Choosing the right hair transplant surgery

[Mr Nilsen]

Hello 

I need some advice and help

lately I’ve been thinking about going for a hair transplant.

I already had one back in 2008 (1600 grafts) but I was never satisfied as it didn’t give me sufficient cover  

In 2015 I also went for a skalp-micro pigmentation (or hair tattoo) and shaved my head to make it look more natural 

I’ve still got the scar at the back of my head from my hair transplant, and even though it’s not always visible it’s still making me self conscious.  
 

Lately I’ve been thinking about another hair transplant to give my hair more density

I booked myself in for a hair transplant surgery in May 2022 with Asli-Tarcan, but after reading some of your experiences on here I cancelled it today 

So now I have to re-start the process and I am hoping that you can help me! 
 

Ideally I would like a full head of hair! (Obviously 😊) But also I don’t want to pay more then necessary (at the same time I don’t want to go into a trap…)

I’ve included some photos of my current situation

Hope you can help a brother in need 👍🏻

 

[Britanium]

Thanks for posting, have you got pics of your hair before your first Ht? And also with it grown out. Just wondering where you would be on the Norwood scale. It’s not easy without seeing more pics, pre and post SMP would be good. 
How old are you ? And are you on Fin/Minox ? 
We could give some much better suggestions with some more info, but don’t be tempted by anything too cheap. You need a Dr and not tech procedure. 
The only one I would really suggest in Turkey would be Dr Bicer (forum recommended) and then if your prepared to travel i would be suggesting Eugenix. 
But here is the forums recommended list:

https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/Consult-a-Physician/hair-transplant-surgeons.asp?sr=HRN-MOB

 

[Mr Nilsen]

Thank you @JC71 I will definitely have a look on that link, it’s a jungle out there. 
 

unfortunately I don’t have any photos of myself before the first HT (it’s such a long time ago now!) but I think I’m Norwood 6? There’s basically no natural hair growing on my scalp apart from at the back and side. All the hair you see on top and crown is transplanted hair and SMP. You might be able to see that my ‘normal hair’ is slightly denser?
 

I’m 45 years old and I am not using any medication 

[Britanium]

2 minutes ago, Mr Nilsen said:

Thank you @JC71 I will definitely have a look on that link, it’s a jungle out there. 
 

unfortunately I don’t have any photos of myself before the first HT (it’s such a long time ago now!) but I think I’m Norwood 6? There’s basically no natural hair growing on my scalp apart from at the back and side. All the hair you see on top and crown is transplanted hair and SMP. You might be able to see that my ‘normal hair’ is slightly denser?
 

I’m 45 years old and I am not using any medication 

Ok this is why I was thinking Eugenix, they absolutely excel in the higher Norwood levels. If you look at @Gatsbythread and our own @Melvin- Moderatoryou will see what I mean, that’s just for starters.. other options for the higher Norwoods could be @DrTBarghouthi(Vertex) @Dr. Felipe Pittellaand Dr Zarev. Just spend as much time as possible looking through results. 

[NARMAK]

I think you would need to reconcile your expectations of a "full head of hair" tbh if you're a Norwood 6. You'll have the illusion of density at most. You also never mentioned whether you are taking any medication or where the first procedure took place and whether FUT or FUE but the back donor picture looks like an FUT scar filled in with SMP. 

I think it's also unclear what your potential beard donor would look like which is what Eugenix typically need to run with higher Norwood cases to get the full results you usually see

[Mr Nilsen]

Hi @NARMAK 

I don’t use any medication 

I had a FUT transplant at the Wimpole clinic in London back in 2008 lead by Michael May (1600 grafts)

I also had SMP done in 2015, and it’s worked well (apart from the visible scar at the back of my head)

I’ve started to look around for a trustable clinic (with the help of you guys!)

I’ve looked into the Fuecapilar clinic in Istanbul ( Drs Turan and Gur) and I like it so far, they look like the real deal and not too expensive.

I’ve sent them a message so let’s see.. 

 

[Icicle]

4 minutes ago, Mr Nilsen said:

Hi @NARMAK 

I don’t use any medication 

I had a FUT transplant at the Wimpole clinic in London back in 2008 lead by Michael May (1600 grafts)

I also had SMP done in 2015, and it’s worked well (apart from the visible scar at the back of my head)

I’ve started to look around for a trustable clinic (with the help of you guys!)

I’ve looked into the Fuecapilar clinic in Istanbul ( Drs Turan and Gur) and I like it so far, they look like the real deal and not too expensive.

