With a whole lot of clinics specialised in hair transplants, Istanbul is a rising hub within the trade, attracting folks from everywhere in the world.
Ozan Kose/AFP through Getty Pictures
disguise caption
toggle caption
Ozan Kose/AFP through Getty Pictures
ISTANBUL — In a vibrant clinic on the jap aspect of Istanbul, a person leans over one other man’s scalp.
There is a marker in his hand, and he is drawing skinny, cautious traces throughout the skull. It seems to be virtually like an artwork class. Besides the canvas here’s a human head.
Dr. Mehmet Erdogan (no relation to Turkey’s president) runs the Smile Hair Clinic in Istanbul, a glossy multistory complicated that boasts a 90-95% hair transplant success charge. Because it opened in 2018, the clinic has been treating round 5,000 sufferers yearly. Most come from overseas: round a 3rd come from the US alone.
“OK, I’ll draw in line with what I like to recommend to you,” Erdogan says, because the pen squeaks towards the scalp of his affected person, Justin R., a registered nurse from California. Justin, in his early 40s, did not need NPR to make use of his final identify in order that he might talk about a non-public well being care subject.
Hair transplants aren’t new — however instantly, they’re all over the place. And Turkey has change into the trade’s unofficial capital.
The nation now attracts sufferers from throughout the globe, lured by decrease prices, bundled journey packages, and a rising community of clinics. The end result has been a booming new trade, with vital financial acquire. However though the process is usually thought of protected when carried out by a talented surgeon, the trade’s success has prompted considerations about doable dangers and oversight.
For Justin, the choice got here all the way down to {dollars}.
He informed NPR his transplant, together with airfare and lodging, value him about $3,400. He was given quotes for greater than double that at clinics he reached out to in California.
Within the U.S., the typical value for comparable procedures runs upwards of $13,000, in line with a 2023 examine printed by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Turkey has constructed a complete trade on that form of value hole.
In line with the Turkish Well being Tourism Affiliation, round 1 million folks traveled to the nation in 2022 for hair transplants alone, spending about $2 billion.
Nationwide, well being tourism introduced in much more: about 2 million medical vacationers in 2024, producing near $3 billion, in line with knowledge from the Turkish Well being Ministry.
Stroll by means of Istanbul’s airports and you will see the advertisements — smiling males with recent hairlines, clinics promising all-inclusive packages with accommodations, airport transfers, translators, even sightseeing.
The hidden dangers
Not each story ends with an ideal hairline.
The Worldwide Society of Hair Restoration Surgical procedure has flagged considerations about so-called “black market clinics,” the place unlicensed practitioners carry out delicate procedures or rush by means of a number of sufferers a day. The medical affiliation says it has acquired studies of outcomes starting from botched hairlines to infections and scarring.
Glen Jankowski, a psychologist at College Faculty Dublin and writer of forthcoming e-book Branding Baldnesswarns there are additionally medical dangers that transcend the bodily outcomes.
“It is actually essential that, particularly the hair follicles, you are not doing an excessive amount of harvesting in a single session,” he explains. “It does affect your blood strain. It truly is essential that medically skilled persons are doing it — and typically that is not the case.”
Jankowski additionally says that sufferers are typically pushed onto medicines like minoxidil or finasteride with out full consent. “These medicine can have vital uncomfortable side effects,” he says. “You need to solely take them with correct medical recommendation and knowledgeable consent.”
The Turkish Well being Ministry has pledged stricter oversight and extra inspections. Nonetheless, critics say the sheer variety of clinics — some estimates put it at 5,000 in Istanbul alone — makes enforcement troublesome.
The social media impact
So why accomplish that many males enroll? It isn’t simply the financial savings. Or the vainness.
It is psychology — and TikTok.
“Most individuals fear about hair loss no matter their precise hair depend, as a result of the promoting is so sturdy round it,” says Jankowski.
On the Smile Hair Clinic, the ready room tells this very story. An enormous display loops TikTok and Instagram reels from blissful purchasers, swiping their fingers over recent hairlines. “5 months in the past I flew to Istanbul,” one man boasts. “Greatest determination ever.”
Social media has turned the transplant into a life-style improve. It is a makeover to flaunt, not disguise. And the extra males showcase their outcomes, the extra regular the surgical procedure feels.
A couple of months after his operation, NPR checked in with Justin R. He says he feels youthful, extra assured — and grateful he did not must spend twice as a lot again house.
Docs like Erdogan say most sufferers really feel the identical. However he additionally admits the push of clinics and clients has created a “Wild West” ambiance, the place it is as much as sufferers to do their homework.
After all, not everybody indicators up.
Jankowski, the psychologist, has chosen one other route.
“The hair we stock on prime of our heads, we predict it is actually significant. It isn’t,” he says. “(My hair) would not clog my bathe anymore. It would not fall into my porridge. There is a magnificence and knowledge to (hair loss) we’re sadly dropping.”
For some, that is the safer and most cost-effective alternative of all — shave it off and transfer on.
