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Said he should be able to get 4000-5000 grafts - Was only 3000

UPDATED FROM raido72
10 days post

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$2,100
Here are the photos.

raido72's provider

Tugrul Maral, MD

Tugrul Maral, MD

Plastic Surgeon

Overall rating
Doctor's bedside manner
Answered my questions
After care follow-up
Time spent with me
Phone or email responsiveness
Staff professionalism & courtesy
Payment process
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Replies (58)

I do have email where he does make this promise. He was provided pictures (I know you can only tell so much from pictures) and he (like several other clinics I consulted) said I had good donor area. They day of the surgery was the first time he said I had limited donor area. I was willing to accept this but after the surgery he said I had great donor area again and could do 2 more sessions. When I asked why he was now saying I had good donor and the day before he said I was limited, he replied that he could tell until they had done the extractions.

Again, several other patients who were in at the same time as myself had the same issue. I suspect the clinic was over whelmed that day and did the minimum in order to get everyone done. The pictures are as clear as I had hopped.

If it had just been me who was made these promises, I would have understood and not had an issue, but there was 3 other people (2 were in for smaller areas and had been promised 2000-3000).

Like I keep saying, I believe his team has done great work. I have seen many positive reviews. Many of the concerns I'm raising are not huge, but a few are. The two biggest is the lack of communication the day of the surgery and allowing drivers into the surgery room. This is something that several people have also commented on.
mahir, he posted pics. Not sure what you are looking for. I've seen a few reviews on this site and others which validate raido's concerns. I've seen others imply that the doctor is short mannered and more than willing to turn away business if you question anything. Like any business, it's not far fetched to believe that customer service (and some protocol) may suffer when you are taking in more clients than can reasonably handle.

I meant the pics of Maral promising him 5000 grafts in email. I believe this guy, but I think he is exaggerating everything for some reason. How do I know that ? Because, Maral simply doesn't promise you the any number of grafts (believe me I asked repeatedly). Read geomat's comment, he mentions the same thing.

I never said he promised 5000. This just shows you are reading what you want into it. I have an email and he says that he would be able to do between 4000-and 5000. There is also a form letter that says the price would be 2100 for between 3500-5000 grafts. I didn't receive the 3500 he charged for. The only reason I brought this up is that 3 other people on the same day had the same issue.

The two biggest issues is that the lack of communication and the drivers walking into the room. Everyone in the room was wearing masks and gloves and in walks the driver learning over my head chatting away.
Again, this is a review based on my experience. Everyday is different and maybe they had a bad day and over whelmed with patients.
all i said was prove it with a screenshot but you keep writing these long messages. Anyways, good luck

I'm jumping in before this conversation goes off track, I think enough has been said regarding the email and grafts, raido72 has made it very clear that he's sharing his own personal experience and what information he's comfortable sharing. Please move on from this topic -- thank you.

Good mediator Eva!! I hope you will see some improvement radio and all the best !
Maral does seem to give estimates of grafts, just look at theotjer reviews, but really Maral is in it to make money, these Turkish operations are just like the dentist working 3-5 chairs and techs doing most of it, expecting much else is insane. I emailed Maral myself, he seems a bit rushed, he wasnt rude, he said for specifics to ask him 'here'. Which at first i thought he meant here as in email, but he meant if I got to Istanbul. I am sure this is a good business for him he has zero need for hassle as so many like him, but there is a price you pay for the discount price, I think expectations need re-aligned. I also spoke to transest this week and they do seem equally as good in response and emails and they too make an estimate. But any old smartphone pic is never going to be the same as brushing hair back in real life - and so it has to to be tough for these clinics to be entirely accurate. Hair covers a lot.
Wrinkleyer, have you checked with Aestepool clinic (Dr Altan)? He's a nice guy and has a good reputation. It's worth a shot if you are looking for another option. Good luck.
Thanks for the tip !
I went to Dr. Altan. Very good guy I would recommend him!
Do you have a link?
What a degrading experience. The doctor obviously has no tact and lacks professionalism. I'm sorry for your experience.
Hi, we are from the UK. My son has just had his second transplant with Revitalize in Izmir. He has been losing his hair from age 15. He is now 22. He left a gap of a year between transplants as told to (at least). There care has been excellent. They even gave him 2 extra nights free in the lovely apartment they provided as he had a cheaper flight in staying longer. They took such good care of him, which I was so relieved about as he had to go alone. Ann Marie
Sorry meant their not there !!!
Hi Ann, was your son able to have transplant at such young age? How is his results?
Hi Ann I would like some advice about young person having transplant if you are able to help.
Please do update with some recent pictures, im curious to know how the transplant came out so far. Another patient of Maral posted some pics after 15 days and he looked very good. Thank You
ORIGINAL POST

I recently visited Dr. Maral and I must say it...

