Help on deciding the best clinic for my situation

[Rudiz31]

Hi Everyone,

First, I wanted to thank all of you for everything you do here. This forum is one of the best and most informative I've sewn for a while.

I've finally decided to take the final step in my hairloss journey and going with the surgery. A little bit of background: 34, male, men go bald in my family around 28-30, I've never took any medicins or other treatments to avoid hair loss.

I've started investigating different clinics 2 years ago, especially in Turkey due to a limited budget. At the beginning, I consulted with a well known hair mills such as Dr. Cinik & Dr. Serkan Aygin, however the more I studies, the better I realized that doctor's involvment would be a key factor for me. Second important factor for me would be someone who has a well-proven and tracked record of working on low-density & a VERY thin hair type (please see pics attached). On the other hand, my budget is limited to roughly 5K€. 

Therefore I've narrowed down my search and come up with the following list -

1. Dr. Bicer - awaiting diagnosis.

2. Dr. Ilker Apyadin - awaiting diagnosis.

3. HDC clinic Cyprus - Dr. Christina (because she's a bit cheaper than Dr. Maras) - awaiting diagnosis.

Interested in getting volume in front/close the temples as well as my vertex, and some work on the crown. 

Based on my two most important concerns (doctor's involvment/well-experienced team, preferably nurses + high success rate with very thin hair types, who may be your best choise out of the three (or amongst other clinics)?

Appreciate all of you!

[BDK081522]

Why no medical therapy? You're headed to NW 6/7 territory and would eventually run out of donor supply if you start down the hair transplant route. 

Edited September 30, 2021 by BDK081522

[Rudiz31]

5 hours ago, BDK081522 said:

Why no medical therapy? You're headed to NW 6/7 territory and would eventually run out of donor supply of you start down the hair transplant route. 

Thanks @BDK081522. Didn't take as I was a bit worried of the side effects. Which meds would you consider taking?

Do you think that taking meds and my current situation should prevent me from doing a srugery, or it has nothing to do with it? I just got a diagnosis from Dr. Bicer of 3800-4000 for one session and focusing on the front/part of the vertex, and leaving te crown for 2nd session (see attached pic). 

Edited September 30, 2021 by Rudiz31

[Gatsby]

I'm not a doctor. But to me your donor looks on the weak side. I would strongly suggest getting in contact with your dermatologist and look at trying Finasteride. This is something that any good surgeon should be suggesting to you also. Your crown at the back appears from the photos to be dipping quite low. What are you goals with hair restoration surgery? To maximize your results you could tap into your beard donor and look at consulting Dr Bisanga or Eugenix. Eugenix are masters of being able to utilize high numbers of beard grafts to add to scalp grafts behind the hairline. Finally if you are really approaching this life long decision with a budget in mind then unfortunately I don't think that you would make a good candidate. I'm not saying that you need to splash out and take on a second mortgage. But it's really a one way strategy to achieve at best poor results and at worst life long regrets and even more money being spent in the long run. Wishing you all the best and keep asking questions. Thanks for sharing!

[Zoomster]

The less ideal your donor the more Eugenix makes sense .....Simple .

 

[Rudiz31]

Thanks @Zoomster & @Gatsby four inputs, will definitely consider taking meds in the meantime. In regards tomy question, I've also got an avaluation from Dr. Hakan Doganay at AHD clinic Anatalya of approx. 3000 grafts from the hair (2€) and beard (2.5€) + 25% discount after 2,000 grafts, with a focus on the front and part of the vertex (see attached pic). Was wondering why there's such a difference between Dr. Bicer & Dr. Doganay evaluations (1,000 grafts), and also curious to hear your feedback about this clinic compared to the ones that I listed above?

Thanks in advance 🙏🏼

[Britanium]

Having read this thread and seen your pics then I have to agree with @Gatsbyand the @Zoomster Eugenix would be the clinic i would have said. This is the exact kind of case they excel in. 

[Rudiz31]

14 hours ago, JohnAC71 said:

Having read this thread and seen your pics then I have to agree with @Gatsbyand the @Zoomster Eugenix would be the clinic i would have said. This is the exact kind of case they excel in. 

