Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 16, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted August 16, 2019 Hello everybody. I just wanted to share my recent FUE hair transplant experience at ASMED clinic, since this forum helped me a lot in choosing the clinic and to know what could be expected from hair transplant surgeries. To be honest, i were little bit worried about some of the latest result that has been shared by some of ASMED patient, but eventually i made my decision and hopefully i picked the right one. I will try to summarize the whole experience as a mush as possible, since most of other asmed patients already described the whole process in an excellent way, and believe me all of what they mentioned regarding the services, such as accommodations, transfers, and postoperative care all were right and really exceeded my expectations. The online consultation: Based on the photos i have send to asmed website, they responded to me that i needed around 5000-5500 grafts and the total payment will be between 12500-13750 euros (2.5 euros/graft). So i transferred 4000 euros through my bank account (the maximum possible amount of transfer), while holding the remaining in cash. Day of arrival 07/08/2019: I arrived to Istanbul on Wednesday before 10 am, according to the email that was sent to me by asmed, mentioning that i need to be in Istanbul the day before surgery before 10 am, in order to give them enough time for the presurgical tests and consultation. My coordinator was Suzana, and i was extremely lucky to be assigned with her, since she was a very nice person, very informative, and taking care about all of what you need either before or after the surgery. Asmed driver was awaiting me in the airport with a sign holding my name, and they were very serious regarding this matter, since you are traveling with this amount of huge cash money, thats why they provided me with a list of photos for asmed drivers, in order to be able to recognize him once i arrived. I choosed to stay at asmed suite for the days of the surgery, and i reserved by my own an extra 5 nights following the surgery at radisson blue asia hotel, just to have enough time for healing before traveling back home, and to have my hair wash at the clinic the first week following the surgery. 2 hours after arriving to asmed, suzana took me for the blood test, followed by meeting with dr.koray who drew the hair line and estimate the amount of total donor capacity. I were not convinced in the beginning regarding the hair line, since it looks to be conservative as what he said, but he mentioned that my hair loss would continue in the future, and it will be unnatural if he made it lower than this level. Then they shaved my head, which was totally unfamiliar to me, since it was my first time shaving my head, and i can tell you that i didnt like the shape of my head at all, and i will do whatever it takes to avoid getting bold at the end. Again at the end dr.koray together with his staff refine the hair line after shaving. Finally my scalp was scanned and analyzed by the Kebot system for 15 minutes. DAY 1 SURGERY 08/08/2019 I had my breakfast around 6:30 am, i were little bit nervous, and thats why they gave me Xanax pill in order to make me relax before the surgery, and it really helped. They shaved my head again, then the surgery started around 7:30. I was prepared before going into the process by making my own research, and it was almost like what i expected. Pain during the local anasthetic injections, while other part of the surgery was painless, especially with the IV drug the Dr.Umut (the serious anasthelogist doctor) giving you through the surgery. I were in and out for most parts of the surgery, just if i am dreaming. The extraction phase took around 3 hours, and for me it is the worst and most inconvenient part of the surgery. Then they gave me a lunch break for around 10 minutes. Dr.koray then came and did the incision part, which take almost 25-30 minutes maximum, and final the implantation part which was again done by the techs. for additional 3 hours, and in that part i were totally sleep. After finishing the surgery they took all of the patient that been operated in the same day for a 10 minutes laser therapy to facilitate healing, after which dr. koray came and evaluate all of the patient and make sure that every thing is going in the proper way. DAY 2 SURGERY 09/08/2019 Same as the first day, except for me it was more painful than the first day, especially the extraction phase, i am not sure why, but according to some of the other patient i met at asmed and had a previous HT surgeries, they mentioned that the vertex part of the scalp is usually more painful than the frontal part that has been done in the first day. After completing all the surgeries, they take you again for the Kebot machine that analyze every part of the scalp for around 15 minutes. Day 3 first hair wash 10/08/2019 They remove the bandage from the donor area, and they apply the conditioner followed by the shampoo and gives all the instructions that you need to follow in the following 10 day after surgery. As i said, i stayed for additional nights at radisson blue, so they were washing my hair daily at the clinic, but its not necessarily, since it seems to be a straightforward process. In a conclusion, i am happy about everything regarding my experience, especially the services provided by the clinic, the quality of work until the moment, and Suzana (my coordinator). I wished that i had a more aggressive hairline, bit i hope this hair line will suite my face. Also i wished that dr.erdogan spent more time with us during the consultation , since it was only 10 minutes discussion before getting into this major decision. I will try to update on a monthly basis, and happy to hear you comments. Hair situation and medication: - Androgenic alopecia: NW5 - Finestraide: proscar (1.25 mg) started with the procedure. - 5% Minoxidil: stopped using it 3 weeks before the surgery ( i have been using it twice a day for 9 years). Graft calculator: Total: 5512 Ratio: 2.13 Single: 1045 Double: 2821 Triple: 1545 Quardruple: 95 Quintpule: 5 Sextuple: 1 Hair thickness: 67 microns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Anthonyd Posted August 17, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted August 17, 2019 Congrats on your HT I personally think the hairline is spot on, and suits your face, and think some of the hairlines from this clinic can be too aggressive if anything. also don’t forget, your head is swollen at the moment so it will look higher, and will drop about a 1cm roughly. Best