Beard Transplant at Clinicana, Turkey

It's about 30 months post op now and the situation is really not much different from the last time I update. I have not undergone any treatment this year, I just decided to let nature take its course. The redness in the graft area has gone down a little, but not much. It is now very clear that it is originating directly from the grafts as it is mostly limited to small red circles directly around the graft itself. Also with a mirror I can clearly see scaring of the dermis (round indentations). This is small in each case, but the cumulative effect is a red zone in my beard line.

I think that the grafts in my cheeks will have to be removed. I will probably try some form of laser resurfacing for the pigmentation and scaring and if an acceptable result is achieved use laser hair removal to kill the grafts and let them fall out naturally.

In the chin area I am growing a goatee (only possible as I had hair here to begin with) to cover redness and skin damaged caused by Clinicana. I see their website boasts that they are the best hair surgeons in Istanbul. What a load of crap.

So almost two years post-op and the problem persists. I have had some success with VBeam pulsed dye laser so I think that the problem is vascular as this laser targets hemoglobin in blood vessels. But I live very far from anyone that has this laser and it's not possible for me to travel regularly, so I don't know if it will be effective long-term. I have tried topicals (various steroids/anti-fungals) - they don't work at all. I have learned to accept this situation now, but will continue to try and improve it when I can. It's just no longer so important. Also I would like to warn people that since I posted this, I'v received pms advocating a certain Dr in the US. I don't appreciate such advertising so please don't try again.

I had a beard transplant at Clinicana in Istanbul Turkey. It was a huge mistake and I just want to warn anyone thinking of doing it - just don't or at least wait, save up and go the best surgeon in the US. But my advice is simply don't do it. Unless you have thick scalp hair, it's unlikely you will be happy with your result. Most of my grafts survived but I really do not want to grow my beard out, it just looks too bad. If I have a close shave the stubble is very visible and really it's not nearly dense enough to look real for proper beard. I had a reasonable goatee before so actually 3-day beard with a thicker goatee looks ok, but if you had nothing before all your new facial hair will just look really unnatural I think. Secondly the density of implanted hair is constant - again this looks really unnatural.
And now the thing that has really broke my heart: my skin in the transplant site is ruined. It is now almost 1 year post op and the skin is red and darkly discolored exactly where transplants have been added. And because they made all the lines really straight and fake (against my wishes) it looks really obvious and weird. Surgeons will tell you it is a sign of infection and will go with appropriate medication. Let me tell you this is BS. I see more and more people online with the same problem and I have been seeing a dermatologist for 6 months - we've tried everything laser, ipl, dermabrasion plus all kinds of steroids, antifungals and antibiotics - no change. My skin is permanently discolored. You can image what consequences this will have for my life.
Something about Clinicana, there were lots of patients there and they seem quite busy. My experience of course was terrible so I cannot say in general, but I think they are quite popular. However, the nurses who did my treatment were really not good people. One of them kept squirting water in my ear, there was no reason for this except she enjoyed it, she even giggled. When I finally get angry the other nurse told her to stop. And it is the side of the face that she did, which is the worst. The other side is much less noticeable. These are the kind of employees that might treat you if you go to Clinicana. Also the doctors seem more like PR guys, I don't even know if they were doctors seeing as they didn't treat me. When I contacted Clinicana with my problems, they just said "It great result, yes ;-)".
So just be warned there is no post operative care with Clinicana, you will be out on your own.