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4100 FUE grafts with Dr Resul Yaman


JohnnyDeep

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Hi guys,

 

Long time listener, first time caller. I’m not long back from Istanbul where I had an FUE hair transplant procedure with Dr Resul Yaman. I thought it might be helpful to some to give a full overview of what to expect and also as objective a review as possible of the experience. If you want to cut to the chase then scroll down where there will be some key points and photos.

I had 4,100 grafts in total over a single day. This comprised:

Single - 627

Double - 2,491

Multiple - 982

 

So my calculation is that I received between 8,500 and 9,000 individual hairs to deal with diffuse balding, approximate Norwood 5A.

 

I’m 32 years old and currently around Forward 5A. I had noticed thinning at 24 although looking at photos it was actually going a little before then. It’s been a painful and slow journey, working my way through the various preventative products, combovers, thickening fibres and more recently a skinhead too. I’d been on the fence about this for a while, knowing deep down it was the only way to have a proper head of hair, but just didn’t want to be one of *those* guys. I mean, surely I am not so precious about my looks that I’d actually get surgery!? What next, a nose job? Veneers? Penis reduction? (Sometimes I get it caught between my knees). Thankfully I discovered this forum so realised that hair transplants aren’t solely for preening, prima donnas and that normal people can get it done too. PHEW!

 

In mid 2018 decided enough was enough and started my research. I did a lot, checked out clinics in the UK, Spain, Belgium and turkey. Read a lot of forums, watched videos. Did consultations online, in person and had some phonecalls too. Got lots of information thrown at me, much of it conflicting. Got quoted everything between £1,500 and €12,000. Some people thought 3,000 grafts would cover the full head of hair. Some people thought 2,500 would cover just the front and I could come back in a year for the back. Someone said the only way to cover my full head would be FUT.

 

A brief synopsis of the countries is that Belgium is world class, but pricey. The UK costs as much as Belgium but there are still some shady doctors about so choose wisely. Spain is cheaper than those two and has some decent doctors but there isn’t a lot of information on it. Turkey came out top being very affordable, with lots of information available about it and has some amazing doctors, but also a lot of very questionable practices.

 

I decided upon Dr Resul Yaman in the end based on a number of factors. The communication was good, there was enough honest feedback (including some that isn’t exactly gleaming) online as well as proof of complications being resolved, lots of videos and testimonials and the package seemed fair. The offer was €4,000 for 4,000 grafts plus PRP, aftercare, hotel and transfers. There was also a guarantee that if 10% or more of it failed that I could get a top up done at no extra cost. I might have got a better job with a €12,000 Belgian effort (I’ll never know) but I simply couldn’t justify the extra cost - If that was my only option, I’d just have to deal with being bald. So Yaman it was, I was confident that this would get me the result I wanted at a justifiable price.

 

I arrived into the airport on Thursday night after a smooth flight and was picked up and taken to a nice 5 star hotel (Divan G Suites). One tip would be to check where the clinic is as Dr Yaman’s hospital and the hotel are both close to Ataturk, and I flow in to Sabiha Gökçen - an hour away. D'oh! However, not a major issue as there’s a lot to look at on the drive people carrier thing was pretty pimp.

 

The room was nice, a good 3 course meal with drink would come in at under £20 (and I presume this would be similar most places in Istanbul) and the included breakfast was fairly standard. It wasn’t particularly busy although this was due to the time of year and the staff were friendly. There were a few other guys with bandages on their heads too, which made me feel less worried about what was to come. I live in London and so never carry cash, however I did feel like a complete cheapskate when I didn’t tip (they couldn’t take this by card) so it wouldn’t hurt to get some Lira for that purpose. Also, if you learn to say ‘hello’ and ‘thanks’ in Turkish then they really appreciate it, even when your pronunciation is as bad as mine (tu-say-coor-ler). There’s a spa and a pool which is free to use although I didn’t have time and the WiFi is about as good as you get in any hotel - enough to watch Netflix although it will need to buffer every now and then.

