Turkey’s health tourism relies heavily on hair transplants. The world’s most skilled plastic surgeons draw thousands of people every year to this country that ranks in the top three for hair transplants. Thousands of international patients choose hair transplants in Turkey every year due to the much cheaper cost. However, the most sophisticated procedures and high-quality hair transplant clinics are also available in Turkey. Dr. Ali Emre Karadeniz, founder of AEK Hair Clinic, is one of them. Dr. Karadeniz stands out among his peers with his transplant method that he calls “comb and go.”
This method allows patients to return to their daily lives immediately after the procedure and leaves no visible scars, setting them apart from the other hair transplant hopefuls with bandages lurking around hotels and airports.
Dr. Karadeniz is the only American Certified Hair Reconstruction Surgeon in Turkey and one of only three surgeons in the world who can operate with this method. Because this comb-and-go procedure is a very advanced and expensive procedure, he currently only accepts a limited number of patients for the comb-and-go procedure and only by referral from other patients.
To explain his technique, Dr. Karadenis says he first meets with patients to discuss a personalized hairline design: “After a few treatments, you’ll be able to wear your hair for a long period of time without the risk of hair loss.”
This photo provided by Dr. Karadeniz shows the “before” and “after” stages of Comb and Go in Istanbul, Turkey.
One of Karadeniz’s patients is Dr. Emre Ilhan, a renowned surgeon who specializes in rhinoplasty. In a social media post, Ilhan said the procedure truly makes it “comb-and-leave.” “Unlike FUE, there are no scars or open wounds at the back of the head, no scabs on the top of the head, no need to shave, and the area where the hair was harvested (the donor area) remains intact, allowing for further transplant procedures in the future,” he said.
It is a simple cosmetic surgery and there is no need to shave the head, and the follicular unit grafts are transplanted along with the long hair. The long hair grafts are dissected under a microscope and transplanted into the bald areas. “There is no need to shave a single hair. The grafts are transplanted along with the long hair and you can comb your hair immediately after the surgery. We dry the patient’s hair with a hairdryer and comb it before sending them off,” he explained.
Karadenis said that while traditional follicular unit excision (FUE) methods take a year to show tangible results, his technique allows patients to see a preview of the results immediately after surgery. “Another advantage is that it uses limited hair resources, so no hair is wasted. There is also much less tissue damage compared to FUE,” he emphasized.
So far, the response has been positive, with Karadenis saying that most of the people undergoing the procedure are “busy” people and “sociable people who cannot afford to go out (where the scars are) – businessmen, actors, singers, etc.” He added: “Celebrities often prefer this method as they don’t want the public to know that they have had a hair transplant. Some actors have had the procedure done during a break in film shoots, and it only took two days.”
Some of Karadeniz’s patients are women: “I’ve heard from my friends that they are amazed at how new hair has grown in such a short time. It’s nice to receive such positive feedback,” Karadeniz says, and patients who have been dissatisfied with transplants elsewhere also visit Karadeniz’s clinic in Istanbul to get new hair.
The technique is also used in eyebrow transplants. While with FUE, the transplanted area cannot be seen in advance, “comb and go” allows patients to see what the curve of the eyebrow will be. “FUE eyebrow transplants can sometimes produce unnatural results, but with our method we can adjust the direction of the hair to give it a natural look,” Karadenis explained.
Turkey has become one of the world’s leading hair transplant centers. In the first half of 2022, approximately 550,000 people from over 100 countries visited Turkey for hair transplants. Hair transplant “tourists” contributed approximately $2 billion to medical tourism in Turkey, and it is projected that medical tourism in Turkey will reach $4 billion by the end of 2022.
