Dr. Ziya Yavuz: 3900 grafts - 01/13/2020 (Istanbul, Turkey)

[happyandsad]

Hi everyone.  So I just want to share the experience I had with my hair transplant procedure last week.

I'm 29 years old and I've been wanting to do something about my hair for a few years now.  A lot of people thought I was crazy when I told them I hated my hair, but I know my body the best and I could clearly tell that my hairline was receding and my head was getting less and less full of hair over the last few years.  It really took a toll on my confidence.  Unfortunately, I could not afford a ht here in the US.  My barber is the one who told me about Turkey during one of my haircuts last year, and then I began to do my research.

I was originally going to choose Smile Hair Clinic in Istanbul, but after joining the Facebook group "Hair Loss Conquerors", I decided to go with Dr. Ziya Yavuz, as he seemed to have the most positive comments overall, and other users suggested him to me.  I booked a "sapphire" FUE with Dr. Yavuz for my brother and I, and we flew out to Istanbul from NY on Jan 11th.  When we arrived at the airport, it was Sunday AM (Jan 12th).  The car service was in the waiting area to pick us up.  They drove us to the Hilton in Istanbul, which was a beautiful hotel and we had a nice room with a great view of the city sky line.  We decided to do a guided tour of the city while we were there, because why not?

The morning of our procedures, we woke up and had breakfast at the buffet in the hotel.  We went back to our room, and the front desk called us to let us know that our driver had arrived.  We were greeted by a friendly older Turkish man, who drove us to the clinic (located in Acibadem Hospital) in a nice Mercedes sedan.  We were greeted by one of Dr. Yavuz's female patient coordinators in the lobby, who took us up to the clinic on the 4th floor of the hospital.  My brother and I filled out some paperwork, and then the doctor came out to introduce himself.  Dr. Yavuz was very friendly and spoke great English.  He had asked us if we were taking any medications.  My brother told him no, so he gave my brother a pill for relaxation (I'm assuming Xanax).  I take medication for OCD/depression, so when I told the doctor that I am on medication and had in fact taken one of them that same morning, he didn't give me the sedative, which sucked, because I had my own Xanax and didn't take it because I figured he'd give me something lol.  No big deal.

We decided I would go first.  I went into a room with Dr. Yavuz where he pulled up the pictures I had previously sent and asked me what my goals were.  He then got a measuring tape and marker and drew a hairline for me, and asked how it looked.  I agreed that I liked its and then I had my head shaved.  I then went into the operating room with the techs/nurses.  They drew some blood to test for HIV and other blood-related diseases and to get some plasma for the PRP injections that they administered before starting the procedure.  All test results came back fine.  Dr. Yavuz came back in the room to administer the anesthesia.  The first part was the "needle-free" anesthesia, which really just felt like some rubber bands snapping on my scalp.  The pain wasn't bad.  Then, the needle anesthetic came and it hurt a bit more in certain spots.  Dr. Yavuz was in the room for a little while while the techs/nurses started extracting the grafts and they showed me what the grafts look like.  Dr. Yavuz left and said he'd be back to open the channels once the extraction was done.  Not going to lie, the extraction was pretty damn painful.  There were parts where I wanted to ask for more anesthetic, because I actually felt like it wasn't working, but I stupidly didn't say anything.

 I still had an IV in my arm so I believe they had actually sedated me a little more, because I remember falling asleep for a while and being a little drowsy when I woke up and they were still doing the extractions.  Dr. Yavuz then came back in the room to open the channels.  He asked how I was doing, then showed me the sapphire blade.  He opened up the channels in my head, which wasn't that bad compared to the graft extractions.  When he was done, the techs/nurses went to work on putting in the grafts.  Some more pain during this part, but again, I think the extractions were the worst.  I was pretty drowsy and kept moving because I was actually falling asleep lol.  The techs kept asking me to stay still, and I apologized.  They were not speaking English during the procedure, only when they told me not to move.

