How do I choose a good clinic for my hair transplant surgery needs and what should I look for when researching clinics online?

Hair transplants in the last 10 years started to be one the most famous esthetical operations. According to ISHRS data, more than 800,000 people have a hair transplant, which is much more than this. Last year 1 million people visited Turkey for hair transplants which makes Turkey to best place to go for this procedure.

Statistics alone show that the best place to have a hair transplant is Turkey but only the number won’t be enough to pick the best clinic. Since Turkey become a hot place for hair transplants there are many clinics opened last 5 years. Only in Istanbul, 500 about 1000 clinics operate in Turkey. Since reviews are mostly positive we can understand that Turks already doing this job finest compared to the rest of the world but how to avoid bad apples?

We can say easily if you come to Turkey 70% of you would be satisfied with the result. The surgeons and technicians are highly experienced due to the high number of cases each year. But this is not enough to provide great results. Many clinics try to trick people to gain more customers. Here are some important scams you should consider before picking your clinic.

1. Check the packages provided by the clinic what is actually included in the price.
2. Don’t be tricked by the famous doctor clinics. There isn’t almost any surgeon who would operate you. A hair transplant takes 6-8 hours and the surgeon won’t be able to operate. There are at least 2 technicians who do the procedure. Doctors only advise and control the procedure. This is the right thing to do since technicians are experienced with repetitive work. So there isn’t meaning to ask for Doc. Most clinics would lie about it. 
3. After you send your photos sales rep will analyze your situation and always try to tell you high count grafts to charge you more. Let’s say you require 3k grafts they will tell you at least 3.5 or 4k so you would be happy and they could charge more as well. There isn’t a real way to count grafts every person has a different hair type some have thin hair and roots are 1 piece. Other people have thick hair with triple or more hair roots. The best thing consulting a couple of clinics at the same time.
4. Check the response rate of the Sales Rep and see how much information is provided to you. The hair transplant success rate is about %50 procedure %50 aftercare. So picking the right Sales Rep will follow your progress and warn you of any possible mistakes. This is actually as important as the doctor itself. Many Sales Rep works regular work hours and after the procedure, since they get their bonuses they don’t follow the case. This also happens with big clinics. Since they are fed with new leads every day they don’t have much time to deal with closed deals.
5. Avoid the big clinics. Since they operate more than 50 people each day you would be just another case. Hard for them to give you special treatment. That is true that they are experienced they have a great system but if you want the best service boutique clinics would be a better option.
6. Don’t go to any clinic that hasn’t published prices on the website. That means you will be charged more than what it is. Since the cost accumulates with graft count. As earlier I mentioned graft count will be given higher than itself. Eventually, you will be overcharged.
7. Be careful with feedback and comments done on forums like Reddit. There are some fake profiles that will state some doctors have done great results etc.. They might use real case photos but comments can be tricky.
8. Don’t make last-minute changes or pick your clinic when you are in Turkey. Short-time booked procedures are mostly done by a team daily rented from somewhere or a substitute team. Or we can say the less experienced team. Try to plan your hair transplant at least a month ago.

These are the most important subjects to pick the best clinic for your hair transplant. Hair transplant is the least dangerous surgery yet infection risk is still on the table. Don’t pick a clinic only by the price. Most people do a hair transplant one time and that is good enough for the rest of their lives. And consider that the second procedure would be painful not like the first one. That’s why pick wise and once.