When Did Price Become The Most Important?

[Melvin- Admin]

I’m troubled by all of the threads of guys rushing to Turkey to get cheap surgery. Even after so many examples, they still don’t care. When did money become greater than the result itself? I’m really perplexed by this thinking. 
 

Above All, price and location is real results posted by actual patients. Never base your decision on anything else, if you cannot afford a good surgeon, save up. We’re talking about your hair here, not a dishwasher.

[Britanium]

I spent a lot of money getting FUT in the UK. This was a hairmill and i naively didn’t know any better. I had a result yes. But it was expensive and not that many grafts.

Since then I educated myself through this Forum. It is possible to get good value, say for example Eugenix.

I have had FUE in Turkey and it was not a hairmill and I got a good result. 
 

It is possible to spend a lot and still get hairmills anywhere in the world. What is frustrating is with such a lot of real results and a excellent recommended list on this forum is that people still decide on the cheapest option with a no value named clinic. spending a lot is no guarantee of a good clinic.

what matters is real patient results and a well known and respected clinic. If you can take cost and location out then all the better. 
 

If you must budget be very careful and realistic! There are still decent lower cost clinics out there! 

[didit07]

Melvin, I am a big fan but you are being hard headed and arrogant if you think paying 2k USD for 3,000 grafts vs 20k USD for 3,000 graft is not extremely attractive to many and justifiably so.

[Happyout]

Price becomes the dominant factor when someone needs something and has a certain budget.

Its also the first introduction many will get when first exploring their hairloss issues.Its always the lower 'cost' clinics with amazing results and as many grafts you will ever need that pop up on initial google searches.

 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Happyout

[Mycroft]

I think U.S. residents in particular have come to expect price gouging in the medical sector. Hopping the plane to Turkey is, in their mind, the equivalent of going to Canada to get their prescription drugs. Beyond that, a number of these poor guys may be in a situation where cost is a hard limiting factor, and they have to either find a budget-friendly clinic or accept baldness.

The median income where I live is 40k with a reasonable cost of living, but even in that moderate scenario a 20k+ procedure that will likely require future procedures is a pretty daunting financial investment. Many guys probably have cost as a hard limit and it's either find someone to do it on a budget or not do it at all. 

[Kruchie]

I wish money wasn't such a big factor but it literally took me years to save up just enough for a HT in Turkey. Short of winning the lottery, it was the best option available to me. 🤔

[Curious25]

I don’t think guys should be scrutinised for being conscious of their budget. You could be a NW6 millionaire, or a NW6 on £25k p/a - both have the equal right to want to do something about their hair loss - and there should be an acceptance that both will have varying capabilities of what they are able to do regards to financing. 

It would be wrong to suggest you should only go ahead with surgery if you have enough money to pay the top US/European prices , when there are very good results coming from lower cost clinics - (some of which are recommended on here may I add) because the community should be focused on representing hair loss sufferers as a collective, as opposed to promoting hair restoration being a solution for only those who can afford the top prices. This is simply not true in 2020. 
 

I understand the underlying message you are trying to convey, however I think it would hold more credibility if you were to angle it towards swaying people away from hair mills/unreputable clinics in general, and not make it an attack on the price conscious. 

[aaron1234]

I remember when I joined this forum (around 2006).  I was so clueless and thought the members here were just a bunch of HT snobs/purists/know-it-alls.  I mean, you're taking a follicular unit and moving it.  How hard can that be?  They all warned me that there were only a select group of surgeons I should even consider and I was like "yah whatever".  I ended up going to a surgeon recommended by the website so I wasn't butchered, but it was still mediocre work with multi's in the hairline and cobblestoning.  He was the cheapest option for me at the time, the main reason I went to him. 

I understand that HT's are expensive, especially with elite surgeons.  But if you spend $2 per graft on thousands of grafts and you have 50% yield then you are not only losing out on the money but also the donor hairs which are extremely valuable as there's a limited supply of them.  Also consider that you might need to pay for corrective surgery from a pricier surgeon.  In the end, you would have been better off going to the more expensive (but more competent) surgeon in the first place.  

Edited July 19, 2020 by aaron1234

[Enhancer]

There seems to be two reasons for this:

1. The 'authorities' on this topic, in all these forums, will tell men that there is a risk in getting a hair transplant regardless of who you go to.  So with that logic, why spend a large amount of money if you cannot even eliminate the risk of the transplant going poorly?  For example, if I had a transplant with HW and it went poorly, I would be advising as many guys as possible that there is probably no difference between western and Turkey clinics (to an extent).

2. There seems to be an consensus going around, while maybe uninformed, that western hair transplant doctors specialize more in transplants for 50+ men with a lot of money who just want some coverage on the top of their head.  While in Turkey they are more attentive to the needs of younger guys, who actually need proper hair.  I'm not saying its good practice for the long term, but it is what it is.  The results galleries of these clinics somewhat reflect this, and combined with the price difference, its no wonder they flock to Turkey. In the minds of a lot of men - an unnatural hairline > a natural receding hairline.

