FUE Hair Transplant

27-year old Male here. I am now 2 weeks post HT with Vera Clinic in Turkey and wanted to share my experience with my HT and specifically with the clinic for anyone interested. Introduction I’ve had a receding hairline since 17 or 18 and it continued to worsen throughout the years until I started Finasteride about 4.5 years ago. The fin has definitely helped to stabilize the hair loss from what I can tell. I’ve always hid my hairline using the rest of my hair so it’s hard to gauge just how helpful it’s been but it’s definitely been crucial in keeping what I have. I was a Norwood 2 (closer to 3) prior to my HT. I was hoping to wait until I was 30-35 to get my hair done but due to unforeseen circumstances and a good 2 months off of work (with no further real time off in the next 5-7 years) I decided to pull the trigger on a clinic I’ve been researching for a couple of years now - Vera clinic. I understand that there are clinics with better reputations in Turkey but I could not afford their 2.5 euro per graft price tags. Vera was the best clinic I could find within my price range (~3,000 USD). If I could shell out the extra $3,000 for HLC or some other high end clinic I definitely would have. My Experience Vera clinic does a great job at advertising themselves and presenting their best foot forward and in most respects I have been happy with the results. I am only 2 weeks out and from what I can tell they did a good job on the procedure itself - we’ll have to wait and see the final product. I believe most of these clinics are equal in outcomes for the most part. Therefore my review today will be more focused on the actual experience and not the results. Think of this as a primer for Vera. Included in the price you get 3 nights at a hotel, transportation to and from the airport and to the clinic, the procedure and post-op basics (cheap neck pillow, headband, shampoo and lotion). This is a great deal for what it’s worth. There is a mix of hotels they put you in and all of them are pretty nice. From my research they range from 70-150 euros per night regularly. The drivers are all nice and friendly and ensure you are careful entering and exiting the can after your procedure. Our driver stopped by a restaurant for dinner the night of the procedure and was happy to help us order and speak to the waiter. So overall, I think Vera was a good experience and I got what I paid for. However, I have 2 large issues with Vera and their system: Lack of communication and false advertising. The day of the transplant you are brought to the clinic, and I must say this was the most overwhelming part. There are 6-7 other dudes waiting with you and you are all sitting nervously awaiting the next step. From there they take you down, one by one, to change into a gown, give you medicine (antibiotic + Xanax to calm nerves), shave your head and take pictures. You are then brought to the “consultation” where the doctor looks at you for 5 seconds draws a line and hands you a mirror. The translator asks if you like it and then you proceed. The problem with this is you don’t feel safe or have adequate time to ask questions or discuss the hairline, graft number, etc. I questioned the doctor on my grafts and whether I really needed 3000 or if I could be more conservative and save some for later and he responded that I needed 3000. There was no back and forth and no regard for the patients wishes. From research, people with my hair loss who have gotten HT in the US only needed ~2000. I am not sure if the over harvesting is due to inexperience or to bolster the near term results for satisfaction but I’m sure any doctor in the US would not have harvested 3000 grafts from me, whether I wanted it or not. Overall this consultation lasted 3 minutes and next thing I knew I was in the ‘OR’. That was the last time I would see the doctor. The procedure itself was not bad at all. The anesthesia was by far the worst part (8/10 pain for 5 minutes) but it was doable. Friends with HT in the US have complained of similar pain so it seems that this pain is inescapable. After that I was literally not able to feel a thing. The procedure only lasted 4 hours (quicker than I thought) but it flew by. During the procedure, I was told they needed 100 more grafts. I’m not sure if this was due to a mistake of some sort of an underestimation by the doctor but it didn’t feel right. After the procedure, I was sent home with little information on caring for the new grafts. Just to use the neck pillow and to not hit the recipient area. They gave me antibiotics, steroids, pain killers (Tylenol equivalent), and shampoo/lotion. The next day I was brought back to wash the new hairs and the donor area. From there they told us to use the lotion and shampoo on the grafts once a day for 2 weeks. This felt weird to me, especially after looking into post op instructions from US clinics where they say to not touch the hairs for 3-4 days at least. It felt uncomfortable dabbing and washing the new hairs barely 24 hours after the procedure. The lotion kept getting stuck in my grafts as well, so I had to use the shower head on very soft pressures to get it out and even then it didn’t completely dissolve. Not sure what I was doing wrong but after the first night I stopped using the lotion out of fear of losing my grafts. They give you a piece of paper with timelines for each activity restriction and tell you to not wash your hair until day 14. Now, on to the false advertising. Throughout the process Vera advertises one session of PRP included in the package. After going through the procedure and realizing I was never given PRP I asked the team about this and they said the PRP was done during the procedure where they placed my grafts in my own blood before implanting them. This is simply not PRP. PRP is taking your plasma and injecting it into your tissues (scalp, joints, etc.) to promote growth factors which aid in healing and growth. Placing your grafts in blood will not have the same effect. Now PRP is very expensive and I wouldn’t expect it at such a low cost but I don’t appreciate the false advertising. Finally, they advertise this recovery package to you that costs ~1200 euros for a 6 month package. They tell you these items can only be purchased at Vera clinic. They force you to make a rapid decision, worth close to $1500, on the future of your hair without giving you the opportunity to do real research. I can tell you first hand, after declining the package and researching it later on, it is a complete shill. It consists of a multivitamin which they charge 300 euros for 6 bottles. You can purchase the same vitamins on Amazon for $15 a bottle. They also promote some, one of a kind “GF SERUM” and some super expensive shampoo. I’ve looked all over the internet and the only place I find a hint of GF serum is the website of the Turkish company that makes it [ https://www.replexion.com.tr/eng/productdetails.asp?id=3 ] Completely unreliable and unproven. There are no products similar to it on the market. This was by far the worst part of my experience as I watched many people lose thousands of dollars on snake oil and multivitamins. TL;DR: Vera clinic has great outcomes, I will have to wait to see mine firsthand. With the low cost comes a lack of communication, false advertising and heavy shilling of overpriced, unproven remedies.