Regular Member b7ryn Posted July 16, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted July 16, 2015 Hi, After my recent FUE procedure, I was keen to share my experience. I'm 38 with a young family, and was gradually losing hair from around my early-to-mid 20's. It continued into my early 30's and then stopped abruptly (or certainly slowed down dramatically!) towards the back of the crown. This annoyed me for some time, so I decided to do something about it. I spent several months weighing up the various options. Was I suitable? What was the best technique? Reputation of the surgeon? Cost? What's the best overall value for me and my circumstances? I landed on a Turkish surgeon for a series of reasons. Firstly, per head of capita in Europe, they have a large number of reputable and well-regarded surgeons. Many of those surgeons have great write-ups on a number of reputable on-line forums (like this one!). Also, I am in the UK.. so given I believe in general we overpay for cosmetic procedures, they offer good value-for-money out with the UK. I landed on Dr Demirsoy. His results on here are fairly recent, but favourable. He ticked a number of boxes regarding things like, results, “years experience”, affiliations (e.g. IHSRS), personal feedback and cost (yes, it does play a part - despite what others say!). His rep (Clemens) was a little tricky to get a hold of at the start. Mainly, I guess, due to how busy they are. To be fair to him, I was getting responses on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons... so he does get back and is not a regular 9-to-5 guy!. The dates were fine with the Doctor, as I booked well in advance and scheduled for 3 days before my 2 weeks annual leave from work. Here's my story... Day -1 I arrived in Ataturk, and was picked up no problem. The driver was waiting at arrivals and I was taken back to the Asia City Hotel. It was a late arrival (1am local!), but was no issue. The hotel were also fine with that. The hotel room was fine. I travel a bit with work, and I'd class it as an average business hotel. Nothing to write home about, but no problems. Day 0 (Surgery) Woke up, had breakfast. Clemens was there to take me across to the private hospital and meet Dr Demirsoy. A further consultation followed, and we agreed the hairline and went through paperwork and got going. It was all well ran, and involved Dr. Demirsoy carrying out all extract punch holes with a micrometer and his technitians removing the grafts and preserving / counting them. We broke for lunch and continued with the doctor creating the hairline by opening the channels, and his technicians placing the hair in the channels. We were complete by around 5pm, including photos, etc. (attached). Clemens left for Germany, so I was looked after my Musapha, who was a really nice guy. Day 1 I woke up a little sore around the donor area. I could see from the bandage that swelling had started around the top half of the head. Picked up after breakfast around 8.30am by Musafa. Was then to Dr's private clinic and given head wash by Dr's staff, then some more photos. I as given a baseball cap, antibiotics and painkillers.. I said my farewells and was dropped back at the hotel. Hotel allowed checkout at noon, and I was picked up at 1.30pm. Bit of hanging around as my flight home wasn’t till 5.25pm. I noticed a few people in departures sporting "pinhead" looks, probably due to number of people now travelling to Istanbul for this treatment. Week 1 I'm clearly a "sweller", and the swelling lasted till around Day 6. By day 7, the scabs started coming off after starting to apply the lotion more regularly. By day 8, the last of the scabs came off. See Photos. I started Biotin daily. Week 2 Shedding for me kicked in at this point. Averaging around 80 hairs. Still a bit of redness at the front, although not as noticeable. By the end of week 2, a fair amount of hair has been lost. Redness is quite faint, but still there as I've got fair skin. I started minox this week, as per recommendation. Week 3 Back to work! Hair continued to fall out although probably closer to around 40+ hairs.. but it doesn't bother me. I've kept my head (apart from the recipient area) at a buzzcut with a no.1-guard. This has kept it less noticeable for work. I'm nearing the end of week 3 and have lost a fair amount of the hair. As I said, I have no reason not to think it will come back. The redness is still there on the recipient area, although quite faint. I'll post more photos at 4 weeks in the next day few days for anyone interested.... Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted July 16, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 16, 2015 Day 0 and Day 1 Photos.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted July 16, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 16, 2015 Photos for week1, as per original post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted July 16, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 16, 2015 Photos for week2, as per original post... (sorry, they were taken in the evening at home!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted July 16, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 16, 2015 Photos for end of week3.. (a load more light for these!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member feldeghast Posted July 18, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted July 18, 2015 Well done - best wishes for a good outcome. I also attended Dr Demirsoy in May for a procedure of 4000 fue, so it will be interesting watching yours develop. Excellent surgeon and great personal attention by this clinic I felt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member newbie33 Posted July 18, 2015 Senior Member Share Posted July 18, 2015 Hey B7ryn - do you think anyone has noticed you've had a procedure? I've got fair skin and I've roughly told myself I need three weeks off to even get to a hope of avoiding redness being obvious. I'm contemplating all sorts of excuses for having a red, shaved head... It's all here: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/181125-ive-read-entire-forum-so-you-dont-have.