Scar Hair Transplant in Turkey

Whether grafts survive in your scar depends on properties a surgeon must assess before quoting anything.

Blood supply. The critical factor. A scar with reasonable vascularity supports grafts; a pale, hard, avascular scar does not. A surgeon judges it by squeezing the scar and watching how quickly colour returns, by its texture and by its history. Some use a small test injection to see how the tissue behaves.

Thickness. A thin, supple, flat scar takes grafts far better than a thick, firm, raised one. Thick scars can sometimes be improved first, by injecting steroid to soften them or by excising and re-closing, before grafting is attempted.

Maturity. A scar continues remodelling for twelve to eighteen months, and its blood supply changes during that time. Grafting into an immature scar is unpredictable, which is why waiting is part of the plan.

Depth and what lies beneath. A scar over a bony defect, a metal plate or a skin graft behaves differently, and a scar that is tethered down to underlying tissue has less room for grafts.

Keloid or hypertrophic. A keloid scar is not a candidate for straightforward grafting, because inserting new wounds into keloid-prone tissue risks provoking more keloid. It needs treating as a keloid first, with steroid, pressure and sometimes other measures, and even then the decision is cautious. Hypertrophic scars, which stay within their boundary, are more tractable.

The cause. A surgical scar closed cleanly behaves better than a burn scar, which may have poor vascularity over a wide area, or a radiotherapy scar, where tissue is permanently damaged and grafting frequently fails. Scarring alopecias such as lichen planopilaris or frontal fibrosing alopecia must be inactive for a long period before grafting, and transplanting into active disease destroys the grafts.

Sensation. A numb scar is not a contraindication and it tells you the tissue was significantly disrupted.

Previous grafting into the same scar. If a previous attempt failed, the reason matters, and a second attempt into proven poor tissue may be unwise.

What a good surgeon does. Examines the scar under magnification, squeezes it to assess perfusion, measures its dimensions, asks how and when it happened, asks about keloid tendency, and then states expected survival honestly rather than quoting a graft number.

Ask: how well vascularised is my scar, how many of these grafts do you expect to survive, and should anything be done to the scar first?

This is the technical heart of scar grafting and the thing most likely to be got wrong commercially.

The competition problem. Grafts placed close together compete for a limited blood supply. In normal scalp the supply is good enough that dense packing works. In a scar it is not, so the same density that succeeds in normal scalp can cause most of the grafts to fail.

The consequence. A surgeon who plants a scar at the density they would use in normal scalp may lose a large proportion of the grafts, and those grafts came from a finite donor. Planting at half that density and adding more later loses far less.

The test session. Plant a modest number of grafts into part of the scar, or across it at low density, and wait twelve months to see how many grew. That tells you what the scar will support, and the second session can then be planned with confidence. It takes longer overall and it is the approach that wastes least donor hair.

Why clinics may resist it. A single large session is easier to sell, earns more in one visit and requires only one trip. A test session means two trips and two smaller fees, and it is better medicine.

The compromise that often works. One conservative session across the whole scar, understood explicitly as a first stage, with a planned review at twelve months and a second session if the growth justifies it. That is honest and it fits a traveller.

Graft type. Single and double hair grafts are generally preferred in scar tissue because they are smaller, need less blood supply and sit more easily in tight tissue. Large multi-hair grafts are a poor choice.

Incision technique. Shallower and sometimes smaller incisions, made carefully so as not to further compromise the tissue, and often with the grafts placed slightly less deeply than in normal scalp.

Direction. Hair around a scar grows in a particular direction, and grafts in the scar must follow it or the repair announces itself.

Adjuncts that may help. Some surgeons use platelet-rich plasma in the scar, or needle the scar in advance over some weeks to stimulate blood vessel formation before grafting, on the reasoning that better vascularity improves survival. The evidence is limited and the rationale is sound, and neither is a guarantee.

Ask: what density will you use, why that density, and will you do a test session or treat this as a first stage?

Different scars behave differently, and knowing where yours sits sets your expectation.

