Hair transplants, business grows in Europe and low-cost clinics multiply

Turkish clinics offer complete packages including travel, accommodation, pre-operative counselling and surgery. According to industry estimates, in 2024 more than one million people travelled to Turkey to undergo a hair transplant, generating an income of more than one billion dollars.

In France, too, the market is booming. An Ifop survey in 2024 reveals that 13% of French people say they suffer from baldness, a figure that is on the rise. The average cost of a transplant in the country is around 8,000 euros, but can be as high as 15,000, a figure that drives many patients to choose clinics in Turkey where the same procedure costs between 2 and 3,000 euros.

In recent years, however, a parallel phenomenon has emerged: that of French clinics that correct the outcomes of failed transplants performed abroad. Clinique Lutétia in Paris, one of the best known in the field, reports that around 30% of its activity now consists of repairing failed transplants. 'It's very sad, because not all of them can be corrected: the donor area, the back and sides of the head, does not regenerate and is a valuable asset,' explains Nathanaël Aknine, the clinic's president.

In France, the technique of follicular unit extraction (Follicular Unit Extraction) is widespread, but often also practised by nurses. Legislation on the subject is not yet fully defined, and the health authorities are considering the introduction of stricter rules to ensure higher safety standards. The debate has also been ignited after the news case of a 24-year-old young man who took his own life following complications from a beard transplant performed in Turkey, reigniting the discussion on the risks of low-cost medical tourism.

In Spain, according to Medihair, 44.5% of men suffer from alopecia. Hair transplantation, once considered an elitist treatment, has now become a widespread procedure accessible to a wider public.

A key factor in this change is the cultural shift in the perception of male aesthetics: more and more men see transplantation not only as a medical solution, but also as an investment in their emotional and professional well-being. The increasing visibility of public figures who have claimed to have undergone the procedure has helped to normalise the practice.

For years, Turkey has been the preferred destination for Spanish patients, but in recent years a competitive domestic offer has emerged. Specialised clinics in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia propose more affordable packages, including consultation, transport and post-operative care. This phenomenon has given rise to a form of domestic medical tourism, with patients travelling from other regions to access quality treatments at competitive prices.

The Spanish sector is regulated by medical and legal regulations that require specific licences and that interventions must only be performed by certified professionals. However, the rapid growth of the market has also favoured the emergence of unregulated offers, raising the need to strengthen controls and ensure transparency in results and advertising practices.

In parallel, the Spanish public health service has started to introduce reconstructive capillary transplants in specific cases, as part of dermatological surgery programmes, thus widening access to treatment.

Alongside transplants, the market for preventive and regenerative treatments is also growing, including drugs such as finasteride and minoxidil, platelet-rich plasma therapies and low-intensity laser light technologies. According to Grand View Research, this segment is already worth more than USD 4 billion globally and is experiencing higher growth rates than the surgical segment.

However, the question of regulation remains open. In Italy, as in other European countries, scientific societies are calling for clearer rules and greater control over operators, particularly those working abroad.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project "Pulse"