Hair transplant gone wrong leads to death of television exec

All that balding Indian television executive Athar Rasheed wanted was to look handsome and get married. But the 30 year old’s seemingly harmless hair transplant went fatally wrong.

Women have been judged on their appearance for millennia, but in an increasingly materialistic Indian society, men are also feeling pressure to look young and presentable for fear of losing their social standing.

Men opting for hair transplants

More and more prematurely balding men are opting for hair transplants, as disposable incomes rise and an emphasis on personal appearance becomes stronger.

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But in a weakly regulated sector, the procedure – sometimes performed by amateurs self trained on YouTube – can have deadly results.

Rasheed was the sole breadwinner for his family and aspired to a better life – owning a house and getting his two sisters married.

Sepsis

But he developed sepsis after undergoing a hair transplant at a clinic in Delhi last year, his distraught mother Asiya Begum, 62, said. The swelling spread from his head and he suffered terrible agonies.

“My son died a very painful death. His kidneys stopped functioning and then all his other organs collapsed,” she said.

Armed with photographs showing Rasheed’s bloated face and black rashes that broke out all over his body in his final hours, the family lodged a police complaint.

‘Surgeons’ arrested

Four people, including the two men who performed the surgery, have been arrested and are awaiting trial.

When performed by a skilled surgeon, a hair transplant can be a life-changing and confidence-boosting experience, especially for young Indian men looking for personal growth.

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Harish Iyer, a social commentator and equal rights activist, said men have started focusing more on their grooming as lifestyles change.

“The need to exhibit youth and vitality is echoed by all genders,” Iyer said. “The pressure was always on women to look a certain way and find acceptance, but the needle is now changing.”