Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 4, 2014 Regular Member Share Posted November 4, 2014 Hi all, I've just booked a HT with Dr. Zekeriya Kul in Istanbul. I've read so much about him in other forums and I quite liked his work. I'm having the operation on Nov 6th. The plan is to do 2500 grafts. The price will be 2500 Euro. Flights, Hotel, Transport, Medication..etc will be extra. so about 3000 Euro total I'll be updating you, step by step.. wish me luck :cool: Regards, Mo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 4, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 4, 2014 Actually I have two questions for the veterans of you 1- Any tips/tricks for pre, during and post operation? special pillow? baseball or Ice cap? 2- given medications not included.. I'm sure the Dr. will recommend me something, but any advices from you? especially in regard to shampoos, lotions, vitamins.. etc ? Peace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member TakingThePlunge Posted November 4, 2014 Senior Member Share Posted November 4, 2014 With my first HT I used a loose fitting baseball cap. With the second I opted for bandanas to cover my head. Good luck! David - Former Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice. View my Hair Loss Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFighter Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Good luck with your operation. Please do share your experience, I'm thinking of booking with him sometime in December Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 9, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 9, 2014 So.. I made it, and I'm still alive... I guess I flew to Istanbul on Wednesday. 9/10 ---- Elite World Business Hotel I stayed in Elite world business hotel. It's less than 10 minutes from Ataturk Airport and they have free airport shuttle. It's a medium sized 5 star hotel. 24/7 room service and front desk. It costs about 60 Euros per night, which I found very cheap for a 5 star hotel. The hotel is less than 10 min walk from the clinic (1.2km / 0.7 miles) 7/10 ---- The Clinic: ?zel Florya Cerrahi The Clinic is conveniently located close to the airport. This was a plus for me, as I didn't want to spend time in Istanbul this time. It's not the most luxurious clinic I've seen. better than public hospitals in UK and US, but not as luxurious as some private hospitals. It's very clean, hygienic and big. clinic big not hospital big! 4 floors with 7-10 rooms on each floor. It seems like the doctor has two offices, as I have two different work addresses for him. Maybe one for seeing patients and one for operations! 9/10 ---- Dr. Zekeriya Kul Dr. Kul is a very nice, down to earth dude. he is in his early/mid 30s. He is well known in turky, and was featured many time on national TV. The Dr keeps calling himself Plastic surgeon and not Hair Transplant Doctor. Only 50% of the doctor's patients are hair transplant patients and the other 50% are normal Plastic surgery patients (face lifting, botox, liposuction, nose and breast jobs :cool: ). Some of you may view this as a Con but I find it a Pro. As the doctor looks beyond hairline and hair density.. he considers face shape, size, hair type and skin color! he spent 15 minutes designing my hairline squinting and looking from different angles. Dr. Kul is only able to do 1500 grafts per day, because he uses the Stick and Plant technique instead of “Slit” which is used by most HT clinics worldwide (visit his website or youtube channel for more info). Actually he's been using this technique for 9 years. According to Dr Kul, Stick & Plant technique is the most advanced method in hair transplant field. This enables him to plant up to 130 grafts per cm2!! but he doesn't recommend such a high density as most of the times it won't look natural. He uses a special needle to make a hole, then immediately implants the grafts. This also means less bleeding and shorter recovery time. The Dr told me I can sleep normally since Day 0, which I did, and there was not a single drop of blood from the transplanted area. The doctor uses a micro motor to extract the grafts. He believes if micromotor used correctly should be as good as manual extraction. Punch size is .7mm and he only goes 2mm deep. I forgot the rpm speed he uses, but he carefully chooses the speed. The price is 1EUR per Graft, but I was charged EUR 2500 for 2740 grafts. The price only covers the HT procedure. Nothing else is included. Actually I got a baseball cap, as the one I brought was a bit tight Something worth mentioning, is that during the operation Dr. Kul does everything from A-Z... punches, extracting and implanting.. in my case the Dr stepped off for 10 min after the punches, so his assistance extracted few grafts until re returned. He has one assistance (Layla), and she is sooo lovely.. I miss her already! I asked the Doctor about the two recommended Doctors in this forum. He knows of them, but he is not trying to compete with them, as he is (a plastic surgeon, and no a Hair Transplant Dr). he's not trying to be disrespectful, but he wants to have a different career. 6/10 Aftercare I guess this is where the clinic fall short. Let me list the pros first Pro - The doctor shared with me his personal mobile and email address, and asked me to call/text if I have any questions. He also gave me contact details for one of his staff who speaks English fluently. Cons - The Doctor only talked about the VERY important things do's/don'ts, such as taking the antibiotic and how to shower. Other "recommended" thing weren't mentioned at all... maybe he is right and I'm just being a freak!! For example, The doctor told me to sleep normally (not 45 degrees), because with his Stick & plant technique grafts are securely placed and grafts won't move during sleep.. he said having a good sleep is very important. when I told him that sleeping in 45 degrees will prevent swelling, he said he is not concerned about swelling as it won't effect the result. He also added that many people sleep in 45 degrees and end up having swelling (which is true ). Another example is smoking and caffeine. He didn't mentioned them. when I asked about them, he asked me not to be worried. In fact, he said if stopping them will make me stressed ,he asked me to not stop them, as the harm from stress could be greater from the harm of not smoking/consuming caffeine. They actually offered me coffee/tea on the house - I was given 1 sheet of paper with 5 bullet points for aftercare!! and it's written in broken English. Luckily I've done my research and I know what to do post Op. 9/10 Staff - Layla.. oh Layla.. VERY nice and helpful.. shame she doesn't speak English.. yet she tries hard to help. She actually gave me a hug before I left to the airport. - Firat is incharge of sales and communication. He speaks at least 4 languages. Very helpful, honest, professional (not pushy).. When I sent my first inquiry email, he immediately shared his personal mobile with me.. he responded to some of my email/texts after midnight or very early in the morning. .... what else? feel free to ask.. 