will go into the temples a bit so that was good news. Whilst this was going on he has a big team of people watching. These are the techs or surgical assistants (as he calls it) who will work with you for the entire surgery. If you have 2 days surgery like me they don’t have different teams, it’s the same people working on you. I was then taken to the room where they have their latest robot – the K-bot. You sit with your head against a support pad and the camera takes 3d images of your entire head and you can see on the screen your grafts in detail. This helps the doctor further in his analysis. This lasts for 15 minutes but you can be on your phone – I actually took a video of what the K-bot was doing but I don’t think you can post videos here. This all took best part of 4 hours from waiting at the start to the end. Dropped back to the hotel went into town again for a nice kebab (with lines in my head). Yes you have to keep the lines on and not rubbed off because they then have to go through the whole process again. And no wearing hats so I was laughed and smiled at a lot whilst walking through town it was surreal. Day 3 (Surgery 2515 grafts) Asmed advise you to where a buttoned shirt before and after surgery. I woke up at 6 am, 6:30 breakfast buffet – plenty of variety. For 3 days including this day I had to take an antibiotic tablet with breakfast and Xanax to calm me although I only needed that for the first day. It wasn’t till I got down there that I realised how many of us were being operated on. Including me it was 6 guys at breakfast ready to be taken to Asmed. Three of them already had their first day hairline surgery and the rest of us were on our first day. I was slightly taken back by this because I was sure they only did 4 surgeries a day but I guess it can depend on the cases. One guy was just having his hairline refined. All 6 of got into the people carrier and went to Asmed. We were given Asmed buttons shirts and bottoms to wear for surgery and it really is straight into it from that point. My coordinator took me to the surgery room and I met all the people involved with my surgery. I asked who will be doing the extractions and how long they had been working there. One person would be doing the extractions and she has been doing ONLY extractions for 7 years so I felt assured. Suzana showed me the microscope where they dissect single hair grafts as I was querying this lot. So onto the anaesthetics – Dr Umat organises this. He is a very interesting person he looks serious but he is a really cool person and fun to talk to, if he ever reads this I hope you are well and very active! This is the most painful part of the surgery, they have something that vibrates as they inject many times into your scalp which makes it a bit easier. If it is too much, they can give you something through the I.V your arm help ease you. It acts really quick and she starts extracting and you cannot feel a thing. You have a screen in front which tells you how many grafts have been extracted and if they’re singles, twos etc…I actually had a fair amount of 4s 5s 6s. Suzana was in the room with me the whole time she was a great help. She gave me a face rest support where I could also stick my I pad on it to watch stuff on. Sema came in now and I watched a popular bald show (we all know) re run from the previous night just to keep them on their toes and they knew what it was. This whole process takes more than 3 hours (I think) as I just lost track of time I didn’t sleep at all. They extracted 2515 grafts in total. Dr Erdogan did not come in during this time but his most experienced surgical assistant – Dilek came in at certain points. Dr Erdogan watches all the surgeries on monitor in his office and directs if need be from there which I am not completely happy about but the results are good. Next was 30 minute lunch maybe less and back to the operating room where I’m prepped and given anaesthetics for the recipient area before the main man Dr Erdogan comes in and shakes my hand and begins the incisions. The techs cover my eyes and hold my face in certain positions as the doctor instructs them whilst he pokes away. This takes him 30 – 40 mins and he shakes your hand and moves to the next patient. The same person that did the extractions is now joined by Dilek who both start the implanting stage. This can be prickly and pain a bit so they test certain areas and ask you is it painful or not. If it is they put some liquid type anesthetic so you don’t feel it. In fact at any time you feel pain you must tell them and they will ease it. They put a special blue solution over the recipient area which highlights all the incisions Dr Erdogan made. At some point they realised they covered the required area and had a few more grafts so Dilek made a few extra incisions which is fine as she is possibly the best tech going. Implants can take quite a while I cannot remember exactly but it was just a bit less than the extractions so maybe 2 hours. Once it is done I felt very tired walked very slowly as I was trying to get my bearings right. The trauma and anesthetics can make you very tired. So Suzana came with me to another room where they sat me down under a low level red laser for 10 mins to help with healing. After that she gave me ATP spray and said I must put spray my recipient area a few times every 2 hours with it. She also gave me ice cooling gel to help with swelling. Its only till a few days later I realise how big my face got! I went back to the hotel, my forehead looked bigger because of the swelling had something to eat in the hotel restaurant – felt like crap but hotel staff are used to Asmed patients so I mixed in well. I went back upstairs for a very awkward night. Didn’t sleep much, Suzana gave me neck pillow and for the first 10 days you need to sleep with this on your back facing up (no rolling about) do not let your recipient area rub anything as this is a very sensitive time for your scalp. I wasn’t in much pain but I just felt completely shattered and sleepy but I kept waking up in the night but I got through it somehow. Day 4 – (Surgery 2505 grafts) Exactly the same as day 3. Note that grafts it is not exactly 5000 grafts (5020) they do not tell you to pay for these extra few. So that is it, surgery complete and Dr Erdogan came and said he is happy with the way it looks and is just the way he wanted it and said he will see me tomorrow. In terms of reactions to the surgery at the time I had swelling but by the time I wrote this my face was huge I look like sloth from the goonies – google it if you don’t know. But this is all part of it. Some people have more sensitive bodies than others. Just have to keep applying ice packs. Day 5 – (Wash and go) Another awkward night but managed to have breakfast and be picked up at 9:50 am. Suzana was at reception and took me down for the shampoo and washing. This is what you have to do on your own for 