Este Medical UK/Turkey

[Portugal]

I had my first hair transplant done 2 weeks ago via Este Medical UK but carried out in Turkey. I didn't do too much research before I went but now I've had it done I've done a lot more (not too wise, I know!)

I have a ton of questions so I will post them separately but my first one is that I searched this forum for Este Medical and didn't find many posts but a couple suggested they should be avoided at all costs and referred to them as a hair mill which has unsettled me considerably. 

A couple of red flags have come up for me since my surgery:
1. I had 4200 grafts in one session
2. The surgeon wore surgical magnification loupes when cutting the channels but the 4 technicians doing the planting did not. 

The service and customer care was exceptional and I have no reason to believe they've done a bad job based on my experience alone but Im now really worried. Ive attached a couple of pictures if this helps answer my questions. 

So to my questions...

How do I know if they have done a bad job at this point and what could the negative outcomes turn out to be? 

Thanks

[ScottishGuy21]

I’ve not heard of the clinic although there is countless ‘Estes’ around

From 2 weeks out it looks very clean. 4200 is a large harvest but it doesn’t look too bad at all. 
 

Just because you went to supposed mill it doesn’t automatically mean the result will be bad.  You’ve had the op now so try not to worry and let nature take its course. Fingers crossed it a good result 🙏🏼

[Miller1980]

Happy growing. The work looks really clean. What was the price of your hair transplant? Also could you please upload some pictures of yourself with long hair before the hair transplant ?

I wish you the best 🙏

Edited March 4 by Miller1980

[Portugal]

@Miller1980 Thanks for your kind words. I paid £4900 and that included a PRP and Stem Cell treatment on the day of the surgery, my hotel in Turkey, all transportation from the airport and backwards and forward to the clinic plus 3 months of aftercare (topical minoxidil, PRP sessions and laser therapy). The only thing Im slightly unsure about is my new hairline. I wish my temples area didnt go back so deep. I would have liked them to be pulled further forward so I might end up having those filled in at a later date. 

[Berba11]

1 hour ago, Portugal said:

I wish my temples area didnt go back so deep. I would have liked them to be pulled further forward so I might end up having those filled in at a later date.

It's much better that they left the recession points to be more natural and mature. One of the indicators of poor work out of Turkey is the sloping angles that many clinics often create in the temple corners, which is unnatural and odd looking.

From the pictures you've shared, there's nothing that stands out as being an immediate concern. The devil of course will be in the detail. What you're going to want to see is soft single hair grafts used along the hairline, with lots of irregularities to create a bit of break-up and extra softness and naturalness, as well as proper angulation and direction. At this stage we can't know if they've done that (a better picture of the hairline post op would be more instructive here), so it's a waiting game.

Clinics like Este tend to be perfectly adequate at transplanting hair from A to B and getting it to grow in. Where most of these low cost Turkish clinics tend to fail is with the level of care and refinement needed to make everything look as natural as possible. Until we see the results we won't know how refined the hairline work has been done.

[Portugal]

@Berba11 Thanks for your comments, they are reassuring. Here is my hairline post op 

Edited March 4 by Portugal

[Berba11]

7 minutes ago, Portugal said:

@Berba11 Thanks for your comments, they are reassuring. Here is my hairline post op 

As far as I can tell, you've got both singles and irregularities there, which is good. We still won't know for sure until things really start to grow out but I don't think you have anything to worry about for now.

The lower cost Turkish clinics are a bit of a lottery. We see very decent results and we see very poor results and it's sometimes hard to know which way it will go for a patient but I'd say from what I can see that things look promising for you.

Edited March 4 by Berba11

[Portugal]

Im at Week 6 and have shed quite a lot. I can see quite a few new hairs coming through but Im slightly concerned at the amount of completely bald spots with no sign of any follicles. Is this normal at this stage and nothing to worry about or should I be worried? You can by comparing week 2 picture to todays picture how many follicles there were before I started shedding. 

[ScottishGuy21]

7 minutes ago, Portugal said:

Im at Week 6 and have shed quite a lot. I can see quite a few new hairs coming through but Im slightly concerned at the amount of completely bald spots with no sign of any follicles. Is this normal at this stage and nothing to worry about or should I be worried? You can by comparing week 2 picture to todays picture how many follicles there were before I started shedding. 

Perfectly normal , this was mine at exactly the same stage. For reference I had an island at the front so the hair you see there is native  

Edited March 27 by ScottishGuy21

[BBAL]

On 3/27/2024 at 4:18 PM, Portugal said:

Im at Week 6 and have shed quite a lot. I can see quite a few new hairs coming through but Im slightly concerned at the amount of completely bald spots with no sign of any follicles. Is this normal at this stage and nothing to worry about or should I be worried? You can by comparing week 2 picture to todays picture how many follicles there were before I started shedding. 