 

The next morning after breakfast I was picked up at 11am and driven to the hospital. It’s a nice clean building with Yaman’s name outside. It looks like there’s a number of clinics in there offering different services but Dr. Yaman specialises exclusively in hair transplant which was important to me. There was a chap waiting for a wash, and one other guy in that day for surgery and the rest was his staff. What was also important to me was that Dr. Yaman wasn’t doing tonnes of procedures on the day and that whilst technicians/surgeons/nurses are involved, he takes personal involvement and oversees the procedure.

 

I met with Fikret who had been my contact in the run up to the procedure. He’d been very patient via email and explained everything, answered all of my questions without forcing a hard sell and ultimately played a large part in me going with Dr Yaman. He was just as good in person, quite witty and conversational - I’m not really sure what I had expected to be honest, but it was nice that he was someone I could actually chat to. Throughout the day he checked in every hour or so, acted as a translator, got me water, oversaw transport, picked me up extra vitamins (not included with the post-care pack) and more. I’m sure that’s generally expected wherever you go, but he was really good and helped make what could be quite a stressful experience pretty chilled.

 

To begin with I got my blood taken. This was pretty straightforward having done so before. The main purpose of this was for the PRP, although they possibly checked the iron levels etc…. The hospital seemed busy, but this was very quick there was no wait for me.

 

In the consultation with Dr. Yaman. He used a special camera to look at follicles, and took a number of measurements. He quickly drew a rough guide to what my hairline would be like and answered some of my questions about the procedure. His measurement showed that I actually needed 4,100 grafts and that there would be no extra charge for the additional 100. He told me that I had very good density on the donor area; lots of double, triple and even quadruple grafts; that the individual hairs were quite thick and that my recipient area would be covered completely in one sitting. He joked that if he’d had donor area as thick as mine he’d have another surgery (or at least I think that’s what he said). This might have been complete fluff, but in any case it put me at ease which was exactly what I needed.

 

I then got washed and shaved, put on a medical gown and a pair of Crocs (the absolute worst thing about the whole procedure) and headed into the room to begin. Fikret took a couple of photos and told me that these would be for my reference, and wouldn’t be used for their marketing which was reassuring.

 

Dr. Yaman re-drew the hairline, this time using a number of different tools to get it symmetrical. I’m lucky that my hair hasn’t receded as such, just gotten extremely thin and so I still have a thin semblance of a hairline left, and he was able to follow this - although I’ve seen plenty of videos where he’s constructed them from scratch so I can’t see that being a problem if your hair loss differs to mine.

 

We were then ready to properly get started which began by Yaman administering some local anaesthetic. This was the only part of it that actually hurt. It’s incredibly quick and as soon as the needle is out the pain stops, but to suggest it is pain free would be misleading. That shouldn’t put anyone off though, if you’ve ever got a tattoo, got stitches, got waxed (or had a needle shoved into your scalp) then the pain level is comparable to that. No biggie. Certainly not comparable to the years of torment I suffered looking in the mirror, seeing John Travolta in Grease gradually turn into John Travolta in From Paris With Love. Anyway…

 

He then opened the channels up, doing so at different angles to ensure the hair would sit naturally once implanted. This was pretty quick and I couldn’t feel a thing, although I could hear it which was a little unsettling at first. It was kind of a crunching sound, a little odd. Then he put the PRP in. I’m not sure whether this was an injection into the scalp, or if he just squirted the liquid onto the open wounds because I couldn’t feel it and didn’t think to ask so if anyone wants to advise then feel free. My guess is that the opening of channels took 45 minutes, maybe a little longer.

 

We were then onto the extraction part. Dr. Yaman handed over to a technician, who had a special pair of microscopic goggles which made me feel confident that he’d be specifically targeting the hair follicles, as opposed to just plunging the extraction tool into my skull. This was the part I was most concerned about because if they mess that up and over harvest or leave big messy scars then you’re in a real trouble - however I know there are risks with any procedure and the answers I was given to questions was enough to put me at ease and suggest this wouldn’t happen here. (Spoiler - donor area healing nicely)

 

