Revisiting hair transplant - Please help

[Superslim11]

 

28 yo male 

fin/min topical daily 
 

So I’m revisiting the idea of a hair transplant. I posted on here two years ago with picture and everyone seemed to think I shouldn’t get one done. I have been taking fineteride since, recently switched to topical fin/min. Although at times I have noticed growth I have pretty much maintained what I had. I have trialed letting my hair grow and while it does look better from the front the crown is still kinda bare and hard to cover. 

 

so I’m here again wanting you opinion. I want to get one from turkey in 3 months time.
 

Should I get one ? 
 

If you could please recommend a hair clinic in turkey that would be great. 

here is what I’m working with: 

 

 

Here is the old thread: 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Superslim11

[Melvin- Admin]

If you can’t afford a decent surgeon. Do not get surgery. Doing nothing is never a bad choice.

[Superslim11]

7 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

If you can’t afford a decent surgeon. Do not get surgery. Doing nothing is never a bad choice.

Howmuch is a decent surgeon in turkey ? 
you’re the one who talked me out of it last time. 

[BDK081522]

The issue is there are very few decent surgeons in Turkey. So, by minimizing your pool you're drastically minimizing your chances for a good result. If money is the driving force behind choosing Turkey then either save more or don't do anything. The results are permanent. So you may have lived 5-10 years with a receding hairline, but don't make the mistake of living the next 70 years with an unnatural one. 

Edited May 17, 2022 by BDK081522

[mafpe]

What's your budget though?

From what i read on your previous thread, it's because you're trying to get into a hair mill. They do have ok result sometime but it's a gamble. If you lose the gamble, you'll be spending maybe 3x the amount just to salvage it, not to mention the emotional trauma.

Woth good doctors you... minimize the risk. I take it you've been taking the meds?

Honestly imo if you can save up for a decent one, that should be what you do.

If you cannot, and you are fine with the risk to shave and be bald, save fund to afford possible electrolysis and or SMP just in case you have bad result. This one i don't exactly reccomend, and i guess many here will bash this option.

But if you're shaving buzz like that daily, you can be half considered "bald", and the fact that you asked here again then it means you care alot about your appearance.

Worse, shaving it bald doesn't mean that you don't need extra effort because a bad transplant have it# effect even on a shaved head.

 

It does feel like your hair matter the most when you're young. And while it might feel like the prime time, even when you're older you will still care.

I have a cousin at 40ish which wants a transplant, and his friend went to a hair mill with luckily a good result. All i can do is try to convince him not to, due to his friend result, and so he think hair mills have bad results because they deal with a much higher number of patients.

At least he decided to wait and see how other people and maybe how my HT will look like. I can't push on my advice because life isn't a forum, otherwise i'll get tagged as pushy.

[Superslim11]

5-6k usd budget 

i mean at this point I keep it buzzed and I’m tired of it. 

[O Hare 57]

The only thing in the universe worse than going bald, it paying someone a ton of money who doesn't know what they are doing, then they F-up your hair and your head, then you have to pay even more and find someone who can hopefully fix the mistake.  Bad hair transplant hell is a place "YOU DO NOT WANT TO GO TO."

Save your money up and get it done right or not at all.  If not you could end up broke, mutilated and very angry and depressed.  There a excellent doctors out their, but way too many hair mills and bozos who will gladly take your money without ethical or medical concern.   Don't make a bad choice you will regret.  Do your research and proceed with care.

Good luck...

[Superslim11]

Guys. I’m willing to do the research, and be patient I have been for two years now. 
 

you’re telling me 5-6k isn’t enough and the only acceptable FUE is done for 15k in the USA? 
 

I hear y’all I really do, but at this point I’m just buzzing my head monthly. 
 

idk guys, I’m hearing the same stuff I did 2 years ago, I don’t want to go to a hair mill…

[mafpe]

47 minutes ago, Superslim11 said:

5-6k usd budget 

i mean at this point I keep it buzzed and I’m tired of it. 

i guess that means you can get doctors with pricing up to 2$ depending on how many graft are going to be worked on? density is a thing so i guess for good density you'll be on lower end. from your last thread it seems that consensus is front area with 2k graft is not dense enough, so i suppose it should be around 2.8-3k ish? that alone will eat up most of your fund. if you're okay with just filling in so you don't look as bald, perhaps there are options where it looks kind of ok, and fill abit on the crown.

