Long Hair Center Dr Ahmet Yildirim - 18 Feb 2022

[jackofall]

Hey Everyone,

First post here and I am new member. This site helped a lot with my research for almost a month and this document definitely helped with narrowing down. I decided to post my experience to help others and also to document for myself. I had FUT back in 2013 and lost all pictures and the progress and it was not easy to share to the doctors I contacted for the last month or so.

I narrowed down my list to 8 FUE doctors suggested here but due to time constraints and doctors availability I went with Dr Ahmet Yildirim from Long Hair Center. The final list I contacted was Dr Bicer, Demisroy, Pekiner, fuecapilar, haircentermexico, hlc, ferreria, Ahmet. Almost all of them are booked till March and only due to some openings Dr Ahmet and Demisroy had availability in February or March. I dint have a budget constraint but wanted to get it done by 2nd week of March. The price quoted for FUE in USA was way expensive compared to prices offered in Turkey.

All the contacts of the doctors who responded were helpful and friendly. After 2 weeks of chatting with Dr Ahmet's agent Maide, I got the confidence to go ahead with the earliest available date. Maide answered all my questions promptly and been the bridge between me and the doctor.

My earlier experience with hair transplant was FUT and had 2200 grafts. I lost remaining hair and only the transplanted hair in front and anterior areas is left. I have been on finasteride 1mg pill since 1 year and never used anything after HT. After 8 years, decided to not go with one more FUT although I dont know why most doctors on East coast USA pushed me to go for another FUT.

Dr Ahmet took a detailed look at my photos, asked a lot of questions, and suggested he could do a Sapphire FUE of 4200-4300 grafts, but also informed to be circumspect till we meet in person to confirm the correct number after looking at my scalp.

I reached Istanbul on 17th evening and was picked up by their shuttle and translator helped me with hotel checkin. I chose Ramada of 4 options they gave in the package. Ramada was clean, neat and offered best breakfast but its an industrial area with not much options for food except for Hotel restaurant.

Overall rating: 8.5/10 - Great customer experience, skillful doctor and techs, excellent after care, one package price, quick and friendly response, understanding patient requirements. Specific to my case, could be improved things are - translator taking more customer photos during surgery, being available for more time during all stages explaining things, offering water and pain management, less painful anesthesia for sensitive skin like mine.

Surgery Day

I was picked up by the shuttle and reached the hospital building in 20 mins. Building had other clinics apart from Long hair center. I think I was taken to 8th floor and the translator took me to Dr Ahmet’s office room. I was given a health questionnaire to fill up and then Dr Ahmet asked me some more health related questions. When everything look good with my health conditions, Doc looked at my hair and scalp condition and was optimistic with his virtual estimate that he could do 4200 and 4300 but said once into surgery based on muscle and donor sparseness it could be around 4000. For the agreed price, he said they would transplant as much as safely possible around 4300 to 4500. Now after agreeing to all these, I was asked to pay the remaining balance and then then taken to the operating room on a different level. The OR looked clean and had bathroom that was meant to be for patients only.

All my worries were about injections and anesthesia, as from my FUT procedure I remember how terrible it was due to my sensitive skin. I asked the Doc and he said it wont be that bad but should be painful if I have sensitive skin. I was informed that would be 7 to 8 hours for the entire procedure to be done.

I was asked to change to apron, and Dr Ahmet asked me what my expectations were on the hair line and density. He suggested to stick to my current hairline and add more density to front and anterior scalp. I preferred to fill a little on my hair plugs and he said we could do it. Then he draw the lines and confirmed with me if I am fine with the design. After things were confirmed by me, a tech shaved my head. Dr Ahmet shaped the lines to keep this clear and fine and took some pictures. He meant to shape the hairline look natural and asymmetrical.

I was asked to lay down on the back and the person who shaved my head, started with anesthesia shots on the front of my head. This definitely was painful for me and was similar to what I expected. After 5 or 6 shots, I could feel the numbness and the next 5 shots were not that terrible. They also drew blood from my right hand to run their tests and said will the spot open to inject any fluids and to collect blood later for PRP.

