Dr. Pekiner - 1805 grafts - Feb 1 2021

[Gatsby]

@giegnosiganoe an excellent and well detailed write up! Your results are looking excellent at this stage. I think your temple points are pretty good and at 26 I would be more inclined to see how things pan out after twelve months at least. You want to know what you are working with for the long game is really what I am getting at. Your crown could very well improve from your meds alone. Thanks for sharing!

[giegnosiganoe]

On 6/1/2021 at 11:55 PM, Gatsby said:

@giegnosiganoe an excellent and well detailed write up! Your results are looking excellent at this stage. I think your temple points are pretty good and at 26 I would be more inclined to see how things pan out after twelve months at least. You want to know what you are working with for the long game is really what I am getting at. Your crown could very well improve from your meds alone. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, you're totally right. I won't lie, I have a bit of the classic hair greed. Unfortunately I don't have the best donor so I'd be taking a risk in the long term. I'll try to rely on concealer in the short term if I really want to take the crown/temple points to the next level.

[giegnosiganoe]

Another couple things I want to add:

• I was on oral minoxidil 1.25mg/morning + topical minoxidil at night, for 3 months from Feb 20 to May 20. I've since upped the oral minoxidil dose to 1.25mg morning and night, and have dropped the topical. Noticed pedal edema again - for example a couple of my socks go halfway up to my calves, and when I take those off I can feel an indent around where the top of my socks reach. Pretty trippy. I'm sticking to my low cut socks now lol. I'm honestly not sure if this is because I've raised the dosage or because I'm more mindful - it's possible I've had this even at 1.25mg/day without realizing. I'll keep at it and see if it goes away in a month or two. It's not affecting my physical activity as far as I can tell. Oh, and I can't say I've noticed any changes to my hair. It's difficult to say as a diffuse thinner anyhow, but it must be doing something positive.
• Whereas up to month 3 was smooth sailing, I was pretty neurotic between months 3 and 4, not gonna lie. The expectation of growth was killing me, and I was obsessively comparing myself to others. Took multiple pictures of my hair every day, examining it very closely for growth. It sucked. Distracted me from work quite a bit. However since hitting month 4, I haven't been focusing on it nearly as much. Haven't taken any pics in a few days actually. I'm not sure if it's me just burning out from the obsessiveness, or because I'm pretty satisfied with how things are going right now. Maybe a bit of both.

Edited June 6, 2021 by giegnosiganoe

[Rolandas]

I'm doing all this transplants just to get to half of your baseline

[giegnosiganoe]

1 hour ago, Rolandas said:

I'm doing all this transplants just to get to half of your baseline

Honestly, I've debated with myself on whether your starting position is preferable. Your donor is incredible, you're a NW5, whereas I'm a ~NW3V with diffuse thinning elsewhere. I think you'll win the long game lol. We'll see how the meds work for me.

[Mycroft]

I think you could get a fairly good improvement for 1,000 grafts or less as far as the crown goes, but it's always kind of tough to ballpark the crown in diffuse situations. Still, the area doesn't look that large and it's also not slick bald either. The biggest thing to consider is whether you want to risk the shock loss given that your donor isn't the best to begin with. Might be worth asking a doctor directly how many grafts they'd recommend and then asking how it might impact the result if you had permanent shock loss of the natives in that area.

[Rolandas]

8 hours ago, giegnosiganoe said:

Honestly, I've debated with myself on whether your starting position is preferable. Your donor is incredible, you're a NW5, whereas I'm a ~NW3V with diffuse thinning elsewhere. I think you'll win the long game lol. We'll see how the meds work for me.

And you just control it with meds. Fin/Dut/Min/Microneedling/RU/CB/Onion Juice (<-- think will work best for you)

[EvansLawrence]

Hey buddy! Everything is on point. You had an ugly shock loss like 95-99% of the patients and now there is huge improvement from last month.  About the crown: why dont you try finas/dutas and dermapen in combination with ur current meds?? I think surgery can be avoided.