Thanks for your feedback @JohnAC71. I've actually consulted with Eugenix clinic in India, and they sent me the following evaluation earlier today (see attached pic) with a basic package of 1.4 EUR/gft (doctor do the planning, design and 100% slits, extraction & implementation under techs responsibility) - 

Conservative Approach 

 

You have Norwood – Hamilton Grade VI of Baldness

Total Grafts – 4000

Your procedure will be completed in 2 Days

Your scalp Donor will yield 3000 grafts. 

Your Beard Donor will yield 1000 grafts

Marked Area will require 4000 grafts for reconstruction of hairline, corners, and rest of the frontal scalp with a natural looking hairline and density filling, with coverage

The remaining area will show improvement with medications 

 

OR 

 

Aggressive Approach Full Coverage

 

You have Norwood – Hamilton Grade VI of Baldness

Total Grafts – 6000

Your procedure will be completed in 2 Days

Your scalp Donor will yield 4000 grafts. 

Your Beard Donor will yield 2000 grafts

Marked Area will require 6000 grafts for reconstruction of hairline, corners, and rest of the frontal scalp with a natural-looking hairline and density filling, with coverage

The remaining area will show improvement with medications

I'm a bit worried about the 2nd approach and concerned about if my donor areas can produce 6,000 grafts in 1 session and will be implemented successfully without any long-term damage? Overall - what do you think about this diagnosis, VS to Dr. Olzem Bicer's (3,800-4,000 grafts 1 session without the crown, just front + part of the scalp/forehead) VS. Dr. Ilker Apyadin (3,000 grafts - 2,000 for the front + 1,000 for the forehead, no crown) VS. Dr. Emrah Cinik (3,700-4,200 grafts 1 session without the crown, just front + part of the scalp/forehead) VS. Dr. Hakan Doganay/AHD Clinic (approx. 3,000 grafts from beard & head, focusing only on frontal + part of the scalp/forehead). I'm still waiting for an evaluation from HDC Cyprus & perhaps another one from Dr. Chris Tsakalos @ Choiexpert Saloniki.

@Gatsby, @Zoomster, @BDK081522Overall how do you guys analyze & compare these clinics so far, given the above evaluations? 

Appreciate your advice 

[Britanium]

You will need those 6k grafts to get the full coverage whether it’s one or two procedures. If it was me I would definitely go for the 6k surgery to obtain full coverage. Eugenix would not put your donor at risk of over harvesting. And I’m sure the final numbers would be actually more or less on the day. 

Edited October 1, 2021 by JohnAC71

[Portugal25]

@Rudiz31 you are a NW6 and therefore require 6000 scalp grafts to reach a overall good density (from looking at your photos I would even say you need more than 6000 grafts). 

You should start finasteride 3x/week asap to stop your hairloss from progressing and enhance the density of your native hair. Only after 6 months of Finasteride should you move ahead with your surgery.

Eugenix is saying they can compensate the density by adding 2000 beard grafts to the 4000 scalp grafts but remember that the beard only produces single grafts and even though they are a bit thicker than scalp grafts they won`t produce the density you would get from just using scalp grafts. In my opinion you need all these 4000 scalp grafts to rebuild the frontal hairline (like Dr. Bicer told you) and the 2000 beard grafts can help to rebuild your crown.

Usually the Doctors will mix scalp with beard grafts to assure it looks natural and Eugenix must be planning on using some of the 4000 scalp grafts on the crown therefore these scalp grafts will not be placed solely on the frontal hairline like Dr. Bicer sugested.

However, I believe Eugenix technique is superior to Dr. Bicer meaning that 4000 scalps grafts with Dr. Arika at Eugenix should give you a better outcome than 4000 grafts with Dr. Bicer.

There`s only two Doctors in the world getting consistent good results with these FUE+BHT mega sessions and they both work at Eugenix: Dr. Arika and Dr. Sethi.

Eugenix is also one of the best in the world for BHT and this is something you need to get a better density.

It`s super strange to see you comparing a harmill like Cinik where techs without any medical background do surgery on dozens patients per day with actual Doctors...

Dr. Hakan was once kicked out of this forum for being unethical so that`s someone I wouldn`t recommend, much less for a mega session.

