Aestepool Clinic - w/ Dr. Ahmed Altan - 4700 grafts - November 2023

[Daniel Dabros]

My name is Daniel and I’m a 27 year old who traveled from Chicago, USA to have my hair transplant done in Istanbul, Turkey.

I had a total of 4700 grafts done on November 3rd, 2023 at Aestepool Clinic with Dr. Ahmed Altan and his great team.

I first heard about this Clinic through my cousin who also had the surgery done on October of 2022. Over a year later, he is very happy with his results.

My surgery, like mentioned above, came out to about 4700 grafts. The price for this came out to about $2660 (€2490). This included a personal driver that drove me to and from the airport/clinic/hotel. This price also included the hotel stay. I paid around $1500 for my flights. So in total, I spent about
$4000 with everything included. Here in America, a similar surgery would have cost me anywhere between $10,000-$20,000, if not more. 

Here I will be providing updates of my hair transplant journey 🫶🏻

[Daniel Dabros]

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Daniel Dabros

[Hairwolf]

Looks pretty densely packed and the hairline has a nice widow’s peak and irregularities. The Dr was fully involved in the surgery? Happy growing 

[Daniel Dabros]

37 minutes ago, streethawk said:

Looks pretty densely packed and the hairline has a nice widow’s peak and irregularities. The Dr was fully involved in the surgery? Happy growing 

Thanks for your comment  So far, I'm very happy with how hairline and graft sites are looking postoperatively. The Doctor set up a free consult with me and told me what to expect leading up to the surgery. During the day of the surgery, his main role was to determine my new hairline, where the grafts would be inserted and making the holes for the graft sites before they are implanted. The extraction, harvesting and implantation of the grafts were performed by highly skilled technicians in the clinic.

[jjalay]

Doing 4700 in one day with zero doctor involvement is really not the way to go with this.

[Melvin- Admin]

13 minutes ago, jjalay said:

Doing 4700 in one day with zero doctor involvement is really not the way to go with this.

Agreed, just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean it’s better. On the contrary, cheap surgery usually comes out more expensive when you need to get it repaired.

[Daniel Dabros]

43 minutes ago, jjalay said:

Doing 4700 in one day with zero doctor involvement is really not the way to go with this.

There was a lot of doctor involvement actually. Not quite sure why your comment would say “zero”. Pretty standard practice between hair clinics in general throughout the world, including the USA. Also, the majority of my natural hair had already fallen out. Thus a higher graft procedure made a lot more sense.

[Daniel Dabros]

32 minutes ago, Melvin- Admin said:

Agreed, just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean it’s better. On the contrary, cheap surgery usually comes out more expensive when you need to get it repaired.

I went to a very reliable and well known clinic with a good reputation and very good team. So far I’m very happy with my results. Many clinics here in America would charge 3x more and would do half as good of a job.

[Melvin- Admin]

1 minute ago, Daniel Dabros said:

There was a lot of doctor involvement actually. Not quite sure why your comment would say “zero”. Pretty standard practice between hair clinics in general throughout the world, including the USA. Also, the majority of my natural hair had already fallen out. Thus a higher graft procedure made a lot more sense.

It’s actually not standard, only hair mills operate this way. There are hair mills in the US, but legitimate doctors are involved in every step of the procedure and perform 1-2 surgeries a day at most. 

I hope you get a good result, but I think it’s important to highlight that cost isn’t indicative of quality. I’ve never heard of this clinic or surgeon. Doesn’t mean they’re good or bad. Only time will tell. 

But in general focusing on how much a procedure cost vs. the results is not a good approach for future patients.  Here we stress to always look at results first. There are some affordable options, but focusing solely on cost will lead most to tech-driven hair mills that perform a dozen surgeries a day and don’t focus on quality. 

[Daniel Dabros]

1 minute ago, Melvin- Admin said:

It’s actually not standard, only hair mills operate this way. There are hair mills in the US, but legitimate doctors are involved in every step of the procedure and perform 1-2 surgeries a day at most. 

