Turkey: Viral plastic surgery operation revealed as fake

A plastic surgery operation in Turkey that went viral on social media has been exposed as a fake, with the "after" image identified as a different person.

An image showing the supposed before and after of an operation allegedly performed on an American tourist in Turkey was widely circulated due to the dramatic transformation it appeared to depict.

It was hailed as proof of the skill of Turkey's plastic surgeons, who have been in high demand in recent years as medical tourism has increased in the country.

However, some raised suspicions about the plausibility of the images, with people questioning if they depicted the same person.

This has indeed been revealed to be true.

Turkish TV channel Ekol TV tracked down the man in the "after" image, revealing his name to be Engin Demir, not Michael, and that he is a Turkish citizen.

“I am not the person in this news. I did not have a face transplant," he told the channel, adding that he had undergone a different surgery four years ago. 

His image was posted alongside another man's on the Instagram account of EstemedIstanbul, which has over 600,000 followers and regularly posts before-and-and-after images of patients who underwent their procedures.

Demir said he would be taking legal action as a result of the image.

"My phones have not stopped ringing. Messages keep coming in. I am tired of answering," he said.

"Enough is enough. I'm bored."

Turkey is one of the top ten destinations for medical tourism globally, with 600 registered clinics in Istanbul alone, according to Patients Beyond Borders (PBB), an organisation that surveys medical tourism.

Local media reports indicate that more than 100,000 people, the majority from Arab states, visit the country for hair transplant procedures alone. 

Advertisements for cheap operations in Turkey are regularly peppered throughout social media, particularly on image-sharing sites such as Instagram.