If you’re bald, chances are strong that you’ve gotten a targeted ad for Turkish hair transplants at one point or another.


These procedures are ubiquitous in the country. Walk around a major city in Turkey — hell, even have a layover in a Turkish airport — and you’ll see plenty of white dudes with their heads wrapped in bandages after their attempt to have the hairline of a 19-year-old.



What some might not know, however, is that Turkey is a hub for all kinds of plastic surgery. Hair transplants, nose jobs, chin sharpening — if you want to completely erase your old self, Turkey is the place you go to do it.


Recently, a photo of Turkish plastic surgery “before and after” went viral, and it’s causing a lot of people to question their sanity.



Okay, we’re all thinking it: This has got to be fake, right?


Well, I’ve reached out to the clinic via WhatsApp to see if they have an explanation for this image, but they still haven’t gotten back to me, so we’re going to have to see what we can do with a little photo forensics.


In short, while the image on the clinic’s Instagram page has, in my opinion, definitely had some minor edits — the nose, chin and ears appear most suspect — it seems that these images do appear to be of real people.



Are they the *same* person, though? I have no idea — the slope of the forehead and general face shape would indicate that they are, but the fact that he went from looking in his mid-60s to his early 30s leads me to think that someone is fibbing here.


In fairness to the clinic, they’ve also posted some other transformations that look much more realistic. Here are some examples of things they’ve done well:




And some that they’ve kinda screwed up, including one dude who went a little too far in his request for a “Chad” jawline.



Hey, at least we all now know that if you want to start your life over, all you need is a plane ticket to Istanbul.