NARMAK

FUE techniques imo are at a plateau and the current situations such that apart from perhaps a philosophy of doing hair transplants how the top doctors do them atm, i doubt much is going to change anytime soon. Vertaporfin is probably years away from getting FDA approval if at all and unless you're like 18-22 right now, i very much doubt most will be willing to wait it out for the possibility of advancements depending on your hair loss situation. Particularly if you are greater than a Norwood 3 and not able to style it well to mask any hair loss. Right now, if you chose a reputable clinic and doctor, it's probably as good as you will get. Things actually slipped backwards with the explosion of social media and these Horror Mills in Turkey, UK, Europe and the US etc.

The grafts are firmly embedded into the skin by around 2 weeks post op and there's nothing to suggest a hot shower will harm them. The extra redness will be from the body reacting to the temperature. Some people imo have a bit of a wives tale about hot showers and water going on the scalp causing hair loss, but unless you were pouring actual boiling water on yourself resulting in like true 3rd degree burns, i do not see the hot water causing an issue. I think you'll be fine.

It's definitely something that needs to be reviewed but as an example, the USA has long had the FDA approved medications cited as a certification of something meeting rigorous standards. So if a reputable country did something similar and allowed applications of international clinics to become affiliated then it would perhaps help overcome some issues. Personally i do agree that ultimately its always going to be Caveat Emptor and the buyers got the onus to do as much research as they can.

Yeah, i think in terms of aesthetics, that subjective side of thing has already got to be slightly put to one side but something objective like say a requirement to try ensure that single grafts are predominantly used in the frontal hairline and use of magnification to achieve this like we see as common practice in the better clinics. I think we need to have an independent organisation that's government based that basically takes the framework these consumer led organisations created which is solid in terms of their fundamentals but perhaps leaves questions on that objectivity side.

How do you mean? I feel like there's plenty of objective metrics you could try to use and set as a standard. Also, the idea that members pay a fee and receive a recommendation as a result is then opening the doors for bias potentially. I know government departments require a doctor etc. to also pay a fee and submit tests but i have a feeling those would be perhaps felt to be more robust and strict than say a consumer organisation.

I think it seems like such a shame that a body claiming to advocate highly towards patient excellence in fact could be nothing more than a dupe to con people almost into believing that X Doctor etc. is superior and funnel cash their way and get a financial return as a result of membership fees. The hair transplant industry and probably cosmetic surgery industry in general is just ridiculous. I don't understand why government based health agencies are not more closely monitoring this. The FDA for example has to approve X, Y, Z for medication so why don't they set the standards at that level is what i don't get.

I know you said you aren't interested in overseas because of those factors but a few forum members from Oz like @Gatsbycan offer you a significantly better opinion as they live in Australia. Is there anything that could help you overcome the barriers to going overseas do you feel?

Hi, Personally i have not heard of this doctor so hopefully others can chime in but if anybody has used them before, if you use the search function and type Dr Vikram in hopefully you will find if there's any patient results. Do you currently take any medication like Finasteride and can you share any pictures to help us see your situation. You can blur/block the face for privacy. Also, which country are you resident in as it will allow users to see if there's alternate doctors in your country that are more recommended or have a track record you can see here.

Your donor area is generally looking well healed post-op but it will take a little bit of time till it probably looks fully healed and well again. The frontal hairline designs looking solid, good shout on taking it easy and slow with the first shampoo and not being aggressive. Hopefully you will find a way to get through that "Ugly Duckling" phase and figure out how to potentially grow the hair out enough for cover or using hats. You're close to that 2 week mark soon where the grafts should be fully anchored in and you can feel safe sleeping more normally again if you aren't already able to still sleep well.

You should 100% do your own input on the hairline if you strongly feel about it being a particular way and are properly informed about that being realistic. Like you don't see them draw a hairline at like 7cm and say, "No, i want it like 4cm" and have it sit on the frontalis muscles lol. They do have a great tutorial on considerations that need to be made when doing hairline positioning on their YouTube and you should use that as a base and then tweak it to your individual aesthetics. I do not believe bar that one single individual that an NDA agreement has been mentioned again and Melvin has stated many times before that they do not seem to like or work i think with clinics who would engage in such behaviour. So it would be very weird to see them try to request you to sign such a document and if you are asked to do so by any clinics then i believe they deserve to be named and shamed. I personally would not go ahead with any clinic that told me on arrival as an international patient that i have to sign an NDA or i can't get the surgery. That's unethical on their part and imo a tactic of coercion that's disgusting in the highest category because usually you don't speak the language and are already feeling vulnerable. Add to that the potential psychological affects of feeling this procedure will improve your quality of life and you travelled all that way "for nothing" if you don't get it done and the entire situations a mess. Eugenix have so far shown themselves to be welcoming to patients that manage to get there without issues generally but like all clinics, it does seem they are not immune to a few stumbles and i hope they are using feedback from here to improve things.