The FUT strip scar. A linear scar across the back of the head from older strip-harvest surgery. It is the commonest indication and one of the most successful, because the surrounding scalp is normal, the scar is usually thin and well vascularised, and the aim is modest: enough hair growing through the line to break it up. Often a single conservative session is enough, and micropigmentation is a strong alternative or complement.

Facelift scars. In front of and behind the ear, and in the temporal hairline where a lift has displaced or thinned the hair. Grafting restores a temporal hairline and camouflages the scar, and it is a common and effective request. Coordinate it with your facelift surgeon and wait at least a year.

Hairline lowering or brow lift scars. At the frontal hairline, where hair can be transplanted through and in front of the scar so it disappears into the hairline. This works well and is frequently part of the plan when that surgery is performed.

Neurosurgical and craniotomy scars. Often thicker, sometimes over a bony defect or a plate, and sometimes with adjacent radiotherapy. Survival is less predictable and a test session is particularly sensible. Ask specifically whether there is a plate or defect beneath.

Burn scars. The hardest. Blood supply over a wide area may be poor, the scar may be thick and tethered, and grafting can fail. In extensive cases the reconstructive answer is tissue expansion, in which hair-bearing scalp is stretched over months and then advanced to cover the bald area, which the tissue expansion and burn reconstruction pages cover. Grafting suits smaller, better-vascularised burn scars.

Trauma and laceration scars. Usually good candidates if thin and mature.

Traction alopecia. Where hair has been pulled out permanently by braids, weaves, extensions or tight styling. Grafting works if the traction has stopped and the loss has stabilised, and it fails if the same styling continues. The afro hair transplant page covers this.

Scarring alopecias. Lichen planopilaris, frontal fibrosing alopecia, central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia and folliculitis decalvans. These must be diagnosed and inactive for a prolonged period, usually years, before grafting is considered, and results remain unpredictable. Transplanting into active disease destroys the grafts.

Cleft lip scars, eyebrow scars and beard scars. Small, specific and often very satisfying, using appropriately fine grafts.

Ask where your scar sits on this spectrum and what survival the surgeon expects in a scar like yours.

The alternative deserves proper treatment, because for some scars it is simply better.

What it is. Scalp micropigmentation deposits tiny pigment dots in the skin to mimic the appearance of hair follicles or to match the colour of the surrounding scalp. Applied to a scar it makes the pale line blend with the skin around it, so at normal hair length the scar becomes very hard to see.

Why it suits strip scars particularly. A thin linear FUT scar needs the eye to stop seeing a pale line. Pigment achieves that immediately, in one or two sessions, with no surgery and no donor hair spent. Grafting achieves it by growing hair through the line, which takes a year and costs grafts.

Its advantages. No donor hair used, which matters enormously in a patient whose donor is depleted. Immediate result. No question of graft survival. Repeatable. Cheap relative to grafting. And it works in scars whose blood supply would not support grafts at all.

Its limitations. It is pigment rather than hair, so it does not move, does not grow and cannot be styled. It fades over years and needs maintenance sessions. The colour can shift slightly over time and needs a skilled practitioner to match. It works far better at short hair lengths than long, because at longer lengths hair is what you see and a pigmented scar does not have hair in it. And it is not suitable for every scar type.

When grafting is better. When you wear your hair long, because then you want hair in the scar. When the scar is wide and needs actual coverage. When the scar is in a visible hairline where hair direction matters. And when you have donor to spare.

When both is best, which is common. Grafting into the scar at conservative density to add real hair, and micropigmentation to blend the remaining pale areas between the grafts. This combination frequently produces a better result than either alone and is worth asking about specifically.

What a good clinic does. Offers both, explains the trade honestly, and does not sell grafting to a patient with a depleted donor and a thin scar when pigment would serve better.

Ask: would micropigmentation suit my scar better, would you combine them, and how does that change what I need in grafts?

Waiting is part of the plan, and the interval depends on the cause.

Surgical scars. At least twelve months from the operation. The scar remodels over that period and its blood supply settles, and grafting into an immature scar is less predictable. After a facelift or hairline surgery, coordinate with the surgeon who did it.

