A man has claimed a botched hair transplant has 'destroyed his life' after he was left with massive purple scars on his head.

Mark Sweeney, 57, was promised professional treatment at the Merchant City Medical centre in city centre, and says he chose the clinic over others abroad after hearing of . But his dream of a full head of hair turned into a nightmare when the procedure left him with a large scar across his forehead. He alleges that the failed operation has left him unable to continue his job as a waiter, as he cannot bear to face the public, and has to style his hair forward to hide the unsightly marks.

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Mr Sweeney, who quit his job at Glasgow's Buttery restaurant, told the : "They've ruined my life, absolutely ruined and destroyed my life and I can't do anything about it." Since the transplant, he says he has been battling anxiety and depression due to his damaged self-image. He is now on medication prescribed by his GP. Mark, who paid £3,500 for the procedure, has been left with a scar on his forehead and a bald patch on the side of his head where grafts were taken.

He explained: "I'm bald where they took the hair and I'm scarred at the front. I've got a hairline that's low on one side. What I do now is I grow my hair long at the front and I shave the hairline to try to disguise it and cover it up."

Merchant City Medical's website says the clinic offers hair transplant surgery alongside a number of other hair treatments, including scalp pigmentation and PRP (latelet-rich plasma), a treatment which uses a patient's own blood to stimulate tissue regeneration. They also offer a range of other non-surgical treatments, such as fillers and anti-wrinkle injections, alongside liposuction, breast augmentation and other surgical treatments are available too."

But Mark has issued a stark warning to those considering hair transplants, urging them to be mindful of the risks involved - even within the UK. He described his experience as "like a horror story from Turkey", and claims other surgeons told him mistakes had been made in the process, including inserting the grafts "too deeply".

The 57-year-old says he has been left with "a ridge of lumps and bumps", adding: "There is too much graft in one area and I have a bald patch at the back where they took the hair. They call that over-harvesting."

The ordeal has left him self-conscious, he says, forcing him to wear a "hat all the time" to cover up the marks. He added: "I can't speak to people or look them in the eye because I feel as though they are looking at my head."

Mark is now saving money to have his hairline fixed at a clinic in the US, and shared: "People tend to not want to comment on other people’s work but they politely say it’s a bloody mess and it’s the worst they’ve ever seen.” Merchant City Medical's CEO Paul Mulholland told the Record that Mark had been a patient at their facility, and said on Friday: "Mark turned up at our office yesterday and was told to leave."

The has contacted Merchant City Medical for comment.