 I was then informed by translator that Dr Ahmet will do a small test sample to determine the punch. I was asked to lay on my tummy for head facing down. Doc gave a small anesthesia shot(10 secs of pain) at donor and said I had good hair of doubles and triples and transplant should look good. He then asked me to lay on my back and asked me to relax. He worked for 10 min on the punches sizes using my hair samples. He then did some punches on my scalp and confirmed if I felt any pinch or pain. It was all numb for me and the Dr Ahmet did all the insertion holes with different punches in different recipient areas. He took almost 1.5 hour to finish this. I was given a 5 mins break before going to the extraction process. Doc left saying he will come back to check on me in some time.

2 new techs walked and asked me to lie over on tummy, head facing down. 1 of technician said she is going to do more anesthesia shots on my donor now. This was excruciating for me compared to recipient area. It almost took 20 shots to numb the entire donor area. During these shots, I felt that I cant go for another transplant, but its my personal thing due to my skin and pain reception. I am not sure how other doctors would do this to ease my pain.

I checked with the translator who these 2 techs are and he confirmed one of them is Dr Ahmet’s wife who is a highly trained at extraction and was the one who gave the anesthesia shots. The other tech would be helping collected the grafts. Extraction and collection process was almost for 2 hours. I have lower back pain and it was not comfortable after an hour and I had to ask for tiny breaks. During this time the translator was not available and I wish he was there to talk to me about how its going. Dr Ahmet checked on me couple of times and said things are going well. He asked the techs some questions in turkish. All this time, the techs are talking in turkish but it was better to listen to their voice rather than the extraction machine whirring and hair pricking sounds. My head felt like a rock.

During the 2 hours, there was a new translator for a few mins to help me out.

I was given a 20 min lunch break. A new male tech was into the room who I initially thought was the translator but he is going to plant the grafts. Since I was mostly head facing down I was not sure how the techs looked like. In all apart from the Doctor, I think 3-4 techs worked on my head. 2 techs worked at the same time on both sides of my head. I felt the pain on my forehead as soon as they start planting the grafts. I informed the techs and I was given 5 to 6 more shots of anesthesia. I told them during my 1st FUT, after lunch my anesthesia wore down and told them to load me more before I feel the pain. But it was late and I had to bear the pain for 10 more mins before it all kicked in. I think there was another person spraying some water while the other 2 techs for planting. Some spots on the hair line was still a bit hurting while planting for almost 30 mins. Then I was given some saline through the right arm which got me a bit sleepy. The whole planting took around 2.5 hours. Doc was checking on me every 30 mins during this process. 15 mins before the end of the long OR day, one of the techs showed me 4 injections and asked me not to move while they are injecting the PRP’s.

It was almost 8 hours I spent in the OR. Started around 12 noon and ended by 730pm. I was cleaned up by 2 techs, rest all left, changed to my shirt and was helped by translator to the elevator. I was offered some dinner for free in the cafeteria before the shuttle came. I was handled with care till I was dropped off to my room by the driver.

First wash and after care:
I was picked up for my first hair next day. Hair wash are in Long hair center clinic which is 5 mins away from hospital. I was greeted well by Jamshid, a translator at the clinic. It was a warm and friendly talk with him and Dr Farooq who established long hair center walked in. He explained me all the care and precautions to be taken for the first 10 days and the documents too. I was given a first 10 day care kit and explained how to use it. I had my first wash and it handled so smooth and comfy by Dr Farooq. He is well spoken and me feel confident that surgery went well and I am in good shape. Since I decided to stay in Istanbul for 8 days, I asked them if I could come for hair wash daily and they agreed to me with no hesitation with no extra cost. That was very nice of them. I have been going to them daily and I feel good to see them. My translator facilities daily wash and spends 30 mins talking to me and this experience has been the other factor to consider to go back to them for next transplant. They are thorough and really care about patients and strongly promote to take care of hair health for the first 3 months. On asking about continuing finasteride, I was suggested to wait for 10 days before to continue.

Overall, I had a 5 star service and experience in terms of arrangements, courtesy, help and guidance. I have been a happy patient so far and wishing for great hair results in a year. I was helped in every way possible, food ordering, shuttles, taxis etc all my stay by Maide and felt approachable any time.

Pre-Op photos

 

 

 

Post Op Photos after coming back to Hotel Room

 

Day 1 after 1st wash at Long Hair Clinic

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by jackofall
Complete summary

[JoeMan]

Good luck with your procedure. Keep us posted 

[Britanium]

@jackofallHave you got some pics you can share? 

