FUT+FUE Hybrid Hair Transplant 4680 Graphs

This is my realself review. If you want the short version: I am pleased with the progress so far at day 3 and have had instant responses to follow-up care – procedure and process were well beyond expectations – and I highly recommend going to Turkey with Dr. Apaydin and his patient coordinator/patient friend Leila Ramazanova.

Here is the long version: I am 48 years old, and have had a receding hairline since early 20’s. I keep in good shape, but no matter how well I maintain muscle tone I still have to look in the mirror and then the confidence gets cracked. I am happily married, its unnecessary by my wife's opinion, but it matters to me. I’ve tried the noninvasive options – Rogaine 2x daily since age 23, finasteride 1.25 mg since about age 35. And yes, they seem to slow things down but the progression was still occurring. Rogaine would at times give me blisters on my head. It left my hair greasy in the morning ritual, so around age 40 I just dosed double at night and washed my head in the morning. I never felt any side effects people fear about finasteride – it made me wonder if I was taking a placebo at times because the pill is so small and you have to also cut it in quarters because mine comes in small 5 mg pills. You are supposed to take 1.25 mg a day. Well, I bite a corner off a day and it averages out. But that is besides the point, finasteride worked to a limited extent with Rogaine to slow the progress but not halt my hair loss, and on the forehead area it had little effect and I hated the look I was able to go with.
So in the year of 2021 with COVID related “work at home” going on it seemed like it was a good timeframe for me to consider a transplant. I got up the nerve to go to a local “GetMoreHair” location in the US. The coordinator was very nice, and gave good advice, and represented good doctors from what I could tell. In Minnesota I was quoted a cost of $11 K (US dollars) for 2600 grafts via FUT process. Now I had searched the web and was hearing about DHI, FUE, sapphire FUE, etc. There is a lot of technique and marketing, so its confusing to know what is right for a comparison shopper like me. For 11K it seemed I was paying for a doctor/technician team to fly to me, do the surgery, and fly out. A lot of money spent in transport. And unfortunately I am one of those people that has a lot of questions and the coordinator did not build my confidence but rather gave me the impression of a salesman. So I started to actually think about overseas options and read “realself” reviews, joined the facebook groups on “hairloss conquerors” and “overseas versus at home hair restoration”. After some reading the “realself” reviews seem like they are contracted writers– many use the word “experience”, and in a world with so much online deception, deceptive marketing, I question everything. So I started reading any bad reviews – you know those can’t be marketing agents, right? I also looked at which doctors were members of International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS), figuring these doctors would have invested in the career more thoroughly that other pop-up overseas outfits. And finally I submitted for quotes and opinions from the online doctors: Tayfun, Cinik, Apaydin, LongHairCenter, etc. All are probably good but didn't give me teh "this is it" feeling. Apaydin was the only one suggesting FUT and FUE. They others were suggested FUE, or DHI with FUE, to a wide range of graphs from 2600 to 4000, with a range in costs from 2500 euro to 4500 euro. While I dreaded the thought of a long thin FUT scar, it was also the procedure the American doctor consultation recommended because it preserved more donor area if additional hair restoration or corrective restoration became necessary. Dr. Apaydin promoted the hybrid surgery as the best way to get the highest graphs in a single session and let’s face it, travel expense and flights from USA are not cheap so I wanted to get the best single operation. But still I debated – I am not a regular traveler outside the US, and only had 1 trip to Europe 30 years prior. So this Turkey travel was way out of my comfort zone. But then that is where Lella stepped in as patient coordinator. She maintained constant contact, was honest and factual, and had no deep sales pitch – just an honest discussion about what I could expect from the process. I do not know when she sleeps, because at 8 hours’ time difference I was always getting prompt responses. For communication it was either email or WhatsApp. I had never used WhatsApp and became comfortable with it. And before I made the decision, I got up at 2AM and had a verbal call over WhatsApp with Leila just to make sure this was not a weird artificial intelligence I was chatting with the whole time. Everything checked out, and questions were meticulously answered. In August I reserved an appointment date of September 7, then booked the airline ticket. I bought medical travel insurance from Generalli so I felt that was a little precaution if something goes wrong medically. It was recommended to travel in business class or first class by some on Facebook discussion for the return flight, so I sprang for the extra $600 fee to get that upgrade. And thank goodness, because the trip from Amsterdam to Istanbul was so cramped my knees were permanently gouged by the seat back table on the way in. The overseas leg of the journey was half full due to COVID. At Istanbul airport I exchanged 60 US dollars for Lira, then bought a Turkcell phone sim card for $40 US. That took time, and I ended up at the wrong door for my driver but these Turks are so nice they help everyone find their way, and many speak enough English to communicate with patience.