There was a second round of injections which hurt again, and then we began. Again, the procedure was painless - although I did get the anaesthetic topped up a few times when I was worried it was wearing. You are lying facedown for a large part of it which isn’t comfortable, and it’s probably worth learning breathing techniques or meditation if you get a bit anxious about this kind of thing, but that aside it wasn’t too bad. Some people do it manually which is very precise, but very slow. At Yaman’s they used a little motorised device which speeds the process up without creating any additional damage. The machine sounded a little bit like a very quiet hairdryer as opposed to the dentists drill, and the actual process sounded a bit like taking a pair of clippers to your head. Once he got halfway through it we were joined by a nurse and she plucked the hairs from my scalp and placed them in Petri dishes. This was a pretty long process and aside the indignity of wearing crocs, was the worst part of the day but mostly because of the way I was lying. I was told that if you work out a lot then you’re more likely to bleed. This won’t affect the end result but does slow it down a bit as they need to clean up. I go to the gym most days and bled quite a lot, so stopping a week before might be as good idea. Dr Yaman checked in on this a few times to have a look, always giving positive feedback. At the end he said it all looked very neat and would heal not problem - again, might have been BS but it calmed me. I’d guess this part took around 2.5  hours.

 

We were then past the half way mark and it was time for lunch. I’m not really sure what it was to be honest but I wolfed it down because by this point I was starving. It was a salad, rice, some sauce and something that tasted a bit like a kofta but didn’t look like it. Fikret checked to see if I needed any more and then brought me a cup of tea. (I wanted coffee but apparently that would make it hurt more so settled on tea). I had half an hour or so to just chill, had a bit of a chance to chat with the other chap who’d been in - he’d come from Dubai. I know you can get them cheap in India and Iran which must be equidistant, so again, reassuring to see he’d chose to come to Istanbul.

 

The final part was placing grafts. Fikret said I could put my headphones in for the last bit and just chill out but I had stupidly left them at the hotel. I would definitely recommend bringing some in-ears and topping up on podcasts and stuff to get through the last stretch. A third and final round of anaesthetic and then we began starting with single grafts at front and worked backwards. Anesthetic wore off towards end and I could feel it pinching so I got it topped up. This was long, but I got regular updates on how long was left from Fikret and the opportunity to stop for a drink etc. Half an hour before it ended I got an IV which had some antibiotics in it and a few other things. By this point I was starting to feel pretty drained so the IV perked me up. At the end Dr Yaman came in and had a final inspection before I was bandaged. There was a bit of a language barrier so I’m not sure if I picked it up correctly, but I think what he said was that my grafts were a good size and that as a result it would heal quickly. I was wrapped up, given my aftercare pack and we arranged times for my wash and airport transfers the next day and I was done. I think this was the longest part at around 4 hours. I was sat in a semi-comfortable position and was able to watch some TV so whilst it was quite long, it wasn’t too bad but I was very relieved to have it finished.

 

Back to the hotel, I couldn’t stop looking at the top of my head. It looked incredibly neat and clean, and really dense towards the front. I couldn’t quite believe I’d actually gone through with it having worried about my hair loss for almost a decade. I had a nice dinner in my room and watched Bird Box on Netflix (spoiler - it’s not that good) and then tried to sleep. My head wasn’t sore and the special pillow made sure I didn’t put pressure on the recipient area - but lets be frank, you’re not going to have the best sleep of your life and it’ll be a bit awkward for a few days.

 

The next day I went back for the wash which was pretty straight forward and was given special instructions for the next 10 days. Fikret arranged for someone to pick up special multivitamins for me (Capiloz, not available in the UK), I said my thanks and got sent on my way with my snazzy new headband too. Chilled at the hotel for a few hours and then got picked up to go to the airport to go home.

 

I was quite worried about this part. I hadn’t told many people what I was doing and so the prospect of being in public in this state wasn’t one I had looked forward to but I needn’t have worried. The airport was full of other people all ages and races going to all different corners of the world with headbands, bandages, swelling, scabs and the various associated after effects. No one looked at me funny, nor did I have to remove the headband at the passport/security check which was a big relief. There were a few other people on my flight who’d had a procedure done and so I got chatting to two of them. They had paid £1,500 each for as many grafts as they needed and decided on a whim to go and get it done. There were 6 people in that same clinic getting done on that day and it sounded like it was done entirely by the nurses and technicians. They seemed to think I’d gotten mugged off paying as much as I did and if I’m honest, theirs looked pretty neat and clean too, although they still had the bandages on so I couldn’t see the donor area. In any case, I was still happy that I’d done my research and chosen Dr. Yaman. A big worry for me was getting a hatchet job, and thankfully it looks like these guys avoided that but better safe than sorry for me.

