"People are coming back from Turkey and their donor areas are completely destroyed, depleted, and overharvested, and their hairlines are much too low."
Nick Huffman played Prince Charming in Disney World for 10 years, but about a year ago, he felt a bit uncharming.
His hair loss began to bother him, and Huffman, now an Orlando real estate agent, decided he would head to Turkey, an increasingly popular destination for hair transplants.
Last year, Turkey’s estimated 5,000 clinics drew more than 1 million medical tourists, with hair transplant prices almost a fourth of those charged in the U.S. However, despite the deluge of social media posts from hair transplant recipients, including Huffman, the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery warns that many Turkish hair clinics are unlicensed and lack proper medical oversight.
Huffman, 42, said he spent about nine months researching which clinic to use, and then did a five-day turnaround to Turkey to get a hair transplant. Now, 13 months post-procedure, he reports being happy with the results. “It looks natural to me.”
Not everyone, though, is pleased.
In South Florida, hair surgeons say they are correcting hair transplants performed by Turkish operators, while also working to draw clients with an arsenal of new options to prevent hair loss, restore thinning hair, and transplant follicles in novel ways.
Read more at the Orlando Sentinel