Ruben had a hair transplant in Turkey in November 2022
Ruben Owen said his head blew up ‘like a balloon’ after he ignored the ‘no sex’ rule following his hair transplant (Image: Ruben Owen© SWNS)
A man who flew to Turkey for a hair transplant said his head blew up “like a balloon” after he ignored advice not to have sex following the procedure.
Ruben Owen, a social media influencer from Wales, said he was left googling STI symptoms after breaking the aftercare rule.
The 24-year-old was offered a hair transplant to rejuvenate his lost locks. After the procedure Ruben was told to not engage in high intensity activities to avoid sweating – such as sex, sunbathing and exercise – for at least two weeks.
But when Ruben ignored the specialist’s recommendations to not have sex, he woke up the next day with a puffed face and a tight scalp.
Online advice says increased heart rate and blood pressure can reopen healing incisions, and sweating can irritate the transplant area and increase the risk of infection.
Ruben Owen’s face after it started swelling(Image: Ruben Owen© SWNS)
The initial panic led Ruben to consider he might have an STI, but he quickly realised it was due to the hair transplant. It took the influencer one week for the facial swell to go down.
He said: “I wake up and my head’s blown up like a balloon – face puffed, scalp tight, and it looked like I’d been stung by 100 bees. No joke, I thought I’d caught something. I was actually googling STI symptoms and panicking.
“Turns out it was just my own fault for going too hard too soon – definitely learned my lesson the weird way. The left hand side was bigger than anything to the point it didn’t even look like I had been punched – it genuinely looked like my face was going to explode.”
Ruben flew to Turkey on November 2022 at the age of 22 to undertake the popular hair treatment. He was having concerns with his hair line and was offered the procedure for free in return for a modelling session for the clinic.
In total he spent £800 for the flights to and from Turkey and returned to Wales the day after the procedure was done. Hair transplant surgeons generally recommend abstaining from sexual activity for at least seven days post-procedure. But Ruben decided “not to listen” to his surgeons.
Ruben said it looked like he had been ‘stung by 100 bees'(Image: Ruben Owen© SWNS)
He said: “I was doing some modelling work for their social media so I got the deal for a really good price. It all went ok they went through the after care things of what you are not meant to do.
“I didn’t quite listen about the sex part and because of that my face just went quite enormous. I had sex the night time. Woke up the next day and my head was just absolutely massive. When I woke up I was like ‘oh my god what is going on, is it an STI?’.
“I was quite panicking to be honest. I went to Google and was worried for a bit.”
His face ballooned on the left side of his head. His normal head size only came back one week after the transplant surgery.
Ruben said: “I was told there was nothing to worry about too much and that it should go down which it did eventually because I was going to go to A&E. I looked like something out of a film – it was something else.”
The social media influencer said to have learnt the lesson “the hard way” but it is now motive for a laugh with his friends.
He said: “It is one of those stories that still gets brought up, and to me it is too good not to share. This is one of them things that I look back on now and it was really stupid I hadn’t listened but it was really funny.”