4,150 grafts FUE (3,419 Scalp + 731 BHT) with Dr Pekiner, Ankara (8/31/2022)

[Vic]

Hi HRN community,

Please see log of my ongoing HT journey which has been written over 2 sleepless nights..I will appreciate positive vibes from fellow members to make this process smoother and to look forward to a more Confident future for my inner core!! 

Background – 

-          46 year old South Asian Male living in Canada. NW4/5

-          Baldness started since early 30s (Maternal hereditary) and progressed rapidly in late 30s with plateau around early 40s

-          Took Fin 1mg around 2017 and stopped taking within 6 months due to reports of side effects related to libido in various forums. Guess, I got the nocebo effect even though taking it led to reduction in hairloss

-          Once hairloss stabilized early 40s decided to do something about it

o   Did 6 PRP injections over period of 6 months this year

o   That didn’t do much so decided to get a hair system till I figured something else out

o   2 months in Hairsystem and I already wanted to get rid of it due to stuffy head feeling along with feeling light headed all times plus it was expensive maintaining it, even though it made me look 10 years younger. I had to find a permanent solution

-          Found Rediff and HRN community, God Send!

-          Researched over a period of a month; even though lot will say that more time is needed but I had made up my mind already that I needed HT and was a matter of finding out the right Clinic

Clinic research

1.       H&W - #1 on my list as they are Canadian and couple of hours flight from Toronto. I reached out through their site and HRN access; however didn’t receive any response for 2 weeks. Finally, I called their office in VAN and they said someome will contact within a week. I then found James’ email and sent him a separate email and got a response from him within a week (was too late by that time).

2.       Konior – Reached out to him and he was pretty quick in getting back. He did want to take up the case; however had a long wait time and I had to pass; as a result.

3.       EUGENIX – Based on the incredible reviews on HRN for Eugenix, that was my next choice and being Indian descent it made me comfortable reaching out to them. Response was really quick and they mentioned I will need about 4000 grafts with hairline and frontal coverage along with crown, but they said they wont cover the mid scalp (I needed full coverage).  The conversation led to deciding packages and I got put off when I was informed that Dr Sethi is only involved in celebrities and unconventional cases and I can be consulted with Arika/Das etc (all good surgeons based on reviews here). All packages has components of involvement of surgeon and other work done by experienced techinicians. 

4.       Dr P – HRN community mentioned names of a few surgeons who do all work from start to finish and Dr P was one of them. I reserched his work on this forum and other social media sites and found him an ideal surgeon to take up my case. I got contact details through one of the HRN threads and reached out at the Whatsapp number and Alex got in touch with me within a few minutes of first messge.

5.       Koray, Fillipe, Fuecapilar, Yaman, Padra – Also reached out to all these clinics and got varying level of responses.The funniest one was Koray. When they found out I was flying to Turkey on a specifc day, they quickly arranged the same date for me and dropped their price from initially quoted 3 Euro to 2.1 Euro along with finding the exact date I had requested them already and had been outrightly denied of it.  By that Time I had already said Yes to Dr P and there was no going back even if they would have done for free cz it tells a lot of their ethics when they are ready to drop their pants to get a client.

The HT Visit to Ankara, Turkey

 

I arrived Ankara on Aug 27^th and had my first in person consult with Dr P on Aug 28 at 9:15am in his clinic.

Points noted during consult

1.       He will build my existing hairline (or lack of) and provide density of about 40 cm2 along with giving Widows Peak. As I have hair still left in frontal and mid scalp, he will add to the density for general desensification. I agreed with his analysis as it seemed age and grafts appropriate.

2.       He noted that Left temple has less density compared to right so confirmed that it will need more grafts to add density

3.       As I had to trim all hair 2 weeks before HT in order to take my hair system off, DR wasn’t able to provide me an accurate representation of grafts needed, but mentioned the below

a.       Will respect the whirl for crown

b.       Will respect the direction of hair as seen in the pictures and what he can make off the 2 weeks of hair growth; based on his experience.

c.       Agreed to make Temple Peaks a little prominent, depending upon donor management

d.       ~ 3500 from scalp and 1000 BHT

                                                               i.      Didn’t promise 3500 scalp due to my donor (even though having very good density and hair caliber as Thick) was not large enough to cover all areas needed and wanted to ensure effective Donor management is done

4.       Fin 1 mg + Saw Palmetto – Was advised to start 2 weeks before surgery by alternating each day to reduce any sides. Also advised to start Oral Min 1 month post HT. Added Biotin daily.