 

Once I got back to Stansted I was through security quick, jumped on a coach back to London and then a taxi and then I was home. I’d done it. A quick trip to Turkey in secret, returning with a full head of hair. The perfect crime. No one will suspect a thing.

 

…Unless they look at my head and wonder where the hair has come from of course, but I’ll not have to deal with that for a few months.

 

 

My key tips:

-Do your research. A huge part of this for me was nerves, made much easier by knowing I’d chosen someone who I really thought would do a good job

-Take some Lira and learn some basic Turkish

-Book baggage allowance. You’ll need this for the aftercare pack which won’t get on as hand luggage

-Take your headphones with you to the hospital and stock up on podcasts

-Book your airport depending on the location of your surgery. This is basic stuff, I failed at it

-If you’ve got a baldy mate to take with you then do so, because the flights and hanging around the hotel on your own is a bit boring

-You’ll be wearing shirts for a week so make sure to bring plenty

-Don’t expect to see Istanbul. I’m pretty drained so there was no way I could have made a holiday out of it. However, I do definitely want to go back because it looks beautiful.

-Watch your head! I didn’t realise how clumsy I was until I had to be careful about banging it.

 

I had it done 8 days ago now and so far so good. There was some swelling which worked its way down my face, I had puffy eyes for a bit and they’re still a little yellow/purple but nothing hideous. The donor area has healed up nicely and once it’s evened out with a set of clippers in a few weeks should be undetectable. The top didn’t scab particularly, although there was a lot of crusting which has mostly worked it’s way out - taking some of the hair with it although thankfully not the bulb. I can see a light pink hue to the recipient area which may become more apparent as it sheds and I can tell the difference between the new hair and the hair that was there beforehand but otherwise I just look like I’ve had a buzzcut. The donor area is still a little pink and under certain lights looks a little patchy (but not to the extent that I'm bothered) but I'm hopeful that as it continues to heal and regrow it'll be unnoticeable 

The photos are below, the ones of the healing HT are under a very bright light and so will make the hair on the recipient and donor area look thinner - under normal light it looks much less noticeable.

I won’t make any grand promises about weekly check-ins; seen way too many dead threads with endless ‘any update?’ posts; but I’ll try to pop back periodically as it heals to update you all and answer any questions.

 

Thanks for reading.

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Edited by JohnnyDeep
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Thank you for this very thorough update! I'm interested to see how this turns out and it looks like you're really set up to win. I'm also fascinated by the pattern of your hair loss. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before, so congrats on being one of a kind. ;)

I also want to commend you for highlighting the importance of doing tons of research, not making a decision based solely on finances, and ultimately trusting your gut and taking ownership of the decision you made in the end. A lot of guys will learn a lot from this. 

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My views/opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

Check out my hair loss website for photos

FUE surgery by Dr. Mohebi on 7/31/14
2,001 grafts - Ones: 607; Twos: 925; Threes: 413; Fours: 56

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  • 2 weeks later...
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So yesterday was the three week mark and so far so good.  The hair shed very quickly once all the scabs were gone which was every bit as painful yet unsurprising as you'd expect but it seems to have slowed down these past few days, I only really experience a few hairs going when I wash my hair now which is good. Whether this will continue or not I do not know, but thankfully for now I still have just about enough to work with, and with a very light dusting of toppik it's pretty much unnoticeable. Already I have more hair than I had before which is good, trying not to be overly optimistic but I'm hoping by summer I'll have a proper hairstyle.

With the exception of a little numbness towards the front of the scalp; presumably caused by it being more dense; it's healed fine. The donor area is no longer sensitive and there doesn't appear to be any pinkness. I am back on the regaine, I've just switched from the medicated shampoo and as mentioned I have started using a light dusting of toppik to hide my scalp - the official advice was to wait a month however seen as I have no scabbing or dry skin or sensitivity I figured it wouldn't hurt and haven't noticed any issues.