It's good that you're on Finasteride and also noticing some benefit. A lot of people think Finasteride is there to regrow all your hair and don't understand its mechanism of action properly. They also don't understand generally how things like Minoxodil work in tandem on a different mechanism of action and both need to be indefinitely used. As a person working in education, i'm sure you can appreciate the importance of research and making sure you get all the proper information. Unfortunately hair transplants are full of dubious claims and charlatans. Even pretending to have science backed sounding claims that under scrutiny don't hold up. You're probably gonna be in great hands with Dr Bicer as she's forum recommended and has patient cases you can see on here. Downside is the full shave method i guess if it includes the top of the head too which is the non-donor area.

I feel like unfortunately even though its been over 10+ years of refinements to FUE techniques etc. that we don't have more competent clinics for restoring temple points appropriately is a travesty. Hell, i'd go one step further. With the explosion of FUE clinics i'd even go so far as to argue that frontal hairlines have gotten worse too. Pluggy and multi graft ridden with ridiculously lower juvenile distance when not appropriate.

I think your job and timetable are certainly going to be an influence on when you want to go. Regarding flights, if you book in advance for the holidays window you shouldn't really have much issue with cost for flights to Turkey. The other factor you do need to remember though is that even if you are aiming for the school holidays, how do you plan to manage the 12 months period you need to get close to full growth? How will you handle the first 2-3 months when you're neck deep in the "Ugly Duckling" phase. Are you going to try keep the hair longer on the top and then comb over the transplanted areas whilst at work? Thanks for sharing. You look at that angle around a Norwood 3 but given you are holding the hair back, it's difficult to guess whether you are thinning in the middle too. Either way, you need to be on medication imo like Finasteride if you want to keep the hair you have there naturally. I'm actually surprised you already say you have a quote from Dr Bicer because you never mentioned that and would you be willing to share when you got that. Ultimately you need to realise that having a hair transplant comes with some very specific restrictions you will need to follow for aftercare and the first 3 months are probably the worst because of that initial shedding phase and so on where shock loss can set in and need recovery. 4-6 months onwards tends to get better with the right clinics but you still need to factor in how you will manage those whilst trying to live a normal work and life balance. Personally i am going to try request the clinic i go to for my procedure to keep my hair longer on the top so that i can try use a fringe to cover the transplant for as long as i can when i need to go out, particularly in public.

For £3500 you could have some solid options in Turkey with Dr Bicer or Eugenix Hair Sciences in India on the Exclusive Package. Without pictures, it's difficult to estimate grafts at all. Post some with a blurred face for privacy if you like.

Can you share some pictures? A quick guess on your description makes it seem like you could be a Norwood 5/6 which is really high and basically makes it even more important to go to a place that can no only properly manage your finite donor but artistically recreate the design and give you the proper illusion of density to look good.

Firstly, welcome to the site and hopefully as you spend more time here it will help you increase your knowledge and make a great choice for any future hair transplant and hair restoration. Second and onto the core part of your post. DO NOT TRUST ONLINE REVIEWS ON TRUSTPILOT ETC.! Yes, i had to put that in all caps because if there's anything i want anybody to walk away with reading this post is that these sites have become highly manipulated with fake reviews and any negative genuine reviews can and do get removed ASAP to only make it seem like the clinic is reputable. Regarding the clinic offering you a "Lifetime Guarantee" and 2nd surgery for free. HUGE RED FLAG!! Who would offer you something so ridiculously insane when they know hair loss is progressive and you're almost bound to lose hair if you aren't preventing it by medication like Finasteride, Minoxodil etc. and do something people pay thousands of pounds for and do it free? Bull Scheisse. Your donor area is finite. Imagine if somebody came up to you and said that i'm gonna give you something, but there's only 5 in the entire world. You really going to hand over 4 of them and be left with just 1 or seriously weigh up the Pros and Cons of giving something so precious away? If you do your research, save up and are actively preventing further hair loss with medication like Finasteride etc. you can hopefully go to somewhere reputable and be much more assured your finite donor area will be carefully managed and that if anything happens in the future, they can do a future procedure even if you have to pay for it.

