Have to make a choice in a few days

[Fred88]

Hi guys,

I'm planing to do a FUE early in Jan, and based on my research up to this point, I'm about to choose between two surgeons; Dr Kaan Pekiner and Dr Koray Erdogan. Well, I am still struggling about it because of some reasons. There is no doubts that Dr Koray is one of the most experienced and a member of IAHRS (I feel it's a sign of trust and kinda important, but you tell me what you think), so no fear of something's gonna go wrong when you're there! But there are two big concerns;  First the very high price tag, and the second, extractions are not done by him. So what's the point when everywhere you hear that "choose a place where everything is done by the doctor himself, not technicians".

In fact, I did not find any other doctor who does the whole process himself but just Dr Kaan (please let me know if you know any other). The price tag is also less than Dr. koray as  I have heard (2.5€ per graft not shaved!? 2€ or 1.5€ shaved!? 0.25€ off if you let your pics to be published!?). 

Please guide me through that as I need a serious, honest and fair help. I don't want to lose all my savings and all my hair for the rest of my life

P.S. I'll post some picture of my hair situation later, so we can discuss how many grafts is needed to be plugged in

 

[Fred88]

Just to add up that I have been on finastride for several years (around 7, I'm 31 years old) and a lot of still survived thin fine hair which could be good to do a PRP too, but unfortunately Dr. Kaan doesn't have that at the moment and I think Dr. Koray offer that. I am going from the UK and I want to think to have a PRP as well if that's any better.

[Raphael84]

@Fred88

I understand your dilemma. Deciding upon your physician for surgery is a hugely important and personal journey and choice. It is not always simple or obvious, and therefore no individual should rush into this until they feel extremely confident with their choice. The process of surgery can bring moments of anxiety, so its important that you have complete trust and no doubt in your Doctor, otherwise you may add further insecurities to that process.

Choosing a physician that is recommended by the IAHRS and that has a great reputation over many years and a proven track record of consistently quality results and excellent patient care has value and undoubtedly goes a long way in addressing some of those potential insecurities.

Regarding the physician completing every part of the the procedure, including the extraction of pre punched grafts and the placing of those grafts in pre made incision sites. Its an interesting discussion that has been voiced many times on this very forum. If you were to pick your "top" 5 or 10 physicians, regardless of price, how many of those "top" clinics involve the Doctor placing grafts? I would suggest the minority. Yet they achieve some of the most impressive results and correctly considered the elite. The standard model involves placing technicians placing grafts, and a I personally have no issue with a well trained technician performing this task. Ultimately the trust in the quality of the team, reflects on the trust, quality and reputation of the Doctor.

If finances are too tight to allow you to select the surgeon that you have absolute trust in. Consider holding off until you are in the position to do so. You dont want to have any regrets with this.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Raphael84

[Rolandas]

I would suggest to contact surgeon you're interested in and ask for quite tailored for you. That's the best way to find out what they propose for your case.

It's a decision for you to make as to whom you trust more as Raphael84 mentioned. Take your time and don't rush into it. I'm not saying postpone your planned surgery date, but just spend more time on research. A good 2-3 hours of research and you can get a lot of your questions answered.

Good luck!

[Fred88]

Does anyone know how experienced Dr Acar is? 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Fred88

[Fred88]

Here are some pre-op photos. I've got a very good donor area with thick and voluminous hair (Thanks to fin?!)

 

[Raphael84]

Your donor looks very promising from these photos,  you have maintained high sides which is another positive.

The fact that you are on meds helps the situation moving forward.

Dont rush too much. Keep researching. Send online consults off to several Doctors you are considering and understand their recommendations. I assure you that immediately you will rule out some Doctors and favour others!

Choose the right Doctor and you should achieve a very impressive result.

Looking forward to following your journey.

Wishing you the best.

[1978matt]

Your hair has good wave to it.  As little as 2500 grafts could make a considerable difference if you don't drop the hairline.  That is the approach I would take.

Personally I would not pay a doctor to watch a TV screen.

[Sean]

2500 grafts can go a long way here.  Choose your surgeon wisely and be cautious of donor decimating surgeons.  You want to use minimal grafts to achieve maximum yield in the right hands and not by techs but a surgeon.  Best of luck

[Guano]

Whatever you do, I strongly reccommend not going to Koray. You will be disappointed.

I'd choose Pekiner, in fact, I have one booked in with him.

