Celeb appeal sees hair transplants jump in UAE
July 2011
Hair transplant clinics in Dubai say they have seen a surge in
demand following admissions from celebrities that they have paid for
surgery to cover their receding hairlines.
The city has seen increasing numbers of medical clinics and plastic
surgeons offering hair transplant procedures, with specialists
flying into Dubai to capitalise on demand.
Industry experts suggest much of this is on the back of celebrities
such as footballer Wayne Rooney and British actor James Nesbit
admitting to undergoing the procedure.
“Anybody who has influence on the general public who comes up with a
statement [saying they have had the surgery] does make a
difference,” said Dr Shehab Beg of the Dubai Hair Clinic, who
performs 15-20 surgeries a month in Pakistan and Dubai.
Rooney in June confessed to his 768,869 Twitter fans that he had a
hair transplant, telling followers: “I was going bald at 25, why
not?”
Hair transplant specialist Dr Sajjad Khan, who flies to Dubai to
perform up to twenty surgeries a month, displays testimonials as
well as before-and-after pictures of Bollywood stars Abhijeet
Bhattacharya, Aditya Pancholi and Sanjay Kapoor, on his website.
“Two or three years ago he was pre-booked for four or five surgeries
and then he would take appointments for consultations during the
time he was here,” said assistant Andrea Marshall. “Now what’s
happening is we’re booked two months [in advance].
“It’s obviously directly coincided with when he’s done a lot of
celebrity transplants.”
Dubai-based Nu/Hart Hair Clinic said it had seen a significant
increase in interest from clients and performs up to 30 surgeries a
month.
“In June we performed twenty surgeries and for July we already have
25 booked. It will be more next month because of Ramadan when people
go on annual leave,” said Priscilla Lansangan, office manager at Nu/Hart
Hair Clinic.
“We have an average of 16-20 [procedures a month], with the maximum
30. Of course it helps [when celebrities admit they’ve had it done];
people become much more open in having this kind of treatment,” she
said.
For some patients, however, the cost could be prohibitive. Some
clinics charge up to AED85,000 for the surgery, though other Dubai
facilities charge AED15,000-25,000.
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