FORMER Real Madrid ace Cristiano Ronaldo is on a mission to open a string of hair transplant clinics, with more in the pipeline after the one in Spain's capital and the second branch in Marbella.
Cristiano Ronaldo with his fifth Ballon d'Or in 2017, when he still played for Real Madrid
The Portuguese striker, who now plays for Juventus and lives with his Spanish girlfriend, model Georgina Rodríguez, in Torino, north-western Italy, is the major shareholder in Insparya group, which has just bought out the chain Saúde Viável ('Viable Health') in the multiple Ballon d'Or winner's native country.
This means he now owns Insparya clinics in Madrid, Marbella, and five in Portugal – in Lisbon, Braga, two in Oporto, and one on the Algarve.
The Madrid centre has been open since 2019, and the Marbella branch – the creation of which was announced a month ago – is on the urbanisation Lomas del Río Verde in the 'Golden Mile'.
It is equipped with 15 operating theatres in addition to treatment rooms, consultation rooms and doctors' surgeries, and is due to open some time in August.
A team of 100 professionals, including doctors and nurses, led by Insparya's chief clinical officer Dr Carlos Portinha, will be based there.
Until recently, hair transplants were difficult to come by, and the majority of those who wanted to have this procedure – mainly, but not exclusively, men suffering from male pattern baldness including receding hairlines – had to travel to Turkey, where such clinics are in abundance.
But since Insparya set up, over 6,000 patients have been treated in Spain and Portugal – in fact, of these, 3,500 were attended to in 2020, despite the ongoing movement restrictions as a result of the pandemic, giving an idea as to just how many patients might come forward in a 'normal' year.
With the five Portuguese branches in addition to the one in Madrid, plus the imminent opening in Marbella, Ronaldo will have gone from 18 operating theatres to 65 and his team of staff will have expanded to over 300.
After the Costa del Sol, the football legend and father of four plans to continue to expand the empire in 2021, with a third clinic in Spain – the location of which has not yet been confirmed – in the autumn, and one in Milan towards the end of the year.