Why? Because of social media marketing with flashy lifestyle being pushed in every nook and cranny of the internet too. People uneducated on what constitutes a "good hair transplant" and imo a fundamental lack of understanding that the back of the head is not a magical well of unlimited grafts. You would not believe the amount of people that think the donor area regenerates after extractions are made. I think it all ties back to pricing as well. People want to flash the cash at times, but sometimes cheap out on things they shouldn't be.

I think its not just the amount of grafts but specifically an example of how his extraction zones healed into that much more visible white dot and the higher number of them just makes it even more visible. With that said, i think hair looks better kept longer so you actually have styling options and i would say i know some guys like the fade cuts but that's the risk people are going to have to weigh up when they decide they want a hair transplant.

OP, i do not think you have really listened to what we've said. Do not rely on an assumption your friends "did enough research so i should be fine". That's literally the most Russian roulette approach you could take. Do your OWN research and due diligence. Turkey has very few reputable hair clinics worth recommending but if you insist on going there, have a look on this forum to see which are the trusted Turkey hair transplant clinics and what their results are like on this forum. There's also the questions of how old you are, whether you're on medication etc. still all outstanding. As a community here, everybody tries to steer people towards good outcomes and help them properly research. I have a friend who went to the same surgeon twice in Turkey and believed because it was in a hospital with a doctor, had insurance etc. that he was going to the right place but even by his own admission he admitted he got over harvested and has to wear his hair really short in some places or longer to mask it. In many ways, i am glad i never went to get my hair transplant in my early to mid 20s and that now, after properly doing research i feel like i know enough of the bare minimum to make a somewhat informed decision.

I would say to have a really chunky memory foam neck pillow that can help secure you from turning onto your sides and laying down directly on the back of the donor area. Sleeping for some people naturally turns your body in many directions so depending on that factor, you might want to try sleep upright in a chair that reclines that keeps you "squished" in one position and prevents you turning onto your sides.

Generally your hair to skin contrast ratio and how you even healed can play a big part. Have a look at Mr Rolandas on YouTube when he got his hair cut buzzed right down. Despite a lower skin to hair contrast ratio imo, he had more visible FUE scars so there's no way to 100% predict how yours will turn out. Its just a "Rule of Thumb" you can go by.

The worst? Well, if we're going to be brutally honest. Death. Rare, but probably the worst thing that could happen. Worst things realistically? Severe over harvesting of the donor area and high transection rate. Poor design with pluggy multi-grafts and sub par survival rate and a lack of density. Necrosis of the area and probably a slew more issues. Now, if i was in your position i would slowly back away, pull over calmly to the side of the hair transplant highway rest stop and take a break to do some research to find a better place to go. Have some Finasteride and other appropriate hair restoration medications, and maybe refuel the bank account to go to a better and more reputable hair transplant clinic. You never mentioned how old you are, if you are on any medication already and most importantly we don't know how your hair loss looks. Please post a few pictures with a blurred face if you like of your frontal look, 3/4 profile, sides and back donor picture as well as one top down of the crown, midscalp and frontal area. It will help people get a better idea. Final words. Do NOT go with this person. It sounds like you will regret it.

My hairline sits at a decent aize from the glabella and isn't overly receded bur because i do not have any temple points at all, its what makes my hair look more receded than it probably is and also contributed to me looking older than i was. It's the #1 thing imo to get restored if you don't have any or they're very weak and washed out. However not very many clinics can properly do them and that's why i think it's really important to choose wisely and if the clinic cannot do them, then do not get them done there.

That's really shocking if true. Dr Baubac is a relatively young guy and if he has passed, that's sad to hear regardless of whatever opinion we hold on how great or not he was as a hair transplant surgeon.

Thanks for sharing. I think Eugenix will use the lower part of the hairline as reference and not really go lower than that given the extent of your hair loss. Are you currently on medication like Finasteride because it does look like that could help with the remaining naturally placed hair. The real question in the design will probably be whether you want it a bit more rounded which can look a little more recessed but it helps save you grafts or have a higher more shallow hairline in the temple points which could take more grafts but make it look a bit better.