In Turkey, hair transplant providers often charge much less than in Europe. Several hundred clinics and “cheap discounters” based in Istanbul, Turkey, are represented on the internet. However, it is often a question of mass clearance. You can find out the most important information about this here. What you need to consider when planning a hair transplant, what exactly its risks are and look at both positive and negative (failed) examples/results.
Phenomenon Hair Transplant Turkey and several hundreds of providers in Istanbul alone
It is truly a phenomenon how many hair transplant providers can be found in Turkey, if only in Istanbul.
Basically, the Turks have recognized the advantages of cheaper offers for themselves, so that the number of HT providers in Istanbul alone is estimated at several hundred, as is also written in Spiegel.de in the article1 regarding hair transplant in Turkey. The competition among clinics and doctors is generally very tough. All clinics try to be as cheap as possible to attract customers, although there are also many dubious providers/offers.
Countless Turkish providers outbid each other and often entice customers with city tours, package deals, VIP pick-up service from the airport with luxury limousines. This is to relieve the patients of as heavy a workload as possible. Often, however, clinics in Turkey do not only offer hair transplantation, but a variety of other cosmetic surgery operations. Another phenomenon is how many clinics in Turkey/Istanbul advertise with quality seals such as test winners.
Hair Transplantation Turkey Test Winner: Bought Cheers, 5-Star Ratings, Certificates and Bought Seals
With an anonymous topic such as hair transplantation, it should make you suspicious when clinics, as is often the case in Turkey, the Mecca of hair transplants, have “conspicuously” many good ratings.
From my years of experience as a freelance consultant, I know that the vast majority of patients prefer to treat a transplant anonymously and do not like to advertise it.
Many conversations with patients who have had unsuccessful hair transplants in Turkey have shown that many patients are massively embarrassed to give a positive evaluation, usually in combination with free shampoos or other things, or most likely evaluations are simply “bought”.
Bought cheers and fake reviews: Five-star ratings on NOTICE and good reviews non-stop – German Stiftung Warentest Magazine REVEALS
The well-known German detection and comparison magazine Stiftung Warentest published in its issue of 23.06.2020 the article “Fake reviews: How Sellers Manipulate Customers with Bought Compliments”.“2 Stiftung Warentest took a look behind the scenes and came to the conclusion that many five-star ratings and good reviews are often written by private individuals for a little extra money. With Amazon, the prerequisite is to have an Amazon account, with Google, a G-mail account. It can be assumed that hair transplantation in Turkey and reviews are also artificially helped along.
“For my first hair transplant, I did not get good advice beforehand. After the consultation by Hairforlife and after the corrective hair restoration surgery, I am very satisfied!”
Fitness Couch Alexander
The Clou: the reviews are supposed to “look real”
As the German magazine Stiftung Warentest2 writes, the reviews should of course appear as “genuine” as possible: “We should first order the products like any normal customer via our Amazon account and at our expense. Amazon marks this as a “verified purchase”, everything is supposed to look real. After we received the goods, we submitted the review to Amazon, at the same time the agency checked our rating.”
Psychological effect: seals, Star Ratings, certificates and ratings work
The german broker and consultant Sven Henning3 described it aptly on his website “…even if some don’t want to admit it, seals, star ratings, certificates and ratings work. Not always consciously, but sometimes simply subconsciously. They can be found on the pages of countless websites and can even be psychologically proven…”
Of course, these business opportunities have not escaped the attention of the publishing houses and it is precisely the low-cost hair transplant clinics such as those in Turkey that benefit from such offers to be able to convince customers of their offers more quickly.
Hair transplant Turkey and how a clinic becomes a “test winner”: Certificates, tests and ratings with seals for sale – German TelevIsion ZDF Discovery report about bought seals from Focus Magazine
Some cheap clinics like to advertise with certificates or seals or mentions in well-known newspapers. Certificates like “best hair transplant clinic Turkey”, or “hair transplant Turkey test winner”. But only a few patients realize that there is a big business behind many seals and certificates and that in reality the quality and good results are not evaluated. As reported by ZDF4, some doctors’ recommendations, seals, and certificates as “test winners” require deep pockets.
Sven Henning3 took the trouble on his website in the article “Focus: Test and ratings to sell seals – €5,000 otherwise I may not show you that I am one of the top insurance brokers” and clearly explained how the business with seals works
However, as it is also mentioned in a comment, too few people question how such seals come about at all, and unfortunately more and more patients are falling for such marketing strategies of low-cost clinics when it comes to hair transplantation in Turkey, but also basically worldwide and, as the ISHRS also reports, botching by low-cost clinics has risen sharply and the ISHRS has therefore also launched the campaign “Fight The FIGHT” campaign.
