4,000 Bad Boys with Dr Levent "The Legend" Acar

Before
So my research began in November 2017. I am from the UK, I am 39 and had been Slowly losing my hair for about 15 years, mainly from the front top and of course receding from the sides but then it became worse all over the top. I always preferred having slightly longer hair than wearing it short but towards the end realised I had done the unforeseeable....... covering up the bald spots with more length. Basically I had turned into my Chemistry teacher from secondary school. I couldn't stand seeing what were once full locks turn into whisps off straggeld combover that were afraid to even set foot in the rain. Now was the moment so I seized it.
I was a norwood 4/5. I had contacted places in London first and set up a consultation at the Harley street clinic. Very nice place and very professional. They were going to offer me 2000- 2200 grafts for £8,000 and ask me to come in again a year later to get another 2000 grafts done. I didn't throw this option out the window but for £8,000 I wanted to view my options as it's a lot of money so I investigated some high end reputable clinics in Turkey. After sending my photos into about 8 different clinics in Turkey I started narrowing down my options reading websites, forums, different types of hair transplantation.
So I narrowed it down to:
AEK Hair institute (Dr Ali Emre Karadeniz)
ASMED (Dr Koray Erdogan)
Cosmedica (Dr Levent Acar)
Dr Cinik (Dr Emrah Cinik)
Once I had narrowed down these 4 choices I then started to look into the finer smaller details such as, price, customer care and communication, reviews, and before and after photos. It is not easy making a big decision such as this but there can only be one winner At some point I realised I had reached stalemate and was not getting any further in the decision process so I had to make a choice. In the end I chose Cosmedica (Dr Levent Acar) and I am going to explain my decision process in case there are any of you out there with the same dilemma as who to choose from. I am merely going to state my opinion so by no means am I trying to degrade or make the other HT clinics sound worse or inferior. This was only my journey and the results I found for myself.
AEK hair institute - After sending in my photos for consultation I found that the person I was speaking with on whats app was a bit pushy and gave me a choice out of FUT or FUE. Then he asked me if I wanted 3,000-3,5000 grafts or 4000-4,5000 grafts. I had to stop him and clearly say that I had no idea how many grafts I needed and which was the better option for me. I mean most places would have stated from the beginning that you need xxxx amount of grafts but this one just tried selling me 2 or 3 different options. He was kind enough to put me through to a Skype video call with Dr Karadeniz who was very pleasant to talk to but I still felt uneasy with what was said and what I needed. The more questions I asked the consultant the more he was saying that Dr Karadeniz is professional and not like the others and needed to see me in person and did not want to base everything on hairlines and my photos etc. I really felt like they just wanted to get me there and once there I would not really have a choice as to who to choose because i had done 75% of what was kind of needed anyway. Secondly, I was looking with great detail through the before and after photos of AEK institute and found that the actual hair styles of after the hair transplants were not appealing at all compared to the others I had seen from other clinics. Seriously, if my hair was going to look like those that were in the photos of AEK then I would have to give AEK institute a miss. I do not think they are doing themselves any favours by putting their after HT photos on the site. Take a look for yourself.
ASMED - This was very high on my list but I could not afford to go to a place such as this when Dr Cinik and Cosmedica also had such amazing results from the before and after photos like ASMED.
Dr Cinik- I had been talking to a consultant on whats app but had doubts so when reading the reviews online I had read that there had been quite a few people that had spoken to Dr Cinik so he could answer their questions. I thought that this was nice to have a doctors touch so asked the consultant if I could speak to Dr Cinik and she replied that she can talk and that everything must be spoken with her. Sorry but my pride got the better of me and I thought that if you want the sale then you go the extra mile to make the customer feel important. So this comment made me feel unimportant to them and if Dr Cinik really cared then he would have spoken to me.