5-6k while isn't a lot, could be enough. for example one of the better recommended doctor here is dr bicer, that will net you around 3k graft, and with her long waiting list, you might have another 1k$ to spend. otherwise, there are fuecapilar / HLC that seems to be recommended here. dr yaman has a somewhat bad rep this month, but the quantity of people he worked on is more due to 3 person/day. there's also dr demirsoy but i haven't seen many of his works here or lately, there are more on german forum though, and dr bicer is very popular on german forum as well.

 

like the person above me said, as well as many other, that the risk is there.

you should take a few days to consider it, try to view it in cold practical view, then decide. people would tell you to wait, but i guess you already waited for 2 years.

from what i see your hairline hasn't receeded much since 2 years ago, so maybe it has "stabilised"? you're taking meds as well.

[Dillpickle123]

25 minutes ago, Superslim11 said:

Guys. I’m willing to do the research, and be patient I have been for two years now. 
 

you’re telling me 5-6k isn’t enough and the only acceptable FUE is done for 15k in the USA? 
 

I hear y’all I really do, but at this point I’m just buzzing my head monthly. 
 

idk guys, I’m hearing the same stuff I did 2 years ago, I don’t want to go to a hair mill…

Try dr bicer in turkey or Dr p or hlc or HDC in Cyprus does good work too not too expensive 

[Dillpickle123]

Just now, Dillpickle123 said:

Try dr bicer in turkey or Dr p or hlc or HDC in Cyprus does good work too not too expensive 

Your probably gonna pay closer to 8k though since you need a lot of grafts 

[Gokuhairline]

listen to everyone but don't listen to anyone if that makes sense....save up 4-5k more and 10K should maybe get you a european doctor and do a conservative transplant. Might need 2.  go ahead and do it its your life. one thing I will agree on is, dont go to turkey. 

[Superslim11]

1 hour ago, Gokuhairline said:

listen to everyone but don't listen to anyone if that makes sense....save up 4-5k more and 10K should maybe get you a european doctor and do a conservative transplant. Might need 2.  go ahead and do it its your life. one thing I will agree on is, dont go to turkey. 

Ok this is more sound advice. I do want to do a conservative surgery a touch up if you will. I’m not looking to bring back my hairline all the way down to where it was in high school, I’m only looking to fill in the corners. 
 

the crown, I want more dense but nothing too dramatic. 

 

how about barghouti? I have family in Jordan? 

[Superslim11]

How many grafts would I need just for a touch up? 
 

[THE TRUTH]

Forget about Turkey please. 

Turkey is the perfect place to ruin your life forever. 

I've seen too many bad results even from the most expensive clinics in Turkey...

It is impossible to undo a bad hair transplant. Repairs are crap even with the best surgeons. 

You have already pretty advanced loss (Norwood 4-5). 

You would need at least 2 large surgeries. Probably even 3. 

I would look into scalp micropigmentation at this stage. Chasing transplants is a waste of time, money and energy at this point. 

Look at Didu's case. He had similar level of hairloss to yours and got 7500 grafts with 2  expensive and recommended clinics and still has a thin midscalp....

Unless you can afford someone like Zarev, Couto, Freitas I'd stay away from hair transplants. 

A bad hair transplant can ruin your life. 

Chasing multiple hair transplants and spending tens of thousands of dollars and still being bald because of the "illusion of density" variable that they imply can be devastating too....Keep that mind please. 

Even if you get 3 hair transplants your hair will still look like it's thinning and it'll NEVER look like it used to before your started experiencing the curse of Androgenic Alopecia. 

That is sad but that is the bald TRUTH. 

Look at Melvin's case, look at JT look at Matt Dominance, David DiMuzio etc...

They all got multiple hair transplants and spent tens of thousands of dollars (between 3 and 10) and they all still look pretty bald or thinning...

Unless you have minimal hairloss like Kevin Mann or the Hair Chemist (less than Norwood 3) and IF  you start Finasteride early enough, IF you are lucky, IF you choose the right doctor, IF you get 2 surgeries IF IF IF you could get the illusion of full head of hair....

