Choosing your dates
Pick the dates around your recovery rather than around the flight price. The cheapest week in July is rarely the right week for surgery.
Things that should drive the decision
- Time off work: not just the trip, but the weeks afterwards. A body lift needs four to six weeks; a hair transplant needs about one.
- Help at home: for abdominal, breast and body surgery you will need someone for the first week or two. Plan around their availability as much as yours.
- Events: weddings, holidays and anything photographed. Most procedures need three to six months before they look settled, and swelling does not negotiate.
- Season: Istanbul summers are hot and humid, which is genuinely difficult in a compression garment worn for six weeks. Spring and autumn are more comfortable.
- Preparation time: a two-week liver-shrinking diet before bariatric surgery, four weeks of stopping nicotine, blood tests arranged at home. Dates need to allow for these.
- Second trips: dental implants and All-on-4 need two visits four to six months apart. Plan both before booking the first.
Your countdown
What happens when, from first enquiry to the morning you fly. Your coordinator works through this with you and sends a written checklist.
8–12 weeks before
- Send photographs and relevant history. For dental work, a panoramic X-ray; for bariatric surgery, recent blood results; for female hair loss, a full blood screen.
- Receive your assessment and written quote. Ask everything you want to ask at this stage.
- Confirm your dates and pay the deposit. Only now do you book flights.
- Buy travel insurance that explicitly covers elective surgery abroad.
- Check your passport validity and any visa requirement for your nationality.
4–6 weeks before
- Stop smoking and all nicotine. Not a suggestion — for breast lifts, body lifts, bone grafts and fat transfer it determines whether the result holds.
- Arrange time off work and help at home for the first fortnight.
- Review medication with your surgeon: blood thinners, anti-inflammatories, the contraceptive pill, supplements.
- Arrange any blood tests your plan requires at home.
- Book a dental check if your treatment involves intraoral incisions.
2 weeks before
- Start the liver-shrinking diet if you are having bariatric surgery. Operations are cancelled when this is skipped.
- Stop anti-inflammatories, fish oil and vitamin E where instructed.
- Remove extensions, braids or weaves before a hair transplant.
- Buy compression garments, a second one to wash and wear, and any specific items on your list.
- Shop for your post-operative diet so it is waiting when you get home.
The week before
- Send your flight numbers to your coordinator so transfers are tracked.
- Confirm who is collecting you at your home airport on return.
- Pack: loose front-opening clothing, slip-on shoes, compression stockings, medication in original packaging, travel pillow.
- Tell your bank you are travelling, so a card limit does not become a problem when you settle the balance.
- Buy an eSIM so you have data rather than relying on hotel wifi.
How long to stay
The nights in your package are set by clinical need, not convenience. Here is the whole list in one place.
| Treatment | Nights in Turkey | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hair transplant | 3 | First wash and aftercare training |
| Botulinum toxin, fillers | 2 | Procedure and review |
| Teeth whitening | 2 | Single appointment |
| Otoplasty | 5 | Dressing change and headband fitting |
| Breast augmentation | 6 | Wound check before flying |
| Dental implants, first trip | 5 | Surgery and review |
| Rhinoplasty | 7 | Splint removal at day seven |
| Tummy tuck, breast lift | 7 | Drains and wound inspection |
| Gastric sleeve or bypass | 7 | Leak window is days three to seven |
| Hollywood smile | 7 | Laboratory time between fittings |
| Facelift, BBL, mid-face lift | 8 | Swelling and complication window |
| Revision bariatric or implant surgery | 8 | Higher complication rate |
| Mommy makeover | 9 | Two areas, longer recovery |
| Body lift | 10 | Drains, and the largest wound we treat |
If a provider quotes a substantially shorter stay for the same procedure, ask what clinical reasoning supports it. Shorter stays are cheaper to sell and they transfer the risk to you, at the point when you are furthest from the surgeon who operated.
