With tons of of clinics specialised in hair transplants, Istanbul is a rising hub within the business, attracting folks from all around the world.
Ozan Kose/AFP through Getty Photographs
disguise caption
toggle caption
Ozan Kose/AFP through Getty Photographs
ISTANBUL — In a vivid 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 strains 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 advanced that boasts a 90-95% hair transplant success charge. Because it opened in 2018, the clinic has been treating round 500 sufferers yearly. Most come from overseas: round a 3rd come from america alone.
“OK, I’ll draw in keeping 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 may focus on a personal well being care subject.
Hair transplants aren’t new — however instantly, they’re all over the place. And Turkey has turn into the business’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 outcome has been a booming new business, with vital financial achieve. However though the process is usually thought of secure when carried out by a talented surgeon, the business’s success has prompted issues about potential dangers and oversight.
For Justin, the choice got here right down to {dollars}.
He advised 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 common worth for comparable procedures runs upwards of $13,000, in keeping with a 2023 examine printed by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Turkey has constructed a complete business on that type of value hole.
In response to 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 keeping with information from the Turkish Well being Ministry.
Stroll via Istanbul’s airports and you may see the advertisements — smiling males with recent hairlines, clinics promising all-inclusive packages with lodges, 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 issues about so-called “black market clinics,” the place unlicensed practitioners carry out delicate procedures or rush via a number of sufferers a day. The medical affiliation says it has obtained reviews of outcomes starting from botched hairlines to infections and scarring.
Glen Jankowski, a psychologist at College Faculty Dublin and creator of forthcoming ebook Branding Baldness, warns 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 impact your blood strain. It truly is essential that medically skilled individuals are doing it — and generally that is not the case.”
Jankowski additionally says that sufferers are generally pushed onto medicines like minoxidil or finasteride with out full consent. “These medicine can have vital uncomfortable side effects,” he says. “You must 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 tough.
The social media impact
So why accomplish that many males join? It is not simply the financial savings. Or the self-importance.
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 completely satisfied purchasers, swiping their fingers over recent hairlines. “5 months in the past I flew to Istanbul,” one man boasts. “Finest choice 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.
Just a few months after his operation, NPR checked in with Justin R. He says he feels youthful, extra assured — and grateful he did not need to spend twice as a lot again house.
Medical doctors like Erdogan say most sufferers really feel the identical. However he additionally admits the frenzy 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 feature on prime of our heads, we predict it is actually significant. It is not,” 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 least expensive selection of all — shave it off and transfer on.
