mas1
Member
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I would like to share my positive experience of having a hair transplant procedure on the 25/11/2010 at Transmed hair and cosmetic clinic Istanbul-Turkey. After careful consideration and a lot of research on this site and other websites I decided to have a hair transplant by Doctor Melike Kulahci of Transmed.
I first made contact with the clinic in September 2010 by email expressing my interest In having a hair transplant FUT procedure to restore my hair line. I was promptly emailed back by Barbaros Bugra the European patient Co-ordinator for Transmed who kindly asked me to send photos of my hair from different angles for Doctor Kulahci to evaluate to which I obliged. A few days later Barbaros emailed me back with a medical report in which I was informed I would need between 1500-1600 FUT grafts to restore my hair line, my hair loss was mostly in my temple area. I was told in the medical report the price for my procedure would be about £2,000 GBP Including all transfers and medications, having done my ground work in the UK the same amount of FUT grafts would cost around £4,200.00 GBP by surgeons with half the skill or experience as Doctor Kulahci. I waited for 2 weeks to think it over, was it the right thing to do to travel overseas to a city which stretches both Europe and Asia, it was very daunting to say the least, however Doctor Kulahci is up there with the best hair transplant surgeons around and certainly one of the best in Europe and she is also recommended by hair transplant network, based on these facts.........I decided to go for it.
I contacted Barbaros again by email letting him know I wanted to go ahead with the surgery "Barbaros writes and speaks very good english" so it is very easy and a pleasure to communicate with him. We decided on a date for my hair transplant which would be on the 25/11/2010, Barbaros was very good in organising everything for me, he even asked if I needed him to book my hotel , however I had already booked it. I paid a small deposit of 200 Euro which is approximately £180.00 GBP to secure the surgery, I then booked my flights with Swiss Air from Birmingham via Zurich for £215.00 GBP return and my hotel cost £90.00 GBP for 2 nights "including breakfast" and was only 5 mins by car to the clinic. I would arrive on the 24/11/2010, surgery would take place on the 25/11/2010 and I would return home on the 26/11/2010, I then emailed my flight and hotel bookings to Barbaros, he then emailed me back letting me know that when I arrived in Istanbul his driver Abbas whom is from Transmed would be waiting for me at the airport, "holding up a board with my name on" and from there he would transfer me to my hotel. About 2 weeks before my surgery date Barbaros also emailed me with some pre-op instructions to follow, he also advised me to take 1000mg of vitamin c tablets "1 per day for one week leading up to the surgery" , he also sent me some scalp exercises to do which would help loosen my scalp for when the doner strip is taken so you dont feel so tight in your doner area after strip extraction, I done the exercises everyday until the night before the surgery and it has definatly worked as I have no tightness in my doner area, so I advise anyone going for FUT surgery that you do the exercises as this will definatly help.
So the big day arrived for me to go to Instabul , I arrived late afternoon on the 24/11/2010, It was nice to see Abbas there to meet me holding my name up on the board, I was very pleased. Abbas is a very friendly guy although he don't speak much english. He then transfered me to my hotel and even carried my luggage in to the hotel for me and made sure my reservation was ok before he left me which I thought was nice of him to do this. Barbaros then rang me welcoming me to Istanbul and made arrangements with me to say I would be picked up at 08.10am from my hotel the next morning and Abbas would transfer me direct to Transmed clinic for consultation with Doctor Kulahci then surgery would take place
. Surgery day arrived I woke up at 06.30am I didn't sleep to well! I had a light breakfast in the hotel, however "no coffee" as Barbaros said no alchol or coffee before surgery, by this time I was a bit anxious of what was to come, again it was nice to see Abbas waiting for me in reception at 08.10am, he then drove me the short ride to the clinic which was about 5 mins from the hotel I was staying in. We arrived at the clinic where Barbaros was there to greet me, It was nice to see a happy smiling face it put me at ease straight away, the clinic was very modern, contemporary and spotlessly clean first class in my opinion, as good or better than any you would find in the UK. Barbaros gave me a form to fill in whilst I was sitting in reception he then took payment for 1550 FUT grafts at price of £2,000 GBP has we had agreed, he informed that Doctor Kulahci was taking calls and would be with us shortly so he gave me a tour of the clinic, he then took me in the staff canteen and offered me breakfast but I had already eaten so I had an orange juice, the nurses who would assist with my hair transplant were also in the canteen drinking morning tea, Barbaros introduced them to me they were very welcoming and friendly we then all sat together for a while which was nice, Barbaros said Doctor Kulahci would be here soon so we made our way up to her office where Barbaros showed me some photos of Doctor Kulahci's work I was very impressed, then Barbaros informed me that Doctor Kulahci was arriving, she is a very glamourous Doctor to say the least! She introduced herself to me then she put a microscope which was hooked up to her computer on to my scalp at the back of my head and told me to look at the screen, I was amazed to see 1 hair, 2 hair and 3 hair follicles all growing together. She told me I had very good hair my hair is very thick and that I will have a good end result. She then drew a line on my forehead and asked it it was ok for me, It was perfect. She then gave me a valium pill to relax me and escorted me to the operating theatre where about four or five nurses were waiting for me. Doctor Kulachi took some photos of my hair from different angles then the nurses helped me put on a gown and I was asked to lay on the bed, I was then given a remote control and a paper with a list of channels on a table in front of me so I could watch the TV which was perfectly placed over head for me to watch, the nurses then started to bandage my head. Then came the doner strip extraction, Doctor Kulahci started to inject my donor site with local anasthetic I felt a couple of sharp pricks then my head was completely numb, one of the pretty nurses held my hand whilst she started to cut away the donor strip I never felt anything, this stage lasted about 15 mins and it was over.