Thanks for sharing your journey I’m 7 weeks out from going to Este medical Istanbul via Nottingham branch. At the moment I’m having weekly LLLT in the lead up not sure if this will be of any advantage but was recommended pre and post transplant. Seeming your results has put my mind at rest 👍 looks good 

[Lpw]

Looks very promising, would be keen to hear both of your updates as am keen on this clinic

[Berba11]

13 minutes ago, Lpw said:

Looks very promising, would be keen to hear both of your updates as am keen on this clinic

Out of interest, on the basis of what specific criteria are you keen on this clinic?

[Lpw]

I think being able to have a physcial consultation in the UK before you land in Turkey, and the aftercare/treatments included for 6 months at least when you get back is a green flag for me

[Portugal]

On 9/8/2024 at 10:25 PM, Lpw said:

I think being able to have a physcial consultation in the UK before you land in Turkey, and the aftercare/treatments included for 6 months at least when you get back is a green flag for me

Yes that was my thinking too. I’m at 6 months and it’s starting to look good now. 

[Lpw]

I’m very new to this too but from what i can tell like people have said above they’ve made it look very natural and spaced the donor grafts out well to avoid scarring, can you send over some update pics please pal, I think it looks great and you have had the right thing by focussing on density instead of a low hairline. Did you do Fin after? I don’t really want to do that, and did the main surgeons have much involvement whilst you were having the procedure done?

Edited September 14 by Lpw

[JohnnyWoo]

3 hours ago, Portugal said:

Yes that was my thinking too. I’m at 6 months and it’s starting to look good now. 

So maybe some update / photos?

[Portugal]

21 hours ago, JohnnyWoo said:

So maybe some update / photos?

 

[Lpw]

Wow, that’s incredible after 6 months, definitely don’t need a second and hairline looks really natural. What’s the donor area looking like? Also, did you take any fin after?

[Portugal]

6 minutes ago, Lpw said:

Wow, that’s incredible after 6 months, definitely don’t need a second and hairline looks really natural. What’s the donor area looking like? Also, did you take any fin after?

Donor area shows zero evidence of a transplant but I had a lot of hair there. I used topical fin and oral min for first 5 months but now take 1mg oral fin every 2 days. I’ve also had weekly red light and PRF once a month. 

[WhiteyUK]

Looks great mate, massive improvement.

looks like you’ve been lucky as I was after going to a hairmill and getting a quality result. 👍🏽

[Lpw]

42 minutes ago, Portugal said:

Donor area shows zero evidence of a transplant but I had a lot of hair there. I used topical fin and oral min for first 5 months but now take 1mg oral fin every 2 days. I’ve also had weekly red light and PRF once a month. 

That’s good, do you reckon the stem cell treatment was worth it in retrospect, and did one of the main surgeons have a fair bit of involvement during procedure?

[Portugal]

17 minutes ago, Lpw said:

That’s good, do you reckon the stem cell treatment was worth it in retrospect, and did one of the main surgeons have a fair bit of involvement during procedure?

The key was me forcing the surgeon to draw the hairline how I wanted it. He cut the channels and then his minions did everything else. I don’t know which part of the regime has helped, I just did everything and hoped it worked. Tbh I feel the transplanted area is still a bit thin and my rep at the clinic agrees. They gave me 3 months extra red light for free and said we’ll review after that and maybe do some more PRF 

[Lpw]

Yeah my concern is that the surgeon will try draw a lower hairline than what I think is appropriate for density, so that it looks good on photos. Did you have to try make the surgeon go higher than what he wanted or lower?

It sounds like you have plenty of donor area if you want to add more density with a second op at some point? Hair line looks spot on though I wouldn’t lower that. Also have you seen what it looks like with hair fibres in?

Edited September 15 by Lpw

[Portugal]

1 hour ago, Lpw said:

Yeah my concern is that the surgeon will try draw a lower hairline than what I think is appropriate for density, so that it looks good on photos. Did you have to try make the surgeon go higher than what he wanted or lower?

It sounds like you have plenty of donor area if you want to add more density with a second op at some point? Hair line looks spot on though I wouldn’t lower that. Also have you seen what it looks like with hair fibres in?

I spent a lot of time looking at photos online of hairlines that I liked and that I thought would suit my face and head shape. The surgeon drew his line and I told him to run it off, review my pics and follow my wishes. His hairline wasn’t lower but it was a straight line. I asked him to give me a bit of a widows peak and to feather the hairline to make it look natural. For the first 4 months post surgery I thought he could have come lower in the temples but now it’s grown out I like it. 
 

I don’t really know anything about hair fibres. I’ll have a look into it but I’ll probably just be patient and see how it looks in 1 year. I get so many compliments from friends that are wowed by my transplant, that I’ve stopped nitpicking. 

[SuperHans]

4 hours ago, Portugal said:

 

This came out really well mate, night and day better! You must feel like you've won the lottery! 🙌

Given this is only 6 months I'd expect a tad more by 12 months too, super happy for you. Thanks for sharing your journey.