Burn scars. Longer, often eighteen months to two years, and sometimes considerably more, because burn scars continue changing for a long time and may need other treatment first.

Trauma. Twelve months minimum.

Traction alopecia. The traction must have stopped and the loss stabilised, which means at least a year of not wearing the styles that caused it, and honestly assessed. Grafting into a hairline that will be pulled again wastes the grafts.

Scarring alopecias. Inactive for a prolonged period, usually years, confirmed by a dermatologist and sometimes by biopsy. This is the group most often grafted too early and most often disappointed.

Previous radiotherapy. A long interval and a cautious expectation, because irradiated tissue is permanently compromised.

What to do while you wait.

Have the scar assessed by a dermatologist or plastic surgeon if there is any question of keloid, active scarring alopecia or a scar that is still changing.

Treat a thick or raised scar. Steroid injections, silicone and pressure can soften it over months, and a softer scar takes grafts better.

Photograph it monthly in the same light, so its stability can be judged.

Get the operation note if it is a surgical scar, particularly for neurosurgery, because whether there is a plate or a bony defect beneath matters.

Stop the cause. For traction alopecia, that means abandoning the styling permanently, not for the months before surgery.

Consider whether micropigmentation now would satisfy you, since it is reversible in practice and costs no donor.

Ask the surgeon when they would operate and why not sooner, and treat a willingness to graft an immature scar as a warning rather than convenience.

The range in the cost section above reflects the size of the scar and the graft number more than anything else.

A package from an authorised Turkish clinic normally includes the surgeon's consultation with the scar examined under magnification, perfusion assessed by squeezing it, thickness and maturity judged, dimensions measured, cause and keloid history taken, donor density measured, and an expected survival rate stated, blood tests including hepatitis and HIV screening, local anaesthesia, extraction of the agreed grafts, placement into the scar at a conservative density with single and double hair grafts and correct direction, platelet-rich plasma where the clinic uses it, three or four hotel nights near the clinic with breakfast, transfers, the medication pack, special shampoo and lotion, a neck pillow and hat, the first medical wash with instruction, photographs of the scar, and follow-up through the first year with a coordinator in your language.

Not included: the flight, travel insurance, extra hotel nights, a second session, which is commonly needed, scalp micropigmentation, treatment of the scar beforehand with steroid or excision, a dermatology opinion or biopsy where a scarring alopecia is suspected, and finasteride or minoxidil.

Why quotes differ. The first factor is the size of the scar and the graft number.

The second is whether a test session or a first-stage approach is planned, which is cheaper now and needs two trips.

The third is whether micropigmentation is included or offered alongside, which changes the graft number needed.

The fourth is the surgeon's experience with scar tissue specifically, which is worth paying for because the judgement about density is what determines survival.

The fifth is whether any preparatory treatment of the scar is included.

One caution particular to this page. Be sceptical of a quote for a large graft number at normal scalp density into a scar, because that plan risks losing most of them. A surgeon proposing fewer grafts at lower density, with a planned review, is offering better medicine even though it looks like less.

Ask for the quote to state the expected survival rate, the density, the graft types being used, and whether this is a first stage with a planned second.

Istanbul is the sensible choice. The clinics with most experience of grafting into difficult tissue are here, micropigmentation is widely available so a combined plan is straightforward, and the practices that handle burn scars, craniotomy scars and scarring alopecias are in the city. It is also where a previous failed attempt would be assessed. Clinics cluster in Şişli, Nişantaşı and Levent, and the two airports give the most direct flights.

Antalya has authorised clinics with direct European flights, and it is reasonable for a straightforward strip scar with a named surgeon you have checked. For a burn scar, a craniotomy scar or a scarring alopecia, the experience is in Istanbul. The usual cautions apply and one matters here especially: sun on a healing scar causes lasting pigment change, and a scar is exactly the tissue where that is most visible, so a hat at all times and no beach for a month.

Izmir has a smaller number of established clinics and university-trained surgeons in a calmer city with direct European flights.

