HLC ANKARA 3580 Grafts for hairline and middle section

[FaganBecker]

Hi there! 

I got a hair transplant at HLC 3 weeks ago.

 

I will post more extensively about the experience as time goes on, but wanted some initial feedback as there were a couple of things concerning me that didn't fully add up.

 

However, to briefly focus on the positives:

 

I only had one surgeon (Dr Elif) do both my extractions and incisions. She was wonderfully professional. She used a microscope for extractions and explained that she only took hairs that she could tell would grow well.

 

I also asked for 500 more grafts on the last day of the surgery, to add density and was told they could only take up to 200 more with the donor planning they'd prepared for and I'd have to wait a year before they could replan my donor region. This seemed encouraging enough.. She also advised that I didn't need it, which that too seemed ethical and unlike a practitioner wanting to take as much as they could for the £££. I never felt pushed to make decisions and they offered 3 different options before the surgery began.

These were - 2500 grafts at 50 grafts per cm2, just for the hairline. Then 3000 Grafts with 50 grafts per cm2. For hairline and 500 grafts at 10 grafts per cm 2 to add density to the thining area in the middle 

Final option was 3580 grafts for the hairline with 1080 at 20 grafts per cm2 in the middle for density and increased longevity of the area, possibly delaying a future procedure. 

Anyway, I had a slight concern building from the beginning that my donor region looked over-harvested, a fear that has now basically subsided as it has started to grow back in. However, the one thing that hasn't sat right with me is that I was told that I had about 8000 grafts remaining for future procedures. This sounded high to me. It also seemed to me that my donor area has visibly thinned and I can't really conceive of how they could get 8000 grafts out of it, given what 3500 has done to it this time. 

Anyway, I'll upload photos here from before, during and up to the 3 week mark. I appreciate it is astronomically early to make hard judgements on potential outcome, but anything that strikes you as odd or unusual would I think be useful to hear so I can manage my expectations for the future. I'm not on any medication but am following their aftercare steps with vitamins etc. I also am seriously considering using topical fin. 

I enclose a photo of my donor region from the end of 2020 (where the hair was at its longest), and photos of the donor region from 2022/23 when it was much shorter/ recently shaved and then photos of the front from 2021 and two shorter photos from more recently where I think it may have continued to reced slightly since 2021 (or is just shorter! I can't tell, as I never used to wear it so short) and then the photos of the surgery and photos from today. 

Do let me know what you think - thank you! Happy to answer any questions about the procedure too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by FaganBecker

[Gramatik]

Happy growing...Great hairline design with high density..HLC is top clinic. I will be following your journey!

[A_4_Archan]

@FaganBecker

Good to know that you had such a wonderful experience at HLC and this write up and review will help many other people who are considering hlc....work looks good and specially density is looking pretty good and you will get a good dense outcome if evrythn turns out good...from those pics it seems you have got very good donor and even hair caliber seems to be better....i agree with your and its doubtful that 8k more grafts can be harvested but i can surely tell you that you will have enough of them to feed your head if you loose some more ground in future....best of luck ...Happy growing and keep updating brother...will follow your journey closely ...

[Britanium]

One to follow ! Always like seeing HLCs work… 

[Idan]

Looks really good. I'll be following.

I had my operation with HLC almost 12 weeks ago (and still considering creating my own thread ). My operation was also performed solely by Dr. Elif. She is wonderful. My case is also very similar to yours in terms of HT planning (in my case they used 3200 grafts, 2600 for the frontal hairline, and 600 at the mid (at 20 grafts/cm2).

[FaganBecker]

Thought I ought to post an update.

 

So these photos are from today. I'm now exactly 3 months and a week into this now. 

 

I have been obsessively checking, which is basically pointless. It's a slow burn! However, comparing these photos today from photos I took about 2 weeks ago, there is actually a remarkable difference. Couple of weaker spots, which I am keeping a close eye on but I guess at this stage in it's current state there is probably no reason to be! This is an exercise in patience for sure.

My initial concerns about my donor area were totally misplaced. As you can see under quite harsh lighting, you'd never know anything had happened there. 

