49 Year Old With Receding Hairline - 4000 Grafts

After researching for over a year, and thoroughly reading through every review on RealSelf, I finally arranged to get it done through Dr. Maral. As others have described, I was picked up at the airport by one of their drivers, Saim. My flight arrived around 12:30 AM and Saim was there to greet me. It was about a 15 minute drive to the hotel at that hour. I've heard horror stories from some of you as to the traffic during the day, so I was glad not to have experienced that. Saim took me to the hotel, checked me in and told me to be ready later that morning at 9 AM. As you can imagine, being in a foreign country and knowing you're about to embark on a journey to a new you, I hardly slept. The Levent Otel is a very nice place. The room was spacious enough and clean. I was up early and in their restaurant at 7 AM for the complimentary breakfast. The food was very good and their was an abundance of it. I saw a few people walking around with white hats or bandages on but did not get a chance to speak to any of them at the time. 9 AM came and a different driver was there to take me and another guy (from Poland) to the clinic. As others have described, the clinic is in a little shopping center surrounded by restaurants. The clinic itself was very nice and the staff greeted us warmly. You are seated in a reception area before being called to Sonnur, the clinic coordinator. She is who you'll be communicating with prior to your visit - at least that was the case with me. You give her the money, including hotel money if you plan on staying extra days. I stayed a total of 5 days. 3 were paid with the cost of the procedure, and I paid for an extra 2 days so that I could see the city. Once that was taken care of, you await to meet with the great Doctor. Dr. Maral was super nice and spoke good English. I should point out that most of the staff speak good English. The Doc and I went over my hair and what to expect, etc. He then drew a realistic hairline on me that I agreed with. From here, you're head is shaved down, pictures are taken, and you are sent to the room where your procedure will take place. You meet with the head nurse. I forgot her name but you should not STARE. INTO. HER. EYES. Her beauty will mesmerize you and she's got the most amazing green eyes. I can go on describing more about her but as it is, this post is already quite long. The procedure took about 7 1/2 hours. No pain or real discomfort. In fact, the only real discomfort was having to listen to, and occasionally watch, Turkish music videos that were playing on the TV. I'll finish this review on Wednesday as that will be my 4 week anniversary.

Today's my 4th week since the operation and all is good. I started shedding a lot last week and it's been dwindling off the past couple of days. The donor area redness has been going away with more hair covering it. No itchiness anywhere. Just being patient.

Not much to report, as far as hair growth goes. July 31st will be my 2 month mark and I'll post pics then. As others have posted, I'm going through the Ugly Duckling phase but I'm very patient as I know the process takes time.
I did want to update you guys on Turkey, itself. If you're going to another country, you might as well see a little of it, right? Most guys that I would run into at the hotel, did not want to leave their rooms. However, I did find a few, through the 5 days that I was there, who I was able to convince to venture out with me. Istanbul is a beautiful country filled with very kind people.
For food and beverage, the Levent had a very good breakfast. Outside of breakfast, I'd suggest heading out to the street behind the Levent. Exit the Levent to the right, make your first right and go to the main street. Once there, look to your left and you'll see "Pa Doner". An excellent shawarma sandwhich with a drink will cost you roughly $1.67 US. Further down that same road, going towards the "Rose" hotel, another hotel used by Maral, you'll find an awesome bakery called "Ayvazoglu Firin". When we went in the afternoon, there was a line to get into the place. I can tell you that the wait was worth it! Amazing Baklava in addition to other goodies. I ended up buying some for the hotel staff and they were very appreciative. By the way, the hotel staff are great and very informative. They don't like taking tips from hand to hand but they do have tip boxes at the front and in the restaurant. If you can afford it, tip. They'll appreciate it. For beverages, ask the hotel how to get to the Kanyon Mall. As your about to enter, look behind you and you'll find a very cool bar to sit and enjoy a beer. I wish I could remember the name of the place because it was really a great place to sit and relax. Further down the street, there's the "Butcha Butcher Shop & Steakhouse". Didn't eat there but did get a chance to enjoy a beer there. By the way, Kanyon Mall is nice to look at but extremely expensive. If you plan on doing mall shopping, go to MetroCity, which is right around the corner from Kanyon. All of these places are within walking distance from the hotel.
I ventured out to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia and the Grand Bazaar on 2 different days. They are all situated within walking distance from one another. I recommend taking an Uber from the hotel, if you have it. Otherwise, tell the hotel staff where you want to go and they'll call you a cab. Make sure you take a business card for the hotel so that you know how to get back. As far as cabs go, on your way back to the hotel, try and arrange a preset price. Also, take a picture of their license plate and make sure they see you taking it. If there's any issues, you can file complaints with their company. But the picture taking is more to get them to realize that they shouldn't try to overcharge you. The Grand Bazaar is incredible. But if you plan on making purchases, I suggest you shop at the stores that are outside the Grand Bazaar. There are tons of them and you'll find better deals than in the Bazaar itself.
Do not be afraid or embarrassed of anything. Istanbul alone has over 400 FUE doctors. You'll run into guys that have just had the same surgery you've had and they're walking around like it's no big deal. The majority of people don't even stare as they know this is a pretty common sight.