A British choreographer has gone viral after a hair transplant left his head incredibly swollen.
TikTok user Kanah Flex recently traveled to Turkey to receive the popular procedure and has documented his healing journey on social media.
Following the procedure—in which Flex had 8,000 hairs transplanted—he had to wear a headband to help with the swelling. Unfortunately, that seemed to make the swelling look even more pronounced.
“God damn, look at my head. I look like Squidward. I look like Megamind. I look like Roger from American Dad. What is going on?” he said in one clip.
“The hairline will restore back. I know I’m looking crazy but trust the process. In six months I will be looking better but right now I am looking like an alien.”
Thankfully, Flex seemed to be taking his viral moment in stride. He used his newfound fame to promote an upcoming dance show. “Come watch me and my Megamind perform at The Place on 13th February,” he wrote.
Six days after his procedure, however, Flex’s swelling had gone down noticeably and he was able to remove his headband.
The choreographer marveled in an update video about how viral his TikToks had gone. He said any nasty comments he received were worth it if he was able to “inspire people to be a little bit brave and not shy about getting a transplant.”
Over 1 million hair transplants were performed in Turkey in 2021, and the number grows each year
Hair transplants are a $10 billion industry and growing every year. As of December 2023, one-third of the world’s procedures happen in Turkey.
The country has become famous for a technique called Follicular Unit Extraction, or FUE, where individual follicles are extracted from an area of the head with fuller hair—usually the back—and transplanted into thinner areas.
FUE is less painful, less invasive, and more realistic-looking than other methods of treating hair loss. A Turkish transplant also costs a fraction of a U.S. procedure. Medihair puts the average cost of a transplant in Turkey at $2,675, while in the U.S. it’ll run you $13,610 on average.
According to a 2023 YouTube documentary by Bloomberg, an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 transplants happen in Istanbul every day. Most of the patients are from outside the country.
The post A Hair Transplant Made This Guy Look Like Megamind appeared first on VICE.
