The Hairmedico Patient Guide
Everything you need to know before, during and after a hair transplant at Hairmedico Istanbul — from preparation to final results.
How to Prepare in the Two Weeks Before Surgery
Preparation starts about two weeks out. Stop any blood-thinning supplements — fish oil, vitamin E, ginkgo biloba — and aspirin unless your own doctor has told you otherwise; these increase bleeding and bruising during extraction. If you smoke, stopping two weeks beforehand gives the best result, though a minimum of three smoke-free days is required, since nicotine narrows blood vessels and slows how well transplanted follicles take to their new site. Alcohol should be avoided for the seven days before surgery for the same reason.
In the week before your appointment, leave the scalp alone: no minoxidil, no styling products, no harsh or medicated shampoo, and no cutting or shaving of either the donor area at the back and sides or the recipient area at the front. The night before surgery, wash your hair with a mild shampoo and skip conditioner, then eat a light breakfast the morning of — nothing heavy, since you'll be seated for several hours.
What Happens on Surgery Day
You'll be met on arrival for a short consultation where Dr. Arslan reviews your photographs in person, confirms the graft plan, and marks out the hairline and donor area by hand — this design is never delegated to a technician. Anaesthesia is administered using a needle-free "Comfort-In" system, which reduces the discomfort most patients associate with the numbing injections.
Extraction and implantation together typically take six to nine hours, depending on the number of grafts planned. Hairmedico operates on one patient per day — Dr. Arslan is present for the entire procedure rather than moving between multiple surgeries — he personally performs every extraction and canal-opening, and places every graft himself in the VIP tier (his trained team places them under his supervision in Silver/Gold), rather than a rotating team of technicians handling the surgical steps. Before you leave for the day, the clinic team walks you through the first wash so you know exactly what to do that evening or the next morning.
The First Two Weeks After Surgery
Mild swelling across the forehead is common in the first few days and typically settles within three to five days on its own — it isn't a sign anything has gone wrong. The first wash takes place on day 1, using a gentle spray-bottle technique with the LOREW Paris aftercare kit included in every package; this avoids direct water pressure on the fresh grafts. From days 2 to 5, washing continues daily using the same gentle method, and small crusts forming around each graft are a normal and expected part of healing, not a complication.
Between days 7 and 10 these crusts loosen and fall away on their own, and by day 10 to 14 most patients feel presentable enough to return to normal social life. Ordinary shower pressure can resume around day 14. Contact sports, swimming, and saunas should wait until week 4, and sunscreen on the scalp is recommended for the first three months while the skin is still healing.
Washing Your Hair After a Transplant
The LOREW Paris kit is designed to be used for the first 30 days: a lukewarm spray-bottle technique for days 1 to 7, gradually transitioning to a gentle, arm's-length shower stream for days 7 to 14. After day 30, any mild, sulphate-free shampoo is fine for ongoing use. It's worth avoiding anti-dandruff formulas containing ketoconazole or zinc pyrithione, along with strongly fragranced products, for the first month, since the scalp is still more sensitive than usual.
Month-by-Month: What Recovery Actually Looks Like
Recovery follows a fairly predictable rhythm, even though it can feel unpredictable while you're living through it:
| Timeframe | What's happening |
|---|---|
| Weeks 2–4 | Shock loss — most transplanted hairs shed. This is normal; the follicles stay intact beneath the skin. |
| Months 3–4 | New growth begins to emerge from the transplanted follicles. |
| Month 6 | Roughly half of the final density is typically visible. |
| Months 9–12 | Hair continues to thicken and mature in texture and coverage. |
| Months 12–14 | The final result is generally assessed at this point. |
Shock loss in particular tends to worry patients the most, simply because it looks like things are going backward right when you were hoping to see progress. It's the single most normal part of the entire process — every hair follicle needs to complete a rest phase before it can start producing a new, permanent hair.
FUE or DHI — Which Technique Is Right for You
FUE remains the standard technique, suitable for the widest range of graft counts — up to around 5,000 in a single session — and offers more flexibility in how recipient sites are opened before implantation. DHI uses a Choi implantation pen to place each graft directly without pre-made incisions, which some surgeons favour for dense hairline work in particular. Neither technique is universally "better" — the right choice depends on your Norwood grade, donor density, and the specific area being treated, which is why Dr. Arslan makes this recommendation from your photographs rather than applying one technique to everyone by default.
Planning Your Trip to Istanbul
The all-inclusive package covers a five-star hotel for two nights, airport transfers, and translator support throughout your stay, so there's little to organise beyond booking flights. Most international patients are in Istanbul for two to three days total: arrival and consultation, surgery day, and a final check before flying home. Because the 12-month follow-up programme is conducted remotely through photo check-ins at weeks 2 and months 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12, a second trip to Istanbul isn't required unless you'd like one.
How Many Grafts Do You Actually Need
There's no single number that applies to everyone at a given stage — it depends on donor density and scalp laxity as much as the visible pattern of loss. As a general range, a Norwood III pattern typically needs somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 grafts, while a more advanced Norwood V–VI pattern often needs 3,500 to 5,500 or more. Dr. Arslan gives an exact estimate after reviewing your own photographs, since donor supply varies enough between patients that stage alone isn't a reliable guide.
What Makes a Surgeon-Led Clinic Different
In many high-volume clinics, the surgeon opens the recipient sites and then hands the actual placement of grafts to a rotating team of technicians, some of whom may work on several patients across the same day. At Hairmedico, Dr. Arslan treats one patient per day and is present for the full six-to-nine-hour procedure, personally placing grafts himself rather than delegating that step. This is also the reasoning behind Algorithmic FUE™, his own protocol for mapping extraction and implantation patterns to preserve the donor area's long-term density rather than simply maximising the number of grafts taken in a single session.
None of this replaces good judgement on your side. Ask any clinic directly who performs the extraction and implantation, how many patients are scheduled on your surgery day, and what your specific graft estimate is based on — donor density and Norwood grade, not a flat number quoted before your photos have even been reviewed. A clinic that can't answer these questions clearly and specifically is usually one worth being cautious about.