My experience with a hair transplant in Turkey

Herewith a report of my hair transplant (including eyebrows) one year after the treatment. I actually wanted this treatment for more than 10 years for my luxury problem.

Why a hair transplant?

My eyebrows have always been thin and short (runs in my family) and my hairline has receded slightly over the past few decades. This causes a bit of an 'empty forehead', and was the reason why I always wore long locks in the front.

There are plenty of people who think this is excessive, but I wanted to solve this little luxury problem of mine once and for all as a perfectionist and it is as Schwarzenegger would say, "Ignore the naysayers! ".

Androgenetic alopecia

So probably this is fixed for the rest of my life, as the 'androgenetic alopecia' seems to have come to a halt and the new hairs are hardly sensitive to male hormones (However, whether these hair follicles will become so after many years in the new place is still unknown, but not for a long time, fortunately). In fact, these hair follicles come from the back of the head and are more resistant to dihydrotestosterone, or DHT.

The masculinisation process can also be inhibited by hormonal intervention with finasteride or dutasteride, which inhibits the conversion of normal testosterone to DHT (inhibits the enzyme 5-alpha reductase). Hormonally forcing by slightly reducing your manhood I am not in favour of that myself, so that option immediately fell out with me. So I went for a hair transplant.

On to Turkey

I immersed myself in different methods and clinics for years before the procedure. Customisation is also important in this area. In my case, I did not have a severe form of androgenetic alopecia, and because I was already 46 years old, I also did not expect the balding process to suddenly accelerate enormously. So this means that with just 1 hefty treatment (many hair follicles), I might be ready for the rest of my life.

I then opted for a hair transplant in Istanbul, because they are known for being able to transfer a lot of grafts in one treatment. For me, this is a huge advantage, as I don't expect to continue balding any time soon. However, for a younger person who may need more treatments in the future, I would be wary of this because your donor area will be drained too quickly, making any future treatments more difficult.

There are also treatments where it is claimed that the donor area is not affected using the stem cell method (HASCI). In my case where I don't have to worry so much about my future donor area, I didn't think this was the best option because it is more labour-intensive and so fewer grafts could be transplanted in one treatment.

In addition, it is also a lot more expensive. However, for someone much more calendar than me, this could be a solution, as it might better preserve your donor area for more transplants in the long run.

But I have to say that the conclusive long-term evidence is not mega so don't pin me down on it.

Which clinic?

I had already realised that I needed to pay close attention when getting a hair transplant in Istanbul. There are very large clinics where I was worried about personal attention, so I started looking for a small clinic. The choice eventually fell on Hairestetik, where the owner Engin Sönmez together with me would draw my desired hairline.

I often find the hairline made way too straight when I see results from Dutch people who have been treated in Turkey, so I wanted a line that resembles my original hairline (check well old photos of yourself and your hairline). He would also do the eyebrow transplant himself, as he has a lot of experience with that and it is a lot more difficult than standard hairline restorations.

What are the costs?

After coming to a nice price, we scheduled the surgery date including flight and three nights' hotel. To be clear: This was not a barter or sponsorship deal, but I just paid nicely. The prices are in Turkey simply much lower than in the Netherlands in many cases, especially when, like me, you have not only the hairline done, but also eyebrows.

How does a hair transplant work?

Once in Istanbul, everything was fine. The hotel was fine, I was picked up on time early in the morning and taken to the clinic. There I received a warm welcome and we immediately started working on intake, drawing the hairline and contouring the eyebrows.

When I was satisfied with this I could move on to step two which was shaving the donor area was. I had long hair and thought a kind of hatch could be made and I could let my hair fall back over this afterwards. Unfortunately, this was disappointing. If I did that, only a maximum of 2,500 hair follicles could be harvested, and the result would not be top-notch. At that point, I decided to have the back of my head completely shaved off, so that I could get through the first few months with a kind of hipster hairdo, because completely bald would not look good on me at that point, with thin eyebrows and a high hairline (i.e. a bare bottom face). At the front, my hairline was also shaved back a little bit (aiiiii!) so that the transition area could also be closely implanted with new hair follicles. At that point, I was really aware that I was going to look a little strange for at least three months, but short pain hopefully means long happiness.

After shaving, the real work could begin. The scalp of the donor area was anaesthetised to then harvest hair follicles. These were a lot of syringes. The pain was not too bad, especially as they had already pre-analysed the skin a little with a special technique.

Two assistants then set to work harvesting. In the end, this resulted in 4,200 hair follicles (20% with 3 hairs, 40% with 2 hairs, and 40% with 1 hair). The hair follicles from which only one hair grows were needed for a natural hairline transition and eyebrows. They were satisfied with my donor area. When one hair follicle is harvested, at least three surrounding hair follicles must remain to maintain sufficient density. This number had succeeded without shaving the side of my head. So there are also plenty of hair follicles left to perhaps do a second treatment at some point. Harvesting took a couple of hours and this was followed by a break with lunch.

Eyebrow transplant too

After lunch, we quickly moved on to implanting the hairline and eyebrows. The eyebrows were started and the anaesthetic syringes were popped in. I had been told by 'fellow sufferers' that this would hurt an awful lot, but even this was manageable.

Engin Sönmez planted the eyebrows himself, with the very important is in which growth direction the hair follicles were positioned. Difficult work this seems to me but in less than two hours it was done. For the eyebrows, 800 hair follicles were eventually used (400 per eyebrow).

This was followed by numbing the hairline and transferring the rest of the hair follicles by two assistants, 3,400 of them no less. This took an incredibly long time and staying well still is no fun, but I visualised my long-term happiness and this dragged me through. Finally, it was already evening when the last hair follicle went in, so a monster day, respect to the team! The surgery was very successful.

Recovery and aftercare

The next morning after an intense night with a lot of wound fluid, I returned to the clinic for a check-up. Here gently washed my head and went through the protocol for the first period. As the scalp began to recover during the first week, (as with most men) most of the new hair fell out, leaving me looking balder and worse than ever. The first 4 months is not called the 'ugly duckling phase' for nothing. The new growth round will get underway in the fourth month, so this is something you have to go through. Fortunately, I was allowed to wear caps and hats again after two weeks.

After four months, growth picked up and every month I saw improvement. I supported the growth from within with bone broth (200ml per day) as a good source of collagen and growth hormone booster (more info: https://babsbonebroth.com/). After about eight months, my eyebrows and hairline finally started looking good.

The result: before and after

All in all, I am very satisfied and happy with the results. The eyebrows in particular make a world of difference to my appearance and how I come across. My face is better balanced and even when I have a clean shave instead of a three-day beard I no longer have a bare bottom face. Also, short hairstyles look good on me now. I love it when a plan comes together!

I am very grateful to Engin Sonmez and Hairestetik Instanbul for all the effort and the beautiful result (see photo above). I was a 'fussy' and demanding customer!