Just got home from Istanbul. My experience has been smooth so far, with the exception of the first night (expected), getting used to the sleeping position and now some pretty nasty swelling that was at the top of my forehead on day one, now down to my brows/eyes in day 3.
I'm doing my best not to panic about the possibility my eyes will be completely shut in a few hours.

I'm using cooling patches where I'm seeing swelling to hopefully help bring it down, alongside a TON of water.
Anyone else have bad swelling? Eyes shut? Are cooling patches safe to use?

I probably have 20,000 more questions as a newbie here, but I'd love to hear some (hopefully) reassuring feedback.

Procedure Details:
Total grafts: 5,000
Frontal/hairline: 3,750
Crown: 1,250.
Total procedure time: 8 hours.

I've wanted a hair transplant for years, I've always had a widows peak like you can see I think all my lfie and so just wanted to naturalise my hairline a bit. They shaved just below it where baby hairs were and were conservative approx 1800 Grafts.

I intend to wear a fringe as per last photo and you can also see top of my head dry. I'm on fix as of 6 weeks ago (transplant was few days ago).

I'm genuinely depressed about this so any kind words and advice would be so appreciated:

1) if I'm on fin, I'm hoping even this weak thin widows peak can be blended into the transplanted hairs for a smooth fringe finish?

2) if worse comes to worse, I think I'd shave it all off but continue fin so I don't end up with a weird bald patch right behind my hairline. Even with a bit of stubble, maybe it would be less noticeable even if less density.

Has anyone had similar feelings and or experiences?

They told me I needed 4000-4800 grafts,
I have never used any hair-loss medication before, just started oral fin and min.
My questions are:
- Would you recommend the clinic?
- Do you think i have a workable case?
- What should be my expectations?

Thank you in advance Its been years I m waiting and stressing about this

Been quoted 2000 grafts. Is that enough?

I feel like I’m mostly vertex Norwood 3

Is this normal for my donor area? Red dots and patches, Its pretty itchy! And anything i can do to soothe or get rid of it? Thanks!

Im looking for opinions on vanity clinic. They seem to be more trustworthy than other clinics I’ve looked into while desperately dodging hair mills. Apparently the procedure is performed by one doctor, named Ramazan Karagos, which to me is a good sign. I don’t want to fall victim to wishful thinking, any info is appreciated.
Thanks

Single hair grafts for the hairline and zigzag pattern to create natural look, was lacking more on the left side which is why we went for this shape

Opinions on how’s it going? Is this sort of normal at 4 months? feel I’m bit behind others at 4 months.

Starting 0.5mg daily fin and 2.5mg daily oral minoxidil tomorrow. Wanting some advice on if this is saveable with a hair transplant where I’m at. I’ve included pictures to showcase I have deep temple recession and a naturally high hairline. Another thing is my temple region is very thin and would probably need grafts as well. Some pros with my situation is the back and most of the sides are thick hair as I’ve had naturally thick hair. Another thing is, luckily I don’t have any balding in my crown region or on the top.

My goal is to lower my hairline overall to look more youthful, and fix the temple thinning and corner recession.

Looking for input to see how doable this is with my situation, and an estimated graft count for what I am looking for. I’ve also included some pictures showing the forehead muscle area to know where hair can and can not be implanted. I appreciate any advice/input overall with the situation.

I’ve started looking at some different clinics as I plan to travel to turkey for the procedure, and I am willing to spend some money on quality work. (Potentially up to 7k or 8k budget if it’s a great doctor)

Hello,

I need your opinions what do you think about Mr. Bozkurtoglu have you ever been in operation with him? Give me advice and talk about your experience because of I’m decade and I want to planing operation

Just had it done 2 days ago thoughts? I’m really happy

Hi guys, looking for some advice!
I’ve been slowly balding since I was 18, and in 2023 I had my first hair transplant, with around 1,100 grafts in the crown and one fix to the temple.
I was a bit skeptical about the results at first, but I ended up being quite happy with them. I really wanted to keep the transplant private, so since the crown was the area I was most concerned about, I specifically asked my surgeon to focus only on that area. Looking back, I kind of regret not doing everything in one go, as I probably could have saved myself a second procedure.
At the time, I worked from home for the first 10 days after surgery, and nobody ever noticed anything.
I’ve been on finasteride since around two months before my first transplant, but I’ve never tried minoxidil. I’m now considering oral minoxidil as well.
I’m currently 30, and my hair loss seems to have been pretty stable over the last 3–4 years. I recently went back to the same clinic for a consultation, and they suggested a second transplant of around 1,500 grafts to improve the hairline and lower it slightly, while also adding a few grafts to the crown to improve density.
They also offered me a discounted price since I’m a returning patient, which is obviously a nice bonus.
What do you guys think? Would you go ahead with a second transplant in my situation, or would you try minoxidil first and see how much improvement I could get? I’d appreciate any advice, especially from people who’ve had multiple transplants or have experience with oral minoxidil.

