AvoidApaydin
member
Hi everyone - I had a HT with Dr. Ilker Apaydin in June 2021 and it was a disaster.
Dr. Apaydin's website is flashy and presents him as a reputable "plastic surgeon" that does the entire surgery himself, but when you call him he informs you for the first time that he only does the incisions and leaves the extractions/ implantations to the nurses/techs. I thought "What!?"
But then he tries to convince you that extractions are the "easy" part and in any case he will "supervise" them. I was naïve and believed him, but it was all a lie.
Extractions are extremely important (which the nurses/techs botched) and after he did the incisions in the morning I never saw or heard from him again. He vanished and left me alone in the clinic with the nurses/techs all afternoon (which is illegal by the way).
This is a quick selfie I took with my iPhone a couple days before the HT. I had a strong frontal hairline and just requested that my temples be "filled in."
The "consultation" was a joke.
Dr. Apaydin was a smooth talker when I had called him weeks earlier, but when I booked and flew to Turkey to meet him for the in-person consultation, the "charm" was all gone. I was a "captive audience." He just walked into the room and started drawing on my head. Didn't confirm my expectations or anything. When I asked about the lines he had drawn, very politely as is my nature, he became visibly annoyed. The whole consultation felt rushed and lasted literally minutes.
Consultation photo day before surgery
I got bad vibes and felt everything was flashy and rushed. I debated cancelling. If this were in my own country, I would have cancelled immediately. But I had just flown to Turkey and I was staying in the hotel they arranged. I let "reason" overrule my better instincts which I will never do again.
Next morning was the consultation just before surgery.
This was worse than the previous day. Again, he just started drawing lines on my head again. This time I prepared a pocket mirror to get a better view of the temple lines (you know like at a barber where they use two mirrors to show you your sides/back?).
As I politely asked if I could see the temple lines while pulling out my pocket mirror the doctor literally raised his voice at me and said, which I will never forget, "Don't do it!" Don't do what?! I thought. I can't look closely at my hairline design?? I was just trying to confirm how the temple lines looked from the side - did they bend forward (unnatural), go straight up (juvenile hairline), or bend slightly backward (natural)? Turns out he drew them bending unnaturally forward but I couldn't confirm that with one mirror.
Consultation immediately before op
But it gets worse because b/c Dr. Apaydin's hand slipped drawing the frontal hairline (circled in red). I noticed this and panicked. I panicked b/c I wanted to point it out to him but he had intimidated me from asking anything or saying anything during the consultation. Bullied into silence, I just accepted that I will have to live the rest of my life with a drooping hairline...
Post-op drooping hairline
Drooping hairline after it grew out
I now pluck these transplanted hairs out every few weeks otherwise I look like a freak.
Anyway, back to the operation. My head was jabbed with lots of anesthesia. I was concerned the nurses weren't waiting for it to take effect before jabbing more and more. My head blew up like a mushroom as a result...
"Mushroom head"
Next, the nurses/techs botched the extractions in every possible way. I was concerned that they were talking and giggling throughout the entire procedure. "Where's the doctor?" I thought. After he completed the incisions in the morning, he vanished. MIA.
Extractions were not spaced at all.
Day 1 post-op donor
When I saw the back of my head I got a sinking feeling "Uh oh..........I've been scammed."
"I knew everything was too flashy and rushed!"
"Why didn't you trust your damn instincts!!!??"
But it was too late.
Day 10 post-op donor
I knew patchiness was the hallmark of a sloppy "hair mill," but this clinic literally ripped a bald spot in the back of my head.
Even Dr. Apaydin's website says "The hair on the donor site grows long enough to cover the site of extraction by 10th day after the operation."
That's exactly right. I've seen guys (on this forum, YouTube, etc.) who had far more grafts extracted but had beautiful donor zones within about 10 days.
Yet when I contacted the doctor he told me it's "Perfectly normal!!"
"How long before the bald spot is covered?" I asked.
"Couple weeks!" he replied.
"Trust me!"
Day 20 post-op donor
Nope. Bald spot still there....and the more my hair grew out, the more the contrast got worse.
Day 30 post-op donor
Still there...
