Seesaw

It’s exciting that you’re getting your procedure later this month. I wasn’t advised to bring a neck pillow and the clinic didn’t even provide one for me. I simply slept by stacking 2-3 pillows the first few nights and didn’t have any issues. So my recommendation is to not worry about it much, unless you’ve tried it before and you know for sure that you would be more comfortable using a neck pillow. In the three days following my procedure, I didn’t do much except walk around the neighborhood. Frankly, the clinic and apartments aren’t located in a highly touristic setting and there isn’t much to see. I assume you could take the bus or a taxi to Larnaca or another coastal city, but you’ll be a bit tired, your head may be a bit (or in my case quite a bit) swollen, and you’ll have to bring a hat, limit your exposure to the sun, and keep spraying your head with saline water every hour. For me, it wasn’t worth the hassle and I stayed in for most of the time, watching movies, sports, and playing card games with my companion. If you’re bringing a companion, that would make thing easier as you’ll have someone to have fun with and to assist you with little things (grabbing food, bringing you your ice pack so you have to get up,...). I recommmed you download some of your favorite shows or some movies for you to watch during recovery. The WiFi though is fast enough for streaming videos there. Due to my short travel time, I had the luxury of making some food at home and bringing it with me. But I did also purchase some produce there. I stuck to making quick and easy stuff like an oatmeal bowl for breakfast and a salad for a snack. There are however 2 bakeries just around the corner (one of them open 24 hours) with an impressive selection of foods, and a buffet-like bar where you can purchase lunch or dinner. You can also buy some fruits and vegetables from the markets nearby. Even if you came in with no food at all, you won’t struggle to find good quality food at affordable prices. You may however want to bring in some energy bars for convenience. Also the clinic will provide you with a morning snack and then lunch during surgery. One thing that I want to mention as well, don’t fuss about bringing too much cash in Euros with you. HDC accepts credit cards for payment (without any additional fees) and I think that’s a great convenience compared to Turkish clinics. I don’t know how others carry 10000 Euros when they go to Turkey. I had exchanged some $600 towards Euros and barely used a third of that on food and souvenirs. I paid for my surgery using my travel credit card and earned a good amount of miles too. A good tip for any non-European traveling to Cyprus, make sure you bring a wall plug adapter as your plug won’t fit in the power outlets over there. I forgot to pack mine but the clinic was kind enough to provide one to me. Otherwise, not much more I can think of or recommend. George the patient coordinator whom you’ve probably been talking to was available to assist with anything. Good luck on your trip and hope this helped.

Hey all, I had my first ever hair transplant at the HDC clinic in Nicosia, Cyprus on May 2 and 3, 2018 and I would like to share with you my experience and progress. I started noticing a recession in my hairline when I was 22 years old, nearly 10 years ago. I then started using Minoxidil 7 years ago with good success. When the hair loss spread to my midscalp and vertex and Minoxidil wasn’t helping, I started using hair fibers to mask my hairloss. However, it got to a point where that also became challenging, especially for the hairline. With regards to my surgery, it was spread across 2 days and meant to cover the hairline and the mid-scalp, leaving the vertex for a potential future surgery. Generally, after anesthesia injections, Dr. Maras would perform the punches and an assistant would then pull out the grafts. After that, I would have a snack/break, then another round of anesthesia injections in my recipient area, after which Dr. Maras would perform the incisions, and assistants would implant the grafts. On the first day, 1672 grafts were transplanted to the hairline area (582 singles, 838 doubles, and 252 triples). On the second day, 1458 grafts were transplanted to the mid-scalp (342 singles, 753 doubles, and 363 triples). I’m pleased with how everything went and the area that the clinic was able to cover. Dr. Maras and I agreed on a somewhat conservative hairline that matched the way I looked when I was younger. I think he and the whole medical team did a great job and the hairline looks very natural, and frames my face pretty nicely. After 3 days of recovery at the apartment provided by the clinic, I left Cyprus and continued my washes and following my post-op instructions at home. Of course, like most patients, I did experience some swelling and some discomfort with sleeping the first few days after surgery. About 8 days post-op, I was able to sleep normally and uninterrupted. I only took painkillers the first three nights. Largely any pain during the first week post-op was insignificant and tolerable. About 10 days post-op, my donor area healed and showed no sign of trauma or surgery. Now, at 5 weeks post-op, I’m amazed that my donor area looks great. I expected the reduction in density to be visible but to my eye, it’s almost as if nothing was done. Finally, I’ll share some information about what appreciated mostly about HDC and why I chose them over other recommended clinics on this forum. If I have learned anything reading threads here, it’s that a hair transplant is a major investment in myself worthy of going to a top doctor consistently producing great results. I had narrowed my choices down to ASMED and HDC. Eventually I ended up picking HDC because: • In addition to having a tremendous record of results, HDC seems to place a great deal of attention on managing the donor zones of patients and avoiding overharvesting at all cost. Given that I don’t have a great donor area (you’ll see some thinning in in my nape and sides in the photos), it was important for me to pick a clinic with good yield, and with whom I can manage my hair loss progressively, and not run roughshod over my donor area. As such, we agreed on covering the hairline and the mid-scalp in my first surgery, leaving some capacity in the donor zone to future procedures to cover the vertex and/or touch-up the front in a second surgery. • Communication with the clinic went exceptionally well from the very start. Their patient coordinator George answered all my questions through Whatsapp and email in a timely matter. He was also very honest with me about what I should expect give my advanced state of hair loss, and made sure not to overpromise. I felt like I was given individual attention and not simply sent generic responses, and that my best interest was always kept in mind. After having my surgery done, the clinic lived up to my expectations, as the levels of attention, care and hospitality I and my companion received were amazing. • The free accommodation in a flat rather than a hotel room. The flat given to us was very comfortable and fully furnished. With many markets nearby, we were able to shop for produce and take advantage of having a kitchen. • All the medical team at HDC speaks English fluently. It’s great to be able to converse with everyone, even during surgery. • The follow-up and daily washes offered after surgery. I took advantage of that and stayed there for 3 days post up. After I left Cyprus, the clinic kept checking with me about my recovery even after I left Cyprus. • Minor consideration: I live in Seattle, WA but my parents live in Lebanon, and Cyprus is only a 30-minute flight from Beirut. So I was able to visit them, recover from jet lag and get some good sleep for 3 days before going to Cyprus. Door to Door the trip from my house there to Nicosia is just 3-3.5 hours. • Also, I came across Hairplanter’s YouTube channel and thread. This guy documented his trip to HDC in a well-detailed manner. Additionally, he had a great result. Thanks for reading and I’ll provide updates every couple of months.