Medical tourism is nothing new. People have been traveling in search of the best healthcare available for years. However, people are no longer traveling abroad to find the 'best,' no, now they're going abroad to find the cheapest. Money is essential. There is no way around it; our lives revolve around money. Going cheap on material things is okay, but going cheap on yourself can have dire consequences. In this article, we will be discussing why you should avoid hair transplant agencies who will refer you to anyone willing to pay them a commission.
What Are Hair Transplant Agencies?
Hair transplant agencies are relatively new to the hair transplant industry. These agencies hire social media influencers, self-proclaimed hair 'gurus,' and even pay Facebook groups to find patients. So-called 'aesthetic' clinics hire these agencies to find them gullible, naive, and unaware patients. These 'aesthetic' clinics do everything under the sun, rhinoplasty, liposuction, veneers, hair transplants; heck you could probably have them do your taxes too if you pay them.
Why You Should Avoid Hair Transplant Agencies
These agencies only care about their commission. You're nothing more than dollar signs. The clinics that hire them are usually 'jack of all trades,' meaning they don't specialize in surgical hair restoration. Hair transplant surgery is an intricate procedure that takes years to master. Secondly, these clinics invest heavily in marketing and advertisements, but they have no reputation based on actual patient results. In essence, hair transplant agencies are middle-men who have little to no knowledge about the clinic or the procedure itself.
Hair Transplant Tourism Can be Dangerous
As previously mentioned, clinics hire these agencies to find them, patients. Still, now there is so much competition in countries like Turkey- to maintain profitability, these clinics cut costs by hiring untrained technicians to perform the entire procedure. The goal of these clinics is to maximize profits, and patients are nothing more than that, a number. Concerns about quality go out the window in this competitive environment. Some patients have almost died by anesthesia because untrained technicians administer the anesthesia.
Bait and Switch Tactics
It is not uncommon for a patient to see a physician on the day of the surgery and be led to believe that the surgeon will be involved in the operation, only to find out the surgeon only drew the hairline. Unfortunately, these scenarios happen all the time. There are even reports coming out of countries like Turkey, that taxi cab drivers are performing hair transplants on the side for extra income. The demand is that high. Be careful and learn from real patients before choosing a surgeon.
Conclusion
Learning from real patients is vital. There is a lot of misinformation going around on the internet; it's hard to discern what's real and what's fake. The only way to get a real sense of who is doing good work is to learn by reading unbiased reviews from actual patients. For over 15 years, the hair restoration network has been the leading hair loss forum for patient reviews and results. You can find thousands of before and after photos without the filters and perfect lighting. See the good, bad, and sometimes even ugly, which is essential to research.