Best Clinic for hair transplant

[aidan118]

I'm looking to get a hair transplant and want an honest account of where best to get it done? It isn't severe yet so was hoping to catch it early then keep medication to ensure the rest of my hair remains ok. I'd like to hear your experiences with various clinics and prices. I'm ok for travelling from the UK to Europe if needs be as it does get to me.Thanks!!

 

[Bigmac]

You need to post more details about your current situation. As for prices, all clinics are different and it depends on how many grafts you need. You're better off asking on patient posted stories of doctors you're considering.

 

[JoeF]

Hi Aidan, I have had four hair transplants; it is very important to plan ahead; having a natural look and considering donor area, age, hair type are all dependant on the best hair transplant for you.
Do you have photos; I have had great success and results with DHI Global and are located throughout Europe, but before this choosing the best option for you is very important, if you have pictures, I can lend some good advise on the best option for you.

 

[bullitnut]

Hi dude welcome to the forum, unfortunately answers to questions like this will vary as different people have had procedures with different doctors and many have been very happy with their results. The best thing to do is to research the hell out of all the clinics and doctors and then at least hopefully you can make a good informed decision to who's work you like the look off dude, if poss I would strongly advise some consults too either in person or via Skype etc. What I will say though is there are some world class clinics on here mate so the doctors and patients sections would be a good place to start your research pal. Good luck.

 

[bullitnut]

If you can also it would be awesome to see any photos if you have any so we get an idea of your current loss. There are also a lot of clinics on here too that post and would be happy to help with advice and suggestions and you can also pm them too on here if you want to be more private.
Best wishes BN

 

[topccat29]

Aidan after having been around and watching this industry for over 30 years now I am of the very strong opinion that there are only a handful of highly skilled clinics that also have the ethics to match. The clinics themselves are led by doctors who are of high moral/ethical character which is rare to find in the world sometimes let alone in the hair transplant industry.

I would strongly suggest meeting patients, most especially those that are giving you advice. Meet them in their home if possible. Meeting their family and friends would also be helpful in determining their character. You want to know where they live in case you need to go back and find them, to thank them for being completely honest with you. I €™m sure most that are giving advice would be more than happy to welcome you in their home €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦.all you have to do is ask.

You have a choice strip or fue preferably with a small hand punch to help preserve the donor area without wasting hair you cannot afford to lose. One also has the choice of doing this with or without medication. Sometimes medications have long term risks which are not evident until 20+ years down the line. Some hair loss medications can feminize the body so these are all things to consider. Balancing the risk reward and doing what makes sense.


If you can meet patients in their home and this would also apply to anyone that works in the industry it will help to keep you safe. Get to know them on a personal level first before making any big decisions.

 

[pkipling]

Hi Aidan. The internet and forums such as this one are your friends when it comes to searching for the right doctor. As has already been stated, this is quite the loaded question. Looking at the surgeons recommended here is a fantastic starting point. Then research, research, research. In addition to looking at results, you'll also want to reach out to different patients as well. Set up some consultations, and ask lots of questions. First things first, you'll need to find out if you're even a good candidate for a HT at the moment.

Then after all is said and done, it's most important to ultimately trust your gut. If you have a bad feeling about a doctor or a patient, or feel like they're trying to "sell" you something, trust that instinct. I think the best doctors aren't the ones who are to sell you a procedure, but to educate you so that you can make the decision that's best for you. And on the flip side of that, if you find a surgeon who you feel like genuinely has your best interest at heart, trust that as well. There are some really, excellent, ethical surgeons out there - you just sometimes have to weed through a lot of the unethical, dishonest ones to find them.

 

[topccat29]

Aidan the forums can be very useful but you really have to understand what you are looking at and sometimes that can take years of life experience.

I can tell you from my own life experience in the area of health and fitness it took me a very, very long time to learn the truth. Sometimes marketing can take such a hold over our thought process that we fail to see much outside of it and we don €™t even understand we are looking at marketing and perceive it mostly as honest information.

I bought my first protein powder just over 40 years ago. It wasn €™t readily sold in stores and it was mailed to me. Why did I buy that powder at 13? What was the trigger and how valid was the information I based my decision on? I fell into a trap of thinking marketing was information for close to 30 more years until I suddenly had an awakening. I then came to realize that promoters of information in the field of health and nutrition names like Joe Weider, Bill Phillips, Bob Hoffman etc were not what they appeared to be and the more I read the more I learned and I started to connect all the dots.

In fact it is not until I met small farmers and their families that I really started to understand nutrition as it applied to human performance. It was not until I sat in their homes that I started to understand what they do, why they do it and why we often don €™t hear too much about it. Those spending the marketing dollars try to drown it all out and are usually successful.