Have you tried some hardcore pharmaceuticals ? Dutasteride, oral minoxidil, topical anti-androgens etc ?

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by lack of bludflow

[Sonu]

To be honest you shouldn't get a hair transplant. You have weak donor area and grade of baldness is high. I am from India and I have seen lot of cases like yours who end up regretting after a transplant. After transplant, you won't be able to keep your hair short because the transplanted hair will look weird and there will be scars at the back of the head. And you won't be able to keep it long because you will never get that density due to weak donor area. Even if you get, it will thin out after sometime.

You have a good face and head shape. I would highly recommend not to get a hair transplant based of what I have seen (even if you have access to top surgeons). Even I have got one on my hair line 1700 grafts. After 3 years, I would say I have lost 30% density and I am not liking the results as days pass by. I know in 2 more years I would lose most of it and it won't look good. 

So think about it. HT is not permanent. Sometimes doing nothing is the best solution when the grade of baldness is high with a weak donor area.

Please don't ruin your life.  A botched transplant is hundread times worse than bald/balding. And in your case even if you get a good transplant, you will end up regretting. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Sonu

[John1991]

1 hour ago, lack of bludflow said:

Forget about Turkey please. 

Turkey is the perfect place to ruin your life forever. 

I've seen too many bad results even from the most expensive clinics in Turkey...

It is impossible to undo a bad hair transplant. Repairs are crap even with the best surgeons. 

You have already pretty advanced loss (Norwood 4-5). 

You would need at least 2 large surgeries. Probably even 3. 

I would look into scalp micropigmentation at this stage. Chasing transplants is a waste of time, money and energy at this point. 

Look at Didu's case. He had similar level of hairloss to yours and got 7500 grafts with 2  expensive and recommended clinics and still has a thin midscalp....

Unless you can afford someone like Zarev, Couto, Freitas I'd stay away from hair transplants. 

A bad hair transplant can ruin your life. 

Chasing multiple hair transplants and spending tens of thousands of dollars and still being bald because of the "illusion of density" variable that they imply can be devastating too....Keep that mind please. 

Even if you get 3 hair transplants your hair will still look like it's thinning and it'll NEVER look like it used to before your started experiencing the curse of Androgenic Alopecia. 

That is sad but that is the bald TRUTH. 

Look at Melvin's case, look at JT look at Matt Dominance, David DiMuzio etc...

They all got multiple hair transplants and spent tens of thousands of dollars (between 3 and 10) and they all still look pretty bald or thinning...

Unless you have minimal hairloss like Kevin Mann or the Hair Chemist (less than Norwood 3) and IF  you start Finasteride early enough, IF you are lucky, IF you choose the right doctor, IF you get 2 surgeries IF IF IF you could get the illusion of full head of hair....

Have you tried some hardcore pharmaceuticals ? Dutasteride, oral minoxidil, topical anti-androgens etc ?

 

So are you saying the only circumstance where hair transplantation can give a truly "full" head of hair is when you get multiple transplants and start as NW 2?  I get the general point you're trying to make, but I think that's a bit extreme.  I think NW 3 can achieve a very dense/good result with one surgery.  I'm not suggesting they'll have a juvenile, flat hairline, but they can have a strong NW 2 appearance, which I think is sufficient enough to constitute a "full" head of hair. I think I agree with just about everything else you stated, though.

[THE TRUTH]

3 minutes ago, Sonu said:

To be honest you shouldn't get a hair transplant. You have weak donor area and grade of baldness is high. I am from India and I have seen lot of cases like yours who end up regretting after a transplant. After transplant, you won't be able to keep your hair short because the transplanted hair will look weird and there will be scars at the back of the head. And you won't be able to keep it long because you will never get that density due to weak donor area. Even if you get, it will thin out after sometime.

You have a good face and head shape. I would highly recommend not to get a hair transplant based of what I have seen. Even I have got one on my hair line 1700 grafts. After 3 years, I would say I have lost 30% density and I am not liking the results as days pass by. I know in 2 more years I would lose most of it and it won't look good. 

