World Hair Transplant Repair Day Set for November 11
The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) will host its annual “World Hair Transplant Repair Day” on November 11, part of the ISHRS’s Fight the FIGHT (an acronym for Fight the Fraudulent, Illicit, and Global Hair Transplants) global consumer awareness campaign designed to educate and help people who have been victims of this widespread practice.
“These victims have little recourse for the permanent damage done by unlicensed individuals who either lack the training or are not authorized to perform surgery even under the direct supervision of a licensed physician,” the ISHRS said in a press release.
The organization encourages these people to reach out individually to participating volunteer ISHRS physicians through the campaign’s website, HairTransplantRepairDay.org, for a chance to receive a pro bono corrective hair transplant procedure. Since its launch in 2020, the number of ISHRS participating physician members has grown to dozens of members around the world.
“The ISHRS is committed to educating the public on the dangers of black-market hair transplants, as our members have seen countless cases of hair loss patients completely devastated by their results in the hands of unqualified, unlicensed professionals,” ISHRS president Bradley Wolf, MD, FISHRS, said in the press release. “When performed by a qualified physician trained in the science and art of hair restoration surgery, a hair transplant offers natural-looking, permanent results that are virtually undetectable. Nothing else even comes close.”
Dr. Wolf said the number of fraudulent, illicit hair transplant clinics around the world has increased over the years and remains a popular form of medical tourism. According to results of a 2022 member survey conducted by the ISHRS, 51% of ISHRS members reported Black Market hair transplant clinics in their cities. In 2021, 5.4% of hair restoration patients sought treatment to repair previous surgery from offices where the physician did not perform the surgery, up from 4.2% in 2019.
“While there is no easy fix for the type of extensive repairs we are seeing in patients who have been victims of black-market hair transplant clinics, we encourage everyone who is considering hair restoration surgery to consult the Fight the FIGHT website for resources including what to consider before choosing a surgeon and an explanation of the multi-step corrective procedures that are required if you find yourself a victim of an unscrupulous procedure,” said Shady El-Maghraby, MD, MSc, FISHRS, chair of the ISHRS Fight the FIGHT Subcommittee. “Our goal with the Fight the FIGHT campaign is to reach patients in need of repair who otherwise have no recourse in getting a corrective surgery from the original clinic, offering them the hope that they desperately need.”