Exclusive | Perez Hilton shares truth about his multiple hair transplants

Roughly two-thirds of American men will experience some degree of hair loss by age 35 — and Perez Hilton is no exception.

The infamously sharp-tongued gossip guru has undergone three hair transplants in his quest to reclaim his once-lush locks, and said public opinion surrounding the procedure has shifted dramatically since his first time under the knife.

“It’s become a common joke that men go to Turkey to get hair transplants. But when I got my first one more than 10 years ago, it was still very taboo,” Hilton told The Post. “You didn’t talk about it. But I’m going to spill all the tea.”

Taboo to trendy

These days, the hair transplant industry is booming.

Experts predict the market will grow from $11.55 billion in 2024 to a whopping $44.79 billion by 2033. That’s a hair-raising 16.25% annual growth rate.

Doctors say social media and star power have helped destigmatize the procedure, turning what was once seen as a desperate move into a modern-day self-care strategy.

Queer Eye’s Bobby Berk, Backstreet Boy AJ McLean and actor Joel McHale are among the stars who’ve opened up about getting hair transplants.

But according to Hilton, plenty of A-listers are still keeping their procedures under wraps.

He name-checked soccer star David Beckham and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay as just a couple of public figures he thinks have had some work done up top but haven’t come clean.

“The list goes on and on,” Hilton said in an interview discussing his partnership with FuturHealth, a telehealth company that offers GLP-1 weight loss medications, personalized nutrition plans, and one-on-one dietary coaching.

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it,” he added. “Do what makes you happy. Life is short.”

The follicle fix behind Hollywood hairlines

A hair transplant involves relocating hair from thicker areas of the scalp to spots that are thinning or bald.

There are two main methods: Follicular Unit Transplantation, where a strip of scalp is removed and divided into grafts, and Follicular Unit Extraction, which involves individually removing follicles before transplanting them one by one.

Hilton had three rounds of FUE — and he’s far from the only one. Experts say many patients need more than one procedure to get the look they’re after.

But that might be changing thanks to advancements in the field.

A 2022 survey by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery found that 68% of hair surgeons only needed to perform one procedure per patient to achieve their desired results — a sharp drop from an average of 3.4 in 2019 and 5 back in 2016.

Hilton said his current hairline is holding strong after three operations, and he doesn’t plan on going in for a fourth — though he admits pesky strands “still fall out.”

After a hair transplant, pattern baldness typically won’t return in full-force because the follicles are harvested from parts of the scalp that are more resistant to the hormonal and age-related factors that typically drive hair loss, according to the Chicago Hair Institute.

However, as time passes, those follicles can produce less hair, and if the surrounding hair continues to thin, the transplant area can start to look less dense.

Surgeons, not scalpers

The success of a hair transplant isn’t just about your follicles — it’s about the person holding the scalpel. And while the industry is thriving, doctors warn that some men are gambling with their scalps.

“An alarming trend is patients who now go to perform a hair transplant by a physician who does not consult the patient about his or her hair loss nor is he actively involved in the surgery,” Dr. Samuel Lam, a hair restoration expert, previously told The Post.

“This is truly a big problem in the industry and can cross legal issues where unlicensed individuals are performing the surgery without adequate supervision or where the surgeon is not even involved with the procedure.”

Lam said the disturbing practice is “most rampant” in Turkey — where hair transplant surgery has exploded due to its relative affordability — but it is “also extremely prevalent in the US.”

In 2021 alone, 703,183 hair transplant procedures were performed globally, with 149,254 of those in the US and Canada, according to an ISHRS survey.

But here’s the kicker: In the same year, 5.4% of hair restoration patients sought treatment to fix botched surgeries from offices where the physician didn’t even perform the procedure — up from 4.2% just two years earlier.