DAY 1 of Surgery

With the above plan in mind, hairline was drawn along with zones divided and pictures were taken and then head was shaved along with giving the First Antibiotic of the day

Session 1

702 Grafts extracted and implanted to the left temple and part of hairline

Session 2

400 grafts extracted and planted to remaining hairline and frontal/mid scalp.

Upon completion, whole head was bandaged and Antibiotics were provided to be taken after breakfast and dinner and paracetamol, upon pain.

Sleep on Day 1

With the left side swollen, didn’t get much sleep on back or on left side and mixed with Jet lag etc..didnt sleep at all 

DAY 2 of Surgery

Due to a pre-planned appointment, I was informed on Day 1 that Day 2 will start at 3:30 with only one session

The bandages were removed and swelling subsided substantially along with donor and recipient area on prime conditions 

750 grafts taken and placed to right temple.

Dr P noted at end of day 2 that we may not have enough to go with 3,500 scalp without over harvesting the donor. He will do his best to get another 1,100 (1,850 already grafted and implanted) without compromising donor and that should take care of right side hairline front and mid scalp along with starting the vertex and mix 1000 BHT on Day 4

Pix- the first 5 pix are from a day before flying to Ankara. The growth or lack of is after hair being trimmed fully 2 weeks before due to removal of hair system

Pic 6 - Plan drawn based upon the pic sent during initial consult

Pic 7,8, 9 are during planning stage on Day 1, Aug 28. Pics taken by clinic will be added once Received.

Pic 10,11,12,13,14,15 are of Day 1 surgery with 702 grafts + 400 grafts to the left side and donor

Pic 16,17,18,19 show the Donor and Recipient after bandages removed on Day 2

Pic 20,21,22,23 show the 750 grafts to right temple and donor.

 

P.S. As the surgery is still ongoing, I will appreciate all positive vibes and if someone has different to note, please keep it in your mind for the time being..lol 

i will be posting for remainder days as and when they unfold.

one last thing to note is that Dr P has been simply Great! He has 2 assistants who assist with saline solution sprays and graft separation. All else including anesthesia, extraction, implantation is done solely by Dr P. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Vic

[Vic]

Cant post videos directly so will try to figure that out!

[Vic]

6 minutes ago, Vic said:

Cant post videos directly so will try to figure that out!

 

[Mood Swings]

What a detailed nice thread, and well-chosen doctor!

Wish you the best journey and outcome. Will be following your progress

[LookMaxx]

Curious to see how this turns out. Like that he does small sessions and patient centric approach 

[Vic]

3 hours ago, Mood Swings said:

What a detailed nice thread, and well-chosen doctor!

Wish you the best journey and outcome. Will be following your progress

Thanks! Will provide further updates shortly

[Mo1brag]

Looking good! Good luck, Dr P is great:)

[Min12]

Did you have to let Pekiner know that you would post a review? As I’m thinking of doing the same as yourself when I eventually get mine done.

[Vic]

2 hours ago, Min12 said:

Did you have to let Pekiner know that you would post a review? As I’m thinking of doing the same as yourself when I eventually get mine done.

No, why would you need to let anyone know what you want to do, there are no copyrights to post your own pix and write up. I did take couple of pix with him and the team after the surgery and he mentioned they are private.

You will be in great hands as he is an immaculate surgeon who takes his own time to get things right instead of rushing through the process!

[Needadviceplease]

Vic, 

Thanks for sharing.

Can you explain what you mean by beard general densification?

I have been obsessing lately about BHT, so any info would be great.

Where did he place the beard hairs?

Thanks! And I wish you the best on your journey.

[ITA]

You will have a great result for sure, Pekiner is an excellent surgeon.

[Vic]

11 hours ago, Needadviceplease said:

Vic, 

Thanks for sharing.

Can you explain what you mean by beard general densification?

I have been obsessing lately about BHT, so any info would be great.

Where did he place the beard hairs?

Thanks! And I wish you the best on your journey.

General desensification means providing a homogeneous density of hair across the scalp by utilizing scalp and body hair (Beard).

in my case, due to diffused hair and recession, the density was missing in front and mid scalp along with balding in the vertex.

Dr Pekiner’s plan was to extract as many scalp grafts as possible without over harvesting donor and then add density in mid and vertex with beard hair. Out of the 4 surgery days, 3 were devoted to scalp where he precisely implanted the vertex whirl with scalp hair on day 3 and filled it up with beard hair on day 4.

