Turkey has been the leading country in the world in hair transplant surgeries for the past 20 years. The country owes its popularity to experienced medical teams and high customer satisfaction. With hair health tourism growing in Turkey, hair transplant clinics have been opening up left and right. To keep up with the fierce market, clinics have had to lower their surgery prices and raise quality of operation. In this article, we will discuss hair transplant costs in Turkey and the factors it depends on.
The Clinic of Your Choice
Where you get you hair transplant operation is perhaps the most important factor in determining the transplant price. You can choose from the wide variety of hospitals, clinics and medical centers in Turkey that offer hair transplant operations. The prices offered by these institutions depend on a few variables. Quality of operation, tools and devices used, experience of the surgical team and customer care can be considered as the main deciding factors.
How much does hair transplant cost in Turkey? Another factor that really affects the cost is certification. There are a select few boards and institutions that award certifications to clinics and medical centers. Since these certifications are regulated by a team of experts, they set a standart for how transplant operations should be carried out. The board of experts in question have rigid rules concerning surgery, which makes recieving a certification quite difficult.
In turn, getting such a certification makes clinics more reliable and attracts more customers. Most clinics in Turkey provide the highest technology and the best customer service. This has ensured that they get some sort of certification when it comes to hair transplants. If you can, try to opt for a certified hair transplant center rather than risking you health for a lower price.
In addition to certifications, social media is a great way to determine the right clinic for you. If you believe the comments on review websites can be confusing, look up the surgeons online. Most have Instagram pages dedicated to their work. Along with striking before-and-after pictures, you might also find comments from their patients. These comments tend to be more revealing about the true feelings of the patient. Reaching out and messaging such patients about their experience with the surgeon might also be a good idea.
When it comes to hair transplant Turkey, the first hair transplant clinic that comes to mind is Hair of Istanbul. Hair of Istanbul provides the travel, passport, urban transportation, arrival, accommodation and return of the international health tourist in our country. As a hotel, they are working with Crown Plaza Florya, Istanbul.
Pricing
Now here is the tricky part. Researching online, you may find a rough price estimate for a certain number of hair grafts. However, clinics cannot give a fixed price to patients as the amount of hair grafts isn’t the only factor at play. Most clinics offer free consultations where patients can meet the transplant doctor for examination. During these consultations, potential patients can discuss their goals with doctors and get an estimated price.
However, most hair transplant clinics do offer price range information on their website. Range is the keyword here, becuase as previously mentioned, transplant surgery is dependant on many factors. There are also forums and booking websites that you can browse to compare different clinics. Especially if you are looking for reviews, Bookimed.com and Tripadvisor.com would be good places to start.
You can also visit the official Health Tourism Website of Turkey. This website has a great summary of all clinics in Istanbul and Izmir. You can find an average prices, basic summary of the clinics as well as request information.
Types of Hair Transplants
One of the biggest factors that affect hair transplant cost is the type of surgery you’re after. The most common types being Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT).
1. FUT Method
With the FUT method, doctors harvest a strip of hair from the back of the head and transfer it to the front. The FUT method doesn’t require for patients to shave their head. This makes it the preferable choice for men and women that choose not to cut their hair for the procedure. Although nowadays, FUT has lost its popularity to the more advanced method of Follicular Unit Extraction.
2. FUE Method
FUE is a more recently discovered method where doctors harvest, transfer and plant hair grafts one at a time. As opposed to FUT, it requires a lot more tedious work and results in a more natural look. This causes Follicular Unit Extraction operation to cost more than FUT.
Robotic Hair Transplant
In addition to FUE and FUT, there is another method named Robotic Hair Transplantation. Essentially, it has the same basic procedure as FUE. But, instead of the doctors harvesting hair grafts by hand, they use a small robotic device. This device extracts hair grafts by revolving at very a high speed and digging into the scalp. Shortly, it’s a more technologically advanced subtype of FUE. It might sound stressful but the operation is performed under local anesthesia.
Direct Hair Transplant
Yet another subtype of FUE is a method called Direct Hair Transplant (DHI). With DHI, the medical team extracts and restores individual grafts with the help of a pen. This way, the grafts get little to no contact with air, thus preserving their healthy state. Therefore, the DHI method ensures that the hair grafts are transferred meticulously.
Hair Transplant Cost
Here is a list of price ranges per 1000 hair grafts, for each method mentioned;
FUT: 1100$ – 2400$
FUE: 1600$ – 3500$
Robotic Hair Transplant: 3500$ – 6000$
Direct Hair Transplant: 1800$ – 2200$
As you can see, the prices differ greatly from one another. This is because there are several factors that go into carrying out each method. Duration of procedure, required precision and the devices used all go into determining the cost for each method. The most foolproof way of obtaining net prices would be to get a consultation with a doctor as previously explained.
You should keep in mind that the prices given above are per 1000 hair grafts. On average, a full head of hair equals to about 7000 grafts. Therefore, the prices may change depending on the amount of grafts you would like to get transplanted.
Kim Marks 
Nicola Holder