Help me decide: Dr. Koray Erdogan vs. Dr. Hakan Dognay

[HairToday2015]

Hello everyone,

 

This is my first post. I am a 28 yr old Male with Norwood 4/5V level balding, who has been lurking in this forums for a few months. I started Propecia, Biotin and Minoxidil regiment 2 months ago, which has definitely helped improve my hair caliber and sprout new hairs on my vertex in this short amount of time. Since all seems to be going well for a few months now, I've decided to get a Hair-Transplant!

 

Now after months of contacting various Surgeons, reading patient reviews and testimonials, I've narrowed down my choices to 2 Doctors in Turkey:

 

Dr. Koray Erdogan from Istanbul AND Dr. Hakan Doganay from Antalya.

- Dr. Koray quoted me a 5000 graft procedure over 2 days

- Dr. Hakan quoted me 4500 graft procedure over 2 days

 

Dr. Koray - PROS:

- Excellent front-hairline design

- State of the Art facilities

- Better flight selection from USA to Istanbul, minimum layover times & connecting flights (ideal for travelling post-surgery)

- Manual Punch Technique?? (I suppose it has some advantages over the Choi Implanter?)

- More advanced hair-analysis tools for hairline design.

- 5 Star Hotel accommodation

- Istanbul

 

CONS:

- Extremely slow, and sometimes abrupt communication from staff...I almost gave up after a few tries.

- 20% Tax for wiring funds, so surgery cost is noticeably more than Dr. Hakan's clinic after all fees.

- Additional costs for accommodation, post-op medicine and Transportation (Dr. Hakan's clinic includes these free of charge).

- Front hairline design favoured over more balanced coverage esp in the vertex (just my opinion from seeing some before/after results)

- Overestimation of graft requirements (500-1000 more in my case which isn't so bad because I could use every hair but I've spoken to users who were recommended upto 2000 more grafts average by Dr. Koray when compared to other reputable clinics).

 

Dr. Hakan - PROS:

- Communication from Clinic reps is excellent!

- Better use of grafts for higher-level Norwood patients (they seem to achieve similar coverage as Dr. Koray with fewer graft estimates).

- Clinic accommodation, transport and post-op medication all included in graft-price.

- Clinic stay also seems better for post-op recovery (for approx 4 days/3nights...then Hotel)

- No deposit required to book appointment (just a copy of the planet ticket)

- NO FEES for wiring funds ahead of time!

- PRP included (Dr. Koray charges 300 euros extra for this service, and is not included in the default package).

 

Dr. Hakan - CONS:

- Flight selection from USA to Antalya is very unappealing.

- Layovers are extremely long (for eg: 18+ hrs in Moscow!!), and not ideal for post-surgery travel.

- A bit unsure about the their front hairline design...your thoughts?

- Facilities are clean, since its a private hospital, but perhaps not as advanced as Dr. Korays.

- Choi pen might not yield as good results as Manual punch (Again, this is just from what I've read online)

 

Overall, I'm very torn between the two Doctors. So fellas, what do you think?

Edited April 23, 2015 by HairToday2015

[sc2302]

Hello HairToday2015,

 

I done my operation before Turkey. Turkey is a correct decision.

Before I go there I contact alot of clinic. I read alot of comments about Hair Transplantation. You must be careful these details:

- You must take a maximum graft guarantee before you go there. Because alot of clinic don't promise about that.

- You can receive package prices. Because ı read some patient pay alot of extra.

- The doctor don't transplant your hair. They have a special team. Before you go there please be careful. The team will be very experience and the doctor must be coordinate everything.

- Alot of doctor doing operation in their clinic not hospital. It is important.

 

I choose Skin Health Turkey.

Doctor is Dermatologist Dr. Oyku Celen. Before I go there ı said 2000-2500 graft. They extract 3080 graft.

Hotel, Hospital and teams are wonderful.

Now they have special product. It is name MesoPRP. They are doing after the first washing. This product effect graft. And it is formulas changing your skin and hair type.

they are following my hair situation. They contact to me periodically. Im very satisfy. I think you can contact to them before choosing.

Edited April 29, 2015 by David - Moderator

[chrisdav]

If I had to pick one out of the two above - Koray Erdogan.

[BUSA]

Erdogan hands down. he is more aggressive and shares many principals practiced by Lorenzo as well. not to mention I have never seen a bad HT from Erdogan. I have seen a few from Doganay but then again I have seen a few bad ones from most everyone other then Erdogan.

 

Erdogan is more expensive but you get better results period.

 

you say he over estimated the number of grafts u need. how do u know that? maybe he just has more skills and can stuff more grafts in ur head without shock loss.

