FUE Hair Transplant

This was my first time doing any sort of medical tourism. I contacted them on WhatsApp, did a consultation within an hour of contacting them. The person I did the consultation with spoke flawless English, set expectations appropriately. Answered every question I could think of. I booked my plane ticket and paid the small deposit to book the procedure the same day. I read nothing but great reviews about EsteNove, so I knew I was going to choose them before I ever contacted them. When I paid the deposit, they put me in an aftercare WhatsApp group with me and the nurses, staff, and translator. I was set up to fly into Istanbul the day prior to my procedure, landing at 7pm. I was sent a video of the entire 90 second walk from the gate I was to land at to the meeting point with the driver who would take me to the hotel. It was truly idiot proof. The driver would then take me to the hotel, hand me to the front desk of the hotel, and the front desk of the hotel took my bags with me up to my room - all spoke perfect English. The hotel is a [very] nice 5-star hotel, that I believe many clinics contract with for hair transplant lodging. The lobby is full of guys with bandaged heads. The hotel has great (cheap) room service menu with a wide variety of cuisines. At 10:45 PM, a nurse contracted with EsteNove came by my hotel room and drew a blood sample - quick and painless. My aftercare group was constantly telling me what was going to happen and when. At 7:30 the day of the procedure, I woke up, ate breakfast, and got a call from the front desk informing me my driver had arrived. I walked down to the lobby, met the driver, and was taken to the hospital [in a classy van, not yellow cab] for the procedure. My translator was waiting for me right as I got out of the car. The translator brought me up to the procedure floor, walked me through some standard paperwork (I read every word; exactly the type of HIPAA paperwork I’d expect in the U.S.), had me give my payment and passport to copy to the front desk, and brought me back to speak with Dr. Zafer. Dr. Zafer was very friendly, reassuring, and speaks decent conversational English, but used the translator during any sort of medical conversation to ensure exact translation - I liked how the whole conversation went; it was reassuring. He pointed out that my diffuse thinning was a bit worse than my pictures had captured, and I had 2 options; either a better hairline in the front with dense coverage to the midpoint of my head, or the same hairline and dense coverage of my whole head. I can come back for another HT if I want the back filled in the future. The whole hospital was very clean and modern; nothing stuck out as concerning or unsanitary. I was brought back to the procedure suite, “before” photos were taken, my head was shaved, and I was prepped for the extractions. If I had the minorest of gripes, it would be that I wished the translator would have given me a rough rundown of the timeline. I already had a pretty good idea of the steps of the procedure and timing from my own research, so it wasn’t a huge deal. The extractions started at 8:15, and went until 11:30. I asked for a bathroom break, and then the implantation began. The implantation concluded around 2:30. Throughout the whole procedure, Dr. Zafer was there approximately 20% of the time, speaking with the assistants, helping with the transplantation, etc. After the procedure, I was brought to a post-op room with the translator, who explained aftercare instructions, gave me some painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and antibiotics, neck pillows, was told my transplant count (4,400), and some other stuff. They fed me/offered me some hospital food (it was awful) at 2:30. I’d recommend bringing a small bag of food with you; you may want to quickly pound a snack around lunch time (between extraction and implementation) and after your procedure. I was then walked to the waiting black car by the translator, and whisked back to the hotel. I was informed by my aftercare team that later today, I’ll be brought back to the clinic for my hair wash (hair wash? I don’t have any hair!). That will be my last touch with EsteNove, and I’ll fly home tomorrow morning. Edit: The next day, I was picked up from the hotel, and brought back to the hospital. Bandages were removed. Great translator again. A nurse very carefully washed my head, applied antibiotic cream to the donor area. I had a 10 minute convo with the nurse/translator about washing it myself. I later realized it was all in my aftercare instructions; not rocket surgery. I was there for less than an hour, then brought back to my hotel. I could have chosen to be there for 3 days 2 nights, but 3 nights are included in the “package” and I chose to stay 3 nights. In hindsight; I’m glad I did. If I flew out on day 3, I would have been leaking orange head goo on the plane and my head was just raw. The extra 24 hours let the wounds form up a bit more. No blood/leakage while traveling. I highly recommend this route. I chose to arrive in Istanbul 7 days before my procedure to do some tourism. I really enjoyed Istanbul, and would recommend the same. Tons of English speakers in tourism-centric areas, and Google translate will get you through basic conversations if nobody speaks English. The locals are understanding if you’re a bit apologetic and respectful - you are on their turf after all. I saw a fair few people who clearly did the HT and then in the days following the HT did touristic stuff. The downside of this is; you probably won’t like the pictures taken of you. But you can still do anything you want. Locals aren’t jarred by seeing HT patients - you’ll see them all over Istanbul all of the time. They’re used to it. As of late 2023, Istanbul’s economy is shit. Retail prices for global commodities (I.e. imported clothing) are about 15% less than the U.S. (I had hoped for more) but there are deals to be found for locally-made goods if you do your research. Istanbul is an interesting, historical, modern city. I felt very safe at all times, but stuck to the more touristic areas during normal daylight hours. Logistics anxiety 0/10 - the logistics of the whole operation are so well coordinated. Zero anxiety from me. It is a very well-oiled machine and every person I came in contact with spoke very good English. Procedure anxiety 1/10 - as is said frequently: the numbing is the worst part, and it’s probably 2-3 minutes. On a scale of 1-10, I’d say it’s somewhere around a 6. It’s pretty bearable. After numbing, I felt zero pain. In fact, I got laughed at by the staff a few times when I would wake up because I probably slept through half the procedure. They had to shake me awake when they finished the extractions. Overall impression 10/10 - It couldn’t have gone better. I would do it again. I will come back to EsteNove to fill in the rest in a year or two.