An Honest Review - 3400 Graft FUE by Dr. Ozlem Bicer

[jake on linear]

This is going to be reasonably long, but I know it will help someone who’s in the position that I was in just a few weeks ago.

 

Losing hair sucks. It’s part of being a guy, but none of us look forward to it. As a 26 year old, I couldn’t believe how much hair I’d lost in the last four-ish years. My hairline had receded drastically, and the top and crown of my head were thinning. Everyone reading this knows the feeling. Spending tons of time trying to hide your thinner areas, avoiding direct overhead light – hell tying your shoes sucks.

 

Anyway, it was time to do something about it. I knew that Turkey was the capital of the world for these types of surgeries, but with hundreds (no joke) of clinics to choose from, doing research was difficult. Google searches leave you buried in what are quite obviously sponsored content and fake reviews. They all look the same, talk about how accommodating the team was, the hotel was great, blah blah.

 

So how did I end up with Dr. Bicer? Well, I first booked with another clinic, and was all set for my procedure. About two days before my flight to Turkey (I’m from Canada), my dad actually dug a little deeper (past the thousands of positive reviews) and found some horror stories. I ended up learning a lot that day:

 

What to look for

Are you dealing with a doctor clinic or a technician clinic? Some of these doctors are doctors, while others are strictly business people. The latter have invested tons of money into marketing, and have passed off their actual surgeries to low-paid technicians who do the whole thing. This way, they can do 10-20 procedures a day, keep the cost way down, and rake in the money.

 

Bicer is a DOCTOR. She takes one patient every two days, and is present and active throughout the entire surgery. This is critical, as it isn’t the most comfortable surgery, and feeling comfortable with who you’re with makes all the difference. I don’t like surgeries to begin with, and I likely would have cried had I been with a bunch of strangers.

 

Back to the story. I ended up changing doctors, based off a recommendation from a business partner. While I do trust him, I quickly realized that this second clinic was also a technician clinic. Some reviews stated that the patients never even met the doctor, the cost was unbelievably low, and they wanted to do 5500-6000 grafts, which would have obliterated my donor area (the back of your head), making it unsalvageable and patchy for the rest of my life. At 2:30 am, the night before my flight, I came across a guy named Spencer (Spex), who had a site entirely dedicated to recommending next steps for balding guys. In his list of recommended doctors, most were in the States or India, but I came across Dr. Bicer, the only one in Turkey. So I sent her a personal Instagram message, and put it in my head that if I needed to go back to Turkey a second time, I  would (my trip was already planned.)

 

Fast forward two days, and Dr. Bicer answers me and says to come by the clinic if I’d like. It was an off-day (no surgery, she was just cleaning the clinic with her team), and I hopped in a cab, left my friends and showed up to her office. It was super homey, and she chatted with me. I told her the above story, and we ended up spending three hours talking. Finally she asked, how long I was in Istanbul for. When I told her I had another 5 days, her eyes widened. She said that I shouldn’t have come all this way for nothing, and proceeded to make a series of calls, rearranging her team and other surgeries to take me before I left. I was beyond grateful. I felt like I had another mother in Turkey, and she legitimately refused to do too many grafts, planning for the future, and saying if I needed another session in the future, we’ll want to have more hair to work with. She was honest, and cared about me. It wasn’t an act, and her and Ozen (the coordinator), became like family.

 

So I was booked for Monday. It felt right.

 

The surgery

I don’t want to write too much about this, because it goes as expected. So I’ll mention the points that standout.

You are the ONLY patient. The doctor and team are there only for you, and you’re not one in 20 procedures happening that day. It feels personal and important, the way having someone work on your head should.

While the nurses don’t speak much English, they really are sweet. They tried teaching me some Turkish words while they worked, and when they senses I was in discomfort they tried to help any way they could. They’re nice people, and have been with her 20+ years.