[pre-screened]

Save money, work extra hours, stop getting takeaway’s

 this is the most important medical decision of your life so far - don’t go to Turkey cause it’s cheap       

forget cost now and think long term 30-40yrs long term

 go to couto, hattingon, devorye, bisanga, Hassan, arocha, wesselly, 

[ITA]

@Fred88 As already written in other threads, I can tell you that I think Pekiner is one of the top surgeons out there, the fact that he does the whole procedure without leaving anything to his assistants, is a guarantee, the fact that he uses a manual punch  instead of a motorized one, where the bulb is subjected to more stress, it is another guarantee, moreover the fact that I personally have not yet seen around on the web a failed procedure made by this surgeon, if not that of the member of this  Forum Dredd77 seems to me to be called, but apparently in that transplant, it seems that the patient has not followed to the letter the advice given by the doctor.

Edited November 10, 2019 by Giastro

[Fred88]

6 hours ago, Guano said:

Whatever you do, I strongly reccommend not going to Koray. You will be disappointed.

I'd choose Pekiner, in fact, I have one booked in with him.

Koray is already out of my list. 

[Fred88]

I have been researching over the last 2 weeks. Doing more and more research has not ended with a certain choice in my case, in fact, it has created more doubts.

I'd classify Drs into two groups; in Turkey and out. Based on criteria I've come to (up to the moment) there are some standards to choose a Dr.

Being a member of the American association (the one that needs an exam to be taken) and the International hair restoration society are a sign of quality but a few Drs in Turkey have it, specially the American board certificate.

Considering that, it seems it comes to a small choices of Drs for me in Turkey; Dr Keser (the Guru, doing all the process himself) and Ali Karandenis (with the experience of about 2000 surgeries) (These two are both considered to be good by Joe Tilman as well).

Out of Turkey, where the price outbursts 2 or 3 times more, we have Dr. Bald (UK) with excellent natural looking results but about 6 euros per graft! To be honest that's way too much! We also have Dr Bisanga (don't know the price but he's good) and Hattingen institute (about 4.5 € per graft). The good point about out of Turkey options are that results look incredibly natural.

To be honest, personally I think, the fact of having too many forums on the internet not only has not facilitated the situation for HR applicants, but also has made it more stressful and biased. It's turning it more to an industrial matter rather than a scientific cosmetic approach.

To make the long story short, I've got a good feeling towards Dr Pekiner. He's performing all the process himself. He's young with the experience of about 600 surgeries. But he's not a member of the American and international board. I also have the feeling that hairlines do look a bit unnatural comparing to the clinics out if Turkey (correct me if I'm wrong). Those straight rulered front-lines (in his Instagram pics) bothers me a bit. Is he really doing single graft in the hairline?

All these Drs I've mentioned here are non-cheap Drs. However, everything in the EU is double the price and in the UK triple. So I'm still nowhere in my research!

I'd really wish to come to a point to make a safe non-crazy price tag option.

Edited November 10, 2019 by Fred88

[Fred88]

I have some sorft of wave in my hair but I don't know if it makes it more or less difficult in HR.

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by Fred88

[MarshallUK]

Dilemmas dilemmas! It is a tough one to decide I was swapping doctors each day for about a year. I have seen good work from dr pekiner and if you get a good feeling then follow your gut. I went with dr bisanga who is a real good guy warm friendly and a very top surgeon who cares about your results.  I know he has opened a clinic in Greece for cheaper rates where the work is done by others surgeons under his guidance and supervision which I think is definitely worth looking at from a budget point of view. Also I was close to going with demisroy in Turkey as 99% of his work looks top notch at I think €1.25 a graft also worth looking at, good luck 

[Raphael84]

2 minutes ago, MarshallUK said:

Dilemmas dilemmas! It is a tough one to decide I was swapping doctors each day for about a year. I have seen good work from dr pekiner and if you get a good feeling then follow your gut. I went with dr bisanga who is a real good guy warm friendly and a very top surgeon who cares about your results.  I know he has opened a clinic in Greece for cheaper rates where the work is done by others surgeons under his guidance and supervision which I think is definitely worth looking at from a budget point of view. Also I was close to going with demisroy in Turkey as 99% of his work looks top notch at I think €1.25 a graft also worth looking at, good luck 

It definitely can feel like a dilemma. Especially when you put a specific time frame on your decision making process. Do not commit until you are completely confident in your choice of physician, or you will second guess yourself non stop pre, during and post your surgery until your results will finally confirm either your initial choice, or your subsequent insecurity.

@MarshallUK As Ive said several times before, thrilled for you and your results. Just to clarify, in Athens Dr Bisanga is very hands on in surgery. He is not only supervising. He will punch at least 50% of grafts and make at least 50%of incision sites.

[Guano]

Pekiners trained under Keser & HLC who have very natural-looking hairlines.. 

Its probably due to the nature of his 'dense packs'.. 