I’ve sent them a message so let’s see.. 

 

@Mr NilsenDid all your transplanted hair stay without the use of medication and did you lose any native hair ?

[NARMAK]

52 minutes ago, Mr Nilsen said:

Hi @NARMAK 

I don’t use any medication 

I had a FUT transplant at the Wimpole clinic in London back in 2008 lead by Michael May (1600 grafts)

I also had SMP done in 2015, and it’s worked well (apart from the visible scar at the back of my head)

I’ve started to look around for a trustable clinic (with the help of you guys!)

I’ve looked into the Fuecapilar clinic in Istanbul ( Drs Turan and Gur) and I like it so far, they look like the real deal and not too expensive.

I’ve sent them a message so let’s see.. 

 

Not using any medication since you had an FUT from 2008 and the fact you have SMP makes it hard with your really buzzed down look to see how much grafts you might need and your current hair loss situation describes potentially a Norwood 6/7. 

Where did you get your 1600 grafts implanted? 

Also, how is your beard? 

I do think you are going to be a very tough case to do right depending on the above factors, but the reason we sometimes ask to see pictures is because even though some have a higher Norwood looking pattern, if it's diffuse thinning, medication could help

[Mr Nilsen]

Hi @NARMAK and @Icicle

thank you for your comments and questions, much appreciated  

All my transplanted hairs stayed and no, I haven’t lost any native hair since the surgery, so I guess it’s a good quality transplant, just not sufficient cover for me to let it grow 

I’ve tried to take a bit more photos, I haven’t shaved for 3 days (hair and beard), I’ve also tried to highlight the ‘border’ between my ‘native hair’ and my transplanted hair/SMP area

My transplanted hair are all over the central part of my scalp (within the red border)

hopefully it can give you a bit more understanding of my current situation 😊 

So all of my transplanted hair are within this area, more density to the front, but still not sufficient  

Trying to draw a line between my native hair and transplanted hair/SMP areas 

Edited February 27, 2022 by Mr Nilsen

[NARMAK]

3 hours ago, Mr Nilsen said:

Hi @NARMAK and @Icicle

thank you for your comments and questions, much appreciated  

All my transplanted hairs stayed and no, I haven’t lost any native hair since the surgery, so I guess it’s a good quality transplant, just not sufficient cover for me to let it grow 

I’ve tried to take a bit more photos, I haven’t shaved for 3 days (hair and beard), I’ve also tried to highlight the ‘border’ between my ‘native hair’ and my transplanted hair/SMP area

My transplanted hair are all over the central part of my scalp (within the red border)

hopefully it can give you a bit more understanding of my current situation 😊 

So all of my transplanted hair are within this area, more density to the front, but still not sufficient  

Trying to draw a line between my native hair and transplanted hair/SMP areas 

Can you show us any pictures before you had your first surgery? 

I appreciate you putting the red line and stating that's where all the transplanted hair were placed within but its very difficult to determine where they actually are placed tbh because the hairs still very short to be able to tell. 

I honestly think you might need to grow your hair out a little longer for people to get a better idea of your donor area and density for both scalp and beard. The stubble though seems to indicate you have a good area of beard to use for donor if needed and probably will. 

Again, just in terms of what a hair transplant can offer you, i'd urge you to look at Eugenix and the Caucasian cases and the specific one is for Karl who is @Zoomsteron here and hopefully he can share a bit too. 

[Zoomster]

Hi @Mr Nilsen..

Without seeing your donor grown out it looks up to the job...Youre a self proclaimed NW6 in need of a dig out ..its really very simple..you should be video consulting with the best in the business ( for your situation )..and thats Eugenix.

Theres no difference in travelling to Turkey or India..your still putting your bum on an airplane seat ..your just landing a few hours later ..

Keep it simple ..

[Icicle]

@Mr Nilsenis there any reason why you’ve chosen to not use any medication? Are you not worried about losing more hair or the thinning out of your transplanted hair?

[Mr Nilsen]

@Icicle I’m not sure why to be honest. I think I was already a bit disappointed with the lack of cover and didn’t really see the point. I used a hair system for a while so that covered the whole area anyway. After I decided to go for SMP again it gave an illusion of a full head of hair. The only thing is the scar at the back of my head, it’s not as visible as before, but it’s still there, would love to cover it completely

[NARMAK]

1 hour ago, Mr Nilsen said:

@Icicle I’m not sure why to be honest. I think I was already a bit disappointed with the lack of cover and didn’t really see the point. I used a hair system for a while so that covered the whole area anyway. After I decided to go for SMP again it gave an illusion of a full head of hair. The only thing is the scar at the back of my head, it’s not as visible as before, but it’s still there, would love to cover it completely

Without knowing how far your loss is, there's few who can probably even guess what good Finasteride would have done once you hit Norwood 6. That said, medication can still potentially keep hair in the donor area looking better for longer. 