The anesthesia sucks. I won’t sugarcoat it, and this isn’t specific to doctor Bicer. But it isn’t the most pleasant experience.

The rest is fine once you’re numb, being in the chair for 12 hours is the worst part, but otherwise there really isn’t any pain. I actually napped for two and a half hours at one point.

Dr. Bicer is always checking if you’re alright. 

The after-care is phenomenal. It’s been 9 days since my surgery and I still talk to Dr. Bicer and Ozen multiple times per day, on both Instagram and WhatsApp. They constantly want pictures and to check how I’m healing. I actually ran into some people at my hotel that went with technician clinics, and they complained to me that after the surgery, their clinics don’t even answer them anymore. Once their money was collected, they were forgotten.

 

To conclude, I now have multiple people in my hometown telling me it doesn’t even look like I had a surgery, which I agree with. My donor area is essentially already healed, you wouldn’t even know they took any hair. The top looks great too, I’m actually digging the buzzcut look, and so are the people I’ve seen since. I really, truly, from the bottom of my heart, recommend Dr. Bicer. This is NOT a surgery you want to botch, and you want someone who will care about you and pay attention to you before, during, and after the procedure. Please, to any guy reading this, do not hesitate. If fixing your hair is as important to you as it was to me, this is the move.

 

Now, for what you all want to see: Before and after pictures. I’m 9 days out, and obviously far from the final result. But I think you’ll be shocked at how drastically different I look and how much it looks like I haven’t even had anything done:

 

Pics attached

 

Cheers and good luck boys, enjoy your new hair.

[Britanium]

Congrats for choosing another Dr/Clinic rather than a “nice price” hairmill. We are starting to see more Dr Bicer results. It is good that your the only person and you have the full involvement of the Dr/team all day. 
Wish you happy growth. 
please do keep us updated though. So many people come and post after a ht but we don’t see them again. 

Edited November 2, 2020 by JohnAC71

[Melvin- Admin]

Does Dr. Bicer perform the extractions? What’s her role during surgery. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[jake on linear]

5 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Does Dr. Bicer perform the extractions? What’s her role during surgery. Thanks for sharing your experience.

She does the extractions (partially) with her nurses, sometimes they swap out or work together, but she's working at least 80% of that time. The does the incisions entirely, and then for the actual placement of the new grafts, it's mostly the nurses with her checking in every few minutes.

 

If you're looking into it, I really recommend her. I literally facetimed her today during my haircut and she reassured my barber and I that I'm well healed and it should be all good. She was eating dinner with her family while talking to me. I'm telling you she prioritizes your comfort over everything, even long after the surgery. She responds to my instagram posts of my dog lol.

[jake on linear]

4 hours ago, JohnAC71 said:

Congrats for choosing another Dr/Clinic rather than a “nice price” hairmill. We are starting to see more Dr Bicer results. It is good that your the only person and you have the full involvement of the Dr/team all day. 
Wish you happy growth. 
please do keep us updated though. So many people come and post after a ht but we don’t see them again. 

I'll make sure to keep posting. I'm about 3 weeks out now and my shedding has actually slowed down, pretty stable. Top is thin and ugly but honestly better than most of what I've seen during this phase. I can go out pretty confidently (although COVID so can't really go out anyway)

[Britanium]

Nice to have that personal touch, it’s good to see such good after care. 

[voxman]

Lots of recent positive reviews of Bicer - and yours looks very good.

 

[Melvin- Admin]

2 hours ago, jake on linear said:

She does the extractions (partially) with her nurses, sometimes they swap out or work together, but she's working at least 80% of that time. The does the incisions entirely, and then for the actual placement of the new grafts, it's mostly the nurses with her checking in every few minutes.

 

If you're looking into it, I really recommend her. I literally facetimed her today during my haircut and she reassured my barber and I that I'm well healed and it should be all good. She was eating dinner with her family while talking to me. I'm telling you she prioritizes your comfort over everything, even long after the surgery. She responds to my instagram posts of my dog lol.

