Prof. M.D. Ziya Akar

My 82-year-old mother, Ayşe, developed a sudden tremor in her left hand that progressed to weakness over three days. At Acıbadem Atasehir, Dr. Ziya Akar didn't just see a scan—he saw a person. He explained the meningioma near her motor cortex with such clarity, using a model of the brain my grandchildren could understand. What struck me was his patience; he waited for her to process each piece of information, repeating himself without a hint of irritation. The awake craniotomy he performed was nothing short of miraculous. He talked to her throughout, asking about her rose garden. Today, she's back tending those roses, her hand steady. Dr. Akar didn't just operate on a brain; he preserved a life's passion.

Our 7-year-old son, Deniz, took a bad fall from his bicycle. The ER scan showed a skull fracture with a worrying epidural hematoma. The night shift team called Dr. Akar at home—he was at the hospital within 20 minutes. In the tense pre-op room, he knelt to Deniz's eye level. 'I hear you're a brave space explorer,' he said, pointing to the MRI images. 'See this little star-shaped crack? We need to go in and fix it so your super-brain can keep working.' He used that narrative through the entire emergency surgery. For follow-ups, Deniz brings his drawings of 'Dr. Ziya fixing the spaceship skull.' The technical skill was expected; the profound psychological care for a terrified child was the real gift.

I'm a 45-year-old software engineer with a decade of debilitating trigeminal neuralgia—the 'suicide disease.' Countless medications and procedures failed. Dr. Akar proposed a microvascular decompression, but his approach was radically collaborative. He used my own MRI scans in a 3D simulation software, letting me 'fly through' my cranial anatomy to see the artery compressing the nerve. 'You are the expert on your pain,' he said. 'I am the expert on the pathway. Together, we plan the mission.' The surgery was precision itself. Six months later, I'm pain-free. But more than that, I felt like an active participant in my own healing, not just a passive recipient. His fusion of high-tech visualization with deep human partnership is unlike any medical experience I've had.

Routine checkup? Not quite. I had a persistent, mild headache for months. My GP sent me for a scan 'just in case.' The radiologist found a small, incidental pineal cyst. The report said 'likely benign, follow-up recommended.' The panic was instant. Dr. Akar's clinic scheduled me within days. He spent the first 15 minutes of our consultation talking me down from the 'Google rabbit hole.' 'Your cyst is a quiet neighbor,' he explained. 'It's not throwing parties, not blocking traffic. We will watch it, not wage war on it.' His annual follow-ups are the same: thorough, unhurried, and focused on my anxiety as much as the imaging. He turned a terrifying 'what if' into a manageable 'let's watch.' For five years now, his calm stewardship has been my peace of mind. He manages the person, not just the pathology.