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Hello, Now it's finally my turn to give back to this community by sharing my story, experience and progress of my hair transplant surgery which I did with Dr. Koray Erdogan at ASMED Clinic in Istanbul 9-10th Jan 2020. Background I'm a 29 year old guy from Sweden and I started experiencing hair loss when I was around 22. I started to lose hair very slowly, it was barely noticeable but as baldness is in my family I kind of knew it would eventually turn into NW 5/6 and wanted to do something about it early. So I booked a consultation with New Hair Clinic which was the top clinic in Sweden at the time, but they suggested me to wait a few years before undergoing surgery. I didn't really feel my situation was that critical so I followed their advice and didn't do anything about it, but I did however get useful knowledge about hair loss and about finasteride, minoxidil and the lasercap even if I didn't start using any medications immediately. I was a bit skeptical to finasteride due to potential side effects but started using minoxidil 5% at age 24 and after a few months I could already see both regrowth and thicker hair, it felt really nice and all my anxiety about hair loss dropped, situation was handled. I've read about people that tried minoxidil and didn't see any results (or at least not quick enough) so they became skeptical and eventually stopped it. Well it's true that some don't see as much improvements as others, but for me it really worked and I got great results. I learnt (the hard way, I'll come to that) that the important thing is to be very patient and consistent with it, in the beginning I was using it mornings and evenings every day and held on to it during the shedding phase and that was probably key for me. Unfortunately at age 26 I got a bit overconfident about my hair and got sloppier with the daily minoxidil routine. Mainly it was due to that I had summer vacation and I was travelling a lot so I started skipping days, but then I had also got used to my hair being so full for such a long time and somehow thought that I might have stabilized it and didn't need minoxidil anymore. Which was false obviously... Within a month or so I immediately started seeing my hair fall off again and this time it was getting even thinner and on the crown too. At this time I began researching about hair transplant clinics again and did an online and phone consultation with Dr. Saifi at European Hair Transplant in Poland who I had read some good posts about in a Swedish forum. He quoted me 2200 grafts for the frontal and part of the mid-section area. He had a waiting list of 6 months, but I ended up not booking as I still didn't feel ready and hadn't got the push to actually do it. I started with minoxidil again and was able to recover a lot of hair. This time I applied it only in the evenings as it was messier to apply it in the mornings and I wanted to style my hair without it. I did however apply almost double the dose (maximum daily dose) when applied in the evening. I didn't know if it would still be helpful but I thought to try it out and it actually helped keeping it stable so I continued like that for another 2 years. Then last year at age 28 I underwent a tough period that got me to seriously consider a hair transplant. I stopped using minoxidil as I didn't prioritize it due to personal circumstances and a lot of change happening in my life (including new job & country). I was well aware that I would probably lose hair again but I accepted it and thought that if it would get really bad I'd just shave bald. It took a month or so and I panicked when I saw the hair loss and realized I actually didn't want to lose my hair, note sure what I was thinking before. So I started with minoxidil again and the shedding phase this time was horrible. My hair never fully recovered again to how it was before the shedding and that's what pushed me into actually going for a hair transplant. After having done research online and reading a lot on this forum and seeing good results I decided to contact Dr. Koray Erdogan for a consultation where he quoted me 5000 grafts for the front, mid and crown areas + recommended finasteride to stop further hair loss. I didn't take finasteride but continued with minoxidil (until 2.5 weeks prior to the surgery), and then it took me a year of consideration until I eventually booked the surgery with ASMED now in Jan 2020. The consultation I had my dad with me who is a NW6 and the first thing Dr. Koray did was to go and inspect his hair to see where I'm headed. The bad news was that my dad's hair had become thinner also on the sides and back, and he said that if I would to follow the same pattern then my donor area would not be as strong as it might seem right now. Although I was not happy to hear that I was glad that he noticed this as I will now be careful to not over-harvest my donor in case of future surgeries. He then also inspected my hair and did a calculation of my donor capacity which was estimated to 8300 grafts. He said that I had to start with finasteride as I didn't have enough donor capacity to cover my full head if I were to loose all existing hair in the future (estimated to 8700 grafts). Was not very happy to hear this either, as I had already during the online consultation expressed that I preferred not to take finasteride but that I was fine with continuing with minoxidil as I had seen good results from it. They had then said that they respected this, so I ended up having a small argument with the doctor as he tried convincing me to take it, and that if I didn't he would rather not want to do the crown area right now but use the 5000 grafts on the front and mid-section and then do the crown next time. I didn't like this option as I wanted to prioritize the front and crown as I already have some hair in the mid-section which I hope to