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.

Top 10 Hair Transplant Clinics in Turkey

I do not believe in any kind of lists that rank the top 10 hair transplant surgeons or clinics in a country. However, this has become a major and effective marketing tool for numerous clinics.

This week, I got two Google Alerts about new articles related to “the top 10 hair transplant clinics in Turkey” in 2024. Considering that Turkey’s hair transplant industry was valued at $2 billion in 2022, this is perhaps not so surprising.

However, most foreign patients who go to Turkey (or Türkiye) for a hair restoration procedure tend to come from nearby Europe or the Middle East. Asian customers have also grown in importance in recent years.

But both the two articles I saw this week were published in US newspapers:

1. Wisconsin State Journal.
2. Saint Louis Post Dispatch.

Considering the massive hair transplant costs differences between developed and developing countries, it is not surprising that people from rich countries often travel abroad to get their hair restored. However, Turkey is not a developing country. Yet the price of a hair transplant in Turkey is comparable to that in any poor country with much cheaper labor costs. A bit surprising.

In any event, the reason I wrote this post is because the two top 10 lists of Turkish hair transplant clinics got published on the same day (December 14, 2023). And the two URLs I posted above have the same marketing agency name (“brandavestudios”) encompassed.

However, the names of the top 10 clinics vary:

Wisconsin State Journal List (sponsored article, provided content by United Press):

• Hermest Hair Clinic.
• Nimclinic.
• HLC Clinic.
• Asmed Clinic.
• AHD Clinic.
• Pekiner Clinic.
• Cosmedica Clinic.
• Medical Hair Clinic.
• Dr. Serkan Aygin Clinic.
• Smile Hair Clinic.

Saint Louis Post Dispatch List (sponsored article, provided content by United Press):

• Medart Hair Clinic.
• Dr. Serkan Aygin Hair Clinic.
• Smile Hair Clinic.
• Sapphire Hair Clinic.
• Buk Clinic.
• Cosmedica.
• HLC Clinic.
• Dr. Ozlem Bicer.
• Dr. Resul Yaman.
• Vera Clinic.

So the surgeons or clinics that appear on both lists are as follows:

1. HLC  Clinic.
2. Cosmedica.
3. Dr. Serkan Aygin Hair Clinic.
4. Smile Hair Clinic.

A October 2023 sponsored article in the Hindustan Times on the top 10 hair transplant clinics in Turkey had 9 of the same 10 names as in the first list above.

Of course a clinic being on all of these lists does not indicate anything other than their being able to afford such sponsorship. The same goes for press releases that any of use can purchase too.

Do your Research

As I have mentioned in several past blog posts, please do thorough research before going to get a hair transplant in a foreign country. See my past gruesome warning about a hair transplant gone wrong.

Some of the surgeons and clinics in Turkey are truly world class. However, large numbers of patients go to unknown unproven back-alley type places in Istanbul or Ankara and get severely damaged.

Just a week ago, “The Irish Times” newspaper had a crazy article titled:

“Fighting baldness: ‘We’ve stopped repairing transplants from Turkey. They’re so badly mutilated“.

The below quote is from a well known local Irish hair transplant surgeon:

“The transplants coming back from Turkey are so bad now that I’ve actually stopped repairing them. They’re so badly mutilated.”

Some of the Turkish clinics have massive social media followings. For example, “Hair of Istanbul” has over 4 million followers on Instagram. Cosmedica and Smile Clinic both have over 1 million followers. Vera Clinic has 400,000 followers. Of course many businesses can easily purchase followers and artificially increase their relevance.

In contrast, Bosley Medical (US) only has 19,000 Instagram followers. This in spite of being the most well known hair restoration center in the US since its founding in 1974. They currently have 25 surgery centers across the US.