Regular Member mrknid Posted December 24, 2018 Regular Member Share Posted December 24, 2018 (edited) Hi everyone! I'm a 27 y/o male and after hiding my thinning hairline (which started when I was around 20) for a good two years or so with a hair fiber concealer now I finally took the decision to go for a (hopefully) permanent solution by FUE. It was performed in the clinic of dr. Cinik in Istanbul on 20 December 2018 Starting this topic to keep track of my results! Have seen some impressive results on here and hope I am lucky to get similar results ! Looking forward to the growth phase already! 3200 graftspre op from toppre op sidepre op frontpre op shortened to 5mmdirectly post op3 days post op side3 days post op front/top view I had dr Cinik open the channels. My overall experience with this clinic has been good. Much has been said about this clinic already on this forum and other forums alike. I was well prepared by reading many reviews. Everything was very well arranged from pickup to drop off, taxi was always there on time. All spot on. The days around and of your surgery feel a little protocolized at times and the downside of that is that sometimes you might feel like you are "one of many". But like I said I was prepared by reading reviews and this didn’t bother me. Cinik is nice, we took all the time I needed to discuss questions, draw hairline etc. Staff were nice and post pre and post op communication so far is good. They offer you a 6 or 12 month package of supplements after your surgery but I decided not to buy as I felt it was overpriced. They never pushed me again afterwards to purchase the package. I started finasteride 1mg daily a month prior to surgery and continuing now. No side effects. Also taking multivitamin once daily and 5000mcg of biotin once daily. Looking forward to posting about my progress here! Can't look forward to shedding phase and hope I can go to work in 7-10 days without anyone noticing, as I decided to not tell anyone. Edited December 26, 2018 by mrknid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member VicTNYC Posted December 24, 2018 Senior Member Share Posted December 24, 2018 Good for you for taking action man! Will be following your progress as work and healing looks good from looking at your post-op photos. Happy Growing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member lukeyb1687 Posted December 24, 2018 Senior Member Share Posted December 24, 2018 (edited) I bet you can't wait! Work looks great! What did Dr. Cinik say about your hairloss future? Any reserves in your donor area just in case? Enjoy the next few days as the scabs come off and you get to see your hair...then the shed starts! This journey is like a rollercoaster but you'll be so happy at the end of the ride!! Happy growing man! Edited December 24, 2018 by lukeyb1687 Question added 1 12/2017 - 3500 Grafts- Dr. Emrah Cinik Follow my progress: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Lyubo93 Posted December 26, 2018 Regular Member Share Posted December 26, 2018 (edited) On 12/24/2018 at 11:32 PM, lukeyb1687 said: What did Dr. Cinik say about your hairloss future? Any reserves in your donor area just in case? will the finasteride prevent future hairloss or at least delay it? Edited December 26, 2018 by Lyubo93 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted December 26, 2018 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 26, 2018 (edited) @lukeyb1687 we haven’t talked about that to be honest. Did you speak to him about this ? My donor actually looks quite good already now at day 6 regarding amount of hairs, check the image below. So to me it seems there should be some reserves in case needed. It is just still quite red and dry. I’m hoping really I will never need a second procedure haha. If I can get a similar result to yours I would be so happy and never touch my donor area again. And these scabs, man I want to pick them off now ! But Cinik advises to wait until after 7th washing, which means I can start trying to shower them off this Saturday @Lyubo93 from what I have learnt it slows hair loss especially in remaining hairs that are sensitive to DHT, not so much in donor area as the hairs here are “genetically” less vulnerable to DHT. So I don’t think it will help the transplanted hairs a lot but will assist in preventing future native hair loss, if that makes sense. donor at morning of 6th day I am in doubt a little about whether or not to start using Rogaine (minoxidil) in 1-2 weeks. Any recommendations ? I don’t want my hair to get “used” to the minoxidil as I don’t want to use that forever. Some people say it strengthens the transplanted hairs. Anyone? Secondly, I want to wear a warm winter hat going outside after removing the scabs (instead of the ugly fisherman’s hat). You think that’s OK at day +- 10? Edited December 26, 2018 by mrknid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AK_49 Posted December 26, 2018 Regular Member Share Posted December 26, 2018 Minoxidil would certainly help. It is tedious to have to apply every day, but is worth it. I’ve been using lipogaine brand for about 5 years on my hairline and it has been pretty effective. I’m a NW2 and 27 years old. I plan to continue use. The lipogaine has some other potentially helpful ingredients in it also. Thanks for your post! I’m planning on doing DHI with cinik this coming spring and have been reading up on everything I can find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted December 