A TikTok creator has gone viral after sharing the unexpected—and hilarious—aftermath of his recent hair transplant, warning others about a common side effect he never saw coming: major swelling.
Kanah Flex, a dancer and artist known for his candid content, took to TikTok to document his journey with the cosmetic procedure. With his signature humor, he reassured viewers that he didn’t travel abroad for a budget surgery, stating, “For anyone asking, no—I didn’t go to Turkey. I had it done right here in Wembley, Kenton, Harrow, to be exact.”
He walked his followers through the process, starting with an 8:30 a.m. consultation at the clinic. After a brief chat with the surgeon and signing a waiver, Kanah was ready to tackle the crown of his head, which he said was his main concern. “My hairline was fine,” he explained. “The real issue was the crown and donor site.”
During the procedure, 4,000 grafts—equivalent to about 8,000 individual hairs—were transplanted from the back of his head to the thinning area. Had he opted to reshape his hairline, even more grafts would have been needed.
Before the surgery began, multiple rounds of local anesthetic were injected into his scalp. “It felt like my head was inflating like a balloon,” Kanah said, describing the surreal sensation. “Eventually, I couldn’t feel a thing.”
But the most attention-grabbing part of his journey wasn’t the procedure itself—it was what came afterward. Kanah’s face and scalp swelled noticeably, giving him a cartoonish appearance that he compared to Will Ferrell’s character in Megamind. Rather than hide it, he embraced the moment with humor, sharing clips of his dramatically puffy head and joking with followers.
“Trust the process,” he told viewers, reminding them that healing isn’t always pretty.
So, is swelling like this normal?
According to Dr. Emrah Cinik, a respected hair transplant expert, the answer is yes. Swelling is a well-known side effect of hair transplant procedures. As explained on his clinic’s site, the swelling is caused by minor tissue trauma and inflammation during surgery, which can lead to fluid accumulation. Anesthetics and injected solutions can also add to the puffiness, sometimes even affecting the forehead or face. Thankfully, this typically resolves within a few days.
Kanah has since updated his followers to let them know the swelling is already going down and that he’s feeling optimistic about his results.
His honest and entertaining documentation has resonated with thousands online. Rather than framing the procedure as a flawless transformation, Kanah gave people a real glimpse into what the process can involve—reminding everyone that even beauty treatments have their awkward moments.
His transparency is more than just funny content—it’s a reminder that confidence sometimes starts with being unfiltered.