I hope you get a good result, but I think it’s important to highlight that cost isn’t indicative of quality. I’ve never heard of this clinic or surgeon. Doesn’t mean they’re good or bad. Only time will tell. 

But in general focusing on how much a procedure cost vs. the results is not a good approach for future patients.  Here we stress to always look at results first. There are some affordable options, but focusing solely on cost will lead most to tech-driven hair mills that perform a dozen surgeries a day and don’t focus on quality. 

I would like to stress that the cost I mentioned is not my reason for going to this clinic. I was simply just providing some insight so a future potential client has the information they need and what to expect if they decide to go the route I did.
I have seen plenty of videos and articles describing the hair mills of Istanbul and leaving people with permanent damage. I did my research and made it a priority that the clinic I was going to would do a successful job. I really don’t think i could have found a better team. They explained everything in detail months leading up to surgery, day of surgery, and now I’m still communicating with my surgeon and being given best advice for best possible results 4 days after my surgery. I’m very happy with my overall experience so far. Thanks for your feedback tho. 

[jjalay]

I really hope you will get the best result, i am not trying to be negative but for other people reading this doing 4700 grafts in one day with technisians doing the extractions is really not the way to do it properly. Clinics that know what they are doing will split the surgery in 2-3 days or recommend two surgeries in order to avoid damaging the grafts or damaging and overharvesting the donor area.

I have never heard this clinic before but in their website they advertise the saphire fue which in nothing more than a marketing gimmick, direct quoe from their website:

• Sapphire blades allow smaller incisions in the skin, so scarring after surgery is almost invisible, tissue damage is minimal, so it heals faster and the skin stays softer.
• The quality of sapphire tools reduces the risk of injury.
• Post-operative pain is minimal.
• Sapphire hair transplant method provides higher efficiency and more hair volume.
• Following this method creates a more natural hairline.
• Lower risk of complications.

All this points are simply not true and misleading for the consumer.

The only independent patient i could find in this forum is this case and he was not really excited with his result:

Again i wish you all the best for your hairtransplant.

[Stewie]

What's done is done now, the surgery looks clean and as long as the hair was handled well you should have a good result, I went to a hair mill for first two surgeries without realising it was a thing or what it was, not done my research, that said the hair grew so it was not a total lose and then got a better job to make it look natural on the third one. But this looks good, and fingers crossed you have no issues. If you have seen people get good results from there then all being well yours will be good too. I have had mates go to clinics in Turkey that have been absolutely slated on this forum yet they both have good results, so who is to say this won't turn out great in the end  

[Myles23]

Hope you achieve the result you're after. Happy growing 

[Daniel Dabros]

3 hours ago, O-Myles59 said:

Hope you achieve the result you're after. Happy growing 

I hope so too! Thank you for the comment  

[Daniel Dabros]

On 11/7/2023 at 4:38 AM, Daniel Dabros said:

 

 

 

 

5 DAY UPDATE
 

[GeneralNorwood]

Actually i know this clinic from polish forum. Currently it's like top1 clinic among polish forum users. 

 

1) Price is similar to other cheap clinics in Turkey. 

2) Results are consistent.There wasn't any f*ckups yet and one of the polish patients had succesfull repair procedure with Dr Altan after botchery with polish doctor Turkowski from Ot.co clinic. 

 

Of course, the clinic has hairmill features. They rent a room in hospital for procedure, they have "sapphire" marketing.Usually, in hairmills, the doctor's role is limited to drawing a hairline. However so far, dr Altan is making incisions and patients are happy with the final result. 

 

So either the business will grow and Altan will increase prices in some time, or bad results will start to appear and The clinic will become a classic hairmill.

