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  • Regular Member

Hi everyone, I am a man in my mid-20's from the USA who completed my first FUE hair transplant with Dr. Ozlem Bicer in Istanbul, Turkey a couple weeks ago. After several months of nerve wracking research to find a IAHRS surgeon operated procedure, a clinic with only 1 operation per day, and at an affordable price I only found a few clinics that met my prerequisites. I limited myself to 3 in-person consultations when I arrived in Istanbul.

All 3 doctors I consulted with noted I had a weak donor area on top of a very large recipient area (NW 7). Not very good odds for me lol, but since I have already tried the bald look before and liked it I decided to roll the dice and perform an operation if I was comfortable with the surgeons plan. 2 of the 3 doctors, while very respectable and I'm sure they would do a good job, recommended large amounts of graft implants despite my weak donor area in just one session. One of the doctors also told me that this was the only surgery I would ever be able to do because my donor area was so weak. Not helping my anxiety haha.

I committed to an operation with Dr. Bicer because she far and away stood out from her peers. I have never met a doctor who seemed to so genuinely want what was in the best interests of the patient by asking what my concerns were, considering how I would like my hair to look, and most of all putting forth a reasonable long term plan for success. Dr Bicer was the only doctor who took my age into consideration and noted that my non transplanted hair will most likely fall out in the future as I am still young. She was also the only doctor to recommend a long term plan by not using all of my donor area in one session so that some of it may be preserved for when more of my non-transplanted hair goes away. I can then perform another session when my hair has stopped falling out in a few years. She is very methodical and forward thinking.

Now comes the fun part - SURGERY DAY. All of the medical staff were very friendly, careful not to hurt me, and always asked if I was okay. The clinic's general coordinator and English Translator, Ozen, was very helpful whenever I needed a question asked to the staff and is still very quick to respond whenever I have a question over Whats App. Dr Bicer performed the incisions, supervised the extractions, and checked in every 20-30 minutes during the implantation phase. Over the course of the 9 hour surgery, 3400 grafts were transplanted with a very small mm tool so there was very minimal scarring. I was so comfortable during the procedure I fell asleep in the operating chair three times lol.

I was originally quoted 3000 grafts for $4500 USD, but Dr Bicer noted during the surgery that my donor area was stronger than first analyzed so she did not charge me for the extra 400 grafts. I was very pleased with the results at the end of the day and it definitely exceeded my expectations for what I thought possible when first going to Turkey.
 

It’s now been almost 2 weeks since the surgery and all the scabbing  is thankfully gone. Now, I’m just waiting for the dreaded shedding and long time for regrowth.
 

Finally,  thank you to all of you for making this forum great! I have been a lurker on this website and a couple others and used it extensively to find the right surgeon for me and for post-care help :) if you have any questions about my experience please let me know!

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64836250-7645-4744-9C3C-E4DBE4BCE7FE.jpeg

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  • Moderators

The Dr gave you a very high hairline, so hopefully that will allow you to get some decent coverage over the large area. I hope it works out for you.

 

Al

Forum Moderator

(formerly BeHappy)

I am a forum moderator for hairrestorationnetwork.com. I am not a Dr. and I do not work for any particular Dr. My opinions are my own and may not reflect the opinions of other moderators or the owner of this site. I am also a hair transplant patient and repair patient. You can view some of my repair journey here.

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  • Regular Member

Thanks for the well wishes. It is a conservative hairline, but it looks higher on camera (especially in my last pic lol). I have a large recipient area and weak donor area. So to achieve natural looking density in the front of my head I was comfortable having a higher hairline.

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  • Senior Member

I think the hairline was a very good decision. Especially because of your advanced hair loss. We’re you against fut? I think you could of gotten more hair out going that route.

regardless happy growing I hope it grows well !

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  • Regular Member

Thanks Tbcruz! Yes, I was against FUT. I have experimented with a bald look before and really liked it. My comfort with a bald look is what gave me the confidence to have a HT with the thought that if I didn’t like it I could go bald again. So, if I did FUT it would leave a scar in my donor area in the chance I go bald

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  • Senior Member

Yea I get it. I had the same idea when I had my first procedure (fue). My mentality is different now tho. I don’t want to ever shave my head lol . 
 

Goodluck tho! I deff will be following your results !

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  • 6 months later...
  • Regular Member

UPDATE: It is a little over 7 months now since my surgery date and going with Dr. Bicer was one of the best decisions I have made in my life and that is no exaggeration. I am constantly receiving compliments on how my hair looks so full and natural. Even my barber, who constantly deals with questions about HT and balding in our community, has said that my transplant was the best that he's ever seen and that he'd like to refer people interested in HTs to me to see where I went. I have struggled with thinning hair and balding since I was 17 which led to body image issues and low self confidence in a lot of aspects of my life. After this surgery,  I finally feel like my age again, with confidence I haven't felt in years.

