10 Red Flags to Watch out for in a Hair Transplant Consultation

2. Do not trust clinics that promise a full consultation by email/photos/telephone. Good faith estimates of your hair replacement needs can be made by computer and telephone, but it still can't replace a one-to-one consultation with medical personnel.

3. Be skeptical of hair transplant clinics that tell you "higher costs = higher quality. Low cost = low quality." At many clinics, the higher price you pay has nothing to do with the quality you receive. Often, your money is going to pay for overhead, marketing and salaries. Higher cost = higher overhead.

4. If the hair loss clinic representative agrees with everything you say. A good firm will tell you what needs to be said, not what you want to hear. Remember, salesmen can pick up on what you want to hear, feel and believe. And if they agree with everything you say and want to hear - stop, take a breath, and think for minute.

You should never feel like you've been talked into a hair transplant or in choosing a particular hair loss clinic. A hair transplant procedure "sells itself." A good clinic will present "just the facts," not a lot of fast talk they think you want to hear. A good clinic will tell you those aspects of the surgery and or results that may or may not meet your expectations.

Let's face it, one or two or three hair transplants is not going to give you a head of hair like Brad Pitt or George Clooney. If a hair restoration firm promises too much, they will always let you down.

5. Be skeptical of - "$2 techno terms." Don't get confused with a lot of techno words. Some hair transplant clinics and doctors will invent terminology to apply to a particular technique in which they perform hair transplants. These $2 dollar words can make the hair loss clinic sound "cutting edge" and give them more legitimacy - respectability to an unsuspecting hair transplant patient. Maybe their "latest" - "cutting edge" - "best" - "innovative" - "unique" techniques do a fine job, but does it make them better?

Often, these "techno" terms are fads and marketing tools to attract unsuspecting and uneducated hair transplantation patients. When you hear a term thrown around that you have never heard before or is unique to a particular hair loss clinic, be cautious. Do your homework. Do your research.

Having said that, one shouldn't discount the efforts of hair loss doctors to improve hair transplant procedures. However, this is 2010, not 1910. Nearly all doctors that specialize in hair transplant surgery are employing the best and most natural techniques which are proven to be superior and are time tested over the last near decade.

This red flag is only to caution you on clinics nad hair loss centers that use a lot of fancy procedural terms that might only be synonyms for techniques that every other hair transplant doctor considers routine. Ask yourself, is this lastest, greatest technique a sales tool, or is it a unique method to how this firm performs hair transplants.

6. Avoid hair transplant doctors who do not implant all of your extracted donor grafts. Hair grafting is performed by removing a strip of hair bearing scalp from the back of the head (hair transplant donor area), dividing it into grafts and then implanting those hair grafts where needed. Doctors have to estimate how many grafts are in the donor area they are removing.

If you have paid for a 1,000 graft procedure, and the hair loss doctor has removed enough scalp to offer you 1,100 grafts, that clinic should implant those 100 grafts for free.

This is important. Avoid any hair transplant center that says you are only going to get what you pay for. Throwing those 100 grafts into the garbage because you haven't paid for them is highly unethical. You only have a limited amount of hair transplant donor scalp available. You do not have an unlimited supply and what you do have can never, ever under any circumstances be wasted.

If the clinic is good as they tell you they are, they should be able to remove donor hair that will come close to offering the amount of grafts you have agreed upon for that procedure. Any extra grafts should be implanted regardless and for no additional hair transplant cost.

It is not your fault they removed too much and it should not become your problem by charging you for those extra grafts, or throwing them away in a medical waste bag.

7. Avoid hair loss clinics who are not upfront about their prices. This is one of the most commonly asked questions all prospective patients ask. However, many hair transplant clinics are almost afraid to answer to this question and will do their best to talk in circles around the subject. Some clinics will even ask you to come in for a consultation first, before they tell you how much it will cost. Although a consultation can provide accuracy to how many grafts will you need (a factor in the cost), this is usually their golden opportunity to sell you on their particular clinic.

Hair transplant clinics today use two approaches in factoring cost: price per hair graft and a sliding scale fee. The sliding scale fee is a "more you buy the cheaper they are" approach.

Whether a hair loss clinic uses either pricing method, they should always be able to tell you the prices they routinely charge patients without the need for a consultation. The cost should never be the primary factor in choosing a clinic, but it shouldn't be top secret information either.

8. Hair Transplant clinics that do not specialize in hair transplant surgery. Often, many capable plastic surgeons will supplement their business by performing hair transplants. However, they might only perform a dozen hair transplant procedures in a year. A firm that specializes in hair transplants might perform a dozen procedures a week. Who would you rather have performing your hair transplant?

9. Clinics that do not microscopically dissect the donor strip into follicular grafts. Without microscopic dissection, the follicular units can be damaged.

10. Be cautious where you get your information from on the internet: If you continue to do research on hair loss and hair transplants (and Hair Transplant HelpDesk encourages this) - be very, very, very cautious about where you are getting your information from.

The internet is a good source to find information, and it is also a bad source to find information. There is a lot one-sided advertorial-like "research" and "reports" which are cleverly disguised marketing tools. They disguise themselves under innocent sounding associations, journals and educational web-sites which are nothing more then a platform to market a specific product or hair transplant clinic.

Many of the anti-hair transplant websites on the net today are controlled by those who are hoping to sell you a different type hair loss treatment or hair replacement method.