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Cheers JohnGage I will do that. It's ok then to touch the swollen areas and I guess move the stuff around then? Also, here's a few pics with the Bethanol lotion on just to show people what it's like for their interest.

Hi guys, Day 3 post operation. I'll try to post a few pics up in a bit. Things are definitely getting better although slight. The donor area is become less and less painful each day. In fact, I'd say the pain is almost gone. Lying on it feels strange as I can feel the hairs growing back which has a beard like feel as it's so short (I've never had hair less than about 2 CM). But it's cool to experience. The transplant area doesn't really hurt either although I'm still extremely tentative when washing it. The first wash I did myself took me about 30 mins as I was so careful and also because the bepanthol lotion took a lot of goes to get off before the shampoo. No doubt because that grafts have scabbed over and it get's caught between them. I've experienced the swelling now that I didn't have initially and which was mentioned earlier by *hairgainer*. Last night was pretty massive as my girlfriend pointed out and then this morning again. It's now come down around the sides of my face too and is possibly getting to my eyes which I think might be closing up a bit! I've always wondered what it's like to be Klingon... ;-P Despite being told I don't need to do anything with the donor area, I have been putting a bandage around it when I sleep as it gives me an indication of where the donor stops and the recipient area begins meaning I find it easier to work out how to sleep in the right position so that the recipient area is free. It does also alleviate the slight uncomfortableness in the donor area when I lie down on the pillow. Overall though, it's all going well. I popped into my barber who I have been talking to about this for ages. About 9 months ago, one of the girls there told me about a pop star in Romania who had it done, and that was what kicked my into going for it. They are all really excited about the whole thing and very interested. He was so impressed with Dr D's work. My barber want's to put pics on his wall of the different stages too. I'm sure I'll be able to get Dr D even more patients! Here's a few Day 3 pics for you. Bear in mind that the previous photo's were all taken by Dr D's amazing camera and these are just with an Iphone. Lighting etc makes a difference. But form now, I will try to take them in the same place around the same time of day for true comparison.

I'm not sure about needing another procedure for the "eyes and mouth". I hope I won't! But wouldn't be surprised if I do. I've been told to use Monixidol spray and Biotin Tablets to help support the new hair growth. I'm not on steroids and I didn't need the headband at all as I didn't have any swelling. It's very difficult to sleep at the mo in order to avoid the transplanted area touching anything. Broken nights of sleep and the donor area is painful to lie on. Just looking forward to 7 days passing and the scabs coming off. In my opinion right now. you definitely could not go back to work within a week if not 2 weeks.

Had a very tricky nights sleep (about 4 broken up hours) due to positioning and then went for 1st hair wash. The hair wash hurt a bit as the girl went over the areas worked on. But nothing you can't handle. Instructions given to me and also told to buy some Monoxidil and Biotin tablets in addition to the lotions and shampoo Dr D gave me. (If anyone knows the best place to buy Monixidil and Biotin tab can you PM me details please?). Just got back to the UK. Wore my baseball hat very very loosely at the airport but took it off for the flight. Head isn't painful but I had to insist on cool water rather than lukewarm when my hair was washed this morning as it feels like it's burning otherwise. It's starting to feel a bit itchy on top. The trickiest thing is sleeping for the next 7 days with the recipient area not being touched. It was very hard sleeping with my head in the air using a combination of travel pillow and normal pillow. Can't wait for 7 days to pass so I can do everything normally again! I've uploaded a load of photo's for you below which were taken by Dr D. They are before the op, both as my hair was at the time, and with the pre op design. Then I have included the post op pics after the first hair wash on day 1. I'll keep updating here over the coming days!

