Medical tourism has been exploding in popularity in recent years. In fact, many patients find themselves flying to foreign countries that perform hair transplant surgery at a fraction of the cost in their native countries. This has prompted many to question whether these clinics are performing ultra-refined hair transplant procedures or if they’re damaging patients.
Why Is Are Some Hair Transplant Clinics Expensive?
Hair transplant surgery is a refined surgical technique that takes years to practice and master and only a select few hair transplant surgeons produce excellent patient results regularly. In the 80's and 90's, hair transplant surgeons were only able to transplant a few hundred grafts per surgical session. This limited surgical fatigue and gave the surgeon the ability to perform the entire surgery by themselves.
However, in the late 90's and early 2000's the hair restoration profession was revolutionized with the advent of Hair Restoration Forums. Now the new surgical model included several technicians assisting the surgeon in dissecting and transplanting the grafts, this gave surgeons the ability to transplant thousands of grafts as opposed to a few hundred. Naturally, the more grafts patients have transplanted, the more work and additional staffing needed for the procedure itself.
Are Low-Cost Clinics Worth It?
Unfortunately, there is no clear cut answer, it is not as simple as saying yes or no. Not every surgeon/clinic is created equal and the medical standards vary from country to country. However, the majority of low-cost clinics are numbers driven, because they must operate on several patients a day to maintain high profits.
Now, this doesn't mean that numbers driven clinic or surgeon are incapable of producing good results, but the risk of sub-par results are higher with this business model. The majority of low-cost clinics do not have a hair transplant surgeon on site monitoring the surgeries, most if not all of the surgery is performed by technicians. This leaves patients with little to no recourse if their procedure does not turn out as they expected.
With that said, many developing nations have highly skilled and qualified hair transplant surgeons, but these clinics will always have a hair transplant surgeon on-site monitoring and performing different aspects of the surgical procedure.
Conclusion
Not all low-cost hair transplant clinics are bad, just like not all expensive hair transplant clinics are good. Finding a skilled, talented and experienced hair restoration physician with a proven track record of producing excellent patient results requires thorough and extensive research.
This is why accreditation is so important because much like ivy-league universities, it is extremely difficult to be approved by an organization like The Hair Transplant Network. Many hair transplant surgeons request approval, but only a select few meet the strict and demanding high standards set forth by The Hair Transplant Network.
