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Namsak

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Hello fellows.

 

Hope you all are well.

I am 30 years old and plan on flying to Turkey for a hair transplant.

I have started to lose hair in my early twenties. I took Minoxidil for a while but stopped about 4 years ago. I think my hair loss got more severe during the last two or three years but I am not actually even sure. Anyways, after some research, I narrowed my list of options down to 6 clinics/surgeons, and I would like to kindly ask you guys if based on your direct/indirect experience and knowledge, you could give me your opinion on those clinics. For what it’s worth, they are all ISHRS members. Thanks a lot.

 

Dr. Cinik

Dr. Ali Emre Karadeniz

Dr. Ilker Apaydin

Dr. Acar

Dr. Demirsoy

Dr. Tayfun

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Your donor looks weak from the pictures with what looks like some retrograde alopecia going on in the nape region. Saying that, it maybe better to grow your hair out and then take pictures of the donor area to get a better idea of it's quality but from those pictures, it does appear to be thin and the crown appears to be dipping into the classic Norwood 6-7 pattern. 

What are your expectancie's from a HT? In your case, your first port of call should be finasteride (if you are not already on it) in all honestly to see if can help improve things.

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Thank you Fozzie. I appreciate the honest comment. Yeah I was worried about what you said, but was hoping that baldness can't go too far away from what it is in one's early thirties, is that just wrong? 

I sure have naive expectations, and am irrationally driven by hope. I don't know, my expectation are a head full of hair with a natural looking I guess?...😅 I can't help it. Also do you have any opinion ont the above surgeons?

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From what I have seen here, Demirsoy seem to do some real clean work. But I have no experience there.

Do you have bodyhair? How about some body hair, beard and some from the donor area? It would be a process but you can probably get a decent look out of it. I heard  Doganay is an expert in body and beard hair, but I don’t have that experience either.  I just did the usual hair transplant.

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Thanks man. I do have a pretty thick beard. I don't rule out this possibility, but I would leave it as a very last resort I guess given how different beard hair and scalp hair are. Have you also done it in Turkey?

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Thanks man I appreciate it. I actually have been doing that for the last two years, with razor blades every three to four days. I stopped shaving a couple weeks ago in order to send pictures to clinics. Are you saying that because you think I am not a good candidate for a HT?

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On 12/8/2018 at 1:10 PM, Namsak said:

Thanks man. I do have a pretty thick beard. I don't rule out this possibility, but I would leave it as a very last resort I guess given how different beard hair and scalp hair are. Have you also done it in Turkey?

Yeah I got it done with Doganay. I am just waiting. Nearly 2 months now. I won’t be able to see any results for another 3-4 months. 

As a last resort, hairpiece. It’s insane how great and realistic latest hair pieces are.  You can even tell if you are looking very closely. If I ever went bald to a point where it’s bad, I would wear a hairpiece proudly. The old dead raccoon toupee days are over from what I see.

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lol. I can easily understand, and without judging by any means, it id not something for me, I would rather go bald and shave, it's just personal.

But ILtrooper, you're bringing up a point I was thinking a lot about, and this is the question of higher price surgeons. Doganay is out of my budget right now, but could be within my budget in a year or two, after I graduate. So I have this dilemma, how worth it is it to go with a surgeon who charge more? Will I see a significant impact or not? I am not comparing with the very low cost clinics, but rather someone like Demirsoy who charges 1.25€ per graft versus 2€ I think for Dogonay. Do you have an opinion on that? 

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35 minutes ago, Namsak said:

lol. I can easily understand, and without judging by any means, it id not something for me, I would rather go bald and shave, it's just personal.

But ILtrooper, you're bringing up a point I was thinking a lot about, and this is the question of higher price surgeons. Doganay is out of my budget right now, but could be within my budget in a year or two, after I graduate. So I have this dilemma, how worth it is it to go with a surgeon who charge more? Will I see a significant impact or not? I am not comparing with the very low cost clinics, but rather someone like Demirsoy who charges 1.25€ per graft versus 2€ I think for Dogonay. Do you have an opinion on that? 

I don’t really know what determines their pricing but from what I have seen so far, demirsoy is doing some clean work. I would obviously recommend Doganay because I used him and the work itself was very clean and I was happy with everything. However, what matters to me is the end result. If my hair doesn’t grow the way I expect it to, then all that means nothing. 

I am a firm believer of negotiation. Reach out and try and negotiate and see how it goes. 

 

 

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On 12/8/2018 at 5:32 PM, Namsak said:

Thank you Fozzie. I appreciate the honest comment. Yeah I was worried about what you said, but was hoping that baldness can't go too far away from what it is in one's early thirties, is that just wrong? 

I sure have naive expectations, and am irrationally driven by hope. I don't know, my expectation are a head full of hair with a natural looking I guess?...😅 I can't help it. Also do you have any opinion ont the above surgeons?

I've looked at Dr Demirsoy's work and think it generally looks clean and seen a quite a few good results. Dr Cinik also seems to be coming up with good work. Not really looked into the others you've mentioned. As you have more extensive balding, I would have suggested ASMED (even though they charge more per graft) but I think they are more than likely to turn you down as there are question marks over your donor area judging by your pictures.