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member feldeghast Posted July 18, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted July 18, 2015 I'm slightly swarthy but I found most/all the redness cleared after 2 weeks. No one noticed although they did comment on my shaved head look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member ModernHair Posted July 18, 2015 Senior Member Share Posted July 18, 2015 Looks like it's going to be a great result! Thanks for sharing! 1,792 graft FUE with Dr. James Harris (Denver, Colorado) on April 2-3, 2015 313 graft FUE with Dr. James Harris (Denver, Colorado) on May 3, 2016 to make it perfect!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted July 18, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 18, 2015 Hey B7ryn - do you think anyone has noticed you've had a procedure? I've got fair skin and I've roughly told myself I need three weeks off to even get to a hope of avoiding redness being obvious. I'm contemplating all sorts of excuses for having a red, shaved head... Hey. Yeah, one guy in my work who holidays in Turkey noticed, as he said it's very popular with Turkish men... so I just said I'd had it done and folk were all either not bothered or fairly supportive in work. A few actually said they were considering it, and would watch mine come along. It's becoming less of a taboo tbh. I'm just of the opinion that, if someone asks, I'll tell them and discuss it with them. It's a fairly personal thing, but you'd be able to excuse it, given it's still the summer months and could be excused as sunburn or whatever. Personally, I'd end up tieing myself in more knots by making up excuses, etc... but that's just me! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member newbie33 Posted July 19, 2015 Senior Member Share Posted July 19, 2015 Thanks B7ryn. I'm trying to convince myself I can do it without anyone noticing (or my work colleagues anyway), but I'm sure that's not the case, even if they didn't say anything. Not sure why I want to remain secretive about it. Not to show vanity, perhaps, or admit the 'weakness' in the first place of receding. Hey ho. Good luck with your hair growth! It's all here: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/181125-ive-read-entire-forum-so-you-dont-have.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted July 19, 2015 Senior Member Share Posted July 19, 2015 I think your going to be pleased when this grows in ! Work looks top notch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Dolph1969 Posted September 20, 2015 Senior Member Share Posted September 20, 2015 Any updates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted March 31, 2016 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 31, 2016 Hi, Sorry for the delay in getting back. It's been a journey that has had it's highs and lows, but however it worked out, I felt I owed the others on this site to at least provide an update on how its went since my last updates. I'll post for each month, with a little commentary. Firstly, I've attached a few from Month 4 - the month after the initial shedding phase. As you can see, the hiarline is fairly sparse. I'd say I lost around 80% of the hair, which was rather worrying... Plus, I'd say due to my Scottish skin tone, that the redness lasted a fair bit longer than most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted March 31, 2016 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 31, 2016 Month 5 (and 12 days) A little more progress.! I let it grow in a little, to allow any new growth to keep going underneath. Still relatively thin, but was starting to finally kick off. Starting to also get some thickness back around the sides of my head, which is the first time it's been this long in a few years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted March 31, 2016 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 31, 2016 Month 6 (and 10 days) Again, just getting gradually thicker. Now also able to apply some styling to it, but certainly at a stage where I felt more comfortable with it when out and about. Sorry I was brushing my teeth in the photo - they're the only ones I have for this month.!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted March 31, 2016 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 31, 2016 Month 6 (20 days) Again, in a few weeks I'd noticed a good bit of growth, so thought it was worth photoing at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted March 31, 2016 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 31, 2016 8 months Really darkened now that my overall general hair has thickened and have started styling it regularly, although in these photos, it's just recently towel dried and is a bit wavey. Getting used to having it back now, although still hopeful the growth continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member b7ryn Posted March 31, 2016 Author Regular Member Share Posted March 31, 2016 9months (and 5 days) Most recently from last week just before gettting cut. Feels great, and am very happy that, despite being a bit of a slow burner (compared to some on here!) that the Doctor and his team have came up trumps! Don't get me wrong, the density is clearly not as the back and sides is, which is really just basic maths, I guess... but with how you poisition and style it, and importantly how you take care of it, can make all the difference in my (limited) experience.! I'll report back hopefully at some point to show the full year's results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member ontop Posted March 31, 2016 Senior Member Share Posted March 31, 2016 Looking good there buddy & still some growing left. Love the updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairaway Posted October 19, 2017 Regular Member Share Posted October 19, 2017 any updates? I'm considered Dr. Demirsoy and Dr. Civas for a HT but I'm still not sure sure whether I should just pay more and take the safe choice with Koray Erdogan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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