Is a Hair Transplant in Turkey Safe?
Written by Michael Seutin,
founder — former nurse, researching transplant pricing.
Published · every medical statement links to its source.
It depends on the clinic, and above all on who operates. The surgery itself is generally low-risk: one surgeon's record of 2,896 patients found no significant or life-threatening complications[1]. The sources below point to two places the risk concentrates: who does the work, and what happens after you fly home. The UK government's travel advice for Turkey says it is aware of 7 British nationals who died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures, without saying which procedures, and that others needed further treatment or surgery[2].
Deaths and complications: what is known
- The FCDO's Turkey travel advice, as read on 23 October 2026, says: "We are aware of 7 British nationals having died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures. Some British nationals have also experienced complications and needed further treatment or surgery following their procedure."[2]
- The same page says cosmetic surgery, dental procedures and cardiac surgery are the most common procedures for medical tourists[2].
- The FCDO's guidance on going abroad for medical treatment, added to its "In hospital abroad" page on 10 October 2023, says: "There have been complications and deaths abroad from medical procedures."[3]
- A 2018 medical review found no case report of a death caused by hair transplant complications, and noted one isolated death after a hair transplant reported in the press[4]. The same review says septicaemia, a serious blood infection, has been reported after hair transplants[4].
- In August 2026, doctors in Vancouver reported two previously healthy men who developed the same hard-to-treat Mycobacterium abscessus scalp infection after FUE at the same clinic in Istanbul, one in 2023 and one in 2025. Both recovered after months of treatment[5]. The paper does not name the clinic. More on our infection page.
What isn't known
- How many of those deaths, if any, followed a hair transplant. The FCDO page does not say which procedures were involved[2].
- A rate. The FCDO figure is a count of deaths, not of people treated, so it cannot be turned into a risk per operation[2].
- Which clinics. The official sources name none, and neither do we.
Who operates: the ISHRS warning
In November 2019 the ISHRS launched Fight the FIGHT, short for Fight the Fraudulent, Illicit & Global Hair Transplants. It said that in Turkey, Iran and several European countries, unscrupulous clinics were luring patients from around the world, and that the vast majority of those patients were having their procedures performed by technicians without medical licences or surgical training[6]. An earlier ISHRS article, from 2017, reported black-market clinics in Turkey where technicians, not physicians, were illegally performing hair transplants in private hospitals or clinics, with marketing companies paid for referrals[7]. These are the ISHRS's statements, not a measure of every Turkish clinic.
The ISHRS says only the surgeon should take your medical history and examine you, draw the hairline, and make the incisions in the donor and recipient areas; technicians may pull grafts the surgeon has scored, and place grafts only after the surgeon has made all the incisions. It adds that each country has its own laws on what technicians may do[8].
What you can check before you book
- The surgeon, by name. Ask who will examine you, who will draw the hairline, who will make the incisions, and whether anyone unlicensed will make incisions or harvest grafts[6][8].
- Their training and record. The NHS says to ask the surgeon what training and qualifications they have, what organisations they belong to, how long they have been practising and how many similar procedures they have done, and to find out how surgeons and clinics are regulated in the country you choose[9]. Its hair transplant page adds: ask how many transplants they have done where there were complications, and what follow-up to expect if things go wrong[10].
- The clinic's approval. The FCDO points to the list of approved medical providers the Turkish Ministry of Health publishes on its HealthTurkiye website, and says it does not itself endorse any practitioner or facility[2].
- That you meet the surgeon before you pay. The NHS says to make sure you have a consultation with the surgeon, not only with sales people, and not to pay to see a surgeon you have not met[9]. The FCDO adds that private companies have a financial interest in booking your treatment, so their literature should not be your only source of information[2].
- The plan for after you fly home. The NHS says overseas clinics may not provide follow-up treatment, or not to the same standard as in the UK[9]. The FCDO says it cannot usually help if you travelled for medical treatment, because planned treatment is a commercial arrangement, and that standard travel insurance does not normally cover you if you travelled abroad for elective surgery[3].
- Your own doctor's view. The FCDO advises discussing your plans with your UK doctor before going ahead[2].
Who we checked, and who we refused to list
We have checked 44 Turkish hair transplant businesses. 36 are clinics listed in our directory. The other 8 were checked and not listed, and our transparency report names each one with what we observed and the date we observed it.
Why they were not listed:
- 3 · named no physician on their own site
- 1 · an agency or intermediary, not an operating clinic
- 3 · no primary source to build a listing from
- 1 · a second domain for a practice already listed
Checked means a person read the business's own website, or looked for one, and recorded what was there on a stated date. It is not a review and not a verdict on the surgery.
Clinics by accreditation tier
Grouped by the strongest credential each clinic holds, using the tiers in our published ranking rules. A credential is not an outcome; it is what we could verify.
surgeon society
- Civas & Akpınar Hair Transplant
- Transmed
- Asmed Surgical Medical Center
- AHD Clinic
- DK Klinik
- Hairneva Clinic
- TurHair
hospital accreditation
- Smile Hair Clinic
- Dr. Serkan Aygin Clinic
- Dr. Yetkin Bayer Clinics
- Memorial Hair Transplant
- Dr. Terziler Exclusive Clinic
state licence
- Estepera
- Elithair
- Sule Hair Transplant
- Hermest Hair Clinic
- Istanbul Hair Center
- Estetik International
- ClinicHair
- Vera Clinic
quality certification
Sources
Primary sources only: the NHS, the FCDO, the ISHRS and peer-reviewed papers on PubMed and PubMed Central. Each was opened and read on the date shown.
- Complications of Hair Transplant Procedures: Causes and Management (Garg & Garg, Indian J Plast Surg, 2021) — PubMed Central. Read 2026-10-23.
- Turkey travel advice: Health — FCDO (GOV.UK). Read 2026-10-23.
- In hospital abroad: going abroad for medical treatment and planned elective surgery — FCDO (GOV.UK). Read 2026-10-23.
- Complications in Hair Transplantation (Kerure & Patwardhan, J Cutan Aesthet Surg, 2018) — PubMed Central. Read 2026-10-23.
- Cluster of genomically linked Mycobacterium abscessus infections following hair transplantation in Turkey (Jia et al., J Travel Med, August 2026) — PubMed. Read 2026-10-23.
- ISHRS Launches Fight the FIGHT Public Awareness Campaign to Combat Fraudulent Hair Restoration Practices Worldwide (1 November 2019) — ISHRS. Read 2026-10-23.
- Medical Tourism: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (2017) — ISHRS. Read 2026-10-23.
- World Hair Transplant Repair Day Shines Light on Proliferation, Dangers of Black-Market Hair Transplant Clinics Worldwide (29 October 2025) — ISHRS. Read 2026-10-23.
- Cosmetic surgery abroad — NHS. Read 2026-10-23.
- Hair transplant — NHS. Read 2026-10-23.
Read next
← The full hair transplant recovery timeline, day by day to month 12
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Questions, answered
It can be; it depends on the clinic and on who operates. The surgery is generally low-risk, but the FCDO says some British nationals have had complications after medical procedures in Turkey and needed further treatment, and the ISHRS has warned since 2019 about clinics where unlicensed technicians operate.
The FCDO says it is aware of 7 British nationals who died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures, without saying which procedures. A 2018 medical review found no case report of a death caused by hair transplant complications, and noted one death reported in the press.
Confirm the surgeon by name and that they make the incisions themselves, look the clinic up on the approved-provider list the Turkish Ministry of Health publishes, meet the surgeon before you pay, and get the plan for aftercare at home in writing.