India performs over 350,000 hair transplant surgeries annually, but alarmingly, only a small fraction are carried out by certified plastic surgeons or dermatologists. The vast majority of procedures are conducted by unqualified individuals—including dentists, Ayurvedic doctors, and technicians—often working under the banner of aesthetic centers offering low-cost packages. Many patients remain unaware that their surgery is being handled by personnel lacking formal surgical training.
These unauthorized clinics frequently operate without essential medical infrastructure. Critical safety steps like pre-operative investigations, allergy tests for anesthetic drugs, and emergency hospital affiliations are often missing. Surgeons without a proper understanding of human anatomy, medication safety, or sterilization protocols perform these procedures. Reuse of instruments and poor emergency preparedness put patients at severe risk.
Dr. Mayank Singh, MCh Plastic Surgery, highlights the dangers: “This is an extremely unfortunate incident, but sadly not the first. Over the last five years, I’ve encountered at least five or six cases in India where patients died during or after hair transplant surgery. When done by qualified hands, hair transplant surgery is very safe. The real danger lies in who is performing these surgeries.”
Beyond cosmetic concerns like unnatural hairlines, these situations pose life-threatening risks.
Regulatory gaps exacerbate the problem. The Clinical Establishment Act still permits certain non-allopathic practitioners to perform hair transplants, and mobile technician teams operate unchecked across cities. There are clear medical specialties qualified for these procedures, with strict requirements for the surgeon’s involvement in planning, anesthesia, graft harvesting, and implantation.
Dr. Singh adds, “Hair transplant should not be viewed as a simple cosmetic treatment done in salons. It is a surgical intervention demanding the highest medical safety standards. Without stronger government regulations on who can perform hair transplants, unnecessary fatalities will continue.”
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