What makes this nation a prime vacation spot for hair transplants : NPR

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 modern multistory advanced that boasts a 90-95% hair transplant success fee. Because it opened in 2018, the clinic has been treating round 5,000 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 in opposition to 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 personal well being care problem.

Hair transplants aren’t new — however abruptly, they’re in every single 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 important 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 attainable dangers and oversight.

For Justin, the choice got here right down to {dollars}.

He instructed NPR his transplant, together with airfare and lodging, price 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 keeping with a 2023 examine printed by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Turkey has constructed a complete business on that sort of price 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 knowledge from the Turkish Well being Ministry.

Stroll by way of Istanbul’s airports and you may see the advertisements — smiling males with contemporary hairlines, clinics promising all-inclusive packages with motels, 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 by way of a number of sufferers a day. The medical affiliation says it has obtained studies of outcomes starting from botched hairlines to infections and scarring.

Glen Jankowski, a psychologist at College Faculty Dublin and writer of forthcoming guide 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 stress. 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 important uncomfortable side effects,” he says. “It’s best 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 tough.

The social media impact

So why achieve this many males enroll? It is not 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 robust 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 happy purchasers, swiping their arms over contemporary hairlines. “5 months in the past I flew to Istanbul,” one man boasts. “Greatest resolution ever.”

Social media has turned the transplant into a life-style improve. It is a makeover to flaunt, not conceal. And the extra males exhibit 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 should spend twice as a lot again house.

Docs like Erdogan say most sufferers really feel the identical. However he additionally admits the frenzy of clinics and prospects has created a “Wild West” ambiance, the place it is as much as sufferers to do their homework.

In fact, not everybody indicators up.

Jankowski, the psychologist, has chosen one other route.

“The hair we stock on prime of our heads, we expect it is actually significant. It is not,” he says. “[My hair] does not clog my bathe anymore. It does 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.