Focus should be on the frontal area with a HT but I do believe  going by your photos, in your case most reputable surgeons will want you to start taking finasteride first and see if there's any improvement not only on top but also the donor area before performing a procedure.

Finally, you are still young at 30 and your hair loss is very likely to continue. Being in your 30's certainly doesn't mean it has stopped. It may slow down but you can never say with any certainty it has actually stopped, even more so considering you are not on meds. Main concern in your case is whether the sides and back drop.

 

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Thanks a lot guys for you responses, quite helpful, I appreciate it.

Fozzie, I just took the picture below which is a week approximately after the first ones. But even if my donor area looks better, isn't that kinda cheating? Isn't my real potential shown in the first pictures?

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Edited by Namsak
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This might not be what you want to hear but I would suggest going FUT for a few reasons. 1) You are continuing to lose your hair (it won't stop in your early 30s as you are hoping for, sadly) 2) you need to maximise your donor because you are going to need so much coverage up top 3) FUT is cheaper and you are on a budget. For your same budget with FUT, you can either go to a better surgeon for the same money or a similar standard one and get more grafts for the same money. 

I personally don't take meds and will not start but I would suggest either looking into it and making your own mind up about them and/or just waiting another couple of years until you graduate to save money money and have a better idea of what your balding pattern is. Don't go cheap with this. Do it properly.

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TrixGlendevon, thanks man. You are right indeed, this is not the best thing to hear but I know it makes sense. It learnt recently that FUT is usually better for severe baldness and weak donor area, but man that scar...especially with short hair. I will think about it though. Also it's definitely something I don't want to do out of precipitation. I was wondering if paying more meant better. But yea thanks, I sure can wait if it means get a better care.

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This is one of those purchases in life in which you get what you pay for. Given your donor, you cannot afford to mess this up as you may not have the grafts to correct it and do a second procedure (which you will surely need) later on.

If it helps, I have just had FUT done last week and I do not take meds and I also have a high NW pattern. I still have the staples but the incision is pretty much invisible and I am hoping the scar will be the same afterwards. The work is amazingly clean too and I had no redness after 6 days even after 4400 grafts. Do your research and look at as many cases as you can for as many doctors as you can. Do some in-person consultations too with doctors that are outside of your budget as they will typically be the best and will give you better advice. Are you Turkish? Would you consider elsewhere?

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🙏 thanks for the advice.

I am not Turkish. I am french, living in the u.s. for my studies. I focused on Turkey because from what I've seen it seemed to be the place where both affordability and quality can be found together. May I ask you in what country did you have yours? Do you plan on ever cut your hair short in the back?

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Where in the US? There are some top clinics there. Go and have a few in-person consultations and see what they think about your case. I had mine done at Hattingen Hair Clinic in Switzerland. Given my donor (it is very good), if the scar remains like the incision, I think I could reasonably cut it to a number 4 and for it to be unnoticeable. I wouldn't cut it any shorter than that simply because I no longer have that option. In theory though, I shouldn't have need to either though.

I would argue Belgium is where affordability and quality can be found together. I wouldn't have this type of procedure done in a region of the world that wasn't governed by very strict medical standards and ethics (EU, Canada, US) and not in a clinic that doesn't have a myriad of cases online for me to examine.

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You could check out Feller and Bloxham.  They are a very good clinic in your area - they will only do an FUT on you though so the advice will be biased in that respect. In Belgium, check out clinics recommended on this website. Dr Feriduni is, in my opinion, the best there (almost went with him myself - one of the top clinics in the world). The good thing about Dr Feriduni is you have to pay 200+/- euros for the consultation so if you do feel bad about perhaps not going with these clinics, then at least you are paying for their service in his case. He is very, very ethical and will give you very fair advice and is very, very good if you do decide to go with him. I asked him about other clinics and he gave me a very honest and fair assessment. Really cool guy! Another you may consider as he is cheaper than the others but still good (and used to be recommended on this site) is Dr Rudy de Reys, also in Belgium but not in Brussels. He is conservative and only does FUE (so same as Feller and Bloxham in that his advice will be biased as such).

Also, you don't know you won't be getting treated by these clinics yet. They may convince you to save up more money and then go back to them. You may be able to negotiate a discount. Some North American clinics do payment plans. Anything could happen. It is still definitely worth having a consultation with these people - they are among the best for a reason.

In any event, do not just take my word on these clinics. Do some research on them yourself so you are making an informed decision. Some, such as Feller and Bloxham, do educational videos on Youtube. This is a big decision and you need to get it right.

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If you decide to do it, make sure you ask the clinic you choose to meet actual patients who have had both FUT and FUE done so you see it first hand. That will help you make an informed decision and take some of the stress and worry out of the equation.

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Hey man, I would suggest sending current clear photos of all sides of your head to all the Doctors and see what their opinion is, as well as graft and price estimates, then compare them, then check for their patient results on this site as well as YouTube. Good luck.

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