It’s good to see a change coming from Turkey, few clinics operate on one patient per day in Turkey, could probably count how many on one hand.

[Britanium]

10 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

It’s good to see a change coming from Turkey, few clinics operate on one patient per day in Turkey, could probably count how many on one hand.

Agreed. She is fairly priced too. Certainly seems one of the better options in Turkey right now. 

[IanH]

Looks great Jake!

I had a similar transplant to you in the middle of August (around 3200 grafts) and also went to Dr. Bicer and can agree with everything you said in your review, fantastic team who made me feel very comfortable in a difficult time.

I'll keep up to date with your progress! 

[jimcraig152]

On 11/2/2020 at 7:25 AM, jake on linear said:

This is NOT a surgery you want to botch, and you want someone who will care about you and pay attention to you before, during, and after the procedure.

You don't know how true these words are.

Bicer testimonies as of late have been overwhelming positive. Need pics of your donor and your temples myself before I make further comment. Looks very good so far though.

[Rossybop]

Glad to see you're happy! I must ask though are you on finasteride and Regaine? You would want to be if you want to get good mileage out of your hair seen as you are only 26.

Dr Bicer seems awesome. I had a nice time chatting to her and her coordinator via Whatsapp. They seem lovely. She was the only surgeon in Turkey that I considered for my own hair transplant.

However, what threw me off was that she estimated I'd need more than 3,000 grafts and that I would also need another HT next year. I assume she was going to take 3,500 - 4,000 grafts throughout two procedures ovet the space of 12 months. I didn't like the sound of this because no other professional told me I would need so many grafts, and no other professional told me I would need two surgeries. I just wondered why was Dr Bicer the only person that gave me those figures.

With the figures she gave me, I personally felt as if she uses too many grafts, and this is why I chose another surgeon. I think 3,400 is a big job, so hopefully your results last a very long time.

Anyway, the hairline looks good so fingers crossed you'll be impressed in 9 months time. Best of luck with it and best wishes bro!

[Melvin- Admin]

Any update?

[jake on linear]

9 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Any update?

Yeah. About a month out now, most of the transplanted hair has fallen out. I havent taken too many pics but honestly i don’t think i’ve lost as much new hair as i could have, i think im pretty lucky. also donor area healed super fast, i’ve already shaved my sides to a zero once and you really cant tell.

[jake on linear]

On 11/12/2020 at 8:29 PM, Rossybop said:

Glad to see you're happy! I must ask though are you on finasteride and Regaine? You would want to be if you want to get good mileage out of your hair seen as you are only 26.

Dr Bicer seems awesome. I had a nice time chatting to her and her coordinator via Whatsapp. They seem lovely. She was the only surgeon in Turkey that I considered for my own hair transplant.

However, what threw me off was that she estimated I'd need more than 3,000 grafts and that I would also need another HT next year. I assume she was going to take 3,500 - 4,000 grafts throughout two procedures ovet the space of 12 months. I didn't like the sound of this because no other professional told me I would need so many grafts, and no other professional told me I would need two surgeries. I just wondered why was Dr Bicer the only person that gave me those figures.

With the figures she gave me, I personally felt as if she uses too many grafts, and this is why I chose another surgeon. I think 3,400 is a big job, so hopefully your results last a very long time.

Anyway, the hairline looks good so fingers crossed you'll be impressed in 9 months time. Best of luck with it and best wishes bro!

Thanks bro! She was actually super against finestaride, but ill get back on rogaine soon. Hopefully it comes out solid.

[Curious25]

4 hours ago, jake on linear said:

Thanks bro! She was actually super against finestaride, but ill get back on rogaine soon. Hopefully it comes out solid.

What did she say about finasteride ? 

[Rossybop]

17 hours ago, jake on linear said:

Thanks bro! She was actually super against finestaride, but ill get back on rogaine soon. Hopefully it comes out solid.

