Hair Loss Articles
Finding a Hair Transplant Doctor
by Joe Tillman
Date Added: December 21, 2006
Looking for a good hair transplant doctor takes time and research. Don’t let price or the allure of expensive advertising lead you to your decision. Become an informed consumer and you are less likely to be disappointed. Look for: experience, qualifications, consistent results, and heed the word on the street.
Experience
How long has the hair transplant doctor been in business? Check if there are complaints with the Better Business Bureau or medical college or board. Ensure they've been in business for some time and have a track record of consistently good results. You want to see a pattern of consistency, not just one or two great results. Beware a clinic that has been in business for many years but only has a handful of results in their photo gallery.
Lips, Boobs, Liposuction, and Oh Yeah…Hair Transplants
Avoid the "jack-of-all-cosmetic-procedures". Since hair transplantation is lucrative, many plastic surgeons or cosmetic surgeons have jumped aboard the gravy train. There may be some good ones out there, but there is no way they can get the experience of a hair transplant doctor and clinic devoted solely to hair transplantation. If a doctor does 2 lip jobs, a boob job, and 1 hair transplant per week, how can they match a clinic that does at least a hair transplant daily? It doesn't compute. By virtue of being committed to one type of surgery, daily, for years, hair transplant clinic doctors and technicians have both deep and broad experience in their field. This just isn't the case with most cosmetic surgeons who "also do" hair transplants.
Qualifications and Certification
Don't be fooled by certifications. The fact is, at the time of this writing, there is no governing body that oversees hair transplant surgeons in the USA or Canada. In some states, the surgeon does not even need to be an MD. In those states the hair transplant surgeon can be a surgical assistant or nurse. Ensure that the doctor is...well...a doctor. Are they registered with their state or provincial medical licensing board? Have they ever been disciplined by that board or college? What surgical safeguards are in place and who is ensuring that the clinic meets highly stringent standards? In some cases, larger hair transplant franchises talk about certification when in fact, the certification comes from within their own institution, by training their surgeons and then "certifying" them.
Glossy Advertising and Informercials: The Chain Store Allure
Beware of chain store clinics. There are several large, well-marketed companies that have clinics throughout the country in most major cities. They market themselves in infomercials and pay for splashy, glossy ads. You hear about the company, not the doctor, you see the founder or figurehead, but again, you don't see or hear about individual doctors or their results. Remember: you are getting a hair transplant by a doctor and his team, not a company. You want to know about the doctor and the surgical technicians, not the founder. It may be that there are good results coming from these clinics, but not as many as you'd expect by the volume of transplants they perform. Don't be swayed by one or two celebrities waxing on about how their lives have been changed, or a marketing campaign that allows the chain a presence so pervasive that it seeps into the collective unconscious. The "mills" will show you a few great results, but, if a company has a clinic in nearly every major city, wouldn't you expect more great results, even hundreds?
Before and After Results:
Beware Deceptive Photography
Obviously, scrutinize before and after photo or videos of hair transplant results. Be aware of some technical aspects of photography that may enhance results: camera flash, and lighting can affect the perceived thickness and density of hair. Photos that use flash or unnatural light sources may deceive you by enhancing the thickness and apparent density of hair. This doesn't mean that such photos are taken that way on purpose in an effort to con you, sometimes it is simply ignorance of the effects of flash or lighting. However, in the end, the clinic's intention doesn't matter: fooled by accident or by design, you may still fooled.
More important than photos is patient testimony. The best patient testimony is unsoliticited, not what you see in the Testimonials section of the clinic website, but what patients are saying before, during, and after a hair transplant procedure on hair transplant forums. It’s not to say that patient testimonies on clinic websites are all bad it is just that you want to have more than a few snippets of testimony next to blurry before/after pics. There should be testimonies by patients that are sincere and maybe even a link to a different webpage with more detailed information and photos.
Hair Transplant Forums
Visit a few hair transplant discussion forums. Hair transplant and hair loss forums are an invaluable resource for would-be patients. These communities are well informed and hundreds of contributing members have had hair transplants by various clinics who also participate in the discussions. You can ask questions about hair transplants and questions about specific clinics and doctors. You can even ask questions of doctors directly.
Doctors and their consultants will often post results of their patients. These posts need to be complimented by patient testimony and a track record of consistency, so augment your research by reading patient posts. Many patients post their results in real-time as the transplants grow. They talk about what they are experiencing, both the good and the bad.
Search the forums for bad results and you will see threads of dissatisfied customers. Note the clinics in question. Do some math. Even the best clinics will have the occasional less than perfect result, but good clinics will have good results and feedback that vastly outweigh the bad. You will also notice that good clinics will guarantee their work and correct the problem if they can, or refund the money.
Forums Links
Caveat Emptor
The best way to ensure you have a good hair transplant is to follow the above tips. Buying a hair transplant is not unlike buying a pair of shoes, you have to shop around to find the right fit at the right price and be informed.
Good luck and if you have any questions, contact me.
