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Are you looking for a hair transplant in Istanbul? With low prices from Є1400 and a clinic headed up by Dr. Serkan Aydin, an Arena Med hair transplant seems like a great option. We explore more about Arena Med in this comprehensive review.
Arena Med hair clinic has an excellent website that frequently offers an all-inclusive 5000 minimum FUE hair graft for just Є1400. The online consultation form is disappointing in terms of getting an initial quote for an Arena Med hair transplant. Aside from your name and three photos, that’s the extent of the consultation. No doctor can give a diagnosis and treatment plan based on such minimal information. However, an FUE transplant of a minimum 5,000 grafts will likely cover most people.
The Arena Med hair transplant package includes airport, hotel and clinic transfers, an English guide, three nights accommodation at a 4-star hotel, sedation, and a medical aftercare set. Regardless of the extent of your hair loss, the quote is likely to be the standard Є1400 which is affordable for most people.
If you book with Arena Med, you can take advantage of flexible booking times, so if you have a busy schedule that keeps changing, you won’t have a problem rearranging your operation date. You will get an itinerary of your trip with details, so you only need to give the clinic your flight details, and they’ll arrange everything else.
Unfortunately, Arena Med does not offer pre consultations; everything is done on the operation day. Getting the best from a hair transplant depends on taking advice before the operation such as stopping smoking, adopting a nutrient-dense diet, and using shampoos and serums specific to your needs to prepare the scalp. Arena Med doesn’t offer any of these things.
We scored Arena Med 3/5 in the accommodation and arrival section. You’ll be picked up form the airport in VIP transport and taken to your hotel, and you’ll get a full three nights stay as part of the Є1400 package.
A 3-night stay is important, so you’ll be able to rest up. Unfortunately, the package does not include a Western 5-star hotel. With Arena Med, you don’t get to choose to upgrade to a 5 star; you have to stay at the Deniz hotel. It’s not a bad hotel, and you can check it out. It’s considered to be a 4-star hotel with comfortable rooms, air con, wifi, and a good standard of fixtures and fittings.
The Deniz has a 24-hour reception, and the rooms have a minibar. There’s a restaurant at the hotel that has an indoor and outdoor dining area. There are also vegetarian and diabetic menus available. There isn’t a spa, which is a bit of a letdown. But the hotel is located next to the clinic, so you don’t need to worry about travelling.
Arena Med has an A-license, which is excellent news. That means more rigorous health guidelines regulate the clinic. The one thing that strikes us as a little disconcerting at Arena Med is that everything is done on the day. The doctors will explain what they think is the best option, and then they are ready to carry it out in minutes afterward.
This gives you virtually no time to think for yourself what the best options are. Another downside to treatment at Arena Med is that while the procedure is carried out in a surgery room, it’s still a clinic and not a hospital. Complications are extremely rare during this procedure, but if they did occur, you would have to be moved to a hospital.
There’s no getting around the issue, but in the world of hair transplant surgery, there are a few stand out stars. These are doctors that have been successful in the field, pushed innovations, given speaking events, and trained many other doctors. Dr. Serkan Aydin is one of these hair transplant ‘celebrities.’ But the truth is when you see these doctors detailed, you’ll rarely find they are carrying out procedures. The Arena Med prides itself on having performed 20,000 surgeries. It’s simply not possible for Dr. Aydin to have carried these out himself. As to what input, he had to approximately seven surgeries a day, has to be limited.
After your hair transplant at Arena Med, you’ll receive some products according to the site. Aftercare products are essential to getting the best from the procedure, but it doesn’t say how long these products are for. The clinic says they offer a follow-up appointment around 8-12 months after your procedure to check on the results. The site also says it is available for queries and questions after your procedure, but there is no guarantee detailed, which is disappointing.
Choosing a hair transplant clinic is always a case of taking the good with the bad. Arena Med offers good value and a relatively safe option but it does seem that Dr Serkan Aydin is more of a poster boy than active particpant.
The Є1400 package that includes 5,000 FUE grafts, three nights accommodation, transport, sedation, language guide, and an aftercare set offers excellent value. Arena med makes a viable choice for those that want a good quality result without spending too much on the procedure. But you should always consider the downsides.
You can see budget areas in the Arena Med package in the rush on the day of operation. Your pre-consultation will begin at 8 am, and your operation at 9 am. With this economic package, you also forego Western 5-star accommodation. However, the Denis hotel is still of a good standard, so your trip won’t be spoiled.
When it comes to looking closely at the team at Arena Med, things become a little less enticing. Serkan Aydin is detailed as an expert, but then it’s Serkan’s brother Volkan who appears to be carrying out the procedures. It doesn’t detail Volkan’s qualifications, and being related to Serkan doesn’t really work as a qualification. For those expecting the genius hands of Serkan, it’s a far cry to have his unqualified brother perform the surgery, so watch out!
Arena Med does offer the option of sedation during the operation. This can be an option if you are sensitive or if there are a large number of grafts, and the procedure is going on for a long time. During sedation, you will be supervised by an anaesthesiologist. The operation they promise is carried out by doctors. However, they do suggest that they can offer FUE without scarring, and this simply isn’t possible. Minimal scarring will always occur with this kind of operation.
If you head to the IG feed of Arena Med, you will find heaps of Arena Med hair transplant review pictures. There are hundreds of images of men proudly displaying there after results with a full head of hair and looking every part the James Bond idol of their dreams.
Arena Med uses FUE transplantation to provide patients with hair transplants. This is a popular technique that harvests hairs individually using a fine needle and replaces them into channels in other scalp areas where the hair is thinner or absent. Other options include a DHI hair transplant, which harvests the hair along with the follicle.
There are no details of Arena Med offering the DHI procedure either as an alternative or as an extra. Arena Med does seem to have a one size fits all package, which is FUE of a minimum 5,000 drafts. Women and those who don’t want to shave and are looking for a DHI option may want to look elsewhere.
Arena Med prices appear to be one standard package. It seems that for Є1400, you can get a minimum of 5,000 grafts and possibly more. No premium or budget packages seem to be available. There are no details of the cost of extras, such as more aftercare products. There don’t appear to be any options either to upgrade to a 5-star hotel. However, here’s what’s included in the Є1400 package:
Arena Med does seem to offer great value for €1400. With many things included in the package, you are not likely to be bombarded with optional extras to pay. The concerns are as to who is doing the procedures as it appears that Dr. Serkan Aydin has minimal input at this clinic.
Yes. You can catch Arena Med on IG. You can see some wow before and after pictures. There are several clients who couldn’t be happier to show off their amazing results on the platform.
Arena Med performs surgeries in a clinic with a well regulated A license. Because it is not a hospital, any extremely rare complication would have to be dealt with at a local hospital.
