Black African Afro FUE Hair Transplant W/ Dr Cinik.

Step 1 - First Hair Transplant (Month(s) 1,2,3)
The first hair FUE transplant will take place in Istanbul, Turkey. Most clinics within Istanbul fall within my budget. Yes, I’ve heard the old adage; “You get what you pay for”, but this is not always the case with hair transplants. Quick note; Turkey is one the leading destinations in the world for body esthetic procedures due to cost and their vast amount of clinics. If the operation is a success then I will likely need a second transplant due to my current hair loss area. With mixed reviews from my photos, most clinics say that the balding area is too large and will not be fully covered. I am going into this knowing that a lot is depending on the first transplant but also that my expectations should not be too high seeing as that black hair is a challenge and my balding area is quite large. This may be a concern for most, but after reading reviews from many different sources, I realize that my best bet when dealing with black hair, is not too simply go to the clinic that has the best hair reviews, but to go with a clinic that has a great track record in dealing with black clients. Some doctors and clinics may have greater overall reviews until you came across their occasional review from a black client. It shows that their lack of experience in dealing with this hair type, leading to poor results. It’s important to note that I have extremely kinky curly hair; it’s not “Arab” black hair, which is common with people from Northeast Africa and is slightly easier to deal with. One of the most difficult challenges in dealing with black hair is the follicular extraction technique. Black hair is curled under the scalp, which makes FUE extraction a huge challenge, even for the most experienced hair surgeons. The reality is that with all hair transplants there will be a certain percentage of follicles which get transected. This percentage increases with the extraction of Afrocentric hair. It’s important that the clinic you are dealing with has special tools or techniques for dealing with this issue. You are getting a hair transplant with hair that is donated from stronger parts of your head, so you don’t have unlimited hair to experiment with. When getting before and after photos from clinics, make sure that you are getting pictures of your exact hair type or something relatively close to your hair type. You should also do reverse image searches to make sure they are not sending photos that have been grabbed from somewhere else on the net. I did quite a bit of research and one thing made a lot of sense, and that was that one should not get a hair transplant believing all is fixed. Hair loss is typically progressive and you must have a long term plan in order to deal with it. Hair loss can be depressing and a blow to self-esteem, but it’s not the end of the world. If you have a goal, do everything possible to achieve it. I decided that I would explore every possible option for restoration. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” I will continue my research and look into the latest treatments as they come about. Hair might soon be grown in labs, fingers crossed!! ;) I have drawn up a long term plan. This is the first step. Wish me luck!! Special thanks to all the black guys on realself! I read all of your reviews and decided to add a contribution of my own. I know it’s a lot of writing, but the more info you have, the better prepared you’ll be.
My Clinic Choice:
Dr. Emrah Cinik
This is a doctor with over 14 years of experience. What I found consistent about him was that no matter where I looked on the net, the reviews were pretty much unanimous; he did great work, for a great price. I scrubbed the net for pretty much all mentions of his name in multiple search engines and all major social platforms. Another advantage of his clinic is that they don’t mess around various types of procedures. They deal with hair and that’s it! Dr. Cinik worked with another renowned hair doctor by the name of Dr. Acar at a company called Clinicana before opening his own practice.
Results:
So the transplant was a success up until now, but still needs to wait to see the actual growth in a few months’ time. Yes, black guys can do FUE, although FUT is likely a better option if your doctor can manage scarring. The clinic is run very efficiently and there are different people to make sure all aspects of your trip are well taken care of. I was picked up from the airport and taken to the hotel, which is very close to the clinic. I did the consultation and operation on the second day. They took blood, I signed a waiver, gave passport copy, payment, the gave food, took pictures and performed a full consultation with Dr. Cinik, where he then drew the hair line (bring some references from your younger days if you can) I didn’t bring, but I know I’ll be back, so wasn’t my focus. The transplant itself took about 8 hours for me. Each person will differ depending on how much work needs to be done on you. The most painful part was the Anesthesia. Anesthesia in the chest area hurts like a b*t*h). Everything else was mostly pain free. I don’t recommend it, if you’re not good with pain. Dr. Cinik and his team were able to extract 3400 grafts in total for the first transplant. Part of the reason I chose this clinic was for their ability to extract donor hair from other parts of the body and of course the fact that they had experience in working with black hair. They extracted units from the back of the head, under the chin /beard area and chest. (Dr. Cinik spent some time with me but only as expected. He’s a super busy guy. He did the initial assessment, checked in every so often on the extraction process, performed most of the channel openings and eventually we had post-op consultation together. The fact that a hospital has many clients shouldn’t always be a turn off. More work means more experience for their technicians. Their technicians were very caring and it looks like a job well done. I think 5 people in total worked on me. My donor area behind the head was not great at first observation, but it provided more hair than was expected. I do plan on a second transplant later in the year, where I will focus on the crown area and lower the hairline slightly (only maybe). Istanbul was a blast. Although I was mainly there for a transplant, I stayed 10 days to check out the city and relax a bit after my visit. It’s an amazing city, so I’ll definitely return.

It's been exactly 3 months since my transplant. I noticed that I never posted any photos of what my hair looked like prior to the transplant, so I've added one. You'll notice that I was almost completely bald down the middle of my head and crown, minus a few hairs that were hanging on for dear life. It’s was a quite serious scale of baldness. Since the transplant, I would say there has been considerable growth, but keep in mind I have not cut anywhere on the transplanted area, so the original hairs have grown out and have curled. This may give a false impression of density. Some of the transplanted hairs have still not fallen out and started to grow directly. Some of these hairs have a thick texture, which lead me to believe they are from my beard area. I can also see small and thin hairs sprouting up. One week post opt is when I began to take hair growth vitamins, collagen and Proscar (in small doses). It has not affected any sexual appetite or performance, so I have continued with the Proscar, as recommended by the doctor. I have stuck to the supplement regime religiously, as I hear it can take several months to notice results. My hair is definitely not at a stage where I’m ready to show it off, but I’m being patient. So far, so good!

Its been just over 6 months since my transplant. Certain areas of my head have been growing much quicker than others and this required me to trim those areas down significantly, so that I wouldn't look ridiculous. If you look at my photos you'll see the areas that are quite weak. These areas also have very low density and will need close attention during my second transplant. I would say the results have matched my expectations up until now. There was a period of doubt, but I realize it's important to stay optimistic, especially with this being a very long process, requiring multiple transplants. I have continued using Proscar, hair vitamins and avocado seed oil to keep the scalp from getting too dry. I'm hoping to get a slight improvement over the next few months before my next transplant. If you have any questions, please ask away!