30yr Old Australian, FUE HT, 5300 grafts, Dr Maral Klinik - Istanbul, TR

Hi guys, just thought I'd post up my own review of my upcoming FUE hair transplant experience to help some people out, since I have been able to come to a confident decision by reading everyone else's reviews. Thankyou so much to everyone that has posted. You've given me enough confidence to say that I'm almost certain I'll be in good hands and enjoying my new hair in no time. Well with any luck, in 3+ long months anyway haha. ;)
So after much research, I have been in contact with Dr Tugrul Maral of Maral Klinik and have decided that I will be having his clinic hopefully perform my procedure within 7-10 days, depending on when I can get flights. Also, I was very suprised and delighted to hear that they will book your appointment based on when you can get flights and that there does not seem to be any waiting lists. Atleast not for international flyers anyway, which makes planning very convenient. The amount I have been quoted is 2100 euros as a package, which includes the procedure, airport/hotel transfers, 3 nights accommodation, post meds and care taking products. Everything to get the job done basically, except flights, lunch and dinner. I've listed the price as $2300 as that is what the US dollar is approximately at the moment. As many people have said, the price point is amazing, especially compared to pricing in Australia, where they'll charge you anywhere from $7 per graph and up. Even after $2300-$2500 worth of flights because of late booking, it's still atleast half the price of anything here. They will accept only cash, but in your choice of either euros, US dollars or GBP(British Pound).
I have only sent the one email to Dr Maral regarding my appointment so far, which was replied to in 3hrs and very informative. Apparently I'm a stage 5-6 and will need anywhere from 3500-5500 grafts depending on my donor area, which he thinks looks favorable for a successful single session HT. Personally, I think the pics make it look a little worse than it is, but I'm not used to seeing these angles of my head so it could be right haha. None the less, I'm very satisfied with everything so far and very much looking forward to having the procedure done (the 44hrs of flying... not so much lol) and finding out where my new hairline will be! :)
I don't mind showing my face in my pics. I only ask that they aren't shared around the net or outside of this forum please. I've never done something like this before, so I'm still a little nervous and unsure as to how comfortable I am with showing this off to the world yet lol. I'm trying to not let it be a big deal though and I guess posting this is a part of me trying to show that. :)
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, otherwise I will be posting updates as regularly as possible. I hope my post can help people make an informed decision, as much as others have helped me in mine. Thankyou and goodluck to everyone's present and future hair transplant journeys!

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to everyone's comments at the time of writing this, but thankyou so much for all the support! :) So the last few days have been a little hectic, as instead of the original 7-10 day plan, I ended up having to book earlier flights and I can now say while I've got a minute, I'm now sitting in Singapore Airport, waiting to board my next flight to Istanbul, Turkey! Didn't think I'd be where I am now 4 days ago haha, but here I am. No backing out now. ;p This is my 1st international trip I've ever done by myself and everything has gone super smooth so far. Already over flying though haha and I've still got 11hrs to go! x) Hoping to get some sleep on this one though, so hopefully it'll go a little quicker.

I must say, this wouldn't have been possible without Dr Maral's super quick replies to my emails and being able to fit me in with only a few days notice. I am impressed so far, which has made me all the more confident that this trip will be a complete success. :)

About to take off, but will update again in the next day or so once I know a little more about my exact surgery date and time. I have been informed that it would most likely be Thursday or Friday, so I'm guessing that he'll let me know specifics once I've arrived at the hotel. Talk soon!

Hi guys, sorry about the delayed update. It has been a fairly hectic and tiring last couple of days, so haven't really had time to sit down and put the time I wanted to into these updates. But I'll get there, so please bare with me over the next few days haha. Waiting for my 1st flight home now, so will try smash out what I can before then! ;)

Ok, so I decided I would do this update separate to the actual surgery, as I feel this could be some interesting information in itself if you are looking to visit Dr Maral in the near future. I know I would have enjoyed reading this stuff anyway, so I hope you find it helpful to some extent too. :)

So continuing on since my Singapore flight transit... My 2nd flight was to be 11hrs during the night with a 7:25am landing putting me 8hrs behind Australian time. Flight went well but only managed to get about 3-4hrs sleep on it, so arrived in Istanbul feeling pretty tired, but in good spirit nonetheless.

