Advise needed - Do I have a sufficient donor?

[2bald2handle]

Greetings all hair warriors 

So I've finally decided to go with a transplant after contemplating for 5 years. I've shaven my hair and is quite ok with that but I've wondered. Wondered if it would be possible to get a decent result. With decent I mean cover the bald area (front+mid good density and crown ok density. I prefer to continue being shaved if I can't expect a decent result.

I’ve been doing my research for couple months. I thought I would validate my research with all the hair transplant geniuses lurking in this forum.

So far, I have been in contact with a few clinics where I see contradicting feedback for the same images I provided. Some clinics says my donor is too weak and have declined surgery while some says I have average/acceptable donor and said I can get 3-3.5k and others claim I have a great donor and said I can get out between 4500-5000 grafts in 1 day.
Below I have listed my progress with various clinics:

Dr. Koray/Demisroy declined with motivation that my donor is too poor.

Dr. Ilhan Serdaroglu – 3500-3800 grafts 
-        First impression: Very friendly and transparent.
-        Does all the extraction of grafts by himself using ARTAS
-        Team with 10 year experience from Dr. Serdaroglu does implants. The doctor supervise whole procedure.
-        Been in business for a very long time yet very little patient generated content available.
-        Offer stem cell treatment from Autologous fat which could be good since I have miniaturized hairs in the crown.
-        Timely follow-ups directly from the doctor is a plus.

 Eugenix – 4700 grafts (3500 scalp + 1200 beard)
-        1 day operation.
-        Got very good impression of the clinic after a short consultation call with clinic consultant Burhan.
-        Motorized extractions of grafts.

Dr. Zarev – awaiting feedback
-        The best and most consistent results over the largest sample size I could find.

Dr. Resul Ayman – 4500 grafts total  (600-800 from beard)
-        Does incisions and supervise trough whole operation
-        Team that follow up with extraction and transplant.
-        Package 1: Up-to 4500 grafts including beard, 1 day motorized extraction.
-        Package 2: up-to 6000 grafts, 2 days manual extraction.
-        Couple of recent bad reviews relating to poorly trained staff and lack of quality control and sufficient equipment.
-        I got an explanation that felt honest. Where they admitted they made a mistake but has processes in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
-        Not sure I can afford to trust that issues are solved, but they do have extensive proof of good work in the past

DR T hair transplant – 3800 grafts
-        Dr. T divides operation in 2 days
-        JCI Accredited Clinic
-        Seen a mixed bag of reviews

Dr. Bicer  - 3000 – 4000 grafts
-        poor communication and follow-up to my questions
-        The person on WhatsApp felt indifferent, I have seen similar impressions in other threads.
-        Fully booked until Sep 2023
-        Considered as one of few good ones in Turkey by many

Dr. Ilker Apaydin – Max 3600 grafts
-        My donor is poor but could get 2 surgeries to cover the bald area with ok density.
-        Found few horrible jobs done by Dr. Apaydin on other forums.

Dr. Ahmet Yildirim - 4500-5000 grafts
-        Dr. does incisions, part of extraction and some "crucial" transplants himself.
-        2 surgeries a day max
-        Micro motor extraction

Dr. Dogan Turan - Waiting for follow-up
-        Considered as one of few good ones in Turkey by many 

Autologous stem cell transplant
I have a lot of miniturized hairs in mid and crown why I'm considering stem cell treatment using autologous fat to create stem cell suspension for 150-200 follicles spread over the bald area. I’m hoping this treatment would thicken those hairs. From what I've read there is a lot of good results for this treatment.

…..now to my questions

-        How many grafts do you think I can extract total from my donor?
-        I’m assuming my donor is average at best why donor extraction is crucial, do you suggest manual or motorized extraction?
-        How many grafts would I need to get a decent coverage over all the bald spots
-        Is it more advisable to make 2 surgeries for example for front + mid and wait a year to do the crown?
-        Anyone sitting on information about success rate or what can be expected from Autologous stem cell transplants? 

Thanks in advance
/2Bald2Handle

Edited September 17, 2022 by 2bald2handle

[2bald2handle]

Anyone home?

