Amazing growth of the hair transplant industry in Turkey is not just a medical tourism success story; it is also a tale of “handicrafts” for medical devices and algorithmic art.
From a biological and evolutionary point of view, human hair is generally considered an immeasurable mass of keratin that still performs some important functions—protecting our skin from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays and regulating our body temperature—but, for the most part, is no longer essential to our survival.
However, since ancient times, our subjective perceptions of another person’s health, youth, or fertility have been based on physical factors such as the glow of the skin, the integrity of the teeth, and the thickness of the hair. Deep in our imaginations, hair has become one of the most powerful expressions of our identity and self-confidence. It is the key to social interaction and ideas.
Today, the global hair transplant and restoration industry, which has evolved out of this deep psychological and evolutionary need, has grown into a large, multi-billion dollar industry. Various research firms have estimated the total size of the global hair transplant market as sitting somewhere between $7.33 billion and $11.61 billion by 2024. And those figures don’t include the underground economy. According to the Ministry of Health data, 1.39 million people will visit Turkey for medical treatment in 2025. Revenue from medical visits is $3 billion by 2025 (about the same as in 2024). Although there is no information on how many of these people came specifically for hair transplant, it is estimated that one third of them visited for beauty treatment.
The role played by hair transplantation in the development of Turkey is also noteworthy. For example, Turkish Airlines is sometimes referred to as “Turkish Hair Lines” or “Turkish Hair,” a nod to how important hair transplants are when it comes to tourism in the country. (Similarly, Istanbul Airport has been jokingly called “Istanbul Hairport.”)
It is possible to see contemporary examples of this in almost every aspect of popular culture. Last March, a social media user shared a post titled “There won’t be a single bald Spanish man left in the world,” along with a photo of legendary soccer player Andrés Iniesta with long hair. It was a response to Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s decision against war on Iran, a position supported by Turkey. The post went viral and made headlines on Spanish news channels. Similarly, American basketball star Shaquille O’Neal’s joke in Turkcell’s 5G ads—”I’m here for a hair transplant” while wearing a long curly wig and images from the seven provinces of Turkey—may be talked about for a long time.
Turkey’s global success in hairdressing and the high status the country has achieved are matters too complex to be explained solely by affordable labor, low costs, and favorable exchange rates. Instead it is the result of a bold and sometimes chaotic but innovative evolution. This includes everything from the use of engines designed for dental instruments and sapphire instruments used in eye surgery to the ancient craft tradition of Anatolia and the master-student relationship transferred to microsurgical techniques.
Makeup for the Modern Man
The development of the institutional infrastructure necessary to meet this demand has been high in Turkey since the late 1990s. At a time when the most famous Turkish people go to Europe for cosmetic surgery, Dr. Mustafa Tuncer, who attended the Medica trade fair in Düsseldorf in 1999, welcomed a new big idea. Tuncer laid the foundation for Esteworld plastic and cosmetic surgery clinics when he announced, “If Turkish celebrities go to Europe for cosmetic surgery, I will build the best hospital, hire the best doctors, and bring Europeans to Turkey.” Thus, Health Tourism 1.0 began, characterized by fully equipped centers that include plastic surgery and hair transplantation under one roof while raising standards to the highest level.
As the medical director of Esteworld Health Group and a member of the second generation of his family to share this vision, Dr. Burak Tuncer says that at the core of this revolutionary change there is a deep psychological and medical philosophy—that does not consider this matter as a mere cosmetic procedure. He says: “Hair is a tissue that cannot be changed or made the same,” he said, adding, “If the roots are damaged during the hair transplant process—whether it is removed or implanted—we lose that unique tissue forever.
