- 5 hours ago
Spencer Macnaughton has been losing his hair since his 20s. Getting a hair transplant in New York City would cost up to $20,000. So Spencer did what nearly a million people do every year: He flew to Istanbul.
Turkey is the undisputed capital of hair transplants. The $2 billion industry is built on high-volume clinics with lower costs. But having the procedure done in "Hairstanbul" comes with risks. What if something goes wrong? What does aftercare look like when you're back in your home country? To find out, Business Insider followed Spencer from his last haircut in New York all the way to the implant chair in Istanbul. Two years later, we caught up with him again for the big reveal.
Turkey is the undisputed capital of hair transplants. The $2 billion industry is built on high-volume clinics with lower costs. But having the procedure done in "Hairstanbul" comes with risks. What if something goes wrong? What does aftercare look like when you're back in your home country? To find out, Business Insider followed Spencer from his last haircut in New York all the way to the implant chair in Istanbul. Two years later, we caught up with him again for the big reveal.
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00If Spencer McNaughton got his hair transplant in the US, he could be looking at paying up
00:05to $20,000. But he's opted to travel to Turkey, where a transplant can cost less than $3,000.
00:18He's one of roughly one million people who travel there each year just to save their
00:23hairline, creating a $2 billion a year industry.
00:28Over the years, it was kind of crushing to my anxiety and to my self-esteem.
00:32Turkey boasts world-class clinics with highly experienced practitioners. And many people
00:38are attracted by packages that include the cost of hotels and even private car services.
00:43All right, let's do this. It's nice.
00:45The final costs may be around one-fourth of those in the United States. But there is also
00:50a thriving black market in Turkey. And scare stories in the media warn of other potential costs.
00:56Often, we see a problem with over-harvestings, and that can lead to awful scarring. And in
01:01some very serious cases, necrosis. And that's death of the tissue.
01:06So why are hair transplants so cheap in Turkey?
01:10We followed Spencer all the way there and back to see what you get for your money.
01:16And if, in the end, it's worth it.
01:19It's been two years since I had a hair transplant in Istanbul, Turkey, and…
01:26Spencer started losing his hair in his early 20s.
01:30The first time I saw it was in a Snapchat video. And I just saw a little kind of quarter
01:35-dime
01:35of bald. And I freaked out.
01:38Spencer began taking minoxidil and finasteride, drugs that are frequently used by men to slow
01:44hair loss and promote growth. He says it stalled his hair loss, but didn't solve it.
01:51As the years went on, I just kept losing more and more and more.
01:54To where now, you know, I have a huge bald spot at the back of my head here, a very
01:58receding hairline.
01:59By the age of 35, two-thirds of American men are likely to have noticeable hair loss.
02:05A lot of my days have been spent worrying about my hair loss.
02:09I don't think I'm alone in feeling that way. I think a lot of guys go through exactly that.
02:13Like tens of thousands of Americans each year,
02:16Spencer has opted for hair replacement surgery. There's just one catch.
02:22If you're a traumatic patient, please press one. If you'd like to book a consultation or discuss...
02:27Hey there! Um, I'm looking into a hair transplant and I just wanted to get a real
02:32basic sense of how much they cost in New York. Do you have a range of how much they go
02:37for them?
02:37I'll say it varies from a patient to another, but I average between $8,000 to $15,000.
02:42Okay, got it. Okay, $8,000 to $15,000. All right, that's really good to know. Thank you so much.
02:51I know maybe five or six people, including my barber and a few of my friends who have gone to
02:56Turkey. The results have been amazing. They've all gone to the same doctor.
03:02That doctor is Serkan Aygin, whose clinic in Istanbul draws thousands of patients a year.
03:09For $3,500, the clinic will perform Spencer's transplant and even cover his hotel and taxi ride.
03:16Even with the cost of the flights, it will still cost around a quarter of the same surgery
03:21in New York City. Would I rather just go down the street or over to the Upper East Side to
03:25get
03:25new hair? Absolutely. But do I want to pay four times the cost? No, thank you.
03:32When travelling such a long way for surgery, the main worries are safety and trust. In Turkey,
03:38a physician is supposed to carry out all surgical procedures, like cutting incisions,
03:43while trained assistants are allowed to do the graft extraction and implantation steps.
03:48But with so many clinics in Turkey falling between the regulatory cracks, it can be hard to know for
03:54sure who is doing what. That is the primary problem is non-medical people doing a lot of the surgical
04:01steps and the disregard, I suppose, for the medical aspect of hair transplant surgery. Chris D'Souza runs
04:07a private clinic in London. He generally performs around 2,000 grafts on a patient. That's lower than the
04:14average at clinics in Turkey. Prices for hair transplant surgery at this clinic start at £6,000
04:20or $8,000. He recommends people do thorough research before travelling overseas for surgery.
04:27Look at their reviews, what their experience is specifically in hair transplant surgery. Ask who's
04:32going to be performing, you know, what steps are you doing and which are you not? What are the technicians
04:36doing? Have a face-to-face consultation, run through things properly. You'll need to know the plan for the day.
