Men with bloody, bandaged scalps are a striking feature of Istanbul’s bustling cityscape, whether they’re strolling along vibrant shopping streets or posing in front of its iconic landmarks.
The Turkish metropolis, straddling the Bosphorus – a famed waterway connecting Europe and Asia – has become a global hub for hair transplants, home to an estimated 5,000 clinics catering to patients from around the world.
However, opinions are divided on whether Istanbul can maintain its crown as the world’s hair transplant capital.
Winter is high season for Istanbul’s hair transplant clinics, which operate at full capacity. One such patient is Aydin Kesti, a 27-year-old from Zurich.
He is reclined on a treatment couch, slightly dazed from painkillers administered via a drip, while medical staff meticulously insert hair follicles into his scalp.
He’s doing this for his ego, he says. “Everything was great,” he says about his experience at the hair transplant clinic.
Kesti has paired his procedure with a mini holiday in Istanbul, drawn to the city not only for its reputation but also by a recommendation that led him to choose the ASMED hair transplant clinic.
Hair transplants go mainstream
The city’s many hospitals are no longer just dealing with scalp hair. Beards, moustaches, eyebrows and sometimes even chest hair are also treated, various facilities report.
In some places, a nose job or other cosmetic procedure can be booked in addition to the hair treatment.
“The demand for hair transplants has increased enormously in recent years,” the Serkan Aygin clinic states. Surrounded by a lot of art on the walls, it’s almost like an assembly line.
Shaven-headed men sit at the clinic’s coffee bar waiting for the next stage of their treatment. Others have already undergone the procedure, as their blood-dotted scalps reveal.
Once a discreet procedure, hair transplants have become “mainstream,” the clinic notes. Patients now flaunt their new hairlines on social media, and many clinics collaborate with influencers to boost their reach.
Women, too, are increasingly turning to hair restoration treatments, breaking a long-standing stereotype.
Risks of the procedure
While Turkey’s hair transplant industry draws patient-tourists from across the globe, not every experience ends with picture-perfect results.
Online forums reveal complaints about botched procedures: hair growing in the wrong direction, unsatisfactory density or transplanted follicles falling out after a few years.
Still, Turkey’s reputation as a health tourism hotspot persists.
According to the state tourism association Türsab, 1.5 million health tourists visited Turkey in 2023, making hair transplants the second most sought-after procedure.
The future of the industry in Turkey
“There are as many good as bad clinics in Istanbul,” says Koray Erdogan, doctor and founder of the ASMED clinic.
When he opened his clinic in 2001, it was common practice to remove whole strips of skin from the back of the head. At the beginning of the 2000s, the clinic began removing individual hair roots without removing parts of the skin and leaving a scar.
A “revolution for hair transplantation,” says Erdogan.
The new method spread quickly in Turkey. In Europe and the United States, however, the trend faced scepticism abroad. In 2011, when he presented his technique in the US metropolis of Boston, he recalls that he wasn’t taken seriously.
“That worked in Turkey’s favour,” he says. Turkey’s willingness to embrace the innovation, combined with lower costs, gave the country a competitive edge.
Turkey’s ‘golden age’ is coming to an end
Despite its pioneering role, Turkey’s dominance in the hair transplant industry faces challenges. Health tourism, once a booming sector, is not meeting expectations.
According to the Ministry of Health, current figures are falling short of earlier projections.
In 2023, according to the national statistics authority, Turkey earned around $2.3 billion from health tourism.
However, this pales in comparison to forecasts from a decade ago when the Türsab Tourism Association estimated revenues of about $21 billion to $26 billion by this point.
Furthermore, Erdogan notes that hospitals in Europe now offer hair transplant procedures for approximately $2,000 – a development that was unheard of just a few years ago.
With affordable options closer to home, the need for patients to travel to Turkey is diminishing.
“The golden age in Turkey is coming to an end,” he says.
Alongside beaches, culture and food, Turkey has a growing reputation for medical treatments, from high-tech surgery to alternative care at cut prices. The country is in the lead when it comes to hair transplants – but can it hold onto the top spot? Anne Pollmann/dpa
