4700 grafts. Istanbul. Worried about 12 hours duration of surgery

[Urmat]

Hi there ! 

On 21 April 2022, I had DHI hair transplant. The cost of the surgery was 1300 eur. They told me that that month the price was with a discount. Without discount 1700 eur.

 

I am worried abour the duration of the surgery which lasted 12 hours total. 

 

1st part. Graft extraction lasted 7 hours due to only one person was doing that (both using micromotor and then taking out with forceps as well). The second assistant responsible for picking up the grafts with forceps was doing something wrong I guess and he was asked to exit that procedure by her. As I speak turkish , I could understand them talking. She explained me that my grafts are longer than other patients' and they are coming out hard. For that reason,  it lasted so long.

 

2nd part, placing the grafts with DHI lasted 5 hours. It was performed by 3 people. 

 

My concern is how long can grafts can stay out of body safely? Should I worry that survival rate of my grafts are low because of that? I was told that the ice was put under the grafts but who knows if that is true. I was told that hydration is the most important and with good hydration grafts can stay out long enough. Is that true?

 

Photos of collected grafts and scalp right after the surgery is attached.

 

I will highly appreciate experienced people's replies.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Urmat
Corrected a typo.

[Urmat]

First photo: 5th day after hair transplant surgery.

 

Second: 10th day after scabs removal.

Third: 17th day. Can we predict the result at this time by looking at the scalp?

[Urmat]

My hair loss before surgery.

[ITA]

The grafting work seems clean and uniform, the cost of the procedure is really very low, I would worry more than anything else if microscopes were used to separate the multiple grafts from the single and finer ones which were then implanted in the hairline, which is the name of the clinic where you had the procedure ? In any case, now you have nothing else to do but wait and hope that everything goes well.

Edited May 18, 2022 by Egy

[Urmat]

@Egythanks for your reply. 

 

No microscope was used by anyone but they tried to use single hair grafts in the hairline but i noticed some multi-hair grafts placed in front. 

 

Yes, now i realize that the price is very low and I was concerned about the cheap price but my friend from turkey told me that this surgery is not expensive for turkey citizens and that price is not cheap at all. I believed him. Now i realize that the cost is really low and i shouldn't have expected good quality work from such cost. 

Idk i am more concerned about grafts staying too long before being implanted because they may have died. 

In case multigrafts were used in hairline, I will have some result even bad.

 

But in case grafts died, no result at all. That's why i am really concerned.

Edited May 18, 2022 by Urmat

[Urmat]

The clinic name is Turkey hair academy.

 

https://instagram.com/turkey_hair_academyy?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Edited May 23, 2022 by Urmat

[BaldDude]

On 5/18/2022 at 10:11 AM, Urmat said:

First photo: 5th day after hair transplant surgery.

 

Second: 10th day after scabs removal.

Third: 17th day. Can we predict the result at this time by looking at the scalp?

 

looks good so far I wouldn't worry until you reach 9 months.

[SeanT1]

Rooting for you, looks fine thus far.

Had 3400 grafts done in Turkey personally, happy with the results.

Edited May 21, 2022 by SeanToman

[Robbert]

Hi Urmat,

For what I can see they did a great job, it's placed very well and the follicles seemed to be kept moist for what I can see in that picture. 

At the 17 day mark you really cannot say what the end result will be. I lost my hair for about 4 months after surgery (lots of hairs in the shower) but some hairs kept growing (and still are, those are much thicker then the others). 

Remember that Turkish hair transplant specialist are good in their jobs, I have no regrets that I chosen a Turkish clinic in my country. However, as you, I'm also worried but then again as everyone told me: don't worry you are on track just fine.

So please do not worry for eat least the next 6 months. And for what it's worth I think your hairline looks really natural on the 10 day picture.

How did you got through the 10 days sleeping upright? Also, are you on any medications such as finasteride?

 

[Urmat]

@Robbert 

Hi, Robbert ! 

 

Thank you so much for all taking time and leaving your comments here. 

Yes, I am also pleased with how they implanted hairline so far. As for the follicles,   yes they told me that if kept hydrated , they can wait outside long enough. 

 

To be honest, during first 10 days I didn't really sleep upright at 45 degrees as many advise. I just used airplane neck pillow and normal pillow under airplane pillow, but now I regret not sleeping upright. This way I could tell that recipient area didn't touch anything during night. Now I doubt a little bit. I am really tired of analyzing what I did wrong that could cause bad outcome of hair transplant. But I guess I would see blood in the morning if it touched and I lost some grafts. What about you?

 

I am not on finasteride. The clinic manager told me not to take them. But I found videos on YouTube recommending to take them post-surgery and that a very small percentage of people have side effects. 

Are you on finasteride? If yes, are there any side-effects?

[Robbert]

3 hours ago, Urmat said:

@Robbert 

But I guess I would see blood in the morning if it touched and I lost some grafts. What about you?

I am not on finasteride. The clinic manager told me not to take them. But I found videos on YouTube recommending to take them post-surgery and that a very small percentage of people have side effects. 

