Hair Transplant Medical Tourism in Turkey

Turkey has become a leading destination for hair transplantation. Owing to the fairly cheaper costs as well as internationally qualified surgeons, Turkey is attracting hair loss patients all over the world. The revenue for hair transplant medical tourism has greatly increased in the last few years. In the first half of the year 2014, about 162,500 medical tourists came to Turkey most of them hair transplant patients from all over Europe, Middle East and Asia and pumped in about $328 million. The Ministry of Health is targeting the $10 billion mark in 2018 and $20 billion mark by 2023 from medical tourism.

Most of the patients came from UK, Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark), Europe (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and France), USA, Canada, Australia, Africa (Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco) and Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Israel). Patients from Europe, Canada, USA and Australia are attracted to the good prices of hair transplant while patients from Middle East and Africa are attracted to the quality services.

Turkish hair transplant clinics offer attractive packages like; 2-3 nights’ hotel accommodation, airport transfers and medication. Others go to larger extents offering to include the flight booking, full board accommodation, extra treatments like PRP and mesotherapy and body hair transplant for the patients with poor donor and even unrealistic offers like as much as 6000 grafts in one session. Patients must be careful however to choose the best hair transplant clinic for their suitability. Read on some tips and tricks on how to choose a good hair transplant clinic in Turkey.

There are several ways one can find the hair transplant surgeons online. There are various international forums where most of the good doctors have been profiled and one can look at their results there as well as read their reviews. One can also visit top medical tourism websites and contact the doctors in the region. In most cases in Turkey, reference plays such a good role. Former patients who are happy with their results always recommend their friends and relatives.

How do you select the best hair transplant clinic in Turkey?

Turkey is one of the best destinations of hair transplant surgery in the world. There are numerous well qualified surgeons for the procedure. However there are also substandard centers. As a patient you must make a good choice. How do you then Identify the best doctor for your surgery?

Your main aim now is to identify the top affordable hair transplant centers. First of all, do your research on the internet. Check for the leading hair restoration clinics, you can get the information better on the top hair loss forums and medical tourism websites. Read through patient’s experiences, eliminating the ones with bad reviews. List the top 10 of them.

Next, you need to eliminate the top ten names to only one choice. Start with going through the surgeon’s websites. Read carefully to see how their procedures are done. Go through their before and after photos, their patients testimonials, their price list, language and even aspects like their location. From this information, you can eliminate 5 Clinics.

Now you have 4 choices to eliminate. Contact the clinic either by phone or email. Response time and ability to communicate with the patient answering all their questions satisfactorily is very important. Most of the good centers have a form for online consultation. Fill in that form and send the photos for their evaluation.

Eliminate the hair transplant centers that will not communicate within your time limit or those who won’t answer your questions. Their knowledge and experience will be evident by their way of communication. If they are trying to rush you to make a decision, do not give in fast. Take your time to seriously consider. Use your instinct to select only the people you feel most comfortable with.

Now you probably have 3 choices left. Here is the big question. Has the clinic offered you unrealistic expectations like “6,000 grafts in one session” or too much grafts yet you have a poor donor area? The average number of grafts that can be extracted in a day is around 3500 grafts. Too much graft extraction in one session can be a tremendous mistake as it reduces graft survival as well as limits your donor grafts for any future hair transplant if needed. Choose the ones that tell you the most realistic information.

Next consider the cost. How much is the price per graft? A good clinic will have a price range of 0.8€ -2€ per graft in Turkey. More than that could be a rip off if you are not careful. Less than that might be substandard. The average price of 1-1.5€ per graft is acceptable. Clinics that would recommend 5000 grafts for 2€ per graft are way too expensive and unrealistic number of grafts per session. Centers which offer you extra services to spend on like PRP or other related services are simply marketing. As far as scientific research is concerned PRP is yet to be proven effective for hair transplant. It may or may not make a difference, and if there is a difference it is not tremendous. Do not go for anyone who is trying to make as most money as he can from you.

Lastly, what is the whole package that is being offered? Most clinics offer hotel accommodation for 2-3 nights and airport transfer. Medication should also be included. Do not expect full board booking in a 5 star hotel, because you are not going for a holiday. However, the hotel must be at least 3 or 4 star. One very crucial factor is the follow-up after surgery. The clinic must guarantee you that they will continuously check up your case until your full hair growth. After the surgery, they should receive your calls and answer to your emails once you are back home. They should provide full support until you see your results and should be even willing to do a correction surgery if anything would go wrong.

I wish you the best in this process of searching for the best surgeon. Choose wisely as this is a surgery whose impact will last forever.

Hair Transplant Medical Tourism in Turkey by Dr Civas Ekrem