4329 Grafts- Fue - Asmed - Dr. Koray

Hey everyone,

I am 34 years old. My main issue with my hair (or lack of it :p) is my deep temporal recession (as you can see in the pictures attached). The temples have been receding ever since I was 22. in the age of 26 or so, I have started to take propecia. the treatment pretty much stopped the receding and it is stable for the past 6-7 years.

It has always been my dream to have a hair transplant, but because I am very sensitive to ppl and work colleagues seeing me after the transplant and with no hair. I postponed the hair transplant as much as I could. I managed to get 4-5 months leave from work, so I'm hoping I'll have some hair by the time I have to go back to work.

Estimations I got
based in the pictures I sent I got an estimation from Dr. Koray 3800-4000 80cm2 50 grafts per cm2

Dr. koray estimate is the highest from all the clinics I contacted, but I saw it as a good thing - it's because he plans to cover more of the scalp with hair and to do the hair transplant with high density. given my current hair loss stage and the fact, the hair loss has stopped for the last 6 years - I was cool with his estimation.


Choosing a hair transplant Dr
I liked the results of Dr Koray, and I love his hairline designs, as I like more relatively aggressive hairline (and not the "half circle", most sergeants do).
Another plus for ASMED, is my great personal patient coordinator, Suzana. unlike other clinics, I got from Suzana very thorough and quick answers to my questions. she was very patient with me even though I had A LOT of questions. sometimes she misses a few of my questions, but overall she is super helpful, nice and provided me with all the answers I needed - And most importantly she made me feel like someone is with me throughout the process which is very important to me. As i'm doing the procedure in a foreign country.

First day - consultation
ASMED driver waited for me at the airport as Suzana said he would. I checked in the hotel, which is a 2 min walk from the clinic. then ASMED driver waited for me at 12:00 (2 hr after I arrived). Suzana welcomed me at the entrance and then I had the blood test. afterward, I met DR. Koray he is very nice, he saw that my temples was thin and asked if I would like to transplant in that area as well, I said yes and then he changed the grafts number for hair transplant from 4000 to 4300. then he drew a hairline he thought is good for me, it was ok but I wanted it a little bit lower and the temples with a little less angle. he said we will consider it after the head shave.

So, they shaved my head, took a few pictures and then I went to this machine that supposed to count the grafts and hairs from the entire head.

then we went back to DR he agreed to do the changes I wanted.

operation day 1+2
I got a really professional team (jasmin). I used the iPad the gave as a mirror to see her work. she was very professional.
I didn't feel the anesthetics at all and slept half the surgery.
after the extraction (that was made by jasmin) i had lunch and got back to the incision part which is done by the Dr himself. when that part is finished jasmin continued to the implanting fase.
the second day repeted it self.

after the first operation day my face was doubled in size and after the second one, it tripled! I look now like a giant balloon.

operation details
1st day - hairline and temples - 2400 grafts.
2nd day - 1929 grafts'
density - 48 grafts per cm

572 - Singels
2733 Doubles
900 - Triples
118 - Quadruple
6 - Quintpule
Hair/grafts ratio 2.13

pictures before & after the HT attached:
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i'll keep you updated

did I read this wrong or you really did 4300 grafts just in the frontal third and temples???



I just finished Asmed surgery a few days ago. Hope it goes good. All these posts lately about bad results there have me very worried.

Yes 4329 grafts.

He made it very dense I guess. Other clinics like rahal\cole\basinga estimations was 3000-3500 grafts, so if you take into account the temples it's not far from their estimation. Also, it is knows the Dr. koray takes more grafts compered to other HT Dr - for good and bad.

i have the same baldness type as my dad. he is bald only in the frontal area. that is why I was ok with it. I know I wouldn't need another big transplant in the crown area.

About the bad results lately- I saw the posts here as well, he does 4-5 HT per day, and I saw only 3 that were bad, I hope he is still top surgent. anyway, there is no going back now :)

If you are confident you won't lose your crown or much beyond the transplanted areas, then I guess it makes sense. I'm not so lucky as my dad and uncles are NW6 at best. I just did 2700 in my frontal (no temples) and still worried I won't have enough for when the rest goes (even though I am on fin).