It seems like there are a fair few multiple hair grafts right at the hairline. I'm not really sure what to make of that, if anything? It seems that's generally considered a bad thing, but it it's current state I can't really predict the impact of that on the result. 

 

Still not using minoxidil or fin...

Any minoxidil users out there got any tips on how to manage or avoid the deleterious effects of it on skin quality? 

 

Cheers! 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by FaganBecker

[jjalay]

You have a lot of multis in the hairline but right now you really cant tell how the final result is going to be. For minoxidil its better to use the foam in order to avoid any skin irritation.

[BaldGuy]

Great progress so far for 3 months. Your result is going to be awesome on the next months 👍 Keep us updated!
 

[FaganBecker]

1 hour ago, jjalay said:

You have a lot of multis in the hairline but right now you really cant tell how the final result is going to be. For minoxidil its better to use the foam in order to avoid any skin irritation.

May I ask how you can tell? I had to get quite close up to notice that. Is that something that is quite obvious/ damages the result to the more trained eye? 

So far I am quite satisfied with how it's going and am reasonably optimistic about what it might look like 3+ months from now. Should I be more concerned about the multis? I was told HLC was basically the crème de la crème of HT places in Turkey. Is this many multis not necessarily a sign of sloppy work?

 

Ah sorry, when I asked about minoxidil's skin impact, I was referring to managing the extent to which it ages skin. I have a few friends using it, all of whom similarly look exhausted the whole time. Dark bags under their eyes and oddly unhealthy complexions. They all attribute it to minoxidil! 

Edited October 28, 2023 by FaganBecker

[FaganBecker]

1 hour ago, BaldGuy said:

Great progress so far for 3 months. Your result is going to be awesome on the next months 👍 Keep us updated!
 

Thank you! I will do! 

[jjalay]

19 minutes ago, FaganBecker said:

May I ask how you can tell? I had to get quite close up to notice that. Is that something that is quite obvious/ damages the result to the more trained eye? 

So far I am quite satisfied with how it's going and am reasonably optimistic about what it might look like 3+ months from now. Should I be more concerned about the multis? I was told HLC was basically the crème de la crème of HT places in Turkey. Is this many multis not necessarily a sign of sloppy work?

 

Ah sorry, when I asked about minoxidil's skin impact, I was referring to managing the extent to which it ages skin. I have a few friends using it, all of whom similarly look exhausted the whole time. Dark bags under their eyes and oddly unhealthy complexions. They all attribute it to minoxidil! 

If i zoom in the pictures you have posted it looks that many hair on the front are coming from the same root. If you could post pictures with better analysis i could tell you for sure. If you hae 2-3 doubles in the hairline is not a problem at all. The problem is when you have many multigrafts on the front it becomes difficult to style your hair or it looks a little bit artificial. But as i said before in your case its really too early to tell, you have to wait for your final result. You dont need to stress about it, even if this is the case this can be fixed.

[FaganBecker]

6 minutes ago, jjalay said:

If i zoom in the pictures you have posted it looks that many hair on the front are coming from the same root. If you could post pictures with better analysis i could tell you for sure. If you hae 2-3 doubles in the hairline is not a problem at all. The problem is when you have many multigrafts on the front it becomes difficult to style your hair or it looks a little bit artificial. But as i said before in your case its really too early to tell, you have to wait for your final result. You dont need to stress about it, even if this is the case this can be fixed.

Interesting. Well getting close up in the mirror, I can confirm that on one side it looks like it is almost entirely multis in the hair line... something which has been worrying me a bit, as I've seen some very pluggy looking results on here where that has been the case. Didn't think a reputable place like HLC would make that mistake! But as you say, far too early to determine the result yet! 

[FaganBecker]

26 minutes ago, jjalay said:

If i zoom in the pictures you have posted it looks that many hair on the front are coming from the same root. If you could post pictures with better analysis i could tell you for sure. If you hae 2-3 doubles in the hairline is not a problem at all. The problem is when you have many multigrafts on the front it becomes difficult to style your hair or it looks a little bit artificial. But as i said before in your case its really too early to tell, you have to wait for your final result. You dont need to stress about it, even if this is the case this can be fixed.

