Traveling to Turkey for medical care now has several humorous taglines and associations: men traveling for hair transplants on “Turkish Hairlines ,” veneers dubbed “Turkey Teeth,” and tourists walking around Istanbul looking as if they got in a back-alley brawl from post-surgery swelling.
This isn’t a niche market or recent trend. Millions of Americans venture internationally each year for medical or cosmetic procedures, and the market continues to grow.
My interest in medical tourism began after I wrote for a travel-focused website about a viral TikTok influencer who praised the quality and affordability of medical care in Turkey. Months…