Are you on finasteride? If yes, are there any side-effects?

If you would've lost a graft then you would've seen blood on your pillow or neck pillow, or maybe on the very first day you might have lost one but then you should've seen it. So if you didn't see that, then you didn't loose any. From you photos, I cannot see that you lost a graft. The 10 day picture looks really good.

I'm on finasteride, they told me not to use it for a month after surgery so I didn't use it. But after my first month follow-up I asked if I could get back on it and they said that I could. I don't have any side effects and take 1mg a day. Don't think that fin will thicken your hair, it will just stop the hairloss (sort of).

You can try to start with 3 pills of 1mg a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you get sides (which I highly doubt) then you just stop and the sides go away. But bare in mind: most people on fin get sides because they have read about the sides and the mind starts playing tricks on them, it's very common with a lot of meds. For that reason I never read the documentation that comes with it, I just follow my docs advice on how to take it. Once I noticed something (hangover headache) with sleep medicine, called the doc and he gave me another brand. But beware, do keep the packaging and documents, if I go for medical care I always bring those to be sure.

More important is not to smoke or drink alcohol in the first month after surgery. I've been extremely strict with that and also cut off any caffeine products and areas where people smoke. 

[Urmat]

6 hours ago, Robbert said:

If you would've lost a graft then you would've seen blood on your pillow or neck pillow, or maybe on the very first day you might have lost one but then you should've seen it. So if you didn't see that, then you didn't loose any. From you photos, I cannot see that you lost a graft. The 10 day picture looks really good.

I'm on finasteride, they told me not to use it for a month after surgery so I didn't use it. But after my first month follow-up I asked if I could get back on it and they said that I could. I don't have any side effects and take 1mg a day. Don't think that fin will thicken your hair, it will just stop the hairloss (sort of).

You can try to start with 3 pills of 1mg a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you get sides (which I highly doubt) then you just stop and the sides go away. But bare in mind: most people on fin get sides because they have read about the sides and the mind starts playing tricks on them, it's very common with a lot of meds. For that reason I never read the documentation that comes with it, I just follow my docs advice on how to take it. Once I noticed something (hangover headache) with sleep medicine, called the doc and he gave me another brand. But beware, do keep the packaging and documents, if I go for medical care I always bring those to be sure.

More important is not to smoke or drink alcohol in the first month after surgery. I've been extremely strict with that and also cut off any caffeine products and areas where people smoke. 

Thanks for your reply. I also hope I didn't lose any grafts.

After taking 4700 grafts, hairs on the donor area look very rare so I am thinking of taking finasteride to keep the existing hair as long as possible but now I am taking the mossi hair loss vitamins. I have 6 months set. After that I will try to take 3 pills as you advised.

[Robbert]

Do you have the photos from the sides from before the procedure? I can't say anything useful about it due to lack of knowledge but it might help others.

[Urmat]

3 minutes ago, Robbert said:

Do you have the photos from the sides from before the procedure? I can't say anything useful about it due to lack of knowledge but it might help others.

Yes , I do.

[mafpe]

usually clinics wet the graft with holding solution that can prolong their life outside of our head, the important point is how long are the graft outside your head? you can average it with the time duration the first graft went out, and when the first graft gets in. 

you've bitten the bullet, so all that's left now is for you to wait. it's gonna be a rollercoaster of mood, from seeing how good it can be before ugly duck phase, then sometime there's shock loss on recipient / donor that might happen, then another long time until all your hair sprout, maybe it's month 4 or 6 you think it failed because it feels like the graft all died etc. give this time, and don't put yourself down. hopefully the areas will recover soon.

it's alright to be distressed, but do know that you've had it done, all now that's left is to wait, and you can enjoy the result in around a year. take it with stride, and hope for the best. 

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

Urmat,

The length of time that your procedure lasted isn’t unusual and the five hours it took to insert the follicular units into recipient sites is also pretty typical.  The graft work also looks pretty good and I don’t see any signs of problems by looking at your photos.

it does seem a bit alarming that one individual was told to leave because they were doing something wrong but at least whatever they were doing wrong was caught early and very likely rectified. So clearly there is some quality control going on there which is good.

Obviously, grafts can stay outside of the body for while without any desiccation or damage occurring but this largely depends on what’s being done with the grafts after they are harvested.

If the stick and place method of transplanting isn’t being employed, grafts are usually put into a storage solution to prevent desiccation and damage. The length of time they can be outside of the body without any problems will vary but overall, as long as the clinic has followed appropriate protocols, you should be fine.

Long story short, I don’t see any reason to worry at this stage. The procedure is done and it looks like everything is fine. The only thing you can do now is wait to see how everything develops over the next year to 18 months.  The good news is, you can always go back to this or a different clinic in order to add more density or refined any areas that you feel need work. I hope this helps.

Best Wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

 

 

[Urmat]

Huge thanks to all of you for your support and attention. I highly value them. I am so happy to get replies from you. After 6 months I hope I will share here a good result so that you can evaluate it and share with your opinions.