Glenn, 39, from Belfast, had resigned himself to baldness as a “fact of life”. The software developer noticed his hairline receding in his early twenties and, although he sometimes felt self-conscious, accepted it as something many men go through. But after seeing a friend’s hair transplant results, he decided to take the leap himself, and says he has not looked back since.
“Seeing it up close gave me a much more realistic idea of what the procedure was actually like, rather than just hearing marketing talk.”
Before that, he usually kept his hair cropped short or carefully styled it to disguise the thinning patches.
Exploring Treatment Options Abroad
The Belfast-native said he wasn’t convinced by the clinics he had looked at in the UK and carried out extensive research to better understand the procedure before making a decision. With the cost of surgery in Britain significantly higher, he widened his search to providers abroad, where Turkey stood out.
Glenn chose Longevita, the same facilitator his friend had used, and was recommended two separate procedures, priced at £3,550 in total. “I had quite a large balding area, so they arranged the transplant over two sessions, doing roughly 3,500 grafts first and another 2,700 later on.”
Both times, the experience was largely similar. On the day of surgery, he first had blood tests before the surgeon mapped out the transplant area, drawing a proposed hairline directly onto his scalp.
“I was a bit unsure about the outline of the hairline as I hadn’t really had one in years, but the surgeon was very patient and accommodating,” Glenn noted.
“I Couldn’t Be Happier With My Decision”
Each procedure, carried out using the sapphire FUE method, lasted around six to seven hours. The anaesthetic injections were the most uncomfortable part for him, “someone pinching the small hairs on the back of your neck,” but the pain only lasted a few seconds each time.
Although Glenn is still in the recovery phase, with only a few weeks having passed since his second surgery, he says he is feeling confident about the outcome, particularly after seeing the results of his first procedure.
“I can’t wait to grow my fringe out again and even thicker this time, especially after getting a hairline touch-up in the second surgery,” he said. “And I won’t have a bald crown anymore. I couldn’t be happier with my decision.”