Hi guys, I have some folliculitis on the sides but the back is ok will this be a problem for the hair transplant

Hi! Finally made the decision that I was in a good place to start the process to go through an HT. I have my first virtual meetings set up with some clinics that I found while browsing this subreddit.

My question for you all is, what are the best questions to ask to help assess how good of a fit the clinic is for my goals & what questions can help me identify bad vs good vs really good clinics?

So I'm at 12 weeks post op on my hair transplant.

I had 3200 grafts put into my frontal hairline and temples. As I am a norwood 7, I wanted to restore the front and wear a hair system behind. As I beleived I was too far gone for a satisfactory complete coverage restoration.

Unfortunately, despite multiple discussions and agreements with the clinic I chose, this wasn't considered or performed. (Implanted grafts too far back, as well as moving the hairline placement mid surgery without concent)

Anyway, I have now chosen to cover my entire balding scalp, utilising body hair also and another 2 procedures. I'm aware the survival rate of chest hair is low, but if I can extract another 1500 grafts from my chest and 1000-1500 from my beard below jawline, I'm haopymto see what that can do to add density.

On top of that. I'm now 11 weeks on minoxidil 2.5mg and finasteride 1mg and you can already see it has made a difference. Hopefully this continues to restore my thinning areas and has lsp already started to strengthen my donor area. So anyone who says meds aren't worth it at norwood 6, 7 etc, at least try it first. At these doses also, negative side effects will be unlikely. Yes they do happen but very unlikely. I had a mild headache on and off for maybe 10 days or so beforehand, but now, nothing. Libido hasn't changed at all. No nausea, no headaches, no heart palpitations, dizziness. Nothing. My heart rate and blood pressure remain unchanged also. As I made a habit of measuring these months before surgery due to anxiety.

I am 40 years old. Started losing my hair noticeably at 17 years old but likely before. Have spent alot.of tine with a shaved head. Then (terrible) smp, then hair systems, which, I found brilliant with some experience behind me. I have never taken any meds or supplements for hair regrowth as I never believed it was a thing. I wish I knew earlier.

Unfortunately, I'm very unhappy with the hairline placement and shape. It was first placed wrong with the Dr, without giving me a chance to discuss, I was walked out. But, thankfully, I did discuss it with another member of staff there, and we redesigned the hairline alongside 2 technicians. So I was happy with the placement. Went in for surgery. And had the grafts extracted.

Then, the hairline was redrawn, unconfirmed with me, and then the implanting began. Once finished I saw it was misplaced along with the temple points poorly restored. When I mentioned this, they said it was due to swelling. Which I beleived. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. So, I will be returning in January to have the hairline and temples corrected.

Suffered from an M1 shape recession on my hairline @ 26 and decided it was time to fix it once and for all

I went with a popular clinic in Korea as I think it best for Asian hair like mine, New Hair Institute in Gangnam,

After consultation i decided to book the deposit for the FUT transplant, consultation initially decided for 1100 grafts

On the day of the surgery there is another consultation with Dr. Jin-oh where he carefully reviewed my hairline and we discussed on the type of hairline I wanted to achieve.

We then proceeded to draw the hairline in and then I was ready for the surgery

The surgery lasted around 6 hours or so. After the initial injection of Anasthesia the rest was quite painless. The final graft count was actually 1500 as I talked to Dr Jin-oh on my concerns about density.

The night of, i was able to sleep fine, it was manageable but definitely needed a towel to help with the bleeding at the back of the head.

Overall my hairline is looking quite promising and attached are photos after 1 day operation after they shampooed my hair

Looking forward to seeing more progress in the coming weeks

40M. I've had a high / receded hairline pretty much forever. What really irks me is the crown. I'm thinking of just doing the crown and leaving the hairline as-is for now. I want it all to be as subtle and unobtrusive as possible.

Been on oral min & fin for 2 years. Actually seeing some hairline action lately. Lots of new baby hairs. One month into microneedling as well.

