I was left permanently bald at back
WHEN I was 19, friends of my age had full heads of hair but mine was already receding.
I looked into hair serums and growth creams, but they were so expensive — a couple of hundred euro for only two months’ worth. I’d seen reviews from men who’d had hair transplants, which was more expensive but would be permanent.
But at home it cost around €9,000 for a good surgeon, so I looked online and found guys raving about having it done in Turkey for a fraction of the price.
The clinic I chose offered it for €1,400, which included three nights in a hotel — I flew out there with my mum a few weeks later, in January 2019.
When we arrived the clinic didn’t look like the advert — it was a public hospital with an A&E filled with local people. I was taken downstairs where I met the trichologist: she explained the procedure and then injected local anaesthetic into my scalp — it was the most painful experience of my life.
The transplant itself was bearable, but afterwards I was in agony and the next day my head looked like tenderised meat — red-raw and covered in blotches and dried blood. The trichologist told me that was normal. We flew home after four days. A month passed, then three, then six, then nine and finally a whole year — and no hair grew at all.
I’d been sending the clinic messages every week, and they just said I needed to be patient. I was in despair, but I decided to be brave and filmed a YouTube video warning men against cheap hair transplant surgery.
As a result, I was approached by clinic here which offered me a free hair transplant.
They said my first procedure had been done with too large a device to punch holes for the new follicles and so there was less chance of the hair taking.
They re-did the front with a smaller device, taking follicles from the back and sides, and at the back I had micro-pigmentation (like tattooing) to fill it out, as the first procedure had killed lots of my hair follicles there.
Four months later, hair started growing (except at the back which won’t ever grow back). After six months, I had a much fuller head of hair.
Ironically, I now work as a barber, and a lot of men confide in me about their hair loss. If they mention they’re considering a hair transplant, I tell them to do their research so they don’t have to go through what I did.