I have covered hair transplants in Turkey (Türkiye) in several past posts. You just cannot avoid it, considering that Istanbul (Turkey) is the world capital for hair transplants. A combination of: low costs per graft; excellent geographical location; and thousands of good and bad clinics has resulted in Turkey’s hair transplant industry being worth over $2 billion per year.
Is Turkey’s Golden Age of Hair Transplants Ending?
However, it was only a matter of time before the competition caught up, in spite of the “Turkish Hairlines” moniker becoming synonymous with hair restoration procedures. A new article in South China Morning Post (originally from the German Press Agency — dpa) is titled:
“The world hair transplant capital is in Turkey, but is clinics’ golden age nearing an end?”
The same article was also published in Yahoo earlier this month. The content starts off with estimating that Istanbul is home to a stunning 5,000 hair transplant clinics. And we know that the vast majority of these clinics are willing to undertake many procedures per day if they can get enough patients. Like an assembly line, but with a mixed bag of results.
According to the Turkish state tourism association, 1.5 million health tourists visited the country in 2023. And hair transplants were the second most desired procedure. They do not mention the most popular one, but I would assume that it is also a cosmetic treatment.
In the SCMP article, the well known Turkish hair transplant surgeon Dr. Koray Erdogan admits that:
“There are as many good as bad clinics in Istanbul.”
Moreover, he claims that hospitals in Europe now offer hair transplant procedures for $2,000, which was unheard of in the past.
I find it hard to believe that any hospital in Western Europe could offer such a low price. It must be hospitals in Eastern European countries.
Dr. Erdogan ends by saying that:
“The golden age in Turkey is coming to an end.”
Perhaps this is too soon to make such a conclusion. Just two days ago, the Daily Mail promoted a likely incorrect theory that NFL fans were convinced that Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce got a hair transplant in Turkey.
If even American citizens assume that a multimillionaire NFL player flies all the way to Turkey to get a hair transplant, the brand recognition remains stellar.