“I always wear a cap”: the dangers of hair transplant offers abroad

Delphine Schiltz 9:41 a.m., January 15, 2023

13% of French people say they have baldness, according to an Ifop poll.

If only a third say they suffer from it, hair loss can begin in adulthood, or even in adolescence.

Among the solutions to fight against hair loss, there is the transplant.

Hair tourism is booming.

A recent market analysis by Data Bridge Market Research indicates that the global hair transplantation market is expected to reach nearly $52 billion by 2028. In Turkey alone, for example, nearly one million tourists come every year to have a hair transplant.

Treatment six times cheaper than in France.

But beware of low cost offers.

“The patient is in the hands of people who will train on him”

The first risk of a badly done graft is to completely exhaust your capillary capital.

In Turkey, Mathieu, 49, had 4,000 grafts removed at once from the back of his skull.

The result is an irreversible situation.

"They actually implanted me with a very, very low hairline. I kept losing my hair back from that hairline and now I don't have enough donor area left to do a second transplant in done, and fill the hole. I have no choice but to wear a cap."

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In total: €1,500 for the implant surgery, not including the hotel night.

At that price, according to Michel Bendavid, technical director of The Clinic, which specializes in hair transplantation, there is no guarantee.

"In these clinics, you have a workforce that is poorly or not at all qualified. The patient is still in the hands of people who will practically train on him. If he is lucky, he will come across a team that has a bit of experience. If he's unlucky, he'll come across a team that's just starting out."

In France, there are three to five follow-up visits after a transplant while no follow-up is provided in a low-cost clinic abroad.