 

not sure why u wud be complaining about a Dr. that wants to place more grafts on ur head. there is no magic here. the more grafts you have on ur head the more visible hair you have have and the more dense it will be. its all an illusion to make you look better but that illusion is far better accomplished with more grafts vs. less.

 

if ur a NW5 you can surely use 5000 grafts if not more.

[Sean]

Choose the one that does manual and does the actual procedure versus techs. Whatever is safer for your scalp. Good luck.

[HairToday2015]

Erdogan hands down. he is more aggressive and shares many principals practiced by Lorenzo as well. not to mention I have never seen a bad HT from Erdogan. I have seen a few from Doganay but then again I have seen a few bad ones from most everyone other then Erdogan.

 

Erdogan is more expensive but you get better results period.

 

you say he over estimated the number of grafts u need. how do u know that? maybe he just has more skills and can stuff more grafts in ur head without shock loss.

 

not sure why u wud be complaining about a Dr. that wants to place more grafts on ur head. there is no magic here. the more grafts you have on ur head the more visible hair you have have and the more dense it will be. its all an illusion to make you look better but that illusion is far better accomplished with more grafts vs. less.

 

if ur a NW5 you can surely use 5000 grafts if not more.

 

In my case, the 5000 graft estimate should work well for sure (hell, I'd get 6000 grafts if my donor area permits). My concerns (albeit only minor) lie with how efficiently Dr. Koray uses these grafts, as I consider him to be a dense-packer of Hairlines...but perhaps not as liberal with the crown. And maybe this doesn't mean anything right now, since the finer details will be determined during pre-op consult with the Doc...where I can communicate my expectations clearly to avoid any confusion.

 

I also spoke to a forum-member today (a Norwood 2/2A), who was recommended 4800 grafts by Dr. Koray. The patient was concerned about this graft estimate, as other reputable Doctors recommended upto 2500 grafts due to his particular stage of hair-loss. Now when you hear of such cases with graft overestimation, its gotta make one wonder what's going on with these quotes. More grafts are awesome...sure (it might even end up looking better than his original hairline pre-hairloss), but we all have a finite number of donor hairs. And with the possibility of further Hair-loss down the road...perhaps its best to be conservative with the donor area, and use what's needed to create the illusion of density. Hence why I'm not exactly a fan of overestimation...whether it applies to my particular case or not.

 

But yes, Dr. Koray does excellent hairline design, and maybe using more grafts is part of his design strategy to achieve quality results. You also mentioned Shock Loss in your post - care to elaborate? Thanks for your input.

[HairToday2015]

Choose the one that does manual and does the actual procedure versus techs. Whatever is safer for your scalp. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the post, Sean. I'm definitely leaning towards Dr. Koray's manual technique.

[thatoldchestnut]

This is not meant as a slight on you BUSA, nor Dr. Erdogan of whom I'm a fan, but

he is more aggressive

is not in and of itself a point to recommend a surgeon on imo. In fact, it could arguably be the opposite! It's all a matter of context vis-a-vis the patient, surely.

[mosd]

im also thinking about these 2. Im worried about erdogan cause its feel like he is more eager to make the customer happy now than whats smart for the future. Lets say he makes a great hairline, in a couple of years maybe an ht is needed again. One dont want to use more donor than needed.

[KO]

I thought BUSA was a Hakan fan, what's going on?

[Arrie]

Erdogan, easily.... Hakan has too many concerning threads for me to trust him or the clinic just yet.

[delancey]

Erdogan, without a doubt.

[mosd]

is erdogan this superior? I thought doganay could at least match him?

[HairToday2015]

Erdogan, easily.... Hakan has too many concerning threads for me to trust him or the clinic just yet.

 

Hi Arrie, could you kindly point me to some of these threads? I'll be making a decision over the weekend, and it looks like Erdogan might be my best option for overall satisfaction.

[BUSA]

This is not meant as a slight on you BUSA, nor Dr. Erdogan of whom I'm a fan, but is not in and of itself a point to recommend a surgeon on imo. In fact, it could arguably be the opposite! It's all a matter of context vis-a-vis the patient, surely.

sure if you want a conservative hairline and still look bald I agree. but if u want to look like u don't still need a HT and don't want look like ur in ur mid 50's or early 60's then a more conservative approach is better.

 

I never said that was the end all be all reason to chose a HT surgeon but it sure is paramount for many lookn to achieve that youthful look again. some just want to look their age or have limited donor and prefer a more conservative approach. that works for many but does absolutely nothing for others.

[BUSA]

I thought BUSA was a Hakan fan, what's going on?

I still think he does good work but if I had to chose then Erdogan is just better imo.

 

a few bad cases here and there for someone who probably posts more threads then anyone else is not alarm for concern for me. its the law of averages. seen the best in the world from time to time have unhappy patients. can't avoid the X factor many patients exhibit.