Time off and help at home
The part of planning people underestimate most. Book the recovery as carefully as the trip.
| Treatment | Off work | Help at home |
|---|---|---|
| Hair transplant | 3–5 days | None |
| Eyelid surgery | 10–14 days | None |
| Breast augmentation | 7–10 days | A few days |
| Rhinoplasty | 10 days | A few days |
| Gynecomastia | 7–10 days | A few days |
| Tummy tuck | 2 weeks | First week |
| Breast reduction or lift | 2–3 weeks | First week |
| Facelift | 2–3 weeks | First week |
| Gastric sleeve or bypass | 3–4 weeks | First week |
| Mommy makeover | 3 weeks | Two weeks, essential |
| Body lift | 4–6 weeks | Two weeks, essential |
- Physical jobs need roughly double the time shown. Nursing, construction, hairdressing, warehouse work and childcare all count.
- No lifting children for six weeks after abdominal or breast surgery. Arrange this before you book, not after.
- Elective surgery abroad is usually unpaid leave rather than sick leave. Check your employer's policy early.
- Use our recovery planner to see the full timeline for your procedure, adjusted for the kind of work you do.
If plans change
Dates move — yours or ours. Here is how each situation is handled, set out before you pay rather than after.
If we move your date
- You are told as early as possible, with the reason.
- Hotel nights are rearranged at no charge.
- Where your flights cannot be changed, we work through the options with you. This is one reason we recommend changeable return fares.
If you move your date
- Rescheduling with reasonable notice is free. Give us as much as you can.
- Illness, a positive pre-operative test or a change in your circumstances are handled sensibly rather than by the letter of a cancellation policy.
- The deposit terms are in your written quote, agreed before you pay rather than invented at the moment you need them.
If you arrive and decline treatment
- You can. If an investigation changes the plan, or you simply change your mind on assessment day, you are not obliged to proceed.
- What happens to your deposit is set out in your original terms. Nothing is improvised.
- This happens occasionally and nobody will pressure you. A patient who goes ahead with reservations they never voiced is the outcome we least want.
If you are not fit to fly home
- Your stay is extended, and the additional hotel nights are arranged and covered by us.
- This is exactly what the extended-stay element of medical travel insurance is for — another reason to buy a policy that includes it.
- Your coordinator helps you rearrange flights and informs anyone who needs to know at home.
Travel planning: frequently asked questions
Only after a clinician has assessed you, your dates are confirmed and you have a written quote. Booking a non-refundable fare on a provisional date is the most common and most expensive mistake patients make.
Between two and ten nights depending on the procedure, set by clinical need rather than convenience. The full list is on this page, and every treatment page states its stay and the reason.
Spring and autumn for comfort. Istanbul summers are hot and humid, which is genuinely difficult if you will be wearing a compression garment for six weeks. Avoid Turkish public holidays and the weeks around Ramadan and Eid, when fares rise.
From three days for a hair transplant to four to six weeks for a body lift. Physical jobs need roughly double. Our recovery planner gives the figure for your procedure adjusted for the work you do.
For abdominal, breast and body surgery, yes — for the first week or two. For a mommy makeover or body lift it is essential rather than desirable, and it should be arranged before you book.
Rescheduling with reasonable notice is free. Illness or a change in circumstances is handled sensibly. The deposit terms are in your written quote, agreed before you pay rather than invented when you need them.
We tell you as early as possible with the reason, rearrange hotel nights at no charge, and work through flight options with you. It is one reason we recommend a changeable return fare.
Yes. You can decline on assessment day, and if an investigation changes the plan you are told before anything proceeds. Nobody will pressure you — a patient who proceeds with unvoiced reservations is the worst outcome for everyone.
You stay, and the additional hotel nights are arranged and covered by us. Your coordinator helps rearrange flights. This is also what the extended-stay element of medical travel insurance is for.
Sometimes, and sometimes we will refuse. Combining is safe up to a point — beyond roughly six hours of anaesthetic the risk of clots and wound problems rises steeply. Where your list is too long we will plan two trips rather than take the risk.
Before treatment rather than after, if you can. Istanbul is tempting but walking after abdominal surgery is tiring, and sun on a fresh scar causes lasting discolouration. A day or two before your procedure works far better than after it.
One coordinator, from first enquiry to your twelve-month review. Not a call centre and not a different person each time — the same individual, reachable by WhatsApp at any hour.
