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ASMED - 4105 grafts on 14-15 July - 13 photos before/during/after


echoes

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SUMMARY

 

4105 graft FUE performed over two days (About two weeks ago, 14th and 15th July) to restore my hairline and reinforce the mid-scalp and vertex. Dr. Erdogan strongly recommended staying on Finasteride to maintain density in the vertex, and that is my plan for the foreseeable future.

 

Day 1:

• 2000 grafts placed in hairline (density of 50 FU/cm2 over an area of 40cm2)

Day 2:

• 1200 grafts placed in mid-scalp (density of 24 FU/cm2 over an area of 50cm2)

• 900 grafts placed in vertex (density of 18 FU/cm2 over an area of 50cm2)

 

So you can see what my hair was like, with receding hairline and loss of density throughout:

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And here is a photo they took during extraction where you can see the three recipient areas marked (hairline, mid-scalp, and vertex)

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MY BACKGROUND

 

I am 31 years old. Hair loss started around 20 or 21, and I started on Finasteride by 22. I have taken it consistently since then, for awhile doing 1.25mg/day. For awhile I was dissolving Proscar in alcohol to get a solution and I experimented with lower doses (as low as 0.2mg once every three days. I think that dosage was less effective for me, though I can’t say I studied it rigorously. In the weeks before my FUE I ramped back up to 1.25 mg/day, and plan to stay at this dose for at least the next 15 months as I understood this time after the FUE to be critical. After that point I might try again to lower my dose, though probably not as much as before.

 

CHOOSING ASMED

 

Advice on this forum was very useful; ASMED stood out for quality and price-competitiveness. I had two online consultations done:

• Dr. Feriduni quoted 2500-3500 grafts for the hairline and mid-scalp

• Dr. Erdogan quoted 3400-3800 grafts for the hairline and mid-scalp

Both clinics have great reputations and undoubtedly do great work, at this point the price difference was too much to ignore. Making the decision even easier was that ASMED could schedule me in at a perfect date so I confirmed with ASMED.

 

COMMUNICATION AND LOGISTICS

 

My emails to the clinic were all handled by Sema, who would be my point of contact before, during, and after the procedure. She was by my side during the procedure to take care of any need, translate when needing to communicate with the technicians, etc.

 

The arrival was quite easy: the ASMED driver picked me up at the airport and drove me straight to the clinic. Depending on when you arrive, you might have your consultation immediately, or maybe not until the next day. I arrived at 7pm so no consultation that day. Instead, once I was in the ASMED car the driver had me speak by phone with Sema so that she could ask me what food I wanted for dinner.

As you may know, you have two options for accommodation: the clinic itself, and the nearby Radisson Hotel. I recommend the following:

 

• For the nights before, during, and one night after the procedure I strongly recommend staying in the clinic. I did this, and was so glad. After sitting in the same position for hours, having thousands of holes poked in your scalp, what a relief it is to just go up a few floors and be able to lie on a hospital bed that you can recline perfectly. I was exhausted and wouldn’t want to imagine having to get into a car (even for just the five minute drive) and go into a hotel, call room service, etc. It is just far more comfortable and safe to be right in the clinic during those few critical days.

I wish I took some photos to show you guys, but the room in the clinic looks basically like a nice business hotel room (Starwood, Hilton, etc.), but with a hospital bed instead of a hotel bed. You have breakfast and lunch downstairs, and dinner they will order whatever you want and bring it to your room. Every afternoon they bring you a nice healthy snack of things like watermelon, hazelnuts, etc.

 

• The day after the surgery I went down from my room to the clinic for removal of the bandage on the donor area and hair-washing. I then packed up my things and they dropped me off at the Radisson, where I stayed for 3-4 nights. It was nice to be in a hotel, so I felt a little bit more in the real world. While here I basically just laid around doing post-op care (dealing with swelling, spraying ATP every hour), reading, and ordering room service.

 

• Once my swelling was totally gone and I felt I had a bit more energy, I checked out of the Radisson and moved into an Airbnb on the European side of the city. This I did because I wanted to stick around for about 10 days before flying.

