ARMAMED (Dr Demirsoy) FUE 3412 grafts 2nd Oct 2020

[Hoohair]

ABOUT ME:

Hi Everyone. I have Been researching Hair transplants on and off for the last 4 years or so. This forum has been amazing in helping me research and gain the knowledge and courage to finally take the step to hopefully regain my confidence through a hair transplant. I thought it only be fair that I share my review and progress so that in the future it may help others that were like me on their research and journey.

I am 41 years old and have been slowly receding since I was about 27 years old. I originally was looking at the cheaper clinics like Cosmedica and Dr Cinik and each year I didn't have enough courage to go ahead with the procedure. Luckily for me because of this delay in deciding I was slowly saving each month and before I knew it I had saved enough money for Surgery with Dr Demirsoy who was always producing good results and was highly respected from what I could see but was always out of my price range. My main reason for choosing Dr Demirsoy was he did the extractions and the incisions himself.

MEDICATION:

Minoxidil 5%, Biotin, Multivitamins

Finasteride 1mg starting today when it arrives. Will continue if no side effects.

 

MY EXPERIENCE:  

I contacted Armamed through their website and quickly received a reply from Dr Demirsoys assistant Mussafer. As requested I sent my Photos for assessment and received  a reply the next day with information and an estimate of graphs required which was 3000 to 3500. I had loads of questions over the coming days and weeks and Mussafer was great in answering them and made me feel it was never any trouble. I even had a WhatsApp call with him before I confirmed my booking. My booking of the flight was enough to secure my surgery date.

Fast forward a few weeks and I am on the plane to Istanbul. My flight arrived late on the Thursday and I was picked up and taken to my hotel. I hardly got any sleep that night as I was anxious. 

SURGERY DAY: I was picked up at 8am and taken to the clinic. The clinic was very clean as expected. I filled out some forms and answered some questions about my family history of hairloss and general health. I was very anxious about the whole experience and Mussafer was always reassuring and able to answer all my questions and worries.

I was then taken to meet Dr Demirsoy. He checked my hair and and asked about my expectations. He can't speak much English but Mussafer was always there to translate. I explained I wanted my hairline restored to where it was when I was younger. There was no need to lower the hairline as my hairline was still there at the front but just thin and the temples had receded a lot.  I left the design to the doctor with thoughts of changing it if I wasn't happy however I was pleased with the final design. I was very impressed by the enthusiasm of Dr Demirsoy. He reminded me of an artist taking pride in his work as he measured and checked my hairline from different angles in the room. I said I was happy with the design and proposed coverage. 

I was then taken into another room to have my photos taken. Then given medication to reduce anxiety and prepared for the surgery. 

In the surgery room I met Dr Demirsoys 3 tech assistants. They were all very friendly and professional  and made me feel at ease. Mussaffer explained the head tech has been working with Dr Demirsoy for 16 years along with one other 9 years and the 3rd tech 5 years.

I have quite a high pain threshold but I was still very worried about the anaesthetic injections as almost everyone says they are painful. It may have been me but honestly to my surprise they were not any where near as painful as expected. On a pain scale mostly 3/10 with the odd 4/10. Again everyone is different.

The Dr then came in and started to extract the grafts. I can't remember exact times but this took around 2.5-3 hrs I think. Then we stopped for a quick lunch and back in for the Dr to start the Incisions. If I remember correctly this was approximately 1.5-2 hrs then all 3 Tech assistants began inserting the grafts. I think this was 2.5 to 3 hrs. When the surgery was finished they cleaned me up and took some more photos. 

I was given some pain killers and antibiotics to take for the next few days. Also given further advice on how to sleep etc. I then paid for the surgery, hotel and transfers in Pounds. Mussafer explained that the surgery went really well with lots of multi graphs being extracted, lots of 2 and 3 hair graphs as well as 4 and 5s, I did not bleed a lot either. He mentioned a couple of other things that went well and said all being well I should expect good results which is nice to hear. 3412 grafts were implanted.

I was then taken back to the hotel. Once again I could barely sleep. I am a fussy sleeper and got perhaps 2 to 3 hrs. I was picked up again at 8am and taken to the clinic for my first wash. The doctor briefly checked my donor and recipient area and said its coming along nicely. I was given some shampoo and spent some time with Mussaffer discussing the washing and care I needed to carry out for the next 2 weeks. I spent the rest of the day in the hotel and was picked up at 4am for my lift to the airport for my return flight.

