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My journey at HLC (Ankara). 3100 grafts


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  • Regular Member
Just now, ML488 said:

It's just known, and well documented. Those two stand alone IMO. There are still a few good others (Bicer, Demirsoy, maybe Turan) but overall if you want the best bet I would choose HLC or Pekiner.

Hi, I was referring to the "better HLC over Pekiner" topic.

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2 hours ago, Fernand said:

Hi there, as someone who is contemplating between HLC and Pekiner, I'd love to know why you said this. Thank you.

Just by watching their work trough the years in forums and by talking to people. The stick and place technique... 

Definitely the best ones in Turkey in my opinion.

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1 hour ago, Fernand said:

Hi, I was referring to the "better HLC over Pekiner" topic.

Oh. For me the only reason was that actually I wrote twice to Pekiner and he never gave me an estimate of grafts needed. I guess I took him in a busy time. Since he never replied and HLC did I chose them.

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1 hour ago, Fernand said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Was the surgery painful in any way/stage? Thanks a lot.

Yes. The anaesthesia injections are painful. Its about 1-2 mins each time. Totally tolerable and necessary but painful.

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1 hour ago, Fernand said:

Hi, I was referring to the "better HLC over Pekiner" topic.

It's worth mentioning that Dr. Pekiner was formerly a doctor at HLC. There are about 5 doctors at HLC. Usually, more than one will work on you. 

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5 hours ago, EvansLawrence said:

Yes. The anaesthesia injections are painful. Its about 1-2 mins each time. Totally tolerable and necessary but painful.

Thank you for letting me know. I've heard that in some low-cost in Instanbul they also give an anaesthesia or sedative intravenous to minimize the pain of the actual injections. Since I'm mostly decided on HLC, I just hoped they did/had something to really minimize the pain of those injections as well.

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4 hours ago, MachoVato said:

It's worth mentioning that Dr. Pekiner was formerly a doctor at HLC. There are about 5 doctors at HLC. Usually, more than one will work on you. 

Good to know! Personally, I've heard that with Dr. Pekiner happened that he declined or aborted a transplant on the spot, but these are just things I've heard, not from my experience. This also made me lean towards HLC.

Just one thing about HLC. Since there are multiple doctors and you don't know who will handle you, is there something who is reputably better than the others? Also, do the doctors and the hair transplant coordinator speak good English?

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1 hour ago, Fernand said:

Good to know! Personally, I've heard that with Dr. Pekiner happened that he declined or aborted a transplant on the spot, but these are just things I've heard, not from my experience. This also made me lean towards HLC.

Just one thing about HLC. Since there are multiple doctors and you don't know who will handle you, is there something who is reputably better than the others? Also, do the doctors and the hair transplant coordinator speak good English?

I don't think there's anyone better than the other. But I think a couple are called in for beard/body transplants. And when I was there, another patient was having a repair done and he got a specific doctor for that. So there might be some specialization.

There's a translator there but all the doctors speak English. You can watch their videos on their YouTube, there are some with interviews with the doctors. 

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4 hours ago, Fernand said:

Thank you for letting me know. I've heard that in some low-cost in Instanbul they also give an anaesthesia or sedative intravenous to minimize the pain of the actual injections. Since I'm mostly decided on HLC, I just hoped they did/had something to really minimize the pain of those injections as well.

Sorry you are right. They also give you some intravenous at HLC.

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5 hours ago, EvansLawrence said:

Sorry you are right. They also give you some intravenous at HLC.

Do they give that to make you relax and make you "groggy" for the length of the surgery, I guess, right?

How is it going with your transplant? Is HLC responsive even after months, whenever you have a doubt?

Thanks for everything.

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5 hours ago, Fernand said:

Do they give that to make you relax and make you "groggy" for the length of the surgery, I guess, right?

How is it going with your transplant? Is HLC responsive even after months, whenever you have a doubt?

Thanks for everything.

Yes. They give u just once a day. In the morning, so u are a little "high" and its easier for you. Is good that just to have proof you ask them on email whats the guarantee they offer. I have a reply for them that legaly would work saying they guarantee you free touch up in case it doesnt end good or density missing/ some side that didnt grow as good.  But after the sugery they dont check on you. Ofc if u have doubts you can ask. I for example asked a month later the surgery for the pics and they sent all to me.

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2 hours ago, EvansLawrence said:

Yes. They give u just once a day. In the morning, so u are a little "high" and its easier for you. Is good that just to have proof you ask them on email whats the guarantee they offer. I have a reply for them that legaly would work saying they guarantee you free touch up in case it doesnt end good or density missing/ some side that didnt grow as good.  But after the sugery they dont check on you. Ofc if u have doubts you can ask. I for example asked a month later the surgery for the pics and they sent all to me.