[TorontoMan]

2 hours ago, fabofly said:

Melvin, I am a big fan but you are being hard headed and arrogant if you think paying 2k USD for 3,000 grafts vs 20k USD for 3,000 graft is not extremely attractive to many and justifiably so.

Well of course it would be more attractive lmao.. if it were actually more common to be able to get a great result with 2k rather than 20k... but you've missed the point that it clearly isn't the case. Even the worst clinics in Turkey are more expensive than 2k for 3,000 grafts so im not sure how you've made that comparison. At the price you're almost certainly going to someone who's price is that low because they do not have enough demand. 

"if you think hiring a specialist is expensive, try hiring someone for cheap" 

[Gasthoerer]

20 minutes ago, Enhancer said:

There seems to be two reasons for this:

1. The 'authorities' on this topic, in all these forums, will tell men that there is a risk in getting a hair transplant regardless of who you go to. 

This comment is recently posted in here almost every day, but that does not make it right.

There is a risk for poor growth with any clinic in the world, but with hair mills there is a risk of botched donor, poor hairline design, mis-angled grafts, multies in front etc. on top of poor growth. 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

2 hours ago, fabofly said:

Melvin, I am a big fan but you are being hard headed and arrogant if you think paying 2k USD for 3,000 grafts vs 20k USD for 3,000 graft is not extremely attractive to many and justifiably so.

I understand the desire of cheap surgery, but money comes and goes, a botched result stays with you. Not to mention the trauma. You know what looks worse  than being bald? A bad hair transplant.

[Melvin- Admin]

8 minutes ago, Gasthoerer said:

This comment is recently posted in here almost every day, but that does not make it right.

There is a risk for poor growth with any clinic in the world, but with hair mills there is a risk of botched donor, poor hairline design, mis-angled grafts, multies in front etc. on top of poor growth. 

 

Exactly! 

[pkipling]

I've been having this exact conversation with my boyfriend and a few friends the past few days... They've all been considering hair transplants and come to me for guidance and input, and without fail, their first instinct is to talk price... And I get it - we're hardwired to do that, particularly in a capitalist country where we're conditioned to always look for competitive prices. The good thing is thought that once we talk it through, they realize how faulty that mindset is when it comes to choosing a surgeon. It really comes down shifting our thinking around it. 

[Melvin- Admin]

1 minute ago, pkipling said:

I've been having this exact conversation with my boyfriend and a few friends the past few days... They've all been considering hair transplants and come to me for guidance and input, and without fail, their first instinct is to talk price... And I get it - we're hardwired to do that, particularly in a capitalist country where we're conditioned to always look for competitive prices. The good thing is thought that once we talk it through, they realize how faulty that mindset is when it comes to choosing a surgeon. It really comes down shifting our thinking around it. 

Yes, it’s instinct to “shop prices” but it becomes detrimental when that is the first thing you look for, it should be who does the best work.

I guarantee if you have a great result, you’ll never look back and think “why did I spend that money?” And if you get botched, you definitely won’t be saying, “but at least I got a bargain!”

[ADuckwithNoHair]

Another thing to consider is that it's really hard to price shop for FUT hair transplants since it's generally rarely offered in low-cost countries which massively favor FUE. People seeking their first transplant and trying to save a buck should think about this carefully. I was watching the H&W talk with Doug and he reiterated the common advice, strip first before FUE can yield ~2,000 more lifetime grafts (obviously, in some cases more, some cases less).

Edited July 19, 2020 by ADuckwithNoHair

[paddyirishman]

Over Time after your HT you won't care about the price of a great Hair Transplant,  or you won't remember the cost if your really happy with the result. Money will be at the end of your priority list. It's the result that really really matters.

However when you have a poor Hair Transplant first and foremost you will hate the way you look, and then you will for sure remember the cost of the HT, and this will eventually cost you a lot more money to fix .  Research .

Paddy

Edited July 19, 2020 by paddyirishman
Missing words

[Portugal25]

Price is always a very important factor to consider and I myself was price driven in choosing the Doctors for both my hair transplants. 

Dr. Rahal gave me a better price than all other Doctors in his league in 2008 so I chose him and Pekiner gave me a better price than any other Doctor with great BHT results. 

When I looked at results from Doctors that are involved in every step of the surgeries I knew I was safe to expect a similar result if I chose that Doctor. 

The problem is that people fail to realize that we can’t look at results from surgeries performed by technicians and expect to have similar results because we don’t know if we will have the same tech team that achieved that good result performing our surgery. 

Still every week I have to explain to friends or family members that just because they have friend that paid 2000€ and got a decent result with a tech run surgery that doesn’t mean he will also get a decent result because that tech team may not even be working at that clinic anymore and on the day of the surgery he can get a poorly skilled tech team (it’s down to how lucky he is to get good tech team).