[jackofall]

added some photos till day 1. Hoping you guys comment on the outline and how it looked. My skin in sensitive and had a good amount of bleeding. Kind of worried about the big blood spots which caused some pain too during implants. Hoping its normal.

[jackofall]

Day 2 after wash photos, long hair center is real nice of giving free washes till I am in Istanbul

 

[jackofall]

Day 3 after wash photos,

How is the progress folks? And hair design for 4200 grafts? Well used?

2000 front, 1200 anterior, 1000 crown as per doc ahmet

[jackofall]

Removed scabs on 11th, not all of them came out easily by scrubbing. 10% were left on the front and I had to shampoo it a lot on 12th to get them out. I saw a good amount of tiny hairs come while washing out the scabs. Is that normal? Can anyone respond?

[Britanium]

4 minutes ago, jackofall said:

Removed scabs on 11th, not all of them came out easily by scrubbing. 10% were left on the front and I had to shampoo it a lot on 12th to get them out. I saw a good amount of tiny hairs come while washing out the scabs. Is that normal? Can anyone respond?

Yes the hairs would start to shed from now onwards. 

[jackofall]

Pictures After 11th day wash removing scabs

[Sitries1]

Once it’s healed you should get SMP. It will really help with density and you can hide the FUT scar. 

[jackofall]

On 3/6/2022 at 1:15 PM, Sitries1 said:

Once it’s healed you should get SMP. It will really help with density and you can hide the FUT scar. 

I am interested in smp for fut scar mainly. Do you have any recommended smp pro on east coast close to Washington dc?

[Sitries1]

2 minutes ago, jackofall said:

I am interested in smp for fut scar mainly. Do you have any recommended smp pro on east coast close to Washington dc?

No mate. I live in the UK. Do your research and find the top guy in your area 👍🏻

[jackofall]

Update exactly after a month. I feel I lost my existing hair too on the front transplanted area. Hoping this is normal and would grow back.

[MachoVato]

Good luck!

[jackofall]

Progress after 2 months. Waiting on even existing hair to grow back.

[BaldDude]

3 months is too early to tell...did the doctor personally perform the extracting and implanting?

[jackofall]

Doctor did incisions. Extraction and implanting were done by his staff. There is a separate package if every thing has to be done by the doctor and it costs double the price and double the time for the entire procedure.

Edited May 4, 2022 by jackofall

[jackofall]

3 months post op photos. I got a hair cut on the sides and back with scissors. Any comments ON THE PROGRESS team HRN?

Edited May 18, 2022 by jackofall
Haircut

[MachoVato]

Everything looking on track. This is the very beginning of the growth phase. They next 2-3 months will be exciting!

[Alphafit]

On 2/21/2022 at 3:37 AM, jackofall said:

Hey Everyone,

First post here and I am new member. This site helped a lot with my research for almost a month and this document definitely helped with narrowing down. I decided to post my experience to help others and also to document for myself. I had FUT back in 2013 and lost all pictures and the progress and it was not easy to share to the doctors I contacted for the last month or so.

I narrowed down my list to 8 FUE doctors suggested here but due to time constraints and doctors availability I went with Dr Ahmet Yildirim from Long Hair Center. The final list I contacted was Dr Bicer, Demisroy, Pekiner, fuecapilar, haircentermexico, hlc, ferreria, Ahmet. Almost all of them are booked till March and only due to some openings Dr Ahmet and Demisroy had availability in February or March. I dint have a budget constraint but wanted to get it done by 2nd week of March. The price quoted for FUE in USA was way expensive compared to prices offered in Turkey.

All the contacts of the doctors who responded were helpful and friendly. After 2 weeks of chatting with Dr Ahmet's agent Maide, I got the confidence to go ahead with the earliest available date. Maide answered all my questions promptly and been the bridge between me and the doctor.

My earlier experience with hair transplant was FUT and had 2200 grafts. I lost remaining hair and only the transplanted hair in front and anterior areas is left. I have been on finasteride 1mg pill since 1 year and never used anything after HT. After 8 years, decided to not go with one more FUT although I dont know why most doctors on East coast USA pushed me to go for another FUT.

Dr Ahmet took a detailed look at my photos, asked a lot of questions, and suggested he could do a Sapphire FUE of 4200-4300 grafts, but also informed to be circumspect till we meet in person to confirm the correct number after looking at my scalp.