After I was done, I was brought into a room where I was given a lunch.  My brother was still having his done in another operating room.  I think the procedure lasted about 5-6 hours total.  More so than the pain of the procedure, I think the worst part was trying to lay comfortably for that long stretch of time.  The "table" I was laying on was more like a dentist's chair, so it was hard to lay in certain positions.

Eventually my brother came out of his procedure and all went well, though he agreed it was painful and said that they gave him more anesthesia at one point because he was agitated and he also took a lunch break in between.  They wrapped our heads up, gave us the meds we needed to take for the next few days and explained the instructions.  They also told me they were able to do 3900 grafts for me, as I was initially quoted 3800.  My brother was estimated at 3500 grafts and he ended up with 3600.  The the driver took us back to the hotel and the next morning, he picked us up again and brought us back for the follow up.  They took our bandages off and applied some iodine-type substance to our donor areas and send us on our way.  The next day, we were picked up again for our first wash by the same car service company that picked us up at the airport (not the same driver in the Mercedes that took us to/from our clinic appointments previously).  The patient coordinator explained to us the washing/after care process, as the nurse washed our heads.  The doctor also came to see us and see if we had any questions before we left.  Of course, they also tried selling us some extra supplements but there was no pressure, and we declined.

My only real complaint about this experience was that we had asked prior to going if they would accept a Discover credit card for my brother's procedure and we were told yes.  When we got there, they told us that the payment could not go through on a Discover card, so thankfully I had a MasterCard with me and we were able to pay with that and my brother gave me the money when we got home.  Would've saved us some stress, but at least it all worked out.

There's probably some other details I'm leaving out, but that's really it for the most part.  Overall, a good experience aside from the procedure itself being a bit more painful than expected.  The pain after the procedure and up until now has been minimal and I think everything is healing nicely so far.  I actually went to my primary care doctor today because I thought I had the flu (thankfully I don't) and I told her about the whole thing, and she even said it looks good and like it's healing nicely lol!  

All in all, I paid 2200 euros (a bit under $2500 USD) for the procedure which included 3-night stay at a Hilton in Istanbul and car service to/from the airport, all clinic appointments and the hotel.  My flight was about $1,000 USD but I had some credit card reward points so I paid about $850 for a round trip non-stop flight on Turkish Airlines.  Dr. Yavuz's team at Acibadem Hospital is super organized and friendly, and they reply very timely via Whats App.  I had some questions about some minor swelling I had when I returned and they asked me to send pictures, which I did, and I was advised to apply ice and keep taking the meds they gave (steroids, antibiotic).  I did, and the swelling went down the next day or so.  Keeping my fingers crossed that healing will continue to go well and that I'll get nice results.  

The first side by side picture shows me on the left in 2011 (age 21) and me about a week or so prior to the procedure.  The other pic collage are the pics I sent to Dr. Yavuz's team in November, and the mirror selfie is me just minutes after my procedure finished, followed by a pic from a few hours later.  Finally the gross pics of the back of my head/donor area are from the day after the procedure when the bandages were removed lol.

I'll post some new pics tomorrow since my scabs are finally starting to come off a bit and it will be one full week since this was done.  Stay turned for tomorrow's update!

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2020 by happyandsad

[Melvin- Admin]

I wish you the best. I have never heard of this clinic, but happy growing nevertheless. 

[ITA]

@Melvin-Moderator You have never heard of it because it has existed for about a year.  Ziya Yavuz is the one who ruined my life, in addition to the donor area, he was in business with Hamid Aydin at Estetistanbul, one of the many mills that do (or tries to do) transplants in Turkey, then he started doing business on his own  .