S think about it. HT is not permanent. Sometimes doing nothing is the best solution when the grade of baldness is high with a weak donor area.

 

100%  agree. 🙏

At the end of the day, transplants are  crap....

I've been reseraching hair transplants extensively for the last couple years. 

90% of the cases I've seen (and trust me I've seen hundreds...) were either failed or unhappy, missing density or "unreaslitic expectations" etc etc....

Very few are the cases where the patient was happy with full density after only 1 procedure. Especially when someone is beyond Nw 3...

And like you said, genetic hairloss is progressive... 

Even if you are on Finasteride/Dutasteride you will continue to lose hair albeit at a drastically slower rate... The standard doses of these only lower scalp DHT by around 40-60%. 

You can never stop genetic hairloss completely...

Even with surgical castration you still have some residual androgen production in the adrenal glands...

You got scenile alopecia later in life too that cause some aditionnal degree of inevitable thinning, DUPA can affect the donor in some people etc....

Now if you are Norwood 2 or 3 maximum with minimal loss and you get let's say 2 sucessful surgeries with a great doctor then yes you can delay/postpone the need of additionnal surgeries for a good decade or so,  possibly even more provided that you use a very strong pharmaceutical stack (5AR inhibitors in combo with anti androgens and oral minoxidil). 

But starting off as a Nw 4-5, it is a lot more complicated and you run the risk of depleting the donor area with poor results on the recipient area...

I'd try to save for a great surgeon instead of playing russian roulette with Cinik, Yaman, Serkan, AsliTarcan etc...

Otherwise I'd just get SMP every 1-2 years. You got a good headshape. 

 

[THE TRUTH]

2 minutes ago, John1991 said:

So are you saying the only circumstance where hair transplantation can give a truly "full" head of hair is when you get multiple transplants and start as NW 2?  I get the general point you're trying to make, but I think that's a bit extreme.  I think NW 3 can achieve a very dense/good result with one surgery.  I'm not suggesting they'll have a juvenile, flat hairline, but they can have a strong NW 2 appearance, which I think is sufficient enough to constitute a "full" head of hair. I think I agree with just about everything else you stated, though.

Agree. Norwood 3 is probably the limit. 

[Sonu]

22 minutes ago, lack of bludflow said:

100%  agree. 🙏

At the end of the day, transplants are  crap....

I've been reseraching hair transplants extensively for the last couple years. 

90% of the cases I've seen (and trust me I've seen hundreds...) were either failed or unhappy, missing density or "unreaslitic expectations" etc etc....

Very few are the cases where the patient was happy with full density after only 1 procedure. Especially when someone is beyond Nw 3...

And like you said, genetic hairloss is progressive... 

Even if you are on Finasteride/Dutasteride you will continue to lose hair albeit at a drastically slower rate... The standard doses of these only lower scalp DHT by around 40-60%. 

You can never stop genetic hairloss completely...

Even with surgical castration you still have some residual androgen production in the adrenal glands...

You got scenile alopecia later in life too that cause some aditionnal degree of inevitable thinning, DUPA can affect the donor in some people etc....

Now if you are Norwood 2 or 3 maximum with minimal loss and you get let's say 2 sucessful surgeries with a great doctor then yes you can delay/postpone the need of additionnal surgeries for a good decade or so,  possibly even more provided that you use a very strong pharmaceutical stack (5AR inhibitors in combo with anti androgens and oral minoxidil). 

But starting off as a Nw 4-5, it is a lot more complicated and you run the risk of depleting the donor area with poor results on the recipient area...

I'd try to save for a great surgeon instead of playing russian roulette with Cinik, Yaman, Serkan, AsliTarcan etc...

Otherwise I'd just get SMP every 1-2 years. You got a good headshape. 

 

Yes we all are fighting a losing battle.

[Melvin- Admin]

22 minutes ago, lack of bludflow said:

100%  agree. 🙏

At the end of the day, transplants are  crap....

I've been reseraching hair transplants extensively for the last couple years. 

90% of the cases I've seen (and trust me I've seen hundreds...) were either failed or unhappy, missing density or "unreaslitic expectations" etc etc....

Very few are the cases where the patient was happy with full density after only 1 procedure. Especially when someone is beyond Nw 3...