Did all the usual bag collection and transit stuff and then was greeted by my driver, Mr Saim Sivas, at the airport exit with my name clearly written on a card for me to see. This went exactly as Dr Maral had told me it would in an email the day I sent through my flight itinerary. :) I then proceeded to have a pleasant drive to the hotel with Mr Sivas, while he happily and fairly fluently spoke to me about the procedure, the variation of countries people come from, and basically calming any queries I had on my mind about basically anything to do with my upcoming time to be spent in Istanbul. He was very helpful and as I have been able to see him in and out over the last few days during pickup/drop offs of myself and other people, he is a genuinely great guy, much like Dr Maral. :) It was stated how important a rested and stress free surgery was for a hair transplant procedure, so it was during this trip, that he also notified me of my proposed surgery date, being the day after arrival, so I could have the day rest and recover from my long flights.

I wasn't told which hotel I was going to be going to before flying over, but I was given the links of the 2 hotels they would be setting me up in, which both seemed to be of equal appearance and cleanliness from the sites. Here are the links to them if you wish to have a look for yourself.
http://www.myrosehotel.com/index_eng.htm
http://www.leventotel.com/istanbul_otel_index_english.htm

Upon arrival at the hotel, I soon found out I was to be staying at the Leventotel option. Mr Sivas helped check me into my hotel, which was very helpful as the receptions English wasn't as great as hoped. Well not the guy we spoke to anyway. Then Mr Sivas gave me a quick reminder that I should have breakfast done by 9am the following day and that he will be round to pick me up sometime between 9-9:30am.

One of the staff then showed me to my room and left me to settle and do my own thing. I tried to get some sleep, but my body clock didn't agree to that after an hour of trying, so I decided to go find a bank to exchange my euro to lira and check out the nearby malls. These were easy enough to find on my own and were only about 15mins walk away. I ended up spending the rest of that evening shopping around for a crazy 8hrs haha and becoming accustomed to the local Turkish people, which I personally found a little daunting at 1st. Mainly just cause I had no idea how much English they knew and how they generally took to tourists. I made myself go venturing though and after a couple of hours of strolling about, I felt quite comfortable walking the streets and malls. Just watch where you walk on the streets! The drivers are just as crazy as you see in many other Asian countries haha. You need to stay alert when near any traffic, but it's all easy enough.

I have chosen to upload a few pictures of the hotel and my room in this update too. It is nothing too fancy, but it's very clean and has all the necessities you need for your stay. If your like me, you probably won't be hanging out in your room very much anyway. I very much recommend getting out there and checking out some of the beautiful scenery and markets. Just a shame it's been raining most of the time and it's quite cold, but it's still nice. Make sure to bring warm clothes and rug up if you are coming over in the next couple of months! Oh, if I had one small complaint about the room, it's that my air con didn't seem to generate any heat based off the settings I set it at. So I just turned it off. Thankfully, inside the hotels rooms, it is pretty close to a comfortable room temperature anyway, so it hasn't been much of an issue for me personally. Overall, I am very happy with the rooms and service from the staff. The free buffet style breakfast in the mornings is also decent enough too. :) and don't be shocked like I was if you see 80% of the people in the buffet have bandages on there heads like I was that 1st morning! haha. x) The majority of them will be there for Maral Klinik, but I did meet a few people that were there to see someone else. During the next few days of my stay, I became friends with some great guys, coming from USA, Germany, U.K. and even Somalia. This made the experience of the trip all the more enjoyable, as we did all sightseeing and post surgery activities together too. I wasn't expecting it to be so easy to meet people, but everyone is there for the same reasons and so you instantly have that common interest, which was just great. We also now have each other's contact details too, so we can keep in touch and upto date on each other's progress. Pretty cool. :)

I will just also quickly add, please make sure you confirm how much you are to pay for your stay including all nights accomodation. Because just before they picked me up for the airport, I was told that I was to pay for 5 nights instead of the 4 I'd organised in my price, because I checked in before 12am the day I arrived. Apparently another guy had to pay for another night for the same reason too. Neither of us were informed of any of this. I won't go into this too much more, cause there is a little more too what i'd organized with Dr Maral, complicating things even more, but the moral of the story is, just make sure when you pay the receptionist at the Klinik, that you are paying for the FULL PRICE of ALL accommodation between your flight times on the itinerary that you sent them, if you are to stay at there organised hotel for the complete duration of your trip. Unfortunately this left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth just before leaving, which was a little upsetting after everything else went so flawlessly. :/

So I will finish this update here for now, because I wanted to do this part separate... But I'll be posting surgery feedback and results next! So stay tuned. ;)