Edited November 9, 2023 by GeneralNorwood

[Daniel Dabros]

4 hours ago, GeneralNorwood said:

Actually i know this clinic from polish forum. Currently it's like top1 clinic among polish forum users. 

 

1) Price is similar to other cheap clinics in Turkey. 

2) Results are consistent.There wasn't any f*ckups yet and one of the polish patients had succesfull repair procedure with Dr Altan after botchery with polish doctor Turkowski from Ot.co clinic. 

 

Of course, the clinic has hairmill features. They rent a room in hospital for procedure, they have "sapphire" marketing.Usually, in hairmills, the doctor's role is limited to drawing a hairline. However so far, dr Altan is making incisions and patients are happy with the final result. 

 

So either the business will grow and Altan will increase prices in some time, or bad results will start to appear and The clinic will become a classic hairmill.

Thank you for the comment! I would like to address a few of the things you had mentioned.

From what I have learned, the Polish community is currently their number 1 customer. I happen to be a Polish American living in the USA. I first heard about this clinic through my cousin who happened to have his hair transplant done with them in October of 2022. 13 months later, he is very happy with his results.

Second point I would like to address is I wouldn’t consider this a hospital. It’s one of the nicer clinics I’ve ever been in actually. Modern look, very sanitary, and has a welcoming presence to it. Please see the attached picture below  

Dr. Altan has been great. He is communicating with me everyday so far after my surgery and giving me the best advice for best possible results. He puts his patients first. 
Once again thank you for you comment and please follow along for my journey  

[Melvin- Admin]

6 hours ago, GeneralNorwood said:

Actually i know this clinic from polish forum. Currently it's like top1 clinic among polish forum users. 

 

1) Price is similar to other cheap clinics in Turkey. 

2) Results are consistent.There wasn't any f*ckups yet and one of the polish patients had succesfull repair procedure with Dr Altan after botchery with polish doctor Turkowski from Ot.co clinic. 

 

Of course, the clinic has hairmill features. They rent a room in hospital for procedure, they have "sapphire" marketing.Usually, in hairmills, the doctor's role is limited to drawing a hairline. However so far, dr Altan is making incisions and patients are happy with the final result. 

 

So either the business will grow and Altan will increase prices in some time, or bad results will start to appear and The clinic will become a classic hairmill.

How many surgeries per day? That will ultimately define whether they’re a hair mill or not.

[GeneralNorwood]

On 11/9/2023 at 8:37 AM, Daniel Dabros said:

Thank you for the comment! I would like to address a few of the things you had mentioned.

From what I have learned, the Polish community is currently their number 1 customer. I happen to be a Polish American living in the USA. I first heard about this clinic through my cousin who happened to have his hair transplant done with them in October of 2022. 13 months later, he is very happy with his results.

Second point I would like to address is I wouldn’t consider this a hospital. It’s one of the nicer clinics I’ve ever been in actually. Modern look, very sanitary, and has a welcoming presence to it. Please see the attached picture below  

Dr. Altan has been great. He is communicating with me everyday so far after my surgery and giving me the best advice for best possible results. He puts his patients first. 
Once again thank you for you comment and please follow along for my journey  

So it seems that Dr Altan is cooperating with some other clinic and renting room with equipment, maybe even using their team from time to time. 

When i researched Aestepool clinic half year ago, i found information that they are using room in avrasya hastanesi hospital. You can see this name on the door in this video : https://youtu.be/kUnCPSCuhF8?t=84

It is not obvious, if they use one or two locations. 

I remember pointing out on polish forum that the room where they do procedures is rather small and staff has to be carefull to not bump into patient legs : https://youtu.be/kUnCPSCuhF8?t=114

On 11/9/2023 at 9:47 AM, Melvin- Admin said:

How many surgeries per day? That will ultimately define whether they’re a hair mill or not.

Patients report that Aestepool has 2 teams and they perform maximum 2 operations per day (1 per each team). 

