Dr. Burak Tuncer, CEO and medical director of Esteworld, consults with a patient on a hair transplant procedure. (Photo by Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Few countries have reshaped the global medical‑aesthetics market as dramatically as Türkiye, where low‑cost procedures and luxury‑style treatment packages have turned cosmetic surgery into a booming international travel industry.
Leading that global pull is family-owned Esteworld, the plastic surgery health group whose precursor dates back to 1994, and now serves patients from more than 35 countries—including the Netherlands, Germany, the U.K. and U.S.—across its network of centers in Istanbul.
Data from Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and USHAS (International Health Services Inc.) shows that the country receives over 1.5 million international patients annually, with total sector revenue exceeding $2 billion. This growth has continued despite a continuing cost-of-living crisis.
Türkiye’s aesthetic medicine sector has had its share of bad press about botched surgeries, often at practices that are underground and not reputable. However, the combination of price advantage and rising quality means the country continues to see cross-border medical tourism thrive.
Türkiye, like several other markets, is benefiting from rising demand for self-funded medical travel; a global surge in wellness spending—a market that is set to grow to nearly $9.8 trillion by 2029 from $6.8 trillion in 2024, according to research from the Miami-based Global Wellness Institute; and the convergence of healthcare with luxury hospitality models.
Within this context, Esteworld—which is a partner of the American Academy of Aesthetic Medicine (AAAM)—represents a mature institutional player in a rapidly expanding global category. It has several competitors but is the only one integrated across so many cosmetic disciplines.
The business claims a 99.2% satisfaction rate from its 20,000 monthly customers across all disciplines, with the remaining 0.8% largely driven by local Turkish complaints about booking appointments, according to CEO Dr. Burak Tuncer, son of the founder and chairman Dr. Mustafa Tuncer. Turkish residents make up roughly half of all clients, a strong indicator service quality is high in a market where domestic consumers research extensively. “If the Turks choose us, it means we’re doing a good job,” said Tuncer.
Esteworld achieves its high-volume turnaround thanks to integrated medical services—from hair transplants (600,000 in 30 years), rhinoplasty, and mammoplasty to dental aesthetics, botox, fillers and laser treatments—under one roof, or in facilities close by. The group’s main center in Istanbul is the biggest aesthetic clinic in Europe with 70-80 surgeries per day. A new clinic is opening in May and another at the end of the year in the city’s financial center, bringing the total up to six.
Despite a decade of high double‑digit growth, and more than one million aesthetic treatments under its belt, Esteworld has been establishing offices around the world, with 35 to date including New York and Tokyo—and London, the latest addition last year. Other regional U.K. offices are slated for 2027.
Esteworld's first London office in Covent Garden, with more coming in other U.K. cities soon.
Esteworld
Burak Tuncer describes this shift as Health Tourism 4.0. “We’ve opened those offices to show potential customers that we are right there—before the surgery and after. Any questions or issues can be discussed in their own country for follow up,” he said.
This year’s focus is the U.S., because while Esteworld has brand strength in Europe, it needs more visibility across the Atlantic. “This market is as big as Europe so we want to develop our presence there and we plan to open offices in Miami this year, and Los Angeles, in addition to the existing office in New York,” Tuncer told me. It is part of a positioning strategy to capture a disproportionate share of one of the fastest-growing segments of global healthcare.
While Esteworld has excelled in cosmetic surgery and medical aesthetics the business noted that many of its customers were staying in their home markets or going to places like Switzerland for well-being and longevity breaks.
Dr. Mustafa Tuncer, Esteworld's chairman, is diversifying the family holding with Well World. (Photo by Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
A few stays later in some of best longevity centers in Europe like Clinique La Prairie in Switzerland sparked the idea for a similar project in Istanbul. Called Well World, it is now being built on the Asia side of Istanbul on the Black Sea coast at Çayırbaşı. “Longevity is a feature of health that focuses on extending well-being before illness arrives,” explained Tuncer, a concept that is gaining traction globally.
The $180 million project, funded by the Tuncer family’s own money, is set to be the biggest longevity club in Europe set on 750 hectares and will open on October 29, 2027, said the chairman Mustafa Tuncer. This is an important date as it’s when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk formally proclaimed the establishment of the Republic of Türkiye as a modern, secular nation‑state in 1923.
A combination of luxury housing, operated on an annual one-week time-share basis (paid via a one-off lifetime membership fee depending whether it is an apartment or a villa), a hotel overlooking the Black Sea surrounded by forest, plus a large clinic on-site to offer a variety of healthcare services, is the model.
The focus is on nature, movement and quality of life and it is expected that a flying car service by AirCar will operate to and from Istanbul to bring customers to the resort when it opens. As Istanbul sits at the intersection of three major regions—Europe, the Middle East, and Asia—it may act as a natural choice for cross-border longevity demand.
An impression of the finished Well World resort on the Black Sea coast of Istanbul, currently under construction.
Well World
The Tuncer family—whose Esteworld and Well World businesses form part of its holding, Tuncer Şirketler Grubu—are yet to make the Forbes Türkiye 100 Rich List. The CEO joked that it could take another five years, but the current strategic moves might speed things up. They signal a shift not just to more volume in terms of new global clients and services, but to a more powerful market positioning. In that time, Tuncer expects to have established surgery centers in Europe—perhaps in the U.K. or France, and one in the U.S. “Our new offices will feed these surgery centers,” said the CEO.
Within the holding, Well World will add new revenue to Esteworld’s €120 million ($141 million) annual sales, probably from 2028, and accelerate the group’s income if the project’s financial calculations work out. Mustafa Tuncer, who provided the figure, has a clear vision, and his son and CEO is acting on it. Their ambition now extends beyond patient volume to category leadership in global wellness.
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