Last week I went to get the sides and back tidied up. The barber was a touch overzealous and faded it up from a zero to blend in with the top. This was a mistake and did make the donor area at the back look a little moth bitten although the sides were unnoticeable. I know you probably need to have at least a 1 and preferably a 2 at the back and sides to cover it and think there might be a bit of shock loss too, but there was no scabbing and the photos post surgery so I'm confident that next time I get it cut, a more conservative (and even) cut will conceal it.  

 

I've attached some photos so you can see where we're at. I'll pop back in a few weeks when I have something new worth reporting.

Cheers!

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Edited by JohnnyDeep
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Also, just to give another look of what I was working with before, I've got some photos from the summer. I'd not long come back from holiday hence the tan, but you can see how much more hair I've already got - even with the fairly aggressive shedding. You can also see that the back looks a little patchy here (also rocking a zero fade) which means that the moth bitten effect I'm seeing is possibly attributed to the light or the shape of my head.

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  • 1 month later...
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Hello!

Hit the 8 week mark yesterday and I'm super pleased with the results so far. Here's what I've got:

The shedding stopped quite some time ago, and I was lucky that not all of it went. It's getting to a reasonable length and I can see/feel little spikes where some of it has shedded already. It's still thin where it was before, but it's miles better than it used to be and with a bit of hair product and toppik it's completely unnoticeable. For the first time in about 8 years I'm not self conscious when I go outside, not checking my hair every mirror I look in, not panicking about what people think. It's amazing.

There's still a little bit of pinkness on the scalp, but it's minor and easily covered with toppik. I do find the odd crusty but towards the crown, and when I give it a scratch I sometimes see a small scab and a few hairs (with no follicle attached) coming out but my research suggests this is pretty normal.

I've been using regaine and finasteride which I'm assuming is helping, and it's possibly thickening up some of the miniaturised hairs too giving a thicker appearance overall.

The donor area still looks a little flea bitten when shaved down, but it is improving. I think I suffered a little shock loss here, which explains the improvement. It certainly didn't appear to be over harvested at the time and the sides are completely unnoticeable even when shaved right down. I don't think it's really noticeable at the back either to Joe public and as you'll see in some of the above photos, it already had a slightly odd appearance due to it being so thick/curly anyway. I have felt one or two little spots on the donor area in the past week or two, nothing extreme or painful but I'm assuming that's part of the healing process

I think that's about it for now, you'll see some photos below. It's better than I expected at two months; especially when you look at the before pictures; but there's still a bit to go before I can ditch the toppik and be a bit more creative with my hairstyle.

Let me know your thoughts!

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Looks good and think you have made a great and informative post. We are all guessing till month 12, but looks promising. I think you will have a good result. You did try to cover a pretty large area with 4000 grafts, so I don't know if it will look thick as say a teenager. But will be good enough as they say. Front looks pretty good and you do have thick hair. I would guess this will be a one and done procedure. But I would not be completely shocked if you wanted a bit more density. It really depends on your own wants. But that you went as long as you did and reading your post, you seem like a pretty grounded and normal guy and not a dandy looking for model hair.  The only iffy thing I see here is the back as you pointed out. It is either over harvested a bit or you have shock loss...probably a bit of both.  But a reputable doctor should be pretty good at knowing how much they can take and 4000 grafts with a decent donor is not typically something that causes and over harvest. So in this case, my best guess is more shock loss. And to be completely honest, we are all different and if I saw you walking down the street behind you, would never notice the back being "more thin then optimal"  I mean we are assessing hair transplants here, it's not real life and how we visualize people in daily interactions.  So quite honestly, even if the back is overharvested and never get's better, it is perfectly okay and I bet another 5mm of growth in the back will look a lot less thin.  Though seriously, no person is going to be standing behind you and thinking "that guys hair is thin in the lower part of the back" It is nowhere thin enough to look odd. Just thinner than perfectly ideal.  Real over harvested backs look very unnatural and sickly because it is so unnatural to be thin there.  In this case it is nowhere near that and if having a back that looked like that meant a nice head of hair on top.....completely worth it and grafts well spent. Good luck,,,,I am sure this will have a huge impact on how you look. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Ok dudes, just hit the 12 week mark.