of luck on your journey, exciting times ahead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack B Nimble Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 8 hours ago, Anthonyd said: I personally think the hairline is spot on, and suits your face, and think some of the hairlines from this clinic can be too aggressive if anything. You'd actually need to see his face to make that argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 18, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 12 hours ago, Anthonyd said: Congrats on your HT I personally think the hairline is spot on, and suits your face, and think some of the hairlines from this clinic can be too aggressive if anything. also don’t forget, your head is swollen at the moment so it will look higher, and will drop about a 1cm roughly. Best of luck on your journey, exciting times ahead! Thanks mate Hopefully your right, since i searched in the web, and i found its actually true that hairline would appear slightly lower after the swelling subsided. Also other thing that i wished i looked at is adding some hair to the temporal area, since it would reframe the face better and reduce the area of forehead. However i am a 34 year old, and i found multiple articles not recommending temporal hair restoration before the age of 35, because the hair loss will progress further at this area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member CosmoKramer Posted August 18, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 Nice write-up, good on you for taking on this journey. I had similar hairline done to yours (yours is slightly lower than mine) and I think you’ll be pleased after the swelling and once the new growth starts, I actually wanted 5,500 grafts but Dr Koray thought it wasn’t needed at the time but for you i believe he made the right decision as I agree you will very likely loose the miniaturizing hairs in your midscalp and crown over time, on the plus side your hair micron number is great, 67! Nice! Best of luck with recovery and growth! Looking forward to your progress updates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 18, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 13 minutes ago, CosmoKramer said: Nice write-up, good on you for taking on this journey. I had similar hairline done to yours (yours is slightly lower than mine) and I think you’ll be pleased after the swelling and once the new growth starts, I actually wanted 5,500 grafts but Dr Koray thought it wasn’t needed at the time but for you i believe he made the right decision as I agree you will very likely loose the miniaturizing hairs in your midscalp and crown over time, on the plus side your hair micron number is great, 67! Nice! Best of luck with recovery and growth! Looking forward to your progress updates! Thanks alot mate. I really were impressed by your result. I wish to end up with a result close to yours. Regarding the microneedling, i start using it it 3 months before the surgery, but unfortunately i shed alot, i am not sure whether it was a minaturized hair shedding that would be followed by a new hair replacement, but i couldn't take more risk and stopped it after 1.5 month of weekly use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 18, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 5 hours ago, Jack B Nimble said: You'd actually need to see his face to make that argument. First photo immediately after day 2 surgery. 2nd photo day 6 post surgery 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member CosmoKramer Posted August 18, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 7 minutes ago, HT explorer said: Thanks alot mate. I really were impressed by your result. I wish to end up with a result close to yours. Regarding the microneedling, i start using it it 3 months before the surgery, but unfortunately i shed alot, i am not sure whether it was a minaturized hair shedding that would be followed by a new hair replacement, but i couldn't take more risk and stopped it after 1.5 month of weekly use. Sure! Thanks for the kind words re my results, I’m sure you’ll pleased with yours in 12-18 months time. Ahh..yeah, I had a good shed of my native hairs the first couple of weeks of beginning my microneedling routine, I see it as a good thing as it’s a sign of newer better hairs ready to grow/sprout. I think you did the right thing in stopping the microneedling a month or so before your HT procedure, always good to let the scalp heal and err on the side of caution. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 18, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 10 minutes ago, CosmoKramer said: Sure! Thanks for the kind words re my results, I’m sure you’ll pleased with yours in 12-18 months time. Ahh..yeah, I had a good shed of my native hairs the first couple of weeks of beginning my microneedling routine, I see it as a good thing as it’s a sign of newer better hairs ready to grow/sprout. I think you did the right thing in stopping the microneedling a month or so before your HT procedure, always good to let the scalp heal and err on the side of caution. Looking forward for the final result. Please keep updating your thread, since i might reconsider the use of microneedling again on the crown area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member CosmoKramer Posted August 18, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 20 minutes ago, HT explorer said: Looking forward for the final result. Please keep updating your thread, since i might reconsider the use of microneedling again on the crown area. 👍🏻👍🏻 I plan to 🙂 I made a separate progress thread for my microneedling progress in the Open Topic section in case iyou have not seen it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 18, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 6 minutes ago, CosmoKramer said: 👍🏻👍🏻 I plan to 🙂 I made a separate progress thread for my microneedling progress in the Open Topic section in case iyou have not seen it. Thanks for the notification. I will definitely follow it. Wish you a complete coverage on the crown area without need for a second surgery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member E.said Posted August 18, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted August 18, 2019 Congratulations mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyGraft Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 Based on your statistics and hair caliber you have good donor imo. Did they tell you the hair per graft ratio? Im guessing it’s high for you. Also with your thick hair what punch size was used? I’m guessing .8 or .85. ill be following this thread as I’m a long term minoxidil user too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 19, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 19, 2019 3 hours ago, jj51702 said: Based on your statistics and hair caliber you have good donor imo. Did they tell you the hair per graft ratio? Im guessing it’s high for you. Also with your thick hair what punch size was used? I’m guessing .8 or .85. ill be following this thread as I’m a long term minoxidil user too I am not sure exactly about the size of the punch, but for most of asmed patient, its within the range of 0.65-0.9 mm. Hair per graft ratio was 2.13. Regarding the minoxidil, since i stoped using it for the reason they asked me to, in order to be prepared for the surgery and reduce the risk of bleeding during operation, i noticed a major improvement regarding hair loss. Only few hair came out while showering, unlike previous days with minoxidil. So i am not considering to get back on minox. later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member CosmoKramer Posted August 19, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted August 19, 2019 On 8/17/2019 at 11:37 PM, HT explorer said: Thanks for the notification. I will definitely follow it. Wish you a complete coverage on the crown area without need for a second surgery. Thanks man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 20, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2019 Quick update: Day 11 post surgery: I can say i am almost 90% scabs free, just by today, and its really stress relieving, since it was not an easy task to remove those scabs. Also i was reading some articles mentioning that the longer scabs persists on your scalp, the higher chance for graft failure, especially after day 15, thats why i tried to rub harder today while washing and slightly use the finger tip to remove some resistant scabs. Unfortunately nothing come without a cost, i think i noticed a small dot in the midscalp area that could be injured with the wash, but i am fine with it. Hope it will not affect the final result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member iamtheone654 Posted August 22, 2019 Regular Member Share Posted August 22, 2019 Did you have to take any fin before or after HT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 22, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 22, 2019 8 minutes ago, iamtheone654 said: Did you have to take any fin before or after HT? Yep, just started with the procedure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyGraft Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 On 8/20/2019 at 1:50 AM, HT explorer said: Quick update: Day 11 post surgery: I can say i am almost 90% scabs free, just by today, and its really stress relieving, since it was not an easy task to remove those scabs. Also i was reading some articles mentioning that the longer scabs persists on your scalp, the higher chance for graft failure, especially after day 15, thats why i tried to rub harder today while washing and slightly use the finger tip to remove some resistant scabs. Unfortunately nothing come without a cost, i think i noticed a small dot in the midscalp area that could be injured with the wash, but i am fine with it. Hope it will not affect the final result. Don’t worry about that opening. I’ve read if a graft is truly dislodged there will be lots of blood. Your grafts are totally imbedded into your scalp by this point. Even if u lost a single grsft like that it wouldn’t make any impact on final result overall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted August 22, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 22, 2019 51 minutes ago, jj51702 said: Don’t worry about that opening. I’ve read if a graft is truly dislodged there will be lots of blood. Your grafts are totally imbedded into your scalp by this point. Even if u lost a single grsft like that it wouldn’t make any impact on final result overall Thanks mate. I can understand now why people are overreacting after HT, cause after all of what you get through during and after the surgery, you want everything to be prefect, even though its not the case most of the time. Hoping that every thing will be perfect 6-12 months from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted September 5, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 5, 2019 A brief update.. Day 26 Since i am really worried and keep reading everywhere to check the problem i am experiencing at the moment or even since day 21, Temproal and parietal donor areas (sides above and slightly behind the ears) are empty and patchy, like if there is no growth in these areas at all. Never expect that problem before going to surgery, since i supposed to choose a good clinic i guess (hopefully i am right). Anybody can help regarding this, is it overharvesting (donor depletion) or just a temporary shock loss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted September 5, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 5, 2019 Right and left side surgeries photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member CosmoKramer Posted September 5, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted September 5, 2019 6 minutes ago, HT explorer said: A brief update.. Day 26 Since i am really worried and keep reading everywhere to check the problem i am experiencing at the moment or even since day 21, Temproal and parietal donor areas (sides above and slightly behind the ears) are empty and patchy, like if there is no growth in these areas at all. Never expect that problem before going to surgery, since i supposed to choose a good clinic i guess (hopefully i am right). Anybody can help regarding this, is it overharvesting (donor depletion) or just a temporary shock loss? That looks like shock loss to me, it should grow back in a couple of months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member CosmoKramer Posted September 5, 2019 Senior Member Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 minute ago, HT explorer said: Right and left side surgeries photos Looks nicely spread out and not over harvested imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HT explorer Posted September 5, 2019 Author Regular Member Share Posted September 5, 2019 Thanks mate, just another point, the density in the temporal and parietal areas were low in compared to the occipital part. temporal: 56-57 fu/cm2 Parietal: 65-66 fu/cm2 occipital: 109 fu/cm2 Do you think it could be the reason? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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