I reached Istanbul on 17th evening and was picked up by their shuttle and translator helped me with hotel checkin. I chose Ramada of 4 options they gave in the package. Ramada was clean, neat and offered best breakfast but its an industrial area with not much options for food except for Hotel restaurant.

Overall rating: 8.5/10 - Great customer experience, skillful doctor and techs, excellent after care, one package price, quick and friendly response, understanding patient requirements. Specific to my case, could be improved things are - translator taking more customer photos during surgery, being available for more time during all stages explaining things, offering water and pain management, less painful anesthesia for sensitive skin like mine.

Surgery Day

I was picked up by the shuttle and reached the hospital building in 20 mins. Building had other clinics apart from Long hair center. I think I was taken to 8th floor and the translator took me to Dr Ahmet’s office room. I was given a health questionnaire to fill up and then Dr Ahmet asked me some more health related questions. When everything look good with my health conditions, Doc looked at my hair and scalp condition and was optimistic with his virtual estimate that he could do 4200 and 4300 but said once into surgery based on muscle and donor sparseness it could be around 4000. For the agreed price, he said they would transplant as much as safely possible around 4300 to 4500. Now after agreeing to all these, I was asked to pay the remaining balance and then then taken to the operating room on a different level. The OR looked clean and had bathroom that was meant to be for patients only.

All my worries were about injections and anesthesia, as from my FUT procedure I remember how terrible it was due to my sensitive skin. I asked the Doc and he said it wont be that bad but should be painful if I have sensitive skin. I was informed that would be 7 to 8 hours for the entire procedure to be done.

I was asked to change to apron, and Dr Ahmet asked me what my expectations were on the hair line and density. He suggested to stick to my current hairline and add more density to front and anterior scalp. I preferred to fill a little on my hair plugs and he said we could do it. Then he draw the lines and confirmed with me if I am fine with the design. After things were confirmed by me, a tech shaved my head. Dr Ahmet shaped the lines to keep this clear and fine and took some pictures. He meant to shape the hairline look natural and asymmetrical.

I was asked to lay down on the back and the person who shaved my head, started with anesthesia shots on the front of my head. This definitely was painful for me and was similar to what I expected. After 5 or 6 shots, I could feel the numbness and the next 5 shots were not that terrible. They also drew blood from my right hand to run their tests and said will the spot open to inject any fluids and to collect blood later for PRP.

 I was then informed by translator that Dr Ahmet will do a small test sample to determine the punch. I was asked to lay on my tummy for head facing down. Doc gave a small anesthesia shot(10 secs of pain) at donor and said I had good hair of doubles and triples and transplant should look good. He then asked me to lay on my back and asked me to relax. He worked for 10 min on the punches sizes using my hair samples. He then did some punches on my scalp and confirmed if I felt any pinch or pain. It was all numb for me and the Dr Ahmet did all the insertion holes with different punches in different recipient areas. He took almost 1.5 hour to finish this. I was given a 5 mins break before going to the extraction process. Doc left saying he will come back to check on me in some time.

2 new techs walked and asked me to lie over on tummy, head facing down. 1 of technician said she is going to do more anesthesia shots on my donor now. This was excruciating for me compared to recipient area. It almost took 20 shots to numb the entire donor area. During these shots, I felt that I cant go for another transplant, but its my personal thing due to my skin and pain reception. I am not sure how other doctors would do this to ease my pain.

I checked with the translator who these 2 techs are and he confirmed one of them is Dr Ahmet’s wife who is a highly trained at extraction and was the one who gave the anesthesia shots. The other tech would be helping collected the grafts. Extraction and collection process was almost for 2 hours. I have lower back pain and it was not comfortable after an hour and I had to ask for tiny breaks. During this time the translator was not available and I wish he was there to talk to me about how its going. Dr Ahmet checked on me couple of times and said things are going well. He asked the techs some questions in turkish. All this time, the techs are talking in turkish but it was better to listen to their voice rather than the extraction machine whirring and hair pricking sounds. My head felt like a rock.

During the 2 hours, there was a new translator for a few mins to help me out.

