• Extremely cheap price

Hair transplants are laborious and time-consuming; any surgeon worth his soul will charge a fair price for it.

So if you come across clinic quoting prices that are much cheaper than its rivals – avoid them.

• Consistently bad reviews

The key word here is “consistently”.

One or two bad reviews among hundreds is not really an issue.  Or as they say it isn’t “statically significant”.

And this is even more relevant these days because, unfortunately, there is a horrible trend of “negative reviews” being posted by rival clinics which really confuses potential clients trying to find a good clinic.

• Limited or no patient photo gallery

A top clinic will be proud to showcase their success stories.  And you want to see these on their website.

Off course clinics will cherry-pick their best results, but you still want to see this.

It shows they at least have SOME success.  It also gives you an idea about they type of patients who have successful procedures with them.

i.e. can you see people with your hair type in the photo gallery?

This is a huge point to note in your research

• Obvious fake reviews

A good clinic doesn’t need to do fake reviews!

Sometimes in hair loss forums, you see brand new posters appearing out of the blue, posting LONG reviews of a clinic.  They claim to have had successful procedures with them.

Its quite hard to prove the review is fake but when you read it you get the feeling it is – I don’t know why.  The pictures look cropped in odd ways, the facts are vague and there are no specifics included.

But the biggest tell-tale sign is that when the poster is grilled by other members, the story falls apart and he runs away.

• Lack of verifiable surgeon biography

You want to be able to research your lead surgeon’s qualifications and registration.  If there is no trace of this, or if it does not add up, then bail out!

A pro tip is to check if your surgeon is a member of international hair surgery organisations – this is an excellent father in his/her cap.

• Very Poor website

There is no excuse not to have a wonderful website in this day an age.

A website is how your national and international audience find out about your services.  It is how you get clients.

If a clinic has a terrible website it shows they are behind times and/or they don’t care about growing their client base.

I refuse to believe  a clinic can survive through “word of mouth” business anymore !

A good website is vital and lack of it raises serious concerns about a clinic.

• Lack of educational material

Most top clinics educate their visitors on hair transplantation.  Their enthusiasms for the subject really comes through their website.

They usually have a good blog page where they discuss the history, techniques and developments of hair transplantation.

If this is missing, then it doesn’t reflect well on them.  It shows they are not that passionate about the subject or they are too lazy to educate their prospective patients.

• Consistently poor customer service

Let us be honest, every clinic can slip up in their customer service.  They can become overwhelmed with a surge in queries and customers.

Sometimes they can take days to reply to your email or give you incomplete or inaccurate information.

But this should not happen consistently and you should receive a quick apology and acknowledgement, PLUS an improved service immediately.

However, if you consistently come across poor customer service; walk away.

If they keep ignoring your emails, will they suddenly turn into model professionals on the day of your procedure?

I doubt it!