 

While on the point of logistics, the recent terror attack and coup attempt in Turkey might give some of you second thoughts but honestly I don’t think you should worry. The clinic is on the Asian side of the city, quite far away from anything touristic or that could be considered a target. The coup attempt happened the night after my procedure was finished and I slept through everything (other than being woken up in the middle of the night by loudspeaker announcements to loyalists to take to the streets)

 

CONSULTATION

 

This consisted of some photos, basic medical tests, analysis of my follicles, and also blasting my face and hair with some laser that apparently helps them make calculations for the hairline. Then I met with Dr. Koray Erdogan, who was really very friendly. We discussed a few things such as:

 

• My use of Finasteride, and he asked if I was willing to continue with it. He was quite glad to hear that I was planning to stick with it.

 

• My vertex. From the online consultation based on the photos I sent, he thought that my loss in the vertex was miniaturization and could be controlled with Finasteride. But in person he saw that part of the loss there was actual hair loss so he asked if I might be alright going above the 3400-3800 graft quotation to do 4100 grafts, in order to transplant some there.

 

• My expectations, and plan for future loss. In looking at my photos and asking me about family hairloss, Dr. Erdogan suggested that I might be progressing towards Norwood VI eventually. He calculated a donor capacity of 8100 grafts so we briefly discussed what a future procedure might look like. Here I wish I had pushed a bit more for calculations on surface area and follicle density, so that I could understand in a more quantified way what a second procedure in years to come might look like.

 

PROCEDURE

 

Here is where some people criticize ASMED as Dr. Erdogan is not personally involved in every step. As you may have read elsewhere, his role is to plan the transplant, design the hairline, and make the incisions. You may be uncomfortable that the doctor does not do the extractions or transplantation, but the clinic’s results speak for themselves.

 

For the extraction, they used 0.7mm punches for the parietal/side and 0.9mm for the occipital/rear. I had planned to pay the EUR300 for the optional PRP treatment but they threw it in for me.

 

After first day of procedure:

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After both days were finished:

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Donor area after both days:

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RECOVERY

 

Day 1 after procedure: They gave me some Advil for pain but I took my last Advil this morning and didn’t use any after then. Swelling starts to appear by the end of the day in the forehead. Sleeping on the neck pillow sucks, especially with the donor area still raw and a bit sore.

 

Days 2-4: swelling moves down my face, and I pass through distinct phases, looking first like some random alien in a low-budget sci-fi with a bulbous head, and then later on looking like some brute who’s had his face bashed in at the pub a few too many times. During this time I figured out the neck pillow would be more comfortable if I have it barely inflated, so that the central part where my head rests has no air in it, but there is air in the sides, so that in case my head turns sideways it gets stopped and cushioned.

 

Days 5-8: Swelling is gone; at this time thousands of tiny scabs fall off the donor wounds. Some scabs in the recipient area start falling off.

 

Day 5 photos:

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Day 9: The recipient scabs all feel loose so today while shampooing I rubbed them all off.

 

Day 9 (before removing scabs):

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Day 10:

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Day 17:

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Day 21:

Now in the ugly duckling phase as shedding has started but redness has yet to really fade. They told me my skin is a bit sensitive so my redness is a bit worse than would be typical. And the high density implanted into the hairline makes it worse.

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4 weeks out:

Really in ugly duckling phase now as most of the transplanted hairs have fallen out. Luckily the redness seems to have started to fade. I tried to manage lighting conditions in these photos but I have moved over the past week so I couldn't keep things identical. (will happen again in a few weeks as I'm just in an airbnb while I search for a permanent apartment).

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And now here I am popping biotin and MSM to try to get these hairs to sprout up a little more quickly (in addition to Finasteride of course). I have to admit to being a bit nervous, worrying about sunburn from 90 minutes spent outside even though I was wearing a hat, etc. I suppose the best thing to do at this stage is to try to not overthink things, and just be patient.

 

I know this was long, but hopefully it helps some of you. I have a huge debt to this forum from the many, many detailed posts here so I’m hoping that my experience can give someone else here the confidence to go for it and do it!

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Edited by echoes
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Excellent post echoes and looking great so far, wish you speedy recovery.

 

I'm strongly considering asmed and your post is certainly very helpful in making final decision. Would you mind sharing a before picture of hairline from the front to compare the work? And did you trim the sides and back already to match top and front or is it just growing slowly? I'm planning to take 3 weeks off work and wondering how long before I get to push hair forward to cover the redness of transplanted area.

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Thanks hkuser for your reply. I edited my original post to add in two photos showing the hairline from the front.