I recently visited Dr. Maral and I must say it didn’t go as smoothly as it should have. This is going to be lengthy as there is a lot to cover. The short version is that Dr. Maral team seems very fast, efficient and well trained but are not well organized, fail to communicate times, over promise on results, don’t keep you informed of what is going on. They treat you like you’re on an assembly line rather than as a patient.
I started losing my hair at an early age. When I was 31 I had a FUT surgery with a local doctor who promised 2500-3000 grafts. After the surgery I had a lot of pain and swelling and ended up with only 400-500 grafts. After this experience I started wearing a hair system to cover the transplant. When I first contacted Dr. Maral I provided him a full history and pictures of me without the system. The feedback I received was that I was a grade 7 hair loss and that I was an excellent candidate for the surgery. I was told that I had excellent donor area and that I would need 2 sessions to achieve full coverage. He explained that he should be able to get 4000-5000 grafts in the first surgery as I have excellent donor area. I was very skeptical about the number of grafts as many other clinics were saying I would get around 3000-4000 but after reading patient reviews who have similar hair loss to myself I decided to go with Dr. Maral. Dr. Maral was one of the more expensive clinics in Turkey that I contacted but he promised more grafts.
When scheduling my surgery I asked if there was better days that I should aim for as I was very flexible and could travel anytime and I also provided some dates that I was looking at. I was told the only day to avoid was Sunday as the clinic was closed and that the dates that I provided were fine as they had openings. I booked my flight and provided them with all the information. They confirmed the transfers and the date for the surgery (a Monday).
I flew in with my wife on the Sunday and was greeted by our driver. He was very friendly and we had a great conversation to the hotel. He provided some information about the area and some places to explore that evening. He wasn’t able to provide any information on what time I would be picked up the next day for surgery but said the hotel would be contacted in the morning. When booking into the hotel they had no information about my wife being with me and had booked me into a single room. They were able to correct this and provide a double room.
Up until this point things were running smoothly. Things started to fall apart and on the Monday. I wasn’t contacted by anyone from the clinic even after sending an email at 9:30 asking for timing. At 11am I called the clinic and was told that there were just about to call and that I would be picked up at 3pm. This made me very uncomfortable. I was already on pins and needles about the surgery because of my last experience and now I will have to wait until the afternoon. They had no answer as to why they couldn’t have communicated times before 11am except to say they were busy. They said the driver would pick me up at 3pm. At 1:30pm I was called in my room that the driver was downstairs for me.
The clinic was a short drive away. When I arrived in the clinic I was greeted Sonnur and was asked to pay for the surgery. I thought I would have had a consult with Dr. Maral first to review and make sure that everything was acceptable. I paid the fee and was then brought to see Dr. Maral.
He started the consult by apologizing for the delay. He explained that he had two patients miss their planes on Saturday and he was accommodating them today. I had some strong concerns about the people performing the surgeries working for that many hours on so many patients in one day. Would they be rushed and/or tired? Would I get the same results today as another day? He assured me that his technicians would be fine and that they do this many surgeries all the time. He then explained that a couple of the patients were only getting small amounts of grafts 2000 and they would be done quickly. He said mine was only 3000 and wouldn’t be that long. When I mentioned that he said he should be able to do 4000-5000 he said that my donor area wasn’t that good and that I had limitations. This is an exact opposite of what he said in emails. I pushed the point and he said he would have to see what he could do as I had short hair and it was hard to tell. He told me not to worry about it was I would need two surgeries anyways. The next topic was about hairline. He traced the standard hairline I had seen in most of his patients. I asked if it would not make more sense to narrow the hairline coming forward so we could provide thicker density and more coverage in the rear. I was told it would just make it look like I was losing my hair and that I shouldn’t worry about it as I would need a second session anyways. Dr. Maral seemed very rushed and didn’t seem interested in answering any of my questions other than to say this is how he does it. I was moved to another room where I was asked to remove my shirts and to put on a gown. The gown was very small on me (I take a large shirt) and I asked if they had something larger and was told that they didn’t. I was then instructed empty all my pockets into a bag. This was very troubling to me as there didn’t seem to be any reason for this. The people who were asking didn’t seem to understand me. They also focused in on my cell phone insisting that it must be given over. I refused this as my wife was having surgery of her own and I needed to keep in touch with her. Once I spoke to Dr. Maral he agreed to let me keep it as long as I didn’t use it during the donor extraction period. They next provided some drugs for me to take. I asked what they were for and again there was a language barrier. A lady had to be called into to explain what they were for. They then shaved my head and we moved to another room to see Dr. Maral. He looked at my head and had a long conversation and with one of the ladies who was pointing to the scar from my pervious surgery. When I asked what the story was or if there was any concerns, Dr. Maral said he was just consulting with her. I asked what about and I was told nothing to worry about. As the patient I felt very much like I was a meat market just being moved from one room to another. I had no feedback to my questions and I felt like it was just along for the ride.
The Surgery went well. The injections weren’t painful and the gentleman he who preforming them was very good at his job. The extraction team and the implant team (two different teams) were good at their job. Dr. Maral came near the end of the extractions saying that he was heading to the hospital as he had a surgery to perform and that there wasn’t any issues I was in good hands.
Another concern I had is the lack of privacy. The room I was in was off the main reception area and the door was always wide open. At one point I noticed that my driver was in the room looking over the results. During the surgery I was bored. They wouldn’t let me listen to my phone. They had a TV in the room but it was on nature station in Turkish (I’m assuming). I was provided any way to change the channel and the angle they kept my chair in prevent me from seeing the TV.
The end finally came. I was brought out to the reception area where one of the staff provided me with some medication. One pill for swelling, one for pain and one antibiotic. I was told I should take 1 of each three times a day and that I would be picked up the next day to have the dressing removed. I was told it would be around 11-12.
I didn’t sleep much that night because of the position I was told to stay in. I wasn’t in pain or any discomfort.
The next day at breakfast I ran into several other patients. At 9:30am I was called to say the driver was there for me. I came down and there was 5 of us there. The driver brought us to a midsize car and wanted us all to get in. The driver noticed that it was going to be very tight and said he would be right back for me. I went back into the hotel and ran into another patient who was late getting down. Not sure how the driver planned to fit 6 grown men into a 5 seat midsize car. The driver was back and we were taken back to the clinic. All six of us were gathered in the reception area and this is where they took the dressings of us. We were then all huddled up to Dr. Maral’s office as a group and he provided instructions for post care. Several questions were asked of him and he quickly dismissed them with the statement “he hasn’t seen any need for it and that it was a waste of time”. Again it felt like we were just meat being processed instead of patients.
I asked about the timing for the transfer to the airport and I was told to speak with the driver as he would arrange everything. I spoke with him and he said I would be going with another gentleman as our flights were an hour apart. He was also traveling with his wife and I raised a concern about fitting 4 people plus driver and all their luggage into a midsize vehicle. I was told not to worry about it that it would all fit. I tried to explain that my wife and I had larger size baggage as we were going on to another destination from there. The other gentleman said his wife and him were in the same situation. We were told not to worry about it that it would all be taken care of. I did call the clinic back at the hotel and was told that I needed to send an email. I sent an email explaining my concern. Dr. Maral responded and told me he would arrange separate transfers for us and then went on to say “but please do me a favor and prefer another clinic if you go more sessions? or your price will be 1000000 euro”.
That night I spoke with several of the other patients and they all were promised more grafts then they received and were very unhappy with the communication. One of the gentleman said he was supposed to have his surgery on Saturday but they rescheduled it to Monday and they need to give their staff some time off. Of the 4 other patients I spoke with, all were promised above the 4000 and all received around 3000.
I’m not sure of the end results yet but I’m hoping for the best. I will be looking at a second session in the fall but I can guarantee I will be going with another clinic.
Maybe this was the perfect storm for the clinic and they were overwhelmed but I suspect this was not the case.