[Fred88]

Today's update:

My choice of options have slightly changed to a group of Drs who all are member of ABHRS (except Dr. Pekiner), which needs a real test and is a confident sign of trust. Here they are:

Dr. Karandeniz, Dr. Sahinoglu. 

Through contacting Dr Karandeniz I've got the following response:

"We are one of the most reputable hospital with experienced surgical team.

Dr Ali Emre Karadeniz( ABHRS & ISHRS ) member plastic surgeon. Starting from 1800 euro

Dr Murtaza Aktas (Medical Dr), Superhair Package,

1300 Euro ( %50 discounted summer promotion)

Dr K ( Dr Ali Emre Karadeniz) is the only plastic surgeon in Turkey who is also charing American Board Hair Restoration Surgery in USA. (abhrs.org) He is also certified by ISHRS. We have a high qualified clinic in Istanbul and max 4 patients capacity per day, so that he could supervises the all surgeiries. We checked your photos, We do boutiqe work and spend around 3-4 hours only for extraction. Because some of the grafts have single, some of them has multiple hairs and some of them none hairs, they are just a scar. So we differ grafts and select single and multiple hair ones and avoid none hair grafts in order to keep donor area in shape and healty.In your case our estimation is to transplant around 6000-7000 hairs from min graft possible.For incisions, Dr K is using platinum blade in custom base for each scalp. So it is unlimited size and dept and allows us to transplant 100 hairs per cm2, then it looks very natural. Once you decide to come, we will take you to face to face interview with Dr K and he will do design accordingly.

 AEK Standard Dr K FUE Package:  1800 euro all inclusive
- Supervised by Dr. K
- Dr K recommends around 6000-7000 hairs 
-Dr K is charing American Board Hair Restoration Surgery and he is the only one İn Turkey
-Dr K’assistans have more than 10 years of experince and not only technicians, also Biologist. So that they have capability to get more hair from grafts
- It is important to get up to 5 hairs from each graft in order to get more hair for transplantation and keep the donor zone healty
In gold package, Dr K involves to recipient incisions with his team, especially hairline determining incisions done by himaself and cost is 2300 euro
In premium package, Dr K does recipient incisions himself, cost is 3000 euro
Price includes:

2 nights accommodation at 5-star hotel next to clinic 
VIP airport pickup service by luxury car
Food and drinks during surgical procedure
Shampoo and moisturiser for aftercare
Camouflage hat
Washing the day after surgery with detailed instructions on aftercare
High quality graft storage solution
Sapphire Blade 
Painless Anesthesia 
Free PRP 
Lifetime Guarantee"

 

I still couldn't get how many grafts would give around 6000-7000 hair. If chosen, I'd defenitely go for the premium package but isn't the price too cheap (a bit scary)?!? Note that there is also PRP included.

Still waiting for the answer of Drs Pekiner and Sahinoglu (will chek Demirsoy meanwhile). In case there's no very secure option left to think about doing it in Turkey, I''ll focus on the EU.

Edited November 11, 2019 by Fred88

[Sean]

Those prices are wow.  Dr Karadeniz has been vetted it seems and is offering reasonable pricing.  6000-7000 hairs will vary though depending on what type of grafts the extract.  You can have grafts with ones, twos, threes, some four hairs but it all depends on hair texture, caliber, punch size used, techniques etc.  

 

pretty tough decision but go with who you feel more comfy with and who's plan works in line with your goals.  

[LonelyGraft]

4 hours ago, Fred88 said:

Today's update:

My choice of options have slightly changed to a group of Drs who all are member of ABHRS (except Dr. Pekiner), which needs a real test and is a confident sign of trust. Here they are:

Dr. Karandeniz, Dr. Sahinoglu. 

Through contacting Dr Karandeniz I've got the following response:

"We are one of the most reputable hospital with experienced surgical team.

Dr Ali Emre Karadeniz( ABHRS & ISHRS ) member plastic surgeon. Starting from 1800 euro

Dr Murtaza Aktas (Medical Dr), Superhair Package,

1300 Euro ( %50 discounted summer promotion)

Dr K ( Dr Ali Emre Karadeniz) is the only plastic surgeon in Turkey who is also charing American Board Hair Restoration Surgery in USA. (abhrs.org) He is also certified by ISHRS. We have a high qualified clinic in Istanbul and max 4 patients capacity per day, so that he could supervises the all surgeiries. We checked your photos, We do boutiqe work and spend around 3-4 hours only for extraction. Because some of the grafts have single, some of them has multiple hairs and some of them none hairs, they are just a scar. So we differ grafts and select single and multiple hair ones and avoid none hair grafts in order to keep donor area in shape and healty.In your case our estimation is to transplant around 6000-7000 hairs from min graft possible.For incisions, Dr K is using platinum blade in custom base for each scalp. So it is unlimited size and dept and allows us to transplant 100 hairs per cm2, then it looks very natural. Once you decide to come, we will take you to face to face interview with Dr K and he will do design accordingly.