 

I have not yet trimmed the sides or anything. If your recovery speed is anything like mine, after three weeks the redness will still be plainly obvious, both because the scalp is still quite pink and also because the hair is still too short to cover it. Also, right now some of the transplanted hair has started falling out. That in itself doesn't worry me as I know it's normal, but it certainly isn't helping me to mask the redness. I wish I had a solution for that...

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SUMMARY

 

4105 graft FUE performed over two days (About two weeks ago, 14th and 15th July) to restore my hairline and reinforce the mid-scalp and vertex. Dr. Erdogan strongly recommended staying on Finasteride to maintain density in the vertex, and that is my plan for the foreseeable future.

 

 

Great post Echoes. Things are looking really good 17 days on and other that a very little bit of redness, you can't see anything has been done in the donor area. Hopefully this will be another great result from ASMED.

 

I'm actually booked in with ASMED myself on Tue 11th Oct so I always get excited when I see new posts by ASMED clients. Your suggestion of staying at the clinic has also got me reconsidering my original choice of staying at the Radisson. You mentioned the hospital type bed, do you think it made it easier to sleep? I'm assuming you could adjust the bed so that you were in an upright postion? I am only staying an exta 2 1/2 days after the surgey (surgery Tues, flying home early Friday morning) so I'm a little worried about the swelling and what i'll look like. What day did your swelling start to subside? I see you are now taking biotin and MSM, how soon after surgey did you start those?

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Great post Echoes. Things are looking really good 17 days on and other that a very little bit of redness, you can't see anything has been done in the donor area. Hopefully this will be another great result from ASMED.

 

Yes I'm really pleased with how the donor area has healed! The recipient area on the other hand is still quite red (more so than the photos suggest).

 

I'm actually booked in with ASMED myself on Tue 11th Oct so I always get excited when I see new posts by ASMED clients. Your suggestion of staying at the clinic has also got me reconsidering my original choice of staying at the Radisson. You mentioned the hospital type bed, do you think it made it easier to sleep? I'm assuming you could adjust the bed so that you were in an upright postion?

 

The hospital bed definitely made it easier to sleep, because yes you can adjust the position. However for me the main advantage of sleeping in the clinic is proximity. After a long day of surgery I was exhausted, and how nice it was to just go up a few floors, vs. having to get in a car to get to my hotel.

 

I am only staying an exta 2 1/2 days after the surgey (surgery Tues, flying home early Friday morning) so I'm a little worried about the swelling and what i'll look like. What day did your swelling start to subside? I see you are now taking biotin and MSM, how soon after surgey did you start those?

 

If your swelling is similar to mine, you will look very swollen on that flight. My swelling started the afternoon after surgery, so Wednesday afternoon for you. Swelling was then pretty bad for the following 3-4 days. I don't see any safety issue with you traveling then though. However our cases may not be comparable. Consider though that I had a two-day surgery with 4105 grafts and your procedure is just over one day, so far fewer injections of anesthetic, far less trauma to the scalp, etc. so I imagine you should have less swelling than I did. How many grafts are you getting?

 

I started biotin a few days before the surgery, reasoning that maybe it would need a few days to start having an effect and I wanted my hair to regrow as quickly as possible after being shaved down. It was then about two weeks after surgery when I decided to add MSM, but I see no reason why you couldn't start it sooner. ASMED's instructions give no restrictions on supplements after surgery, and if I remember correctly, they also don't restrict supplements before either, but you may want to double check that.

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Great write up though the part about not worrying because the coup only woke you up briefly on the night of your procedure is quite funny/ironic when you read it in context. "The coup? Briefly woke me up while my head was bleeding from post-surgery, but it was just the military inciting the citizens to take to the streets and overthrow the government so I went back to sleep since I'm just a tourist". :) Balls of steel my man.

 

Dr. E is still head and shoulders at the head of my short-list but I have to say the situation is a stressful one to consider fro something ultimately as trite as a HT. I'm going to keep my eye on that situation carefully, right now they Government is using the US as a scapegoat to blame the coup on so I imagine anti-American sentiment is at an all-time high. Being in a non-tourist area should help no doubt but getting into, out of, from and to the Airport sounds stressful to me.

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Great write up though the part about not worrying because the coup only woke you up briefly on the night of your procedure is quite funny/ironic when you read it in context. "The coup? Briefly woke me up while my head was bleeding from post-surgery, but it was just the military inciting the citizens to take to the streets and overthrow the government so I went back to sleep since I'm just a tourist". :) Balls of steel my man.

