50 Yrs... Heading to Turkey ....Maybe!

[GettingOld]

Hi, Im 50 years of age from Atlanta, GA and think I am a NW 3 Vertex. Kind of going through a mini mid life crisis now so just got back from Costa Rica to get new veneers (great place to go get dentistry done by the way) and thought I would address that receding hair line this year too. I have emailed and spoken to several patient consultants over the phone. I was considering Costa Rica also but just cannot find anyone there I am comfortable with. Based on my assessment of most FUE doctors with great reputations it seems to me a like a marketing driven specialty and I wonder if the value of the results can be had.

I have gotten estimates of 1,000 to 2,800 Fue grafts needed to restore my hair. My gut says that the lower numbers were driven toward getting me in the door and the later is probably what I need. At this point as crazy as it seems, I am thinking of getting on a long plane ride to Turkey and going with 2,800 grafts using Dr. Koray in Istanbul. He seems to have a very good online reputation and his before/after photos are some of the best I have seen. When I questioned him on the number of grafts being so high as compared to others, his logic was that my existing hair is very dense and to look right the hairline should maintain that density. He want to do 2100 grafts on the temples and 700 on the crown. What do you guys think based on the photos, Is he right?

At 2.50 Euros I can save about 42% over Dr. Cole in Atlanta even after travel. Am I crazy?

[topcat]

I think that any doctor that advised you to plant into the crown is not someone I would go to. Have they all advised you to do this?

But then again you are 50 so maybe it's not much of a risk referring to the crown.

[GettingOld]

All except one. The Atlanta based one (not allowed to say name), Rahal (Ottawa) and Koray (Turkey) all said they would implant in the crown. Only BHR (Brussels) said they would not. They said " Crown really not worth touching as could cause shock loss, so probably could be a trade off with transplanted hair for native there." What are your thoughts as to why I should not?

[topcat]

LOL………….well I’m a BHR patient so I can believe that and I had no idea about your consultation. Well first off you don’t really need it and second you could very well be opening up a big can of worms. The crown is fine in my opinion just leave it be.

[GettingOld]

I kinda of agree, but honestly my crown is the part that drives my wife crazy. Well really she drives me crazy for not combing it right. I figure though if not harm will come why not just address it all at once now.

[topcat]

You are probably better off trying Rogaine on the crown if you have not already.

The only reason not to address it is because you could be opening a big can of worms which is okay if you are prepared to deal with that if it should happen. Think of small circle of hair surrounded by a larger circle of no hair like a giant target on the back of your head, you might need to have a plan B ready should this happen and then of course you now have the potential for the target to become even larger. This is what I mean by opening up a can of worms.

Not trying to judge you or be offensive but at 50 I would expect you would be willing to take less risk as opposed to someone in their 20’s who easily throws caution to the wind. I think that if you have that frontal work performed you can easily style your hair so that the crown is no longer an issue not that it is even an issue now.

[GettingOld]

I got you. I think I just dont really understand the risk that I am taking yet as I am still new to this and am in the learning phase. From what I am hearing you say, the risk is that the transplanted hair in the crown may be fine but may trigger shock loss in the region surrounding the transplant and then I may be going back for more.

[topcat]

Yes exactly.

[itsmyhairs]

Going to quacks in turkey is the absolute worst thing you can do.

[GettingOld]

Going to quacks in turkey is the absolute worst thing you can do.

Do you have any basis for your comments. If your basing your comments on bias, prejudice or speculation you really are not being helpful to anyone. However, if you have some first hand knowledge based on the doctors being discussed please share.

[topcat]

Gettingold you seem to be at an age where you have more common sense than is often found in younger men. You also now have actual experience where you have found that you can go outside this country and find the level of skill and care both much higher than you might have received here with your dental trip experience. I also know this to be true not only with my own ht experience but also by the fact that I will be traveling outside the country this summer, my first outside of the ht excursions in about 40 years……..lol……….and yes my recent improvement in ht has made this all possible. BHR has changed my life in many ways so far. My trip will be to Macedonia where not only my father was born but also my wife and I will be having my dental work performed there. We have sent 4 people there over that last couple of years and have arranged for their dental work to be performed. The level of care they received along with the quality of the work and cost has started a conversation among many here and now everyone we know seems to want to make the trip.

