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Turkey’s regulation on hair transplant units changed in September 2025: what is new?
On 12 September 2025, the Ministry of Health amended the regulation that governs how hair transplant units are opened, how they operate and how they are inspected. We explain what has changed, what is not yet clear and what it means for patients.
In this article
What happened?
The Ministry of Health has amended the regulation governing hair transplant units. The amendment was published in Official Gazette No. 33015 of 12 September 2025, and took effect the same day. The changes mostly concern the patient waiting area, the inspection of units and the transitional provisions.
In Turkey, the opening, working conditions and inspection of hair transplant units are governed by the “Regulation on Hair Transplant Units.” This regulation was published in the Official Gazette on 6 May 2023, and amended once on November 3 of the same year. The latest change was published under the title “Regulation Amending the Regulation on Hair Transplant Units.”
What has changed?
Below, we have summarized the main points of the amendment in plain language. We discuss a change of wording in Article 9 of the regulation separately in the next section.
| Topic | Change (in plain language) |
|---|---|
| Patient waiting area (Article 6) | The sentence “The patient waiting area of the healthcare facility may be shared.” was added to the article. This means that patients of the hair transplant unit will be able to use the waiting area of the healthcare facility in which the unit is located. |
| Inspection (Article 11) | Units will now be inspected under the provisions of the Regulation on the Inspection of Private Healthcare Facilities. Inspections will be based on the criteria of the “Hair Transplant Unit Inspection Questionnaire and Administrative Sanctions Form,” set out in the revised Annex 3 of the regulation. |
| Units opened by public institutions (Article 11) | The paragraph on violations found in these units was rewritten. |
| Transitional provision (Provisional Article 2) | Facilities that received permission to perform hair transplants before 6 May 2023, will be able to continue operating in their current form. |
What is not yet clear?
Two points of the amendment need to be assessed separately on the basis of the official text:
- The change of wording in Article 9: In paragraph 3 of the article, the Turkish words meaning “collection and” were moved; they now come after the phrase meaning “of hair follicles.” Whether this change affects who may carry out which stage of the procedure should be assessed legally on the basis of the official text; we do not offer an interpretation in this article.
- The deadline in Provisional Article 1: Some news summaries report that a deadline in this article was also changed. As this detail could not be verified from the official text, we do not give a date here.
Regulations can change again over time. At the time of writing (October 2026), we could not verify whether the regulation had been amended again after 12 September 2025. The binding text is the current version published in the Official Gazette.
This article provides general information and is no substitute for a legal assessment. If you need an interpretation of the legislation, you can consult a lawyer.
What does it mean for patients?
This amendment mainly concerns how facilities are organized and inspected. Under current regulations, a hair transplant unit cannot open or operate without an operating permit. That is why what matters for you as a patient is that the procedure takes place in a unit with an operating permit, within a licensed healthcare facility. If you are thinking of having the procedure in Turkey, you can ask the clinic you are dealing with the following:
- Which healthcare facility will the procedure take place in? Can I see the facility’s license and the operating permit for its hair transplant unit?
- If my initial call was with a different organization from the facility where the procedure will take place, who is responsible for the procedure and the follow-up?
- Will a doctor examine me in person before the procedure? Which healthcare staff will be involved in which stages of the procedure?
- Will I be given written aftercare instructions after the procedure? If there is a problem, who do I contact, and how?
These are normal questions to ask before a surgical procedure. We explain them in detail, and why they matter, in our article on questions to ask when choosing a clinic.
We cover the 2025 rules for facilities that serve patients from abroad in our news article on the health tourism regulation. We have summarized the 2025 statements of an international professional society in our article on the illegal hair transplant warning.
If you are considering a hair transplant today
This change to the regulation does not determine whether you are suitable for a hair transplant or which method suits you. These become clear during the examination, when the cause of your hair loss, whether there is enough hair in your donor area (the area the grafts are taken from, mostly the back and sides of the head) and your expectations are assessed together. The doctor who examines you decides on suitability; results also vary from person to person.
We explain the differences between the methods on our hair transplant methods page. You decide which one suits you together with your doctor after the examination.
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