Cosmedica - I had read some good reviews about Cosmedica. However there were a couple of reviews that stated that it was more like a high end place with high turnover based on technicians doing all the work. I found this to be untrue and technicians are really important in these places. I actually got in contact with the person who left a good review (Mr J) to ask him more questions and he ended up giving me his phone number so we could chat on the phone. Then we got on the whats app and he sent me photos of himself before surgery and at the three month stage after the transplant. I have to say that I was so impressed with his results and the way Mt J spoke of Dr Acar and the clinic that it was in fact Mr J that sold it to me. Mr J also put me in contact with a representative from Cosmedica (who is English) called Mike so I could chat with him more. Mike was very talkative and friendly and has also had two transplants with Cosmedica so I asked Mike to show me his photos via whats app. WOOOOOOWWWWWWWW! Mind blowing. I could not believe that hair transplants could make you have hair that looked this good again. One really positive thing I have to say about Mike is that he was not giving me any hard sell but was asking me to review carefully and to research and let him know if I had any problems. So I went away, looked into Cosmedica more. After one week of more researching and going back and forth I phoned Mike again and set dates and booked my flight to Istanbul.
I explained to Mike that I wanted Dr Levent to open the channels and create the incisions and that I was willing to spend more money to get Dr Acar to do this just for peace of mind. Mike said that this is possible and this would be the VIP package which also included up to 70% more pain free anaesthetic (non needle) it's like a gas gun which shoots a high pressure jet of anaesthetic into you. The VIP package also had 3 nights in the Raddison blue hotel, airport transfers to surgery, hotel and airport + more.
Before Surgery
Day 1
So on arrival at Ataturk airport I was picked up and taken to the hotel.
Day 2
Had breakfast and met the driver in the lobby who took me and a group of 4 others onto the Cosmedica that day. In total there were 5 of us and we all started to bond and get to talk about the whole thing as we were all in the same boat.
On arrival at Cosmedica we were taken to the reception where we were given a questionnaire. We were all given blood tests and blood was extracted from our arm so they could formulate the blood for the PRP injection. Then the all important chill pill (Xanax) to relax us and then onto Dr Levent for our pre-op consultation.
I walked into Dr Levents office, shook hands and we spoke about my objectives and hairline and main goals to achieve. I showed Dr Levent screen shots on my phone of previous Cosmedica patients of their scalp just after the FUE operation and then how their hair had turned out. (One of them being Mr J). Dr Acar immediately could see what I was looking for which was high density in the front and mid section. So it was agreed to give me a new hairline by bringing the current one down by about a Centimetre and packing in the front and mid section and new hairline with high density. Dr Levent explained that he would try and place as many grafts after that towards the crown area after that but admitted that I may not have enough grafts in this session so would expect the crown area to be less dense. I accepted that this would be the case as I was a Norwood 4/5 so would need two transplants for maximum effect. He drew the new hairline on me (this felt really exciting) and drew on my donor area and then it was off to the photo room to document the merkin on my head. After this I was taken to the wash room to shave my head. I had been really looking forward to this part because I had never had a grade 1 before so couldn't wait to feel it and see it. Wow, the weight that lifted off my head. the whole experience felt very therapeutic and uplifting, knowing that from this point onwards this was really about my own metamorphosis into bringing back a part of me that I had wanted for years.
The procedure
Step 1 - PRP needle injection - Yep, it hurt a little but this lasted 10 seconds and only about two injections.
Step 2 - The needle free pain injectors blasters - I got about 10 of these I would say all around the head. I wouldn't say it was painful, it is more of a shock factor when it hits you. It was like some annoying kid at school who would come up to you unexpectedly flick the back of your head and catch you off guard.
Step 3 - The extraction of the hairs from the donor area - This did not hurt at all. I was asked constantly at the beginning when testing the areas if there was pain and if there was discomfort they would pump it up with a bit more anaesthetic. When the head was totally numb you really feel nothing. Some moments I started snoring as the Xanax kicked in and I was that relaxed. One of the technicians had the sweetest voice and sang to the radio a little bit which showed she was relaxed but also enjoying her job.
