How Much Should You Pay For Your First Hair Transplant?

[Melvin- Admin]

There's been a lot of talk lately about cost. Some insane comments have been made concerning how much surgeons should charge. Let's make one thing clear, every single hair transplant surgeon is a business. The goal of any business is to gain capital. Now, that is not to say there are ethical ways to make more money. In my opinion, the less ethical way is to start a hair mill where you perform 10-20 cheap hair transplants per day with poor quality. The ethical way is to charge more per graft, according to your skill and experience. Some have even gone far enough to say surgeons should charge only what is affordable to those in their country of origin. 

So, this means if you're in the US, a surgeon should charge only enough so that someone who earns minimum wage can get surgery. Here is a fundamental flaw with this thinking, if a surgeon couldn't earn money, they would choose a different path in medicine. Becoming a doctor is a lucrative profession. Neurosurgeons in the US earn 1-2 million dollars per year. Secondly, you have to consider the staff of the surgeon. If the surgeon pays his staff minimum wage, the turn over rate will be high, which means their quality will be lower. To keep quality staff, the surgeon has to pay competitive wages, this includes the technicians, consultants and technicians. It's absolutely irrational and illogical to think that you will get the same quality and results capping surgeons. I see nothing wrong with a clinic earning money , as long as it is done in an ethical way. Thoughts?

 

How Much Should You Pay For Your First Hair Transplant?

[asterix0]

Do you think medical schools artificially cap the number of admitted students? Further, is the number of doctors, let's say in the United States specifically, indicative of the total number of people capable of performing in the profession, or is the supply kept artificially low?

Also, do you think the medical industry is an open, capitalistic market in general? Are prices determined by free market forces like in (supposedly) other industries?

The answer to these questions will give us the answer not only for the hair transplant industry, but for the medical industry in general. However, seeing as HTs are elective, cosmetic surgery, it isn't the best comparison.

Why should Americans fear bankruptcy by going to the Emergency room? Or having any more serious illness, and racking up medical bills in the hundred of thousands?

Something should tell us there are major flaws in this system.

[aaron1234]

One of the truisms on this forum is to not let cost (or travel) be the deciding factor in who you have surgery with.  The irony is that if you do you might need to get repaired, making it more expensive than if you would have just went to the better (and likely pricier) surgeon in the first place.  

[digi23]

7 hours ago, aaron1234 said:

One of the truisms on this forum is to not let cost (or travel) be the deciding factor in who you have surgery with.  The irony is that if you do you might need to get repaired, making it more expensive than if you would have just went to the better (and likely pricier) surgeon in the first place.  

I agree with you, but to be honest I think most of the ones(possibly over 90%) who are thinking about a hair transplant would not pay 25,000 dollars for new hair. Personally I would rather shave and grow a beard if I were to pay that.

It is indeed a deciding factor in a sense, it is good though with forums like this because you can choose someone like Dr Demirsoy or Dr Bicer for a affordable but safe procedure with the probability of a good result and you only pay 1,25-1,5 euro per graft. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by digi23

[aaron1234]

1 hour ago, digi23 said:

I agree with you, but to be honest I think most of the ones(possibly over 90%) who are thinking about a hair transplant would not pay 25,000 dollars for new hair. Personally I would rather shave and grow a beard if I were to pay that.

Very true.  And many men get their first HT in their 20's when they aren't exactly at the apex of their careers.  I certainly didn't have 25K sitting in my checking account when I was 27 (though I did end up spending over 50K for 7 HT's over the course of 13 years).  At the very least men shouldn't go to the cheapest clinic offering $2 a graft on a billboard or some hair mill in Turkey.  There are plenty of elite level docs within the mid-price point to seriously consider.  If the difference is around a few thousand bucks, then definitely don't let cost be the deciding factor. 

[Curious25]

Placing value on anything in this world is subjective. 
 

There is no right or wrong answer to this question . . As the importance of having hair, and the financial means one has, will vary from person to person.
 

You could be a bald multi millionaire, who doesn’t give a rats ar*e about his appearance, and wouldn’t part with even the cheapest of surgeries in an attempt to get him some hair back. 
Equally, you could have a minimum wage worker who deems the revival of his hair as such an important aspect to his life, that he spends his life saving towards surgeries with the best and most expensive clinics.
 

We, as a community of hair enthusiasts, naturally sway towards the mentality of the minimum wage worker in my example - however you have to acknowledge that is won’t be the case for everyone.
 

I have a friend for instance, NW6, late 30’s, and had planned a package deal to Turkey for something like £2000 all in, flights and accomodation - with the promise of getting his hair back. He wasn’t interested in paying more, because his philosophy was, if it doesn’t work out, he’ll just go back to shaving his head. So for him, he valued the potential opportunity of having hair again, to be worth no more than £2000 - this was his budget, and he was content with the roll of the dice attitude, of worst case scenario I’ll just be back to square one.
 

Just because I would never dream of taking that approach for myself, I couldn’t argue with his rationale.   

[deeznuts]

I think on the mid to high end for a given country is probably preferable assuming that the money is paying for the doctors skill and not some marketing bs. I rather not gamble with my hair

Edited October 21, 2021 by deeznuts

[Berba11]

There's so many excellent surgeons out there that have fairly affordable prices that there's little excuse at this point for ending up butchered at a hair mill. It just requires proper research.

What I would say about costs is that the higher and higher you go, the more diminishing the returns. I think you'd be genuinely hard pressed to argue for spending £20-30K at one clinic for one surgery, when somewhere like Dr Bruno in Portugal, Eugenix, HLC and a whole host of others would get an equally fantastic result for a patient at less than half the price.

