POSTED UNDER Hair Transplant Reviews
Good Experience
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Good Experience
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I'm not sure how many characters I'm allowed. I'd gladly make a full blog post to explain my full journey, though I'm just at 14 days post-operation.
The deciding factors to choose Smile were the ratings, price, and their responsiveness to my inquiries on WhatsApp. Also the fact that they handle everything besides the plane tickets.
From my first contact to the operation, it was less than 2 months. And I did it early November so the sun would not be an issue after the operation.
There was a lot of exchange on WhatsApp, because they want photos of your hair, then they want all the details of your flight, passport, etc. It was a bit too much for my taste as an introvert, but I understand their business need to secure everything.
I landed on Wednesday. Was shuttled to my hotel (shuttle and hotel included in the package) and just rested for the rest of the day.
On Thursday morning, the shuttle took me to the clinic, which is just 550m away. After filling the form, it was just payment and operation. Just one note about payment: Turkish banks charge 10% tax on card payment so I carried cash. This made me feel a little unsafe carrying this much money. Then the operation in 5 phases: anesthesia for the donor zone, grafts extraction, anesthesia for receiving zone, making cuts to the receiving zone (canals opening), and planting the grafts into the cuts. It took less time than I expected, but maybe that's because I'm healthy and because I had only 3300 grafts. I then received instructions and medicine (more on that later), and was shuttled back to my hotel around 2pm.
On Friday morning, they changed the bandage over my donor area and gave final instructions. I was then shuttled back to my hotel, where I killed time until I was finally shuttled to the airport for departure.
About medicine and post-op care: after the operation, there's 3 medicine to take for about a week in the morning and evening: antibiotics and anti inflammatory, mostly. Also you must spray your receiving zone every 1 to 1 and a half hour during waking hours. A bit like watering plants. You must also sleep on your back for a week with a neck pillow, to avoid scratching your new hair on your pillowcase. And there's a lotion+shampoo every day (included in package). On day 13 I sent my photo to Smile through WhatsApp... It's part of the follow-up process... And they gave advice for removing the scabs. My head is now almost scab-free and my implanted hair looks like it's always been there. I'll just need to keep following the process and things are looking up.
I'll probably go back again next year to take care of the back of my head. Because my baldness was pretty advanced (5-6 on the Norwood scale), so it was not possible to do everything in 1 operation and I chose to take care of the front first.
I have taken 1 full week of holidays after my operation. I wanted to avoid the overcrowded bus and tram, where someone could accidentally scratch my head. Overall a good choice, but as a software developer, I would have been 100% operational for full remote work. People with a physical job don't have this much luxury, especially if they're expected to wear protection on their head.
One last thing about pain, because my colleagues asked me this question a lot: I've had almost zero pain post-op. And only to the donor area. And not even worth taking any paracetamol. During the operation, I felt pain during the anesthesia. The product gives a burning sensation for a few seconds after each shot. My subjective/partial memory makes me think I had like 15 shots for the donor zone and less than 10 for the target zone. But I might be off the mark. It's just a part of the process that you accept. Then during the operation, I felt a bit of pain during the extraction, in 1 small zone of the donor area, but it was ok enough that I didn't bother the doctors. And I felt absolutely nothing while they "opened the canals" or planted the grafts. I even started sleeping and was awaken by my own snoring.
And I chose the cheapest of the 3 options they have, if anyone is wondering.
I hope this was detailed enough to give people all the information they need.
The deciding factors to choose Smile were the ratings, price, and their responsiveness to my inquiries on WhatsApp. Also the fact that they handle everything besides the plane tickets.
From my first contact to the operation, it was less than 2 months. And I did it early November so the sun would not be an issue after the operation.
There was a lot of exchange on WhatsApp, because they want photos of your hair, then they want all the details of your flight, passport, etc. It was a bit too much for my taste as an introvert, but I understand their business need to secure everything.
I landed on Wednesday. Was shuttled to my hotel (shuttle and hotel included in the package) and just rested for the rest of the day.
On Thursday morning, the shuttle took me to the clinic, which is just 550m away. After filling the form, it was just payment and operation. Just one note about payment: Turkish banks charge 10% tax on card payment so I carried cash. This made me feel a little unsafe carrying this much money. Then the operation in 5 phases: anesthesia for the donor zone, grafts extraction, anesthesia for receiving zone, making cuts to the receiving zone (canals opening), and planting the grafts into the cuts. It took less time than I expected, but maybe that's because I'm healthy and because I had only 3300 grafts. I then received instructions and medicine (more on that later), and was shuttled back to my hotel around 2pm.
On Friday morning, they changed the bandage over my donor area and gave final instructions. I was then shuttled back to my hotel, where I killed time until I was finally shuttled to the airport for departure.
About medicine and post-op care: after the operation, there's 3 medicine to take for about a week in the morning and evening: antibiotics and anti inflammatory, mostly. Also you must spray your receiving zone every 1 to 1 and a half hour during waking hours. A bit like watering plants. You must also sleep on your back for a week with a neck pillow, to avoid scratching your new hair on your pillowcase. And there's a lotion+shampoo every day (included in package). On day 13 I sent my photo to Smile through WhatsApp... It's part of the follow-up process... And they gave advice for removing the scabs. My head is now almost scab-free and my implanted hair looks like it's always been there. I'll just need to keep following the process and things are looking up.
I'll probably go back again next year to take care of the back of my head. Because my baldness was pretty advanced (5-6 on the Norwood scale), so it was not possible to do everything in 1 operation and I chose to take care of the front first.
I have taken 1 full week of holidays after my operation. I wanted to avoid the overcrowded bus and tram, where someone could accidentally scratch my head. Overall a good choice, but as a software developer, I would have been 100% operational for full remote work. People with a physical job don't have this much luxury, especially if they're expected to wear protection on their head.
One last thing about pain, because my colleagues asked me this question a lot: I've had almost zero pain post-op. And only to the donor area. And not even worth taking any paracetamol. During the operation, I felt pain during the anesthesia. The product gives a burning sensation for a few seconds after each shot. My subjective/partial memory makes me think I had like 15 shots for the donor zone and less than 10 for the target zone. But I might be off the mark. It's just a part of the process that you accept. Then during the operation, I felt a bit of pain during the extraction, in 1 small zone of the donor area, but it was ok enough that I didn't bother the doctors. And I felt absolutely nothing while they "opened the canals" or planted the grafts. I even started sleeping and was awaken by my own snoring.
And I chose the cheapest of the 3 options they have, if anyone is wondering.
I hope this was detailed enough to give people all the information they need.
Fearless556180's provider
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