Progress is very promising at this point. The hair is a little coarse/whispy/frizzy whatever but it's starting to come in and I am noticing it week by week. Can't really detect any pinkness at this point and when the toppik is in, it looks more or less like a full head of hair.

I've started to get comments and compliments about it, there's nothing for me to do but come clean and to my shock, no one really gives a s**t. I was so worried that I'd be cast out like a pariah, but no one cares.

Donor area at the sides is completely undetectable. Using an elaborate set up of mirrors I can see the back when I'm in a harsh light, but not the rest of the time. I've come to terms with the fact that it might look a little thinner, but it's not really something that's going to make me insecure, plus I'll likely wear it a little longer once the hair grows out on top.

I'm also about 6 months into using Finasteride (I started a few months before) and I can safely say that I'm not experiencing any noticeable side effects.

Few pictures below for the update, including one of my hair after styling . The lighting is harsh to give you the best visual on it. I'm pretty pleased so far. I'm expecting to be able to ditch the toppik in around 2 months, and the regaine shortly after. I'll be on Finasteride for the rest of my life, but as it's fairly inexpensive and isn't causing me problems (whereas being bald really did) I have no qualms.

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I've started to get comments and compliments about it, there's nothing for me to do but come clean and to my shock, no one really gives a s**t. I was so worried that I'd be cast out like a pariah, but no one cares.

I found this to be the case as well, which is why when guys are overly stressed about how to keep it a secret, I've come to lean towards the advice of being upfront and open about it. I was very concerned about people finding out in the beginning, but I found that the more I told people, A) the more comfortable/confident I felt about it, and B) not one single person gave it a second thought. If anything, they were intrigued by the whole process and wanted to know more about it. 

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My views/opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

Check out my hair loss website for photos

FUE surgery by Dr. Mohebi on 7/31/14
2,001 grafts - Ones: 607; Twos: 925; Threes: 413; Fours: 56

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@JohnnyDeep The growth looks good for 3 months. I am sure your result will be awesome. Are you finasteride?

I've had my HT with Dr. Yaman a few weeks after you did. Hopefully it all comes together. Fingers crossed.

https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/53572-4520-grafts-with-dr-resul-yaman/

Edited by dilbert1191
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
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Hey guys,

I'm approximately 20 and a half weeks in - one week short of the 5 month mark. It's been pretty amazing to be honest and I have to remind myself that I still have a good few months to go before it's the finished product.

It's still a little thinner in certain areas, but nothing you'd see unless you were looking for it. It could do with some more volume for certain styles and some of the hairs are a bit thin and wiry but really, it's pretty good and better than I'd expected at this stage.

I'd like to think I went into this with realistic expectations and certainly knew not to hope for the luscious locks I had when I was 18; but given it's only been 5 months I'm starting to wonder whether I might actually end up with a result that good. Seriously. Not sure whether this is in line with average but given how thin and wispy it was before I started I'm really pleased.

Minor gripes I have at this point are:
-That the front looks a little pluggy and sparse under certain light. I'm not worried about that, it's going to get better but it does occasionally look a little unnatural or like dolls hair.
-My crown is still thinner, but I know that part in particular takes a LOOONG time. I can feel little spikes and spots on that which I know is because new hair is trying to break through.
-And finally, the donor area is a little patchy. This is my area of biggest concern because I know the previous two will definitely improve but there is a possibility it has been over harvested or that it's scarred during healing. I've been advised to use Regaine on it and hold tight because it's also very possible that it's due to shock loss and fingers crossed that's what's going on. In any case, once the hair is thicker and longer on top I won't be buzzing the back down (approx a 3 now) so it won't be noticeable but it would be great to have more options. 

I attach some closeup photos which hopefully give you a good idea of what I'm dealing with. I'm not really one for selfies so I've failed to take a decent one of it styled so far but I'll try pop one up later in the week too. 