As a side point for anyone interested, I was turned down by many clinics for not having a strong donor area (heartbreaking at the time). When I went with Dr. Bicer, she strategized that I load up the front and middle of my scalp with grafts as I'm a tall guy so I would have natural looking hair from the front and nobody could see my balding crown in the back. Evening out the graft from my hairline to crown would lead to thin, unnatural looking hair because of the previously mentioned weak donor area. So while the front view of my hair would look great the crown was left untouched and balding due to my weak donor area. To fix this, a month after the surgery I started taking 1 mg of finasteride and minoxidil foam. They have definitely made a significant improvement in the density of hair in my crown. Now, my crown looks much more natural and there is not a huge disparity between my newly hair transplanted hair and the crown hairs.

If you are on the fence about getting a hair transplant and nervous if you can trust the doctor and their work, please consider going with Dr. Bicer as she has transformed my life positively through her work. If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Below, I will post the pictures I have taken each month after my Hair Transplant. Unfortunately, I missed taking photos during a couple significant growth months in April and May.

March:

1652298655_March1.thumb.jpg.3ae66877d61b61fb88d39f3ac36ba26f.jpg

2097105374_March2.thumb.JPG.4dacc9608fcbdd65c1a37489aa759b4b.JPG

April: N/A :(

May: N/A :(

June: 

1799825168_June1.thumb.jpg.0fd1d9cab635431f261f7b0c55d4688c.jpg

1794503295_June2.thumb.jpg.f9847ffc87a374a4e59e059fa33c9553.jpg

232718289_June5.thumb.JPG.89c7201595323c0597a55b6e98811426.JPG977843062_June4.thumb.JPG.a4e756abce895f6dd56d68c03912813f.JPG

July:

411326625_July1.thumb.jpg.f2e75d90452c0ebc27308b2ab04f7c46.jpg

469867751_July2.thumb.jpg.6025cbfdc29099d272b9add080447e6c.jpg

1988899180_July3.thumb.jpg.b0a30997162e529585aa5d39020ba0a3.jpg

13683109_July4.thumb.JPG.fc0b24702181826e6fe5c538e9fee207.JPG

August (Present day):747454734_August1.thumb.jpg.6f1779de8acef8b8da40ab3cc016f0d3.jpg

1797558273_August2.thumb.jpg.71beaad75aebd269db07eb34017c897c.jpg1242557072_August3.thumb.JPG.f23cf29f3ce78d9161e4aea714f688b2.JPG

 

 

June 3.JPG

Edited by MrClean58
Picture from earlier month accidentally posted for present day
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  • Regular Member
On 8/30/2020 at 1:47 AM, MrClean58 said:

UPDATE: It is a little over 7 months now since my surgery date and going with Dr. Bicer was one of the best decisions I have made in my life and that is no exaggeration. I am constantly receiving compliments on how my hair looks so full and natural. Even my barber, who constantly deals with questions about HT and balding in our community, has said that my transplant was the best that he's ever seen and that he'd like to refer people interested in HTs to me to see where I went. I have struggled with thinning hair and balding since I was 17 which led to body image issues and low self confidence in a lot of aspects of my life. After this surgery,  I finally feel like my age again, with confidence I haven't felt in years.

As a side point for anyone interested, I was turned down by many clinics for not having a strong donor area (heartbreaking at the time). When I went with Dr. Bicer, she strategized that I load up the front and middle of my scalp with grafts as I'm a tall guy so I would have natural looking hair from the front and nobody could see my balding crown in the back. Evening out the graft from my hairline to crown would lead to thin, unnatural looking hair because of the previously mentioned weak donor area. So while the front view of my hair would look great the crown was left untouched and balding due to my weak donor area. To fix this, a month after the surgery I started taking 1 mg of finasteride and minoxidil foam. They have definitely made a significant improvement in the density of hair in my crown. Now, my crown looks much more natural and there is not a huge disparity between my newly hair transplanted hair and the crown hairs.

If you are on the fence about getting a hair transplant and nervous if you can trust the doctor and their work, please consider going with Dr. Bicer as she has transformed my life positively through her work. If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Below, I will post the pictures I have taken each month after my Hair Transplant. Unfortunately, I missed taking photos during a couple significant growth months in April and May.