[giegnosiganoe]

2 hours ago, EvansLawrence said:

Hey buddy! Everything is on point. You had an ugly shock loss like 95-99% of the patients and now there is huge improvement from last month.  About the crown: why dont you try finas/dutas and dermapen in combination with ur current meds?? I think surgery can be avoided.

Thanks man. I'm already on oral dut/min. Dermapen is pretty much the only thing I can add. But I've been on meds for 2 years now, so I doubt it will improve. But yeah, I shouldn't rush it.

[Sitries1]

Have you thought about some SMP to the uneven nape/retrograde?? I’m thinking of getting some done at the back there to mimic a skin fade and lower the hairline at the neck line at the back after my transplant as I suffer slightly the same as you back there. 

[giegnosiganoe]

3 hours ago, Sitries1 said:

Have you thought about some SMP to the uneven nape/retrograde?? I’m thinking of getting some done at the back there to mimic a skin fade and lower the hairline at the neck line at the back after my transplant as I suffer slightly the same as you back there. 

Never thought of that. I was considering lasering/transplanting the hair at the sides of my nape to even it up with the middle. I feel like SMP probably wouldn't work too well unless it was blended in with hair (which I probably don't have enough of in the affected areas, definitely in the long term). And I'd probably have to commit to a short hairstyle.. Too many unknowns for me, I'd want to see someone else try it first. Do you have any pics you can share of your nape?

[giegnosiganoe]

4 months and 20 days now. Got a haircut the other day and think my hair looks pretty decent, so wanted to add some pics.

Edited June 21, 2021 by giegnosiganoe
Added a couple of donor pics

[Rolandas]

To be honest if you take off flashlight it will look incredible. Donor is spot on too!

[aaron1234]

@giegnosiganoe Looks like you're heading for a great result!  Also, good for you for taking the meds to maintain the great head of hair you already got.  That's going to help big time.  How's the oral minoxidil treating you?

[giegnosiganoe]

FYI: The reason why my thread has a low rating is because I fat-fingered the 2 stars on mobile and it won't let me change it.

2 hours ago, aaron1234 said:

@giegnosiganoe Looks like you're heading for a great result!  Also, good for you for taking the meds to maintain the great head of hair you already got.  That's going to help big time.  How's the oral minoxidil treating you?

Thank you!

Difficult to notice changes, but at the very least I'm pretty sure my existing hair hasn't gotten worse. Still had ankle swelling last time I checked a couple weeks ago. I'm still on the fence, especially after watching Kevin Mann's recent videos on the topic:

 

[aaron1234]

1 hour ago, giegnosiganoe said:

FYI: The reason why my thread has a low rating is because I fat-fingered the 2 stars on mobile and it won't let me change it.

I have a feeling your 6-month update will get some buzz here.

1 hour ago, giegnosiganoe said:

Difficult to notice changes, but at the very least I'm pretty sure my existing hair hasn't gotten worse. Still had ankle swelling last time I checked a couple weeks ago. I'm still on the fence, especially after watching Kevin Mann's recent videos on the topic:

Very interesting.  For some reason I had an easier time starting fin, but I'm hedging on oral min.

[GorillaSquad]

Crazy ur 2 months is how my 2-3 week looks.     And the redness is still there for me.  
 

first photo 1 week post op

then 2 week

then the whole scalp is 3 week

 

Started streamlining my supplement stack and shampoos and did 4 sessions of hyperbaric oxyfen chamber at 2 ata   
 

 

your results looks to be following a great time line   I am just shocked that mine at 2-3 weeks basically all fell out 

Edited July 9, 2021 by GorillaSquad

[giegnosiganoe]

1 hour ago, GorillaSquad said:

Crazy ur 2 months is how my 2-3 week looks.     And the redness is still there for me.  
 

first photo 1 week post op

then 2 week

then the whole scalp is 3 week

 

Started streamlining my supplement stack and shampoos and did 4 sessions of hyperbaric oxyfen chamber at 2 ata   
 

 

your results looks to be following a great time line   I am just shocked that mine at 2-3 weeks basically all fell out 

Everyone sheds at different rates, I wouldn't worry about it. Excluding people who don't shed much of their grafts, I haven't noticed any correlation between shedding time and growth. You look good to me, try to be patient. Are you using finasteride/minoxidil? Also I suggest creating your own thread.

