FUE 1500 grafts - 04 Aug 2014 - Dr Hakan Doganay

[Jugendlich]

Hello dear fellow hairloss sufferers!

 

After three years of battling against hairloss with medication and actively researching on the subject i finally booked the operation day on 4th of August 2014 with Dr Hakan Doganay. First of all i'm a twenty years old caucasian male with NW2/NW3 hairline. My hairloss started slowly around the temples at the age of 17-18. I started the "Big three" treatment before i turned 19 with EXCELLENT RESULTS. During the last two years i havent been losing my hairline anymore, my existing hair has thickened and i dont shed any hair if i shower or comb my hair. Despite the fact that the medication is working great my hairline is still pretty receded and at times it really gets me down. Due to my relatively young age (I will be 21 during the upcoming procedure) we decided to keep the hairline design conservative with 1500-2000 grafts.

 

The reason i decided to go with Dr Hakan was his IAHRS membership, great results, good reputation on internet communities such as Hairrestorationnetwork.com, and very reasonable pricing with 2€/graft including free accommodation, taxi transfers and free PRP.

 

Currently i am having a gap year from studies and doing construction working at the Finnish Puijo academic hospital to finance the upcoming procedure. I Am applying to medical school this year and i must say that one of the factors behind my decision was hairloss, it really had an impact on my social life and overall confidence and afterwards i can say that i learned many things about life by those experiences.

 

All the best and remember to stay positive! I will publish my monthly progression until 12th month mark after operation. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

My current and very well working regimen

 

Finasteride 1.25mg daily

Rogaine foam 5pm in the morning

2ml of liquid minoxidil 5pm before bedtime

Nizoral shampoo once a week

Zinc 15mg daily

Fish oil capsules 4x 1g daily

Vitamin D 100 µg daily

 

Kind regards

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2014 by Jugendlich

[Blake Bloxham]

Juge,

 

Congratulations! Dr. Doganay is excellent. Look forward to viewing your progress.

[Jugendlich]

The only concern is that if everything goes well and i pass the entrance examination my studies will start in the beginning of september; only ~30 days after the operation. New students are divided into tutour groups and taken portraits of. According to my experience there may still be some visible redness after 30 days.. The shaved look itself is not a problem though :] Any ideas and feedback would be greatly appreciated, i am already getting excited !

[Lloyd]

You made a great decision. Best of luck

[Jugendlich]

2 Months to go before i will arrive to Antalya! I Would like to hear your opinions, do you think that 1500-2000 grafts will provide me good results? As you can see my right side is more receded and i would like to very slightly lower my hairline and fill in both temples and temple points.

 

 

[Jugendlich]

Well, over two weeks have passed since i had the HT and i think that things are progressing as expected. I had 1500 grafts extracted and implanted in 4 hours, the operation was done unshaved. i was advised to wash my hair three times a day beginning from the day after the operation. I lost all scabs at day 8 and lots of hair were attached to them, i've heard that its normal? Now 17 days post op i still have lots of transplanted hair growing and i expect them to shed soon.

 

graft details

 

500 single hair grafts

700 double hair grafts

300 triple hair grafts

[gwallt]

Everything looks great....I remember the room and food well! Good luck

[quackhairny]

Looks really good. what made you choose fue over fut? Do you feel you will be unnoticeable in the month time frame?

[Jugendlich]

Looks really good. what made you choose fue over fut? Do you feel you will be unnoticeable in the month time frame?

Due to my young age FUT would have been too risky. 1500 FUE grafts with conservative hairline design will not be a disaster if i lose more hair in the future since i can just buzz it very short and still look natural with framed face or i can just add some more grafts. My dad is a NW4 at 60 years old and he still has over 70% of his hair left so with medication i have good changes to maintain my current pattern. Its less than 3 weeks post op and the redness is currently visible only under hars lightning so at 1 month mark it should look unnoticeable if i keep buzzing the transplanted hair.