My last visit to a dentist was about 3 years ago here in Chicago. They gave me an estimate for the work and keep in mind I hadn’t been to the dentist in about 10 years. I was always worried about concealer getting on the back of the chair as odd as that sounds but this often becomes the life of a ht patient others might want to jot that one down to the list. When I reached the halfway point and realized I had already paid the amount I was quoted I asked about this and I was told I was given a written quote for only half the work………..lol…………..can you believe that. Who gives someone a written estimate for half the work? Someone raised in a world of capitalism where the greed has gotten completely out of control and they need more and more to consume more and more.

People fall into this trap here of a sort of tunnel vision of when it comes to sources of information. Mostly from TV as they don’t realize they are just slowly being conditioned to believe word for word what they are being told without asking many questions. Boston Baldy recently gave a good example of what happens when all the information one receives if from one source. So keep asking questions and learn as much as possible before moving forward from as many sources as possible then put the pieces of the puzzle together yourself and form your own opinion not one someone has handed you.

[MrBlonde]

Going to quacks in turkey is the absolute worst thing you can do.

Silly comment. Dr. A . Muttalip Keser from Turkey is one of the best FUE doctors at restoring natural looking hairlines in the world.

[itsmyhairs]

Silly comment. Dr. A . Muttalip Keser from Turkey is one of the best FUE doctors at restoring natural looking hairlines in the world.

Uh, most doctors in Turkey are quacks, just read some of the horror stories on this forum about people who've went there for HT's.
You buy cheap stuff from turkey and you get rubbish.

Listen to me or don't, it's your choice, but at least you've been warned after you get a 30% yield from 2000 grafts or an unnatural hairline.

[El Nino]

Hi, Im 50 years of age from Atlanta, GA and think I am a NW 3 Vertex. Kind of going through a mini mid life crisis now so just got back from Costa Rica to get new veneers (great place to go get dentistry done by the way) and thought I would address that receding hair line this year too. I have emailed and spoken to several patient consultants over the phone. I was considering Costa Rica also but just cannot find anyone there I am comfortable with. Based on my assessment of most FUE doctors with great reputations it seems to me a like a marketing driven specialty and I wonder if the value of the results can be had.

I have gotten estimates of 1,000 to 2,800 Fue grafts needed to restore my hair. My gut says that the lower numbers were driven toward getting me in the door and the later is probably what I need. At this point as crazy as it seems, I am thinking of getting on a long plane ride to Turkey and going with 2,800 grafts using Dr. Koray in Istanbul. He seems to have a very good online reputation and his before/after photos are some of the best I have seen. When I questioned him on the number of grafts being so high as compared to others, his logic was that my existing hair is very dense and to look right the hairline should maintain that density. He want to do 2100 grafts on the temples and 700 on the crown. What do you guys think based on the photos, Is he right?

At 2.50 Euros I can save about 42% over Dr. Cole in Atlanta even after travel. Am I crazy?

I have seen some really good results from Docs in Turkey.

I'd probably leave the crown in your position and wait to see if it gets worse. And I'm not conservative as I've had 5,400 grafts jam packed into my crown at the age of 31.

Good luck.

[MrBlonde]

Uh, most doctors in Turkey are quacks, just read some of the horror stories on this forum about people who've went there for HT's.
You buy cheap stuff from turkey and you get rubbish.

Listen to me or don't, it's your choice, but at least you've been warned after you get a 30% yield from 2000 grafts or an unnatural hairline.

I have seen countless and countless cases of good work from Dr Keser and Dr Koray in Turkey, Many people form the US and Europe go there and countless videos and pictures of the excellent work these guys do can be found easily.

Either of those names will give you many hits on google which (if you were interested in anything bar branding them with the brush of quack) blows your ignorant claims out of the water.

Dr. Koray is actually a pioneer of the one step manual punch technique and both are very experienced and have many happy customers.

Sure there may be some rip of artists but every country has them, we could rule out the US based on the minority of quacks also.

Your comments show you know absolutely nothing about HT Dr's in Turkey.