keep for a couple of years with the use of minoxidil, and instead consider a second surgery in the future if I would need it. Anyway, as the doctor convinced me that the risk of side effects is very little and that taking it would help against shock loss and improve growth during the first year, I decided to try it out and he supplied me with Proscar for 4-5 months (1.25 mg daily). He drew a hair line which was a bit more conservative than what I had aimed for, but given that I had limited donor capacity and after seeing the pre-consultation photos that were taken by the clinic I realized that my hair loss was much worse than I had perceived it and accepted his suggestion. The pre-surgery care, clinic & surgery days As many other members have already described these parts I will not go into much detail. But what I can say is that everything from the contact with my patient coordinator Andreea, to the pickup from the airport, to the greeting at the clinic and the surgery itself was very professional. I stayed at the clinic for 5 nights and the service was exceptional. All of the staff were very nice and the food was great. Before going I was hesitant whether I should stay at the clinic or book a room at Radisson Blu hotel, but now afterwards I don't regret it at all. It was very comfortable not having to leave the facility, having breakfast, lunch and dinner just outside your room and get to meet other patients that were also staying there in the spare time. They had live music in the evenings, big screen TV, pool table and the basement had a high quality gym and basketball area. What I also appreciated was that for patients staying over the weekend, ASMED arrange a free city tour of Istanbul with a private guide where we got to visit the famous bazaar, the blue mosque and the city center. Hair situation and medication - Androgenic alopecia: NW5/6 - Finasteride: Proscar (1.25 mg) started with the procedure. - 5% minoxidil (topical): Been using it daily for 5 years (Stopped it 2.5 weeks before the surgery but will start using Minoxidil foam in a few weeks) - Daily hair-loss shampoo: Nisim NewHair Biofactors Shampoo (Normal to dry) Graft distribution - Total donor capacity: 8300 - Total transplanted grafts: 5078 - Hair thickness: 61 microns - Ratio: 2.03 hair/graft - Single: 1190 - Double: 2658 - Triple: 1103 - Quadruple: 125 - Quintuple: 2 I think I've covered most of it now and will keep uploading photos of the progress here. Feel free to ask me anything if you have any questions. /KM90 -
Hi guys,
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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 -
Hey guys I started losing some hair in my early twenties, not a lot, but some loss on my temples and on the sides. I'm not sure if it was M.P.B. or just a maturing hairline. However, airing on the side of caution I started with finasteride a year ago. The hair loss has since subsided, which I'm happy about, but I would like to have the hair I lost restored. Furthermore, I would like to lower my hairline a bit, because I have always had a naturally high hairline(5HEAD). I researched hair transplant surgoens a few years ago. At that time it seemd like there was an unanimous consensus everywhere that Dr. Koray Erdogan is a quality HT surgeon. So chosing Erdogan was an easy decision. However, after I made the booking and paid the deposit, I have seen a few concerning results from ASMED on this forum. I have also seen good results this past year, so it's not like it has been all bad. However for the price I pay, I don't want it to be a coin flip. In spite of this, the thing that makes me confident to go trough with the surgery is the ASMED warranty, , which I assume guarantees a free touchup if you don't experience 90% regrowth(please correct me if I'm wrong). Hopefully ASMED has taken steps to fix their issues, so a touchup will not be nececarry. We will see. The surgery is in 5 days. I Will update this post with pictures and information once i get to Turkey. For those wondering, my ethnicity is 50/50 black white. -
Well the day has come for me to leave to Istanbul Turkey from The United States. It will be an 11hr flight so I'm hoping the seats are comfortable haha. I am a bit nervous but looking forward to 6 months from now when I start to see new growth. I will post before and after pics as the time goes on. This site has really helped me choose Asmed and be confident in that choice. Between 4000-4500 was my online quote, so I will find out when I'm there how many I will have done. Fingers crossed for a safe procedure! -
Hi everyone, i need some advice on what to do. I am booked to see Dr Koray Erdogan next week (friday) but after seeing the recent results the clinic is producing I am really considering backing out. My main focus for the procedure is my hairline, the rest of my hair is really quite thick I am around a Norwood 3. but I keep seeing unhappy patients recently and the main thing they all seem to have in common is the lack of density and the hairline looking really pluggy and unnatural. Given the fact that good hairline is my main goal, I really am considering pulling the plug on Asmed this late. (I’ve even sent the deposit I don’t know if I will get it back) To be honest I assumed the results of that payam dude were rare but after I did some more digging I realised I keep finding more and more unhappy patients and I am really struggling to find RECENT cases of people who were happy with their hairline. my second choice is dr Raghu reddy, he is more expensive but he is there throughout the whole procedure, it would be done over 2 days, he performs the extractions incisions and transplantation. i have been looking forward to visiting Asmed for months now but it is a really big decision to make and I thought Erdogan was safe and one of the best in the business (also affordable) should I pull out or hope for the best?