26, 2018 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 26, 2018 Just contacted Cinik and they advised me to not use it at least 7-8 months after transplant (rationale being the chemicals in it might be bad for soon to become the newborn hairs). So I’ll stay away from minoxidil for now and await results without it first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AK_49 Posted December 27, 2018 Regular Member Share Posted December 27, 2018 Good to know. I was curious how they perform the hairline implants? I understand they draw your hairline, but all the after photos obviously don’t have the marker lines from before. Do they just use the photos with the drawn hairline for a reference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted December 27, 2018 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 27, 2018 Yes they take photos after drawing the hairline which they print and then hang in your operating room, so they must use that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted December 27, 2018 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 27, 2018 Wow! It is exactly one week ago when I had just returned to my hotel in Istanbul with my head covered in bandages. This week has flown by. Redness seems to fade now in both donor and recipient area. The hair in donor is just a bit shorter so I’m thinking about buzzing the non-transplanted area to make it appear more equal. Scabs are loosening up in the recipient area and are starting to fall. Few had broken hairs in them, but luckily no bulbs (follicles) so all seems fine. Tomorrow is my 7th wash so after that I can gently massage the remaining scabs off. Can’t wait ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member lukeyb1687 Posted December 28, 2018 Senior Member Share Posted December 28, 2018 Looking great man!! I waited for the 10 day mark but coconut oil is the best! Gently rub with your fingertips and don't force/pick the scabs. Best thing just take care of your health and it will help with the process (my perspective at least). 12/2017 - 3500 Grafts- Dr. Emrah Cinik Follow my progress: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairlossPA Posted December 29, 2018 Senior Member Share Posted December 29, 2018 looking forward to this result Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted December 30, 2018 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 30, 2018 (edited) Here are my 10 day results. Pretty much all scabs are gone. Redness still present but seems to get better everyday. Few hairs lost in the shower (like 10-15) so far but no signs yet of massive shedding. Applied some hair oil last night for dry skin due to washing with shampoo daily which seems to have worked pretty well. So far so good and happy with what I see. Will need to be reminded of these pictures once I go through my “will the hair ever return?!” phase which should start pretty soon after shedding. Ohhhh I am NOT looking forward to the wait during the ugly duckling stage.... Edited December 30, 2018 by mrknid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted January 3, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 3, 2019 (edited) Hi all! Today I am at 2 weeks. The pain-like sensations in my donor area have almost disappeared now. I have buzzed the donor area to make it more equal which I think has been a good choice. I am just a bit worried about the redness in my recipient area which might raise questions at work. I hoped it would have faded a bit more by now but I guess as a fair skinned person this can take quite some time to heal completely. Because of the redness I’m working from home for a few more days but after this weekend I really have some appointments to attend so that makes me nervous a little bit. Have tried to conceal the redness a bit using hair fiber / make up powder but it doesn’t really do the trick and I’m afraid it might be bad for the healing process. So hopefully a few more days growth will hide the redness a bit more! Other than that all seems to go quite well. There’s like 20 hairs in my hands every morning in the shower, but it seems like still no massive shedding apart from a few areas that are less crowded by hairs. what do you guys think? Redness under different light circumstances Edited January 3, 2019 by mrknid Added photo twice accidentally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AK_49 Posted January 4, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted January 4, 2019 Looks to be healing well. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you pay for the procedure? I am trying to figure out if I need to exchange currency/how to do it, or if I can just pay with credit card at Cinik’s clinic. