Does Hair Transplant Hurt?. Sule Hair Clinic — doctor-led boutique clinic in Istanbul. Sapphire FUE, DHI, Hybrid from €2,990.
Most patients report little to no pain during the procedure, because the donor and recipient areas are fully numbed with local anesthesia. The only discomfort is the initial numbing injections (5–10 minutes), which feel like quick pinpricks. Many clinics including ours offer sedation to bypass even this.
Only one moment: the local anesthetic injections at the start. Pain level is typically rated 3–4/10 for 5 minutes. Once the area is numb, you feel pressure and movement but no pain. Many patients sleep, watch movies, or eat lunch during the 6–8 hour procedure.
No, post-op pain is typically mild — a 2–3/10 dull soreness, similar to a sunburn on the scalp. It peaks at 24–48 hours and resolves by day 4. Standard painkillers (paracetamol, ibuprofen) handle it completely. Most patients return to office work within 2–3 days.
It's not standard or recommended — local anesthesia plus optional IV sedation is safer and avoids the recovery time and risks of general anesthesia. Sedation lets you stay in a relaxed twilight state where you don't feel the numbing injections at all.
Three things: (1) choose a clinic that uses sedation or gentler anesthesia delivery techniques, (2) take the prescribed pain meds preemptively for the first 48 hours rather than waiting, and (3) sleep elevated at 45° for 5 nights to reduce swelling-related discomfort.
Sule Hair Clinic is a doctor-led hair transplant clinic in Istanbul, Türkiye. Dr. Enver Kayıkçıoğlu personally performs all Sapphire hairline channel incisions. Medical Director Dr. Selahattin Tulunay, a board-certified plastic surgeon, carries out the final quality control. Anaesthesiologist Dr. Zafer Ersin Ünlüer manages anaesthesia and intra-operative monitoring, and Şule Ölmez performs the hairline design consultations. We deliberately keep the number of operations per day very limited so every patient gets the full time of the senior team, have completed 30,000+ consultations, and our graft-handling protocol with Hypothermosol cooling protects graft viability. All-inclusive packages start at €2,990 and cover surgery, hotel, VIP transfers, medication and 12 months of follow-up; flights are not included. Google rating 4.9 from 1,700+ reviews. Turkish Ministry of Health approved · USHAŞ registered health tourism provider.
Address: Yeşilpınar, Çay Sk. No:2, 34065 Eyüpsultan, Istanbul, Türkiye. Telephone: +90 542 838 77 79. Email: info@sule-hairtransplant.com.