Regular Member AlGil Posted October 27, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted October 27, 2020 (edited) 10/18/2020: Airport pickup and hotel drop-off Travelled from Chicago to Istanbul on 17th, Reached 18th October. Surgery was scheduled for 20th October. I had opted for the Exclusive Package. Landed Istanbul at 4:30 pm via direct Turkish Air flight. My brother also joined me from Stockholm to give me company. Got picked up from the airport and dropped off at the hotel (about 45 min drive). The overall pickup and drop off process was extremely smooth. Confirmed arrival via message to Meder (Clinic Rep). Had the next day to ourselves, which we spent discovering Istanbul. 10/20/2020 The Surgery Day: Picked up from the hotel at 0800. Was told to have a breakfast so made sure I ate slightly more than my appetite, was also instructed not to take any coffee. Arrived at the clinic with 3 other guys in the same transport van. Upon arrival our passports were taken and I was taken to a room for blood draw, the canula was left in the arm. Next I was taken upstairs to meet Dr. Cinik. The Doctor asked standard questions about medical history and then proceeded to check my hair. He drew the hair line which i was happy with and commented that my donor area looked good, and that we should expect good results. He said that the surgery will take 7 hours and that we will start soon. The doctor consultation was about 5 -6 minutes in total. Photographs were taken next , following which I was taken to another room for making the payment. Paid the amount in cash. Was taken to another room for the hair cut where I was given a 0 cut with a trimmer. All these steps were very well choreographed and everyone involved seemed to know what they were doing. I was then taken to the surgery room by the same guy and girl who did my haircut. Both looked really young and I wasn't expecting them to be a part of the process , more on that later. The room itself had a one of those massage beds and a side table with a few syringes and vials of medicine. I was given a gown(back open) to change into in place of my shirt, and was provided a pair of those hotel type sandals to wear. The process begins: At around 0900 the actual process started, with the same guy and girl mentioned above had me lie face down on the massage bed and told me that they will be administering the needle free pre anesthetic(had paid 250 EURO for that). I was a bit concerned as I was expecting someone more older to do this process, however both of them seemed to be in control. The pain free anesthetic, as other folks have also mentioned, is basically a contraption where they pull the plunger under pressure and then fire it with the medicine on your skin. It definitely has to have some type of a needle as it leaves a puncture mark on the skin. After what seemed like about 20-30 of these hits all around the back of my head this process was done. At this point I was a little concerned as each of the above mentioned hits caused me a considerable amount of pain and I kept thinking if this is painless , what would the next one be? It hurt certain areas more than the other such as the back of the ears which I feel sore even now. Once done with this step, they announced that they are now administering regular anesthesia and also something to the effect of telling me to control my pain 😝. What followed was the worst 25-30 minutes of the whole process. I don't know what the painless thing in the beginning did because I felt each puncture of the needle and then the liquid burning through my skin. I do have a low pain threshold and someone with a higher tolerance to pain might be ok with it but to me this was the worst pain that I endured for 30 minutes that seemed like forever. From their reaction it seemed like they were surprised that I still had pain and had to be given more anesthesia. Eventually it worked and I couldn't feel anything anymore. I had been lying on my face all this time and this was slightly uncomfortable at this point as your face is squished between the hole in the bed and you are not supposed to move. The team in the room was joined by another lady and they announced that they will be performing the harvesting process now. Again this process had to be continued with me facing down and they moved me around a couple of times during the next hour and a half that followed. I didn't feel any pain during this process, I could hear the motor humming continuously and every 10 minutes they would stop to pull out the hair that were extracted. Dr. Cinik came in for the next step and spent the next 50 minutes performing the channel opening. I was sitting upright and this part of the process was painless as well, infact i dozed off a few times during this process and time seemed to just fly by. I had an IV line in during this process which I was told was an antibiotic. I took a bathroom break after this step and then was provided with a quick lunch. The next step was the actual transplant process, which again was performed by the same 3 member team that started the process. The injections on the front side of the head weren't as bad as the back ones and was injected about 10 times before I started feeling the numbing effect. I was glad that I was not lying on my face at this stage and again dozed off a few times during this process. This process took another couple of hours and I was then bandaged up on the back of the head and assisted out of the room. The overall process took about 6.5 hours. I was given a bag with medicine , a file containing all the information, a hat, inflatable travel pillow and was informed on how to sleep. I was also told to come back the following day for check up and hair wash. Reached back to the hotel and slept early as I was very tired. Kept waking up during the night due to the unfamiliar sleeping position, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I also started seeing some swelling in the head. The next morning after breakfast I was again picked up dropped at the Clinic, the doctor took a look at the head and said that everything