Luke Horsfield left with severe scarring after £1,250 botched hair transplant surgery

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A young British man has told how he was left with a scarred head and bald spots after undergoing a botched £1,250 hair transplant in Turkey. 

Luke Horsfield, 26, an IT technician from Bradford, was worried about his thinning hairline and found a clinic in Turkey which would perform a transplant for half the price it would be in the UK. 

However months after six-hour the operation he underwent in December 2018 at the Clinic Center in Instanbul, he was left with scars and bald patches and his hair had failed to regrow. 

Luke claims surgeons at the clinic couldn’t speak English and took too many follicular units from the back of his head during the op which left him scarred. 

The procedure, known as follicular unit extraction, sees hair follicles removed from the side and back of a patient’s scalp and injected into the front where the balding occurs. 

He claims this lead to further thinning of his hair, scarring and bald patches and he eventually needed it repaired by another clinic. 

The clinic’s website, it promises ‘effective and satisfying outcomes’ for men experiencing thinning hair and promises the hairline will regrow. 

Luke has now warned others contemplating the procedure to properly do their research before undergoing treatment. 

Luke said: ‘I did everything they told me to do as aftercare once I had the operation. 

‘But after four months, I saw literally no growth. I rang them to ask why it hadn’t grown, but I was told this was normal. ‘It got six months and there was a little bit of growth but not much and after a year it still hadn’t grown. I was left with scars and bald patches.’ 

Luke said his complaints fell on deaf ears and when he asked for a refund, they even offered him another operation for half the price. 

He says they eventually offered Luke a £400 refund, barely a third of what he paid for the botched job. 

Luke, who began noticing his hairline was thinning at 21, said he thought he had found a bargain deal, but has now urged other men to fully research procedures and clinics. 

He added: ‘I had always been really self-conscious about my hair and I hated it being wet or getting blown in the wind. 

‘I’d always spend extra time styling it before going out, trying to hide my bald spot. 

‘It was affecting my confidence and my self-esteem and it was something I’d been wanting to do a few years. 

‘I looked into it and a lot of the places offering the treatment in the UK charged around £6,000, but they were offering it for £1,250. 

‘They had great reviews on sites like Trust Pilot, so I thought I was getting good value for money. 

‘What I didn’t know then was that you anyone can post a review and companies can ask for reviews to be taken down, so I feel like I wasn’t getting a full picture.’ 

Luke posted a review of his operation and treatment at the hands of the Clinic Center on YouTube and was contacted by the Hair Dr clinic in the UK offering to repair the botched job for free. 

Luke went under the knife again at the Hair Dr’s clinic in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on March 3, and was left delighted with the results. 

He added: ‘The treatment I got at the Hair Dr was worlds apart. 

‘In Turkey, the surgeons didn’t even speak English so I had to communicate through a translator. 

‘They’ve done a great job and I’ve already noticed signs of growth in my hairline. 

‘I’d just encourage anyone to properly research the clinic and operations first.’ 

Dr Arshad, the lead surgeon at the Hair Dr transplant clinic, who carried out the repair procedure on Luke, said: ‘When I was shown Luke’s YouTube video and account of what happened with his previous hair transplant in Turkey it really struck a cord with me as I see so many clients in this unfortunate position on an almost weekly basis. 

‘Before embarking on a hair transplant it is imperative that research is carried out on the clinic and the surgeon. 

‘Hair transplant is very safe surgery but is not free of potentially serious side effects if it is not conducted by a qualified surgeon in the correct way. 

‘I would urge clients to check that the surgeon has a credible track record in this field and is indeed a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England before embarking on such a sensitive procedure. 

‘That way we can try and limit the number of unfortunate stories like Luke’s.’ 

The Clinic Center told FEMAIL: ‘Clinic Center is registered in the UK and sponsor of Brighton Hove Albion F.C. Every year we treat more than 2000 patients and most of them are from the UK.

‘We are the only organization in the world who provides aftercare service in 17 locations in the UK.

‘We have been rewarded 5 consecutive years for our services by Whatclinic, visited by Dr. Alex George. 

‘We ask our patients to leave their comments on Trustpilot and we have more than 640 reviews in Trustpilot with 4,5 stars out of 5. We can not remove any review from there once it is published. 

”Luke agreed to get a refund of GBP 400 and we made the refund because he did not wait to complete the healing process’.

Complications that can arise from a hair transplant can be seen here. 

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