My heart goes out to the family of 24-year-old Mathieu Vigier Latour. The young man committed suicide after a botched beard transplant went wrong.
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It's easy from an outside perspective to attempt to ridicule and question whether the young man was vain. But in doing so, you're dismissing the very real mental health crisis this man went through and the tragic consequences that followed. Don't be that person. Mathieu deserves our attention and respect so we can avoid future stories like this.
Latour went to Istanbul, Turkey to get a beard transplant back in March. He had saved $1,300 for the surgery. Back in his home country of France, the surgery would have cost five times that price. Latour would soon learn why the price was so cheap.
The surgeon ended up botching the beard transplant. This led to the 24-year-old to develop a severe case of body dysmorphia. He began to judge his outward appearance negatively, which led to a mental crisis.
Botched Beard Transplant
During the beard transplant, the surgeon transplanted 4,000 grafts from his head to his beard. They ended losing hair on his head in the process. Only later did Latour learn that he didn't actually go to a surgeon for his transplant. It was actually a real estate agent pretending to be a surgeon.
His father, named Mathieu Vigier Latour, told broadcaster BFM TV, "When it started to grow out, it looked like a hedgehog, it was unmanageable."
According to his father, the young man suffered from an unnatural-looking beard and also severe burns on his face and head from the procedure. This made it difficult for him to sleep at night.
His dad explained, "He was suffering, he wasn't doing well. He was in pain, suffered from burns, and he couldn't sleep."
His family jumped in to help. They contacted a specialist in Belgium, but the doctor had no solution for the 24-year-old. The specialist told him that his scalp would never recover from the botched beard transplant.
Three months later, he ended up taking his own life.
"He entered a vicious circle and couldn't get out," his father added. "If this testimony could prevent this from happening again and alert everyone, I think that would be a tribute to Mathieu."