 

LOL!! Less balls of steel, and more just me being clueless and tired. Over the days I had been there I was used to the nearby mosque broadcasting the call to prayer five times a day as usual. That Friday night during the coup attempt, I just remember waking up confused wondering why there was a call to prayer in the middle of the night and why the broadcast was taking so long!

 

I was entirely clueless that it was to do with a coup. Also, the broadcasts weren't from the military to support the coup, but from loyalists encouraging citizens to take to the streets to show their support for the current government.

 

Dr. E is still head and shoulders at the head of my short-list but I have to say the situation is a stressful one to consider fro something ultimately as trite as a HT. I'm going to keep my eye on that situation carefully, right now they Government is using the US as a scapegoat to blame the coup on so I imagine anti-American sentiment is at an all-time high. Being in a non-tourist area should help no doubt but getting into, out of, from and to the Airport sounds stressful to me.

 

You are right, the situation should be monitored. I guess I am less worried because:

1) I live in Boston, in the US, where I am far more likely to be a victim of violence than in Turkey or in most countries in the world.

2) Random acts of violence strike anywhere. I did my FUE as part of a longer trip visiting family in Europe. I have an uncle and aunt living near Nice and I almost went there on this trip. And look what happened there.

 

I think getting a transplant done is a big choice about who you are and what you want to be, and I wouldn't want people to deny themselves that out of fear.

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Also, the broadcasts weren't from the military to support the coup, but from loyalists encouraging citizens to take to the streets to show their support for the current government.

 

Right my bad on that it was in fact a call to deCoup. Still scary

 

 

=

1) I live in Boston, in the US, where I am far more likely to be a victim of violence than in Turkey or in most countries in the world.

2) Random acts of violence strike anywhere. I did my FUE as part of a longer trip visiting family in Europe. I have an uncle and aunt living near Nice and I almost went there on this trip. And look what happened there.

 

I think getting a transplant done is a big choice about who you are and what you want to be, and I wouldn't want people to deny themselves that out of fear.

 

Agreed mostly. However a random act of violence from say a mugger is not the same as a random targeted act of violence because you are an American/European. I don't know if you read what actually happened in the concert hall in Paris but is beyond disturbing.

 

I am still on the fence as to whether to take the chance; I LOVE Dr. E's work and his clinic seems like Star Trek vs the others so when I'm ready to finally book I'll need to both monitor and weigh carefully. I will see if some other patients have a decent experience there in the next few weeks.

 

I'm not super sold on any US surgeons yet; Dr. Diep has some home runs without a doubt but it seems like it can be hit or miss with him AND he won't do > 2500 single-day session whereas I don't want to split my 4k session up. I'm looking at Dr. Vories and Dr. Arocha here in the US, again not sure if they get the same yields and hairlines. I def want someone who can do natural dense hairlines, temple points, etc. Last option is back to one of the two European stars, Dr. Lorenzo or Dr. Feriduni.

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Right my bad on that it was in fact a call to deCoup. Still scary

 

Oh absolutely! I didn't mention it to be critical of you, just wanted to clarify the detail of the event that night. But you're right, scary.

 

 

 

Agreed mostly. However a random act of violence from say a mugger is not the same as a random targeted act of violence because you are an American/European. I don't know if you read what actually happened in the concert hall in Paris but is beyond disturbing.

 

I am still on the fence as to whether to take the chance; I LOVE Dr. E's work and his clinic seems like Star Trek vs the others so when I'm ready to finally book I'll need to both monitor and weigh carefully. I will see if some other patients have a decent experience there in the next few weeks.

 

I'm not super sold on any US surgeons yet; Dr. Diep has some home runs without a doubt but it seems like it can be hit or miss with him AND he won't do > 2500 single-day session whereas I don't want to split my 4k session up. I'm looking at Dr. Vories and Dr. Arocha here in the US, again not sure if they get the same yields and hairlines. I def want someone who can do natural dense hairlines, temple points, etc. Last option is back to one of the two European stars, Dr. Lorenzo or Dr. Feriduni.

 

Yeah... no need to rush things, wait and see how the situation evolves in Turkey and what other patients experience over the weeks and months to come. If you really like Dr. Erdogan's results then I'm sure it'll be worth it to you to wait for things to calm down. Maybe book yourself in for a few months from now. Worst case scenario you could cancel the appointment, with enough notice and not lose your deposit.

