My Hair Transplant Journey 2024

[Waffle Winchester]

Hello everyone! I'm kind of new to this whole hair transplant thing and wanted to share my story with the community here. I don't want to use my real name on this form quite yet so for now you can just call me waffle. Because you know? waffles are amazing. 

Anyway, Here is my story so far..

On July 2nd of 2024, I had a hair transplant done with the ASMED clinic in Istanbul, Turkey. My best friend Josh went with me on this journey because he didn't want me going through this whole thing alone. Really awesome guy. For this trip to Turkey we didn't just plan for my hair transplant, we wanted to make the most out of the two weeks we would be spending there. So, basically a mini vacation to explore a whole new country along with the surgery which would take place in the second week. We had it all planned out. see all the beautiful sights, try all sorts of new food, and visit museums around Istanbul to learn about the history behind the country. 

 Okay, on to the hair transplant stuff. I did my best to research the best clinic that appealed to me. It was really hard to just pick one though, there were hundreds of clinics inside Turkey all with some great results! Took forever to decide, but eventually I made my top 3 list.

1. HLC

Let's talk about HLC. I almost settled with them, they were my first choice and I didn't see anything negative posted about them. Well.. until I dug deeper and came across botched results and so on. Here is the thing though, a hair transplant can't be 100% successful all the time. There's going to be some results that don't quite live up to what they could have. Also to mention I actually had the payment taken care of with them and ready to go for the consultation fee. Until I decided against going with them a few weeks later. I made sure to cancel before I couldn't get my money back. Speaking of.. they still haven't given me my money back from my cancellation. It's actually been months of emails back and forth waiting to get my refund of $1000. Pretty upsetting, kind of thought I would have it back by now.

2. ASMED

I decided to go with ASMED clinic because of the results I saw from different patients on the videos. I couldn't believe how natural all these transplants looked after the one year follow up! Dr. Koray has done some amazing work to get these guys their hair and confidence back! I liked how the videos showed the donor area before and after the grafts were taken out. Still great density even after so many grafts extracted. Results were something extraordinary and I finally found the place I'd been looking for. As for Koray himself, he seemed to present himself in a pleasant manner such as having a conversation with a friend.

3. Serkan

I considered this clinic because this is the same one Brett Maverick (dude on youtube) used for his surgery. When I got in touch with them they were surprisingly very good at sending messages back and forth unlike some of the other clinics who at times were impossible to reach. (time zone difference I get it) anyway, Serkan clinic did a great job answering all the questions almost immediately whenever I would send them. One thing however put me off, and is the reason why I chose not to go with them. When I asked about what medications I would have to stop they mentioned finasteride. I thought to myself..  How could this be? finasteride does nothing to interfere with surgery and will create even more problems for me if I stopped it. The response they gave me was just off in my opinion. they said something along the lines of "don't worry about stopping finasteride, whatever hair is lost we will just implant new ones." Biggest red flag I could possibly see. stopping finasteride would be the ultimate nuke of destruction to my hair follicles. The thing is its purpose is to lower DHT levels so that the hair loss is at a haul. However, when a medication like this is stopped for too long DHT levels go back to normal. For me basically overdrive and hair loss would continue.  

Now that I've talked about all of the before, let's talk about the day of my surgery.

July 1st

I was picked up from the hotel I was staying at in Istanbul around 9 pm. The driver somehow got through all the crowded streets of vendors and somehow made it to where my friend and I were staying. Let me just say the area was busyyy with people walking around at all sorts of times of the day. I hopped in the van and set off to Asmed Clinic. On the way there I thought a lot about the whole procedure. I was nervous, and part of me just wanted to go back and join my friend at the hotel. The other part of me wanted this more than anything. I wanted my confidence back. Having this hair transplant would make it happen. I could feel good about my hair for once, and even style it in all sorts of different ways that I could never do before. When we got to the clinic it wasn't busy at all. In fact, I think me and the driver were the only ones up at that time. He showed me to my room where I got to unload my suitcase and other belongings. It was late and I had a longg day ahead of me the next day. I decided to catch some sleep, but not before I rewatched some of Dr. Korays old videos on youtube of the best results. Praying that i'll be one of those guys in the near future.