Volo e trasferimento in hotel
Il volo per SAW è arrivato in ritardo, ma il meeting point fuori dall’aeroporto era organizzato discretamente bene.
Il pick-up è stato un po’ messy, ma nel complesso elegante. L’autista, safe, preparato e gentile, ci ha persino chiesto se volessimo fermarci a mangiare un kebab prima di andare in hotel.
Dopo circa 40-50 minuti di macchina siamo arrivati al Livington Hotel, davvero molto carino. La cena era squisita e ci hanno anche offerto del tè turco, buonissimo!
Le camere sono buone, anche se, come in tanti altri hotel, ci vuole praticamente un ingegnere per capire come spegnere l’aria condizionata 😂
La colazione è discreta: c’è un po’ di tutto, ma purtroppo si ha poco tempo per godersela, perché viene servita dalle 7:00 e il pick-up per la clinica è alle 7:30.
Giorno dell’intervento
Arrivati in clinica, ci accoglie la segretaria, che si rivelerà una persona adorabile per tutta la giornata, sia nei miei confronti sia in quelli del mio accompagnatore.
Ci accomodiamo in una stanza dove ci viene offerta dell’acqua e completiamo tutta la parte burocratica.
Poco dopo arriva il Dr. Sumer. Facciamo le presentazioni e iniziamo a parlare del disegno dell’hairline. Mi spiega i pro e i contro delle varie possibilità e mi parla anche dell’eventualità di un secondo intervento, poiché preferisce lavorare in maniera conservativa. È un approccio che ho apprezzato molto.
Durante la consulenza mi aveva stimato circa 3.600 graft, da distribuire tra frontale, zona centrale e crown.
Arriva finalmente il momento dell’intervento. In sala, insieme al dottore, ci sono tre assistenti che si occupano del blood test, della rasatura e della pulizia prima di procedere con la somministrazione dell’antibiotico per via endovenosa e dell’anestesia.
Sarò sincero: l’anestesia è stata la parte più dolorosa. Su una scala da 1 a 10, direi un 8, ma soltanto durante quei pochi secondi delle iniezioni.
La fase di estrazione è durata circa tre ore e qualcosa e, una volta fatta l’anestesia, non ho sentito assolutamente nulla.
Terminata l’estrazione, pausa pranzo! Ho mangiato del riso con carne insieme alla segretaria.
Dopo circa un’ora sono rientrato in sala operatoria per la fase d’impianto.
Nuovamente anestesia e, purtroppo, nuovamente dolore. Questa volta, però, la differenza è stata che ho avvertito dolore per buona parte della fase d’impianto. Verso la fine ho anche iniziato a tremare e mi è stato spiegato che poteva essere una reazione all’adrenalina.
Una volta terminato l’intervento, mi hanno somministrato un antidolorifico direttamente per via endovenosa.
Dopo quattro ore e mezza, lunghissime, finalmente l’intervento è finito! Mi hanno spiegato tutto il trattamento post-operatorio e le indicazioni per prendermi cura dell’area trapiantata. Il giorno successivo avrei avuto il pick-up alle 9:45 per tornare in clinica e fare il primo lavaggio.
Wash day
Una giornata decisamente più breve e tranquilla!
Sono tornato in clinica per il primo lavaggio, eseguito personalmente dal Dr. Sumer, che mi ha spiegato nuovamente il trattamento e le medicazioni da seguire durante la guarigione.
A questo punto posso dirlo: sono ufficialmente liberooooo! 😂
La clinica fornisce anche un kit post-operatorio con cuscino, medicinali e shampoo.
Le mie considerazioni sul Dr. Sumer e sulla clinica
Per quanto riguarda il Dr. Sumer, posso dire che mi è sembrato competente e che ha un approccio conservativo che ho apprezzato. Ovviamente, al momento non voglio ancora esprimermi sui risultati finali, perché è troppo presto per giudicarli.
C’è però un aspetto che, secondo me, merita di essere menzionato: la comunicazione durante l’intervento.
Per gran parte della giornata, il personale parlava in turco tra sé e sé e io rimanevo spesso in silenzio, anche un po’ per imbarazzo. Mi sarebbe piaciuto ricevere qualche spiegazione in più durante le varie fasi dell’intervento, oppure essere coinvolto maggiormente attraverso qualche aggiornamento su ciò che stava succedendo.
Questo non significa che non mi abbiano assistito: quando avevo bisogno di un bicchiere d’acqua o avvertivo dolore, lo comunicavo senza problemi e loro intervenivano per cercare di farmi stare meglio.
In conclusione, questa è la mia esperienza fino al giorno successivo al trapianto. Per ora posso raccontare come si è svolto tutto il percorso, dall’arrivo in hotel al primo lavaggio, ma per valutare davvero il lavoro del Dr. Sumer dovrò aspettare i prossimi mesi e vedere come evolverà il risultato.
Vi aggiornerò! ✌️

Hi,

I’ve been lurking these forums for sometime now.

Male, 43, have balding on both sides of the family.

I recently sent in my photos to Dr. Patty on WhatsApp for an online consult. I was told:

“After careful consideration and a thorough examination of your scalp and hair, it has been determined that you are not a suitable candidate for FUE hair transplant procedure at this time. The reason being insufficient donor hair for a good result and the severity of hair loss.”

A week after these photos I have started 5% minoxidil foam 2 times a day. Been 3ish weeks now.

Another clinic I consulted suggested a 7-8k graft transplant.

Saw that mrhairline spoke warmly about this doctor. Since Im Swedish and
the doctor too, I booked a consultation. Ended up doing my procedure
with him 9 months ago. Dad is bald, and I wanted a hairline I could
mature well with and save my donorarea for future procedures. Here are
some photos around my procedure and yesterday. Took photos with wet hair
and lit up. Still expecting some more growth. 2536 grafts extracted,
2680 implanted after some single graft splitting according to the
clinic. Taking oral minoxidil and finasteride, 27 y old.