04:43What's the post-operative care? However, even after researching Dr. Eichen's clinic, Spencer was still
04:48nervous about committing. I know I want to do it. It's more can I hurtle over the anxiety of going
04:54to Turkey,
04:55of getting over the operation to actually get it done. What if it goes wrong? What if something goes wrong
05:02medically in Turkey, in a country that's 5,000 miles away? I'm a hypochondriac. It scares me.
05:08First time you show me the mirror, right? Yes. Okay.
05:13People have been trying to solve hair loss for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians suggested
05:20using fat from a hippopotamus or a crocodile as a remedy. Even porcupine quills warmed in oil. Later,
05:27Greek philosopher Hippocrates created a paste made from pigeon droppings as a way to prevent a receding
05:34hairline. And we all know that Julius Caesar liked to wear a laurel wreath on his head. Well, that was
05:40actually to hide his balding. Johann Friedrich Diefenbach performed the first experimental hair
05:46transplant in 1822 in Würzburg in modern-day Germany, implanting hairs into his own arm.
05:53But many consider Dr. Norman Oren-Treich to be the pioneer of modern transplant surgery.
05:59He carried out the first successful operation in New York in the 1950s.
06:04But it wasn't until the 2000s that hair transplants became big business. And that's because
06:10techniques improved. And with better outcomes and increased competition between clinics,
06:14procedures became more affordable too. Crude plug transplants gave way to a strip technique,
06:20which involves a thin strip of skin with hair being removed from the back of the head before
06:25being divided into hair grafts and reinserted into the scalp. The most common procedure today
06:31is follicular unit extraction, where individual follicles are transplanted. FUE, with its minimal
06:38scarring and fast recovery times, has turbocharged the hair transplant industry over the last 15 years.
06:45According to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, the number of hair
06:49transplants performed by its members went up two and a half times from 2010 to 2021. And in a 2024
06:57survey,
06:58members reported that nearly all of their first-time patients were below the age of 36.
07:04High-profile celebrity hairlines have helped remove the stigma of hair transplants, especially among young
07:11people. Today, the global market is thought to be worth up to $9 billion, nearly as much as
07:17prescription and over-the-counter treatments. Turkey carries out more hair transplants than any other
07:23country, and has also become a magnet for all forms of medical and cosmetic tourism, often packaged to
07:30include a holiday, teeth and hair into one enticing bundle. Turkey's success is not just down to thousands of
07:38positive patient experiences, but also, of course, to cost. Lower labor and operating costs, a weak local
07:45currency, government incentives, all keep prices down and demand from places like Europe and the US
07:52up. That lower cost was what ultimately convinced Spencer to go to Turkey.
07:57And I have wanted this for so long, and I was just like, Spencer, you have to do it.
08:01In the end, Spencer's flights cost around $2,000, and the procedure with Dr. Egin, $3,500.
08:09I'm in a gay bar, having a beer on my last night, so cheers, let's do this thing, let's get
08:15to Turkey.
08:17Okay, at the airline, and we are about to board Turkish Airlines, which is also known as Turkish
08:21Hair Waves, to get me some new hair. All right, I'm seven hours into the flight to Istanbul. There are
08:30literally somebody beside me, and behind me, who are both also getting hair transplants, which I find
08:37hilarious. Three nights in a four-star hotel and the disco taxi from the airport are included in the
08:43cost of Spencer's treatment. I'm kind of loving the starry lights. Welcome to Istanbul.
08:51It's a really amazing experience. There's honeycomb, dripping honeycomb. There's an entire omelette bar
08:58here. Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, everything you can imagine. Not everyone traveling to Turkey for a
09:04hair transplant gets the pampered treatment. Some clinics in Istanbul sell their services for as
09:10little as $1,000. A couple of days before his operation, Spencer visited one on Istanbul's central
09:17Taksim Square, just to scope out the competition. Hello. I'm looking for a hair transplant. Do you
09:26guys do it up there? You do? Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
09:34You can pay like $1,000 if you want. $1,000. And you can pay $3,000. Okay.
09:43In the hospital, what quality you want. Okay. I give you all the package. This package like $1,000.
09:50This package like $2,000. This package like $3,000. I give you all the information and you choose.
09:56While this agency said they were registered with the government, there are plenty of clinics that fall
10:01between the regulatory cracks. In recent years, stories of botched cosmetic procedures in Turkey
10:08have been big news. In 2025, two British men died shortly after going to clinics in Turkey.
10:15In 2023, Turkey tightened the regulations around hair transplants. Still traveling across the globe
10:21to place your head in the hands of someone you may not meet until the day of surgery comes with
10:26risks.
10:26And it puts patients thousands of miles away from their surgeons during aftercare.
10:35It's the day before the operation. And first up is a test for HIV and hepatitis.
10:41That's it. Fingers crossed I'm fine. I'm sure I will be. But there's still,
10:44you know, my brain is still flooded with anxiety.
10:47Negative, negative, negative. Good to go.
10:49Good to go. Okay. Okay. Good. All right.
10:54Next, a 3D imaging machine photographs Spencer's skull to determine which are the healthiest hairs to graft.