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The hospital bed definitely made it easier to sleep, because yes you can adjust the position. However for me the main advantage of sleeping in the clinic is proximity. After a long day of surgery I was exhausted, and how nice it was to just go up a few floors, vs. having to get in a car to get to my hotel.

I'm guessing Asmed have already booked my room, I might just stick with the Radisson as I like the idea of having access to the hotel facilities like room services etc but I might toy with the idea of staying just the night of the surgery at the clinic. Do they have good wifi? :D

 

If your swelling is similar to mine, you will look very swollen on that flight. My swelling started the afternoon after surgery, so Wednesday afternoon for you. Swelling was then pretty bad for the following 3-4 days. I don't see any safety issue with you traveling then though. However our cases may not be comparable. Consider though that I had a two-day surgery with 4105 grafts and your procedure is just over one day, so far fewer injections of anesthetic, far less trauma to the scalp, etc. so I imagine you should have less swelling than I did. How many grafts are you getting?

I'm having 2700 grafts. As you say, you had two days of injections, ec so I'm hoping that my swelling isn't too bad, if only so I don't look too freaky on the plane. Safety wise its fine, the clinic advises you can fly home the following afternoon if you want. Although I have read that flying does make it temporarily worse.

I started biotin a few days before the surgery, reasoning that maybe it would need a few days to start having an effect and I wanted my hair to regrow as quickly as possible after being shaved down. It was then about two weeks after surgery when I decided to add MSM, but I see no reason why you couldn't start it sooner. ASMED's instructions give no restrictions on supplements after surgery, and if I remember correctly, they also don't restrict supplements before either, but you may want to double check that.

I'll double check. I was going to stop all supplements, vitamins, etc a week before. I am currently taking Biotin (when I remember) but no MSM yet, makes sense to add them into the mix, even if they only make a small difference.

 

How are things now? Have you had my shedding yet?

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Agreed mostly. However a random act of violence from say a mugger is not the same as a random targeted act of violence because you are an American/European. I don't know if you read what actually happened in the concert hall in Paris but is beyond disturbing.

ITA and to be honest I was thinking along the same lines immediately after the Airport attack and attempted coup. However, realistically the odds of getting caught up in any attacked are extremely low, plus the clinic is in the Asian side and is apparently in a quieter non tourist area. As for anti-American sentiment, I don't believe that is a concern, certainly not seen any actual reports of Americans or Europeans getting abuse or anything. Plus there are lots of ways you can reduce the risks if you have concerns. If you don't do any sightseeing then other than getting picked up at the airport you could essentially have no contact with the general public other than hotel and clinic staff who would obviously be nothing but polite and welcoming. Even before the Airport attack and attempted coup I was unsure if I'd do any proper sightseeing, but now, after recent events I've decided that I'll basically spend the entire 5 days either at the hotel or the clinic, reducing any risk further. I'm also flying into the smaller Sabiha G?k?en Airport and not Atat?rk, so its also only 30 mins from the hotel/clinic and it means you arrive into the Asian side away from the main tourist attractions.

 

I am still on the fence as to whether to take the chance; I LOVE Dr. E's work and his clinic seems like Star Trek vs the others so when I'm ready to finally book I'll need to both monitor and weigh carefully. I will see if some other patients have a decent experience there in the next few weeks.

 

I def want someone who can do natural dense hairlines, temple points, etc.

 

This is my whole reason for choosing Asmed/Dr Erdogan. I'd say do not rule out Asmed just on the basis of some of the recent troubles. Sure if something else happens, then yes you might want to reconsider but as things stand I think its safe to fly there and get the treatment particularly if you actively reduce your risks.

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I'm guessing Asmed have already booked my room, I might just stick with the Radisson as I like the idea of having access to the hotel facilities like room services etc but I might toy with the idea of staying just the night of the surgery at the clinic. Do they have good wifi? :D

 

 

I'm having 2700 grafts. As you say, you had two days of injections, ec so I'm hoping that my swelling isn't too bad, if only so I don't look too freaky on the plane. Safety wise its fine, the clinic advises you can fly home the following afternoon if you want. Although I have read that flying does make it temporarily worse.

 

I'll double check. I was going to stop all supplements, vitamins, etc a week before. I am currently taking Biotin (when I remember) but no MSM yet, makes sense to add them into the mix, even if they only make a small difference.

 

How are things now? Have you had my shedding yet?