*DAY OF PROCEDURE WRITE UP* Hi all, I've had a few questions here so I'll answer them as I go. I'm back form the procedure. It was a Loooooooong day...! So, whilst I remember- a few important things to mention; The Private hospital is here: http://www.medistate.com.tr/en-EN/home/221.aspx Make sure you bring a tennis style headband. I interpreted Clemens Email incorrectly (My fault, not Clemens fault!) and I have not brought one. I think they are going to create something for me after my first wash tomorrow. Bring a Travel pillow to sleep on The day is very long - make sure you drink the water available throughout the day I think that this may have led to me not feeling so great by the end of a long day... You can bring an ipad/mobile There is free wifi in the private hospital which Dr Demirsoy and his team are fine with you using during the procedure. I got a few work Emails done, text msgs etc There was also a TV playing which you can see from the bed. I now know the latest most popular Turkish music chart hits as it was on a music channel all day (yep, even had the melody and lyrics to some down towards the end of the day!). Seems the music vids over here also have a thing for rather hot women in pretty tight clothing, low cut tops etc. No complaints there then... Disclaimer - None were anywhere near as hot as my G/F (hey hun!). I also noticed a load of English DVD's under the TV which I'm sure they will put on for you if you asked. You may want to put a towel under your back to keep it flat so as to avoid back pain from prolonged lying down DO be prepared for a LONG day which at times can be uncomfortable. So I met Musafa who was Dr Demirsoy's assistant in the hotel lobby at 8AM. A lovely guy, who was more than helpful and spoke excellent English. He drove me the short distance to the Private hospital where I met the team. Permission papers signed and then a consultation with Dr Demirsoy regarding my desires, what is possible based on hair type and head shape and of course Dr Demirsoy's expert opinion. This took about 45 mins. It was quickly apparent as to how much of an absolute expert Dr Demirsoy is, and would explain the reason he is currently booked up every day from now (Jan 2nd) to the end of February with an op each day. We spoke through everything, family history, my desires for my hair, any medication I had used to try to treat it etc before he designed what he felt would get the best results from my donor region and with the hair already on my head. Having looked at my donor area, Dr Demirsoy said that the hair is thin and it may be difficult to extract the 3500 grafts we hoped for. I was a bit disheartened by this within. But he said we would see how it all went. His assistant explained to me that each grafts has either 1, 2 or 3 hairs, and obviously the more the better. My concern was that as I had a thin donor region, I'd probably only have 1 hair and some 2's and maybe 3's. Anyway, it is what it is, so we cracked on. The procedure takes place in 3 stages: Stage 1 The head is shaved and the grafts are removed by Dr Demirsoy. You are given local anaesthetic injections, which I didn't find that bad at all. Pain scale 4 or 5/10. No biggie. They kick in almost immediately. One injection tube is used a number of times to cover your head. It's then onto the graft extraction by Dr Demirsoy. He used a motorised punch and had a short break after an hour or so where two of the team took over and manually extracted, before Dr Demirsoy came back to finish off. This took approximately 2.5 hours continuously (this changes depending on the individual). This didn't hurt. In fact, I kept falling asleep sometimes for around 20 mins whilst he worked away! More about the number of grafts actually extracted further down... A break for lunch - delicious "meat balls" (actually more like small kebabs) plus rice, chips and some veges, bread and some incredible fresh orange juice. Stage 2 Dr Demirsoy opens up the canals in which the grafts would be placed. From what I gathered, this is where the direction of the hair grafts/design is physically created by Dr Demirsoy. This took about 2 hours (this changes depending on the individual) and doesn't hurt at all. Again, I fell asleep a few times... Just before the next stage, I was shown the grafts that had been extracted and to my delight Dr Demirsoy had managed to extract 3750! Which was 250 over what we originally thought would be the maximum possible. And amazingly, Dr Demirsoy said that as we had originally said 3500 he would not charge me for the extra ones. Good guy I asked what the criteria is for deciding when no more graft extractions are possible, and it is a mixture of Dr Demirsoy's experience, available space within the donor area (this is apparent on v close inspection using his magnified goggles) the quality of the hair graft itself in terms of it's depth and whether it curls under the skin or is fairly straight, and finally, whether the graft, when extracted, comes out cleanly or breaks (which is due to the health of the hair). Mine were apparently all very good, came out easily and even more good news, averaged 2/3 hairs per graft! Happy days Stage 3 The grafts that were extracted in the morning are taken out of the fridge (one group of 250 at a time) and two of his assistants place them into the canals. This was the hardest part of the whole day due to anaesthetic sometimes wearing off and needing re injecting (you know you need more as you feel the pain of the insertion a little bit - Pain scale 6/10). This was the point at which I found out that the assistants have nothing to do with the direction and simply place them into where Dr Demirsoy has already opened the canals in the correct direction. It's not possible for the assistants to insert the grafts any other direction other than the way Dr Demirsoy has opened the canal insertions. This was the longest part and took 3.5 hours continuously. For the last 1.5 hours I was quite uncomfortable in the bed on my back having been lying down all day, so I used the small towel under the top of my bum (that's right I said it - BUM!) to help straighten out my back as it is quite arched. This helped a lot. However, my head was feeling pretty overwhelmed and I felt a bit "quesy". The anaesthetic also makes you feel like your head is enormous and very heavy. The concentration of his assistants was extremely impressive having sat there and placed 3750 grafts into my head over 3.5 hours! I put the queasy-ness down to my lack of drinking water, which is unlike me as I am very health conscious. Once the op finished, and I had got back to the hotel and drunk a lot of water, I felt fine again. Finally at 19:10 it was all done, bandages put on and I was very relieved to stand up. I had earlier in the day asked what time they packed up, and was told they keep going until the op is completed. I did take a couple of quick breaks to stretch my back during the day, which isn't a problem for the team at all. All throughout, Musafa was there to translate any questions I had etc. I was given some antibiotics and pain killers to help with the post op pain I had mentioned. Back in the hotel now. Had dinner in my room (the hotel is very reasonably priced - grilled chicken breast, rice, vegetables and chips works out at 22 Lira which is about ?6.20 [7.20 Euro]) and I've set up my pillows as you have to sleep with your head in the air so it doesn't touch anything where the grafts are. The donor area is covered by a bandage and that is ok to have touching something, but not the recipient area. So we will see how the night goes. I have my hair washed in the morning (10:30 meet in the hotel lobby), before being driven back to the airport at 13:00 and flying home to the UK. So far, I'm really happy with everything, especially Dr Demirsoy and his team. I've been researching this for years and saving up for it, and it's finally happened! This experience couldn't have gone any better. Slightly anxious about the post op self care and image, but I've taken 2 weeks off work (Self employed anyway) so I won't be out and about in order to give myself the best healing chance. Originally I thought I could probably go back to work within a few days. This is definitely NOT a good idea in my opinion due to the fact that grafts need 7-10 days to really settle. Here's a post op pic (note the shape of the graft area - as pointed out by Dr Demirsoy - it's like a face with a balaclava about to do a bank job!). I'll keep updating with pics over the coming days etc. Cheers