Replies (142)

Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you find support in the community.

Sorry to hear it didn't go as you expected. I'm a patient of Dr Maral and I have to say my visit went like clockwork.please post some pictures and we can look forward to seeing your results. Best wishes Derek
Can you post some photos?
I always told myself if I decide to do a transplant in Turkey, I'm going to fly out there for a few days and visit a few clinics that I have in mind. Right now im considering my first hair transplant to be FUT for the reason being if I need more grafts in the future because i'm losing hair, I would still have a good donor area available for an FUT or FUE transplant. Im looking for a hair surgeon who performs good hairlines as well as a thin scar. I've seen some really thin scars where its less then 1mm and if anything, I can also go to Turkey to get the scar filled in with an FUE job. As long as the scar is thin and is not raised or it looks like its bumpy or anything, you can fill it in with a small FUE job and it will look ok.
I think having FUT first seems very sensible. That's what a lot of surgeons recommend. However, I had a look for FUT surgeons in Turkey but mostly they seem to do just FUE!
Hi radio, I'm sorry to hear about your experience. From what I've seen, this clinic has a very good reputation but may be a victim of their past successes. At this point the question is, will the end outcome be a positive one? You should post some before and after pictures to track progress. After 6-9 or 12 months, you may look back and think it was still worth it.
Well said!
I agree that the clinic has had many positive reviews and maybe it was just a case of them having too many patients in one day (something I highly suspect). Everyone had a bad day and maybe this was theirs. I don't judge people on having bad days or making mistakes, I judge them on how they react to them.
.....Ok maybe things didn't go exactly to plan, this can happen to us all, but you seem like a moaner to me, I think if all had gone perfectly, you would still have moaned, I can see why Dr. Maral lost his cool..... I had a great experience there on January..... Hope you have a great result, mine is going to plan.
I'm a little puzzled by your response. I must assume that you didn't take the time to read the whole review. if that is the case or if there was something that you didn't understand, please let me know I will clarify. I'm not the only one who had issues with the unprofessional way Dr. Maral handled himself. Allowing drivers to walk into an room where someone if having surgery? Failing to inform patients of the time of their surgery?

