Turkey has become a hot spot for medical tourism over the past decade, but the biggest reason for this boom in tourism is due to the cheap and affordable hair transplants. Medical tourism does come at a price in most cases, follow-up complications can arise without any recourse for the patient. This does not always occur, but the possibility exists. In this article, we will be discussing whether patients should travel to Turkey for a hair transplant.
Why Turkey?
Over the past decade, Turkey has become the number one destination for affordable hair transplant procedures. Patients generally pay a third of the price that they would pay in North America and Europe. Most Turkish clinics are numbers driven, which means the clinic may have several patients receiving hair transplants at any given time. In most cases, the technicians carry out most of the work; from extracting the grafts via Follicular Unit Extraction (formerly known as Follicular Unit Extraction FUE) to transplanting the grafts. In some cases, the technicians even create the recipient sites that determines the angle, depth and density of the procedure. Additionally, because there are so many technicians on staff at the clinic, the clinic is able to transplant a large number of grafts in one surgical session, which is another reason why so many are traveling to Turkey.
Are All Turkish Clinics Good?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. The fact of the matter is that hair restoration is a refined surgical procedure that requires skill, talent and experience and only a select few surgeons perform ultra-refined hair restoration regularly. With that said, there are certainly some Turkish hair transplant surgeons who are performing ultra-refined hair restoration on a regular basis. However, the majority of low-cost Turkish clinics are not performing refined hair transplantation regularly. The majority of these low-cost clinics hire technicians to do the entire surgery, which can be extremely risky for the patient. This is because in the event of a failed procedure there is no recourse.
Base Your Decision On Results Not Price
The allure of a cheap and affordable hair transplant is enticing and understandable. However, prospective patients should be aware of the complications that may arise should the result not turn out as expected. Once a person undergoes hair restoration there is no turning back, if the result comes out bad or unnatural the individual will not only lose the money they spent on having the procedure, flight and hotel accomodations, but they will likely have to spend double that amount repairing the failed transplant with another surgeon. Cosmetic procedures change a persons appearance, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Sadly, every hair transplant procedure carries a risk of failing regardless of who the surgeon is performing the surgery. However, by choosing a clinic with a long track record of providing refined and excellent patient results; patients drastically reduce the risk of having a failed hair transplant. For this reason, prospective patients should research surgeons/clinics carefully and look at as many patient results as possible before committing to surgery.