July 2nd

Woke up and ready to take on this surgery. I met with Sevinc who was my patient coordinator through this whole process. She helped me out a lot throughout my time at the ASMED clinic with anything I needed to help me feel more comfortable. I had blood work done, pictures taken of my head, and filled out paperwork all in the same morning. Afterwards I had my head shaven for the first time in literally ever! What a crazy thing to see myself with a shaved head. Once I was shiny and bald I got to have my meeting with Doctor Koray Erdogan. The man himself from the videos I watched about the ASMED clinic was right in front of me. I was surprised at how brief the conversation was with him. In his office is where he made my new hairline and talked about the areas of my hair loss that he wants to do surgery on. I trust him and his plan of action, his work has shown remarkable results and I want the same outcome from a top tier surgeon. (hopefully) Total number of grafts to be extracted from donor 3200. Work to be done on hairline, temples, and a bit for the crown. After my meeting I went back to my room for a bit to eat some breakfast. It was a very small breakfast that consisted of the world's smallest croissant. I understand why though, I'll be in surgery for most of the day and they want to make sure I don't have to get up in the middle of it and use the bathroom.

Surgery Time

Sevinc gave me some anti anxiety meds to help me with the surgery that was about to happen. I stepped into the room. I can't believe I'm going to do this. I layed down on the surgery table so they could hook me up to the machine that would provide me with the anesthetic. I didn't really feel any pain at all. maybe for like 5 mins or so but it went by pretty quick. In fact, the whole process felt like it didn't last too long. I think that's because I was mostly out of it through the whole thing. zooning in and out for probably like 7 hours or however long the surgery lasted. I think I might have even fallen asleep at one point. There's a lot I don't quite remember. When it was finally over I felt exhausted, my body was tired. When I sat up I started feeling dizzy. They kindly got me a wheelchair so that they can carefully get me back to my room. When I sat up from the wheelchair I started to feel off balance. I just about blacked out and fell to the floor, but luckily the team of nurses along with Sevinc, came to my assistance and  safely got me to my bed. I got hooked up to another IV that was there to help me feel less light headed. About 20 mins or so later I finally started feeling better. I hadn't eaten all day and I think that's where the dizziness came from. I was brought some soup, a sandwich, and a chocolate bar to get my energy levels back up again. It helped a lot. I started feeling better in an instant. I spend the rest of my day watching TV and relaxing and catching up with my family through facetime telling them about my surgery experience.

July 3rd

The next day I got up just fine. Didn't feel any pain at all from the surgery the day before and felt a lot better in energy. I went to have my bandages removed and my head washed for the first time since being operated on. It felt good, freeing in a way. I went back to my room where I basically spent the rest of the day. Back in my room is where Sevinc brought me the after care items. All the necessities I need to get through the next couple of weeks. Shampoo, meds, neck pillow, and all other good stuff. I was told to check my email because that's where they were going to send the pictures that they took of my head. The before and after the procedure pictures of the donor area and where they harvested and implanted hair grafts. I was a little concerned when I saw where they extracted the grafts from. they went quite a bit outside of the safe zone. I tried not to worry too much though, they've done multiple operations, so they gotta know what they're doing. (I hope)

July 4th

My last day at the clinic. I gathered all my belongings and was dropped off around noonish by the same driver who took me to the clinic. I made it back to the hotel where my friend was staying. Oh, and I forgot to mention, during this point the swelling from the amnestic started to happen from the hair transplant. So basically my face looked like an absolute disaster compared to the other day. One eye decided to completely shut while the other one tried to focus on staying somewhat open. The whole day was a mess, but I'm glad I had my buddy watching out for me in case I managed to run into a wall or something.

July 5th-8th

My friend and I had a few extra days in Istanbul before the flight. mostly i just spend those days recovering and waiting for all the swelling to go down. well the good thing was it did, but not before looking like a chipmunk for my rest of the time in Turkey. 