I won't post all the pics but it took 70 days, or 10 weeks, for the hair to grow long enough to cover the bald spot.
Mind you, I had 4 PRPs during that time to accelerate the growth...without these PRPs, it probably would have taken nearly half a year.
Given the butcher job on my donor zone, I knew the outlook for my recipient area was not bright. Sure enough, the clinic did not disappoint. They butchered every conceivable aspect of the HT.
Just eyeballing the recipient area I knew the density was poor, but to be more scientific I cut my hair short and counted the grafts per sqcm. Abysmal...
Density = max 25 grafts/sqcm
Since 2,250 grafts were extracted and placed over a recipient area of around 30sqcm, the density should have been amazing. But only 750 survived. The other 1,500 grafts? They might as well have just extracted them and thrown them directly into the rubbish bin.
Great. So they needlessly ripped apart my donor zone.
Well at least they made sure to separate the grafts into singles/doubles/triples, yes?
Nope.
They implanted doubles/triples all along the edge of my hairline. When I saw this I was shocked. Dr. Apaydin markets his clinic as a "boutique" clinic where you get more attentiveness and care. Even the cheap "hair mills" have basic processes like separating grafts down to factory-like precision. Not Dr. Apaydin's clinic....
Doubles/triples implanted along hairline for "pluggy" look
On top of that, you can see the transplanted hairs along the hairline grow straight up to the sky like bamboo shoots when Dr. Apaydin should have made the incisions so that the hairs grow forward like in a natural hairline.
It's hard to believe a doctor/clinic could be this "sloppy" - I would go a step further and call the doctor "criminally negligent."
And a FRAUD.
B/c it would be one thing if a clinic charged dirt cheap prices and acknowledged that it was a nurse/tech-driven clinic.
But it's another thing when Dr. Apaydin advertises himself as a "world-renowned" "reputable surgeon" who does the whole procedure himself, in accordance with ISHRS standards, b/c he "cares" about giving his patients a "natural result."
And then proceeds to utterly and completely butcher your hair.
Guys, watch out. There are "predatory" doctors/clinics out there who don't give a damn about you or your well-being. Trust your gut. If it doesn't "feel" right. It probably isn't....
Dr. Apaydin's website is flashy and presents him as a reputable "plastic surgeon" that does the entire surgery himself, but when you call him he informs you for the first time that he only does the incisions and leaves the extractions/ implantations to the nurses/techs. I thought "What!?"
But then he tries to convince you that extractions are the "easy" part and in any case he will "supervise" them. I was naïve and believed him, but it was all a lie.
Extractions are extremely important (which the nurses/techs botched) and after he did the incisions in the morning I never saw or heard from him again. He vanished and left me alone in the clinic with the nurses/techs all afternoon (which is illegal by the way).
This is a quick selfie I took with my iPhone a couple days before the HT. I had a strong frontal hairline and just requested that my temples be "filled in."
The "consultation" was a joke.
Dr. Apaydin was a smooth talker when I had called him weeks earlier, but when I booked and flew to Turkey to meet him for the in-person consultation, the "charm" was all gone. I was a "captive audience." He just walked into the room and started drawing on my head. Didn't confirm my expectations or anything. When I asked about the lines he had drawn, very politely as is my nature, he became visibly annoyed. The whole consultation felt rushed and lasted literally minutes.
Consultation photo day before surgery
I got bad vibes and felt everything was flashy and rushed. I debated cancelling. If this were in my own country, I would have cancelled immediately. But I had just flown to Turkey and I was staying in the hotel they arranged. I let "reason" overrule my better instincts which I will never do again.
Next morning was the consultation just before surgery.
This was worse than the previous day. Again, he just started drawing lines on my head again. This time I prepared a pocket mirror to get a better view of the temple lines (you know like at a barber where they use two mirrors to show you your sides/back?).
As I politely asked if I could see the temple lines while pulling out my pocket mirror the doctor literally raised his voice at me and said, which I will never forget, "Don't do it!" Don't do what?! I thought. I can't look closely at my hairline design?? I was just trying to confirm how the temple lines looked from the side - did they bend forward (unnatural), go straight up (juvenile hairline), or bend slightly backward (natural)? Turns out he drew them bending unnaturally forward but I couldn't confirm that with one mirror.
