Fue artas

[Der3k7]

I recently contacted Dr. Koray Erdogan from ASMED because I am interested in having a 2nd transplant. My first one was 9 months ago with ARTAS robot from Dr. Shelley Friedman and I feel the yield was lower than what it should have been. Erdogan said I have to actually fly to meet him in person for a consultation because sometimes ARTAS causes too much damage for a 2nd transplant to be possible and he can't tell through pictures and would have to inspect me in person to evaluate possible damage making me inoperable.

 

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of the likelihood that my first ARTAS procedure will cause so much damage that Erdogan will end up refusing to do my 2nd procedure?

[johnp557799]

can you post some pics of your donor area? It should be easy to evaluate when your hair is short.

[Der3k7]

Yeah, I'll have to do it later tonight from my computer. It says the dimensions are not right when I try to upload it from my phone right now.

[JohnCasper]

I’m curious to know the size of the “punch” used to extract the grafts using ARTAS? Can you share that information along with the pictures of your donor areas?

[Der3k7]

Yes, I will share those pics today when I get home form work. I didn't get to last night because I got off late and had to go to the gym and get sleep to wake up early today, I apologize. They should be up this afternoon.

 

The ASMED consultant said Erdogan said he uses a .6-.7mm manual punch while ARTAS uses a 1.2mm punch. I mean, I hear about clinics that use ARTAS doing 2nd procedures on patients all the time, I wouldn't think the developers of the ARTAS system would use a punch size that would damage the donor area in some patients as to make them UNABLE to get a 2nd procedure. Maybe it happens in a minority of patients and Erdogan is just being extra cautious and I will most likely be able to get a 2nd procedure. It just has me worried. I wish I went to ASMED first, instead of Shelly Freidman. I'm also looking at Sharon Keene for the 2nd procedure but would prefer Erdogan.

[Der3k7]

The consultant asked for me to take pics with wet hair and brushed back. There is one where I move my hair to the side so you can see scalp of donor area, but its hard to really tell anything regarding scarring. I am 9 months post-op. I also included one pic that was immediately post-op with my ideal hairline drawn in with photoshop. I also included a another pic with my ideal hairline drawn in white and another with my hair styled normally.

[Der3k7]

Here are some of my recipient area 9 months post op the ARTAS procedure compared with me at 3 months post op. It seems like the yield is low and the corners right between my temple peaks and center hairline seems to have not yielded at all.

 

Thoughts?

[Legend007]

Yield doesn’t look great ..looks see through .. but when it was dry it looks fine .. how many grafts did u get in first transplant ? N if u wanted to lower ur hairline more . Y didn’t u do it the first time ? Well kinda glad u didn’t .. cuz the yield ain’t great n u Would of wasted more grafts .. good luck on ur next procedure .. if u get good yield 2nd time around ur hair should look great

[hsrp10]

Stay away from ARTAS, go with manual FUE and the elite manual FUE masters out there.

 

A repair from Erdogan can correct this.

(those still searching, stay away from ARTAS and robotic FUE, no matter how much you can save. You'll pay the price later!)

[Legend007]

I wanted to do the Artas too when I was first research HT’s but I know better now .. use only MAnual punches .. Artas is actually more expensive it’s $8.50 a graft In California .. don’t be fooled by the marketing of using the latest greatest technology ..nothing beats experience ..

[Der3k7]

Yeah. I wish I had more thoroughly researched and gone with Erdogan the first time. I would have already had a great hair line by now and it would have been cheaper. The doctor I went to was really conservative and insistent that the hairline be asymmetrical, which I disagreed with since I see people with great natural hairlins which are more symmetrical than the line he gave me. He charged me 5.95/graft at a discount from 6.95/graft because when i first saw him he quoted me 5.95 but i didnt get the transplant until 1 year later and his price had increased. He gave me about 2000 in the hairline and 350 in the beard to increase density in a few gaps I had in my beard.

 

How many more grafts would I need from erdogan to lower my hairline several milimeters and make it more flat across and thicken up the crown? 3000?

 

I just hope Erdogan doesn't say I have too much scarring to do a manual procedure on me now.

[jimbrann]

Can you post pics of your donor area immediately post-op?

[Der3k7]

Unfortunately I never took any of those. ASMED says ARTAS usually uses 1.2mm punch but I contacted my clinic and they said they used a .9mm with their ARTAS procedure on me and when I google it it looks like ARTAS has started using .9mm. So, I'm optimistic that once I go in for my in-person consultation with ASMED (they said I have to wait until 15 months post-op for the in-person consultation) that they will see I don't have too much scarring and am able to get a 2nd procedure with them.

[Der3k7]

Is there anything I would be able to do regarding getting a poor result from my first clinic? Like getting a small partial refund? Obviously, I doubt so since results are never guaranteed but I figure I would ask in case anyone happens to know and has heard of that happening before.

[jjsrader]

Is there anything I would be able to do regarding getting a poor result from my first clinic? Like getting a small partial refund? Obviously, I doubt so since results are never guaranteed but I figure I would ask in case anyone happens to know and has heard of that happening before.

I don't believe you'll get a refund - partial or not. He had you sign an agreement. You got probably 60-70% growth of extracted FUE's (though not densely packed) and in that agreement and in the consultation it was probably documented what size punches were used.

 

You had the surgery - he got paid. On to a better doc for your next surgery.

 

Typically if you contact him again you KNOW he or his consults are gonna' tell you let's go for round 2 and offer a bit better pricing or some free grafts.

 

Don't - and move on. Not being harsh here either; just the way the business model works w/avg. to below-avg. hair surgeons.

 

Several of my surgeries back in the 90's were the same type of deal before I stepped up to qualified competent ethical expert surgeons with the help of forums like this one.

[Der3k7]

Yeah I figured. Bummer I'll have to wait even longer to be where I want to be now. Asmed won't see me for consultation until 15 months post op. At least this time on the bright side I guess I'll be able to pay cash rather than finance it.