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.
Turkey hair transplant patients in a Turkish Airlines flight.
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.
I am a member of a group that involves various hair loss experts. In recent weeks, the biggest discussion has involved something called hair loss drug tattooing. Better known as skin microinfusion of medications (MMP®).
Update: June 17, 2025
A new study on hair loss drug tattooing was just published in JAAD, with Dr. Wambier and Dr. Cirino as co-authors. It is titled:
“Enhanced hair regrowth with five monthly sessions of minoxidil-dutasteride-copper peptides tattooing for androgenetic alopecia assessed by artificial intelligence and blinded evaluators.”
Update: February 3, 2025
In the original post below, I mentioned Dr. Pablo Cirino (Brazil) as being one of the two main doctors currently promoting this method. In a recent comment in our group, he posted some great before and after hair growth photos from scalp drug tattooing. He also said that he uses the below combination of drugs with a tattoo machine for transcutaneous delivery:
Dr. Cirino also conducts blood tests on his patients and recommends oral Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Iron and Selenium if the results show any deficiencies. Some dermatologists and hair transplant surgeons are also adding copper peptides and topical exosomes into the above tattooing cocktail.
October 23, 2024
Scalp Microinfusion of Drugs by Tattooing
The doctor or professional who performs this procedure on you is not actually tattooing ink into your scalp. He or she just uses tattooing equipment to subdermally microinfuse drugs into your scalp that then remain there for a while and slowly get absorbed by the skin.
The very first scientific article that ever described the use of tattoo machines (dermatographs) to deliver drugs came from the Netherlands in 1997. In this case, it was a successful result in treating warts with the drug bleomycin.
The term “microinfusion of drugs into the skin (MMP®)” was first described by Arbache and Godoy in 2013. It entails the use of tattoo equipment to infuse medications into the skin. Hair loss is just one of many conditions that this unique drug delivery method can help.
Note that that there are actual scalp tattooing of ink processes such as tricopigmentation (short-term) and scalp micropigmentation (long-term) that give an illusion of hair coverage. I have covered both of these in lengthy blog posts in the past.
The Brazilian Experience
There are two Brazilian doctors who are among the world leaders when it comes to this procedure. Both have posted many details about equipment, needles, depth, technique and more in our group, but I did not try to search all their comments for now.
1) Dr. Carlos Wambier (who is also a renowned practicing dermatologist in Rhode Island). I have embedded a drug tattooing video from his YouTube channel further below. Also check out his Instagram. If I resided in the US east coast, I would likely try to see him.
2) Dr. Pablo Cirino (based in Brazil). He calls his technique “combined regenerative” since he combines drug tattooing with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections. Below is one of this patient’s before and after hair regrowth photo. Make sure to check out his great Instagram videos.
Microinfusion of Medications into the Skin (MMP). A before and after photo of Dr. Pablo Cirino’s patient.Hair Loss Drug Tattooing Training Session.
Dr. Wambier just oversaw a dutasteride and minoxidil drug tattooing training session in Florida last week. The poster is on the right. He also includes platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and mesotherapy as part of the protocol.
His go to is the use of dutasteride combined with minoxidil. In a 2023 paper that Dr. Wambier co-authored, this combination is called minoxidil-dutasteride tattooing (MDT).
In the US, he gets his minoxidil base compounded by Chemistry Rx, a company I have mentioned before. Dr. Wambier is also looking forward to using topical exosomes at some point.
It seems like a number of others (e.g., this clinic) have been doing this procedure in Brazil, and some have even published studies describing the results. One recent 2023 study also has the well known Dr. Antonella Tosti as a co-author.
“Samir Arbache, a dermatologist at São Paulo Federal University, uses tattoo machines to treat a variety of dermatological conditions including alopecia. Arbache started the company Traderm, which commercializes tattoo medical supplies, and so far, he has trained more than 2,000 doctors on how to use tattoo machines for drug delivery and vaccination.”
Of note, Samir coined the registered mark MMP, which is used by dermatologists who have trained under him.