Use the forums as they are valuable. Meet people and most that post regularly to a message forum would happily invite you into their home and meet them along with their families this is normal behavior for honest people. Learn about their lifestyle and why they do what they do and it will help to keep you safe and guide you towards information that is less about marketing and more about what is good for you.

 

[Northen Lad]

Hi Top Cat, I'm looking to book my 3rd procedure, but a little concerned as my 2nd procedure did not produce the results I hoped for. You mention that you'd only recommend a handful of UK doctors. Could you please let me know which ones they are?
Cheers

 

[topccat29]

Northern Lad you are mistaken I have not posted anything on recommending any UK doctors. It €™s kind of funny when I read some of the postings on some of the forums. One in particular from a repair patient that is spilling his guts. I pick up on red flags from very consistent observation and I told that same clinic about 10 years ago I would not use their services if they were the last clinic on Earth. I was so livid that I even repeated it to my wife later that day. I would rather go through life exactly the way I was than to deal with another industry jagoff and most that work in this industry are jagoffs. One year later they did a follow up by phoning me and all I could do was laugh at just how inept they were. I would certainly remember a patient that made the statement I made yet they didn €™t, they were still just as clueless as they were 1 year earlier so I repeated it to the person phoning me.

I waited at least 10 years before starting any type of repair and just observed, spoke to and met other patients and those working in the industry. I was happy doing nothing than to make my situation worse. I wanted to go to Dr. Bisanga after those 10 years but even though I wanted to I didn't have it worked out in my mind €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦I couldn €™t see it and would have probably waited at least another 5 more years except that I had the opportunity to seize a moment in time and I took that moment as a sign and it was a blessing from God.

If someone wants to go to a doctor in the UK €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦.God bless them.

 

[Vinci Hair Clinic]

I would like to chirp in here a little, partly because the thread has moved from the original question to more of a debate. I have known topcat for a few years, some of the time we agree and some of the time we do not, mostly off the forums, but it does not stop us agreeing on some simple aspects.

Fundamentally the choice is your decision, you will probably always have some doubts, and that is not a bad thing, but make sure you are not reacting without a decent amount of knowledge and remove as many doubts as you can; then nerves, especially for repairs or just had a bad experience.

The best thing, and in some ways the only thing you can do is try to talk and meet with other patients, don ´t limit the area you are willing to travel, if it is close then great, but what do you really care how close if you are not happy.

It ´s really not as simple as that, close can very easily be good, and maybe for another not, it ´s down to making sure you understand what is possible and what is not.

Phil

 

[topccat29]

The sad part about traveling in my opinion is that most simply don €™t understand the serious implications of having this procedure. When they find out too late and they have a hard time leaving their house they suddenly have that €œoh shit € moment followed by the €œnow what am I going to do € moment. Their oh shit moment also prevents them from telling others as they need to remain quiet to figure out there what am I going to do now plan.

If I knew everything I know now gathered over the span of 30 years and I had a virgin head there is still the slight chance that I could somehow believe in my mind that I could get away without having to travel so far and I would be completely wrong and that is the sad part as most guys think exactly the same way and the majority of them are wrong. People tend to talk themselves into believing this will be just as good €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ the easier decision €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦in my opinion it is not.

I would suggest meeting people in person especially those that work in the industry. Meet their family, friends and their neighbors €¦ €¦ €¦..pet their dog if they have one. Know where to find them to thank them in the future or to ask them what happened if things go wrong and you ended up going to someone who simply was not the best in the business and your life is now a living hell because you feel you have been disfigured and are afraid to face people.

It would be nice if there were more doctors with skill and ethics but that is not the case. I honestly wish there were more but as it sits now you have about 1% good against 99% not so good and the 99% are the majority so understand that concept, majority rules and majority controls. My suggestion for those working in the industry would be to work less on trying to sell something that is not as good and work more towards working with somebody that has something easy to market because it is in fact so good. Case in point would be a clinic like Hasson and Wong for those that choose strip. Anyone can market their product because it €™s a good product to begin with so one relies less on having to make things up or present something in a way that tends to be deceptive.

Woods from my observations is an ethical doctor with skill and most patients are in very safe hands and I have spoke to many of them. He doesn €™t have much in the way of online representation maybe because he is too honest and is not afraid to state that the industry is for the most part complete shit. Someone should work with someone like him €¦ €¦ €¦..that is what I would do if I ever wanted to work in this business. Seek out those that are really good and not try and put together a list of second rate bozos and have to work extra hard and convincing others how great they are, that seems so much harder and personally I wouldn't have the stomach for it.


Hopefully most figure this all out because even with all the available information it is absolutely not any easier than it was 30 years ago unless you have the experience and having the experience can sometimes be a very steep price to pay.


I am currently reading "Snakes in Suits". It's a really good book and I would suggest others to maybe do more reading of books.