[ITA]

@Jijypuru. if you go to your mail you will find some pictures that I sent you.  If that's not enough, I can send you the link where my donor area is taken as an example in a document written by the ISHRS about the black transplant market in Turkey, taken as an example of over haversting. I have opened  a report on this forum of my second transplant or better, of my transplant because I don't consider the first one, and in any case I wish you never to suffer what I suffered when I entrusted myself to Estetistanbul and Ziya Yavuz

[happyandsad]

23 hours ago, Egy said:

@Jijypuru. if you go to your mail you will find some pictures that I sent you.  If that's not enough, I can send you the link where my donor area is taken as an example in a document written by the ISHRS about the black transplant market in Turkey, taken as an example of over haversting. I have opened  a report on this forum of my second transplant or better, of my transplant because I don't consider the first one, and in any case I wish you never to suffer what I suffered when I entrusted myself to Estetistanbul and Ziya Yavuz

Did you ever contact them about what happened to you?  What was their response?

His new clinic that I went to has gotten great reviews which is why I chose them.  They only did 2 patients per day, now they do 3 because they’re more popular, but some of the “hair mills” in Turkey do a lot more than that.  I personally felt like I was in good hands.

[ITA]

@happyandsad I contacted them, Ziya Yavuz told me that what happened is not his fault, while Hamid Aydin told me through the clinic's translator, that they wanted to make a video call with me, but that I never received.  I wish you the best (I have always written it in my posts) but if you tell me that you have found only good reviews of Ziya Yavuz, I tell you that it is normal that it is so, the clinic has opened it for a year,  how many patients do you want me to have operated on yet?  Few...

Edited January 23, 2020 by Egy

[happyandsad]

14 hours ago, Egy said:

@happyandsad I contacted them, Ziya Yavuz told me that what happened is not his fault, while Hamid Aydin told me through the clinic's translator, that they wanted to make a video call with me, but that I never received.  I wish you the best (I have always written it in my posts) but if you tell me that you have found only good reviews of Ziya Yavuz, I tell you that it is normal that it is so, the clinic has opened it for a year,  how many patients do you want me to have operated on yet?  Few...

Did you follow up with them about the video call?  Have you filed any formal complaints with the hospital/clinic or take any legal action against them?  Again, I'm sorry for what happened to you.  It sounds like maybe inexperienced technicians were working on you.  Anyway, I don't want to go back and forth with you.  I appreciate your well wishes and wish the best for you as well.

I'm trying to upload my pics that were just taken to show my progress (day 10), but it's giving me an error and saying "upload failed".  Maybe @Melvin-Moderator can help me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ITA]

@happyandsad ok .... this is the last post that I put in your discussion talking about my bad experience with Ziya Yavuz.  Who should I make the video call (which they promised to do, but never made) with the translator?  And tell him what?  Do you think it is easy to report people or a clinic that have nothing but a sheet of paper that says "guarantee certificate" but which is actually nothing more than a certificate that has transplanted 4000 follicular units, especially if the clinic is a  Turkish clinic?  In addition to the fact that you should rely on a Turkish lawyer to be represented there, not to mention the legal visits you should perform to prove how they reduced you, and therefore, in the event that Ziya Yavuz and Hamid Aydin propose to return to them for  try to "solve the situation" (because that's what they could offer you) would you come back?  I don't know how my second transplant with Dr. Cinik will evolve, but if it doesn't go well, it will be a big mistake for Estetistanbul, because my donor area has been devastated by them, in Cinik I could blame the fact that instead of doing  the transplant did not tell me that in any case I had scar tissue and therefore I must not expect a 100% regrowth of the follicular units and also that the follicular units taken from the beard all come from a hair and do not have the same coverage as those taken  from the back of my neck, things that I only found out now, so I could tell Cinik that he was not ethical as a doctor.  That's all.

[happyandsad]

Day 31.  Got the sides and back buzzed down last week to even things out, but it's still growing in faster than the transplanted area (top) lol.  I am a little worried as the donor area (back and sides) seems to be a bit patchy/thin - maybe I'm a slow healer or shock loss?  Should I be worried?

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by happyandsad

[freddyjayp]

Could we see an update? 

[PSG]

Could we an update?

[Melvin- Admin]

2 hours ago, PSG said:

Could we an update?

I don’t think he’ll be back. I remember trying to help him go to a proper clinic too.