I highly doubt anyone will be advising you to have a FUE+BHT mega session with the other options you stated. 

My advise, save more money so you can afford Dr. Arika to perform your FUE+BHT mega session.

Wish you all the best with your surgery.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Portugal25

[_Hairman_]

Your problem is the donor area, get it counted, it look weak, over ears and crown getting down alot. You dont have loads of grafts. I would not do a hairtransplant if i was you specially if i dont know how many grafts my donor can give me. From pics noone can tell you how many grafts you have. You have to go to someone that can count your grafts that is available for a ht and then you take it from there.

[Rudiz31]

@_Hairman_ & @Portugal25 Thanks a lot for your feedback guys!

I basically disqualified Cinik and currently stayed with Dr. Bicer, Dr. Christos Tsakalos (from Choiexpert and also still works for DHI Glasgow) & HDC Cyprus @ Dr. Christina.

I got an evaluation of 3,500 grafts from HDC for 2 days session, focusing on hairline + mid scalp with high density, and 4,000 grafts by Dr. Christos Tsakalos for 2 days session as well, 1st day for crown + 2nd part of the scalp, 2nd day he will do the 1st part of the scalp and will also design the hairline a bit. HDC mentioned I would need 2nd session in the future to cover the crown, whereas Dr. Christos mentioned he can work on the entire head but with graded density. (high density in the front + mid scalp, low density in the crown). 

What's your opinions about Dr. Christos & HDC Christina, compared to Dr. Bicer mainly (because I already understood that Eungenix are your most preferred clinic in this scenario) for my situation?

[Portugal25]

@Rudiz31you are again comparing actual Doctors that are involved in the surgery with a hairmill franchise by the name of DHI and stating the name of the Doctor that can either be at the Glasgow or Greek franchise of DHI or at his own hairmill ChoiExpert checking on the several tech run surgeries that these haimills do on a daily basis. 

As a second option I would advise having two FUE sugeries with Dr. Christina at HDC.

This is a irreversible surgery that will affect your life forever so don´t focus on price but rather on who`s the Doctor that will be doing this surgery and does this Doctor have several real patients that were in the same situation as you and have posted amazing end results at HRN or other hairloss foruns. You will find that from your options only Eugenix ticks this box.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Portugal25

[Melvin- Admin]

6 hours ago, Portugal25 said:

@Rudiz31 you are a NW6 and therefore require 6000 scalp grafts to reach a overall good density (from looking at your photos I would even say you need more than 6000 grafts). 

You should start finasteride 3x/week asap to stop your hairloss from progressing and enhance the density of your native hair. Only after 6 months of Finasteride should you move ahead with your surgery.

Eugenix is saying they can compensate the density by adding 2000 beard grafts to the 4000 scalp grafts but remember that the beard only produces single grafts and even though they are a bit thicker than scalp grafts they won`t produce the density you would get from just using scalp grafts. In my opinion you need all these 4000 scalp grafts to rebuild the frontal hairline (like Dr. Bicer told you) and the 2000 beard grafts can help to rebuild your crown.

Usually the Doctors will mix scalp with beard grafts to assure it looks natural and Eugenix must be planning on using some of the 4000 scalp grafts on the crown therefore these scalp grafts will not be placed solely on the frontal hairline like Dr. Bicer sugested.

However, I believe Eugenix technique is superior to Dr. Bicer meaning that 4000 scalps grafts with Dr. Arika at Eugenix should give you a better outcome than 4000 grafts with Dr. Bicer.

There`s only two Doctors in the world getting consistent good results with these FUE+BHT mega sessions and they both work at Eugenix: Dr. Arika and Dr. Sethi.

Eugenix is also one of the best in the world for BHT and this is something you need to get a better density.

It`s super strange to see you comparing a harmill like Cinik where techs without any medical background do surgery on dozens patients per day with actual Doctors...

Dr. Hakan was once kicked out of this forum for being unethical so that`s someone I wouldn`t recommend, much less for a mega session.

I highly doubt anyone will be advising you to have a FUE+BHT mega session with the other options you stated. 

My advise, save more money so you can afford Dr. Arika to perform your FUE+BHT mega session.

Wish you all the best with your surgery.

Pretty much this 👆🏼