 

[JoeTillman]

It isn't severe yet so was hoping to catch it early then keep medication to ensure the rest of my hair remains ok.

[font="Verdana, sans-serif"]
Bigmac said it best, that Aidan should share more information about his case but instead of reinforcing this point we have long winded posts about how it is important to pet a dog in order to understand which clinic is worth visiting (???).][/font]

Maybe we should be telling Aidan that dealing with his situation with medication first (if he isn't already) is a better alternative since he says himself the problem is not severe.

Surgery is a last resort and if it can be avoided then it should be.

 

[janna]

JoeTillman wrote:

Surgery is a last resort and if it can be avoided then it should be.

Well said!

Surgery is surgery and there are number of things that can go wrong with any surgical procedure and hair restoration is no exception. Don't go into the procedure thinking that it's easy and that you'll get exactly what you expect. Definitely consult with several clinics and decide if it's right for you at this time or if it's better waiting. I happen to think that it's best to hold off until you are going to get a noticeable improvement that you can appreciate, and it's worth going through surgery for it.

 

[topccat29]

Yes I agree if surgery can be avoided absolutely stay away from it along with hair tattoos. If you are considering medication than research it thoroughly as the risk might not be worth the benefit.

 

[JoeTillman]

That's very similar to what I tell patients in general, Janna. It makes no sense to have any cosmetic procedure if there is no actual cosmetic improvement to be expected. To me it should be a day vs. night type of improvement or need for improvement. I know that not every patient thinks this way and to some, even minor thinning can be such a stark contrast. Another issue is that if patients are not willing to take medication for prevention they should not be willing to have surgery without expecting consequences that cannot be undone or are very difficult to have undone.
I'm talking to a patient right now as a matter of fact that was told years ago that he shouldn't worry about needing Propecia because he had a lot of donor hair so the hairline work he was getting should be fine and he had plenty of donor hair for the future "just in case". Three surgeries later he's hating life with BIG gaps in between the frontal zone and the areas behind that have thinned. He could probably have more surgery and he's coming to see Dr. Karadeniz and myself at our London consultations to talk about his options but my gut tells me Dr. K will tell him to try Propecia for a year or two to see if the problems reverse. That is what I've already been telling him. I wonder if he had been presented with the opportunity to pet the doctor's dog he would have somehow been able to judge the character of the doctor to know if his character corresponded to the common sense, or lack thereof, of what he was being told. That approach makes a lot of sense when you think about it because dogs have a sense of character that many people do not. If the doctor had a dog to begin with then you'd know that he would have been an ok guy or else the dog would have left long ago. So yeah, if there is a dog nearby that is available for petting then that's half the research right there.

 

[Northen Lad]

Apologies Top Cat, your right, I misread your post. If possible I'd really like the opportunity to discuss my experience of HT so far. I've decided on a 3rd HT and have a short list of clinics/doctors I'm considering. I've been in and out for the forums for a few years and find there is a lot of conflicting info about clinch and doctors, so a little straight talking without the BS would be helpful. I vectored to PM you but the forum doesn't allow this? I'd appreciate any help at this stage.

 

[Northen Lad]

Northern Lad wrote:

Apologies Top Cat, your right, I misread your post. If possible I'd really like the opportunity to discuss my experience of HT so far. I've decided on a 3rd HT and have a short list of clinics/doctors I'm considering. I've been in and out for the forums for a few years and find there is a lot of conflicting info about clinch and doctors, so a little straight talking without the BS would be helpful. I vectored to PM you but the forum doesn't allow this? I'd appreciate any help at this stage.

I really should proof read before posting. "Clinch and doctors" * clinics and doctors. "Vectored to PM you " *should read - tried to PM you.

 

[topccat29]

Hi Northern Lad I probably should have posted for you to start another thread €¦ €¦.not a problem for me though. Always good to get as much information out there as possible and hopefully even aidan although it does not necessarily address his original question still finds the exchange useful.

I read an interesting quote yesterday and for me it is not the first time. Many con men rely on the shame of the victim to keep the con going as the shame keeps it all quiet. This is why it is important for me to speak for those that feel shame which does happen often with ht procedures. Anything that keeps the process from constantly repeating is good. I tend to become a little passionate about it all so I do need to keep it all in check. It ruffles too many feathers which is not the intention.

I will look for your thread.


Good luck to you Aidan. I would seriously consider not using medication as stated. You feminize your body for hair and personally I feel that is a very poor trade off. Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me but I also understand we are all different. Many that take that road of course would encourage others as maybe validation for their own choice, just understand not everyone chooses it so it is good to hear other opinions.


I think one is infinitely better off just having surgery when the time is appropriate using the donor that is available in a reasonable way with a good long term plan. Better to have just a little bit of hair and be normal in other ways than the alternative. Just my opinion.

 

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