You're welcome bro. Cool, why did she advise against finasteride? I find that interesting because the majority of surgeons reccomend using finasteride for maximum benefit from a hair transplant.

[jake on linear]

On 11/16/2020 at 5:01 PM, Rossybop said:

You're welcome bro. Cool, why did she advise against finasteride? I find that interesting because the majority of surgeons reccomend using finasteride for maximum benefit from a hair transplant.

Most of them are also branding and selling it themselves, so there's a motive there to push it. She says the side effects and potential liver / spleen damage isnt worth it in her opinion.

[jake on linear]

On 11/16/2020 at 4:08 AM, Curious25 said:

What did she say about finasteride ? 

Just answered this on another comment!

[Curious25]

1 hour ago, jake on linear said:

Most of them are also branding and selling it themselves, so there's a motive there to push it. She says the side effects and potential liver / spleen damage isnt worth it in her opinion.

Quite refreshing hearing a hair loss doctor consider the wider picture, as opposed to solely focusing on the effects it can have on hair loss - I believe this to be one of the first instances I have heard of a surgeon actively advising against the use of the drug. 

Conversely, cynics could argue that it would be in her interest for people to not take medication and continue losing hair, therefore return to her for further restoration treatments, but I don't believe that would be the case. 

I make this point all the time with regards to medication - consult with the relevant doctors who work in the field of what the medication comes under (finasteride - urology/endocrinology and oral minox - cardiology). 

There is a great surgeon recommended on here who advocates oral minoxidil 5mg daily - despite there being specific warnings from Loniten and the relevant drug agencies, board of cardiologists NOT to take the medication for scalp hair loss. Hell, its even used now as the absolute last resort when dealing with patients who have the relevant condition it was first designed to treat, because the side effect profile is so high. And 2 additional medications are also prescribed alongside this, to mitigate some of these said side effects. 

Yet because he is a very talented hair loss surgeon, people will take his word for it as gospel. 

You wouldn't ask Mourinho for the best way to try save a penalty, just because he works in a sport where penalties are taken. You go and find elite level goalkeepers, and seek their advice, because it is there domain. 



 

Edited November 23, 2020 by Curious25

[Rossybop]

2 hours ago, jake on linear said:

Most of them are also branding and selling it themselves, so there's a motive there to push it. She says the side effects and potential liver / spleen damage isnt worth it in her opinion.

I didn't know there were many HT surgeons branding it and selling it themselves. Is this true and can you give me examples to support this claim? I would have thought that most people use generic Proscar which is actually intended for prostate cancer.

I also didn't know much about risks associated with liver or spleen damage.

I find this comment interesting because some people would say certain doctors don't reccomend finasteride as it will ensure you will need more transplants, which in turn means more business for the operating surgeon. Many people would suggest that a young patient with aggressive hair loss should be committed to finasteride if they want to get the best results from surgery.

[ciaus]

1 hour ago, Rossybop said:

I also didn't know much about risks associated with liver or spleen damage.

Drinking beer and taking over the counter Tylenol, aka acetaminophen, for a cold can put the liver at risk too. Millions of guys have been taking finasteride for decades. The class action lawsuits would be piling up by now if there was any statistically significant risks.

Edited November 23, 2020 by ciaus

[Rossybop]

1 minute ago, ciaus said:

Drinking beer and taking over the counter Tylenol, aka acetaminophen, for a cold can cause liver damage too. Millions of guys have been taking finasteride for decades. The class action lawsuits would be piling up by now if there was any statistically significant risks.

I can see your perspective too. That makes sense.

Wow, well, there's a lot of food for thought here guys.

[PizzaWolf]

If Dr. Bicer is against Finasteride, what's her long-term strategy for maintaining hair?

[Rossybop]

6 hours ago, PizzaWolf said:

If Dr. Bicer is against Finasteride, what's her long-term strategy for maintaining hair?

Good question!