My only complaint about ASMED, which is a big one, is how young my technicians appeared. I was told 5 years experience but not provided any evidence of what that means or their training, etc. Everything at ASMED is state of the art but when it comes down to it, the most important part for results is the technicians who are actually doing the work. They seemed to know what they were doing, but I'm still rather nervous because there really isn't any supervision. I think Erdogan should be overseeing more of the operation, even if that only means 30 minutes outside of the incisions to make sure they are doing the work properly.

With his new facility, they are doing closer to 6-8 per day. Too many in my opinion.

Mine looked a bit older she said she was doing it for 11 years. she looked very professional, the other members of the team were young, but their roll wan't so important (counting grafts, cleaning the blood etc).

Dr koray said at the checkup that I was his favorite Ht this day and told jasmin (the one who did the extraction and planting - that she did a very good job)

Lucky you. I should have made a point with my patient coordinator prior to flying out that I wanted someone with more experience and to know what their name was prior to coming. It sounds like you got lucky with Jasmin. Wish I would have read this thread a week ago. Just seems like Russian Roullette with all the different technicians he has now. One person's results can be completely different that another's.

Koray said mine looked really good afterwards too, but let's be honest, he is going to tell that to every patient. Because at that point, it is pretty much too late to make any corrections.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xadiohead

With his new facility, they are doing closer to 6-8 per day. Too many in my opinion.

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I asked before i booked- they are doing 4-5, not 6-8, when I was doing it there were 3 others (4 total).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xadiohead

Lucky you. I should have made a point with my patient coordinator prior to flying out that I wanted someone with more experience and to know what their name was prior to coming. It sounds like you got lucky with Jasmin. Wish I would have read this thread a week ago. Just seems like Russian Roullette with all the different technicians he has now. One person's results can be completely different that another's.

Dr Koray said mine looked really good afterwards too, but let's be honest, he is going to tell that to every patient. Because at that point, it is pretty much too late to make any corrections.

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I tried to do that, but my coordinator said the teams are set on the day of the surgery and I cannot choose.

Yeah I guess, he would tell it to everyone :) makes sense.

But I really believe that the most important part is the incision which is made by Dr koray, this is the phase that require the most skill, set the density, the hairline shape, the depth of the grafts, angle etc...

2 close up pics from day 2

1 pic from day 1

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I hope you are right regarding the incisions being the core of the transplant that requires the most skill and the rest is just more repetition work. I'm not sure I buy it, but okay.

I still would prefer for Erdogan to be occasionally entering each room multiple times per day to do a quick overview making sure everything is going correct. Looking at each patient after the surgery is too late, I bet he has never told anyone that there's doesn't look good or needs correcting.

I can assure you at his new clinic that ASMED is doing on average at LEAST 6 surgeries per day. The other issue with this is that means that the previous day (also while 6 people are in surgery) that Erdogan is having to evaluate 6 new candidates which is why he can't be checking up on each patient during surgery.

I love the new clinic as it is very state of the art. I had a great experience at ASMED but I think he should have stuck to the 4 surgery per day model. I feel my results are going to be too much determined by some technicians he was not overseeing which makes me very nervous. I did research before going so I pretty much knew what I was getting with ASMED in regards to technicians, I just expected them to appear to have more experience based upon their apparent age (they looked very young).

I understand your point. Maybe you are right about 5-6 patient per day. all I know is what Suzana told me (4-5) and how many patients waited with me for transplant, which was 4 (2 new 2 second day).

I hope both our transplants will turn out to be great :)

Did you have your surgery on Wednesday/Thursday or Thursday/Friday? We had to be there at the same time as mine was on Thursday of last week. Where are you from?

Wednesdat- thursday (13-14). I guess we were. Im from Israel

Oh cool, I remember you being there with your friend. I was at one of the clinic dinners with you (I think it was Thursday night). We briefly talked, I live in Houston.

Curious, do you remember getting the PRP treatment? It's supposed to be included in the package, I just don't remember them discussing it or doing it.

Well it's a maximum of 6 per day. So for my first day there was only 3 of us and second day it was 6. Koray has employed 2 new doctors and Koray now in his new clinic does his maximum of 6 patients and then the other 2 work on 2-3 of their own patients. I know alot of people say different things about what they've heard but I have confirmation of this as he personally sent out a lengthy memo to all users in a thread on a different forum where he explained in detail all of this because there was a lot of debate about what is really going on there. If admin would like me to copy and paste this message (which is an open message to all) I'm more than happy to do so. I do feel admin should take note of this because he is on the iahrs and they should be aware of it at least.