Here's a closer look..

 

What do you think if you dont mind telling me? Cause for concern? 

[jjalay]

You have a couple of multis on both sides and on the front of the hairline, i could count at least 15 on each side. At this stage though its really hard to make any final judgments because you are at the begin of your hair growth. I mean when in the next 3 months the hair growth evolves and many single grafts are starting to pop out this will improve the appearance of your hairline and completely conceal these multigrafts. In the other case if more multis are growing in the hairline and you are not satisfied with it you can always repair it and do a refinement of the hairline by adding more singles.

At this stage you really should not worry about it and just be patience for the next couple months.

[Jupiter_]

You cant judge at this stage as most grafts havent yield yet. The growth is really good for this stage and it looks great with natural angles. Just wait for the final result!

Edited October 28, 2023 by Jupiter_

[FaganBecker]

7 hours ago, jjalay said:

You have a couple of multis on both sides and on the front of the hairline, i could count at least 15 on each side. At this stage though its really hard to make any final judgments because you are at the begin of your hair growth. I mean when in the next 3 months the hair growth evolves and many single grafts are starting to pop out this will improve the appearance of your hairline and completely conceal these multigrafts. In the other case if more multis are growing in the hairline and you are not satisfied with it you can always repair it and do a refinement of the hairline by adding more singles.

At this stage you really should not worry about it and just be patience for the next couple months.

Thanks so much for taking the time. cheers! will share progress pictures in a couple of months! 

[FaganBecker]

6 hours ago, Jupiter_ said:

You cant judge at this stage as most grafts havent yield yet. The growth is really good for this stage and it looks great with natural angles. Just wait for the final result!

Thanks a lot! Cheers

[Gatsby]

If this is only three months then you have a lot of growth ahead of you. 👌

[DavidSheer]

You have some very good early signs of regrowth. This should look amazing at the 10 - 12 month regrowth mark. 

[FaganBecker]

Hi there! So it's been a few weeks since I last posted. I'm about 3 days off 4 months and I haven't noticed any change whatsoever since my 3 month photos. The hair is longer, perhaps. But despite experiencing a huge change between 1-3 months, 3-4 months has yielded very little. Is this normal? Is it possible that the hairs that are yet to grow are somehow dormant and will spring into action between months 4-6? 

[Scree]

You should post pictures with the same angles and lighting if at all possible and we will be the judge.

[BaldReaper]

give it 2 more months, all look normal at this points, did you lower the hairline?

[Samson1]

1 hour ago, FaganBecker said:

Hi there! So it's been a few weeks since I last posted. I'm about 3 days off 4 months and I haven't noticed any change whatsoever since my 3 month photos. The hair is longer, perhaps. But despite experiencing a huge change between 1-3 months, 3-4 months has yielded very little. Is this normal? Is it possible that the hairs that are yet to grow are somehow dormant and will spring into action between months 4-6? 

Not just possible but normal, early growth is great but defo isn't the norm..at 3 months a lot of guys look worse than pre surgery. 

Don't stress, keep you healthy lifestyle up and check in 2 months from now, where there should be a big difference. Certainly things are moving that way already.

Also your donor still looks incredible, at a glance I wouldn't say 8000 left is unrealistic.

[Spring15]

HLC are the real deal. This should be a great result

[FaganBecker]

On 10/28/2023 at 4:21 PM, jjalay said:

You have a couple of multis on both sides and on the front of the hairline, i could count at least 15 on each side. At this stage though its really hard to make any final judgments because you are at the begin of your hair growth. I mean when in the next 3 months the hair growth evolves and many single grafts are starting to pop out this will improve the appearance of your hairline and completely conceal these multigrafts. In the other case if more multis are growing in the hairline and you are not satisfied with it you can always repair it and do a refinement of the hairline by adding more singles.

At this stage you really should not worry about it and just be patience for the next couple months.

Thanks for taking a detailed look at this and sorr that I didn't reply sooner! appreciate it.