Arrived at a nice hotel AC Marrott in downtown Istanbul, then notified Leila. She arranged to pick me up 7:30 AM the next morning, and drink plenty of water and eat breakfast. The morning of 9/7 I am extra nervous. Getting on the airplane was a big step of nervousness, but now leaving a hotel for surgery in a foreign land was amplifying this pit in my stomach to a level I had never been before. I do not do these sort of things, and my mind is screaming “This is crazy!”. Leila arrived by cab, greeted me with a great smile and spoke perfect English. She was very reassuring. We got in the cab and drove about 10 blocks to the office. From there she explained what was coming in the day. I changed into a gown, but delayed payment until after the consult. I wanted to understand what I was paying for in a hairline before handing over cash. Yes, it was euro cash, and the whole time I am thinking I might be robbed or lose it or taxied into some alley just as some crafty con game. But I took a leap of faith, and it is actually surprising how small a stack of bills $4500 in euro is. It was easily fitting in a travel wallet I hung around my neck. I ordered the euros from my US bank which charged a fee of nearly 7% - what a rip off, and only later I was informed that the doctor would have taken US dollars at the more favorable exchange rate. If I had to complain about anything I wish I would have confirmed US dollars as cash would be acceptable rather than converting before travel. What is done is done.
Back to the surgery day. My hair was dyed black to tell where good donor area was and remaining hair. Then they took some blood for HIV/HEP tests and PRP treatment. Then its off to the consult with the doctor and assistants. Other people on Facebook have reported how quick the hairline drawing process considering the dramatic implications, and I tend to agree. Dr. Apaydin drew lines and made measurements. He stood back and discussed with assistants, which was reassuring to me because this is an art and it is good to have multiple opinions. Then once the forehead was drawn he worked over the rest of the top of my head, drawing the vertex section for implants, drawing other lines like the Norwood scale lines, and measuring areas. He was very focused. There is no joking going on and you can tell he is serious about this effort as a very important plan. He answered questions I had, and while I had spent time before the trip gathering my photos from when I was 25 years old for reference, he only looked slightly at them. Instead, he said he was making the best plan in his view for the conditions. And when Dr Apaydin says this, you can see many years of experience in his eyes telling you something you should believe in. I was not going to be 25 again, but the transplant was going to look good, dense and natural.