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Hi there, Context : I have narrowed down my choices for hair transplant to 3 surgeons. 2 of them are recommended by this site, the other used to be - Dr. Koray Erdogan. Objective: I am trying to summarise Pros and Cons of Dr. Erdogan. As I am leaning towards him at the moment. Question to the admins : is there an easy way to summarise the positive and negative feedback on surgeons? There is a lot of information on Dr Erdogan here on the forum. Which just means that the information is not discerning , you can literally find positives and negatives in the same forum search.. Thanks ever so much. -
I recently contacted Dr. Koray Erdogan from ASMED because I am interested in having a 2nd transplant. My first one was 9 months ago with ARTAS robot from Dr. Shelley Friedman and I feel the yield was lower than what it should have been. Erdogan said I have to actually fly to meet him in person for a consultation because sometimes ARTAS causes too much damage for a 2nd transplant to be possible and he can't tell through pictures and would have to inspect me in person to evaluate possible damage making me inoperable. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of the likelihood that my first ARTAS procedure will cause so much damage that Erdogan will end up refusing to do my 2nd procedure?
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SUMMARY 4105 graft FUE performed over two days (About two weeks ago, 14th and 15th July) to restore my hairline and reinforce the mid-scalp and vertex. Dr. Erdogan strongly recommended staying on Finasteride to maintain density in the vertex, and that is my plan for the foreseeable future. Day 1: • 2000 grafts placed in hairline (density of 50 FU/cm2 over an area of 40cm2) Day 2: • 1200 grafts placed in mid-scalp (density of 24 FU/cm2 over an area of 50cm2) • 900 grafts placed in vertex (density of 18 FU/cm2 over an area of 50cm2) So you can see what my hair was like, with receding hairline and loss of density throughout: And here is a photo they took during extraction where you can see the three recipient areas marked (hairline, mid-scalp, and vertex) MY BACKGROUND I am 31 years old. Hair loss started around 20 or 21, and I started on Finasteride by 22. I have taken it consistently since then, for awhile doing 1.25mg/day. For awhile I was dissolving Proscar in alcohol to get a solution and I experimented with lower doses (as low as 0.2mg once every three days. I think that dosage was less effective for me, though I can’t say I studied it rigorously. In the weeks before my FUE I ramped back up to 1.25 mg/day, and plan to stay at this dose for at least the next 15 months as I understood this time after the FUE to be critical. After that point I might try again to lower my dose, though probably not as much as before. CHOOSING ASMED Advice on this forum was very useful; ASMED stood out for quality and price-competitiveness. I had two online consultations done: • Dr. Feriduni quoted 2500-3500 grafts for the hairline and mid-scalp • Dr. Erdogan quoted 3400-3800 grafts for the hairline and mid-scalp Both clinics have great reputations and undoubtedly do great work, at this point the price difference was too much to ignore. Making the decision even easier was that ASMED could schedule me in at a perfect date so I confirmed with ASMED. COMMUNICATION AND LOGISTICS My emails to the clinic were all handled by Sema, who would be my point of contact before, during, and after the procedure. She was by my side during the procedure to take care of any need, translate when needing to communicate with the technicians, etc. The arrival was quite easy: the ASMED driver picked me up at the airport and drove me straight to the clinic. Depending on when you arrive, you might have your consultation immediately, or maybe not until the next day. I arrived at 7pm so no consultation that day. Instead, once I was in the ASMED car the driver had me speak by phone with Sema so that she could ask me what food I wanted for dinner. As you may know, you have two options for accommodation: the clinic itself, and the nearby Radisson Hotel. I recommend the following: • For the nights before, during, and one night after the procedure I strongly recommend staying in the clinic. I did this, and was so glad. After sitting in the same position for hours, having thousands of holes poked in your scalp, what a relief it is to just go up a few floors and be able to lie on a hospital bed that you can recline perfectly. I was exhausted and wouldn’t want to imagine having to get into a car (even for just the five minute drive) and go into a hotel, call room service, etc. It is just far more comfortable and safe to be right in the clinic during those few critical days. I wish I took some photos to show you