I did it a few years ago when I was living in Istanbul. One evening, a friend of mine wouldn't shut up about the procedure. I ended up booking it almost on a whim, mostly just to prove him wrong. I did the transplant the next day. In the end, I was very happy with the results. I think it cost around 1500$.
As a guy that started experiencing moderate hair loss in his 20s, I spent countless hours researching the Turkish hair transplant industry.
It's a case of having the right people at the right place, at the right time. Turkey have some of the leading doctors and clinics in this field, and have had for years. They were also located in a place which was close to both customers from Europe and the Middle-East, and could offer FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) procedures at a very nice price.
Even the very top doctors there were charging a relatively modest price, compared to their (more) western colleagues. And I guess with the sheer volume they'd go through, they discovering new best practices, techniques, etc. along the way.
Back when I did research on this, now 15 years ago, the industry was starting to really take off. This was reflected in the prices that the best clinics charged. Some of them jumped up 50% in a short time, when photo-driven social media like Instagram started blowing up.
And then a whole industry sprung out of it. Many excellent clinics, tons more mediocre (to horrendous) ones that are only trying to compete on price.
Guess this also goes for the dental industry there.
So I spent time living in Istanbul a few years ago. It really was wild. In the touristy areas (near where I lived), you really would see loads and loads of bald guys walking around with stitches on their heads.
If I were bald, I would totally go there and do the same.
I visited one of those Bosley places in the US. The pitch came across as very...predatory? It did not inspire confidence. They would only consider scheduling you for the surgery if you could demonstrate that you'd use other measures for a year, meaning finasteride, one of those laser hat things, etc. They did talk about how few surgeons there were that do this stuff well though. Also talked about scalp injections I think?
It's been several years. I just decided to let it go naturally and deal with it.
> The pitch came across as very...predatory? It did not inspire confidence. They would only consider scheduling you for the surgery if you could demonstrate that you'd use other measures for a year, meaning finasteride, one of those laser hat things, etc.
I don't want to defend the esthetic surgery industry in general, which I do think tends to be quite predatory, but doesn't this sound like the opposite of that? If they really wanted to fleece you, wouldn't they offer surgery instead of the safer and cheaper treatments?
Am I the only one that likes being bald? Hair maintenance has always been a huge drag for me (yea executive dysfunction!) and when I had it I hated it getting in my eyes. I was balding anyway. Started shaving my whole head at the start of COVID and haven't stopped. I love it.
Club Happily Bald here. My wife prefers me without hair, and razor blades are significantly cheaper than haircuts. I can't imagine trying to preserve my hair.
I can't read the article myself, but the blurbs I can read:
> Turkey’s billion-dollar hair-transplant industry is the result of a constant process of innovation. [...] it’s also a tale of “hacked” medical equipment and algorithmic craftsmanship
Seems there was some actual "hacking" involved, if they had to patch medical equipment, but who knows how much of the article is actually about that, I can't actually see any text.
Could I donate mine to you? Been shaving my head for the last 20 years and I cannot wait for it to stop growing eventually... Seemingly it grows faster every year, as I need to continuously increase how often I trim it, I simply want less hair.
Edit: I love that someone downvoted me for offering my hair follicles to a random stranger, downvotes truly happen randomly here :)
Wayne Rooney lost his strength, motivation and creativity directly after his hair transplant. Some speculate the pills you need to take forever afterwards mess up your hormones. It's not worth it just to look good for women and "impressing" other people. His body turned into a fat womens body.
There are no pills to take afterwards, except perhaps painkillers. Some people who are balding chose to take finasteride but it's unrelated to the procedure itself.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/olalonde/olalonde.github.c...
Also I notice my wife and female friends NEVER seem to notice when someone has plugs.
When I occasionally point it out, they're always surprised.
I haven't done it as I don't need it, but I would say anyone on the fence, just do it.
From what I know it's easier to keep what you have that get a transplant so fire up that HIMs subscription
It's a case of having the right people at the right place, at the right time. Turkey have some of the leading doctors and clinics in this field, and have had for years. They were also located in a place which was close to both customers from Europe and the Middle-East, and could offer FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) procedures at a very nice price.
Even the very top doctors there were charging a relatively modest price, compared to their (more) western colleagues. And I guess with the sheer volume they'd go through, they discovering new best practices, techniques, etc. along the way.
Back when I did research on this, now 15 years ago, the industry was starting to really take off. This was reflected in the prices that the best clinics charged. Some of them jumped up 50% in a short time, when photo-driven social media like Instagram started blowing up.
And then a whole industry sprung out of it. Many excellent clinics, tons more mediocre (to horrendous) ones that are only trying to compete on price.
Guess this also goes for the dental industry there.
There is Microsoft, we have Qwant.
There is Claude and DeepSeek, we have Mistral (originally a copy-paste of LLaMA stolen by employees, now a fork of DeepSeek, with a few changes).
Then there is ASML and Airbus, alone on their island of innovation.
We have LIDL too, so not everything is bad.
If it wouldn’t be that bad why European companies prefer the US.
If I were bald, I would totally go there and do the same.
I visited one of those Bosley places in the US. The pitch came across as very...predatory? It did not inspire confidence. They would only consider scheduling you for the surgery if you could demonstrate that you'd use other measures for a year, meaning finasteride, one of those laser hat things, etc. They did talk about how few surgeons there were that do this stuff well though. Also talked about scalp injections I think?
It's been several years. I just decided to let it go naturally and deal with it.
I don't want to defend the esthetic surgery industry in general, which I do think tends to be quite predatory, but doesn't this sound like the opposite of that? If they really wanted to fleece you, wouldn't they offer surgery instead of the safer and cheaper treatments?
Tip: Bald people the worst to fleece.
1. the turkish government had reasons for trying to get people to use "Türkiye" instead.
2. It's still not working.
I 100% thought this was about birds until clicking
> Turkey’s billion-dollar hair-transplant industry is the result of a constant process of innovation. [...] it’s also a tale of “hacked” medical equipment and algorithmic craftsmanship
Seems there was some actual "hacking" involved, if they had to patch medical equipment, but who knows how much of the article is actually about that, I can't actually see any text.
Turn off JS
No idea if ZME science is reputable at all.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41762869/
Edit: I love that someone downvoted me for offering my hair follicles to a random stranger, downvotes truly happen randomly here :)