Off to surgery. The pit in my stomach was huge at this point. My thoughts were screaming “This is crazy” again. But then the head having started and the anesthesia was starting to be injected into the scalp. If you have ever been to the dentist and received novacane, that is what this anesthesia was like – your head is numb. But the pain was nothing. I am expecting pain from what others have posted, but it was hardly anything and I would take this over a dentist needle any day. The nurses are very careful to poke all over your head and ask f you feel pain so they can get total coverage of the anesthetic. It was very thorough, and your head feels like you have two pillows surrounding it whenever they touch it after this application of anesthesia. . And from there you can feel plucking going on and buzzing on the back of your head, but nothing of any pain. Dr Apaydin came in to do the skin strip removal – the gross part that everyone (including me) fears will leave them looking like Frankenstein. It was painless. I have a big bone and concavity on the back of my scull, and he said “not a problem” he has seen it all. He cut the strip out – I did not see it. It went above my right ear all the way to above the other ear, with a slight downward arch in the back of my head. I was doing “scalp flexibility exercises” for four weeks prior to surgery as per Leila’s suggestion. I am sure it helps, but I was not religious about getting 10x a day for 5 minutes each. I did maybe half of that on a daily basis. But my scalp apparently was suitable then for the FUT procedure. The next thing was staples to close the extracted strip of flesh. This was the weirdest sensation – your scalp and neck skin getting pulled together and zipped up. You hear this staple sound and pressure on the scalp/neck skin as the wound is stapled together from right ear to left ear, or maybe it met in the middle coming from either ear…, but anyway really there is no pain, just a tightness sensation in the skin. Next came the incisions. Dr. Apaydin does the incisions to insert hair grafts and gets the incision orientation to match the trajectory of the hair area. He is pragmatic about it, and it takes some time but as I laid their face down I felt very comfortable and had no reservations – the pressures and incisions were where I expected them to be and where I know my bald spots are. It was progress toward getting those areas fixed. At the same time the FUE extraction is going on by a nurse or assistant, and three to four nurses are using the strip of hair on a table to extract hair follicles with magnifying glasses. They spent a long time doing that tedious work. The doctor finished the incisions, the nurses kept processing the extractions, and I went to eat a lunch they provided. I think it was around 11:45 but my sense of time from that day was not good. After ½ hour to 40 minutes it was back to the operating room lying back down but chin pressed as far toward my chest as possible. The nurses spent 3 to 4 hours implanting hairs, single hairs in the front, transitioning to doubles and multi hair beyond. I have pretty thin hair and medium to poor density, light brown straight hair, so we will see how it turns out. But in the transition are of forehead I am sure they know what they are doing for a natural result. You can tell this is an exhausting day for the nurses and I tipped them each a little money halfway through the implantation, but it should have been more for the level of patience and precision they were exercising. They were such nice people making a big change for me. I thought it was only two technicians working on my forehead area, but technicians were also planting in the back of my head without me knowing it. They would re-inject and re-check if I needed local anesthesia throughout the day. I fell asleep for a little bit, and it was difficult if sometimes painful to hold my chin to chest the whole time. But that tilted head was necessary for them to have the access to make the implants. They offered me opportunity to watch movies or listen to English music, but I really did not need that I was just relaxed without entertainment – probably from the 14-hours of flight the day before felt good to be laying on the back. The surgery lasted until 4:40 PM with PRP injection in the crown area before I left. Bandaged up, received post care instructions and a folder with well-written in formation on pills day by day, return to activities schedule, hair grafts and hair counts per graft. 10,159 hairs, 4680 grafts, 3600 grafts via FUT and 1280 via FUE. A written list of all the meds I was given, the ones I will be taking, and the frequency and purpose. This was all verbally explained by Leila – no errors - she knows her stuff. But later that evening I had to double check and get it all straight in my head with the paperwork– everything written in English was very easy to comprehend and to the point – no ambiguous descriptions. My thought after all this is that I received a lot of quotes, discussed with other coordinators, but none gave me the sense of a partnership and truth like Leila provided. I would not go anywhere else given the cost/value/quality of Dr Apaydin and Leila as a coordinator. They are the real deal. The Dr. is straightforward, no-nonsense and a precision person. He is like an engineer focused on the work, and that is what you need from the quality doctor, not a buddy. Leila was the buddy and convinced me to go to Dr. Apaydin. She sold me and continues to impress. It is like having a personal assistant holding your hand the whole time anytime you have a question, and you never get a response that might make you think “she doesn’t know” or is dodgy. For family, friends, or anyone else who is contemplating a hair transplant I would give Dr Apaydin and Leila Ramazanova my highest referral recommendation.
Well that is my review on Day 3 from surgery or the honeymoon period. I will report back later crossing my fingers in the mean time.