 AEK Standard Dr K FUE Package:  1800 euro all inclusive
- Supervised by Dr. K
- Dr K recommends around 6000-7000 hairs 
-Dr K is charing American Board Hair Restoration Surgery and he is the only one İn Turkey
-Dr K’assistans have more than 10 years of experince and not only technicians, also Biologist. So that they have capability to get more hair from grafts
- It is important to get up to 5 hairs from each graft in order to get more hair for transplantation and keep the donor zone healty
In gold package, Dr K involves to recipient incisions with his team, especially hairline determining incisions done by himaself and cost is 2300 euro
In premium package, Dr K does recipient incisions himself, cost is 3000 euro
Price includes:

2 nights accommodation at 5-star hotel next to clinic 
VIP airport pickup service by luxury car
Food and drinks during surgical procedure
Shampoo and moisturiser for aftercare
Camouflage hat
Washing the day after surgery with detailed instructions on aftercare
High quality graft storage solution
Sapphire Blade 
Painless Anesthesia 
Free PRP 
Lifetime Guarantee"

 

I still couldn't get how many grafts would give around 6000-7000 hair. If chosen, I'd defenitely go for the premium package but isn't the price too cheap (a bit scary)?!? Note that there is also PRP included.

Still waiting for the answer of Drs Pekiner and Sahinoglu (will chek Demirsoy meanwhile). In case there's no very secure option left to think about doing it in Turkey, I''ll focus on the EU.

Lol Dr. K seems to have gone towards the cinik route offering unlimited grafts under a 3-4 hour extraction window at a flat rate. He charges more if he does some/all of the incisions. I remember him vaguely preaching about doctors to do all the work in the past and how it was so important.

 

and wtf do they mean by some grafts have zero hairs? They just punch out skin?

Edited November 11, 2019 by LonelyGraft

[Fred88]

17 minutes ago, LonelyGraft said:

Lol Dr. K seems to have gone towards the cinik route offering unlimited grafts under a 3-4 hour extraction window at a flat rate. He charges more if he does some/all of the incisions. I remember him vaguely preaching about doctors to do all the work in the past and how it was so important.

 

and wtf do they mean by some grafts have zero hairs? They just punch out skin?

Does it mean that they just punch on a regular distance with motorized punch? and sometimes there's no hair?! I also did't get that part. I'd be grateful to know the background of this Dr on the web and if anyone has seen anything negative about. 

[Rolandas]

I would suggest not to focus on abhrs and especially ishrs as it doesnt really tell if surgeons work is good.

Search on youtube Joe Tillman's hair transplant class about hair transplant associations and what they mean to understand more about it.

[Fred88]

1 hour ago, Rolandas said:

I would suggest not to focus on abhrs and especially ishrs as it doesnt really tell if surgeons work is good.

Search on youtube Joe Tillman's hair transplant class about hair transplant associations and what they mean to understand more about it.

Joe's also mentioned if considering any association, then ABHRS is the best of all since it's the only one that needs Dr to give a real test. However, you're right and that's why I still have surgeons who are not a member of ABHRS in my list.

Today my list has changed to:

Dr. Pekiner (still there, still a good feeling about him, one of the few who is doing all the process himself). 
Further thinking: 
1. The case here who did not have a good result and it was claimed to be the consequence of not following post-op instructions (I'd like to believe it was DUPA because I can't convince myself not having Finasteride can cause that!). 
2. He's neither in ABHRS nor in IAHRS (need to convince myself they're not that important but good to have).

Dr. Keser (pictures and hairlines look very natural (the best I've seen so far); suggested by Joe Tilman but not directly in his videos; apparently does all the process himself)
Further thinking:
1. I don't know how to contact him!
2. He's neither in ABHRS nor in IAHRS.

Dr. Karandeniz (suggested by Joe Tilman but not directly in his videos, member of ABHRS).  
Further thinking: 
1. He just does the incisions. 4 surgeries per day are considered to be a bulky size for me and together with the low price tag resembles cheap clinics.
2. I saw a negative experience on a forum.

Dr. Demirsoy (don't know him enough yet, but his results don't look bad)
Further thinking: 
1. He's neither in ABHRS nor in IAHRS.

Edited November 12, 2019 by Fred88

[samgreen883]

 

11 minutes ago, Fred88 said:

Dr. Demisroy (don't know him enough yet, but his results don't look bad)
Further thinking: 
1. He's neither in ABHRS nor in ISHRS.

seems like he is in the ISHRS?