As I write this review I am on Day 4. All is going well as far as I know. I have sent update photos and feedback was it was all looking good. Unfortunately I was one of the unlucky ones and got bad swelling but that has gone down already now. 

 Over all My experience with Dr Demirsoy and his team was excellent. Very professional. The Dr's assistant Mussaffer  was great and had to put up with my many questions and helped me ease my anxiety.

Hopefully I will be just as pleased with the results.

I will Update periodically with my progress

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Hoohair

[GLHF]

Looks great.

Interested to see your result. Good amount of grafts over not a big area. Exciting!

[Hoohair]

Thanks, Excited and nervous too.

[Hoohair]

DAY 1 to 8

Its been a good first week. Its has been hard though as I was unlucky with the swelling and got it quite bad. One of the hardest things was for my family especially my young children to see my face so disfigured but it soon went down by day 5. Also trying not to bump my head and damage the grafts was another challenge but so far so good. I have been following all the instructions from the clinic everyday with the washing and moisturising. Luckily I haven't had any bad itching or pain through out and the recipient area and donor area seem to be coming along fine. I was instructed to start removing the scabs at day 7 but struggled and hardly moved any. I spoke to Mussafer and perhaps I was being to cautious. so on day 8 I applied more pressure and persisted for longer and after almost 1 hour most of the scabs were out. I sent some pictures to Mussafer and he said it all looked good and I can also sleep normally now. 

Day1

Day3

 

Day8

Edited October 11, 2020 by Hoohair

[Britanium]

Definitely worth spending the extra to dodge the hair mills you mentioned. Work looks really good! Sure your going to have a excellent result.

your donor area looks really good too. 

[Hoohair]

Thank you John, was really worried how donor would end up but so far so good.

[Marco Van Basten]

Looking forward to seeing your journey mate, thanks you for the write up.

 

Demirsoy is one of two doctors I am considering.

[Hoohair]

Hey no worries. Couldn't fault the surgery. Just a waiting game now.

[Hoohair]

1 MONTH Update

2 days ago was the 1 month mark. I thought I might be one of the lucky ones, unfortunately at 3 weeks I began to shed which I know is normal. Im losing about 100 hairs a day. Recipient area is still a bit numb in places but is getting better by the day. Donor area still itches very slightly from time to time but barely noticeable. 

Not sure whether I have shock loss in the donor area. Looks a little patchy but could also be uneven hair growth from when shaved at the clinic before surgery. I may trim the donor to a grade 1 to tidy it up.

Started Minoxidil again after 3 weeks with no issues and still on 0.5mg finasteride 3 times a week. Will be increasing to 1mg in a couple of weeks once Im happy I'm not getting any sides. 

 

Any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

[GLHF]

Really interested in seeing your results!

[Hoohair]

WEEK 8 (2 MONTH) UPDATE

Hi everyone. Just updating my progress.

Everything has been smooth sailing so far. No issues to report.

Donor area feels fine to touch. Perhaps a little shock loss as looks a bit patchy still but could also be an uneven hair cut. I trimmed the back and sides grade 1 a few weeks ago. Mussafer Dr Demirsoys assistant said to try monoxide on the donor area. He also seemed to suggest I may have had patchiness before my transplant. This was based on a pre surgery photo I sent before. Only time will tell.

 

Recipient area has shed a lot and I think there may have been some shock loss to some of the native hairs as well. All to be expected I guess. Numbness in the recipient area is getting better by the week. There seems to be a lot of fine hairs starting to appear in the temples but not sure if they are native or not.

I am now on Finasteride 1mg 3 times a week and Monoxidil 5% twice a day. No sides so far. Multivitamins, Biotin, MSM, Cod liver oil, VitaminC taken daily.

Running 3 times a week 7 to 10 miles and weights resistance training 3 times a week. Hoping the exercise promotes blood to the recipient area.

 

Cant wait for the day when the transplanted hair starts to grow. Hopefully the start of month 3

 

FINGERS CROSSED lol

 

Thanks and all the best.

[SearchingMan]

Thanks for the detailed review. Please keep updating us. 

[GLHF]

Looks nice so far

[rob7331]

Demirsoy does excellent work. Very excited for you.