One should be aware that real journalistic reports/articles are usually not “exclusively” about the offer around a certain clinic, but other doctors and experts (of other providers/clinics) also have their say, and very often different expert opinions can be read.
Mass processing and assembly line work in Turkey with FUE is causing more and more negative experiences and bad results!
Often in Turkey, it is pure mass processing with pure assembly line work. However, mass processing in the medical sector – in this case hair surgery – always has a bitter aftertaste. Unfortunately, this is often only noticed too late by the customers, as can be seen in the Spiegel.de report about the experience of Mr. Schmidt in Istanbul, Turkey1 and hair transplantation mass processing clinics in Turkey are responsible for more and more negative experiences and bad results!
Many people interested in a hair transplant in Turkey let themselves be cleverly and unnoticedly threaded to the intended purposes and focus solely on the low costs than on quality and their own health, which is at stake here. For example, Western European clinics/doctors extract the grafts manually with FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction), with a volume of approx. 3500 – 4000 grafts over 2 to 3 days. In Turkey and Istanbul, meanwhile, electronic support is very often chosen based on the so-called micromotor procedure, whereby the providers place up to 4,000 grafts or even considerably more in 1 day! This gives the impression of assembly line work, and the trust in professional competence and prudent, careful procedures is lost.
Pricing can be adjusted downwards accordingly, but as a rule, the doctor/clinic does not suffer any financial losses! Example: 1,000 grafts per day with manual removal x 4 € per graft result in a daily turnover of 4,000 €. 4.000 grafts per day with technically assisted harvesting (micromotor) x 1 € per graft also result in 4,000 € daily turnover. However, the significantly lower price per graft is very useful for advertising purposes, because customers can be easily convinced and won over. From the customer’s/patient’s point of view, this is a supposedly worthwhile matter, because in the end the savings may amount to several thousand euros. Unfortunately, the fact that this can be at the expense of assured, high quality, and a good outlook for the future of health is not immediately apparent to many of those concerned:
Mass processing usually has a detrimental effect on qualities in any industry and can often lead to negative experiences. In the case of hair transplants, there are the additional risks:
- Hair follicles/follicular units are not harvested intact
- Hair follicles/follicular units are damaged
- Mistakes in the procedure can affect new growth
- Errors in placement can lead to incorrect growth direction and/or negatively affect the hairline appearance (unnatural hairline)
- Execution errors can significantly damage the hairline (look at this decimated hairline after FUE, for example5)
Too rapid removal in mass processing lacks the filigree precision work that is essential for a high-quality hair transplant! This results in risks that can completely ruin the result of a transplantation in the worst case. Patients do not sufficiently realize that this is not a product that can simply be replaced by another one in case of a “wrong purchase”. Rather, due to aggressive advertising measures for low-cost suppliers, a leap of faith is given, and it all reads very convincingly and conclusively. For the newbie as a customer, it is hardly possible to look behind the scenes and to be able to fathom all the accompanying circumstances exactly. After the operation, however, and if it is unsuccessful, there are often drastic impairments that can, in the worst case, affect the patient’s career for the rest of his or her life – if, for example, there are no longer sufficient donor hair reserves available to limit damage elsewhere later on.
ISHRS awareness campaign “Fight the fight” against hair transplant black-market clinics (black-market clinics)
“Many of the illegal clinics have fancy websites with testimonials and testimonials that look very professional. However, the reality is that hair transplants in Turkey may be performed by someone who has no medical training.”
ISHRS.org “Fight The FIGHT” Campaign6
Campaign against black market clinics
Due to the development of more and more providers with mass processing, the international hair surgery association ISHRS (an association with over 1000 members from 70 countries) has launched a “Fight the fight” campaign against exactly such black-market clinics (black-market clinics), which are also frequently found in Turkey. The ISHRS has also noticed the negative development that patients are often misled by cheap prices, dubious advertisements, and misleading information together with attractive all-inclusive prices (medical tourism packages) into having their hair transplants carried out by providers who may even have the entire hair transplantation carried out by non-medical persons with very little training. Consequently, this is of course associated with much higher risks and, according to ISHRS and as described above, poses a serious health risk and often leads to tragic consequences such as permanent scarring, infections leading to disfiguring results with very little to no possibility of correction.7
ISHRS video regarding Luke`s failed FUE hair transplant in Istanbul, Turkey
In a video on the ISHRS site8 Dr. Dan McGrath, hair surgeon from Austin, Texas and David DiMuzzio share what basically goes on in black market clinics around the world
According to them, important questions to ask the provider include
- Can you show before and after pictures from their clinic?
- Will the doctor named by this provider also be involved in the surgery, or is the surgery only delegated to technicians?