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted January 5, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 5, 2019 Thanks! I think so too No worries. I paid cash, in euros. That was easiest for me. They accept basically all currencies. An additional 300€ fee is charged if you pay by card, which probably has something to do with (avoiding) Turkish taxes ;-) Do you have a date in mind to go there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Cristian1 Posted January 5, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted January 5, 2019 hey mrknid, i was reading some comments about this clinic and some people they said ( i dont know if its true ) that inside of the clinic it not very sanitized and clean, is it true? also the surgery was performed by dr.Cinik himself or his technicians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted January 5, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 5, 2019 Hi Cristian, Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the clinic itself that I can show you, but to me it all looked very tidy and neat. It’s all inside the Kolan Hospital so it just looks like a hospital. I work in a more western hospital myself and while it isn’t like going into an Operating Room there, I felt it was quite similar to going to your dentist. I guess it’s all related to what you expect, but I wouldn’t be to worried about the cleanliness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AK_49 Posted January 5, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted January 5, 2019 1 hour ago, mrknid said: Thanks! I think so too No worries. I paid cash, in euros. That was easiest for me. They accept basically all currencies. An additional 300€ fee is charged if you pay by card, which probably has something to do with (avoiding) Turkish taxes 😉 Do you have a date in mind to go there? I’m planning around sometime in March if all goes well. Thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Markee Posted January 5, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted January 5, 2019 (edited) I was seriously considering Dr Cinik i mean resent reviews here just look great and his pricing can't be beat but after searching around everything I could find on the good doctor i ran across this warning thread and discussion on baldtruthtalk from some dude LostSoldier detailing his personal experience there which literally just scared me off completely . I don't think I'm allowed to post the link here so just search LostSoldier on baldtruthtalk if your interested Edited January 6, 2019 by Markee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted January 5, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 5, 2019 (edited) Yes I actually read this post before I went to Istanbul (but after I booked my flights) and initially was scared the hell off as well. But I think if you read his post properly most of his issues are because of not being prepared properly. And to be honest I think you probably will run into these kinds of issues in any clinic in Istanbul. I can’t tell you as I went to one clinic only. Yes there are quite a lot of patients there daily, yes they are trying to reduce total surgery time by working quickly (in order to reduce the deprived oxygen state for the hair follicles) and yes 7-8 hours is a hell of a wait. Yes I was told 3000 grafts by the technician then it said 3200 grafts on my certificate. Yes they offer you a lot of overpriced vitamins and shampoo etc. but don’t insist if you refuse. Personally I didn’t feel dr Cinik was rushing in our pre-op consult, nor was he rushing when opening the channels. It’s big business, and you can sense that all the time because it just feels protocolized at times. But it works! I was probably most nervous when going there about my experience being as bad as LostSoldiers but although I recognise a lot of what he describes I experienced it in a completely different way. And I felt the most important things: pre-op consult, communication and the procedure itself were perfectly taken care of. Like I said. I think a lot of it is about expectation management. If you know what you can and can’t expect then that makes a big difference. Edited January 6, 2019 by mrknid 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AK_49 Posted January 7, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted January 7, 2019 Did they prescribe/administer any antibiotics during or after the operation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted January 7, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 7, 2019 @AK_49 Yes. They give you quite a lot of meds: 3 days of prednisone (swelling) 7 days of antibiotics (cefuroxim I think) 10 days of pentoxyfilin twice daily (redness) 14 days of ascal twice daily (not really sure tbh, perhaps to prevent micro-embolus/clots from forming in the new vascular supply to the transplanted grafts) I must day that being a doctor myself I’m not to sure about the necessity of all those meds but I chose to just follow Ciniks protocol.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mrknid Posted January 10, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 10, 2019 Hi! 3 weeks passed since the day of my surgery on 20th December. Pain like sensations have disappeared. Approximately 25 hairs in my hands daily in the shower so the shedding seems to have started but it seems that so far my native hair is kind of doing it’s best to cover up my scalp, it just needs to grow a bit longer. No massive shock loss I think. Donor looking good. Redness is not really clearing unfortunately in the recipient area. I started using tea tree oil as I read @lukeyb1687 was using in this stadium as well, hopefully that will speed up fading of redness a bit, who knows. I really want to go back to sports again. Think I will go for a run this weekend (@3,5 weeks) I can’t wait any longer. top with flashtop without flash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AK_49 Posted January 11, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted January 11, 2019 Nice! Your donor area looks like it’s in great shape. Seems like your results are gonna be great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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