guys, but the room in the clinic looks basically like a nice business hotel room (Starwood, Hilton, etc.), but with a hospital bed instead of a hotel bed. You have breakfast and lunch downstairs, and dinner they will order whatever you want and bring it to your room. Every afternoon they bring you a nice healthy snack of things like watermelon, hazelnuts, etc. • The day after the surgery I went down from my room to the clinic for removal of the bandage on the donor area and hair-washing. I then packed up my things and they dropped me off at the Radisson, where I stayed for 3-4 nights. It was nice to be in a hotel, so I felt a little bit more in the real world. While here I basically just laid around doing post-op care (dealing with swelling, spraying ATP every hour), reading, and ordering room service. • Once my swelling was totally gone and I felt I had a bit more energy, I checked out of the Radisson and moved into an Airbnb on the European side of the city. This I did because I wanted to stick around for about 10 days before flying. While on the point of logistics, the recent terror attack and coup attempt in Turkey might give some of you second thoughts but honestly I don’t think you should worry. The clinic is on the Asian side of the city, quite far away from anything touristic or that could be considered a target. The coup attempt happened the night after my procedure was finished and I slept through everything (other than being woken up in the middle of the night by loudspeaker announcements to loyalists to take to the streets) CONSULTATION This consisted of some photos, basic medical tests, analysis of my follicles, and also blasting my face and hair with some laser that apparently helps them make calculations for the hairline. Then I met with Dr. Koray Erdogan, who was really very friendly. We discussed a few things such as: • My use of Finasteride, and he asked if I was willing to continue with it. He was quite glad to hear that I was planning to stick with it. • My vertex. From the online consultation based on the photos I sent, he thought that my loss in the vertex was miniaturization and could be controlled with Finasteride. But in person he saw that part of the loss there was actual hair loss so he asked if I might be alright going above the 3400-3800 graft quotation to do 4100 grafts, in order to transplant some there. • My expectations, and plan for future loss. In looking at my photos and asking me about family hairloss, Dr. Erdogan suggested that I might be progressing towards Norwood VI eventually. He calculated a donor capacity of 8100 grafts so we briefly discussed what a future procedure might look like. Here I wish I had pushed a bit more for calculations on surface area and follicle density, so that I could understand in a more quantified way what a second procedure in years to come might look like. PROCEDURE Here is where some people criticize ASMED as Dr. Erdogan is not personally involved in every step. As you may have read elsewhere, his role is to plan the transplant, design the hairline, and make the incisions. You may be uncomfortable that the doctor does not do the extractions or transplantation, but the clinic’s results speak for themselves. For the extraction, they used 0.7mm punches for the parietal/side and 0.9mm for the occipital/rear. I had planned to pay the EUR300 for the optional PRP treatment but they threw it in for me. After first day of procedure: After both days were finished: Donor area after both days: RECOVERY Day 1 after procedure: They gave me some Advil for pain but I took my last Advil this morning and didn’t use any after then. Swelling starts to appear by the end of the day in the forehead. Sleeping on the neck pillow sucks, especially with the donor area still raw and a bit sore. Days 2-4: swelling moves down my face, and I pass through distinct phases, looking first like some random alien in a low-budget sci-fi with a bulbous head, and then later on looking like some brute who’s had his face bashed in at the pub a few too many times. During this time I figured out the neck pillow would be more comfortable if I have it barely inflated, so that the central part where my head rests has no air in it, but there is air in the sides, so that in case my head turns sideways it gets stopped and cushioned. Days 5-8: Swelling is gone; at this time thousands of tiny scabs fall off the donor wounds. Some scabs in the recipient area start falling off. Day 5 photos: Day 9: The recipient scabs all feel loose so today while shampooing I rubbed them all off. Day 9 (before removing scabs): Day 10: Day 17: Day 21: Now in the ugly duckling phase as shedding has started but redness has yet to really fade. They told me my skin is a bit sensitive so my redness is a bit worse than would be typical. And the high density implanted into the hairline makes it worse. 