First FUE HT: Erdogan Koray or Lorenzo?

[Snowjohn37]

Erdogan or Lorenzo, Lateral slit or Implanter?

 

I know...it's like asking Lamborghini or Ferrari, but I've been reading this forum since 2015 and I still can't make up my mind.

Short story: 37 yo.

All my relatives were NW6 at 35-40 yrs.

My AGA however is almost stable since I was 23 yo, due to Propecia and Minox.

 

Two main concerns/goals:

1. Crown: slowly shedding and expanding, I have to use and abuse Toppik every day.

2. Hairline: quite unnatural already, with severe recession on the temples.

I've had the same obliged haircut during the last 10 yrs, to cover the temples and crown.

I've survived a cancer and just been left by my wife. I'd really like a fresh confident new start.

I'd like to have a single transplant or at least avoid a new one during the next 10 yrs.

 

KORAY - estimated 4000-4500 grafts:

PROs: Agressive but well defined hairlines, huge density, megasessions, cost.

CONs: Relatively lack of evidence on crown/between natives HTs (permanent shock loss reported). Sometimes funny graft directions and multi grafts in the HLs. Sometimes unethical use of the donor?

 

LORENZO - estimated 3000-3500 grafts:

PROs: Very natural hairlines with focus on hair direction, proved results on crown-natives.

CONs: Sometimes lacking of density (due to the implanter size?), very conservative hairlines, many patients reported two HTs, cost (25% more).

 

These are only my considerations and I could be completely wrong.

Anyway both Doctors are THE masters of FUE, providing unbelievable results.

 

Which is the best for my case?

I need your help guys, be kind, any suggestion would be really appreciated!

Please don't answer: Koray for hairline and Lorenzo for crown

Edited September 2, 2017 by Snowjohn37

[JayLDD]

I feel like you answered your own question in a way considering you're looking for a one and done approach. Koray's hairline work is consistently stronger (and typically more aggressive if that is what you are interested in) and he excels at the larger scale single FUE sessions, as opposed to Lorenzo who likes to work slowly and perfect things over multiple surgeries.

 

I also disagree completely about the "unethical" comment about Erdogan's donor management. As someone who went to him and did significant research across probably at least a thousand of his cases, I didn't see a single person who had maxed out their donor or had it visibly eaten away. If anyone has any hard evidence against this, they should present visual evidence or an unsatisfied patient to prove this rather than simply complain about the numbers.

 

Considering your losses are not excessive, appear to be only in the norwood 5 area, your donor looks very strong and you are relatively stable in terms of losses, I would opt for a more aggressive approach with Erdogan, especially considering you're looking for a one and done.

 

In saying that, I think you'd get fantastic results and service Lorenzo too, but you're less likely to be satisfied after a single surgery with that graft count. If you were prepared to spread things across two surgeries I think it would be a closer contest.

[mikeyhwk]

Choosing between these 2 docs comes down to preference, not only are they both at the top of the fue food chain, they're at the top of the list of transplant docs using either tech. Both think incredibly highly of each other as well, walk into Lorenzos clinic and you will see letters to Dr Lorenzo from Dr Erdogan thanking him for helping Dr Koray elevate his technique and I haven't been to Erdogans clinic but i know Dr Lorenzo has been there to learn from Dr Koray as well. Few docs have given back to the transplant community as much as these 2 in terms of teaching and training other docs so really this is a no lose situation.

 

For your situation, I would get the idea of a one and done at 37 out of your head, you aren't the first guy who was hoping to be a one and done and you won't be the last and they almost universally have the same thing in common, 2nd ops and beyond. Now could you get 10 yrs possibly, depends how your natives hold up and how your hair loss progresses but once you're down this road you're down this road for life so don't make a decision thinking I'm all in now, tho even if that were your plan neither of these docs would think that way so it's really a moot point... plan knowing you're going to probably need to touch up again...and again...and possibly again, it sucks but it's reality.

 

Now I agree with JLB in saying i don't think Dr Erdogan acts in an unethical manner, what both Dr Lorenzo and Dr Koray have in common is that they use the coverage value system and they know very accurately how many grafts they can use without creating any glaring obvious signs of depletion so they know roughly where your progression is going and how many lifetime grafts you got, then it comes down to dr approach, there is no question that Dr Koray is willing to go deeper into you grafts earlier more consistently but that isn't bad per se as he still isn't overspending as he has all the info to know how many grafts you can use and will need going forward but it is up to you to decide for yourself if you see that as a positive or a negative as it has elements of both. The way I personally saw it, I like the smaller procedure approach, one smaller procedures are less traumatic and have a track record for providing better results, not that larger procedures mean failure but smaller procedures just are easier on the body so I like to err on the side of giving myself the best chance for success, you can address problems as they arise, and if there are flaws or improvements needed you can always address it as needed...ie if you do 2.5k grafts on the hairline and you have a gap and a spot that needs a few more grafts and go back in and fill another 500 grafts it's fixed and you know you got the result you want and you're sitting at 3k...if you go 3 k from jump looking for a super dense result, the hope is since you're using more grafts off the bat you won't get any flaws but there is always flaws, it's a transplant it's not native hair so 3k for 3k you'll likely end up further ahead going slower so personally I like the use what you need and then keep improving route but it's not the quick route, it's not flashy, frankly it's a pain in the ass to have to keep shaving your hair down so there are definite pros and cons

 

Where I will disagree with JLB is on the dr Koray is consistently stronger, nobody does better with less grafts than Dr Lorenzo, he is the master of coverage and yield in fue, I think he gets the best results in the world graft for graft but that is why I'm a Lorenzo patient and he's a Koray patient lol...but end of the day we both ended up with the 2 best docs in the fue game imo.

[Snowjohn37]

Thank you all so much, this forum is pure gold!

I had both points of you, Jean for Erdogan and Mikey for Lorenzo, wow

 

Anyway, my apologies if with the sentence "I'd like a single transplant", I have been a bit naive!

The sense was that I wouldn't like to split crown and hairline into two different surgeries, for work reasons mainly.

 

911fan, have you had your hairline done yet?

[lightyears]

Dr Koray... I've just had my online consultation with Dr Koray. I want FUE to the frontal and temple areas. He estimated 2000 to 2300 grafts.