However, here is the tricky part. There is second clinic called Aisha. When i was researching Aestepool half year ago, I found posts on polish forum from 2019 that stated Aisha and Aestepool is same thing, they have same teams. 

Here is assistant from Aestepool wandering through hospital and  you can see room number 1909 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6njkLDsCr8

And this is website of Aisha, you can see picture of the same  room 1909 

So basically Aestepool is project targeted at polish customer, they have website only in polish : 

And Aisha is targeted at international customers : 

 

The question is if Aisha and Aestepool has still this 2 shared teams.

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Melvin- Admin
Removed links

[asterix0]

Post op looks pretty decent actually. Of course like others have said, time will tell how it turns out.

OP needs to keep in mind, his cousin may have gotten a good result, but a lot of terrible clinics can turn out a decent result from time to time. 

It is a bit like pro tennis or pro golf. An amateur golfer can hit a good shot from time to time, just as good as a top pro.

But over time, consistency of good/excellent results is what separates the pros from the rest. 

[Daniel Dabros]

18 hours ago, Melvin- Admin said:

How many surgeries per day? That will ultimately define whether they’re a hair mill or not.

Hi Melvin.

They do a maximum of 1-2 surgeries per day. 

Also, please check out their Instagram page. They have over 44,000 followers there. There you can get a feel for the clinic and Dr. Altan and see hundreds of clients and their results.  

[Daniel Dabros]

17 hours ago, asterix0 said:

Post op looks pretty decent actually. Of course like others have said, time will tell how it turns out.

OP needs to keep in mind, his cousin may have gotten a good result, but a lot of terrible clinics can turn out a decent result from time to time. 

It is a bit like pro tennis or pro golf. An amateur golfer can hit a good shot from time to time, just as good as a top pro.

But over time, consistency of good/excellent results is what separates the pros from the rest. 

Hi there. Thanks for your comment.

My cousin is just one example of many! Please check out their Instagram (removed)to see hundreds of other clients and their results.  

Edited November 10, 2023 by Melvin- Admin

[Daniel Dabros]

On 11/9/2023 at 11:27 AM, GeneralNorwood said:

So it seems that Dr Altan is cooperating with some other clinic and renting room with equipment, maybe even using their team from time to time. 

When i researched Aestepool clinic half year ago, i found information that they are using room in avrasya hastanesi hospital. You can see this name on the door in this video : https://youtu.be/kUnCPSCuhF8?t=84

It is not obvious, if they use one or two locations. 

I remember pointing out on polish forum that the room where they do procedures is rather small and staff has to be carefull to not bump into patient legs : https://youtu.be/kUnCPSCuhF8?t=114

Patients report that Aestepool has 2 teams and they perform maximum 2 operations per day (1 per each team). 

However, here is the tricky part. There is second clinic called Aisha. When i was researching Aestepool half year ago, I found posts on polish forum from 2019 that stated Aisha and Aestepool is same thing, they have same teams. 

Here is assistant from Aestepool wandering through hospital and  you can see room number 1909 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6njkLDsCr8

And this is website of Aisha, you can see picture of the same  room 1909 : 

So basically Aestepool is project targeted at polish customer, they have website only in polish : 

And Aisha is targeted at international customers :

 

The question is if Aisha and Aestepool has still this 2 shared teams.

 

 

 

My operating room was far from small. It was an appropriate size for the surgery I had done. I never once felt the team or I needed more room/space. How much space you think is appropriate may be subjective. But just speaking from personal experience, the room was very spacious and had a clean and sanitary feel and look to it.
 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

20 minutes ago, GeneralNorwood said:

 

That's them. At least growth is good 🙃

That’s the most egregious hairline I’ve ever seen. Shocking, no wonder they changed their name. 

[GeneralNorwood]

1 hour ago, Melvin- Admin said:

That’s the most egregious hairline I’ve ever seen. Shocking, no wonder they changed their name. 

They didn't change their name. They are operating under 2 names.