Regular Member hotrod999 Posted November 1, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 1, 2022 (edited) Hey guys! After years of thinking about it, I finally did it! I wanted to share my journey as I've lurked around here for a while following others. Hopefully this will help someone else down the line in the future. Info 26 years old Born with extremely high hairline naturally, runs in the family. No family history of balding/hairloss. Surgeon Choice If you go on my profile, my first post here was asking whether I should book an FUT with Dr. Diep or Dr. Cooley. My how things ended up turning out! I initially thought I wanted an FUT for one simple reason, I've always had long hair. I grew it out & have worn it long since 5th grade after becoming self-aware that my hairline was horrible. I thought FUT made more sense as you don't need to shave your whole head and thought if I ended up getting a bad FUT scar, I'll probably always have long hair so it doesn't matter. I ended up booking a 3000 graft FUT with Dr. Cooley for early December of this year. I booked this in February, but started having second thoughts around June. As stated, I've always had long hair but it wasn't because I wanted to necessarily, but to cover my hairline. I thought if I wanted to try out different hair styles, I would be less limited with an FUE. Also, the recovery time of FUT didn't seem that appealing anymore, especially since I'm pretty active in the gym. I ended up canceling the surgery with Cooley (and losing my $1,500 deposit, ouch!) and booking with Pekiner. I had my eyes on his clinic and a few others at first, but decided I wanted FUT over FUE at the time so never reached out. Ultimately - it was cheaper to fly internationally, get the FUE & more grafts than committing to the original FUT - that includes losing the deposit. I still think Cooley is a fantastic surgeon, and would be my first choice for FUT. I reached out to Pekiners clinic in mid-July, he suggested 3,300 grafts and I ended up booking with him for October 19-21. Experience The whole experience was great! It was my first time traveling internationally so I was a bit nervous, ended up bringing my gf with me. I left Florida on the night of Oct 16th and arrived in Ankara, Turkey late Oct 17th. There is a private driver that picks you up from the airport and takes you to the hotel. I spent the next day exploring the surrounding area near the hotel. The cost of living there is extremely cheap, we went to a steakhouse nearby and ordered a ton of food. I was surprised to see the bill was only $30, as in South Florida the same amount of food would easily run around $100 more. The next 3 days was surgery time. I met with Dr. Pekiner and we discussed my goals, I showed him some pictures of my hairline when I was a kid and even he seemed surprised how bad it was - it has always had that receding look. He spent a long time designing my new hairline, he really comes off as a perfectionist. I ended up being super happy with it & gave him the green light on his first try. I believe he took it as low as nature will allow me as I have higher forehead muscles than most. After the design - my head was shaved, pictures were taken and we went right into surgery. Pekiner and his small team work together really well. You're the only patient for the day & Pekiner extracts & implants all the grafts himself with one person splitting grafts and the other spraying saline. We met everyday around 3pm and finished around 10pm. The process was extract, break, implant. During the breaks, you get some really good home-cooked meals from his on-site cook. The first day we only did 1 session, but day 2 and 3 were split into two different sessions. The worst part of the surgery was definitely the anesthesia injections. I had to go through 5 rounds of injections over the course of 3 days. The first day wasn't too bad, but by day 2 it was really painful and on the last day it was unbearable as the area was super sensitive at that point. They really get your heart racing, according to my apple watch my heart rate spiked to 150BPM during the injections, not fun. I'm currently on day 10 and have gotten most of the scabs out at this point. I'm pleased with how everything has gone so far, and will continue to update this thread throughout the coming months. Funny note: Upon returning back to the US from Turkey, I was held for further questioning from US Customs & Border Protection because I had a shaved head and in my passport my hair was long. Had to answer some questions & tell them my full SSN. They asked why I went to Turkey & when I pointed at my head the lady goes, “Oh okay, sorry. You’re good” and they let me go. Not sure if this has happened to anyone else at the airport when they got back home but I thought it was funny. Graft Breakdown 1's - 305 2's - 1695 3's-1033 4's- 272 Total - 3305 Edited November 5, 2022 by hotrod999 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Spring15 Posted November 1, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted November 1, 2022 Looks exquisite, I will also be going to Dr Pekiner next year. How did you find navigating around the city only speaking English? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member GAT Posted November 1, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 1, 2022 Looks great! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member follically challenged Posted November 1, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted November 1, 2022 Amazing! The density seems to match your natural density! Would you say that you have thick hair naturally...? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hotrod999 Posted November 1, 2022 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 1, 2022 (edited) 14 hours ago, Spring15 said: Looks exquisite, I will also be going to Dr Pekiner next year. How did you find navigating around the city only speaking English? Honestly it wasn't too bad. I did have to use google translate a few times but the front desk of the hotel speaks good English. Dr. Pekiner is fluent in English so no problems there, but his assistants don't speak much. If you end up wanting to check out some restaurants while you're there, there is a kabab place right next to a convenience store. The owner is super nice, doesn't speak any English but I was talking to him through google translate. He ended up giving us a lot of free food/drinks and brought out his kid who must be learning English because he spoke a little bit. A few other restaurants also gave us free food, they are very friendly to foreigners. All around, great experience. Edited November 1, 2022 by hotrod999 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hotrod999 Posted November 1, 2022 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 1, 2022 11 hours ago, follically challenged said: Amazing! The density seems to match your natural density! Would you say that you have thick hair naturally...? I've always been told I have very thick hair in the back, but Pekiners assistant told me that my hair caliber was a little bit thin so I'm not sure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Pbaird98 Posted November 1, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 1, 2022 Very nice write up, excellent pics, work looks fantastic! All good bro 👍🏿 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Jackdaniels Posted November 2, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 2, 2022 Good luck bro. Density looks high enough. Pekiner is one of the best clinics in worldwide. So I’m sure you are going to have an awesome result 🙌 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member GioLam Posted November 6, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 6, 2022 Drooling over ur results. It’s amazing how Pekiner implants with NO patterned regularity. Mimicking the way hair naturally grows so perfectly. This should allow you to even rock a buzz cut if you want to. This is going to be an incredible final result. I’ll watch this one closely. Happy growing! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member GioLam Posted November 6, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 6, 2022 Does Pekiner not have instagram? Where’s the best place to see his work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hotrod999 Posted November 7, 2022 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 7, 2022 On 11/5/2022 at 11:06 PM, GioLam said: Does Pekiner not have instagram? Where’s the best place to see his work? Not sure exactly. I believe his clinic is new so I don’t know if they have a place to see work yet, but I would assume he’ll have something up eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Davy773 Posted November 10, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 10, 2022 Wow looks good man! Do you know how to get in contact with Pekiner? I would like to have a consultation/quote. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member GioLam Posted November 11, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 11, 2022 Is Pekiner’s price €2.7/graft? How long was the wait list? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hotrod999 Posted November 11, 2022 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 11, 2022 7 hours ago, GioLam said: Is Pekiner’s price €2.7/graft? How long was the wait list? Yes that’s his current price, and the wait time was about 3 months. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member GioLam Posted November 11, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted November 11, 2022 Wow. This has to be the absolute Best value of any elite dr. in the game right now. Elite tier quality work at a pretty low price with a short wait time. Incredible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Spring15 Posted November 21, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted November 21, 2022 Updates @hotrod999? B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member StillAlive Posted November 21, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted November 21, 2022 Looks amazing man, you are headed towards a very strong result! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hotrod999 Posted November 21, 2022 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 21, 2022 Well it’s officially been 1 month since my surgery. No matter how much you prepare for the ugly duckling phase, when it hits it hits hard. I started to shed pretty intensely on week 3 and now going into week 5 I’ve shed around 90% of the transplanted grafts. I was definitely enjoying the buzzcut look at week 2 and beginning of week 3 but of course, knew it wasn’t going to last forever. I’m very happy with how my donor has healed, it honestly looks untouched and it’s only been a month. My head has been a bit itchy & I’m still dealing with some numbness, redness and now pimples in the recipient area but hoping this will clear soon. Overall, for 1 month I’m pretty happy and can’t wait to get out of the ugly duckling phase. 1 month post-op. Recipient area: 1 month post-op. Donor area: Week 2. Enjoying the buzzcut look: Week 3. Taken after I noticed it was starting to shed: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Dillpickle123 Posted November 21, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted November 21, 2022 Dr Cooley does fue though? Did you not go with him because it would’ve cost too much for fue? How much does he charge for fue vs fut? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hotrod999 Posted November 22, 2022 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 22, 2022 1 hour ago, Dillpickle123 said: Dr Cooley does fue though? Did you not go with him because it would’ve cost too much for fue? How much does he charge for fue vs fut? Well I chose Cooley because he specializes in FUT work and produces minimal scarring. When I decided I want FUE instead, I couldn’t find much results of his using this method. So I chose someone else who specializes specifically in FUE. I’m not sure Cooleys FUE cost but his FUT price is about $4.8/graft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Dillpickle123 Posted November 22, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted November 22, 2022 1 minute ago, hotrod999 said: Well I chose Cooley because he specializes in FUT work and produces minimal scarring. When I decided I want FUE instead, I couldn’t find much results of his using this method. So I chose someone else who specializes specifically in FUE. I’m not sure Cooleys FUE cost but his FUT price is about $4.8/graft Oh I see, well Dr P is a great doc and the work looks pristine 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Gramatik Posted November 22, 2022 Senior Member Share Posted November 22, 2022 (edited) Good luck mate. Dr Pekiner is a top quality doctor in Turkey. The work looks clean and the density very high.... Edited November 22, 2022 by Gramatik 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hotrod999 Posted December 22, 2022 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 22, 2022 Officially 2 months post-op. Bit of a boring update, but going to try and do this monthly until the 1 year mark. The hairs that didn’t shed have grown quite long and I’m starting to see a lot of new hairs sprouting. Numbness is almost completely gone. Still dealing with a bit of itching. Haven’t cut my hair since the procedure, it was pretty long pre-op and trying to get some length back. Looking forward to month 3 & will report back then. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member ray35 Posted December 22, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted December 22, 2022 Looks like it's coming along as it should, thanks for sharing the update! Nothing but better by the day going forward! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member SY7 Posted December 23, 2022 Regular Member Share Posted December 23, 2022 How is it going now? Do you know how to reach Dr, Pekiner? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now