Claims We Changed After Reviewing the Evidence

A traction alopecia figure we could not trace to a study

Figure could not be tracedStill unverified

What we had said

We published that traction alopecia affects up to 32% of women and 22% of high-school girls with Afro-textured hair. Both figures came from a review article.

What we checked

We went looking for the studies the review was drawing on, and read two population studies from Cape Town — one of 874 adults, one combining adult and schoolgirl cohorts.

What the evidence supported

The adult figure held up: 31.7% of the women examined. The schoolgirl figure did not match. The primary study reports 17.1% in girls aged 6 to 21, while 22.6% is the overall adult prevalence in the separate study. We could not establish where a 22% schoolgirl figure comes from.

What we changed

We split the statement in two. The adult figure is now published with the study population named, so a reader can see it describes 874 adults in Cape Town rather than Afro-textured hair everywhere. The schoolgirl figure was removed from the site and remains unpublished.

First reviewed 9 August 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: A traction alopecia figure we could not trace to a study. Reviewed 2026-08-09. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/

We removed the claim that coiled hair needs fewer grafts

Claim removedStill unverified

What we had said

Our homepage stated that because each curl coils and overlaps, coiled hair covers more scalp per follicle — and that fewer grafts can therefore produce a fuller-looking result than the same graft count on straight hair.

What we checked

We searched for any study measuring coverage per follicle, or comparing graft requirements between coiled and straight hair. Three separate searches returned nothing.

What the evidence supported

The first half of the claim does have a source: scalp biopsies comparing African American and white patients found total hair density significantly lower in the African American group. Nothing we found measures whether curl compensates for that.

What we changed

The density finding stays, attributed to the study and its sample size. The compensation claim was removed. It was the half that told a patient they might need fewer grafts, which makes it the half that most needed evidence, and it had none.

First reviewed 9 August 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: We removed the claim that coiled hair needs fewer grafts. Reviewed 2026-08-09. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/

We could not support what we said about robotic extraction

Claim removedStill unverified

What we had said

Our homepage stated that robotic FUE systems use optical recognition calibrated around straight hair, that a camera-guided arm cannot reliably read a follicle that bends beneath the skin, and that this drives transection risk up.

What we checked

We searched for published comparisons of robotic and manual extraction in Afro-textured or curly hair, and for device-specific performance data. The closest source is a review describing how robotic systems work and noting they have advantages and disadvantages.

What the evidence supported

That review contains no data on performance in tightly curled hair. We found no study measuring it either way.

What we changed

The section was rewritten to say we could not find the data. It now states that anyone claiming robots definitively cannot handle textured hair is asserting something the published record does not currently establish — including us, previously. Our preference for working by hand is presented as a clinical preference informed by other evidence, not a proven superiority.

First reviewed 9 August 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: We could not support what we said about robotic extraction. Reviewed 2026-08-09. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/

We stopped implying we knew why keloids form more often

Wording narrowedPublished in changed form

What we had said

We wrote that melanin-rich skin carries a higher documented risk of keloid and hypertrophic scarring. That phrasing points at melanin as the reason.

What we checked

We read the dermatology review our statement rested on.

What the evidence supported

It records that keloids form more often in Black patients than in white patients, and states plainly that the reason for the difference is not known. It attributes nothing to melanin.

What we changed

The wording now reports the difference without offering a mechanism, and says the cause is unestablished. The word "documented" was removed from the risk itself: the difference is documented, the explanation is not, and the original sentence blurred the two.

The page now says “Keloid scarring occurs more often in Black patients than in white patients; the reason for the difference is not established.”

First reviewed 9 August 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: We stopped implying we knew why keloids form more often. Reviewed 2026-08-09. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/

A paper we wanted to cite did not support the point we wanted it for

Source did not support this claimStill unverified

What we had said

We intended to publish a transection rate for coiled hair, and to present curl as the reason transection risk rises.

What we checked

We read four studies. One reported rates of 2.2 to 4.3 percent — but only six of its 152 patients had coiled hair, and its own conclusion was that scalp thickness and firmness affected the rate more than curliness did. We recorded that as contradicting our claim.

What the evidence supported

Reading further resolved the apparent conflict rather than deepening it. A separate series of 64 patients of African descent reached the same conclusion: skin thickness and firmness mattered more than curl. The two studies were not in conflict; the first simply had a mostly straight-haired population, so it said little about Afro hair either way.

What we changed

No transection percentage for coiled hair is published anywhere on this site, because none of the studies measures one. What we publish instead is what they do support: that conventional rotary punches performed badly in one small series of tightly curled hair, that scalp thickness and firmness outweigh curl, and that a general FUE population showed transection in 6.3 to 7.4 percent of grafts — which makes transection a feature of the technique rather than a penalty for having textured hair.

First reviewed 9 August 2026 · last updated 10 August 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: A paper we wanted to cite did not support the point we wanted it for. Reviewed 2026-08-10. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/

A question we had recorded as unanswerable, later answered

Evidence found laterPublished in changed form

What we had said

We had no position on whether hair transplantation is appropriate in central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, and recorded it as something we had searched for and not found.

What we checked

The first search returned only a general review whose abstract describes curly hair as needing special consideration, with no candidacy criteria and no outcome data. A later search found a case report.