4 weeks out: Really in ugly duckling phase now as most of the transplanted hairs have fallen out. Luckily the redness seems to have started to fade. I tried to manage lighting conditions in these photos but I have moved over the past week so I couldn't keep things identical. (will happen again in a few weeks as I'm just in an airbnb while I search for a permanent apartment). And now here I am popping biotin and MSM to try to get these hairs to sprout up a little more quickly (in addition to Finasteride of course). I have to admit to being a bit nervous, worrying about sunburn from 90 minutes spent outside even though I was wearing a hat, etc. I suppose the best thing to do at this stage is to try to not overthink things, and just be patient. I know this was long, but hopefully it helps some of you. I have a huge debt to this forum from the many, many detailed posts here so I’m hoping that my experience can give someone else here the confidence to go for it and do it! -
Hi All, I wanted to share my experience so far with Dr Koray Erdogan from Istanbul. I had my surgery on the 26th-27th of November, 2014. It was a 2 days session. the first day was 2400 grafts, and the second day was 2600 grafts. First I would like to say that ASMED clinic is remarkable! The entire clinic is a state of the art private hospital, equipped with the most advanced tech on the market to make us, the patients feel as comfortable as possible. Dr Koray and his staff are the nicest and most professional team I have ever met in my life! The entire procedure was great and I am really happy so far with the choice that I’ve made. I would like to share some of my pics with you. I have uploaded 1 pic from before the surgery, and 4 new pics 14 days post-op from all angles. I I’ll be more than happy to hear your opinions. Thanks, Yaniv. -
Hey everyone Long time reader of this site and first time poster! First of all, I would like to thank everyone here who share their experience and give recommendations..you guys are awesome for helping guys like me I am 27 and Lives in Canada...balding runs in the family and need in a transplant badly but can't decide on surgeon. I read so many good reviews on doctors from turkey on this forum and contacted two of the best Dr. Koray Erdogan & Dr. Hakan Dogney. Email exchange with Asmed: They responded asking for more pictures and when I sent few more with wet hair, Dr. Koray responded saying that I need 4500 - 5000 grafts, (which is 2.5 €/ graft)...where I will end up 11,250 Euro which I can't afford at the moment. But as I see many "before and after" pictures in the internet, I believe I wont be needing that many grafts (may be 3000 - 3500 should do). Email exchange with Dr. Hakan: His assistant (Mustafa) responded very quickly saying that i might need 4000 grafts and its 2 €/ graft. but if I book a date this month, they will offer 25% discount. So will end up paying 6000 €. But im doubtful on this doctor because I saw a very bad review of him on this forum (I know its not ethical to judge someones work based on one or two bad reviews) but i am really worried. Also, dr koray suggested that I should use Finasteride, but I see the side effects of it (so, not willing to take the risk). I see fantastic reviews of this doctor and his procedure and results seems absolutely phenomenal. But from the people who use Finasteride, can I know how is your experience? Is there any one who recently got the surgery from dr. hakan and may i know how is it? (his price is way cheaper than dr. koray but recent bad reputation is turn off) Basically, Im looking for a good surgeon who performs FUE via manual punch and at reasonable price in turkey. Indai: Ive seen few people go to india for transplant, because it is cheaper than turkey, but I don't know who is best..any recommendations are highly appreciated and thank you for responding. -
Hey everyone Long time reader of this site and first time poster! First of all, I would like to thank everyone here who share their experience and give recommendations..you guys are awesome for helping guys like me I am 27 and Lives in Canada...balding runs in the family and need in a transplant badly but can't decide on surgeon. I read so many good reviews on doctors from turkey on this forum and contacted two of the best Dr. Koray Erdogan & Dr. Hakan Dogney. Email exchange with Asmed: They responded asking for more pictures and when I sent few more with wet hair, Dr. Koray responded saying that I need 4500 - 5000 grafts, (which is 2.5 €/ graft)...where I will end up 11,250 Euro which I can't afford at the moment. But as I see many "before and after" pictures in the internet, I believe I wont be needing that many grafts (may be 3000 - 3500 should do). Email exchange with Dr. Hakan: His assistant (Mustafa) responded very quickly saying that i might need 4000 grafts and its 2 €/ graft. but if I book a date this month, they will offer 25% discount. So will end up paying 6000 €. But im doubtful on this doctor because I saw a very bad review of him on this forum (I know its not ethical to judge someones work based on one or two bad reviews) but i am really worried. Also, dr koray suggested that I should use Finasteride, but I see the side effects of it (so, not willing to take the risk). I see fantastic reviews of this doctor and his procedure and results seems absolutely phenomenal. But from the people who use Finasteride, can I know how is your experience? Is there any one who recently got the surgery from dr. hakan and may i know how is it? (his price is way cheaper than dr. koray but recent bad reputation is turn off) Basically, Im looking for a good surgeon who performs FUE via manual punch and at reasonable price in turkey. Indai: Ive seen few people go to india for transplant, because it is cheaper than turkey, but I don't know who is best..any recommendations are highly appreciated and thank you for responding.
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Dear members of the forum, in this thread I will present my 3200 grafts FUE procedure with Asmed clinic. I was in Istanbul from 16th to 20th december 2014, and my surgery took place between 18th and 19th of december (during two days). INTRODUCTION I'm 28 years old, and this was not my first HT. I had FUE surgery of approximately 2500 grafts (my previous surgeon didn't inform me of my graft count or provided direct post-op pictures) when I was 26, in december 2012. Needless to say, I wasn't very satisfied with the outcome of my first surgery. Although I did some research, I rushed into it. I was using 5% minoxidile several years prior to the first surgery, and it seemed to me that it lost its effect in my case because I noticed my hairloss got worse during 2012. In that time, I was avoiding finasteride, fearing the possibility of getting side effects described by some of its users. Also, I was unrealistic and did not properly evaluated the grade of my hairloss (thought in that time that I was solid NW 3V, in reality I was going toward NW 4, with a bit of thinning over frontal forelock and middle scalp), and although my surgeon (not recommended in HRN) noticed that I have lot of thinned hair, she did not specified that I would surely need follow-up surgery. My first surgery was partial success. Grafts were implanted from hairline to vertex all over the scalp, and did not provide much coverage and density. Moreover, regrowth was slow and not completely succesful, especially in the temples and frontal third, leaving me with very thin and see-through hairline. I must say that they at least did a good job in my donor area, and did not depleted or scarred it much. I was also dissapointed with the lack of communication and replies from my former clinic, so I decided to try to finish the procedure somewhere else. I started to read various hairloss forums, of which Hair Restoration Network was among the most informative, and was slowly making decision about choosing a new surgeon. I was considering several recommended clinics in Europe and Turkey. Since I have tight scalp and like to cut my hair short in the back and sides, FUT was not an option for my repair. Dr. Erdogan and Asmed clinic seemed to have great ratio of price and reviews, and nicely documented cases. Moreover, I managed to contact several people who had their HTs with Asmed and were very satisfied with their results. So in november 2013 I contacted Denny, Asmed representative in this forum, and sent him pictures for dr. Erdogan to evaluate my case. I was informed that my hairloss does not look stable and that I should try finasteride for several months before deciding whether am I a good candidate. So I put my fear aside and tried Proscar (1.25 mg daily), and after several months and no side effects at all it seemed to me that it made some benefits to improve my condition. My crown and mid scalp hairs thickened a bit, and I even saw some weak hairs in the hairline where previously there were none. I would not say that finasteride caused some significant regrowth or completely stopped hairloss, but it certainly stabilised and improved condition of my hair. So, I contacted Asmed in July with new pictures and this time dr. Erdogan evaluated my condition as suitable for a HT, and suggested me two options. First was a bigger, 4000+ grafts session to cover up all thinning areas of the scalp, and other was to undergo a 3200 grafts surgery for fixing the hairline, frontal third and part of midscalp. Since my previous surgery I was a bit sceptic toward HT-s, so I decided to go for a more cautious 3200 grafts surgery, and maybe a