A lot of people don't actually seem to realise that donor hair is also susceptible to DHT albeit its a lot more resistant but the band of donor hair considered "permanent" is in a very small area. So taking medication can help with transplanted hair too imo unlike how the vast majority might see it. Albeit i would tweak the dosage to like say 1-2x a week with 1mg.

Ultimately you should research and save for somebody competent and reputable and this forums a great place to help answer questions. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Look up @Gatsby review he had full smp as well. 

[Gatsby]

@Mr Nilsen you are in a very similar boat to what I was in. I just had surgery with Eugenix six weeks ago with Dr Sethi. You will require quite a few beard grafts which Eugenix excel at to aid in getting as much coverage as possible. I had two previous punch graft surgeries last century 🤕which left me with two lots of scars in the donor area and horrible looking plugs in the frontal hairline. I had the plugs in the hairline excised and as my baldness progressed I then wore a wig for 25 years. I threw that away 6 years ago and had SMP. Now I am waiting for 8,700 odd grafts to start growing.

To me you look like a very good Norwood 6/7 though you still have your lateral humps. If I were you I would only consider Eugenix. However you have to ascertain the quality of your scalp donor and your beard donor (which looks very good to me). If you get the green light then your SMP will add to the illusion of density. But it's really important to be able to give Eugenix a very clear appraisal of the quality of your donor hair. When I arrived at Eugenix my donor in both my scalp and beard was less than Dr Sethi had realised (despite sending numerous photos, videos and having skype chats for two years prior). This is one of the limitations of doing WhatsApp consultations. So my honest advice would be to grow out your scalp donor for a few weeks (and forget what anyone thinks) as well as your beard. Eugenix is a long way to go to be told that your donor is not ideal (though I'm sure it is) to be on the safe side. All the best!

 

[NARMAK]

18 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

@Mr Nilsen you are in a very similar boat to what I was in. I just had surgery with Eugenix six weeks ago with Dr Sethi. You will require quite a few beard grafts which Eugenix excel at to aid in getting as much coverage as possible. I had two previous punch graft surgeries last century 🤕which left me with two lots of scars in the donor area and horrible looking plugs in the frontal hairline. I had the plugs in the hairline excised and as my baldness progressed I then wore a wig for 25 years. I threw that away 6 years ago and had SMP. Now I am waiting for 8,700 odd grafts to start growing.

To me you look like a very good Norwood 6/7 though you still have your lateral humps. If I were you I would only consider Eugenix. However you have to ascertain the quality of your scalp donor and your beard donor (which looks very good to me). If you get the green light then your SMP will add to the illusion of density. But it's really important to be able to give Eugenix a very clear appraisal of the quality of your donor hair. When I arrived at Eugenix my donor in both my scalp and beard was less than Dr Sethi had realised (despite sending numerous photos, videos and having skype chats for two years prior). This is one of the limitations of doing WhatsApp consultations. So my honest advice would be to grow out your scalp donor for a few weeks (and forget what anyone thinks) as well as your beard. Eugenix is a long way to go to be told that your donor is not ideal (though I'm sure it is) to be on the safe side. All the best!

 

Great advice for OP and your journey is something i constantly say a LOT of young guys can learn from. 

For all the so called advancements we apparently have made in FUE etc. there's still exponentially so many more bad outcomes due to the explosion in demand and inadequate skill set of clinics globally. 

It's literally creating an epidemic of men that are going to be left high and dry, but also in a selfish but negative way i would say these same people even if there's like 25% of them, they will swamp the reputable clinics looking for a repair and be willing to pay, which means prices across the board could rise at the reputable places for even virgin scalp hair transplants. That's sheerly down to supply and demand issues. 

I unfortunately didn't hit the jackpot recently lol, so i don't have that luxury of being able to probably save for ages and ages, and even then  imho there comes a point where paying more money isn't guaranteed to give a better result. The doctor just has the demand to justify higher pricing. Such is the way markets all seem to work. 

[Gatsby]

3 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

Great advice for OP and your journey is something i constantly say a LOT of young guys can learn from.

That's the goal @NARMAK. 🤞The wrong hair transplant surgeon or just having one when it's better not too at all will cost so much more in the long run. 🙏