The FCDO Turkey Warning and the 2025 Deaths, Explained
The UK government says it knows of 7 British nationals who died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures. What the advice says, what it does not, and what it means for a hair transplant.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) warns people travelling to Turkey for medical treatment, and its warning includes a number: "We are aware of 7 British nationals having died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures." That sentence is quoted widely, often without the rest of the advice around it. This guide sets out what the FCDO actually says, what it does not say, and what it means if you are considering a hair transplant in Turkey. We read the advice at source on 22 September 2026.
What the FCDO advice says
The FCDO's Turkey travel advice has a health section with a passage on medical tourism, and it makes four points. It defines medical tourism as travelling to have medical, surgical or dental treatment abroad, and says cosmetic surgery, dental procedures and cardiac surgery are the most common procedures for medical tourists. It states that the FCDO is aware of 7 British nationals who died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures, and that some British nationals have also had complications and needed further treatment or surgery.
It then gives advice: discuss your plans with your UK doctor, dentist or clinician before going ahead, and do your own research, because private companies have a financial interest in booking your treatment. It points to wider government guidance on the risks of going abroad for elective surgery.
What it does not say
The advice does not say which procedures the 7 people had, and it does not say that any of them had a hair transplant. It does not name clinics or cities. It does not give a rate, so it cannot tell you how likely a bad outcome is for any one patient. And it counts British nationals the FCDO is aware of, which is not the same as every death of every foreign patient.
British nationals the FCDO says it is aware of who died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures. What the number does not carry: which procedures, which clinics, or any rate.
We point this out not to shrink the warning but to use it accurately. A hair transplant site that claimed "7 people died from hair transplants in Turkey" would be misquoting the government. What the figure does establish is that surgery abroad is still surgery, that people have died after procedures in Turkey in a single year, and that the UK government thinks the risk is worth putting in its travel advice.
Why a hair transplant is not "just cosmetic"
A hair transplant is often marketed as a light procedure, but it is surgery: the scalp is cut, tissue is removed and placed, and medicines are given before and after. Any of those can go wrong, anywhere. The risks a surgeon should discuss with you include infection, poor growth of the grafts, shock loss of existing hair near the grafts, scarring, and a donor area thinned by taking too much.
The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) adds the risk that is specific to the illicit end of the market: clinics where unlicensed technicians do graft removal, hairline design and incisions. It lists scarring, unnatural hairlines, poor hair growth, wrong hair direction, depleted donor areas and infections among the documented complications, and names Turkey, Iran and several European countries among the destinations patients travel to for such procedures.
The wider government guidance
The FCDO's Turkey page links to broader UK guidance on medical treatment abroad, and that guidance adds several practical warnings. It says the standard of medical facilities, qualifications and treatments abroad can vary widely and may differ from UK standards, and that there have been complications and deaths abroad from medical procedures.
It also says three things every traveller should know before booking. Standard travel insurance does not normally cover you if you travelled abroad for elective surgery, and may not cover complications. Healthcare after your treatment may be limited in the country you travel to. And the FCDO cannot usually help if you have travelled abroad for medical treatment, because it treats it as a commercial arrangement between you and the provider. That guidance was last updated on 7 June 2024, according to the page.
What to do with the warning
The useful response to the warning is not panic and not dismissal; it is a set of checks. The FCDO's own two pieces of advice are the right place to start: speak to a doctor at home, and research the provider yourself rather than relying on a company that earns from your booking.
For a hair transplant, that research comes down to a short list. Find out who will perform the extraction and incisions, by name, and look them up. Check that the facility is on the Turkish Ministry of Health's list of providers authorised for international health tourism. Get the price, the inclusions, the refund terms and the aftercare plan in writing. Check your insurance before you book. Our full guide to a hair transplant in Turkey goes through each step, and our guide on how to vet a hair transplant clinic abroad turns them into a checklist.
If you are not British
The FCDO speaks to British nationals, but the checks it recommends apply to anyone. If you are travelling from the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) medical tourism page gives parallel advice: see a travel medicine clinician four to six weeks before the trip, check the qualifications of the clinician and the credentials of the facility, get international travel health insurance that includes medical evacuation, carry copies of your medical records and medication lists, and arrange follow-up care before you leave.
The CDC also names risks that apply to any medical trip: infections, including drug-resistant infections, and blood clots when flying after surgery. It names Joint Commission International, DNV and the International Society for Quality in Healthcare as organisations that accredit facilities abroad. Accreditation is one more thing you can check; it is not a substitute for knowing who operates on you.
How we use this figure on this site
We quote the FCDO figure exactly and with its date, and we do not attach it to hair transplants specifically, because the FCDO did not. If the FCDO updates its count, the number on this site should change with it; we record the date we read it in our fact log, and we re-read it before any update to this page.
Questions to put to the clinic after reading the warning
Reading the warning should change what you ask a clinic, not just how you feel about the trip. These questions come straight out of the risks the government and the ISHRS describe.
- Which doctor will examine me, and which doctor will perform the extraction and make the incisions, by name?
- Where does your facility appear on the Ministry of Health's authorised list, under what legal name?
- What happens, and who pays, if I have a complication while I am still in Turkey?
- What happens, and who pays, if I have a complication after I fly home?
- Who confirms, in writing, the day I may safely fly?
A clinic that answers all five in writing, clearly, has at least engaged with the risks the FCDO describes. A clinic that answers with a discount has not.
The free first step
The first step the FCDO recommends, talking to your doctor at home, is free or close to it, and it earns this site nothing. It is also the step most likely to be skipped. A GP or dermatologist can tell you whether your hair loss needs a diagnosis first, and whether a transplant makes sense at all.
Questions about the FCDO warning
How many British people died in Turkey after medical procedures in 2025?
Did the people who died have hair transplants?
Does the FCDO say not to travel to Turkey for surgery?
Will the FCDO help if my hair transplant in Turkey goes wrong?
The whole picture lives in our guide to a hair transplant in Turkey, checked before you fly. Next in this series: Hair Transplant Aftercare When You Fly Home.
General information, not medical advice. Surgery decisions belong with a doctor who can examine you.