N
NorfUK
member
Thanks all for your contributions here which have been a massive help researching my HT. I have been at Norwood II for many years but more recently began thinning at the crown. I am looking for a HT to fix my hairline now but leave a good donor stock for future use. Looking at so many before and after shots, I have noticed the average number of grafts used, for say a Norwood II case like mine, seems to vary massively from one practitioner to another.
As an example, Dr De Reys (Belgium) seems to have some great results but seems to generally use a smaller number of grafts (presumably with less density). On the other hand Dr Demirsoy (Turkey) has also produced some fantastic hairlines but his online examples show graft counts way higher for Norwood II cases. The same seems to be true of Dr Erdogan's (Turkey) clinic ASMED although he seems to be attempting to use technology to determine this which is exciting.
Currently all of this is pushing me in the direction of doctors in Belgium like Dr De Reys who seem to use less grafts. However, despite a lot of bashing online, I do think some Turkish clinics' results speak for themselves and I like that they've have invested massively in their facilities and training, so I don't want to rule them out even if technicians are heavily involved. You find technicians are heavily involved in many top European clinics too, when you dig a little into the detail.
Saying that, I do note that Belgium/some top European doctors tend to prefer manual punches and forceps to implant. Given that and that they often do this work themselves, perhaps they are naturally more conservative with the donor area as they are limited in how much they can take on in one session? Based on family history, I reckon I won't thin diffusely but eventually reach Norwood III vertex or even IV. If you were me, would you try and save donors at the cost of density? Or just let the doc worry about all that and pick your HT clinic based on cost, write-ups and results?
As an example, Dr De Reys (Belgium) seems to have some great results but seems to generally use a smaller number of grafts (presumably with less density). On the other hand Dr Demirsoy (Turkey) has also produced some fantastic hairlines but his online examples show graft counts way higher for Norwood II cases. The same seems to be true of Dr Erdogan's (Turkey) clinic ASMED although he seems to be attempting to use technology to determine this which is exciting.
Currently all of this is pushing me in the direction of doctors in Belgium like Dr De Reys who seem to use less grafts. However, despite a lot of bashing online, I do think some Turkish clinics' results speak for themselves and I like that they've have invested massively in their facilities and training, so I don't want to rule them out even if technicians are heavily involved. You find technicians are heavily involved in many top European clinics too, when you dig a little into the detail.
Saying that, I do note that Belgium/some top European doctors tend to prefer manual punches and forceps to implant. Given that and that they often do this work themselves, perhaps they are naturally more conservative with the donor area as they are limited in how much they can take on in one session? Based on family history, I reckon I won't thin diffusely but eventually reach Norwood III vertex or even IV. If you were me, would you try and save donors at the cost of density? Or just let the doc worry about all that and pick your HT clinic based on cost, write-ups and results?
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