 

Don't worry about them having already made the booking. My coordinator Sema was really great about making last-second changes to the bookings, sometimes even changes the day of. I think ASMED's deal with Radisson gives them great flexibility to make these changes without penalty. And again, I really think the night after surgery you'll appreciate the proximity of the clinic. Wifi there worked well.

 

I have started shedding, meanwhile the redness hasn't really faded so it's pretty obvious now. I just edited the original post to add some photos at day 21 post-op so you can see what I mean.

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Have you been using aloe vera gel to try and reduce the redness? The thought of going back to work like this after 3 weeks scares the hell outta me, specially coz I cant wear a cap... Guess no choice though, have to bite the bullet and tough through 4-5 weeks before hairs grow a bit long and redness reduces.

 

Thanks again for sharing pics and all the details, very helpful and keep it coming. Cheers

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Don't worry about them having already made the booking. My coordinator Sema was really great about making last-second changes to the bookings, sometimes even changes the day of. I think ASMED's deal with Radisson gives them great flexibility to make these changes without penalty. And again, I really think the night after surgery you'll appreciate the proximity of the clinic. Wifi there worked well.

 

I have started shedding, meanwhile the redness hasn't really faded so it's pretty obvious now. I just edited the original post to add some photos at day 21 post-op so you can see what I mean.

Does look red, is it sore? Hopefully it settles down in the next week or so. How soon did you feel back to yourself after the surgery? Are you back at work? Did you tell everyone? I was kinda hoping to keep it on the down low myself but I do worry that mine is going to be too obvious, especially with such a short hair cut too. Might attempt to use the sunburn excuse for a week or so :D

 

As for the hotel. I've actually emailed the clinic this morning to see if I can have a room at the clinic for just the evening of my surgery. Might even pay for the Radisson on the same night so I don't have to check in and out again.

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Have you been using aloe vera gel to try and reduce the redness? The thought of going back to work like this after 3 weeks scares the hell outta me, specially coz I cant wear a cap... Guess no choice though, have to bite the bullet and tough through 4-5 weeks before hairs grow a bit long and redness reduces.

 

Thanks again for sharing pics and all the details, very helpful and keep it coming. Cheers

 

I have been using aloe vera gel, though on average just twice a day. If I were more aggressive with aloe vera maybe it would help a tiny bit, but no care routine can change the fact that I have sensitive skin and I got a very high graft density at the hairline...

 

Good news for you is that if you know your skin isn't particularly sensitive and you are getting fewer grafts/lower density then I think your redness should be much less than mine, hopefully.

 

Glad you find my experience helpful! I will keep taking photos periodically (and I will try to be more consistent about lighting than I have been...) to update.

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Does look red, is it sore? Hopefully it settles down in the next week or so. How soon did you feel back to yourself after the surgery? Are you back at work? Did you tell everyone? I was kinda hoping to keep it on the down low myself but I do worry that mine is going to be too obvious, especially with such a short hair cut too. Might attempt to use the sunburn excuse for a week or so :D

 

As for the hotel. I've actually emailed the clinic this morning to see if I can have a room at the clinic for just the evening of my surgery. Might even pay for the Radisson on the same night so I don't have to check in and out again.

 

The recipient area has no soreness at all, and hasn't had any pain since right after the procedure. I do feel very frequent tingling sensations, occasionally even feeling like a little sting. Those sensations reassure me of scalp healing and rebuilding. By the way, the donor area, even though by now it looks fine has periodic itching.

 

I felt back to myself around day 5. That was when the swelling was basically gone so my face looked normal, and donor area soreness was no longer bothering me when I laid down to sleep.

 

In terms of other people seeing it, I've been lucky in that I have had a bit of time off before starting a new job in late September so I've been able to avoid that issue.. However I did go on a week-long trip with my parents that we do once a year. My mother made fun of me for my very short haircut, then she noticed the redness which I said was a burn and she let it go at that. We are much more sensitive about our appearance than other people.

 

There were a few people who I was open with about it and they were totally cool with it:

-a girl I was dating a few months ago at the time I was deciding it. She didn't think it strange or anything.

-a friend of mine from Istanbul that I met up with a few days after the procedure. At that point with the grafts not yet fully in place and scabs still on the scalp, it would be unhealthy for the grafts to be covered with a hat all evening so I told him about it, and he was very casual about it, remarking how many foreigners were coming to Istanbul for this. While we were at an open air bar he ran into a friend of his from Istanbul... who it turns out also did FUE a few years ago!