I was given a 20 min lunch break. A new male tech was into the room who I initially thought was the translator but he is going to plant the grafts. Since I was mostly head facing down I was not sure how the techs looked like. In all apart from the Doctor, I think 3-4 techs worked on my head. 2 techs worked at the same time on both sides of my head. I felt the pain on my forehead as soon as they start planting the grafts. I informed the techs and I was given 5 to 6 more shots of anesthesia. I told them during my 1st FUT, after lunch my anesthesia wore down and told them to load me more before I feel the pain. But it was late and I had to bear the pain for 10 more mins before it all kicked in. I think there was another person spraying some water while the other 2 techs for planting. Some spots on the hair line was still a bit hurting while planting for almost 30 mins. Then I was given some saline through the right arm which got me a bit sleepy. The whole planting took around 2.5 hours. Doc was checking on me every 30 mins during this process. 15 mins before the end of the long OR day, one of the techs showed me 4 injections and asked me not to move while they are injecting the PRP’s.

It was almost 8 hours I spent in the OR. Started around 12 noon and ended by 730pm. I was cleaned up by 2 techs, rest all left, changed to my shirt and was helped by translator to the elevator. I was offered some dinner for free in the cafeteria before the shuttle came. I was handled with care till I was dropped off to my room by the driver.

First wash and after care:
I was picked up for my first hair next day. Hair wash are in Long hair center clinic which is 5 mins away from hospital. I was greeted well by Jamshid, a translator at the clinic. It was a warm and friendly talk with him and Dr Farooq who established long hair center walked in. He explained me all the care and precautions to be taken for the first 10 days and the documents too. I was given a first 10 day care kit and explained how to use it. I had my first wash and it handled so smooth and comfy by Dr Farooq. He is well spoken and me feel confident that surgery went well and I am in good shape. Since I decided to stay in Istanbul for 8 days, I asked them if I could come for hair wash daily and they agreed to me with no hesitation with no extra cost. That was very nice of them. I have been going to them daily and I feel good to see them. My translator facilities daily wash and spends 30 mins talking to me and this experience has been the other factor to consider to go back to them for next transplant. They are thorough and really care about patients and strongly promote to take care of hair health for the first 3 months. On asking about continuing finasteride, I was suggested to wait for 10 days before to continue.

Overall, I had a 5 star service and experience in terms of arrangements, courtesy, help and guidance. I have been a happy patient so far and wishing for great hair results in a year. I was helped in every way possible, food ordering, shuttles, taxis etc all my stay by Maide and felt approachable any time.

Pre-Op photos

 

 

 

Post Op Photos after coming back to Hotel Room

 

Day 1 after 1st wash at Long Hair Clinic

 

Hello there my friend. I am considering using this clinic as well.

Did the doctor look at your grafts with microscope to see if they are single or double or triples?

He did perform the incisions himself right?

I was already in contact with the the clinic they made me a plan. 
They will be using 4300+2500 2 sessions. Donor will be scalp and beard and since scalp is not strong enough on it’s own.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Alphafit

[jackofall]

Hi alphafit! 

Yes, Dr Ahmed spent few mins to look at my grafts under microscope to determine the incisions punch size for my hair quality. Dr Ahmed did the incisions himself only which was the only thing he did too. Punching, extraction and placement were all done by his team. 

[jackofall]

Progress at 4 months completion since transplant. Was hoping for more hair growth by this time.

[sukh123]

I had a look at your post op pics if I’m honest to me that looks a lot less than than 4000 grafts and i think you should of done the first procedure focussing on the front portion and a second one for mid scalp and crown because it looks like he just scattered grafts randomly instead of dense packing the frontal portion. 

[mafpe]

i can't say much since i'm not really sure what i'm looking at nor am i experienced with judging... but i guess a few of your native hair got affected by shock loss? afterall they did get a wound due to the HT. i think it's mostly that your transplanted one hasn't grow yet though imo.

if it's the 4th month, you're not an early grower but that's ok, it would probably be much thicker at month 6.

who is dr ahmet btw and what clinic? i haven't really heard of him before. can you tell us how's the package and price point?

[jackofall]

On 6/1/2022 at 3:06 AM, Alphafit said:

Hello there my friend. I am considering using this clinic as well.

Did the doctor look at your grafts with microscope to see if they are single or double or triples?

He did perform the incisions himself right?

I was already in contact with the the clinic they made me a plan. 
They will be using 4300+2500 2 sessions. Donor will be scalp and beard and since scalp is not strong enough on it’s own.

How did it go? Did you get the transplant done with long hair center?