Dr Hayriye Dilber

In Turkey, the title of specialist (uzman) in cardiology may only be used by a physician who has completed an accredited residency programme and holds a specialist certificate issued by the Ministry of Health. The certificate carries a unique specialist register number.

Medical education

Dr Hayriye Dilber studied medicine at Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine in Bursa, on the six-year undergraduate programme leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and graduated on 1 July 2004 with diploma number 4644.

Specialty training in cardiology

Cardiology in Turkey is a specialty entered by competitive national examination after medical qualification, and the residency programme runs for a minimum of four years. Dr Hayriye Dilber completed her training at the Institute of Cardiology, Istanbul University — a dedicated cardiology institute rather than a general hospital department — and finished the programme on 13 October 2011. Her specialist certificate is registered with the Ministry of Health under number 96372.

Her clinical focus is cardiovascular risk assessment and the management of cardiac and vascular conditions in the perioperative period, meaning the window around a planned procedure in which cardiac risk is at its highest.

University Master’s degree, Italy

Between the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 academic years, Dr Hayriye Dilber followed a second-level University Master’s programme in Aesthetic Medicine and Aesthetic Therapeutics — Medicina Estetica e Terapia Estetica — conferred jointly by the University of Camerino and the University of Turin. A second-level Master’s in the Italian system is a postgraduate qualification open only to holders of a full degree, and it is regulated under Ministerial Decrees 509/1999 and 270/2004.

She passed the final examination at Camerino on 16 November 2023. The diploma was apostilled by the Prefecture of Macerata on 20 March 2024 under number 453, which is what makes it legally recognisable outside Italy.

Role at Hair of Istanbul

A hair transplant is a long procedure carried out under local anaesthesia, and a proportion of patients arrive with a cardiac history: hypertension, arrhythmia, coronary disease, stents, or medication such as anticoagulants that changes how the day must be managed. Dr Hayriye Dilber’s remit at Hair of Istanbul is that assessment.

Stage	What it covers
Pre-operative review	Cardiovascular history, current medication, previous cardiac events and interventions, and functional capacity.
Investigations	Planning and interpreting the cardiac tests indicated for the individual patient — for example ECG, echocardiography or exercise testing.
Risk stratification	Placing the patient in a defined cardiovascular risk category rather than making a general judgement.
Fitness decision	Determining, together with the anaesthetist, whether the procedure may proceed, should be modified, or should be deferred.
Post-operative monitoring	Follow-up of cardiac risk in the recovery period where it is clinically indicated.

Where a patient’s cardiac status does not allow a procedure to go ahead safely, the outcome of this assessment is that the procedure is postponed or declined. That is the purpose of the assessment.

Why cardiac assessment matters before a hair transplant

Hair restoration is elective surgery, which changes the arithmetic entirely. In an emergency operation a degree of cardiac risk is accepted because the alternative is worse. In an elective cosmetic procedure there is no such trade-off, so the threshold for proceeding is set higher.

Length of the procedure

A large session can run for six to eight hours with the patient lying still. That duration, combined with the stress response to local anaesthesia and adrenaline-containing solutions, places a measurable load on the cardiovascular system.

Adrenaline in the anaesthetic solution

Local anaesthetic used in hair restoration is generally combined with adrenaline to reduce bleeding. Adrenaline raises heart rate and blood pressure, which is well tolerated by most patients but requires care in those with arrhythmia, uncontrolled hypertension or ischaemic heart disease.

Anticoagulant and antiplatelet medication

Patients taking warfarin, direct oral anticoagulants, aspirin or clopidogrel bleed more during graft harvesting and placement. Whether such medication can be adjusted before a procedure — and by whom — is a cardiology decision, not a cosmetic one.

Travelling patients

International patients often arrive after a flight and undergo the procedure within a day or two. Recent cardiac events, unstable symptoms or poorly controlled blood pressure need to be identified before travel rather than on the morning of the procedure.

Clinical approach

Structured rather than impressionistic

Cardiovascular risk is assessed against defined criteria and recognised risk categories, so that the same patient would receive the same answer regardless of who was asked or on which day.

Medical suitability precedes scheduling

The cardiac question is settled before an operating date is confirmed, not alongside it.

Shared decision with anaesthesia

Fitness for the procedure is determined jointly with the anaesthetist, since cardiac risk and anaesthetic risk are not separable in a patient with heart disease.

“The question is never whether a patient wants the procedure. It is whether their heart will tolerate six hours of it, and what has to be in place before the answer becomes yes.”

Dr Hayriye Dilber, Consultant Cardiologist

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• The medical team at Hair of Istanbul — the disciplines involved in hair restoration at the clinic.
• Dr Barış Adaklı — anaesthesiology and patient safety.
• FUE technique — how follicular unit excision works.
• After care — the recovery period and what to expect.