This is why I rather recommend Turkish nurses with real patients results that are involved the whole surgery rather than tech run surgeries. 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Portugal25

[Sijac09]

I do get what you’re saying with this post and you do really want to avoid budget/cheapest clinics as you do really get what you pay for. However, if my hair transplant cost me £10,000+ I wouldn’t even of contemplated doing it in the first place. I paid in the region of £3000 for just over 2000 grafts in Turkey with an extremely reputable surgeon that does most of the procedure himself. So far my results have been great and can’t recommend them enough. I wouldn’t of considered it if it cost me the above as I just don’t have that spare amount of cash and even so, I couldn’t justify saving that much to pay for this. This is why price factor sometimes comes into play but I would not go near some of the cheaper clinics in Turkey that offer unlimited grafts or say 4000 grafts for just 2k. There are a hell of a lot of botched clinics over there though and you have to be extremely careful with who you choose

[Melvin- Admin]

5 hours ago, Sijac09 said:

I do get what you’re saying with this post and you do really want to avoid budget/cheapest clinics as you do really get what you pay for. However, if my hair transplant cost me £10,000+ I wouldn’t even of contemplated doing it in the first place. I paid in the region of £3000 for just over 2000 grafts in Turkey with an extremely reputable surgeon that does most of the procedure himself. So far my results have been great and can’t recommend them enough. I wouldn’t of considered it if it cost me the above as I just don’t have that spare amount of cash and even so, I couldn’t justify saving that much to pay for this. This is why price factor sometimes comes into play but I would not go near some of the cheaper clinics in Turkey that offer unlimited grafts or say 4000 grafts for just 2k. There are a hell of a lot of botched clinics over there though and you have to be extremely careful with who you choose

I don’t understand this mindset. So you’d only invest in yourself it was 2,000? Bet your car cost more than 10,000 when it was new, but that depreciates as soon as you drive it off the lot.

I always tell guys, if you cant afford a decent surgeon don’t  get one. If you’re not willing to save to invest in yourself, definitely don’t get one. 

[voxman]

I think there is a difference between 'bargain hunting' and 'lowest cost' choices.  The 'Bargain Hunter' should have in mind the final outcome and studiously compare and decide where to get a HT within his budget range , and the 'Lowest Cost' guys will be motivated by the cost only and convince themselves they will succeed.    There are reputable clinics ($$) in Turkey that are not 'mills', and then there are the other 'untested' places ($) - and then there are recognized first class places ($$$$) also all over the globe.   Educating yourselves and knowing the risks should always be forefront and price then a careful consideration-  but not the deciding factor. 

If price is the only deciding factor - you will probably receive due value.     

[didit07]

13 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I don’t understand this mindset. So you’d only invest in yourself it was 2,000? Bet your car cost more than 10,000 when it was new, but that depreciates as soon as you drive it off the lot.

I always tell guys, if you cant afford a decent surgeon don’t  get one. If you’re not willing to save to invest in yourself, definitely don’t get one. 

Hey Melvin, take a look at these two guys who went to "cheap" clinics in turkey. Tell me what you think of their results

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by fabofly

[Gatsby]

I am 100% with Melvin on this subject. Every hair transplant surgeon has performed a hair transplant that went pear shaped. Even the best of the best have. The reasons are varied right down to unrealistic expectations of the patient or not picking up mental health issues such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder, etc. A hair transplant should be your last resort and remember it is surgery. If I had to have a kidney transplant the first thoughts that would go through my mind would be issues like how successful would the outcome be? How long will it last? Will there be any scaring, how much will this cost me, etc. Yet when it comes to something that you have to live with and look at in the mirror for the rest of your life, people think of the money first! To me that's back to front thinking. 30% of most top hair transplant surgeons around the world now involves repair work (if they are lucky enough to be helped). Do your research and you find that a either a Syrian refugee or an ex barber may not be the best person to be involved in performing a hair transplant on you.

[karatekid]

5 hours ago, fabofly said:

Hey Melvin, take a look at these two guys who went to "cheap" clinics in turkey. Tell me what you think of their results

 

How do those 3 examples prove anything?

No one said there are no good results from cheap clinics. The point is that when you go to cheap clinic you take a risk.  A risk is ok when you buy something like new refrigerator, but when it come to your body and your hair? you need to ask yourself if you are ok with ending with crappy results or even botched transplant.

[Melvin- Admin]

5 hours ago, karatekid said:

How do those 3 examples prove anything?

No one said there are no good results from cheap clinics. The point is that when you go to cheap clinic you take a risk.  A risk is ok when you buy something like new refrigerator, but when it come to your body and your hair? you need to ask yourself if you are ok with ending with crappy results or even botched transplant.

Took the words out of my mouth. 
@fabofly take a look a @Doron Harati thread, he almost died at a low cost clinic. Also, these “YouTubers” are undercover reps. They get paid to get customers to go to the clinic, just ask Doron, he will tell you.