Ankara's university hospitals are where to go for the reconstructive end of this work: extensive burn scars where tissue expansion rather than grafting is the answer, scars over bony defects or plates, previous radiotherapy, keloid scars needing a protocol, or a scarring alopecia needing diagnosis and control before any grafting. If nobody has diagnosed why your hair stopped growing in an area, start here rather than with a transplant.

One question worth asking in any city. What survival rate do you expect in a scar like mine, and will you do a test session? A surgeon who quotes a survival figure and offers a staged approach has done this before. One who quotes a graft number at full density has not thought about the blood supply.

Wherever you go, the clinic must hold the Ministry of Health international health tourism authorisation, the operation must be in a licensed medical facility, and a doctor registered with the Turkish Medical Association must perform the incisions and extraction, as Turkish law requires.

Day one, arrival, consultation and planning. A driver takes you to the hotel. The surgeon examines the scar under magnification, squeezes it to assess how quickly colour returns as a measure of blood supply, judges its thickness, suppleness and maturity, measures its dimensions, asks how and when it happened and whether you scar badly anywhere, and examines the surrounding hair direction. They measure your donor density with a densitometer, since grafts spent in a scar that fails are grafts lost. Then they state an expected survival rate honestly, the density they will use and why it is conservative, whether this is a test session or a first stage with a planned second, and whether micropigmentation would suit your scar better or alongside. Photographs of the scar and the donor. Blood tests. Consent covering lower and unpredictable survival and the likelihood of a second session.

Day two, the operation. Four to eight hours under local anaesthesia, awake, with breaks, depending on the graft number. Grafts are extracted from the donor, spread widely, and sorted under magnification with single and double hair units selected for the scar. Incisions are made in the scar, shallower and more carefully than in normal scalp, following the direction of the surrounding hair, at the planned conservative density. Grafts are placed. Platelet-rich plasma is applied where the clinic uses it.

Day three, swelling and rest. Some swelling, less than after a large hairline transplant. Sleep semi-upright. Do not touch the grafts. The scar may feel tight.

Day four, the first wash and the check. A nurse washes the scalp and teaches you to do it at home, inspects the scar and the donor, and answers questions. Medication, photographs, the follow-up schedule.

Flying home. After the wash, hat on, and no sun on the scar.

The months after. Crusts shed over one to two weeks. Shedding from weeks two to six. Regrowth from month three or four, and in scar tissue it is often slower and patchier than in normal scalp, which is expected. Judge at twelve months.

Twelve months. The honest review. Photograph the scar in the same light, count what grew, and decide with the surgeon whether a second session is justified by the survival you achieved. That figure is the most useful piece of information you will get, and it should guide the second session rather than optimism.

The clinic must hold the Ministry of Health International Health Tourism Authorisation Certificate, with the number and the address of the licensed facility, and a doctor registered with the Turkish Medical Association must perform the incisions and extraction.

Then the questions that belong to scar grafting.

How well vascularised is my scar? Squeeze it and tell me what you see.

What survival rate do you expect in a scar like mine?

What density will you use, and why is it lower than in normal scalp?

Will you do a test session, or is this a first stage with a planned review at twelve months?

Which graft types will you use, and why single and double hairs rather than larger units?

Should anything be done to the scar first, such as steroid injections to soften it or excision and re-closure?

Is my scar mature? If it is less than twelve months old, why operate now?

Do I have a keloid tendency, and does that change your advice?

Is there a plate, a bony defect or previous radiotherapy beneath this scar?

Could this be an active scarring alopecia, and do I need a dermatologist or a biopsy first?

Would micropigmentation suit my scar better, or would you combine them?

What is my donor density, and how many grafts am I risking here?

How many scar cases do you do a month?

May I see twelve-month photographs of scars like mine, including one where growth was poor?

What happens if few of the grafts grow?

That last question matters. A surgeon who has a plan for poor survival, and who has quoted you a realistic figure in advance, is treating this as the uncertain procedure it is.