10 days post op so pay attention when they tell you. They took the bandages off washed me and I felt fresh again and went in for the final post op photos. They gave me some Turkish delight sweets as a gift and a power pack. As well as this as they knew I was on Proscar (I changed to proscar a month earlier – cost effective and same brand Merck) they gave me 1 year supply of Proscar (£200 worth) for free and a pill cuter! They gave me a USB stick with all my surgical details and photos as well as various papers of post op instructions. All the post op shampoos and creams are free. Suzana bid me farewell she was really good to me the entire time and I told her I’ll be back in a year for results photographs only downside Dr Erdogan didn’t meet me I left but I guess he is busy with all the other patients. Dropped to the hotel at 12 and was told the driver will be back at 14:00 for airport drop of. So that’s it I hope I didn’t bore you with the details there is more I could write but those details may come up in the future in the meantime I have posted photographs taken at Asmed below. Surgery Details : 1148 Single 2589 Double 1158 Triple 119 Quadruple 6 Quintuple Total Grafts: 5020 Avg hair: 2.05 per graft Hair thickness: 61 microns Medication: Proscar 1.25 per day since January 2018 Pre-Op Plans: Post OP -
Hello I am Michael from Leeds, age 32 and I had a FUE hair transplant with Dr Arshad at the Hair Dr Clinic in Dewsbury back in Feburary 2018. I have had amazing results, compliments and feel great! So I decided to have a go at doing a forum of my story to show, advise and answer any questions for other people out there who have just had the proceedure done or considering it. I have a Instagram page of my Hair transplant story which I blog about it, If interested in that search "mikes_fue_story. So I will start my story with a before and current 9 months on photo and a brief account of why I had the proceedure done, and kinda a little introduction. Then I will go back to the beggings and give a detailed account of my story. I hope you enjoy reading and that it helps you with your own hairloss worries or conserns post proceedure. I am no professional and will advise you best to my knowledge and from my experience. Ok.. so my profile picture already shows you I have a great hairline again and great density which is why i am starting this way. I used to have long hair in my early to mid 20's and around age 26 I cut it short and noticed along with family and friends say " receeding a bit there Michael" and I thought it just becaused I had gone from long hair to cutting it short so didnt think of it as a issue. gettin closer to 30 I knew i was thinning and receeding at the temples and often looked into ways to resolve this. Me been weird and into these things I always knew about hair transplants when i wasnt receeding. I never liked the FUT method and the having a liniar scar. So I already knew about the FUE hair transplant method and was intrigued and would watch videos of the proceedure ect. Last years (2017) Christmas dinner with familyconversation started about my hairline and that " I was the last in the family people would think would loose his hair" And just as I thought they made comments like I still had a lot of hair still on top and its just receeding. I then told them I had actually been thinking of going to see a couple of surgeons for their opinion and quotes, Having a idea of price and amount Id need. Family agreed and said "why not" so in new year I filled in online on 2 websites and awaited thier responses. Only the Hair Dr Clinic responded and so I sent in photos, to which they replied to a day later and gave me a rough quote and set up a face to face consultation with Dr Arshad. When I arrived and was met with a warm welcoming and friendly Sommiya who is the Practice manager and she took me to the office where I was met with Dr Arshad. I will pause the story there like I say I will go back to the beginning and give a more detailed account and photos of that stage. If you can not wait then again look up my Instagram mikes_fue_story and see pictures there and feel free to message me there. The picture I have uploaded with this post shows you my hair before FUE proceedure with the receeding hairline and temples compared to now 9 months + on... Think you would agree there is a MASSIVE difference!! Briefly.. as I will go into more detail in future posts, I was unhappy I was loosing my hair so young... we all do/are. I did not feel I was down and depressed about it but I know I missed it, worried what I would look like bald, felt I still had too much hair to be shaving it down every other day and I know I did not like looking at pictures as been fair haired and lighting I look more bald than what I saw in the mirror. But as soon as the proceedure was finished and I was led back to Dr Arshad's affice to do the big reveal... I saw a new man in the mirror! I aint the most confident of people but I immediately felt more confident and so much happier as I could see a new full hairline on my head! Hope this has been a nice introduction to my experience and story and I will add more detailed posts and photos soon. I am just happy to talk about it and help advise anyone going through hair loss and considering the proceedure. Without sounding cheesy and big headed but this before and after photo speaks for itself and shows you my amazing results so far and the fantastic work of Dr Arshad and the Hair Dr team. Thank you Michael -
I know some of you may be shocked, but looking at some old pictures of Clooney, it is clear that he has done something to his hair. Here are some theories floating around. 1. he's gotten a hair transplant 2. he uses a hair piece 3. he shaves his widowspeak now to make his hairline appear straighter. What do you guys think? Did George Clooney Have A Hair Transplant?
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I underwent hair transplantation 6 months ago with FUE procedure. The transplanted hairs fell after one month of the surgery. About 2 months ago, vellus hairs started to appear. It is considered that vellus hairs will be thicken and transform to normal hairs. However, the vellus hairs haven't transformed to normal hairs yet and still very short and thin. My question is: When the vellus hairs appear after 3-4 months of the transplantation, how long does it take to become thick and transform to normal hairs?
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Hey Guys, I struggled with going to the barber after I had my hair transplant. I was embarrassed of the ugly duckling phase. I also didn't want the barber to know I had a hair transplant. So, this prompted me to try and cut my own hair. I'm not barber or professional, but here is a little tutorial for you guys who don't want to go to the barber or you're embarrassed of your hair loss.
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