Again, if you had read my full review you would have read that maybe it was a "perfect storm" for the clinic and they we just overwhelmed. I did choose Dr. Maral because of the reviews that I had read here.

Just because you had a great experience doesn't mean everyone would or that the clinic can't have had a bad day. How is anything that I posted moaning? Some of it I wouldn't care about. Having all 6 patients in one room for the post op debrief wasn't a big deal but it is different from what I read other people experienced.
..... The reason why I commented is because I read your review, all of it..... You moaned about having to pay before you talked to Dr M, well that's how they do it, most reviews mentioned this, you want to change the rules do you..... You were questioning Dr M & technicians ability..... ..... The graft quote you first got was an estimate going by your photos, this may change..... You moaned about having to empty your pockets, we all had to do this, are you special ? ..... You moaned about the gown not fitting, same for me, I'm a big lad too, I just laughed about it, I mean I wasn't going to the restaurant in it..... You moaned about them not involving you in their conversation, why should they, could have been technical, maybe not about you..... You moaned about lack of privacy, what do you have to hide ? all the staff have seen it all before..... You should realize you are dealing with experts at the peak of their game, (never try to teach your Granny how to suck eggs) & even if a day doesn't go perfectly, just let them get on with it, they will sort things out much, much better than you..... I'm honestly hoping you get great result a few months down the line & maybe you will see this experience in a different light..... All the best.
just wondering if you would know how Maral Klinik final results look? do they accomplish decent looking hairlines & do they put the grafts in the correct direction according to the patients hair? I have noticed that lots of people post positive reviews about Maral Klinik on this website, but then I've read a few bad ones online that say it's a tech clinic and a hair mill, that there are a bunch of men going in for surgery all in one day. I'm very interested to see how their hairlines look. Thank you
..... Best way to find out is by looking at Marals after 10 months patients results on this Forum..... these people are experts so of course they implant in the correct direction..... There were 2 other patients when I was there, he has enough staff & operating rooms to cope..... I had a choice between British Clinics with less practice who take much longer & charge the price of a new car or Maral Clinic with expertly experienced staff for the price of a descent Hi-Fi, I made the best choice..... also look at transplant result photos from Clinics all over the world & you can see the best results are from Istanbul..... Good luck & I hope you choose well..... All the best.
I agree, his prices are very good. For me, I would be looking around 2000-3000 grafts according to the email Maral Klinik sent me. I never had any communication issues with Maral Klink, I give them two thumbs up on how they respond to their emails. I did receive a email from Maral Klinik with photos of before & after patients and there was a few of them who looked pretty good. But then I did notice some that looked like mediocre results. I'm planning on actually going to Istanbul for a couple of days to meet up with some clinics, then flying out to Ankara to meet up with a couple of doctors there. I would rather talk to these doctors in person, ask questions & see who I get the best vibe and recommendations from. I don't want to just hop on a plane and go with a doctor that I had only a online consultation with, I say it's more professional & the consultation is more better in person, that way they can exam your hair and everything.
..... Yeah, go for it, If you have the time to meet them in the flesh, why not..... Just 6 weeks since my H.T. & I reckon most of my shock loss has finished, I'm getting quite a buzz looking at & touching the new hairs popping up..... Yipee.
The guy was giving his opinion and paying up front is odd in some parts of the world -
Since they cater to foreigners "you want to change the rules" sounds more like an apologist for maral - like any business they good and bad reviews he is free to question things if he wants. Maral differs in offering one day drop in for some customers and this is why he shuffles people around - to maximize his revenue which is good for him but in this case not good for the customer. Everyone is allowed a POV seven though real self looks more like Maral fan club.
I agree Dave. I read the full review and didn't find it as moaning. Found it very helpful and think I'm choosing Dr. Maral anyway.