Songül Alcı: “Turkey is the center of hair transplantation in the world.”

Health Management Specialist Songül Alcı stated that, despite the poor quality work done by some underground centers in Turkey in hair transplantation and the serious damage caused to the country’s image by unqualified personnel trying to establish mobile hair transplantation models abroad, Turkey is the center of hair transplantation in the world.

The success of Turkey in hair transplantation surgeries is well known worldwide. For this reason, Turkey has been visited by many health tourists in this field for years. However, the recent decline in this number has raised questions. Health Management Specialist and Founder of Trawellmed Health Tourism Agency, Songül Alcı, made statements on the subject.

Alcı said, “Unfortunately, we see a significant loss in health tourism and especially in hair transplantation in recent years. One of the biggest reasons for this is the hair transplants attempted by unqualified personnel going abroad for quick procedures. The incorrect procedures of underground services in Turkey, as well as the mobile hair transplantation models that unqualified personnel are trying to establish abroad with the expectation of making money, along with foreign hair clinics’ attempts to train and employ Turkish personnel, hinder the flow of health tourists to Turkey. Therefore, hair transplantation procedures are slowly being taken away from us. We have experienced very serious declines in numbers recently.”

“As complaints increase, Turkey’s image is being damaged”
Alcı emphasized that the incorrect practices towards foreign health tourists and the increase in underground procedures in recent years have seriously harmed the country’s image, stating, “The presence of underground health workers and unlicensed places in health tourism, along with simple video and visual advertisements that anyone can do on social media, has increased the number of victims. This has caused an increase in complaints from foreign health tourists and has seriously started to damage our country’s image. On the other hand, the exaggerated news in foreign newspapers and televisions due to incorrect procedures in both hair transplantation and other branches is preventing citizens of these countries from going to Turkey for these services.”

“Foreign countries are attracting Turkish personnel to themselves”
Alcı also pointed out that foreign countries are attracting Turkish personnel to their own countries, saying, “Seeing the increased health demands after the pandemic, foreign countries have started to call our personnel and integrate these jobs into their own countries. As a result, the price advantage has disappeared, and Europe has become cheaper than us. Turkish healthcare personnel, spreading to Europe and actually all over the world, not only cheapens the services abroad but also hinders national income. When procedures are performed abroad, the foreign currency inflow to our country decreases. Many agencies and clinics involved in health tourism in Turkey are waiting for these issues to be resolved as soon as possible. Of course, there are many items that can be listed. Issues and suggestions for resolving these problems have been communicated to our ministries. We expect related regulations to be made shortly. Furthermore, while procedures have become cheaper abroad, quality procedures continue to be performed in certain clinics in Turkey, and complaining patients are also being taken for corrective procedures. Therefore, when it comes to quality, certain clinics in Turkey are still far ahead of Europe in both service and procedure quality.”

How to choose the right clinic?
Songül Alcı listed the details to pay attention to when choosing a clinic, saying:
“Make sure you are in a hospital or a licensed healthcare institution. Being in hospital conditions means that your health, the provision of operating room conditions, and your legal security requirements are fully met.

It is very important that the institution you are applying to for the procedure has a Health Ministry certificate and a Ministry of Tourism Health Tourism agency certificate. A Health Ministry-approved hair transplantation center shows that it complies with certain standards and quality controls. This will provide a safer treatment process for you.

Also, never prefer clinics that do not have a license code on their websites. Look for and definitely ask to see license codes on the websites and digital environments of the places you see in advertisements.

Seeing advertisements in digital environments does not mean that the place is good. This is not just about marketing phrases. Remember that you are undergoing surgery.

It is very important to ask the right questions. Instead of asking “which technique will be used,” try to get an idea about how your procedure will go, your comfort during and after the procedure, and the results of the procedure.

Get to know the surgeon and their team well who will perform your procedure, and do not forget that experience is very important in the procedure.

Follow-ups before and after the procedure will be very important for you. In case of complications or questions you need to ask, it will be important for you to have institutions and individuals you can refer back to.

Certainly, hair transplantation is a procedure that will provide you with extremely natural and permanent results without complications when done in the right place and conditions. We observe that after this aesthetic procedure where you get good results, your quality of life increases, and it adds many positive aspects to your life socially and psychologically. Of course, the opposite results with poor outcomes will lead to a great loss of time, economic losses, and irretrievable dissatisfaction with your physical appearance, which will lead to disappointment. Hair transplantation done with the right consultations and the right teams will make you very happy.”