Lying on the operating table at 6am in Istanbul, I was the weakest I had ever felt. I was rushed to the hospital at the last minute, an interpreter explained the procedure, I was given a form to sign, and my head was completely shaved. Holding back tears and shaking with anxiety and cold, I was given Xanax to calm my nerves. Immediately I was hooked up to an IV, blood pressure monitor, and given anesthesia.
This may all sound dramatic and somewhat careless on my part, but I had carefully and painstakingly planned that I needed a hair transplant.
As the grandson and brother of two completely bald men, I was keenly aware that the time would come for me to undergo a transplant. Everything in my life comes from my mother’s family. My thinning and fading hair, sensitive skin, and love for marshmallows and chipper chips.
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Unlike most men, my hair was slowly falling out from the back instead of receding from the front. I didn’t realize how quickly my hair was falling out because I simply couldn’t see it head on. My biggest wake-up call was when my family coldly and bluntly asked me what to do about the “big gap” in my head, followed by my barber pointing out my “penalty spot.”
process
I sprang into action and with the help of my colleague Grainne, I quickly booked an appointment with a hair specialist in Dublin. However, my excitement to start the process quickly ended when I was told that a hair transplant would not completely solve my problem and was not a miracle solution to my hair loss. He said a hair transplant would be a short-term solution, basically like putting a Band-Aid over a wound. And I thought that any chance of new hair growing was gone.
This consultation really put a stop to my plans and I felt there was no other viable solution that fit me and my budget.
Before the procedure (Image: no credit)
Twelve months later, I am back in the consulting chair of another hair specialist in Dublin. What changed this time was the way he looked at me and my hair. He agreed that a hair transplant was not a lifelong solution, but something that would last about 10 years, and said I could have another hair transplant.
10 years is a long time, and no one knows what will happen during that time. You may get hit by a bus, your hair technique may change, or you may want to embrace a buzz cut.
Treatment in Türkiye
I flew to Turkey in January 2023 and only told a few people about it. I’m quite extroverted and talkative when I’m in the right situation, but when it comes to personal matters in my life, I tend to withdraw into myself and remain closed and private. I wanted this experience to be just for me, and I didn’t want to be bombarded with tons of texts and phone calls, no matter how meaningful it was. I talked about it only when I was ready and only with selected people.
Santa Claus gave me an airline ticket for Christmas. The price was approximately 480 euros. The surgery cost includes his three nights in a hotel, bank fees, and airport transfers. The total amount amounted to him 3,200 euros.
I noticed that a guy I’ve known since I was younger was a little weird on Instagram, so I reached out to him and asked if he was done working. He was very helpful and pointed me to Dr. Serkan Aygin’s clinic. I felt relieved about my trip to Turkey because I knew the clinic had a good reputation, had a good explanation of how things worked, and my friend’s results looked A1 to me.
However, my experience with the surgery was not a good one and left me feeling panicked, alone and scared. Some say they didn’t prepare or do their research beforehand, but you can’t research how your brain will react to a situation you’ve never experienced before. No matter how many people you talk to or how many reviews and articles you read. .
I had never been to a hospital or received an IV. And of course, he had never had someone operate on his scalp for nearly eight hours. The first part of the surgery involved removing the “graft” from my “donor area.” Essentially, this involved removing collections of hair follicles from the back and sides of the head in order to transplant them to the front and top of the head.
I slept on my stomach most of the time during the surgery, but when I woke up I could feel what was happening above my head. It was like a clicking pen going across my head. Click to cut out a small section of scalp, then click again to remove.
Mikie recovers in Dublin after her hair is shaved (Image: uncredited)
In the second half of the surgery, a graft was inserted into the “transplant site” where the hair had fallen out, but it was very painful. When the hair was replanted on my head, I felt so many incisions.
My face was covered and the technicians around me were speaking Turkish, so I had no idea what was going on. As I cringed in pain, I kept asking them how much time I had left.
The day before the surgery, I received the unfortunate news. At my consultation before flying to Turkey, I was told I needed 3,400 grafts, but when I arrived, my dermatologist said I needed almost double that, 6,000 grafts. The problem was that he could only run 4,200 at a time. In a way I was grateful that they weren’t going to take too much of my donor hair and the hair I already had, but it meant I would have to do this again.
I had a vision of having great hair for the summer. Now that dream has turned into a bit of a nightmare, with another flight to Turkey and further surgery in a strange land. There, the language was not understood and I became even more isolated and vulnerable.
Transplant part 2
Having surgery in Ireland was something I had always wanted. However, I felt the price was high as some clinics here charge close to 20,000 euros. I will never have that kind of money, especially since I know the results won’t last forever.
After my experience in Istanbul, I was worried about being exposed to the knife again. During my initial recovery, I was unable to exercise, get sunlight, or wear a hat for various periods of time. After that, I had to wear a hat again for a long time. With her two weddings and holidays in the fall, I wanted to feel and look my best, so I had to carefully plan my next surgery.
I discovered Growclub on Instagram. I was intrigued because it was based in Dublin and the prices were about the same as what I paid in Turkey. The big difference was that we didn’t have to use up a ton of annual leave, he only took two days compared to his six days in the beginning. I was also able to drive myself back and forth.
My nerves were definitely running high again, but one of the clinic owners noticed and brought me some chocolate squares to calm me down. That morning, I left home at 8 a.m. and arrived at the small clinic, but I didn’t feel like I was just a number in a vast hospital.
The operating room had a huge TV and Netflix, so I slept through the entire surgery, then woke up in the afternoon to binge-watch At Home With The Furys. I don’t remember the anesthesia or how it was administered during the first round, but in Dublin it involved a series of needles being inserted into the top of my head. After that slightly unpleasant process, I felt absolutely nothing. My mood and overall feeling was much better than my experience in Turkey, where I felt scared and anxious. In Dublin I was completely treated like a princess.
Mikie O’Loughlin underwent a hair transplant at the Grow Club in Dublin (Image: Anna Groniecka)
result
Last year was full. I went to Eurovision in Liverpool, celebrated my 30th birthday, attended a hen party and a wedding, but my hair was growing out and I looked a little weird. The first time I noticed proper growth was when I was able to blowdry and style my hair in July, exactly 6 months after my first surgery.
I’m much more confident in myself. I don’t realize that people are looking at my bald area and judging me. Every time someone calls my hair “fluffy” or “bushy” I beam from ear to ear. I feel like I’m 10 feet taller, and not just because I have a big quiff again.
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