follow up for the crown when I see the result of the first surgery (if satisfying), after a year or so. After that I had a long correspodence with Gianluca from Asmed, during which he was answering my techical questions, and was helping me to book my surgery. Needless to say, he was very professional and supportive and answered my emails as fast as he could, usually between several hours to one day of delay at most. I wired my 1000 Euro deposit to Asmed bank account as a confirmation for booking. My surgery was booked for 18th and 19th december 2014. CONSULTATION AND PRE-SURGERY PROCESS I arrived in Istanbul on december 16th, in 23:50 PM. I was picked by the clinic's driver at the Ataturk airport and brought to the Radisson Blu Asia hotel in Atasehir, some five minutes walk from the Asmed clinic. I wont't describe hotel into details, it is enough to say that I had no complaints whatsoever and felt really good during my four nights stay. Tomorrow, december 17th, at 8 AM I was informed that driver will pick me up at 9:30 for my live consultation with dr. Erdogan. So I had breakfast in the hotel and went to the clinic. Assigned translator welcomed me in the clinic's lobby. Before I entered, I had to cover lower part of my footware with plastic cover (they have specialised automated device for it). After brief and kind introduction I was brought to the photo studio where they made photo documentation of my hair pre-op condition. They made pictures with dry and wet hair from several different angles. Following that, I went for a electrocardiogram and blood test. We came back to the lobby and had a short break while waiting for dr. Erdogan, during which I was reading patient brochure and detailed informations about surgery and post-surgical period. After some 10 minutes dr. Erdogan came and introduced himself. One of the patients who had his surgery day before was leaving for the airport and dr. wished him farewell. I followed dr. Erdogan and translator to his office, where we discussed my operation in details. His english is very good so I had no problems understanding him, so I easily followed his explanations. He inspected and measured my donor area, and cut some hairs for diameter measuring. He already had pictures of my hair that were taken half hour prior to consultation, and a whole computer folder with files dedicated to my case. I was informed that I have great donor, with hair diameter of 60 microns, and some 8000 grafts left for future procedures. This was a surprise for me. Since I already had HT of app. 2500 grafts, I thought that I wouldn't have more than 5000 grafts left at most. It seems that I am one of those lucky guys with almost 10000 grafts for FUE only. After I told my aims and dr. explained what to expect from a procedure we agreed that I will receive 3200 grafts, of which most will be implanted in hairline, following frontal third and weaker part of midscalp. We decided to leave the crown for now, because it would need at least 1500-2000 more grafts to drastically improve it, and because it is not looking that bad and can be easily covered with Toppik or Nanogen. Dr. had displays in his office which he is using to check undergoing surgeries while he is not present in the surgery rooms. We also discussed PRP treatment. Dr. explained to me that it has no effect whatsoever to boost the hair growth or improve hair density or diameter of the original hair, etc., but is mainly used to accelerate recovery time of the skin and that it could possibly reduce intensity of redness or itching sensation. I was curious to see would it have some effect in my case since I could compare my recovery with one from the previous surgery, and decided to go for it. The whole consultation and surgery planning with dr. Erdogan took app. 45-50 minutes. Afterwards, I went to their financial office and payed the surgery (1000 Eur deposit + 7000 Euros at the clinic), mandatory medications (240 Euros), driver pick-ups (120 Euros), PRP treatment (300 Euros) and the hotel (320 Euros). After that, I went to the hair saloon where they cut my hair and cleaned the scalp. Dr. then took some more pictures with a shaven hair, and designed my new hairline, very similar to my hairline from the first surgery, which I liked. It is half a centimeter higher than my original hairline, but since my forehead is not too tall, it is still looking good. It would serve me no purpose to have a lower hairline and a depleted donor area without chance to fix vertex, since my hairloss was and would be going toward higher Norwood if I did not undergone HT-s and did not use finasteride. First pictures are taken in the clinic. Dry&wet pre-surgery -
Hi guys, has anyone gone to Erdogan, I would really like to skype about your experiences and your results please. Do let me know. Thank you Arun