The Journey home

Time to get back on the plane and head back home.  We left for the airport around 4 am and the ASMED clinic was kind enough to provide transportation for both my friend and I to where we needed to be dropped off. I said my final goodbye, and thanked them for everything they did for me. The airport was an absolute breeze to get through, i was surprised at how fast they're able to do things. Then again it was like 4 in the morning, I can't imagine too many people would be up around that time. The flight itself went okay for the most part. They're were a few screaming kids that made my time on the flight very difficult to fall asleep. I would have used headphones like i did the first time around, but I really couldn't due to the hair transplant. I didn't dare put anything like that on my head. For the rest of my time on Turkish airlines I watched a few movies, got maybe a little bit of sleep (once the kid finally stopped crying) and I walked around the plane to stretch my legs. When we finally landed I couldn't wait to get off the plane. 10 hours is a lot of flying for one day.

Home

 Let me tell you this, getting through customs was hell on earth. My friend and I spent a good 4 hours going through this process which seemed like a never ending line of people waiting to get checked in. They literally had one person guiding the hundreds of people coming off from the flight. This was probably the most painful experience of the whole trip. It was hot, crowded, and the line wasn't getting any shorter by any means. I was doing my very best to keep it together, but It was hard because of the surgery I went through. exhausted and dehydrated, my friend and I made our way through the mess. The security who was working on the check-ins had a hard time recognizing me from my passport due to the swelling I was still having. Eventually though after asking a few questions, he let me pass. Outside of the airport my friend and I were picked up by the driver we hired. I could finally relax on the hour or so car ride back to my house.

Now

I'm entering month 3 of my hair transplant. There's been quite a bit of concerns I've had on this whole procedure I did. My donor area is still very patchy and I'm really hoping it's not overharvested from the 3200 grafts taken from it. I addressed my situation with Sevinc who I've been messaging through WhatsApp and she told me to just wait a few more months for it to get better. I'm really hoping that's the case. I did some research when I got back from my trip about people who have had a hair transplant done with this clinic and it concerns me. The youtube results look different than the ones posted on this form. A lot of people got botched results due to being overharvested and I'm hoping I don't encounter the same situation. Also to mention there's an area where I'm completely empty that I had hairs in before. So it could possibly be shock loss, however most of the cases I've seen of it look way different than mine. Again trying not to worry since I haven't even finished my third month of this yet, but I do gotta say it's definitely in the back of my mind and well.. my head. Literally.

Here are all the pictures that were taken of my head at the clinic. It would be awesome to get some feedback on what everyone thinks. If you made it this far, thank you for listening to my story. I'll try to keep updating here for the next couple months. Until then I'm going to hide away until the ugly duckling phase is over. 😂

 

Current medication

Finasteride 1mg since 2019

Oral Minoxidil 2.5 twice daily 2020

 

 

 

[sewoa]

Nice  to hear about an ASMED case=)  Must say i think your hair looks pretty good before surgery=)  The  third month is to far early to draw any  conclusions, if it dont feel good about month 10, you can start guess what its leaning towards... but right now its just to sit tight and relax.

 

But on this forum Asmed is not popular.. he is even removed from recomended clinics.. but we for hope for the best. Asmed can still make realy good results.

[Waffle Winchester]

 Thank you. Yeah I know of ASMED's popularity.  Unfortunately, I only found that out after I had my procedure done with them when I was checking out stuff online. 😔 But I'm hopeful things will turn out alright with me. If im being honest I wish I didn't do a transplant at all. Its been pretty mentally draining and my hair was decentish before lol. I was in turkey though, and I didn't want to change plans since I changed them several times planning the trip.

[Berba11]

Very thorough documentation. 
 

My initial thought is that you didn’t really need surgery at all at this stage. My second thought was that I was surprised to see how aggressive and how many grafts they used on someone with not much hair loss. I’d have advised a much more conservative approach. 
 