Ohh yeah I remember! I was surprized to see someone from the US there

Yes i did get the prp treatment. I asked for it.

As i understood from Suzana, they give it only if you ask them for it, or if it is a special case and the dr discide the patient needs it.

During the HT, they showed me the tube with the prp plasma, before the injection.

Your scabs starting to fall off? How is your density?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by farsanUK

Well it's a maximum of 6 per day. So for my first day there was only 3 of us and second day it was 6. Koray has employed 2 new doctors and Koray now in his new clinic does his maximum of 6 patients and then the other 2 work on 2-3 of their own patients. I know alot of people say different things about what they've heard but I have confirmation of this as he personally sent out a lengthy memo to all users in a thread on a different forum where he explained in detail all of this because there was a lot of debate about what is really going on there. If admin would like me to copy and paste this message (which is an open message to all) I'm more than happy to do so. I do feel admin should take note of this because he is on the iahrs and they should be aware of it at least.

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Yeah i guess it depends on which day you come. tring to figure out now, is a bit too late for me, now I'm focused with this difficult time after the HT, and hope i get a good result.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Templesrunner

Yeah i guess it depends on which day you come. tring to figure out now, is a bit too late for me, now I'm focused with this difficult time after the HT, and hope i get a good result.

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My friend I know exactly how you feel and trust me it's going to up and down so as Joe Tillman told me - Buckle up because it's going to a rollercoaster ahead of you. I'm still only 5.5 months sometimes I look at it and think wtf. And sometimes I feel encouraged just remember itll get alot worse before it gets better.

I looked at your HT thread. how is the front after 5.5 months?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Templesrunner

Ohh yeah I remember! I was surprized to see someone from the US there

Yes i did get the prp treatment. I asked for it.

As i understood from Suzana, they give it only if you ask them for it, or if it is a special case and the dr discide the patient needs it.

During the HT, they showed me the tube with the prp plasma, before the injection.

Your scabs starting to fall off? How is your density?

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Hmm that's a little disappointing for me. I guess I should have made sure to ask for the PRP. They said it was part of my package during the email stage so didn't really think I had to ask.

You mentioned Dr. Koray said you were his favorite transplant of the day. I sure hope he told you that on Wednesday and not Thursday for my sake ha.

I'd say about 75% of my scabs have come off. Hard to tell on my density. I have always had very fine blond hair. For balding it is a blessing and curse- blessing in that there is not much contrast compared to someone with dark hair and fair skin- but curse in that density is very hard to achieve.

How about yours?

70 % of the scabs are gone. Same as yours. I hope ill get good density. I got 4000 graft on a small area.. it would be disapointed if not.

Everything going good for you at the 10 day mark? So far so good for me, all the scabs are off. You are lucky you got so many months off work. I have to go into office tomorrow, which I'm not excited about.

I work a bit from home.

10% of the scabs are still there...

I guess in the next few days it will come off completely.

i will post an update soon :)

Hey, 10 days have passed since the HT.

The donor zone completely healed - no redness, no scars. I feel itchiness though. It seems that they did a good job on the extraction phase.

The density is lower in the transplanted area relative to the native hair, but I guess once the hair will grow and given that most of the grafts are 2+ hairs, it will look ok, but we will see.

Also the transplanted zone in totally numb. I don't know if this is normal. I'll ask the clinic.

After day 6 my face returned to normal.

pics (HD + flash + florecent light - so no cover ups :)):

Hi there,

How much did this cost?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by henryhenry

Hi there,

How much did this cost?

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A LOT!! 2.5 euro per graft. do the math :)

Can you post one month update pics please?

Sure. I have been to Thailand for a vacation and got back yesterday. how is your progress? are you uploading photos aswell?

Hey everybody, this is a 1-month post update (the photos below were taken at 30 days mark at least).

The situation is dire, almost 90% of the transplanted hair has*been shedding. I guess I need to look in the mirror and welcome with a heavy heart the ugly duckling phase :)

The shedding in one temple is worst than the other - can't really explain why.

I don't know if you guys can see it in the pics. but there are small hairs sprouting out, I'm having a hard time to believe these are newly grown hairs after only 1 month. maybe slow growing hairs from the HT, we will see in time.

Another thing, As I'm suffering through this ugly duckling phase, I decided I am going to do whatever I can to accelerate the prosses. So I'm going to share with you guys the medication/supplements/shampoos I'm using, tell me what you think:

1. of course Propecia ( actually Proscar which I split 4 ways - I got a year supply from ASMED clinic).