Thanks for all the info!

How was the post surgery regarding the sleeping? Are you able to sleep the first nights?

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5 months update

 

All right! So far I am happy. Of course if this was my final result I would be dissapointed but for a 5 month mark I think everything is going good. 

As I show in the pics, i see that my left side is going more lazy than the right one, but neither the right or the left are still looking properly dense. With good lighting looks good though.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Hey guys I'm about to book at HLC, just wanted to check with you guys for a little push.

Do you still consider HLC to be the best option in Turkey? I'm just a bit worried about the pain that I hope won't be felt! :)

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6 month update

All right. I think is not going bad for 6 months. I see some lack of density specially on the left side. Havent seen much improve from last month. The head may look fuller but that seems to me be caused by the natural growth of the hair, not because of increasing density or new hairs. I may be wrong.

 

20210806_175642.thumb.jpg.737a3663734264038f4764529fde1624.jpg20210806_175645.thumb.jpg.7f5e24ab61036319ea7982dcb42419de.jpg20210806_175644.thumb.jpg.0858e45006c5e6da8b66a321bcca5f3b.jpg

Here with other lighting.

Left side:

1251703021_20210808_1256492.thumb.jpg.d50f507929dc8151a40ca6d4fbab4c71.jpg

Right side:

1714284007_20210808_1256452.thumb.jpg.2472f28d9fc6f475b23c5d162483e084.jpg

 

Conclusions so far:

Im not saying I am unhappy. Maybe I had higher expectations. Probably in Turkey I dont know any clinic I would recomend before HLC. Only Pekiner, but I dont know all the clinics there.

I will have another surgery to close more the temples and maybe lowerin hairline 0'5cm. Maybe we will need to add density in other zones. Lets see.

If I could come back in time... would I have done it in other place?

YES. In clinica Zira (Valencia) Dra. Cotellessa. There is where I will do the new surgery. She is also a tricologyst and gets better results with even less grafts. Plus is cheaper since the clinic is quite new and she is still young.

I believe she would have used the 3100 grafts much better. I see HLC used 3100 but for me it looks more like 2500 or 2300. The line is still too conservative for my personal taste.

There is other thing. A patient I met there, when I went back to the airport. He used 4000 grafts for hairline and crown and so far there is no difference from before. I know it is not my case and I am more lucky. The bad thing about HLC is that they will probably run the surgery even if you have a bad condition (like liquen), if you need to medicate yourself at least for 6 months before and you didnt do it... like happened to my friend. He came from a failed surgery in India and aparently this caused him a liquen on all his head, and the new hairs are not growing. In HLC they are surgeons, not tricologysts. 

As I told. Maybe it is the best option in Turkey, but not the best in the world. I find now unethical to run a surgery in a patient who needs to be treated before. 

I know people here likes to see good cases, happy people... and I know my case so far its not bad but I am sure people also need to know the truth and more perspectives

Have a nice one.

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Yes, the temples are not very dense.  You have chosen to have another transplant at this Zira clinic, of which I have only just seen something on their website, but we know that in Spain there are excellent hair transplant surgeons, so I think you are about to make an excellent choice.  As for the fact that they do a complete visit to the scalp there before proceeding with a transplant, it should be, in my opinion, a practice, but very few clinics do, perhaps no clinics.

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Yes, in fact the temples have been a bit "neglected", that is, there are gaps where no follicular units have been grafted, perhaps because you had your hair there and it may be that you lost it.

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FB82CCE2-5A04-4D21-AC3B-73332E170D8F.jpeg

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6 minutes ago, Egy said:

Yes, in fact the temples have been a bit "neglected", that is, there are gaps where no follicular units have been grafted, perhaps because you had your hair there and it may be that you lost it.

BA5E72A8-BE44-42C1-B3D5-7D6093E143CD.jpeg

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No man. You confuse those parts with less blood with no hair implantation at all. And no. As you can check in the pre pics there was no existing hair there.

 

Maybe this other pic can show u better.

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6 minutes ago, EvansLawrence said:

No man. You confuse those parts with less blood with no hair implantation at all. And no. As you can check in the pre pics there was no existing hair there.

 

Yes, you are right, there was no hair there.  Then I don't know why so little density in those points.

Or perhaps the problem lies precisely in the fact that there is little blood flow there and the follicular units do not survive, it could be.

Edited by Egy
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