[Hoohair]

3.5 MONTH (14 week) UPDATE

 

Hi everyone, So here is my 3.5 month update.

 

I have been feeling a bit down coming up to the 3 month mark as I don't seem to have had much growth. I know its still early but I keep seeing other peoples 3 month updates and there seems to be loads of noticeable growth. I reached out to Mussafer Dr Demirsoys assistant and he reassured me things are on track.

I think I was worried as I could see lots of thin whispy hairs and thought that they were  just my old miniaturised hairs growing as a result of me taking Finasteride. I thought the new hairs would come through thicker like stubble. I also have not had any pimples or spots and no itching which is a sign of growth. I had a few spots in the donor area for some reason at around 8 weeks but they have seemed to have gone. 

There are quite a few small stubble hairs that didn't shed from surgery. They also haven't grown either. Are these considered dead or could they still grow? Once again from what I've seen most non shedded hair continues to grow.

The hairline looks just as it did pre surgery now so lets hope there is more growth moving forward. 

I'm still taking Finasteride and Minoxidil, Biotin and vitamins. 

Running and resistance training 6 days a week.

 

I think I must be a slow grower. Excuse the bad Haircut. I have been shaving the donor area my self as we are in lockdown.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

All the best.

 

[Britanium]

4 months is where most people start to see growth. So I wouldn’t say your a slow grower. Next month you should start to see some growth. Yes even the grafts that have so far remained dormant. Your just getting past the so called ugly duckling stage. Honestly think you will start to feel different in another month from now.

[Hoohair]

2 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said:

4 months is where most people start to see growth. So I wouldn’t say your a slow grower. Next month you should start to see some growth. Yes even the grafts that have so far remained dormant. Your just getting past the so called ugly duckling stage. Honestly think you will start to feel different in another month from now.

Thanks for your reply that's great to hear. Especially the dormant hairs as there is quite a lot of them. 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Hoohair

[Kingthin]

Seeing quite a big difference there between your 2 and 3.5 month update, both in your donor and recipient. Looks bang on track to me.  

Edited January 12, 2021 by Kingthin

[Hoohair]

20 hours ago, Kingthin said:

Seeing quite a big difference there between your 2 and 3.5 month update, both in your donor and recipient. Looks bang on track to me.  

Hey thanks for your feedback. Thats reassuring words.

[Bellis17]

Hi mate - have you noticed any movement on the grafts which have been ‘dormant’? I am 7 weeks post op and have quite a lot of hairs which have not grown or shed, is this the same as you? Not something I see mentioned often from other posts / results. Cheers 

[Hoohair]

Hey guys Apologies. Update coming soon. Life is very busy for me at the moment but I will update as soon as possible

[Hoohair]

On 1/26/2021 at 11:57 AM, Bellis17 said:

Hi mate - have you noticed any movement on the grafts which have been ‘dormant’? I am 7 weeks post op and have quite a lot of hairs which have not grown or shed, is this the same as you? Not something I see mentioned often from other posts / results. Cheers 

Hey Apologies for not getting back to you. I have now noticed that some dormant hairs have now grown after 6 or 7 months which is good news. Some I can't see as they are within the hairline now and covered up but Im hoping they've grown.

[rob7331]

I notice you've got a duplicate thread it looks like? Might be best to message Melvin and see if you can get them combined, or just stick with one and delete the other to avoid confusion.

[rob7331]

Would love an update!

[Hoohair]

8 MONTHS 3 week UPDATE

Guys apologies for the delay. Life has been crazy especially with what's going on in the world.

So here we are 8 months and 3 weeks in. Its been a roller coaster. Sometimes Im happy with the progress then sometimes not. In some lights it looks great and in some lighting it looks terrible.

If this was the final result I would have to say I would be slightly disappointed when compared to the results from other cheaper clinics, that being said they can also produce some inconsistent and bad results too.

 

Maybe my expectations are too high but when you see some great density and results from other clinics including Dr Demirsoys that's what you expect.

 

It is obviously better than where I started and I am more confident now. I hardly where a cap. I wish it was more dense though. I still have a few more months to go but honestly don't see how things can improve. Lets keep fingers crossed it does get better.

 

Let me know what you guys think.

 

The first 4 photos are with out any gel. the rest are with gel and how I style it for nice occasions. 

 

Any questions let me know.

 

apologies once again for the slow update.

 

Takecare