Over the past few years Turkey has become one of the main destinations for medical tourism where people visit for all sorts of cosmetic procedures.
A French Business student who had gone to do the same in Istanbul took his own life after having received a bad beard transplant surgery in Turkey and his father wishes to warn others from scams.
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He traveled to Istanbul for the transplant
The 24-year-old French student Mathieu Vigier Latour had flown to the Turkish city Istanbul for a beard transplant procedure at a specialist cosmetics clinic.
Mathieu had decided to undergo the operation in Turkey after finding the price of the transplant to be significantly cheaper than it is in France.
The beard transplant takes grafts from the head
Beard transplants take grafts of hair follicles from the scalp and insert them into the beard area to grow out on the face.
Mathieu’s father stated that the student was told the clinic was approved by the Turkish health ministry and based on this, paid €1,300 for the operation.
The surgery went wrong
During the operation, the clinician was supposed to take 4000 grafts from the back of Mathieu’s scalp and insert them into his face.
However, the surgeon ended up losing 1000 grafts in the process and botching the beard transplant surgery.
The clinician was not qualified
After having suffered from the operation going wrong, Mathieu later found out that the clinician who had undergone his surgery was an estate agent and not a surgeon.
The scammer had left Mathieu’s beard area to grow out in unmanageable ways in addition to his scalp being painful.
Mathieu visited a specialist
In an attempt to tackle this medical issue, and with the help of his family, Mathieu visited an actual medical specialist in Belgium to check on his case.
However, the specialist informed them that Mathieu’s scalp would never recover in place of the removed grafts.
The student was strongly affected by this
According to his father Jacques, Mathieu had fallen into a “vicious circle” of pain and depressive thoughts as the discomfort in his scalp had become unbearable.
His mental state was also largely affected as he suffered from body dysmorphic disorder where he couldn’t stop worrying about his appearance.
This led to Mathieu’s tragic loss
Unfortunately, the toll had become too much for Mathieu to handle, and he ended up taking his own life at his student dorms in France.
The failed procedure had given him post-traumatic shock which led to the loss of his life three months after the operation.
His father asked others to be careful
Speaking on his son’s experience with the botched transplant, Jacques hoped that this incident would raise awareness regarding cheap cosmetic surgery.
He also stated that it would be tribute to Mathieu if speaking out about this will lead others to be careful when booking such procedures.
The Eurasian country is a known destination for surgeries
Turkey is a common destination for cosmetic surgical procedures and thus was a regular choice of location to undergo a beard transplant.
It is evidently important to be aware of possible scams that could lead to tragedies as serious as a loss of life.
People should be more careful
Individuals should undoubtedly pay closer attention to the clinics they are looking to operate at and do thorough research on the place before going.
Cosmetic surgeries should be better regulated, especially in places that are known for medical tourism.