 

I think I have at least another week or two of looking awkward. I will try to wear a hat as much as I can, and where I can't try to pass it off as a burn. Yes, everyone who found out has been cool, but somehow we still just want to keep this to ourselves don't we?

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I felt back to myself around day 5. That was when the swelling was basically gone so my face looked normal, and donor area soreness was no longer bothering me when I laid down to sleep.

 

In terms of other people seeing it, I've been lucky in that I have had a bit of time off before starting a new job in late September so I've been able to avoid that issue.. However I did go on a week-long trip with my parents that we do once a year. My mother made fun of me for my very short haircut, then she noticed the redness which I said was a burn and she let it go at that. We are much more sensitive about our appearance than other people.

 

There were a few people who I was open with about it and they were totally cool with it:

-a girl I was dating a few months ago at the time I was deciding it. She didn't think it strange or anything.

-a friend of mine from Istanbul that I met up with a few days after the procedure. At that point with the grafts not yet fully in place and scabs still on the scalp, it would be unhealthy for the grafts to be covered with a hat all evening so I told him about it, and he was very casual about it, remarking how many foreigners were coming to Istanbul for this. While we were at an open air bar he ran into a friend of his from Istanbul... who it turns out also did FUE a few years ago!

 

I think I have at least another week or two of looking awkward. I will try to wear a hat as much as I can, and where I can't try to pass it off as a burn. Yes, everyone who found out has been cool, but somehow we still just want to keep this to ourselves don't we?

 

I think you are right, most people will probably be quite facinated and think its quite cool. I actually don't mind telling people and if I'm honest I'm one of those people that slightly enjoys the attention (I blame it on middle child syndrome :) ) but I also have a fairly prominent role in the office so while I don't mind being open about it (my family and all my team at the office already know I'm going to have it done), I equally don't want to be the 'talk' of the office. I've planned it so that I have 12 days post surgey to heal before going back to work so I might just make a judgement on that Monday morning as to whether I can get away with it, although even if I'm lucky to have little redness then my super short hair cut will attract some comments.

 

Anyway, hope your redness settles down in the coming days/weeks.

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You started finastride when you were just 22, so did not finasteride save your hair?Did you keep losing and ended up with thinning? What about side effects?

 

Finasteride is more effective at preserving the vertex than the hairline, although it does slow down loss at the hairline.

 

I think you are right, most people will probably be quite facinated and think its quite cool. I actually don't mind telling people and if I'm honest I'm one of those people that slightly enjoys the attention (I blame it on middle child syndrome :) ) but I also have a fairly prominent role in the office so while I don't mind being open about it (my family and all my team at the office already know I'm going to have it done), I equally don't want to be the 'talk' of the office. I've planned it so that I have 12 days post surgey to heal before going back to work so I might just make a judgement on that Monday morning as to whether I can get away with it, although even if I'm lucky to have little redness then my super short hair cut will attract some comments.

 

Anyway, hope your redness settles down in the coming days/weeks.

 

Good luck JustJax! After twelve days it will definitely be obvious without a hat. If I were in your position, maybe that morning I'd just send a quick email to your team with a one sentence explanation. Might be more awkward if you are client-facing in your role.

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Good luck JustJax! After twelve days it will definitely be obvious without a hat. If I were in your position, maybe that morning I'd just send a quick email to your team with a one sentence explanation. Might be more awkward if you are client-facing in your role.

Sorry, missed responding on this. A hat is definately out of the question for me, at least in the office. Thankfully I'm not really client facing although I do have meetings with externals ocassionally. I think I'll just keep meetings of all types to a minimum the first week (hide out in my offce :D ) after which I will be 3 weeks post op and hopefully at the stage where its not obvious.

 

BTW, I took your advice. I am now staying in the clinic on the night of the surgery. They have advised I can stay that night and the following two night (after which I fly home), but for now I have said I'll just go with the one night in the clinic. I think I'd prefer the luxury and facilites of the hotel (room service, wider choice of menu etc).

 

So how are things just over 1 month post op? Still some redness? Anyway issues arisen?

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Sorry, missed responding on this. A hat is definately out of the question for me, at least in the office. Thankfully I'm not really client facing although I do have meetings with externals ocassionally. I think I'll just keep meetings of all types to a minimum the first week (hide out in my offce :D ) after which I will be 3 weeks post op and hopefully at the stage where its not obvious.

