S
shivinski
Valued member
I wanted to share my experience on a pretty awesome repair job I got done to fix a Turkish butcher job, and to hopefully give hope to others who may also have had a bad result from a poor clinic.
In September 2022 I got an (alleged) 4500 graft transplant at the Sapphire Hair Clinic in Istanbul. I’ll spare the details, but needless to say it was the classic model where I saw an actual Dr once only (during my initial consultation) and then the rest of the process was done by technicians. The outcome of which included the following:
• An extremely unnatural hairline that grew out glaringly obvious and was the No.1 thing that made me more self-conscious of my hair than I had even been before the transplant.
• The grafts implanted in uniform rows which, as you can imagine, stood out.
• Low density per cm and low survival rate for grafts meant that my left side especially was very thin and sparse, further adding the unnatural look and making the imposing hairline even more obvious.
After a year waiting, and hoping, for a better outcome, it became obvious that this was the final result and that it was not going to get better on its own. I tried to contact Sapphire Hair Clinic multiple times, but once they realised they screwed up they outright ignored all my messages and emails. No surprise there sadly.
So I started looking around for an actual reputable clinic that had a worldclass surgeon who’s had experience in repairing hairlines. I knew roughly what needed to be done: thickening in the thin areas, more randomness in the new grafts and a re-design of the hairline to make it more natural and also to add some softness as the hairline that Sapphire Hair Clinic did was riddled with thick, thick multi-grafts (including a 6-graft right on the front of the hairline. You heard that right, a SIX-GRAFT IN THE HAIRLINE! I’d heard of doubles or triples in the hairline, which I had plenty of too, but I’d never heard of a 6-banger!).
After a lot of research I settled on The Maitland Clinic in the UK who’s transplant surgeon was Dr. Edward Ball. I’d seen some repair videos online as well as read a bunch of glowing reviews for Dr. Ball so I was confident that he was the man that could at least help me get somewhat of a natural look back.
During the initial consultation Dr. Ball said pretty much what I’ve typed above. He suggested that we would punch out the harsh corners of my hairline to bring it back and then soften up the rest of it with thin single grafts to give it that smooth and natural appearance. We would also fill in that sparse left hand side to give it more volume.
So a date was set! And in January 2024 I underwent my repair operation with Dr. Ball at The Maitland Clinic.
Honestly the results were almost immediately noticeable. Even though nothing was growing yet, just looking in the mirror a few days after the transplant I already saw the shape of the surgery looked so much more natural and so much more refined compared to my first one.
I got 80% of my results by about month 4-6 post-surgery, but I’ve waited until I had my 12-month post-op appointment to get photos of the final result before posting this review.
As the saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words, so here are my before (12-month post first surgery) and after (12-months post second surgery) images. I do want to thank Dr. Ball and the staff at The Maitland Clinic again for doing such an amazing job with what I was initially afraid was going to be a horrible look for life, and if anybody reading this is in the same situation I was in after my first transplant I say to you: All is not lost! There is hope!
In September 2022 I got an (alleged) 4500 graft transplant at the Sapphire Hair Clinic in Istanbul. I’ll spare the details, but needless to say it was the classic model where I saw an actual Dr once only (during my initial consultation) and then the rest of the process was done by technicians. The outcome of which included the following:
• An extremely unnatural hairline that grew out glaringly obvious and was the No.1 thing that made me more self-conscious of my hair than I had even been before the transplant.
• The grafts implanted in uniform rows which, as you can imagine, stood out.
• Low density per cm and low survival rate for grafts meant that my left side especially was very thin and sparse, further adding the unnatural look and making the imposing hairline even more obvious.
After a year waiting, and hoping, for a better outcome, it became obvious that this was the final result and that it was not going to get better on its own. I tried to contact Sapphire Hair Clinic multiple times, but once they realised they screwed up they outright ignored all my messages and emails. No surprise there sadly.
So I started looking around for an actual reputable clinic that had a worldclass surgeon who’s had experience in repairing hairlines. I knew roughly what needed to be done: thickening in the thin areas, more randomness in the new grafts and a re-design of the hairline to make it more natural and also to add some softness as the hairline that Sapphire Hair Clinic did was riddled with thick, thick multi-grafts (including a 6-graft right on the front of the hairline. You heard that right, a SIX-GRAFT IN THE HAIRLINE! I’d heard of doubles or triples in the hairline, which I had plenty of too, but I’d never heard of a 6-banger!).
After a lot of research I settled on The Maitland Clinic in the UK who’s transplant surgeon was Dr. Edward Ball. I’d seen some repair videos online as well as read a bunch of glowing reviews for Dr. Ball so I was confident that he was the man that could at least help me get somewhat of a natural look back.
During the initial consultation Dr. Ball said pretty much what I’ve typed above. He suggested that we would punch out the harsh corners of my hairline to bring it back and then soften up the rest of it with thin single grafts to give it that smooth and natural appearance. We would also fill in that sparse left hand side to give it more volume.
So a date was set! And in January 2024 I underwent my repair operation with Dr. Ball at The Maitland Clinic.
Honestly the results were almost immediately noticeable. Even though nothing was growing yet, just looking in the mirror a few days after the transplant I already saw the shape of the surgery looked so much more natural and so much more refined compared to my first one.
I got 80% of my results by about month 4-6 post-surgery, but I’ve waited until I had my 12-month post-op appointment to get photos of the final result before posting this review.
As the saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words, so here are my before (12-month post first surgery) and after (12-months post second surgery) images. I do want to thank Dr. Ball and the staff at The Maitland Clinic again for doing such an amazing job with what I was initially afraid was going to be a horrible look for life, and if anybody reading this is in the same situation I was in after my first transplant I say to you: All is not lost! There is hope!