The drive was about 45 mins in med/heavy traffic. I'm not sure what company the driver was from, but it was not the hotel. Clemens W must have some sort of link up with a company here I'd imagine. He booked it all for me.

I've arrived in Istanbul and I am excited about the procedure tomorrow! Clemens W has booked me into a great hotel here: Princess Hotel Istanbul - Asia Princess Hotel Beykoz Ortaky Princess Boutique Princess It is apparently 500m walk from the new private hospital that Dr Demirsoy now works out of. I am meeting the liaison tomorrow morning in the Lobby at 8am and then we are going to go over to the hospital. The Journey here was, ermmm, fun shall we say. The driver clearly thought he was on a Formula 1 lap! It got here quickly though I guess ;-) A Word of advice which I wasn't aware of - at the airport you must have a visa in your passport! I queued up for ages to get to border control, only to be sent all the way back, having to walk through the bendy queue and to the visa office where you pay ?10GBP or 15 Euros which results in a sticker being put into your passport that says "Visa". Absolutly no checks were made, it was literally go to the window, give the lady the money and she puts a sticker into your passport. Seems like a money making scheme to me. Anyway, when you arrive make sure you go to the "Visa 1" area to get the visa before queuing up for border control. I'll try to post some pics up tomorrow before and after the op.

Clemens W replied to me and told me that Dr Demirsoy apparently does 3500 grafts a day as standard now which would make sense. So it'll be arrive Day one, consult/procedure day 2, Hair wash and fly home day 3. Only a few days away now!!

Also, one other questions - I spoke with Clemens Weber who told me that I could get it all done within a 2 night stay? I land in Instanbul at 15:35 on the 1st and leave on the 3rd at 16:40. I booked this as I needed to get back asap, but took advice from Clemens who said this would be fine. I'm wondering how 3500 grafts will be taken and planted in one day? Does that sound right?

Hi all, Apologies for the delay - I have been mental with work and not had a second to get back here! My procedure is in 12 days - I'm excited as it's the beginning of getting this all sorted, but as already mentioned, trying to work out that cosmetic side post op! Sethticles and rxkhan, thanks loads for your experiences and advise. It's given me a bit more hope with the post op stuff! Another thought I had is regarding the "design". I used to have a far more straight hairline (although never completely straight). What's the deal with the design part of the consultation? I've seen the phrase "Hollywood Hairline" banded about etc. What does this mean? I do want more of a straight hairline, and from the side, that to be more visible as I"ve got a big nose! haha. Cheers all!

Hi all, I've been researching for quite some time as to which Dr to go for and I've now booked with Dr Demirsoy via his agent Clemens Weber. Ive looked into FUE for over 7 years and now being 34 have finally got round to making the jump and booking a procedure. I've added some photo's of my hair line now ( I have no idea what NW scale I am?). And I will update before, during and after the procedure. I want to achieve a good front line, and cover up most of the crown. The only thing I am slightly anxious about is the time it takes to grow back. I work in an image conscious industry and I hope that I can wear a hat to cover the very short hair I will have. I also hope to use a concealer once I have enough hair to remove the hat and cover up any whiteness. Anyway, thanks for looking and feel free to give your opinions as time goes on! These photos are Oct 5th 2013