[MisterBreakfast]

It's hard to say.  I think you should probably have an in person consulation and ask specifically what your fu density is per cm2, what your hair / graft is in the donor, and what your hair caliber is.  Then have your existing hair measured, compare the two and figure out how many grafts you want then.

I see some good things, looks like your hair caliber is high.  Looks like your hair might curl which is a great quality.   FU density maybe looks average to low. 

[2bald2handle]

4 minutes ago, MisterBreakfast said:

see some good things, looks like your hair caliber is high.  Looks like your hair might curl which is a great quality.   FU density maybe looks average to low. 

Yeah you are right about that. I have quite curly and wavey hair why I hope I can manage with lower dencity to compensate with poor density in my donor.

I'm about 85% sure about the surgeon as I have seen a lot of good work on patients with similar hair as me. but my plan is to decide once I''m in Istanbul as I will stay for 10 days and plan to meet 2 other surgeons before deciding where I hope to clarify points around donor and caliber.

My biggest fear is that I will only be able to get 3k grafts and that its not enough donors left for a 2nd op.

I suspect I need between 4.5-5.5k to cover the bald spots, what would be your guess?  

[mrmane85]

Are you taking any medication such as oral Minoxidil or Finasteride?

Have you reached out to Dr Pekiner?

You need a really good surgeon for your situation. 

[Gatsby]

I would imagine that your hair would look optimal grown out a little bit if you went forward with surgery. From the photos your donor appears somewhat diffuse. Perhaps it will look fuller when grown out? I like the Eugenix idea of using beard grafts which will put much less pressure on your scalp donor and I imagine that your beard and scalp hair would be a good match. Other than this I would not let price, geography or waiting periods dictate your surgical decision. In fact if someone is booked out for year there is a good reason why. All the best!

[2bald2handle]

11 hours ago, mrmane85 said:

Are you taking any medication such as oral Minoxidil or Finasteride?

Have you reached out to Dr Pekiner?

You need a really good surgeon for your situation. 

Not currently taking any meds but considering to starting again with Fin+Dut and micro needling as I experienced the hair loss stopped when I was on it. I did not experience side effects before deciding to shave it off. I've had the same hair for past 5 years, would it make much sense to start meds if I'm not loosing?

Did not reach out to Dr. Pekiner - to be honest I have not seen any impressive results for my type of hair. I basically want to find a surgeon that minimum does all extractions since I seem to have a weak donor and that has done consistent good job with my type of hair. 

 

[2bald2handle]

9 hours ago, Gatsby said:

I would imagine that your hair would look optimal grown out a little bit if you went forward with surgery. From the photos your donor appears somewhat diffuse. Perhaps it will look fuller when grown out? I like the Eugenix idea of using beard grafts which will put much less pressure on your scalp donor and I imagine that your beard and scalp hair would be a good match. Other than this I would not let price, geography or waiting periods dictate your surgical decision. In fact if someone is booked out for year there is a good reason why. All the best!

I'm 43 and not getting younger;) I'm by no means desperate as I'm ok with shaved head. I was way more desperate around 25ish as appearance is so important.

I totally agree in regards to not go for price, geography or waiting time. 

I'm quite impressed with the work of Dr. Serdaroglu especially since he does all of the extraction which is particularly important in my case where I seem to have a weak donor with diffuse coverage. He strikes me quite different as he deals directly with my opposed to a receptionist.

Furthermore I have seen some good work he has been doing with Autologous stem cell transplants that I'm hoping will awake my dormant miniturized hair in mid and crown which means I might not need a huge number of grafts to achieve decent density. Am I hoping for too much? I have not seen much information from trusted sources about this treatment yet I come across several turkish clinics offering this option. 

The only negative point with Dr. Serdaroglu so far is that Ithere is very little patient generated content. Dr Tayfun also offers a package where he does exactly everything during 2 days surgery. I have seen good work from him but also I come a cross a couple of really bad cases. I'm also considering Eugenix. 
 

