What if I have HIV or AIDS and want to get a hair transplant?
By Prof. Dr. Soner Tatlidede 2019-10-22
A hair transplant when the patient has HIV is a very delicate operation that needs to be performed by a specialised medical team and under highly controlled conditions, because if not, the virus can be transmitted to another person during the surgery.
Therefore, if you are thinking of getting a hair implant with FUE in Turkey, first of all you should consult your doctor to be sure that your HIV is not active. In the following lines we will answer the most common questions among patients with HIV seeking a hair transplant to solve their hair loss or baldness problems.
Can I get a hair transplant if I have HIV?
Usually, HIV hair transplant operations cannot be performed neither in Turkey nor in the rest of the world, because most hair transplant clinics are not specialised enough to perform this type of operations; besides, not all clinics have the necessary equipment and medical staff to make sure that the surgery is performed in a safe and secure environment, even when they are located in hospitals.
Lastly, even if hospitals meet the aforementioned conditions, many of them do not want to perform hair transplant HIV operations. In any case, do not forget that if you have active or untreated HIV, you won´t be able to get a hair transplant operation even if the clinic meets the necessary requirements, because there is a high risk for the health both of the medical staff and the patient.
At Clinicana, we are proud to announce that we have recently put in place a qualified medical team that includes a doctor specialised in performing HIV hair transplant operations on patients who have undetectable HIV viral load. Before the operation we will analyze your blood, and if the results of the HIV test are negative, we will proceed with the operation under a very strict, controlled environment.
The transplant surgery is performed in a special operation theatre that is reserved only for patients with treated HIV; after the surgery is finished, the operation theatre will be sterilized with special cleaning and disinfectant agents so there is no risk of contagion at all.
Can I have a hair transplant if I have detectable or active HIV?
Unfortunately, you cannot. One of the reasons because you cannot have a hair transplant if you have untreated or active HIV is because in that case your immune system will be very weak; so if we perform the operation under these conditions, it will be quite dangerous because of the increased risk of infection after the surgery. Besides this, if there is an infection on the transplanted area after the operation, the grafts may die and the operation will fail.
Another important reason not to perform the operation is that active or detectable HIV can be transmitted. Therefore, we must make sure that the medical team will not be exposed to any potential dangers such as the HIV virus during the operation: this is why we cannot operate on patients who have untreated or active HIV.
How much does the operation cost for patients with positive HIV or AIDS?
As we have just explained, in these type of operations there is a special medical team capable of perform HIV hair transplant operations, that operates under a very strict and controlled environment. So, everything is more complicated than a normal hair transplant and, as you can guess, the costs of the operation are higher.
At Clinicana we perform hair transplant operations on patients with
undetectable HIV virus at a cost of 4'300 EUROS.
What is included in the price of the packet for HIV patients at our clinic?
Besides having very modern facilities and a highly experienced and skilled medical staff, one of the advantages of getting a hair transplant at Clinicana is that the price of our packages does not include just the operation itself, but much more. So, if you have HIV and you pay 4,300 Euros for your hair transplant, this is all that you get:
- All the transfers in Istanbul between the airport, the hotel and the hospital.
- All the necessary blood analyses.
- Two nights' accommodation at a four star hotel next to the hospital (breakfast, Wifi and taxes included) in a single or double room.
- The hair transplant operation itself, performed in a special operation theatre (an operation room just for undetectable HIV +)
- A specialised medical team that only performs operations on HIV patients (an specialised doctor and 2 nurses, dedicated only to operate on undetectable HIV patients.
- A medication packet and after care products (such as shampoo, foam or lotion, neck pillow, etc) as well as instructions on how to use the medications and care products.
- The use of a translator if necessary (e.g.: French, Spanish, Russian, Romanian, Arabic, German, Italian, etc). Everyone on our medical team speaks English, so there is no need to worry about communicating with us in English, if that is your preference.
Therefore, this is all you get by paying the package price. You will have to pay just the flight tickets to and from Istanbul, and also the visa in case you need it (if so, it takes only a couple of minutes with the online visa system).
Clinicana: your best choice if you have HIV and want a hair transplant
At Clinicana we care about all our patients health and wellbeing; this is why we deeply recommend to all our patients to inform us about any pre-existing medical conditions, so that our medical team can choose the best available treatment for you to get the best results.
Everyone has the right to medical care. Our philosophy is to leave no patient untreated. That´s why we have decided to put in place at our clinic in Istanbul (Turkey) a highly qualified, experienced and specialised medical team that can perform a hair transplant in patients with HIV. If you have any query about this or another issue, please do not hesitate to contact us: at Clinicana, we are always keen to help you.