One outstanding part of Dr Pekiner is that I literally requested him to over harvest my scalp to cover vertex instead of BHT as my beard is primarily grey hair; however he outrightly refused stating he wont over harvest due to risk of native hair going in shock loss and not having enough for future.

He agreed to take only Black hair from my beard knowing that we may fall well short of 1,000 grafts needed. By the tine he was done, he managed to get 730 Black only hair from my beard which was shockingly pleasing.

He added that my density of BHT was amazing and it will be ready in no time for another grafting; of needed.

Long story shorty, BHT was implanted primarily in vertex whirl mixed with scalp hair and a very small amount to mid scalp.

 

[Vic]

11 hours ago, ITA said:

You will have a great result for sure, Pekiner is an excellent surgeon.

Thanks, yes, apart from being an excellent surgeon; he has high principles and ethics. He outrightly rejected my request to get some additional scalp grafts by stating that he wont over harvest for my own benefit. He said that he has principles and ethics which has brought him this far and he will abide by them regardless of how much money he can make by accepting these requests. I was thoroughly impressed by that and thanked him by providing me with proper advice. He worked with by challenging himself to extract only the Black hair from my beard even though it took him longer to get it done on the last tiring day of surgery!

[Needadviceplease]

@vic I didn't realize that. Shock loss comes from over harvesting? So if a Dr. can minimize the grafts, better chance of not having shock loss?

Thanks so much for the reply.

Your hair will turn out great!

[Vic]

18 minutes ago, Needadviceplease said:

@vic I didn't realize that. Shock loss comes from over harvesting? So if a Dr. can minimize the grafts, better chance of not having shock loss?

Thanks so much for the reply.

Your hair will turn out great!

I think that was more for the donor area and also for it to not look patchy. He said that over the next 8 months to a year, my donor will have another 2k available and maybe more, with Fin+Min combo! He is a firm believer of not over harvesting in order to get max results for recipient and early recovery of donor.

[Vic]

7 days post HT. Second day of Scab removal; hopefully all of them will be gone by 10th day. Was pretty scared touching recipient for scab removal on day 6; but grew some balls today and was able to massage scalp better. Apart from tightness, burning and sensitivity around sides (donor), all else seems to be going well. Taking 1 mg Fin, Biotin, D3, E, Fish Oil daily and will start Oral Min in about a month. Shampoo being used is Sebamed Everyday 5.5 recommended by Dr Pekiner.

[Vic]

Day 8 post HT, most of the scabs removed. Looks in good shape so far!

[Gatsby]

@Vic the work looks very clean and I like the swirl created in the crown. Donor looks great! All the best!

[Vic]

@Gatsbyappreciate the feedback, means a lot!

Its encouragement and personal experience shared by senior members like you that made my HT journey possible. I have read your entire HT journey and to be honest, your  resilience kept me going through that last day of beard transplant, when it got really tough to get those crucial grafts from the shadow valley!! I hope for the best and love this HRN community!

[Vic]

Day 9 update - All scabs removed. The Beard hair in the crown feel a lot different than than hair from scalp donor. The texture seems to be more coarse and thick! The good thing is that there is hair all over; where there weren't any and I am so Happpyyy!! Long way still to go!

Edited September 10, 2022 by Vic

[Vic]

Immediate Post Surgery photos - Taken on Sep 1, 2022 after the first Clean at Dr Pekiner’s clinic (still waiting on the actual pix taken by the clinic through their DSLR). Lots of swelling on the forehead which stayed for at least 4 days post surgery. I have also included the final Graft count.

 

Edited September 10, 2022 by Vic

[Vic]

10 days post Surgery by Dr Pekiner. First day of shaving the beard after the BHT to vertex . Skin under jawline Looks great apart from a little bit of redness under the jawline.

[Ryan Daniel]

Good coarse hair. You'll definitely have a good result

Wish you the best of luck sir 

[Vic]

2 hours ago, Ryan Daniel said:

Good coarse hair. You'll definitely have a good result

Wish you the best of luck sir 

Thanks @Ryan Daniel Looking forward to next cpl of weeks and months to see how this whole HT pans out! May need another HT to add to the density, but will cross that bridge in another year or so

[Pephair]

Pekiner also requested to take less grafts than I wanted. Honest, passionate and skilled doctor.

 

This will be great, congrats @Vic