Dubai looks set to become a medical tourism centre in the coming years and is already leading the way in hair loss treatments such hair transplant surgery, as it has been revealed that people living in the United Arab Emirates are more likely to suffer hair loss than any other nationality.
A recent survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of UAE’s online newspaper, The National, revealed that 37% of all respondents had experienced some form of hair loss, and 47% of women were suffering from it.
A further statistic quoted in the paper, and attributed to “Dubai specialists”, claimed that 60% of men in the UAE could expect to experience hair loss, compared to a global average of 40%.
Why is hair loss so high in the UAE?
Nobody knows for sure, but there are various informed opinions on the subject floating around. Many hair loss experts suspect that the water has a part to play – it has a very high salt content – while others believe that the heat and dry conditions could be damaging to hair.
One suggestion as to why women in the UAE experience hair loss is that the wearing of abayas – a loose cloak worn over clothes to protect women’s modesty – prevents them from getting enough vitamin D, as the sunlight cannot penetrate the garment.
Most experts agree that it is probably a combination of all of these factors that has caused such a high incidence of hair loss, with genetics also playing a part – for men, male-pattern baldness is the major problem.
What can be done?
Dubai in particular has seen a sharp increase in the number of men seeking hair transplant surgery in recent years. This is a surgical procedure where hair follicles are taken from a donor site – usually at the back of the head – and transplanted to the area of thinning hair.
The procedure has a 90% success rate, according to Dr Dimitrios Ziakas, of Direct Hair Implantation at the Al Borj Medical Centre in Business Bay, who claims to have performed more than 3,000 hair transplants.
Why Dubai?
Dubai, with its world-class infrastructure, is considered to be one of the best and most cost-effective medical hubs in the world and already sees around 100,000 medical tourists visiting the city each year.
With hair loss so prevalent in the UAE, and hair transplant procedures so popular, Dubai surgeons look set to become world experts in the procedure.
