Patients who travelled to Turkey seeking cheaper cosmetic procedures have described severe complications and lengthy recovery periods after returning home.
A growing number of patients who underwent procedures at Turkish clinics have reported serious health problems following treatment. Two patients recently described their experiences on Greek television, recounting what they called a “nightmare” and an ordeal that continued long after they left Turkey.
Hair transplant patient: “It was torture”
One man told the Live News programme about a hair transplant he underwent in Turkey several years ago after deciding that the lower cost justified travelling abroad.
“It was torture. I had terrible pain and during the procedure I kept saying, ‘stop’. It was painful, and I was still in pain three days later,” he said.
The clinic had offered what appeared to be a package deal, including flights and accommodation at a good hotel.
“They have a trick there. They say they will come with limousines and everything. Nothing like that. The clinic was extremely small. They advertised one thing and it was something completely different. But once I got there, I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ I thought, how bad could it be?” he recalled.
He said the most alarming discovery came when he learned who would perform the hair transplant.
“He wasn’t a doctor. He was a beautician,” the man said.
According to his account, the clinic closed about a year later. When he returned to try to find the business, he found a clothing shop operating at the location instead.
The procedure cost him €1,700, compared with around €5,000 quoted in Greece and Cyprus.
“They promised me 5,000 hairs and they must have put in 500. At first my head was swollen. Because of the pain, whether the hairs would grow was the last thing I was thinking about,” he said.
The failed procedure ultimately forced him to undergo additional corrective treatments in Greece, meaning he paid twice — first for the procedure in Turkey and then for attempts to repair the damage.
“I suffered a pulmonary embolism”
Another patient described a far more serious experience after travelling to Turkey for cosmetic surgery following significant weight loss.
Doctors in Germany had quoted him €23,000 for the procedure, while a Turkish clinic offered to perform it for €5,000.
“The skin was hanging and I wanted to have cosmetic surgery. It can look like a cheap investment. Everything there can look beautiful, clean and modern, but they are just walls,” he told the MEGA programme.
He said he noticed warning signs from the outset. Doctors in Germany had explained the possible complications of the operation and advised him to obtain private insurance in case something went wrong. The Turkish clinic, he said, gave him the opposite impression.
“They said, ‘No, here in Turkey there is nothing to worry about, and there is no chance that anything will happen,’” he recalled.
After the operation, however, his condition deteriorated rapidly.
“I went under the knife and the moment I woke up, the ordeal began. At first they kept telling me everything was normal. I needed blood every day. I was losing blood, and I didn’t know what was happening inside my body. They were giving me two bags of blood every day,” he said.
He remained at the clinic for 12 days, experiencing increasingly severe pain.
According to his account, the Turkish doctors eventually discharged him without explaining what had happened, telling him to see a doctor once he returned to Germany.
“When they saw that things were getting out of control, they were essentially pressuring me to get on the plane, leave and go straight to Germany to see a doctor,” he said.
During the flight, he began experiencing severe symptoms.
“I already felt on the plane that my lung was going to burst. God protected us. We landed,” he said.
Doctors in Germany subsequently diagnosed him with a pulmonary embolism and a serious infection around his navel.
“A pulmonary embolism and an infection in my navel. My navel had collected fluid. They pressed on my abdomen and two or three litres of what looked like pus may have come out,” he said.
The patient alleged that the Turkish clinic wanted him to leave because his condition was worsening.
“They essentially wanted to get me out of there as quickly as possible because things were getting out of control,” he said.
He also described severe pain from the surgical wounds, saying doctors had removed more skin than necessary, according to his account.
For the next seven months, he said he lived with debilitating pain and struggled to find doctors in Germany willing to treat him.
His recovery ultimately required several expensive corrective procedures in German clinics.
The accounts highlight the risks that patients can face when travelling abroad for medical and cosmetic procedures, particularly when significantly lower prices influence their decision. Individual allegations about specific clinics or practitioners, however, require independent verification and should not be taken as evidence of the practices of Turkish medical providers as a whole.