And like you said, genetic hairloss is progressive... 

Even if you are on Finasteride/Dutasteride you will continue to lose hair albeit at a drastically slower rate... The standard doses of these only lower scalp DHT by around 40-60%. 

You can never stop genetic hairloss completely...

Even with surgical castration you still have some residual androgen production in the adrenal glands...

You got scenile alopecia later in life too that cause some aditionnal degree of inevitable thinning, DUPA can affect the donor in some people etc....

Now if you are Norwood 2 or 3 maximum with minimal loss and you get let's say 2 sucessful surgeries with a great doctor then yes you can delay/postpone the need of additionnal surgeries for a good decade or so,  possibly even more provided that you use a very strong pharmaceutical stack (5AR inhibitors in combo with anti androgens and oral minoxidil). 

But starting off as a Nw 4-5, it is a lot more complicated and you run the risk of depleting the donor area with poor results on the recipient area...

I'd try to save for a great surgeon instead of playing russian roulette with Cinik, Yaman, Serkan, AsliTarcan etc...

Otherwise I'd just get SMP every 1-2 years. You got a good headshape. 

 

This is nonsense. Everyone’s goals are different, that’s like saying “why go to the gym if you’re not gonna look like Arnold.” The vast majority of people who do their research are happy, there are a few like you, with unrealistic expectations that are unhappy. If you wanna shave your head. Do it now, no need to wait. Might be the best solution for you. 

[THE TRUTH]

25 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

This is nonsense. Everyone’s goals are different, that’s like saying “why go to the gym if you’re not gonna look like Arnold.” The vast majority of people who do their research are happy, there are a few like you, with unrealistic expectations that are unhappy. If you wanna shave your head. Do it now, no need to wait. Might be the best solution for you. 

Nope. I disagree about that Melvin.

The majority of hair transplant patients are not satisfied or not entirely satisfied. FACT Even those who do their research. 

That said, I do agree with you that it does depend on your goal. If you are a Norwood 6-7 just looking to get "some" hair on the hairline for example then yes sure you will be happy with the minimum. 👍

But hey we all know what is the goal of most young or younger patients is....Achieve a normal/decent or at least the illusion of normal head of hair. 

Yourself included...

So your analogy of "why go to the gym if you are not going to look like Arnold" is nonsense in this particular context. 

 

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

5 minutes ago, lack of bludflow said:

Nope. I disagree about that Melvin.

The majority of hair transplant patients are not satisfied or not entirely satisfied. FACT Even those who do their research. 

That said, I do agree with you that it does depend on your goal. If you are a Norwood 6-7 just looking to get "some" hair on the hairline for example then yes sure you will be happy with the minimum. 👍

But hey we all know what is the goal of most young or younger patients is....Achieve a normal/decent or at least the illusion of normal head of hair. 

Yourself included...

So your analogy of "why go to the gym if you are not going to look like Arnold" is nonsense in this particular context. 

 

 

 

Um, no

 

[THE TRUTH]

41 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

This is nonsense. Everyone’s goals are different, that’s like saying “why go to the gym if you’re not gonna look like Arnold.” The vast majority of people who do their research are happy, there are a few like you, with unrealistic expectations that are unhappy. If you wanna shave your head. Do it now, no need to wait. Might be the best solution for you. 

Sure shaving your head would be the best solution if there wasn't the "shadow" variable...

The shadow is the dealbreaker and your balding pattern is still gonna be visible therefore shaving is not a "solution". 

I guess it has to be combined with either SMP to conceal the shadow or perhaps scalp laser removal to get the clean shadow-free look. 

Ultimately, it takes a lot more than a simple headshave. 

[THE TRUTH]

On 5/18/2022 at 11:44 PM, Melvin- Moderator said:

Um, no

 

Allright well, fair enough ! 

However no bitching but this is a really really small number of participants...

We need the same poll on a much larger number of participants before drawing any conclusions and consider it as being representative of the majority of the population. 

I still don't believe the majority of hair transplant patients in the world are totally satisfied... That wouldn't make sense based on what I see on a daily basis. 

But maybe I'm wrong. We will see

Edited May 21, 2022 by lack of bludflow