looked good but that he expected the swelling to move downwards. I was given a head wash and then given a very detailed briefing on what to do and how to take care of my head for the next weeks and months. I was also given a headband to wear after the wash and an extra one to wear the next day. I recorded all of the instructions on my phone in case I forgot any details. I was also told that I didn't need to come back the next day and was OK to fly without visiting the clinic again. The swelling continued to increase during the day and the next day. Flew back next day and reached home late at night. Today is the 6th day and the swelling has diminished quite a lot, thankfully it never crept down to the eyes and stayed above the band that I wore for 2 days. I will attach some pictures and keep posting the updates. I have also created a couple of youtube videos documenting my journey and plan to post updates there too. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. Edited October 27, 2020 by AlGil 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Leonidas Posted October 28, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted October 28, 2020 Firstly, get well soon. I hope you have the beautiful hair you have dreamed of. Welcome to paradise country, I hope you like Türkiye 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted October 28, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted October 28, 2020 Nice detailed write up. Wishing you good growth! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted October 28, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 28, 2020 3 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said: Nice detailed write up. Wishing you good growth! Thank you very much. I will keep updating as I reach the milestones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted October 29, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 29, 2020 Did another update video documenting my 2nd and 3rd day of recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Pauls Posted October 31, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted October 31, 2020 Congratulations and excellent video diary of your trip. Welcome to team Cinik !! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Kruchie Posted October 31, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted October 31, 2020 Looks like good work, congratulations! Welcome to team Cinik as @Paulssaid. Becoming quite a large team now, no doubt that will annoy a few people around here. Hehe 😄😄 let the results speak for themselves! That's what I say! Happy growing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Pauls Posted October 31, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted October 31, 2020 26 minutes ago, Kruchie said: Looks like good work, congratulations! Welcome to team Cinik as @Paulssaid. Becoming quite a large team now, no doubt that will annoy a few people around here. Hehe 😄😄 let the results speak for themselves! That's what I say! Happy growing! Well said fella !! 🤣😂🤣 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted November 2, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 2, 2020 Here is another update for anyone who is interested in what happens on the surgery day. I have tried to be as detailed as possible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted November 24, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 24, 2020 One month update: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted November 24, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted November 24, 2020 Nice video update, so far you don’t seem to have shed that many grafts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted November 24, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 24, 2020 43 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said: Nice video update, so far you don’t seem to have shed that many grafts. Thank you very much. As mentioned , I am prepared for more shedding. not looking forward to it at all though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member SearchingMan Posted December 1, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted December 1, 2020 Thanks for the videos. Please keep updating us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mxm56 Posted December 3, 2020 Regular Member Share Posted December 3, 2020 Very exhaustive videos, thanks a lot! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted December 15, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 15, 2020 (edited) Some FAQs answered Edited December 22, 2020 by AlGil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted December 15, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted December 15, 2020 Thanks for posting 🙏 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted December 22, 2020 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 22, 2020 2 month results/updates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted December 22, 2020 Senior Member Share Posted December 22, 2020 Thanks for posting 🙏your right where you need to be at this point 👏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted February 12, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted February 12, 2021 3 month update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted February 12, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted February 12, 2021 Wow man, some nice early growth occurring ! 👌 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AlGil Posted July 21, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2021 9 month update video 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Britanium Posted July 21, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted July 21, 2021 Thanks for coming back and providing a update ! Your looking great 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcquarter Posted July 22, 2021 Share Posted July 22, 2021 in terms of price and the results are great, I like the result 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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