Turkish hair transplant masters a big force behind health tourism's annual growth

In Italian photographer Emanuele Satolli's photography series "Turkish Hair Farmers," a surgeon measures a patient's head prior to a hair transplant and another photo brings a bald patient whose head are drawn into parts with a pen while he is busy with his smartphone.

It is not hard to spot foreign tourists who have recently undergone a hair transplant on Istanbul's streets, as their numbers are high. In 2016, Turkey's health tourism industry made another big impact, reaching more than $700 million with a 12 percent increase, according to the data given by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). Among other tourism sectors, health tourism has shown the highest rise in total revenue.

In 2016, Turkey hosted more than 100,000 tourists merely for health tourism purposes. Tuğba Arız of Lokman Hekim Health Group said they have a higher number of patients for hair transplant and cosmetic surgery from Iraq and Libya. She said the hospitals sometimes receive these patients in groups from the Middle East or European countries.

A patient visiting Turkey for a hair transplant spends at least $1,500, while the costs associated with eye surgery, organ transplants and heart surgery are much higher. For eye surgery, a patient spends between $3,500 and $5,000 compared to $30,000 and $120,000 for organ transplants.

Every year thousands of people travel to Turkey for hair transplants; the majority of whom are from Arab countries. Similarly, more than 25,000 patients come to Turkey for eye surgery, the majority of them Europeans.

More people choose Turkey as their destination for hair transplants and this is mainly because of the high quality and relatively low cost of the surgeries. With over 200 hair transplant surgeries carried out daily and hundreds of clinics around Turkey, particularly in Istanbul, Turkey is a pioneer in hair transplants thanks to skillful surgeons and experienced medical teams.

Compared to the U.S. and U.K., where hair transplants run as high as $25,000, the TL 5,000 (approximately $1,900) price tag for the same procedure in Turkey is considered relatively low among patients. Those seeking a hair transplant mainly hail from Middle Eastern countries as well as from Germany, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Libya, bringing revenue to the health tourism sector as well as the tourism sector overall, with many of them vacationing in Turkey with family during the recovery process.