 

Tapping the recipient site with the cream seemed a bit odd to me since i've read that you should be very careful with the grafts for the first 10 days. One of the nurses tapped my whole recipient site quite hard 1 day post op and i was advised to perform this 3 times daily always before hair wash. Hopefully they know what they are doing since i've been a bit nervous about doing that.. The post op instructions seem to vary to great extent between leading HT clinics.

[Jugendlich]

1 Month post op photos! Redness in the recipient has faded and can easily be hidden with my native hair, so far no one has commented anything. Donor area has experienced some shock loss and looks a bit thin but nothing major and it should come back withing the next few months.

 

I was advised to start dermarolling the recipient 3 times a week 20 mins each time. I've already got some pimples and stubble breaking through the scalp, is it possible to see regrowth this early? I've started using minoxidil twice daily to kick start growth.

 

I got relatively large area covered with 1500 grafts and hopefully the density will match my native hair as it grows out.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Jugendlich

[Jugendlich]

8 weeks photos, going through the ugly duckling stage:D

recently lots of thin wispy hairs have started to grow and they cause pimples when they break through the scalp. What are your thoughts of my progress so far?

[Jugendlich]

3 Months photos, sorry for the bad quality. Lots of the transplanted hairs have started to grow. Most of them are thin and colourless and only visible in certain lightning. Any opinions of my progress? I hope that the growth really kicks in between months 3-6

[Jugendlich]

3 1/2 months buzzed short. For the first time in many years i'm having a straight hairline again. Now seeing difference almost daily and between 4-6 months it should really begin. After that its more about thickening and maturing of the hair shafts.

[spitfire uk]

Taking shape mate , thanks for the help with my PM's to you as well.

[Squatch]

It should turn out really good I'm sure.

[Jugendlich]

4 months photos vs pre op , maybe i was expecting a bit more at this point, but for sure hundreds of grafts have already sprouted. I've heard that in most cases 4 months should represent about 20% of the final result and that there will be big changes between months 4-6. I will now let my hair grow out and hope that by month 6 i will see some early results.

[hotshot]

In month 4-5 most of the grafts should have started growing at some level. What you see after that are maturing of those hairs.

[Jugendlich]

In month 4-5 most of the grafts should have started growing at some level. What you see after that are maturing of those hairs.

This is what shapiromedical says, of course growth rates may vary a lot dependind on your age, lifestyle and ethnic origin.

 

" Some may worry that what they see at 3-4 months is the final result, but that is not the case. At best, the hair growth at this time represents approximately 20% of the growth you should anticipate. "

 

"a significant change usually occurs between the 5th and 6th month. By the 6th month, about 80% of the hairs should have penetrated the skin, but only about 50-60 percent of the final visual aesthetic effect has been achieved"

[Navthedon]

any updates? hope its all going well for you.

[BUSA]

ur right on track. I can already tell u will have essentially a full head of hair by month 12

[Jugendlich]

5 months photo in natural roomlight with short buzzcut. I can still see lots of grafts which are just penetrating through the scalp. Looks promising, should let it grow out now but it feels good being able to wear this short haircut without any evidence of receding hairline! In my case it was all about framing the face, before ht i always had to wear my hair a bit longer in the front and it looked ridiculous since the recession was going pretty deep.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Jugendlich

[spitfire uk]

Looking good dude

[Squatch]

Looks like a full head of hair in a buzzed kind of way.

[Wevvo]

Hey looking good spitfire ! From your fellow UK and Hakan patient, cracking progress ;-)

[Jugendlich]

6 Months photos in different lightning conditions. The hair has equal very short length on top (5/8 inch = 15mm) so there is very little layering effect which could make it look better than it actually is. Just recently i have started to feel much better about the progress, even if it takes 12-18 months for the final result i'm sure that around 9-10 months i will have a pretty good idea of the final outcome. It wont become very dense, but it blends well into the existing hairline and provides good coverage, for a really dense look it would have required around 2000-2500 grafts. Last 2 photos taken in the harshest possible lightning. I know that thickening and maturing of the grafts will make a big difference but hopefully i will still sprout some more. This journey has been truly life changing since i've had issues with my receding hairline from around age 16-17.. It has already made a huge difference to my everyday life, i certainly still remember those feelings when it was at its worst.