What the evidence supported

Two African American women with end-stage disease and no inflammation on scalp biopsy underwent transplantation, and hair growth was observed at the recipient sites with no post-operative scarring reported.

What we changed

We now publish that transplantation has been reported as safe and effective in this condition — carrying the conditions with it, because they are the whole finding: two published cases, end-stage disease only, and a biopsy showing no remaining inflammation. It is not evidence for operating on active disease.

The page now says “Hair transplantation has been reported as safe and effective in CCCA, but only in two published cases, and only where the disease was end-stage and a scalp biopsy showed no remaining inflammation.”

First reviewed 9 August 2026 · last updated 10 August 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: A question we had recorded as unanswerable, later answered. Reviewed 2026-08-10. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/

We do not say that DHI places grafts better in coiled hair

Still unverifiedStill unverified

What we had said

Our pricing table describes the implanter pen as the tool where control over angle and direction sits, and this market sells DHI to Afro-textured patients as the better way to place a graft. The natural next sentence, that it gives better survival or a more natural result in coiled hair, is one we have not written.

What we checked

We searched PubMed on 20 September 2026 for implanter or DHI placement in patients of African descent or with Afro-textured hair, and for any comparison of implanter against forceps placement in any population.

What the evidence supported

Nothing for coiled hair: every published study of transplantation in Afro-textured hair concerns the punch. In any population, one comparison of graft dropout at one month exists as a three-page letter with no abstract, and one series counted survival by density with an implanter in four patients. A placement review records that the implanter became popular first in East Asia because of straight, thick hair, and that the possibility of delegating placement was one of its attractions.

What we changed

The statement stays unpublished. Our pages describe what the implanter mechanically does, say that whether it places a coiled follicle better than forceps has not been measured, and treat the choice as one to be explained per case rather than sold.

First reviewed 20 September 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: We do not say that DHI places grafts better in coiled hair. Reviewed 2026-09-20. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/

We stopped saying that Afro-textured hair density is simply lower

Wording narrowedPublished in changed form

What we had said

Our donor density page said that Afro-textured hair is not denser than other hair types and that measured density is lower, resting on a South African trichoscopy study and a worldwide survey. Both do say that.

What we checked

On 20 September 2026 we searched for every measurement of scalp hair density in people of African descent and found five, including one we had not read: a trichoscopy study of 909 Nigerians published in 2024.

What the evidence supported

Four of the five measurements are lower than white or worldwide comparisons, including the two we had cited. The fifth reports a median more than twice theirs and calls African density high. Its full text is closed and its abstract defines its units inconsistently, so we could not establish whether the difference is in the scalps or in the counting.

What we changed

The flat sentence is withheld: a contradicting measurement is recorded against it and the gate refuses it. In its place the page states all five measurements, which way each points, that none measured a donor area, and that coverage per follicle has never been measured. Our answer to a patient asking whether their hair is denser is now that the measurements disagree and none of them was taken where grafts come from.

The page now says “Hair density in people of African descent has been measured five times: by scalp biopsy in 22 African Americans against 12 white patients, by phototrichogram in 38 African-born adults, in 2,249 adults from 24 ethnic groups, and by trichoscopy in 122 South Africans and in 909 Nigerians. Four of the five found it lower than white or worldwide comparisons; the Nigerian study reported a median of 330 hairs per square centimetre and called it high, and its counting rule could not be verified. None measured a donor area, and none measured what curl adds to how much scalp each hair covers.”

First reviewed 20 September 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: We stopped saying that Afro-textured hair density is simply lower. Reviewed 2026-09-20. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/

We now say whose Ministry of Health authorisation this site works under, and that it is not our own

Evidence found laterPublished in changed form

What we had said

This site published nothing about health tourism authorisation. A signed clinic statement of 24 August 2026 asserted that AHC holds a certificate; a message from the clinic the same day said none exists for AHC and that a previous clinic's would be used. Faced with the clinic contradicting its own document, we recorded the contradiction and said nothing.

What we checked

On 20 September 2026 the site owner instructed that the certificate to publish is a previous clinic's. We did not take it from their website. We searched the Ministry of Health's own HealthTürkiye register and found the entry: İstanbulvita Sağlık Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti. (Medistanbul Turizm Seyahat Acentası), certificate AK-0595, Şişli, Istanbul.

What the evidence supported

The register supports exactly one thing: that this legal entity holds AK-0595. It cannot say whether this website's treatment journeys are arranged under it. That second statement rests on the publisher's written instruction and is labelled first-party.

What we changed

Both statements are now published, in the footer and on the verification page, with a link to the Ministry's register. The certificate holder is named as the Ministry spells it, because a certificate cannot be cited without its holder. The site also states plainly that AfroHairClinicTurkey holds no certificate of its own.

The page now says “İstanbulvita Sağlık Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti., trading as Medistanbul Turizm Seyahat Acentası in Şişli, Istanbul, holds International Health Tourism Authorisation Certificate AK-0595 issued by the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health, and is listed as an authorised health tourism intermediary on the Ministry's HealthTürkiye register.”

First reviewed 20 September 2026 · AfroHairClinicTurkey editorial team

Suggested citation AfroHairClinicTurkey. Evidence Decision Record: We now say whose Ministry of Health authorisation this site works under, and that it is not our own. Reviewed 2026-09-20. https://afrohairclinicturkey.com/research/evidence-decisions/