Hair transplant of 3800 graffs on the 15 October 2018 - amazing results!
If you are considering hair transplant, I would totally recommend this place. From the moment you contact them everything is so easy, it feels unreal.
I am from the UK where bureaucracy is ruining our daily lives, so going through such an easy process actually worried me but that was me just being used to the system I am living in. Turkey is much simpler and their word is a contract.
I contacted them about 4 months before going which Rabia seemed surprised about. When you first contact them, your first point of contact is Rabia. She is an absolutely lovely woman and will answer all your questions honestly! The consultation is through WhatsApp. By the end of it, you have set up your date and are ready to go! All Rabia will ask is details of your flights and they will take it from there. You will receive the number of the sign you need to look out for and that's it. No more communication after that: you just have to trust it will be fine and it will be!
Arriving in Istanbul, I easily found the guy holding the sign with the number I was looking for, told him my name and he said ok. The rest is a bit of a blur: it all seems like chaos but for the locals, it is organised chaos which they navigate with ease. 20 minutes later, I was in a taxi en-route to my hotel.
In the car, I received a call from Ahmet asking me if everything was fine and we set up to meet in the lobby of the hotel the following morning. The hotel was gorgeous: a sublime boutique hotel with food that is to die for. I had taken the option of the 5* hotel: for an extra £90, I thought why not! (The food bill for meals is not included in the price, but I had 3 full meals of amazing quality and the bill came to £28).
Anyway, day 2, Ahmet who is your main point of contact there and also your translator, met me at 9 am. We went to the clinic: a brand new building, very clean and hi-tech and we went up to the hair transplant floor. He explained everything and had a lovely chat. The consultation is about 1-hour long but basically, around 10 am you are good to go and the process will start! Overall, for me it took hours. It's long but the 2 relaxants they give you at the start help: I was asleep for about 7.5h! The first 3 hours or so is the harvest of your follicles. Then you get a 20-minute break for lunch then back at it for the actual implantation of the new follicles.
The whole thing is pain-free even though your head will look like you have been under a lawnmower. The only painful moment is the actual injection of the anaesthetic in your scalp. That is pretty bad but it only lasts 10 minutes until everything is numb. So, 10 minutes out of 9.5 hours is nothing.
At the end of it all, you are taken back to your hotel by Ahmet and he comes back the following morning for the post-care treatment by the doctors and the explanation of how you will have to take of it! It is fairly simple and easy to follow. Just make sure you do as told.
Of course, through the process afterwards, you question it all a lot: is it supposed to be like that, am I doing it right etc. One of the things people usually underestimate is the trauma on yourself and self-confidence afterwards. It does take a lot more out of you that you could anticipate. I had prepared myself for "maybe it won't work" but not for all the ups and downs I felt on a daily basis. This being said, I could always send a message to Ahmet and he was always patient and spot on to make you feel better.
Anyway, it has now been 9.5 months and the results are absolutely incredible! It is well worth it and this place is perfect. They will look after you and make you feel good about it. If I had to do it again, I would go back there without hesitations!
Things to keep in mind:
- The 3 months post op is hard in your head! There is no pain but for example, the donor area can grow back at a different rate so it can be difficult to deal with. Mine took almost 4 months to get back to normal.
- The money! Make sure you take British pounds! I am from Scotland (well originally French but moved in Scotland 15 years ago) and didn't realise that the Scottish pound does not have the same value abroad.