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Looking great but I'd be concerned with that donor too after 5 mo...though tbh nobody without knowledge of HTs cares how the back of your head looks. One thing I'd say is that there is a famous case of Yaman ruining a donor with some pretty nasty scars, so definitely don't think his clinic are particularly careful with it.

 

End of the day, results look pretty solid so enjoy!!! 

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Yeah, I'm hopeful it sorts itself out but if it doesn't, I doubt many people will notice. I'd much rather be missing a little bit from the back than all of it from the front.

I've got mates who have split their heads open and have much worse scars so if anything, it just makes me look tough. Will be a nice contrast to the flock of seagulls fringe that I'm trying to grow.

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holy shit dude you have what people hope for at 10 months, at 5 months. seriously this is an amazing result. i’d be thrilled. I can see your concern in the hairline. looks like a couple doubles made their way in there but i don’t think it looks terrible or unnatural. sure you may want a touch up in the future but whatever. and the i can see the concern about the donor but it’s honestly not bad at all. 

 

and the crown looks full? aside from that quarter sized area

 

amazin bro

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In my experience, the donor kept getting better/back to normal with time - so there's a great chance it will keep thickening back up and becoming less and less noticeable. (And even still - as the other guys mentioned - nobody outside of the HT community would even notice anything out of the ordinary.)

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My views/opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

Check out my hair loss website for photos

FUE surgery by Dr. Mohebi on 7/31/14
2,001 grafts - Ones: 607; Twos: 925; Threes: 413; Fours: 56

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • Regular Member

Hey gang,

We are one day shy of the 6 month mark and two days shy of the 26 week point. Results are really, very impressive at this point, I've stopped having to wear any fibres and the hair has been growing in fairly evenly too so I don't have to rely on the combover. The texture of the hair is improving too and it's getting long enough that I have enough hair to try different styles.

The front still looks a little unnatural, but that's probably only because I'm spending so much time comparing mine to people with a natural hairline. The donor is still a little patchy (but definitely improving) and the crown still has a little bit of thickening to do too, but otherwise I'm pretty stoked. I'm still seeing little black hairs poking through my scalp so I've still got a bit to go but yeah, the level it's currently at is totally workable.

I've cut the Alpecin shampoo because there's no real science to suggest it works outside of a lab and it makes my hair feel pretty coarse, switched to one with coconut oil which has improved the texture. I've cut Regaine to once a day and am due to come off it in a week or two once this can runs out; the research I've done suggests that it speeds up hair growth but doesn't really prevent (or cause) male pattern baldness so there's no real need for me to continue but it has been really helpful in the speed of recovery. I'm around 9 months in to Finasteride and I can probably attribute some of the new growth to that too. No problems from that at all; I'm hitting personal bests in the gym AND also at one of the lowest bodyfat levels I've been at for years so pretty confident it's not affecting total testosterone levels in any considerable way. The minor inconvenience of having to take a tablet daily and relatively low cost of it (50p a day) are more than worth it for the peace of mind as far as I'm concerned.

Also, I eat a clean diet with minimal meat, I don't smoke, I exercise daily (weights, various forms of cardio and yoga) I sleep 7 or so hours and generally try to be healthy. I drink 15-20 units a week, 30 if it's a big one and may very occasionally dabble in mild recreational drug use so I'm no saint, but I'm sure that the healthy living has played a part too.

Below are some photos, quite harsh lighting but that should give you an idea of the flaws. You can definitely see the difference since the last one around 6 weeks ago.

IMG_3830.thumb.jpeg.792e7c32ca7c79fae93fa568c418a4ed.jpegIMG_3814.thumb.jpeg.b076566ae893a98561cef1631be1b93e.jpegIMG_3806.thumb.jpeg.005f2f48ecde8c7af0adde340dd7579e.jpegIMG_3810.thumb.jpeg.98d2eece5cc277e0ef00b7851487815b.jpegIMG_3823.thumb.jpeg.3e249b7bb6998378303fb1ab234a1f70.jpegIMG_3820.thumb.jpeg.56f05640c5226793573a23e62c26ecb5.jpegIMG_3816.thumb.jpeg.745ea8c9c979f0db482ff3935f44f8bd.jpeg

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Wow incredible results Dr. Yaman hit this out of the park congrats man 👏🏼


I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice.