Consultation immediately before op
But it gets worse because b/c Dr. Apaydin's hand slipped drawing the frontal hairline (circled in red). I noticed this and panicked. I panicked b/c I wanted to point it out to him but he had intimidated me from asking anything or saying anything during the consultation. Bullied into silence, I just accepted that I will have to live the rest of my life with a drooping hairline...
Post-op drooping hairline
Drooping hairline after it grew out
I now pluck these transplanted hairs out every few weeks otherwise I look like a freak.
Anyway, back to the operation. My head was jabbed with lots of anesthesia. I was concerned the nurses weren't waiting for it to take effect before jabbing more and more. My head blew up like a mushroom as a result...
"Mushroom head"
Next, the nurses/techs botched the extractions in every possible way. I was concerned that they were talking and giggling throughout the entire procedure. "Where's the doctor?" I thought. After he completed the incisions in the morning, he vanished. MIA.
Extractions were not spaced at all.
Day 1 post-op donor
When I saw the back of my head I got a sinking feeling "Uh oh..........I've been scammed."
"I knew everything was too flashy and rushed!"
"Why didn't you trust your damn instincts!!!??"
But it was too late.
Day 10 post-op donor
I knew patchiness was the hallmark of a sloppy "hair mill," but this clinic literally ripped a bald spot in the back of my head.
Even Dr. Apaydin's website says "The hair on the donor site grows long enough to cover the site of extraction by 10th day after the operation."
That's exactly right. I've seen guys (on this forum, YouTube, etc.) who had far more grafts extracted but had beautiful donor zones within about 10 days.
Yet when I contacted the doctor he told me it's "Perfectly normal!!"
"How long before the bald spot is covered?" I asked.
"Couple weeks!" he replied.
"Trust me!"
Day 20 post-op donor
Nope. Bald spot still there....and the more my hair grew out, the more the contrast got worse.
Day 30 post-op donor
Still there...
I won't post all the pics but it took 70 days, or 10 weeks, for the hair to grow long enough to cover the bald spot.
Mind you, I had 4 PRPs during that time to accelerate the growth...without these PRPs, it probably would have taken nearly half a year.
Given the butcher job on my donor zone, I knew the outlook for my recipient area was not bright. Sure enough, the clinic did not disappoint. They butchered every conceivable aspect of the HT.
Just eyeballing the recipient area I knew the density was poor, but to be more scientific I cut my hair short and counted the grafts per sqcm. Abysmal...
Density = max 25 grafts/sqcm
Since 2,250 grafts were extracted and placed over a recipient area of around 30sqcm, the density should have been amazing. But only 750 survived. The other 1,500 grafts? They might as well have just extracted them and thrown them directly into the rubbish bin.
Great. So they needlessly ripped apart my donor zone.
Well at least they made sure to separate the grafts into singles/doubles/triples, yes?
Nope.
They implanted doubles/triples all along the edge of my hairline. When I saw this I was shocked. Dr. Apaydin markets his clinic as a "boutique" clinic where you get more attentiveness and care. Even the cheap "hair mills" have basic processes like separating grafts down to factory-like precision. Not Dr. Apaydin's clinic....
Doubles/triples implanted along hairline for "pluggy" look
On top of that, you can see the transplanted hairs along the hairline grow straight up to the sky like bamboo shoots when Dr. Apaydin should have made the incisions so that the hairs grow forward like in a natural hairline.
It's hard to believe a doctor/clinic could be this "sloppy" - I would go a step further and call the doctor "criminally negligent."
And a FRAUD.
B/c it would be one thing if a clinic charged dirt cheap prices and acknowledged that it was a nurse/tech-driven clinic.
But it's another thing when Dr. Apaydin advertises himself as a "world-renowned" "reputable surgeon" who does the whole procedure himself, in accordance with ISHRS standards, b/c he "cares" about giving his patients a "natural result."
And then proceeds to utterly and completely butcher your hair.
Guys, watch out. There are "predatory" doctors/clinics out there who don't give a damn about you or your well-being. Trust your gut. If it doesn't "feel" right. It probably isn't....