 

u don't see any ppl complain about Lorenzo but then again u see a Lorenzo post maybe once every couple months or so and its usually for smaller graft procedures. I mean wen was the last time u seen a Lorenzo thread where he had 4500+ grafts? pretty rare.

 

Doganay posts both his great stuff and not so great stuff. to me that shows transparency and that is a great quality in a HT surgeon.

[BUSA]

This is not meant as a slight on you BUSA, nor Dr. Erdogan of whom I'm a fan, but is not in and of itself a point to recommend a surgeon on imo. In fact, it could arguably be the opposite! It's all a matter of context vis-a-vis the patient, surely.

sure if you want a conservative hairline and still look bald I agree. but if u want to look like u don't still need a HT and don't want look like ur in ur mid 50's or early 60's then a more aggressive approach is better.

 

I never said that was the end all be all reason to chose a HT surgeon but it sure is paramount for many lookn to achieve that youthful look again. some just want to look their age or have limited donor and prefer a more conservative approach. that works for many but does absolutely nothing for others.

 

and some just don't have the funds to achieve the desired look so they convince themselves that the more conservative approach is better. it isn't. or they had a conservative HT and now get offended wen others push a more aggressive approach cause they too wish their HT was more aggressive. not says thats you just sayn in general.

 

in fact, a conservative approach is pretty much never better imo cause I have seen NW6 patients with 5000 grafts and seen em with 8000 grafts. both look good but 8000 grafts just gives u more density and therefore looks better. its not rocket science.

 

I've seen guys in their 70's who have the same hair they had wen they were 20 so wen ppl say "that is too aggressive of a hairline for that guy at his age" I just lol....

 

if NO ONE aged and kept a full head of hair then one cud make the argument that being aggressive is not desirable but the fact remains that MILLIONS of men around the world have great hair with a low hairline and densely packed throughout till their a very old man! if one has adequate donor and the ability to pay then the aggressive approach just looks better period!

Edited April 25, 2015 by BUSA

[Squatch]

 

You want hair like Judge Napolitano? I would use his forehead as my donor area.

[Dolph1969]

Agreed.

 

I think you definitely need a surgeon who will create an age appropriate hairline, that compliments your facial/bone structure, rather than someone who uses a "one size fits all" hairline.

[ontop]

I understand this shouldn't be a factor of your choice but what are them Both Drs charging per a graft?

[thatoldchestnut]

sure if you want a conservative hairline and still look bald I agree....in fact, a conservative approach is pretty much never better.

 

In case you missed it:

It's all a matter of context vis-a-vis the patient, surely.

 

If you want a nice low hairline with no recession, sick density and you have ridiculous donor supply, respond well to meds and can afford it: why not? On this we agree, no question. The reality is that for many, it's just not possible.

 

Also, the whole "millions of men" argument falls flat when you consider that many millions more don't have that hair as they age (never mind that you're equating your own personal preference with a universal truth about hair/appearance in general) but that's a different argument entirely. If that's what someone wants and it's realistically obtainable, sure, knock yourself out!

[Yiddo]

Demirsoy and erdogan are the best 2 surgeons in my opinion.

[VectorH]

Demirsoy and erdogan are the best 2 surgeons in my opinion.

 

I'm also in the same boat as the OP trying to choose between a surgeon in Turkey and Dr. Demirsoy, along with Dr. Doganay and Dr. Erdogan has made the final cut, still trying to decide though.

[BUSA]

In case you missed it:

 

If you want a nice low hairline with no recession, sick density and you have ridiculous donor supply, respond well to meds and can afford it: why not? On this we agree, no question. The reality is that for many, it's just not possible.

 

Also, the whole "millions of men" argument falls flat when you consider that many millions more don't have that hair as they age (never mind that you're equating your own personal preference with a universal truth about hair/appearance in general) but that's a different argument entirely. If that's what someone wants and it's realistically obtainable, sure, knock yourself out!

I didn't miss anything. seems to work perfectly fine for just about every Erdogan patient doesn't it? cause just about every patient he works on has a low hairline with incredible density and gives his patients that youthful appearance.

 

and the millions of men argument doesn't fall flat at all. the fact is there are millions of men that have great hair till the day the die practically so if ur a young guy you can have the receding hairline look and look older or opt for the lower hairline and appear younger.

 

if u wanna look old thats ur choice but it certainly isn't the choice of most wanting a HT. the whole "you need a HT that looks ur age" thing is comical!

 

as stated there are millions of men with the same hair they had wen they were young so creating a youthful hairline is not only desirable but improves ones appearance and makes them look younger.

[thatoldchestnut]

You're clearly incapable of comprehending basic English. I'll cease and desist at this point, i think.