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Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 9, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 9, 2014 Here are some photos right before the operation.. I also took a picture of a mosque which looked nice during sunrise :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 9, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 9, 2014 After the 1st session Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 9, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 9, 2014 session 2... the next day in session 1 I had 1400 grafts.. in this day I had 1340 grafts.. these pictures were taken during the operation.. half way through....... I also took a picture on my way back to the hotel.. sorry I love photography, and the guy looked nice.. He was washing before going into the mosque Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 9, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 9, 2014 back in London... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 9, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 9, 2014 I took a shower today.. and my face is soo swell !! :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 9, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 9, 2014 My scalp is sooo dry and stretched.. and the donor area is sore (kinda burning).. is there anything I can do? The Dr. asked me to apply lotion (Bepanthol) to the donor and receiving area 1 hour before shower, but this doesn't help.. anything I can apply after shower? I was thinking some natural organic oils.. Maybe Coconut oil or Olive oil.. what do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kamalmalik Posted November 10, 2014 Regular Member Share Posted November 10, 2014 why dont you take a painkiller? you may also massage the donor area with aloe vera gel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahmoh Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Please can you tell me how did you contact dr zakerya before you went to istanbul and did you sent him pictures before traveling to istanbule ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 13, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 13, 2014 I contacted his representative Firat. You can email him Firat (at) drkul. Com You can easily find it on Google. Yes I sent them many photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahmoh Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 I contacted his representative Firat. You can email him Firat (at) drkul. Com You can easily find it on Google. Yes I sent them many photos Thank you so much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member R2D3 Posted November 14, 2014 Regular Member Share Posted November 14, 2014 Dear Dakmary, I am currently considering Dr. Kul. I heard that his transplant technique can result in less swelling. Could you have returned to work 7-10 days later and not looked like you just had a hair transplant? I have a week off of work and am considering a HT my first day off and returning to work 9 or 10 days later. I am especially interested in your pictures and results as my balding is similar to yours... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 15, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 15, 2014 I think Dr. Kul's technique enables faster recovery in terms of receiving area, but has nothing to do with swelling. You can sleep normally, and you don't have to be VERY worried about touching the transplanted hair. I don't believe swelling will be an issue, as it will be completely gone by day 3-4. To reduce swelling you can apply ice to your forehead and sleep at 45 degree (I didn't do any of that) :cool: Here are some pics from day 6. Donor area is healing fast. Receiving area is still not clean.. you can see some spots of dry blood. It's much cleaner than day 2-3. Given the healing rate I see, I expect it to be completely clean by day 10-12 What do you guys think of my healing progress? or about the cleanness of the operation? Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Dakmary Posted November 15, 2014 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 15, 2014 High resolution pics.. As you can see from the photos, the right half of my head is cleaner than the left half, that's because the operations was done over two days. The right half will always be 1 day ahead in terms of healing.. this should gives you an idea how the left half will look like the next day What do you guys think about the density of the hair? The Dr. said he is targeting 45-50 Grafts per CM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member R2D3 Posted November 16, 2014 Regular Member Share Posted November 16, 2014 I think Dr. Kul's technique enables faster recovery in terms of receiving area, but has nothing to do with swelling. You can sleep normally, and you don't have to be VERY worried about touching the transplanted hair. I don't believe swelling will be an issue, as it will be completely gone by day 3-4. To reduce swelling you can apply ice to your forehead and sleep at 45 degree (I didn't do any of that) :cool: Here are some pics from day 6. Donor area is healing fast. Receiving area is still not clean.. you can see some spots of dry blood. It's much cleaner than day 2-3. Given the healing rate I see, I expect it to be completely clean by day 10-12 What do you guys think of my healing progress? or about the cleanness of the operation? Regards, Hi Dakmary, Thanks so much and apologies for the delay; heavy work schedule. Honestly, those pics don't look so bad. If my head could be more or less "clean" 9-10 days later, I would be fine to go to work. I have looked at quite a few examples of Dr. Kul's work and like what I see. In my emails with him, I also got the idea that he is a very straightforward and professional guy. He recommended two sessions for me, one year apart, and guaranteed that the rate for the second would remain the same as the first. [i would worry about a price rise in the year it would take from first to second session as I think this doctor could eventually up prices if he becomes more popular]. I like his hairlines, his temple work, and that fact that he considers himself a plastic surgeon who does hair transplants, rather than strictly a hair transplant doctor. I can understand why that idea might not appeal to some, but it does to me... In any case, please keep is updated. Also, would you mind if I PM'd you with any questions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member wibbles180 Posted December 4, 2014 Senior Member Share Posted December 4, 2014 Please keep us updated on your progress mate , very interested in dr kuls work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hotshot Posted December 8, 2014 Regular Member Share Posted December 8, 2014 Yes, keep us posted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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