Among various locations such as Italy, the USA, Germany, and Turkey, I chose Turkey due to financial considerations and potential logistical ease. In Turkey, I reached out to numerous surgeons. Notably, I extensively researched Prof. Ates Kadioglu and Prof. Ihsan Karaman. Ultimately, I selected Karaman as my choice. I had several phone conversations with him during which he satisfactorily addressed all my queries. Additionally, I sought advice from several FT members, particularly seeking insights from Atul and Daridima.The letter had a successful penile implant done by Dr. Karaman and was really happy with it. So, I chose to have a penile implant as my last hope for a solution.
I arrived in Istanbul on August 11th and spent the next 2 days exploring the beautiful city. On August 14th , I met with Karaman. He conducted a physical examination, blood tests, and arranged for an anesthesia evaluation. He has been working exclusively with Rigicon for the past 3 years due to their lifetime warranty and good customer service.
I had some concerns about Rigicon because it's a relatively new brand with limited online reviews. However, Karaman reassured me that he had successfully performed over 200 implants in the last 2 years using Rigicon and had achieved great results in terms of firmness, length, and low infection rates. Even though he gave me the option to choose a different brand, I decided to trust his recommendation and went ahead with the Rigicon Infla 10 AX implant.
Day of Surgery- Day 1
The surgery took place on August 15th. On the day of the surgery, Karaman met with me twice, wearing a smile on his face. He asked me if I had any further questions about the procedure and made sure I felt comfortable before going under the knife.
After the surgery, I woke up with slight discomfort. My penis and scrotum were tightly wrapped in bandages, and there was a drain and catheter in place. The catheter caused a strong burning sensation, but the medical team quickly provided me with painkillers. Thankfully, the burning sensation and pain started to fade after a couple of hours. There was no swelling, but my penis felt a bit shorter may due to the bandages.
I also experienced a mild pain in the scrotum. In the evening, Karaman paid me a visit and informed me that the surgery went smoothly without any complications. He seemed very pleased with the outcome. He mentioned that he had used an 18 cm implant with 3 cm RTEs, leaving me at about 50-60% inflation.
Throughout the night, I had a mild 4/10 pain, but I managed to get about 4-5 hours of sleep.
Day 2
The following morning, another surgeon from Karaman's team visited me at 8 am. They removed the catheter and the bandage from my penis. The burning sensation from catheter gradually faded over the next couple of hours. Karaman himself came by around noon. He addressed my queries and let me know he was pleased with my progress. He returned in the evening to take out the drain. By then, my penis looked much better. Even though I was only partially inflated at 50-60%, the firmness was quite impressive. I experienced very mild pain throughout the day, around 3 out of 10. I managed to sleep 4-5 hours that night
DAY 3
I was scheduled to be discharged the following day. Karaman came to see me around noon, examined my wound, and expressed his satisfaction with the progress. I received my discharge along with a prescription and additional instructions. I was also given a medicine to address constipation, as I hadn't had a bowel movement for the past 48 hours. I was informed to remove the scrotum bandage the next day and to take a shower.
During our conversation, I mentioned to Karaman that my erection at 50% seemed promising. He responded with humor, saying that at 100% inflation, I could probably create a hole in the wall. This comment genuinely made me burst into laughter.
As I prepared to leave, I put on underwear, compression shorts, and a loose shirt. This clothing choice effectively concealed the erection I had, so there were no problems in that regard.
I arrived at the nearby hotel and took some time to rest for a couple of hours. Afterward, I went to a nearby market to purchase some food items. The market was about a 10-minute walk away, and while walking, I experienced a mild pain of about 5 out of 10. Once I returned to the hotel, I had some nuts to eat. I decided to take off the compression shorts and settled into bed. A little later, I used a towel to gently wrap my penis while lying in bed. I also positioned a cushion between my legs, close to the scrotum area, which brought considerable relief. As the evening progressed, the pain level decreased to around 2 out of 10. This pain level persisted throughout the night, but fortunately, I was able to sleep comfortably.
Day 4
The following day, I woke up without any pain. Following Karaman's advice, I removed the bandage from the scrotum and took a shower. After that, I put on some underwear and compression shorts and went for a walk as Karaman had recommended getting back to walking as soon as possible. I strolled around the hotel area for about an hour. During the walk, I experienced 5/10 pain in the scrotum and at the reservoir site. I bought bottled water and some fruits from a nearby market and then returned to the hotel.
Since then, I've been working on some pending office tasks while in bed, and I haven't experienced any pain while lying down. However, I still feel a slight pain when getting up and right after urinating, but it only lasts for a couple of minutes.
Over the past 2-3 days, I've been drinking a lot of water. I still have a mild, sometimes stronger, burning sensation during urination. I've been told that this should improve with time.
Overall, I'm seeing very promising results in terms of my erection at 50%. My penis is already curving upward. Additionally, the loss in length seems minimal, around 1-2 centimeters, which I'm hopeful, will gradually improve as time goes on. I also don't have any swelling.
I'm pleased that I made the choice to have the surgery with Prof Karaman. He's an experienced surgeon with a good number of successful prosthetic surgeries under his belt. What stands out about him is his approachability and genuine concern for his patients. During my two-night stay in the hospital, he visited me around 5-6 times, showing his dedication. He's also very responsive on WhatsApp.
I was also impressed with the hospital where the surgery took place. It's incredibly clean, and the nurses are super attentive and caring. While there's a language barrier with the nurses due to my lack of fluency in Turkish, Google Translate has been a great help in communicating
Considering that my expenses so far have remained under $8,000, I find this to be exceptional value for the quality of care and service I've received.
Karaman employs penoscrotal technique and recommends cycling after 6 weeks, but I've asked him about starting earlier. I gotta get back to work on August 28th and want everything settled before I head back to Dubai on the 26th. I'll keep you guys updated on how things go.