 

BTW, I took your advice. I am now staying in the clinic on the night of the surgery. They have advised I can stay that night and the following two night (after which I fly home), but for now I have said I'll just go with the one night in the clinic. I think I'd prefer the luxury and facilites of the hotel (room service, wider choice of menu etc).

 

So how are things just over 1 month post op? Still some redness? Anyway issues arisen?

 

Sounds good! Yes, I would say the morning after surgery when ASMED washes your scalp is a good time for you to move to the hotel for the comforts there that you mentioned.

 

Photos after 4 weeks are in the OP (a few days ago I was able to edit it to upload them). For some reason now I seem to be unable to edit the OP, so here are some photos from this morning, almost 5 weeks out (4 weeks and 5 days...)

 

5b32ee3faad4d_2016-08-1807_49_49.thumb.jpg.f5657471042bcf335e218dc169614201.jpg

 

Still significant redness, though it seems to be improving slowly. An email with my patient coordinator a few days ago reassured me not to worry. I seem to have much worse redness than is average, so your scalp should get back to normal sooner, unless you know that you have sensitive skin.

5b32ee3f95530_2016-08-1807_49_40.thumb.jpg.4d669813832f31c78d7f211d5fdcfa31.jpg

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Sounds good! Yes, I would say the morning after surgery when ASMED washes your scalp is a good time for you to move to the hotel for the comforts there that you mentioned.

 

Photos after 4 weeks are in the OP (a few days ago I was able to edit it to upload them). For some reason now I seem to be unable to edit the OP, so here are some photos from this morning, almost 5 weeks out (4 weeks and 5 days...)

 

[ATTACH]97117[/ATTACH][ATTACH]97118[/ATTACH]

 

Still significant redness, though it seems to be improving slowly. An email with my patient coordinator a few days ago reassured me not to worry. I seem to have much worse redness than is average, so your scalp should get back to normal sooner, unless you know that you have sensitive skin.

 

Looks fine, shame you still have a bit of the redness though. Hopefully that settles down soon. Has anyone said anything to you? Did you have the PRP treatment?

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Looks fine, shame you still have a bit of the redness though. Hopefully that settles down soon. Has anyone said anything to you? Did you have the PRP treatment?

 

I did get PRP. I was planning to spend the €300 on it, but ASMED included it for free. This might be because they describe PRP as optional except for some cases where they say it's mandatory. I'm not sure, but maybe because my surgery was over two days and was relatively big (>4000 grafts) they decided it was mandatory for me and therefore included??

 

I have been lucky with the timing of my operation and have been able to hide well. I just finished a master's degree a few weeks before the FUE and am starting a new job in September, so having a few months off really helped! I am wearing a hat now everywhere I go, but I can't wait for this to end! This afternoon I will wear a cap and go outside to try to get a little sunburn on my face to help blend it LOL.

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Your native mid scalp hairs havent grown much, Is this due to shock loss? Did asmed comment anything on this? Hope atleast sides and back are growing back fast

 

Yeah, I think I have had some shock loss there, no comment on it from ASMED. I'm not too worried about it at this stage. After all, it's something every clinic warns you may happen, and is usually just temporary.

 

Here is my week 6 post-op update.

Still very much in the ugly duckling phase!

 

hkuser since you asked about the side and rear I included a photo of that as well, the photo makes it look thinner on the sides than it really is.

 

The recipient area redness is slowly fading away. To reassure myself I need to look at photos from a week or two ago to realize that yes, the redness is fading, just slowly. And every time I try to convince myself that in just another week or two it'll be gone but who knows. By the way I'm always taking these photos in the morning right when getting up, for consistency. Over the course of the day the scalp gets slightly redder (I suppose due to activity, increased blood pressure and heart rate).

 

I feel like I'm starting to see some translucent fuzz coming up in the recipient area, though maybe it's just my mind playing tricks.

 

Still taking biotin and MSM to try to speed up hair growth to get some more scalp coverage.

5b32ee68944a8_2016-08-2608_54_33.thumb.jpg.9fc160e3833e5bdedc1d33c98ab62a60.jpg

5b32ee68afe8d_2016-08-2608_55_14.thumb.jpg.8128d17f4850a73e3a5fdc14184175ce.jpg

5b32ee68cdd68_2016-08-2609_05_40.thumb.jpg.5d6d0e0746e132f28d2096aeb41a7f37.jpg

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