That might explain some of your donor concerns: hopefully just a bit of shock loss that will bounce back within a couple more months. The extractions looks spread out over the entire area which is good so there’s cause to be optimistic on that front. 

[Waffle Winchester]

I was quoted at some other clinics for around the same number of grafts surprisingly. HLC wanted to do a little less than what ASMED said though. about 2500 for the hairline and temples. (Not including crown) Maybe I should have just went with them instead. Yeah, not the news I wanted to hear that's for sure. Thank you though for your feedback and bringing me some optimism. Its been a struggle that's for sure. knowing that I might have screwed up everything I was working towards.

[Berba11]

3 minutes ago, Waffle Winchester said:

I was quoted at some other clinics for around the same number of grafts surprisingly. HLC wanted to do a little less than what ASMED said though. about 2500 for the hairline and temples. (Not including crown) Maybe I should have just went with them instead. Yeah, not the news I wanted to hear that's for sure. Thank you though for your feedback and bringing me some optimism. Its been a struggle that's for sure. knowing that I might have screwed up everything I was working towards.

I don’t think you’ve reason to worry. Clinics in Turkey tend to be more aggressive in their approach generally. We can debate the merits of that but it is what it is. You’re also at the tail end of the ugly duckling phase and about to hit the growth phase. It’s common to have a little buyers remorse at this point in the game as you’ve gone three months of watching the hair shed back to baseline and accumulated natural concerns and anxieties about everything along the way. 
 

The fun bit is just around the corner so hang in there!

[Waffle Winchester]

Thank you kindly Berba. Will be uploading new photos soon with what my progress looks like.

[Al - Moderator]

You didn’t need a hair transplant. Maybe a small amount in the corners and in the crown if you really insisted, but I think they went too low with your hairline. One thing about most of the Turkey clinics is they don’t like to do smaller sized sessions. They have to pay a driver to pick you up and take you back and they keep the per graft price low because of all the competition in turkey. That means they need to do a large number of grafts just to break even. That’s why you’ll get a similar graft quote from most of the clinics there. 

The issue with the donor is probably shock loss and that should improve in the next couple of months.  
 

[Waffle Winchester]

Thank you Al. I have been getting that response a lot about not needing a hair transplant in the first place. Unfortunately, what's done is done. I do realize I might have made a mistake I can't come back from.  I just hope this can be correctable with like FUE punch out if it turns out bad. 3,200 grafts is a big procedure, Its probably going to leave me in a worst place then where I started. 

Edited September 13 by Waffle Winchester

[Paul_]

4 hours ago, Waffle Winchester said:

Thank you Al. I have been getting that response a lot about not needing a hair transplant in the first place. Unfortunately, what's done is done. I do realize I might have made a mistake I can't come back from.  I just hope this can be correctable with like FUE punch out if it turns out bad. 3,200 grafts is a big procedure, Its probably going to leave me in a worst place then where I started. 

Hey, as you said the deed is done, best to look forward now, don't let it get to you and mentally drag you down from your regular life 

Give it 6 months to grow and get a proper feel for how it will turn out, then run a few consultations with the top surgeons and decide if/how you'd like to correct it - punchouts and rolling back hairlines are becoming more and more the norm these days unfortunately

[Waffle Winchester]

Donor area now. Just reached my 2.5 month mark. Let me know what you guys think.

first 3 pictures are with wet hair.

also I appreciate all the support through this journey. 🙏

Edited 11 hours ago by Waffle Winchester

[Waffle Winchester]

3.5 mark updated photos for donor area^ sorry typo lol

Edited 10 hours ago by Waffle Winchester

[Gatsby]

@Waffle Winchester your donor is looking excellent. 👌

[Waffle Winchester]

Thanks Gatsby!

Do you think the sides will grow anymore? In my opinion it’s the left side that looks a bit off compared to how the right looks. Then again I could be over analyzing it.

Edited 4 hours ago by Waffle Winchester

[Gatsby]

Give the donor a full twelve months to recover from the trauma.