Here you should make sure that the pictures come from the clinic because many black market clinics steal before-and-after pictures from reputable doctors. Will the doctor named by this provider also be involved in the surgery, or will the hair transplantation only be delegated to technicians?
One should be wary of unsupervised surgeries that are not supervised by a doctor.
Patient story on ISRS page9 from Luke regarding his failed Turkey hair transplant:
“I haven’t regretted the hair transplant step for a second and I’m still very happy with the result”
Songwriter/DJ/ J.J. Hansen
Hair transplant Turkey and other examples of negative experiences and faulty FUE micromotor extractions
Example 1 of a botched FUE in Istanbul
The picture above shows the result of a failed FUE hair transplantation with micromotor removal in Istanbul, Turkey. As described above, micromotors can significantly increase the number of grafts per day. However, the consequences can be serious for the rim of hair and the donor hair. For example, if too many follicular units/grafts are extracted in too dense a space. The main consequence is the massive damage to surrounding hair caused by a motorised rotation, which, due to a lack of manual sensitivity, injures closely lying hair roots under increased but hardly noticeable vibration and due to the heat produced. The result is trauma, damage, and destruction of hair roots.
Example 2 of a failed FUE with moth-eaten optic and subsequent donor refill
The following is a second example of a disastrous hair transplant in Istanbul, Turkey with a moth-eaten look as a result.
Unfortunately, the corrective options after a botched FUE and decimated donor with a moth-eaten appearance are limited.
To improve the appearance of a decimated donor, either a scalp pigmentation can be performed, or a donor refilling with FUE can be performed, as shown in the following pictures of the HLC Hairlineclinic in Ankara:
However, everyone must be aware that the growth rate may be poorer due to the presence of scar tissue from the previous unsuccessful FUE extraction, which may result in significantly less good blood circulation.
Example 3 of a completely destroyed donor area after FUE and subsequent scalp pigmentation
Example 4 of a completely decimated donor due to a botched FUE in Istanbul
Above picture shows again a victim of the cheap hair transplant clinics of “2000 Euro all-inclusive” in Istanbul, Turkey. Percentage-wise too many grafts were removed, non-optimal FUE removal instruments (often by micromotors which were not originally intended for a self-hair transplantation with FUE and are misused), too fast removal of several thousands of grafts per day, mass processing.
Thus, the goal of FUE to keep the hair short after the procedure has completely failed. Remember: A hair operation is not hair propagation and the donor/hair crown is only available once! Thanks to the Hairforlife Cooperation Clinic HLC in Turkey in Ankara for providing the picture.
Example 5: Comparison of a negative experience and totally botched FUE and a successful FUE with positive experience via manual harvesting
The picture above shows a comparison of 2 rims of hair after surgery with Follicular Unit Extraction (= FUE) and a removal of 3000 grafts. On the left the patient with a failed FUE extraction with micromotor and visible thinning as well as moth-eaten optics in a cheap hair transplant clinic in Istanbul (Turkey) and on the right a successful FUE extraction (manual extraction without micromotor) of the HLC Hairliniclinic in Ankara, also Turkey, however without visible thinning and without moth-eaten optics.
Video – Example of a gentle manual extraction and intermittent FUE surgery in the Hairforlife cooperation clinic Hairlineclinic in Ankara in Turkey
In the Hairline-Clinic in Ankara, in contrast to many hair transplantation mass processing clinics, a maximum of 3500 – 4000 grafts are transplanted over 3 days and per day plus-minus 1500 grafts (instead of in comparison in mass processing clinics often 4000 grafts or more in only 1! Day). Also, the hair follicles are harvested and transplanted in stages (read the article “intermittent FUE hair transplantation”). This means that not 1500 grafts are taken out at once, but first a quantity of 750 grafts, which are then immediately replanted before the process is repeated. Similarly, in cheap hair transplant clinics, important surgical procedures such as the removal and insertion of the grafts are often carried out entirely by assistants, and those affected by botched hair transplants have even reported that a doctor was not even present during the operation (read also the chapter “botched hair surgeries and the legal situation”). At Hairlineclinic, on the other hand, all important surgical steps are always carried out by the doctors themselves.
Hair Restoration surgery Turkey: Example of a failed surgery in Istanbul in the front/hairline
In this case, mini/micrografts were transplanted in Istanbul, Turkey, i.e. grafts that contained too many hairs. In addition, the wrong direction of growth was implanted and a very low density was transplanted. All in all, the result is unnatural and visible from far away.
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Another example of a botched transplant, patient treated with micromotor extraction in 2014
Author below: Medical law specialist Christoph Bomke – in cooperation with Hairforlife/Andreas Krämer
Another illustrative and typical example of unfortunately negative experiences of a botched hair transplantation turned out to be the patient case of a Hairforlife customer in his late 30s from Southern Germany. He underwent hair transplantation in Turkey in Istanbul in 2014.