11:00Exactly. This has like nine cameras and they take about 49 photos
11:06from all the angles and it creates a 3D image of your head. Which ones are the quality ones?
11:12Which ones are the ones that we can extract? Which ones are the ones that we should not extract?
11:17The plan is for surgeons to extract follicles from two donor areas, Spencer's beard and the back of his
11:22head, where hair growth is strong. The focus for the implantation procedure this time will be his
11:28hair line, not the bald spot. Dr. Eygin's team can perform 20 operations a day.
11:35We are very good, big, big team, you know, minimum 10 doctors and one doctor can do the one big,
11:44one small operation one day. Already in the waiting room of Dr. Eygin's clinic in Istanbul are patients from
11:52the UK, Lebanon and the Netherlands. I had about 4,200 grafts. It was like 4,000 grafts which was
12:01taken
12:01from my side head and also from beard. I just had 3,300 grafts.
12:21It's 6 a.m. Morning of the operation. Very nervous. Don't know what else to say. Just very nervous.
12:29How bad will the pain be? How can I sit in a chair for eight hours? And then how's the
12:34aftermath gonna be?
12:39This is our first main donor part and this is our second donor area under the chin. We have 4
12:48,000
12:48grafts today. 3,200 grafts from back of the head and plus 800 from beard. You have light part on
12:58the side
12:59and I'm marking now here. Okay. Of course we will not touch here.
13:04I don't need much lower. I know I have a high forehead but I'm okay with that. Maybe just a
13:09little
13:09bit lower here and like filling it out but definitely I don't want like straight. I don't like that.
13:15Straight now it's okay and now I will do that. Okay. That's all. So this is the new hairline.
13:21How long do you expect the operation will be? Operation will take minimum six hours.
13:28Minimum six hours. Yeah. Okay. I'm really nervous. I'm really nervous.
13:33Today for you I can make some extras. Maybe I kiss you sometimes.
13:44Okay. Make sure to take deep breaths. And let me know once it starts kicking in.
13:52You're gonna start feeling a little bit dizzy right now. Let me know when it happens, yes?
13:57Yes. Let's go with the next one. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
14:05During the operation, follicles are removed one by one from the donor area using a punch tool.
14:14These are then reinserted into the scalp using a special implanter pen.
14:21Sorry, I'm coming out of eight hours of surgery. I'm not in a good mood.
14:24Sorry. You're good. You're good.
14:27Well, I'm telling you, today is going to be the first day of your new life.
14:30I hope so.
14:33I can't believe I did it in Turkey. What the f**k?
14:41It happened. Oh my god. I'm happy.
14:45One sec. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
14:48And maybe I sit for two seconds just to...
14:50Yeah. Yeah.
14:55Right now, this is low-level laser treatment, which is basically going to stimulate the blood
15:00circulation into the scalp area so that it gives us a faster healing process with his regenerative
15:06effect. Before Spencer can fly home, there's laser treatment to stimulate blood circulation in the
15:12scalp and speed up the healing process. He also has a post-op consultation back at the clinic.
15:18All right.
15:20For the first five days, no smoking, no alcohol, and no satchelant cord.
15:26Okay.
15:26For the first seven nights, you'll be sleeping with that inflatable pillow that you received
15:32from us yesterday.
15:33Then there are the special shampoos and lotions. Patients are advised to continue taking the long-term
15:38medication to keep their hair as healthy as possible.
15:47So I'm at the Istanbul airport right now. I just got my transplant and everyone here seems to have
15:52also gotten one. What's your name?
15:54Vili.
15:54Vili. And where are you from?
15:55Germany in Hamburg.
15:56Germany. And how many grafts did you get?
15:593,500.
16:03Why Turkey? Why not just stay in Germany and do it?
16:04This is really easy.
16:06Why?
16:06Much more cheaper.
16:08It's a long process, but I'm glad I did it.
16:14Back home, the process of nurturing the newly grafted follicles begins.
16:18The stress of the aftercare is making sure you don't do anything to disrupt the follicles,
16:23because then the follicles could shoot out of your head and you lose them, and then it was all for
16:28nothing because you don't have as much hair as you actually wanted to in the end.
16:31It's starting to really dry up. Gladly, not a ton of itch, but I think it's healing. I mean,
16:39there's yellow bruises, which I'm sure is just a good sign of healing. Everything's drying up.
16:44I'm taking my meds. I'm shampooing. This is where I'm at. We'll see how it goes. Five days in. Feeling
16:51good.
16:55Fast forward a couple of years and we meet up with Spencer again.
16:59It's been two years since I had a hair transplant in Istanbul, Turkey, and I'm very happy with the results.
17:09In terms of what they told me was going to come out of this procedure and the end result,
17:14it's exactly what I had expected, and I'm super happy about it.
17:17It's actually a crazy feeling to see new follicles that you thought you had lost forever popping up
17:23on your head, and I don't know. It just sounds wild to even say that out loud, but it had
17:27life-changing effects on me.
17:32Spencer is not sure he'll go back for another procedure to restore hair to the bald patch at the top
17:38of his head.
17:39But it's definitely not off the card.
17:54Like...
Comments