[GorillaSquad]

Question did ur recipient area feel slightly raised for a while?  Like a mild ridging and if so when did start to feel flush with ur scalp skin?

[giegnosiganoe]

17 hours ago, GorillaSquad said:

Question did ur recipient area feel slightly raised for a while?  Like a mild ridging and if so when did start to feel flush with ur scalp skin?

That's to be expected after poking thousands of holes into a small area of skin. I can't notice anything now but it's hard to tell when your hair grows out.

[HairyGuy]

Thank you for your detailed description about the whole process. You made me feel like I actually had the HT and your hair looks amazing. I have a few questions which you might have answered before but I couldn't find it. 

• How easy was it to get the appointment with Dr. Pekiner?
• Will I be able to go back to work after 2 weeks after the transplant without it being obvious? I know every individual is different but just in general. Especially the donor area. 
• Did the clinic also give you Covid test before heading back to North America? (I live in CA)
• How did you pay for the surgery? On the day of the consultation? In cash? 
• While in Turkey, is it better to carry cash or Credit card? 

Sorry if I asked too many questions but thank you in advance. 

[giegnosiganoe]

1 hour ago, HairyGuy said:

Thank you for your detailed description about the whole process. You made me feel like I actually had the HT and your hair looks amazing. I have a few questions which you might have answered before but I couldn't find it. 

• How easy was it to get the appointment with Dr. Pekiner?
• Will I be able to go back to work after 2 weeks after the transplant without it being obvious? I know every individual is different but just in general. Especially the donor area. 
• Did the clinic also give you Covid test before heading back to North America? (I live in CA)
• How did you pay for the surgery? On the day of the consultation? In cash? 
• While in Turkey, is it better to carry cash or Credit card? 

Sorry if I asked too many questions but thank you in advance. 

Thanks! Here are the answers in order:

• It was fairly easy to get an appointment. I booked mid November for early February, so 2-3 months out. There were also some shorter notice availabilities. It was in the midst of COVID, so that probably played a factor. Not sure how things are now, but I'd guess around 3 months out at most.
• 2 weeks out was alright. Donor looked mostly fine, and recipient area looked pretty good. The problem is 1 month out when you shed the grafts, and the redness in the recipient area is fairly visible. Whether it will be obvious depends on how good your native hair is I guess. I'm super glad I've been able to recover while working from home, but it's still worth going ahead with the procedure either way. I opened up about the procedure to a couple of coworkers, and it was a nice weight off my chest - wasn't nearly as big of a deal as I thought it would be.
• I asked the clinic's admin assistant (Saide) to help out with the COVID test. She scheduled the test and the taxi, joined me there and back, did all the talking. I also live in CA.
• I paid the day of in cash, yes. Never did I feel unsafe with the money - I had gone directly from the airport to the hotel in a private taxi, and the clinic is a 2 mins walk from the hotel.
• I used cash (Turkish Liras) for everything - mainly ordered delivery to my hotel.

[Gatsby]

You're looking crazy good @giegnosiganoe! At just shy of five months your hairline is already there! I would say the meds are starting to kick in looking at your crown. Great stuff!

[HairyGuy]

@giegnosiganoe thank you for your response and it is much appreciated. I am also curious as in how was your trip coming back? I mean on flight with all the sore? 

[RandoBrando517]

Didn’t you say you had DUPA? How is that DUPA looks like a thick healthy donor