Then it was time for the technicians to get to work about four of them sat behind me, each with there own microscope and set to work harvesting the grafts for transplatation. I had about 10 mins break before Doctor Kulahci got to work making incisions in my recipetent area for the grafts to be transplanted in to, she was concentrating really hard as she had to count every incision, she had a nurse help her with the count, this stage lasted about an hour. When she had finished making the incisions the first grafts were available for transplantation. At this stage the nurse technicians take over and Doctor Kulahci leaves the room for a while as she's very busy elsewhere in the clinic as there are other hair transplants being performed. The technicians then get to work transplanting the grafts it is very common in a lot of hair transplant clinics for the technicians to transplant the grafts, the technicians in Transmed are highly skilled professionals and have done thoundsands of procedures, you are in very safe hands. Then about 3 of them get to work transplanting the grafts whilst another technician carries on harvesting the grafts, this stage takes the longest and you must be very still, I was given some medicine to drink an hour in to this stage to keep me relaxed, this stage lasted around 3 and half hours. Doctor Kulahci then came back in for the last half hour to help finish off transplanting the grafts, she informed me that my donor strip had yielded alot more grafts and they had transplanted 2294 grafts. I had only paid for 1550 grafts, she also informed that they had transplanted some of the extra grafts in to a old injury scar in the back of my head all this was done at no extra charge to me and I thought that was a very nice gesture by Doctor Kulahci to do that for me. I was then cleaned up and a fresh bandage was applied to my head just for the first night, I was then given a pain killing injection in my back side and then taken to another room for post op instructions.
. I was given a headband to wear for 4 days to help with swelling and a bag of medications which included antibiotics, pain killers, anti-swelling tablets, a special shampoo to use and some bepanthol lotion. I was informed that my staples in donor area should be taken out after 10 days, I was also given a folder with instructions on how to care for my transplanted hair and donor site in the coming days and weeks and also a hat to wear outside. Barbaros then made sure I understood everything before he asked Abbas to take me back to my hotel and arrange for me to be back at 11.00am the next morning for hair wash and final control. I woke up the next morning after having had a good nights sleep as I was given a valium tablet to help me sleep, I had no problems or any bleeding, Abbas then transfered me to Transmed at 11.00am for hair wash, the clinic was very busy when I arrived there, there were hair transplant patients there for controls and I also saw another patient having an hair transplant. Barbaros informed me that the clinic is busy everyday, it is a very popular clinic in Istanbul. I was then taken up stairs where a nurse removed my bandage and washed my hair, showing me the correct way I should be washing it in the coming weeks, the nurse then checked my donor area and recipetent area then I had some photos taken on my newly transplanted area and I was done.
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I said my farewells to the staff and to Barbaros and Abbas transfered me to the airport for my afternoon flight home. I am now 4 days post-op and have had no problems apart from a bit of blood from donor area on first night home, I think i may have knocked it while in bed, grafts seem to be fine, of course it will be some time before the final result can be seen so time will tell, but over all I can honestly say I had a very positive experience with Transmed, very professional staff and excellent customer service skills "especially the European Patient Co-ordinator Mr Barbaros Bugra-he made me feel very relaxed and happy to be there" If anyone is thinking of having a hair transplant abroad I would highly recommend Transmed, they are a very professional outfit from the moment you get there everything is taken care of for you, you do not have to worry about anything, although the price is alot cheaper than the UK don't let that put you off, the treatment there is first class I would definatly go back if I needed more treatment in the future.
If anyone would like to ask me any queastions feel free to reply.
P.S. I will post before and after photos when I receive them from Transmed.
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