I recently underwent a hair transplant at Diamond Hair Clinic in Istanbul with Dr. Demircioglu, and overall, it was a solid experience—I’d recommend it and would do the procedure over again with them. As background, I’m a 31-year-old male based in New York City, USA. I wanted to get a hair transplant and found Dr. Demircioglu through a deep research prompt with Grok AI to identify some of the best boutique hair transplant providers, as I valued expertise and individual attention over cost. I reached out in April or May of 2025 and was able to schedule my procedure for August 16, 2025 for 4,500 grafts. I arrived two days early with my fiancée, and we did some sightseeing. The hotel messed up my reservation and thought I was supposed to leave a day before I actually was, but Dr. Demircioglu’s office assistant took care of everything, so it wasn’t a big deal. Anyway, I was pretty nervous about the procedure, and it really hit me on the day of. A comfy Maybach van picked me up from my hotel for the early morning appointment around 7 a.m. Dr. Demircioglu met me at the beginning, even though the office was empty. He mentioned that he shares medical office space with another clinic that mainly serves locals, whereas his practice focuses mostly on international patients from the USA, UK, Canada, and elsewhere. When we first met, he was thorough, discussing my expectations, comparing old hairline photos, and explaining how his boutique practice stands out from hair mills. He had my photos up on his laptop and really spent time with me to learn about how I came to lose my hair and what I ultimately wanted. At that point, I paid 6,700 euros and signed a waiver and consent form indicating that I knew the risks of the procedure, the expected recovery timeline, and that I would go under anesthesia. One thing is, I did not receive a receipt, which I thought was odd, but reading between the lines, he’s a cash-only business with a specialized, nimble team. He’s cutting out some of the larger overhead in terms of marketing and fancy space that other hair clinics have. I think he’s fairly expensive relative to other clinics, but I found his attentiveness during and after the surgery to be completely worth it. Back to the initial consultation: He drew a natural, slightly asymmetrical hairline, which I trusted after some initial surprise. He mentioned that most hairlines aren’t straight lines and it’s very easy to spot a transplant by how unnaturally straight the hairline is, which made sense to me. He asked if I had any thoughts after his initial drawing, and I said I trusted him on his design. The day took about eleven hours total, with the procedure itself lasting around seven hours. It started with painful anesthesia—honestly, the worst part, like sharp thumbtacks for a few minutes before the anesthesia kicked in. After that, I felt nothing, thanks to the IV and skilled team. His two nurses, who work with him consistently, handled extractions and implants smoothly, though their English was limited and they spoke in Turkish the whole time. Once the first part of the procedure was done, I pulled the blindfold off and noticed a decent amount of blood on the ground and on the nurses, which kind of sketched me out. I then asked Dr. Demircioglu if things went okay. He said yes, I was doing great, and he was surprised by how good the donor area looked—he was positive overall. This eased me a bit. After that, I had Domino’s pizza and orange juice for lunch before the second part of the surgery. The second part of the three-part procedure was when Dr. Demircioglu did the incisions himself, taking care to get it right. He had headphones in and went to work after another round of about 10 minutes of painful anesthesia. I had headphones in for this part, too, and had another IV, I think—I was half relaxed, half asleep. This took two hours. The third part was the assistants putting the grafts in, and this took three hours. No pain; it just felt like it took forever. Post-procedure, he spent nearly two hours explaining aftercare: when to use what products, what I can and cannot do, and a general framework for recovery. I had daily check-ins with him for the first 10 days to make sure everything was going smoothly and not getting infected. Recovery was tough the first 10 days—sleeping was hard. I think I stopped wearing the neck pillow after night 7 or 8 because I started to get a twinge in my neck, so I slept sideways on the bed with no pillow and had the top of my head off the side. I’m a heavy sleeper, so I wasn’t worried about rolling into the top of the headboard. I’m about a month out from my procedure now, and I’d say over half of the transplanted hair has fallen out, but that’s to be expected. I made sure to use cream daily and the moisturizing foam religiously, keeping it in as much as possible during the two weeks after surgery. I still use the moisturizing Bepanthen and graft cream daily. Overall, at this stage, I’d recommend Diamond Hair Clinic for anyone seeking a personalized transplant experience. I’ve followed all of Dr. Demircioglu’s instructions thus far, and it appears I’m on a strong path toward a successful transplant. Time will tell, but so far, so good.