March:

1652298655_March1.thumb.jpg.3ae66877d61b61fb88d39f3ac36ba26f.jpg

2097105374_March2.thumb.JPG.4dacc9608fcbdd65c1a37489aa759b4b.JPG

April: N/A :(

May: N/A :(

June: 

1799825168_June1.thumb.jpg.0fd1d9cab635431f261f7b0c55d4688c.jpg

1794503295_June2.thumb.jpg.f9847ffc87a374a4e59e059fa33c9553.jpg

232718289_June5.thumb.JPG.89c7201595323c0597a55b6e98811426.JPG977843062_June4.thumb.JPG.a4e756abce895f6dd56d68c03912813f.JPG

July:

411326625_July1.thumb.jpg.f2e75d90452c0ebc27308b2ab04f7c46.jpg

469867751_July2.thumb.jpg.6025cbfdc29099d272b9add080447e6c.jpg

1988899180_July3.thumb.jpg.b0a30997162e529585aa5d39020ba0a3.jpg

13683109_July4.thumb.JPG.fc0b24702181826e6fe5c538e9fee207.JPG

August (Present day):747454734_August1.thumb.jpg.6f1779de8acef8b8da40ab3cc016f0d3.jpg

1797558273_August2.thumb.jpg.71beaad75aebd269db07eb34017c897c.jpg1242557072_August3.thumb.JPG.f23cf29f3ce78d9161e4aea714f688b2.JPG

 

 

June 3.JPG

You should have gone to euginix ,they are providing complete coverage for high Norwood an good density.

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  • Administrators

Looking good. Very happy for you 👏🏼


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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Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.

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  • Valued Contributor

An incredible transformation with such a minimal number of grafts used. Really goes to show the art in using less equals more. Incredibly happy for you and I look forward to further updates as you still have a few months ahead of you. Thanks for sharing and take care!

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

Hi Everybody!! Thank you so much for all your kind words! Sadly, I haven't been taking photos of my month to month change. However, here is a photo of me taken earlier today almost 11 months after the transplant. I am loving the results. It has seriously boosted my self confidence to levels I haven't felt since before my hair loss started when I was a teenager. The great results I have gotten have been a key part in motivating me to lose weight and improve other areas of my life. You will see the photos for yourself, but my barber says it is one of the most natural looking hair transplants he has seen and now whenever anybody asks for a good hair transplant surgeon he has them reach out to me so I can tell them about Dr. Bicer. Please let me now if you have any questions.

P.S. Please note that Dr. Bicer and I agreed to only transplant hair densely on the front half of my head because I am tall so unless I am sitting down people will not get a good look of my crown. I am using Fin and Min once a day to bolster up my crown and maintain the hair there.

Now without further ado, here are the photos:

Before Transplant:

image.png.58fc6889dfe69f653e10b13c3ba8ad42.png

11 Months After:

IMG_7704.thumb.jpg.a6155ad04bdb8cf8bed030bdb7b30f6a.jpg

Before Transplant:

IMG_7708.thumb.jpg.af058c7421b8c800a8e3781e1e8cfd3d.jpg

11 Months After:

IMG_7703.thumb.jpg.9d54ffe192bcbd09a92cb0d5b5bdbcb4.jpgIMG_7701.thumb.jpg.3f72cc4e0e72e38fd251de65639b0091.jpg

Before Transplant:

IMG_7706.thumb.jpg.375af0c3c8e63f8e46f1b2b83bdbb5e6.jpg

11 Months After:

IMG_7702.thumb.jpg.098f362ea32c8f23013f189cf1e100a6.jpg

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  • Senior Member

Happy to hear that you're satisfied, it really looks amazing and natural result.

Would it be possible to share some photos for the donor and crown? did you see any difference in your native hair after using fin?

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Hi Mr. Clean,

Thank you very much for your friendly comments, photos and updates. Dr. Bicer is very happy related with your happiness and we feel lucky as we have such a gentleman and kind patient like you.  I want to share all team’s thanks to you.  Wish you healthy days and happy Christmas

Özen, 

00905304141313

www.ozlembicer.com

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  • 2 months later...
  • Regular Member

Hello everyone, it has now been 13 months since the transplant. Below are the results from the 1 year anniversary and 13 month mark. I am very happy with the results from Dr. Bicer. Let me know if you have any questions!

1 year anniversary ( sorry for blurry photos)

Before:

IMG_7708.thumb.jpg.af058c7421b8c800a8e3781e1e8cfd3d.jpg   

After 12 months:

IMG_8219.thumb.jpg.909bf78142236499163a264585c14c5a.jpg

After 13 months:

IMG_8211.thumb.jpg.3fb167f231b47823cf6dfecca6ccba14.jpg

Before:

IMG_7706.thumb.jpg.375af0c3c8e63f8e46f1b2b83bdbb5e6.jpg

After 12 months:

IMG_8218.thumb.jpg.363ba2b5602b28a39a5232baaad6e310.jpg

 

IMG_8217.thumb.jpg.fa943faf56b0d6b1e6a03ebe6743aa09.jpg

After 13 months:

IMG_8212.thumb.jpg.f164793068115ecd91c5130c43cbccac.jpg

IMG_8213.thumb.jpg.3eba13a5dcd47411423bde29410db20f.jpg

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