Correspondence took place in advance via e-mail with a lady. The procedure was supposed to be carried out by a named doctor (as promised in the advertisement). In fact, however, this was not the case, as it turned out later.
Pre-operative information was practically non-existent, risks were concealed or completely played down. In addition, the hair operation was not performed on the patient personally by the doctor in question (as advertised and suggested), but by obviously untrained or very poorly trained non-medical staff. The transplant removal in the donor area (hair crown) was carried out improperly using a so-called micro-motor. As a result, the donor area was so massively destroyed/exploited during the transplantation that the patient was regularly spoken to about it by third parties and was thus embarrassed. The growth rate of the transplants/grafts transplanted into the recipient area proved to be miserable and hardly given, a large part of the transplanted grafts did not grow. 3,500 grafts were to be transplanted at a price of 3,000 €.
The basic dilemma with unsuccessful hair surgeries with negative experiences: Corrective surgery by renowned hair surgeons is often more expensive than the actual surgery at a cheap discount store
With professional removal and treatment by a qualified practitioner, all this could have been avoided. The treatment costs for the subsequent necessary corrective surgery are estimated to be around 20,000 €. The basis for calculating these costs is the average price level of well-trained hair surgeons in Germany/Western Europe so that one can speak of the usual market price level of renowned practitioners. The supposedly “cheap” and falsely advertised hair surgery with costs of € 3,000 at this clinic therefore ultimately causes exorbitantly high costs compared to the actual offer.
Especially in Turkey, do not let yourself be attracted by dumping prices and cheap discounters
The bottom line is this:
Anyone who wants to undergo a hair surgery procedure should not be attracted by unrealistic “dumping prices” under any circumstances but should turn to renowned, experienced practitioners in their own interest to avoid disappointment, horrendous costs, and, above all, impairments that, in the worst case, you will have to bear for the rest of your life.
Hairforlife/Andreas Krämer can look back on years of experience and market knowledge and is your competent expert advisor in all matters concerning hair transplants.
For the sake of fairness and completeness, however, it should be mentioned at this point:
After former patients had sought qualified legal assistance, various so-called “low-cost providers” abroad were prepared to make concessions and compromises and to pay compensation. It certainly played a decisive role that a lawsuit would have “damaged” the respective “cheap clinic” more financially for image reasons alone and would have kept even more customers away than an acceptable compromise acceptable to both sides, which is usually not made public.
Hairforlife/Andreas Krämer is also your contact for all questions concerning “assistance in legal matters”. For many years, Hairforlife has maintained cooperation with the specialist lawyer for medical law, Mr. Christoph Bomke (see also the article“botched hair transplantation and legal help“).
Hair transplantation Turkey and successful examples Results – before/after pictures – videos with natural results and positive patient experiences
Finally, here are some positive lines: So there is another way and we would like to present you here some cases of customers with positive experiences and absolutely successful results online
See below some example results – before/after pictures – videos regarding successful hair transplantation from our Hairforlife cooperation clinic HLC Hairlineclinic
Hair Transplant Turkey Before and After Pictures
“Are you interested in a hair transplant in Turkey and would like a free online consultation including case assessment? I will be happy to advise you!
Andreas Krämer
Sources/References/Author/Co-Authors
1https://www.spiegel.de/gesundheit/diagnose/haartransplantation-medizintourismus-in-der-tuerkei-boomt-a-1014687.html
2 https://www.test.de/Fake-Bewertungen-Wie-Verkaeufer-mit-gekauftem-Lob-Kunden-manipulieren-5401497-0/
3 Article by Sven Henning about purchased seals https://www.online-pkv.de/pkv-bu-blog/focus-test-und-ratings-um-siegel-zu-verkaufen-5-000-e-sonst-darf-ich-ihnen-nicht-zeigen-dass-ich-zu-den-top-versicherungsmaklern-gehoere/
4 https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/panorama/aerzte-siegel-focus-100.html
5 https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/56481-donor-area-6-months-post-fue/?tab=comments#comment-536786
6 https://ishrs.org/2019/03/04/illegal-hair-transplant/#more-6729
7 https://fightthefight.ishrs.org/about/
8 https://fightthefight.ishrs.org/tips-to-avoid-bad-hair-transplant-clinic/
9 https://fightthefight.ishrs.org/hair-transplant-story-in-turkey/
Author
Andreas Krämer/Hairforlife Expert Editorial Team
Co-authors/sources (pictures/videos/information)/review
Many thanks to Dr. Özgür Öztan from Hairlineclinic and lawyer Christoph Bomke from the law firm BBP-Legal for their close cooperation!