The risks are those of any transplant plus the specific uncertainty of scar tissue.

Poor graft survival. The principal risk and the one that defines this operation. Scar tissue has a reduced and unpredictable blood supply, so a proportion of grafts will not grow, and in a poorly vascularised scar most may not. You will not know for six to twelve months, and the grafts came from a finite donor.

Wasted donor hair. The consequence of the above, and the reason conservative density and a test session matter. Grafts lost in a failed scar planting are gone.

Further scarring or widening. Making new incisions in scar tissue can occasionally worsen it, and in a patient with keloid tendency it risks provoking keloid formation.

Keloid formation. Specifically in keloid-prone patients, where inserting wounds into keloid-prone tissue can produce new keloid, which is why keloid scars are not straightforward candidates.

Poor blood supply causing skin problems. In a severely compromised scar, dense grafting can cause the tissue itself to break down, which is rare and is a reason for caution.

Patchy growth. Even where survival is reasonable, growth in scar tissue is often uneven, giving a partially filled scar that needs a second session to look right.

Wrong direction. Hair in the scar must follow the direction of the surrounding hair, and grafts placed wrongly make the repair visible in a different way.

Infection, uncommon.

Folliculitis and ingrown hairs, more likely in tight scar tissue.

Numbness or altered sensation over the scar, often already present and occasionally increased.

Donor area risks as for any extraction: tiny white dots, and depletion if too much is taken for a scar that then fails.

Pigment change. A healing scar exposed to sun pigments readily, and scar tissue shows it more than normal skin, which makes sun protection more important here than elsewhere.

Disappointment where the underlying condition is active. Transplanting into an untreated scarring alopecia destroys the grafts, and this is the commonest avoidable failure in this field.

None of this argues against the operation for a suitable scar. It argues for assessing the scar properly, planting conservatively, treating the first session as information, and considering micropigmentation where the donor is precious or the scar is thin.

For a thin, mature, reasonably vascularised scar in an otherwise normal scalp, particularly a strip scar from older transplant surgery, a facelift scar or a scar in the temporal hairline, grafting works well and Turkey is a good place to have it. The clinics here handle difficult tissue constantly, micropigmentation is available alongside so a combined plan is easy, and the price makes a staged approach affordable where privately at home two sessions would be prohibitive.

The thing that makes this different from an ordinary transplant is blood supply. Scar tissue has fewer vessels than normal scalp, a graft depends entirely on the tissue it is placed into to feed it in the first days, and survival is therefore both lower and less predictable. Two scars that look alike can behave quite differently. That single fact should shape everything: plant conservatively, treat the first session as a test of how your scar behaves, review honestly at twelve months, and add more if the growth justifies it. A surgeon proposing fewer grafts at lower density with a planned review is offering better medicine than one quoting a large number at normal density, even though it looks like less.

Consider micropigmentation seriously before committing grafts, particularly if your donor is depleted or your scar is a thin line. Pigment makes a pale scar blend with the skin around it immediately, in one or two sessions, with no donor hair spent, and for a strip scar in someone who wears their hair short it is frequently the better answer. Grafting is better if you wear your hair long, if the scar is wide, or if hair direction matters in a visible hairline. A combination of conservative grafting plus pigment between the grafts often beats either alone, and it is worth asking about specifically.

Get the timing and the diagnosis right, because those are where this operation is most often wasted. Wait twelve months from surgery or trauma, longer for a burn. Make sure a thick or raised scar has been softened first if it can be. And if nobody has explained why hair stopped growing in that area, get that diagnosed before you graft: transplanting into an active scarring alopecia destroys the grafts, and transplanting into a hairline that will be pulled again by the same styling wastes them.

Then ask the one question that tells you whether the surgeon has done this before: what survival rate do you expect in a scar like mine? A figure, and a plan for what happens if fewer grow, is what you want to hear.

The comparison table above shows what this costs where you live, from published prices and marked where a figure is an estimate. The consultation request below reaches a coordinator who can tell you which of the clinics listed on this site graft into scars regularly and which also offer micropigmentation.