I Tried Insane 5 Star Treatments in Istanbul, Turkey 🇹🇷

Harry returns to Istanbul in winter to test Turkey’s medical-tourism industry on himself: a luxury hammam, a hair transplant, a full-body health check and teeth whitening.

The number that frames it: over a million people fly to Turkey every year for this, and a hair transplant that costs around £10,000 in the West is about $3,000 here.

Obs: this is a commercial video. Every clinic in it is linked in the description and the video carries a separate card sponsor. The pages record what the procedures actually involve and what they cost, not the recommendations.

Key moments

• [00:00] The premise, and the economics: over a million medical tourists a year, and a transplant at roughly a third of the Western price.
• [00:31] Istanbul in winter — cold and raining, which he compares to England.
• [00:31] The markets sell licensed firearms and army surplus, which he hadn’t expected.
• [01:01] Recognised in the street by a viewer from Uzbekistan.
• [01:34] The hammam again, and the distinction he draws: the rough local ones, and the luxury version, which is this.
• [02:37] Salt spread over him — his description is being basted for the oven — then the scrub for the dead skin.
• [03:08] Extras the traditional bathhouses don’t do, including having his hair washed.
• [03:38] A shock of freezing water at the end, which his attendant explains as releasing negative energy.
• [04:11] The hair transplant, and his reason: the patches at the front.
• [04:42] Preparation — a good breakfast, no caffeine, hydrate.
• [05:12] Grafts are taken from the back of the head and moved forward, and it can be done at any stage of hair loss. He is 28 and calls it early rather than late.
• [05:44] The clinic puts you in a hotel nearby. A warning worth keeping: Istanbul has two airports on opposite sides of the city.
• [06:15] The consultation — graft counts, density planning, and a custom hairline drawn to suit the face. Seeing the line drawn on is what convinces him it was needed.
• [06:45] Head shaved.
• [07:15] The donor area is numbed — easier than a vaccine, he says — and then the grafts are extracted one at a time.
• [07:45] The numbing is the worst part, about seven out of ten. After that he feels tapping and nothing else.
• [07:45] He falls asleep repeatedly during it, and reviews his editor’s work.
• [08:16] Lunch mid-procedure, ordered to taste — kabuli pulao, because he likes Afghan food.
• [08:16] An aside: he says he can’t go back to Afghanistan while the current government is in power, because of comments he made in an interview with Piers Morgan, and that he loves the country and intends to return one day.
• [08:47] Implantation — every graft placed at a specific angle and depth so the regrowth looks natural. No pain at all.
• [09:17] The orange colour afterwards is antibiotic, not blood.
• [10:19] 2,500 grafts.
• [11:22] Aftercare: sleep on your back, keep your head up for the first 24 hours. He didn’t — he was on his phone — and got swelling for it, which he says is his own fault.
• [11:54] Washing day, day two or three depending on the case, and it takes about 20 minutes.
• [12:56] Not everyone at the clinic speaks English, and translators are provided throughout.
• [13:56] The realistic timeline: better-looking in about ten days, real progress over months.
• [14:27] A comprehensive health check at a hospital — X-ray, ultrasound, urine test and a fasting blood test.
• [15:28] His own reaction to the ultrasound, which he had assumed was only for pregnancy.
• [16:29] Teeth: a check, an X-ray, a full clean and whitening. No veneers. He describes it as quicker and easier than a routine dentist visit at home.
• [17:30] The verdict: not a new man, but he’ll look like one.

Extracted pages

• Place: Istanbul
• Country: Turkey