Hair Transplant with Dr Cinik

Added some images as promised

I am not one for writing reviews and I am somewhat sceptical about some of the reviews I have read on this and other hair loss forums, however I used these forums extensively to help me decide if A) I should have a hair transplant and B) where I should get it done. Having gone through the process now I feel its only right I share my experience.
I am a 37 year old Asian male from Leeds (UK). I started loosing hair around my temples as early as 16 and this has gradually got worse, I started to thin on my crown last year too and finally decided if I don't do something about it now I will be completely bold in about 5 years time.
I decided the best option for me was to take the HT route because:
1. Well documented excellent results achieved by celebrities
2. Two close friends have had good results and the forums also suggest it works.
3. The recent advancement in FUE method seemed less invasive and painful than FUT
4. It was the only option available to me to get my frontal hairline rebuilt (which was my main concern)
I had decided early on that I would get my procedure done in Istanbul Turkey rather than the UK. I took this decision for the following reasons:
1. Istanbul has a very well established HT industry (over 300 clinics and 100s of procedures carried out every week)
2. The cost is much cheaper than the UK
3. Friends who had been out there for the procedure have had a positive experience and result.
Now for the hard part, how do you work out which is the best clinic to visit? If you read the forums and check out the youtube reviews it seems some of these guys are promoting certain clinics, I might be wrong, but its just the feeling I got.
I narrowed my search down to the following clinics, all of which I felt were more or less reputable:
1. Gethair
2. Dr Cinik
3. Esmad
4. Maral clinic
I made contact with all of these clinics through watsapp / email and found communication to be good, they all offer a similar service and were priced within about £500 of each other except Esmad which is a lot more expensive than the others. Esmad prices are on par with the best clinics in the uk, although their work seems to be very good, it just didn't make sense for me to travel abroad and pay as much as what it would cost here in the UK. I didn't actually feel like I would get that much more for my money than the other clinics.
I chose to go with Dr Cinik, I took this decision because:
1. My research indicated he was a well established and renowned HT doctor.
2. IHRS certified
3. Excellent reviews and recommendations online
4. Offered a set up which had experience of dealing with international clients
5. Professional online consultation
6. Good gut feeling from looking at his web / social media post
This is my honest opinion about the procedure itself:
I had my surgery on 5th Feb 2018, I am not going to talk about the travel / accommodation etc which was all excellent because id rather concentrate on the procedure itself.
I travelled alone, and did not get much sleep the night before because I was nervous.
I was picked up along with three others at 7am on the day of the surgery and brought to Kolan hospital where immediately I had my bloods taken. The guy who took my bloods was on the phone before and after injecting me, in all honesty this did not fill me with great confidence for the day ahead.
Straight after my bloods were taken I was taken to see Dr Cinik, who seemed like a nice guy, he speaks English well and I was able to communicate what I wanted to get out of my procedure. He drew my frontal hairline which I felt was nice but conservative, so I asked for some small amendments which he made. I then spoke to him about defining my lower temple point area to which he was reluctant - he advised that this would look unnatural, I took on his advice and decided to drop the idea however in hindsight I think I made the wrong decision here. The target for my procedure would be approximately 2200 grafts on my frontal line and 1000 grafts to fill in my crown and top of my head.
Side note: Be very clear as to what you would like to achieve from your procedure, the consultation falls bellow par to what you would expect in the UK where a Dr would most likely go through every aspect of your hair loss, discuss long term expectation and plans and explain the procedure in a lot of detail. Here there are other patients waiting and you feel under pressure to be quick as you are aware that the doctor is very busy and they are trying to get you into surgery as quick as they can.
Next I filled out some paperwork and opted to pay an extra £300 for a new pressure gun anaesthetic which was meant to be pain free. Following this, once my blood test results were received I was taken to have my hair shaved off and then showed to the procedure room. The room is very small and you do feel a little claustrophobic, you lay head down on a medical chair most of the time which is comfortable, there is a TV but its pointless to be honest because there is no way your going to be able to concentrate on that whilst having this procedure done. The main thing to note is this room is clean and the hygienic standards are excellent.
When my procedure initially started there were three technicians in the room, now I was head down most of the time so I can’t be certain but I am pretty one kept coming in and out and the same two technicians who worked on me during the morning and afternoon.
They started by applying the anaesthetic with the pressure gun, although this was not as painful as the injections, it felt like someone was going at your head with a staple gun. This was uncomfortable and to be completely honest I would recommend just going for the standard injections. Once the anaesthetic kicked in I dint feel a thing, my head was rock solid. I kept hearing people come in and out of the room and there was a lot of talking and commotion amongst the staff who were speaking in their own language which I did find disorientating at times.
They started taking out my grafts with 0.7mm punch, you get the feeling of someone drilling in the back of your head similar to drilling when visiting the dentist, but there is no pain. I felt that the main technician knew exactly what he was doing and had total control of the procedure, he was a really nice guy, he always made sure I was comfortable and at no point did I feel afraid or in pain, in fact the very opposite. It was evident to me that this guy carries out this procedure every day and is highly skilled in the art of FUE. He could speak English and throughout the process he communicated well with me.
During the procedure Dr Cinik does come in on occasion to check on his staff and progress, he only actually carries out about 30 mins of the procedure itself which is opening some of the channels everything else is done by the technicians. It is important that you are aware that this is the set up they have and I guess given that they carry out multiple procedures on the same day there will be multiple technicians assigned to patients too, so the success of your procedure will to some extent depend on the skills of your allocated technician.
During the procedure I did find it difficult to stay still and at times I did have to ask the technician to allow me to get up and move my head around, he would usually tell me to wait until an appropriate time as they are working with very sharp objects.
At the end of the procedure when I got up and looked at the work the technician had done I was very impressed, I don't know how my results will turn out but in terms of a the new hairline they created and the way in which they filled in the bolding areas, it looked really neat and it was obvious that a lot of time and effort had gone into the way in which the grafts had been placed.
Once the procedure had finished I was offered a drink and some food which I needed at the time, I did feel a little light headed but nothing to worry about. I got dropped off back at the hotel at about 5pm.
The following day we were picked up and taken to Dr Cinik’s office across the road from the hospital where he took of the bandage covering the back and looked at the procedure. Following this we were given some aftercare advice and offered a meds pack that included a 6 month supply of biotin and proscar (finasteride 5mg). I didn’t opt to buy this as I wanted to do a little more research. If you do go for the meds pack do you research, I found that you only really need 1mg of finasteride to treat male pattern boldness.
Overall I feel like I have had a successful procedure and I will use Dr Cinik again in the future. Its a modern hospital, you are made to feel safe and the staff are highly experienced, you cant ask for much more than that. It is important to understand that they are offering a service and a product at a price point which is highly competitive. In the UK you would probably have a more detailed consultation, it is likely you will be the only patient and the Dr themselves will carry out the procedure, however you would have to part with an additional 6k for this privilege and there is no guarantee that your doctor will be as good as the technician I got at Dr Cinik’s clink.
Good look guys, I intend to post some pictures and updates in the coming months.