I’ve just had a hair transplant AMA

[Witchinawell]

Last week, via the unshaven method, it took 8 hours for the doctor to individually extract 2000 hair grafts. These were then sorted into 1, 2 & 3 hair follicles then inserted into my forehead. I had this done in Istanbul. I am 46 and have always had thin hair at the front, it has though gotten worst over the years and affected my confidence. Ask away !

Before pics

Hairline agreed with doctor.

Day 1 post operation

Back of head post operation.

Are you in pain? What are the chances of the grafts failing?

How much did it cost?

Wow that's fascinating. I hope you come back with more photos to update when it's grown. Where did they take the follicles from? From a stranger?
Will the colour match?
Does it hurt?

The grafts were taken from all over my head, if you zoom into the photo of my head, you can see little red dots where the grafts were extracted. It took me a long time to find the right doctor so will absolutely update this thread.

EUR 5000, EUR 2.50 pro graft. They only have one patient per day. The doctor did about 90 % of the work on my head and he had two assistants cleaning and sorting the grafts. They also inserted the grafts back into my head after the doctor made the canals for each graft.

The worst part was lying there during graft extraction. I haven’t been in pain at all. However it’s an uncomfortable process and my head is swollen now from the saline that is injected during the graft reinsertion. I’ve been advised upto 2% can fail.

Can you share where you had this done?

Of course, most places I looked at in the UK would have a technician perform most of the work. Dr. Harun Samiloglu is based in Istanbul and one of the few docs that perform FUE hair transplants. Most of his patients are female.

Amazing! Can’t wait to see progress photos.

What made you choose the unshaven method?

My hair is already quite short & I live in a windy part of the UK so didn’t want to fret about a shaven strip at the back of my head being visible. I’ve also heard about potential scarring and how it’s not always guaranteed that the hair will grow back and just wanted to avoid these risks.

Wow! Well done for taking the plunge, wish you every success with it.

Do you have enough hair elsewhere that you won't miss it? I wonder whether I'll end up having to do this sometime. I have androgenic alopecia due to PCOS which kicked in during late teens. Have been using minoxodil since my early 30s, now in mid 40s. It seems to have kept it at bay. It got a little better and then stabilised but I don't know whether it will work forever. It's worst at crown and hairline and thicker underneath but I'm still not sure I would have enough hair elsewhere to feel I could give it up. (Except my upper lip and chin of course 😭)

I have fine, thin hair but enough if it to extract 2000 grafts. The back of head pic above is post extraction, the dr I chose can work with sparsely haired heads. You don’t need a back of head full of thick hair for a transplant. I spent thousands on supplements, extensions and hair systems in the years prior as I thought my hair wouldn’t be suitable for a transplant.

how long did you stay in Turkey? and do you have to go back for a check up?

My sons barber went to Istanbul for a hair transplant and joked that the plane was full of patients (all male though)

good for you OP I hope it works, definitely looks promising

Fascinating thread

I really it works well for you.

I really hope

Me too @BlastedPimples !

Good luck on your journey

May I ask what type of hair loss you had and are you taking or using minoxidil as a preventative? Thank you