26 and couldn't take it anymore

Hello everybody, I joined up to share my experience with people, gain some knowledge and try to make everybody's hair woes a bit easier, including my own.

I'm a 26 year old North American student living on university exchange in Istanbul, Turkey. I started losing my hair around 22, and yes, it really hurt me mentally. By 24, I had no choice but to shave my head completely using a straight razor; anything less would show off what I didn't have. To say I felt old was an understatement. You could call my pattern a Norwood V, which, by no surprise is similar to what my father has. Genetics were definitely at work here.





Shaving completely was cool for awhile, don't get me wrong. I started to have muscle aches in my neck that I attributed to chills from a lack of insulation. It's annoying, but I also realized I couldn't shave my head for the rest of my life. There's also the obvious image-related issues, I found people just didn't trust me with my hair cut the way it was. Compounded to this was the fact that I think I look decent with a beard (no-shave November discovery!), and the two don't go together very well. Last but not least, I think I broke my mother's heart when she saw my shaved head for the first time, the damage is still there. Above all, I miss having the choice of what hair style to choose from – not being confined to the few choices that hide my hair.

Treatments other than surgery were pretty much off the table for me, seeing as how the hair was so far gone. Between study periods I would passively look for a doctor to perform the surgery – anything back home cost an arm an a leg, plus I was turned down by two of the bigger names here in Turkey for lack of donor hair and too much ground to cover. I did however receive a next-day invitation for a consultation at Istanbul Hair Clinic (Dr. Emine Saykı). I showed up to the consultation, ready to play ball, where the estimate was between 3500-4000 grafts and a very reasonable price was given. I'm still a student, on exchange, so money is tight..I had a number in mind and their price was pretty much dead-on. I agreed to go ahead with it, to which they asked if I wanted to start immediately. This was a Saturday with no classes for the next week, so I gambled, pulled the trigger and got started less than 24 hours after sending the email – the timing couldn't have been better.

All in all, the operation took approximately 10 hours and covered 5780 grafts (a bit up from the estimate!). The team there was very professional – I couldn't count the number of staff that were on hand performing tasks related to my surgery. I do believe that they truly care about their patients.

Pictures around 72 hours after the surgery:






As I'm writing this, it's been just over 3 days since the operation, and things seem to be going smoothly. Sleeping is still an issue (I can't sleep on my back), and the neck pillow isn't my best friend, but I wasn't expecting this to be easy. So far nobody knows that I had this done, I'm hoping I'll be able to hide the damage completely from my friends at school (I have 9 days total to heal up enough to wear a hoodie/hat), and I can't wait to surprise my mom back home in January. There are still so many variables at play, I'm just hoping nothing goes wrong. My forehead is still swelling, particularly between the eyes, my dome still itching, I still have lots of the antibiotic cream on the donor area that is too difficult/painful to remove and I'm definitely not liking all the redness (I'm sure all of this is normal, but I worry). I've wanted this issue fixed for a long time, it's just not fair for all the men who lose their hair at such a young age, I can attest to the psychological issues that flare up because of it. I don't ever want to go back to baldness, and I'd prefer to not have another surgery done.

I'll post updates as I go, any questions I'd be happy to answer. Stay strong, friends!