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On 5/28/2019 at 7:57 PM, gbhscot said:

Looking great but I'd be concerned with that donor too after 5 mo...though tbh nobody without knowledge of HTs cares how the back of your head looks. One thing I'd say is that there is a famous case of Yaman ruining a donor with some pretty nasty scars, so definitely don't think his clinic are particularly careful with it.

 

End of the day, results look pretty solid so enjoy!!! 

I found my donor area is looking fairy presentable after 5300 grafts, and other patients who went there had excellent donor areas after their ops. 

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I literally just wrote my review of Dr Yaman this weekend! I actually had 4050 first time, and after a year I wanted to lower my hairline ever so slightly and thicken up the front. So I waited until the results of my second op with yaman. I can tell you that his clinic probably the best in my view, loads of people also made out to me that I got ripped off but but I'm so chuffed with my results . everything you said in your review was pretty much bang on. Wait for your full 12 months  and I'm sure you'll be well happy.

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  • 2 months later...
  • Regular Member

Hi guys,

We're just under 9 months in, not sure how many weeks because I'm too lazy to do the maths. This will probably be my last post here, because at this point there's not a lot too look at besides a fairly normal and quite full head of hair.  

I did the PRP, I take finasteride and I used regaine for the first 6 months. I also have quite thick hair, which probably helped with the texture too. So whilst I don't want to take anything away from the absolute legend that is Dr. Yaman, I do suspect that the conditions for my hair transplant mean my results would be better than someone with fine hair or who didn't do any of the above. I'd hate it if that sounds like a brag, but I just want people to have realistic expectations around hair transplants in general.

So disclaimer aside, where am I at? Well, I'm over the moon with the results and I think Yaman played an absolute blinder. I've had people comment on how lucky I am to have such a thick head of hair and they've near fainted when I told them it was a transplant (which I'm fairly open about now). I'm not lying when I say it has changed my life and from hearing about other people's experiences, I am so pleased I did my research and chose Yaman. There are a handful of key themes across all hair transplants which I'll address below:

 

  • Harvesting of donor area. I get a number 4 now and it's entirely unnoticeable. I'm not sure what would happen if I shaved it shorter, I'm sure I'll find out at some point but I reckon that my concerns earlier about it being a bit sparse looking have been put to bed. It doesn't feel like it's thin and it didn't appear to be over harvested after the surgery so my guess is that there was a bit of temporary shock loss in the months following.

 

  • Unnatural looking front. As it has thickened up and grown, my concerns about this are gone. Yes, if you look hard you can still see that it doesn't look entirely like a 'normal' head of hair but but that's hair transplants for you! I've had one person notice and ask me about it (although I'm sure more have and said nothing) and you'd need to be really close AND have done enough research on a HT to know what it was. And as I'm not hiding the fact I had it done, it doesn't bother me.

 

  • The crown still has a bit to go. To be honest, I always had a noticeable spiral and as I only ever look at it under harsh light, its hard to view this objectively. But I have noticed month by month improvement and I can feel new hairs poking through too so there's improvement still to come. I know that the crown is the last part to come in following a transplant and as it's only been 9 months I have no concerns about this whatsoever. Even in it's current form it's no problem, but naturally I would of course love it to improve.

 

  • The texture is a bit wiry. Again, this is fairly common with hair transplants and does improve over time. With my hair being so thick, it was always a little on the coarse side anyway, but this is improving month by month and each trim at the barbers takes another chunk of the wiry ends off.

 

Below are some photos, they are unstyled and without product with the exception of the last one. If the crown makes a significant improvement I might pop back to update but otherwise I wish you all the best of luck with your procedures. Do your research, don't skimp on cost, be patient, have realistic expectations and the more of the extra stuff you do (prp, finasteride etc...) the greater your chances of success. I have only had one procedure with one clinic so I couldn't comment on any of the others, but Dr. Yaman and his team far exceeded my hopes, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Go forth and be hairy!

 

 

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