Hair transplant cost and why it differs so much worldwide?

written by Matt Dominance

An average hair transplant cost in one part of the world like for example the USA, Australia or Western Europe can be easily 5-10 times more expensive as opposed to Turkey nowadays.

hair transplant cost in Turkey

The ultimate factor influencing hair transplant price worldwide – Number of grafts

norwood 1 hair transplant cost

How many grafts you need depends on what Norwood type you are – The Norwood scale (or Hamilton-Norwood scale) is the classification system used for measuring hair loss.

Example: Norwood 1 type may need around 500-1000 grafts (FUE)

Prices:

  • Europe: 1,000 – 5,000 Euro
  • USA: 2,000 – 9,000 USD
  • Turkey: 500 – 3,500  Euro
norwood 2 hair transplant cost

Example: Norwood 2 type may need around 1000-1500 grafts (FUE)

Prices:

  • Europe: 1,000 – 7,500 Euro
  • USA: 2,500 – 14,000 USD
  • Turkey: 1,000 – 4,500  Euro

Example: Norwood 3 type may need around 1500-2500 grafts (FUE)

Prices:

  • Europe: 1,500 – 12,000 Euro
  • USA: 3,000 – 20,000 USD
  • Turkey: 1,000 – 7000  Euro
norwood 4 hair transplant cost

Example: Norwood 4 type may need around 3000-4000 grafts (possibly even more than 4000 if the vertex thinning is too progressive)

Prices:

  • Europe: 3,000 – 20,000 Euro
  • USA: 6,000 – 30,000 USD
  • Turkey: 1,000 – 12,000  Euro

Example: Norwood 5 type may need around 3000-5500 grafts (FUE)

Prices:

  • Europe: 3,000 – 28,000 Euro
  • USA: 6,000 – 40,000 USD
  • Turkey: 1,000 – 20,000  Euro

Example: Norwood 6 type may need around 4500-6500+ grafts (FUE)

Prices:

  • Europe: 4,500  – 33,000 Euro
  • USA: 10,000 – 50,000 USD
  • Turkey: 1,500 – 23,000  Euro

Example: Norwood 7 type may need around 5,000-8,000+ grafts (FUE)

Prices:

  • Europe: 6,000  – 40,000 Euro
  • USA: 12,000 – 60,000 USD
  • Turkey: 1,500 – 28,000  Euro

4 additional Factors influencing the hair transplant cost worldwide

 

  1. Surgeon vs technician(surgical assistant) involvement in the procedure
  2. Geographic location of the hair clinic (local cost of labor and capital)
  3. Years of experience of the surgeon/technician performing hair restoration surgeries
  4. Quality of the surgical devices 

 

1. Surgeon involvement and hair transplant cost

 
The more you are involved at something, the higher the charge for your time is…
 

Hair Transplant doctors with high involvement during the procedure charge higher price per graft

 3 types of hair transplant surgeries based on the surgeon involvement

  • Doctor-performed hair transplant (single graft extraction by the FUE, strip and closure by the FUT and incision making is done by the doctor himself) $$
  • Doctor-supervised hair transplant (hairline design or incisions are done by the doctor himself)
  • Technician-performed hair transplant (none of the important hair transplant phases is done by the doctor himself) $

If you want to increase the probability of getting a great hair transplant result, make sure you find a hair doctor with highest possible involvement in your procedure (especially he incision-making and extraction phase).

2. Geographic location and hair transplant cost

 
The higher the cost of labor and capital, the higher the cost for the entire service…
 
Countries known for inexpensive hair transplant surgeries: Turkey, Thailand, Iran, Pakistan and India 
Countries with more expensive hair transplant surgeries: Western Europe, USA, UK, Australia and Canada
Advantages and disadvantages of getting a hair transplant in a 1st world country (Western Europe, USA, UK, Australia, Canada)

 

+ Higher quality standards on average

+ Most of the ISHRS and ABHRS members are from these countries

+ No additional travel expenses if you live in one of these countries

– Higher taxes of the more developed countries can dramatically increase the price (VAT)

– High cost of labor and capital is a substantial reason for the higher hair transplant cost

– Good quality hair transplant of 3000-3500 grafts can still be way out of the budget for an average earner

 

Advantages and disadvantages of getting a hair transplant in a 2nd or 3rd world world country (Turkey, India, Pakistan, Iran, Thailand)

 

+ Some of the doctors from these countries – especially Turkey and India are already catching up with the “hair transplant elite” from the West while offering their service at a reasonably lower price

Low cost of labor and capital is a substantial reason for the low hair transplant cost

– Known for adjusting their marketing strategy towards attracting low-cost customers with lower quality criteria

– Low barriers to enter the market in the 2nd and 3rd world countries as well as medical tourism attracts lots of unqualified workers every year resulting in 100´s of new clinics being opened but also closed in these countries year to year

 

3. Experience of the hair transplant surgeon/technician and hair transplant cost
 
The more experience a hair transplant surgeon has, the higher the cost for his time is…
 
How to define an experienced hair transplant doctor?
  1. Member of ISHRS/ABHRS or other credible hair loss association
  2. Puts great emphasis on educating his patients about the hair transplant instead of eagerly trying to sell them the hair transplant
  3. Has successfully performed at least 1000 hair transplant surgeries so far
  4. Knows how to properly extract the hair follicles via FUE (manually/automated) with min. transection rate
  5. Knows how to properly close a strip (by the FUT) and his team is experienced enough to properly dissect the grafts from the strip
  6. Has a great understanding of a proper donor area management
  7. Knows how to naturally redesign a hairline, temporal regions and crown and pays attention to subtle differences in the angulation and selection of different hair follicle types for different regions on the scalp (1-hair follicle, 2-hair follicle, 3-hair follicle, 4-hair follicle etc).
  8. His before & after results are pleasure to look at 🙂 
4. Quality of the devices used during the hair transplant procedure
 
 Updates on this post coming soon…

One Response

  1. hi Matt
    your hair looking good
    i have been turkey for hair transplant surgeries 2019, after one year my hair loose ,
    do you have any tipes or
    should i surgeries once again ?
    ¨
    best regard
    josef

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