2. minoxidil 5% foam - started at day*28 and will continue using it for 5 months (I don't like,hate the feeling on my scalp, never used it, but it helps growth so I will try just about anything for a limited time). the clinic says not to use minoxidil solution (only after 6 months for it causes skin irritation, unlike minoxidil foam)

3. Nizoral shampoo 2/3 times a week (started after 5 weeks)

4. Sebamed anti-hair loss shampoo (with caffeine) for the days I'm not using Nizoral.

5. maxi hair supplements - which contains Biotin, MSM and a lot of different types of vitamins for hair growths.

6. saw palmetto + pumpkin seed oil

The pics:
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What do you guys thinking about Minoxidil use after HT? I've never used it before. I read that it can accelerate the growth process in about a month. I also read*here in the forum that it can also harm HT (don't know how).

I have been using it for 20 days now 2 timed a day. I really don't know whether*I should stop or not. I don't want to do anything that can slightly harm my HT, even if it means longer (or normal) ugly duckling phase.**

Any advice/thoughts?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Templesrunner

What do you guys thinking about Minoxidil use after HT? I've never used it before. I read that it can accelerate the growth process in about a month. I also read*here in the forum that it can also harm HT (don't know how).

I have been using it for 20 days now 2 timed a day. I really don't know whether*I should stop or not. I don't want to do anything that can slightly harm my HT, even if it means longer (or normal) ugly duckling phase.**

Any advice/thoughts?

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I've been using minoxidil foam once a day for the past two weeks (we had hair transplant on the same day). ASMED says not to use it for a long time after transplant but many other doctors say to use it. I've used it for the past 12 years (once per day) so I wasn't willing to completely stop other than the two weeks before/after the hair transplant. I don't think it can hurt.

I also started using EMU oil on the transplanted hair at night along with saw palmetto, msm, biotin, and multivitamin pills. Who knows if any of that actually helps but worth a shot.

I'll probably post some pictures soon but I'm definitely in the ugly ducking phase too and not fun taking pics ha.

I think you have an advantage of lack of stress from not having to work the next few months. My work can be somewhat stressful which I don't think is helpful after a transplant.

Hey,

Since you been using it for a long time, it's not the same as a first time user.

I plan on using it for 3-4 month tops, just to speed up things.

I really want to see your progress. let me know when you post them.

it's a hard time now - nothing to do but wait.

you are not taking the propecia supply you got from the clinic?

I'll post some pics next week.

Yes I am taking the propecia they gave me, but I have been on propecia for about 13 years. It definitely helped with the back of my hair but not so much the front. In January I started dutasteride every other day as well as the daily propecia. It is overkill but I didn't want to suddenly switch from one to the other.. At the end of this year I will probably stop propecia and just take the dutasteride as it is stronger and substantially longer half life.

Hey everybody,

2 months update.

Most of the hair has shedded. from a far the temples look empty and sick. But closer look I can see a lot of new hairs (look closely at the pics)

It's a bit early for growth, maybe because all the supplements I take, maybe not.

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It’s too early and didfocult to tell based on those pictures. Most people supposedly don’t start growing until the 3rd month. I think you are going to have a good result though, your hair seems to grow fast too.

Are you still taking minoxidil? I saw somewhere else you said you were going to stop.

Yeah i stopped minoxi after 25 days.

it's early yes, but if you look closely on the second pic for an instant, you can see short new hairs. of course nothing massive. but i'm glad to see its starts this early

Maybe here you can see better, I pulled the long hairs (the once that did not shedd) up so you can see the new shoter hair more clearly. also you can see black dots of new hairs

anyway it's still unnoticeable for a far. and i'm still in the ugly duckling phase of course i'm not delusional :)

For me any progress even a small one is something.

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Hey guys!

it's 3 months mark! (almost 2 days left)

There is a major improvement from month 2.*

The hair is still not dense enough of course but I'm only at 3 months, so I*have a lot of growth time left.

The photos I upload here are focused at the temples, so you can judge the growth, but I'm not going like this outside. I'm wearing it down so it looks much better than the pics I upload here (I attached a pic with the hair down).

the middle of the hairline growth*is falling behind the temples, dunno why, I hope it will catch up soon.

Still*continue with the regime.

what do you think of the growth rate so far?
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