Step 4 - Opening the canals with incisions - Dr Acar walks into the room, puts his hand on my shoulder to let me know he is there and asks me if I am ok and quietly says that he will now perform the incisions and opening of my channels. We speak a little while he is doing this mainly about grafts, medication and the after care but overall everyone was very attentive during this very important procedure and it was almost like a ritual where silence fell, the technicians had stopped singing and talking and were intently waiting for the professional to finish his work of art. The incision process is the most skilful part of the transplant procedure and it not about merely sticking holes in the head, but getting the density right, the direction correct, using the right width of punches from the FUE motor (i.e. is he going to give the sides a 0.75 and then blend this into the top with 0.80 holes. Not only was a surgeon in the room but an artist and I could understand afterwards why everyone fell silent during his presence. I guess for concentration. After the incisions were made he asked me again if I was ok and that he would see me soon.
Step 5 - Once the incisions were made I was led out to reception and given lunch (A sandwich , sweet fruit juice and chocolate cake) I devoured the lot. I was so hungry and I was actually gagging for sugar and I don't normally have a sweet tooth. It must have been the blood loss and I suppose, slight shock of the whole procedure and they wanted my sugar levels to go up.
Step 6 - Returning to the surgery room I got back on the bed, by this stage I was so relaxed, lying on my back and drifted off making snoring noises while the technicians initiated the final stage of planting all my grafts into the decisions that Dr Acar had made.
After 7 hours of being in surgery I was finally released, given instructions and taken back to the hotel.
After Surgery
After passing 2 nights in the hotel and wandering around Istanbul with my new found hair follicular chums I was picked up on the Monday morning and taken back to Cosmedica for my first head wash. It felt great to finally get the bandages off and to feel clean before my flight home.
A few tips that may help some of you that have already decided to get a hair transplant:
1) Do take a proper neck support pillow on your trip. You are going too need it. Although we were all given a complimentary inflatable neck support pillow by Cosmedica in order to sleep vertically at a 45 degree angle at night it felt constricted around the neck. I would really recommend buying a really comfortable memory foam pillow at the airport in the UK before you fly. Dixons sell a great one for £22.
2) Do not worry with what you might find after waking up the first morning after your procedure. My bed pillow and neck pillow were stained with blood (photo attached) and I was worried but later told this was completely normal. The donor area is still tender and is recovering. Cover the pillows with some towels and be prepared.
3) Do not remove your headband however tempting this may be. One of our group who had left a day early, returned home, took off his head band off and send us photos of himself and it looked like he had beaten up. He looked terrible.(huge puffy face and black eyes)
4) make sure you have a good breakfast in the hotel. This is the only food in the hotel worth eating and you can keep going back for more fresh scrabbled eggs.
5) During the day of surgery ands before your consultation with Dr Acar Have a list of pre-prepared questions ready on a piece of paper for Dr Acar. It is easy to forget some questions you have on the day due to nerves. Take your time and know everything you need to know.
6) When you get your head shaved to a grade 1, get some photos of it for a laugh so you can it to your mates :)
I have nothing more to add about Cosmedica for the time being apart from the fact Dr Acar was a gentleman and he was very kind , supportive and never pushy or unrealistic. An honest Dr and I respected his practice. The team at Cosmedica all knew what they were doing and were very polite and comforting. You could tell there was a good system in place between them. Some forums complain about technicians running the show but do not let that put you off with reputable clinics. There is nothing wrong with technicians being part of the team and being trained by a qualified and experienced Dr such as Levent Acar. Remember that the Dr has his company and reputation to uphold so he would not leave such important work to technicians who were incapable of carrying out his legacy.
Thank you to all who were there in my surgery and who placed all my little new friends on my head. All I can do now is wait for the results. I will post my before and after pics now and update every 3 months.
Good luck everyone with finding the right HT for you!