My HT with Dr.Melike Transmed on 7th July

[Batel2006]

Good morning.....

 

This is the first night for me at home after returning from Istanbul after having my HT FUT with Dr.Melike at Transmed clinic. It is my pleasure to share my experience and results with other members in this forum. I started a thread previously asking about Transmed and for before-HT advice, you may find it here

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/156856-hair-transplant-dr-melike-transmed-8th-july.html

 

I am still waiting for the before and after pix from Trnasmed as they took many pix for me. I will post them here once i get them. My HT was planned on the Wed 7 July, I arrived Istanbul on the 5th as I needed to see the city. I found it a great city with many many things to see and discover, the people are nice, food is delicious and night life is amazing. So, my advice it to arrive a couple of days before the HT to see this wonderful city. Next day, the 6th, I was picked from the hotel by Transmed driver, Abbas, a very nice guy, to the clinic; there I met Mr. Taner, he is a really nice and professional person, he took his time to explain every single details about the HT and showed me many pictures for their patients. Then he introduced me to Dr. Melike, the surgeon, she was as nice as him, she discussed me the transplant hair line shape; she estimated that we may end up with about 3000 grafts. I have the option to either spread the grafts all over my bald area or have a nice dense hair line and leave the top for future HT. I chose the second option. So we agreed to transplant 2000 on the frontal area making it looks nice and dense and spread the remaining 1000 on the vertex, but leaving the back area untouched. She gave me a capsule, valium, to help me sleep for the night before the HT.

The following day, the 7th, I was picked up again from the hotel by their driver around 8:30, and after a quick consultation I was taken to the surgery room with Dr.Melike and four pretty nurses. I laid down on the chair and Dr.Melike trimmed the strip, then she injected my head with some local anesthesia, was not painful but felt some stinging sensation around all my head. She started then cutting the strip, I did not feel anything at all as I was watching the TV, I only realized that she is done cutting when I heard the staples. The strip then was handed to the nurses for dissecting and preparing them for inserting. Meanwhile Dr.Melike started to make incisions in the recipient area; it was bit lengthy process and she needed to concentrate as she was counting, it took her about 2 hours, I felt asleep twice during this. After finishing this, it was the time for the nurses to insert the grafts, Dr. Melike was not involved in this process but she was checking after me every half hour; but it seems that the nurses knew exactly what they are doing. There were three nurses working on the same time on my head with a fourth one assisting them. I was offered a snake during the HT. Mr. Taner also checked after me twice and made sure that everything is going fine. The HT finish around 3:30 pm, I was not tired and everything was fine with me, then I was given an injection for pain killing. They wrapped my head and put a bandage to prevent any swelling.

 

I was then taken to another room for after-HT advice. Dr. Melike explained to me what should I do in the following days to take care of the transplanted hair, and how I should wash my hair to get rid of any scabs. She provided me with painkiller, antibiotic, swelling preventing tablets, shampoo and lotion. They also provided me with full written details and instructions for after HT care and hair washing instructions. On the next day, the 8th, I went to clinic again for hair wash and follow up. There was some bleeding during the previous night for which Dr.Melike added two staples to close the scar well, apart from this, everything went fine. I will get the staples removed within 10 days. On the day after, I was taken to airport by Trnasmed driver. So this was my whole experience story with my first HT.

 

 

In the following I would like to express my thoughts and give some advices in form of points:

 

-Transmed is a world class clinic, very nice and professional team. Mr. Taner is so helpful and respectful, he has made sure everything is going fine and was in contact with me the second I arrived to Turkey, he was willing to answer any concern 24 hrs on his private mobile.

-The clinic is so sophisticated, clean and modern, the nursing team is nice and lovely; only one thing is that they do not speak English, apart from two of them.

-The clinic is busy, during my HT days, I met 4 other guys having HT from different countries on the same time.

-Although Dr.Melik was not with me during the whole surgery time, as she is very busy, but she was checking after me always.

-Dr.Melike advised me to start taking propecia for at least 8 months to speed up the growth process and stop any further hair loss. For me, I do not like to continue my life with medication; especially I was on Propecia three years ago with no good results at all. But I will start taking it just to strengthen the transplant hair. She also advised to use Minixodil. In fact, I did not like this recommendation as the main reason for me to have HT is to avoid taking medication for my whole life.

-My advice if you to have HT soon, try taking propecia or some supplementary medication in advance to support healthy follicles and increase the success percentage of hair regrowth.

-Do some scalp massage one day before the HT, Dr.Melike asked whether I had done it but I was not informed about this by Transmed. I think this would help making the strip cutting easier and getting more hair.

- Try not to leave the day after the HT immediately, stay one more day just to make sure everything is alright. For my case, I had some bleeding on the night after the HT which needed more staples next day.

-Once you book your HT appointment, stop thinking about it, try to enjoy your time; take few days to visit Istanbul and its variant night life.

-The Hotel they booked for me, Belik Hotel, is a 4 star Hotel. It is nice and close to the clinic. The room rate is 70 euro including breakfast. The hotel includes free wifi, free swimming pool and health club; there are many restaurants around it.

 

So, this was my story with my first HT at Trnsmed Turkey. I can say that I am very satisfied about this experience. But for the results, I have to wait for a couple of months to assist the HT success. Today, I will start washing my hair at home and fingers crossed. I will keep the forum updated with my HT results and progress and I am willing to answer any question. Finally I would like to thank Forum moderator Bill who has helped us to gather here and share our knowledge and experiences; also I like to thank Albion71 who thankfully provided me with many advices and answered many of my concerns.

 

All the best to all of you and wish you very dense and healthy hair....

Edited July 10, 2010 by Batel2006

[Blake Bloxham]

Bartel2006,

 

Congratulations! It sounds like you had an excellent experience and I hope you'll keep the community updated on your continual progress. Good luck!

[Albion71]

Well done on making it through ok Batel, glad everything went according to plan, and you liked Istanbul and the clinic.

 

I'm now six weeks out from the op. Signs of a few new hairs starting to poke through. Will post a blog update soon.

[TakingThePlunge]

Batel,

 

Very happy to know that things went well for you. Keep us posted on your progress!

 

All the best,

[Batel2006]

Hi...

 

im now 3 weeks after HT. Everything seems ok, all the scabs have fallen off within 10 days. Most of transplanted hair has fallen off. My scalpe looks healthy. The scar look thin and well closed, but the doner area still numb.

 

I have uploaded some pix taken by Transmed for before and after HT. Have a look at them and please comment on how do you think the procedure was done. Check my blog for the pix.

 

I will upload some pix takrn these days.

 

I will be happy to answer and share my experience with everyone.

 

best wishes...

[Albion71]

Hi Batel,

 

Glad you're progressing ok. The post-procedure pics look fine to me.

 

I'm getting a load of zits where (hopefully) the new hairs are coming through. Hope you avoid that.

 

Good luck.