How to Choose a Hair Transplant Clinic

Choosing a clinic is mostly a research problem, and the research is harder than it looks because almost everything published about hair transplants is published by someone selling one. What follows is a sequence of checks you can carry out yourself, with an honest note on what each one proves and what it does not.

1. Find out who will actually operate

This is the single most useful question, and the one most often left vague. In many clinics the person who consults you is not the person who performs the surgery, and in some the incisions and graft placement are carried out by technicians under a doctor’s supervision. None of that is inherently wrong, and in some countries it is normal practice. What matters is that you know before you pay.

Ask, in writing: who makes the incisions, who extracts the grafts, who places them, and what the operating doctor’s name and licence number are. A clinic that answers plainly is telling you something useful. A clinic that will not answer is also telling you something useful.

2. Check the surgeon against a public register

Most countries maintain a public register of licensed doctors. Looking a name up takes a couple of minutes and confirms that the person exists, is licensed, and is licensed in the field they claim. Our guide to checking a surgeon’s credentials lists where those registers are.

Professional society membership, such as the ISHRS, is a different thing. It is a voluntary affiliation that a surgeon applies and pays for. It is a reasonable positive signal, but it is not a licence, not a qualification and not an endorsement, and plenty of capable surgeons never join.

3. Read the reviews properly

A high star rating with thousands of reviews mostly tells you a clinic is large and markets itself well. Look instead at what the negative reviews say, whether the clinic responds to them, and whether the positive ones describe an actual procedure or only the booking experience. Reviews written within days of surgery cannot describe a result: hair transplant outcomes take nine to twelve months to be visible.

4. Ask what the price includes

Published prices are usually starting prices for the smallest graft band. Two figures that look similar can differ by a lot once medication, aftercare, follow-up appointments, accommodation and transfers are counted. Our pricing guide explains how the numbers are constructed, and the cost pages show what clinics actually publish.

5. Be careful with photographs

Before-and-after photographs are marketing material. Lighting, angle, hair length, wet versus dry hair and styling all change the apparent result substantially. Ask whether the photographs are of the clinic’s own patients, who performed those procedures, how long after surgery they were taken, and whether you can see a case similar to yours.

6. Notice the pressure

Discounts that expire, prices that fall when you hesitate, and pressure to pay a deposit during the first conversation are sales techniques. They are not evidence of a bad clinic on their own, but they tell you that you are talking to a sales function rather than a medical one, and a decision about surgery deserves the time you need.

7. Ask what happens if it goes wrong

Ask what the clinic’s policy is if the result is poor, whether a corrective procedure is included, what happens if there is an infection or a complication after you have gone home, and who you contact. If you are travelling, ask specifically how aftercare works once you are back in your own country. Get the answers in writing.

Folliculis is a directory and information resource. This guide explains process and terminology so you can ask better questions. It is not medical advice, it is not a substitute for a consultation with a qualified doctor, and nothing here should be used to decide on treatment.