 

[Gatsby]

1 hour ago, 2bald2handle said:

I'm 43 and not getting younger;) I'm by no means desperate as I'm ok with shaved head. I was way more desperate around 25ish as appearance is so important.

I totally agree in regards to not go for price, geography or waiting time. 

I'm quite impressed with the work of Dr. Serdaroglu especially since he does all of the extraction which is particularly important in my case where I seem to have a weak donor with diffuse coverage. He strikes me quite different as he deals directly with my opposed to a receptionist.

Furthermore I have seen some good work he has been doing with Autologous stem cell transplants that I'm hoping will awake my dormant miniturized hair in mid and crown which means I might not need a huge number of grafts to achieve decent density. Am I hoping for too much? I have not seen much information from trusted sources about this treatment yet I come across several turkish clinics offering this option. 

The only negative point with Dr. Serdaroglu so far is that Ithere is very little patient generated content. Dr Tayfun also offers a package where he does exactly everything during 2 days surgery. I have seen good work from him but also I come a cross a couple of really bad cases. I'm also considering Eugenix. 
 

 

Eugenix are night and day compared to these Turkish choices. All the best.

[2bald2handle]

2 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Eugenix are night and day compared to these Turkish choices. All the best.

What specifically with Eugenix do you feel makes the large portion of your recommendation? I had a great experience speaking to their consultant and did a great describing their processes and packages but I really didnt get a wow feeling but I still feel I have a lot to learn on the other hand.

 

 

[MazAB]

I would say based on your donor management requirements, along with needing a clinic that does great with BHT, Eugenix should certainly be in the on the short list. 

They did a stellar job with @Gatsby and his donor was below average, along with grade 7 baldness. They are not the only option for you, but again a top one for sure. Check out their youtube channel and take a look at some of the miracle work performed on higher norwoods. Dr Bisanga is incredible as well and another one you should look at closely for your specific needs.

Follow my Journey with Eugenix and Dr Arika Bansal! 

[Prof101]

On 9/18/2022 at 7:26 PM, MisterBreakfast said:

It's hard to say.  I think you should probably have an in person consulation and ask specifically what your fu density is per cm2, what your hair / graft is in the donor, and what your hair caliber is.  Then have your existing hair measured, compare the two and figure out how many grafts you want then.

I see some good things, looks like your hair caliber is high.  Looks like your hair might curl which is a great quality.   FU density maybe looks average to low. 

THIS. 

The only way to find out is to go to someone who not only takes measurements, but does so carefully and takes them seriously. I just made a post about how this should be a standard in the industry. 

Unfortunately, photos can be misleading, although of course they help narrow down the range of estimates. 

best of luck 

 

 

 

 

[Gatsby]

14 hours ago, 2bald2handle said:

Not currently taking any meds but considering to starting again with Fin+Dut and micro needling as I experienced the hair loss stopped when I was on it.

Do this again for 12 months then come back to looking for the best surgeon who meets your needs. Surgery is always a lat resort.

[Gatsby]

9 hours ago, 2bald2handle said:

What specifically with Eugenix do you feel makes the large portion of your recommendation? I had a great experience speaking to their consultant and did a great describing their processes and packages but I really didnt get a wow feeling but I still feel I have a lot to learn on the other hand.

 

 

The volumes and volumes of results that they have shared along with the many, many results seen here on HRN.

14 hours ago, 2bald2handle said:

Furthermore I have seen some good work he has been doing with Autologous stem cell transplants that I'm hoping will awake my dormant miniturized hair in mid and crown which means I might not need a huge number of grafts to achieve decent density.

If I can speak plainly and with the greatest of respect, this is complete BS my friend and nothing more than marketing hype. Please take this in the spirit that it is intended to help you. This is a massive red flag. I could sooner grow a cabbage out of my butt than believe these heavy marketing claims. You want to be swayed by great results. Real results by real patients such as those on this forum. Don't be in a rush and take your time researching and going back on the meds that gave you success earlier. It will make you a much better hair transplant candidate and give you time to research and look at patients who have a similar hair loss situation as yourself and who have achieved the same goals that you are hoping for. All the best!