If you have very deep pockets then you have your pick of every clinic on earth. It's a fact of life that most people (myself included) do not have deep pockets, so price is inevitably going to be a determining factor. As long as you end up at a good and reputable clinic within a price range that isn't going to hurt you too much, then that's the main thing. More often that not that's going to require a willingness to travel abroad - so there's compromise in that regard when it comes to budget restraints.

[SeanSouth78]

29 minutes ago, Berba11 said:

There's so many excellent surgeons out there that have fairly affordable prices that there's little excuse at this point for ending up butchered at a hair mill. It just requires proper research.

What I would say about costs is that the higher and higher you go, the more diminishing the returns. I think you'd be genuinely hard pressed to argue for spending £20-30K at one clinic for one surgery, when somewhere like Dr Bruno in Portugal, Eugenix, HLC and a whole host of others would get an equally fantastic result for a patient at less than half the price.

If you have very deep pockets then you have your pick of every clinic on earth. It's a fact of life that most people (myself included) do not have deep pockets, so price is inevitably going to be a determining factor. As long as you end up at a good and reputable clinic within a price range that isn't going to hurt you too much, then that's the main thing. More often that not that's going to require a willingness to travel abroad - so there's compromise in that regard when it comes to budget restraints.

100%. There is definitely a law of diminishing returns. Frankly paying $15k plus for a transplant is insane; that cost is largely down to American's broken medical system than the skill of the surgeon. No one can tell me that the likes of Couto or Bisanga are producing results inferior to the top US surgeons. And a large part of a HT result is down to the individual's hair. There's no point in a NW5 with thin, wispy hair thinking that if they shell out top dollar they are going to get an equivalent result to a Couto NW3 patient with a thick donor. 

[kirkland]

I think this question of "How Much Should you Pay for your First Hair Transplant" can be asked in general about how much one is willing to pay for a cosmetic surgery in the age of medical tourism. My wife has done a number of 'vampire facials' in South Korea because she used to go there regularly and the costs of this type of surgery is much lower than in Canada, probably due to competition in the plastic surgery market in Korea. India and Turkey are no different when it comes to hair transplants. There is lots of competition and market pressures to keep costs within a certain range. Those lower prices encourage unethical standards to maximize profits for the hair mills but they also constrain prices on the top end clinics in these countries as well. If you are willing to do the research and you are willing to travel, there is great value out there and no need to spend 2x, 3x, 4x or more for the same surgery in the N. America and Europe with similar outcomes.

[TorontoMan]

I cringe when I hear the conversation about how much ppl think surgeons should be charging. They find their price relative to the market, and like Melvin said if you want a clinic to charge less or if we somehow determined the price for them artificially.. then you could expect that they would increase surgeries per day and hire cheaper staff as well and you'd get less quality done on something that will last you for the rest of your existence. Cringe even harder when I hear ppl gloat about getting it done "cheap" or for "a good price" especially when they say that coming from Turkey and they're like 3 days post op and have no idea how its going to turn out. 

[Legend007]

Start a go fund me account for assistance with the price .. I will donate $1 to the cause.. 

[Melvin- Admin]

3 hours ago, Curious25 said:

Placing value on anything in this world is subjective. 
 

There is no right or wrong answer to this question . . As the importance of having hair, and the financial means one has, will vary from person to person.
 

You could be a bald multi millionaire, who doesn’t give a rats ar*e about his appearance, and wouldn’t part with even the cheapest of surgeries in an attempt to get him some hair back. 
Equally, you could have a minimum wage worker who deems the revival of his hair as such an important aspect to his life, that he spends his life saving towards surgeries with the best and most expensive clinics.
 

We, as a community of hair enthusiasts, naturally sway towards the mentality of the minimum wage worker in my example - however you have to acknowledge that is won’t be the case for everyone.
 

I have a friend for instance, NW6, late 30’s, and had planned a package deal to Turkey for something like £2000 all in, flights and accomodation - with the promise of getting his hair back. He wasn’t interested in paying more, because his philosophy was, if it doesn’t work out, he’ll just go back to shaving his head. So for him, he valued the potential opportunity of having hair again, to be worth no more than £2000 - this was his budget, and he was content with the roll of the dice attitude, of worst case scenario I’ll just be back to square one.
 

Just because I would never dream of taking that approach for myself, I couldn’t argue with his rationale.   

The flaw in his thinking is that once you get surgery you can never go back to shaving as if nothing happened. It's better to do nothing at all then to do something cheaply that could potentially ruin your ability to shave. 

[JDEE0]

If you like the results a surgeon puts out, then you pay the premium if you can afford it, it's really that simple (and if you can't, then someone else will). Of course, there are lots of top tier surgeons at different price points across the globe, so you should make a shortlist based off results and then compare their prices to them to weigh up whether or not the differences are personally worth it to you. 

Generally, at this moment in time, I personally see it as there is a cut off minimum price point of I would say around about the 2 Euro per graft mark in which you pretty much have to pay for *near guaranteed* quality work. Honestly, some of the surgeons charging around 2.5 - 3 Euro per graft do just as good work as those charging double, it's just that they don't yet have the pedigree of other long standing surgeons and also might be located in a country that is generally cheaper in terms of the cost of living (think Spain or Portugal vs Belgium), and as such, they can also get away with charging less overall and still make very good profits.

The above is a more literal answer to the question, but in general, a clinic can charge what they like, it's a free market economy and you can do as you please. If the supply is there to meet the demand, well, this is how the world works. I do empathise with those who can't afford these options as, lets face it, even the more budget options we suggest here are way out of reach for most of those located in poorer or developing nations, but it's the economic system that we all live by whether it's always objectively fair or not.

I think the main issue in relation to this is that this is a forum aimed mostly at European and North American men/women, and as a result, the options mentioned by us are naturally going to be out of reach for many people across less developed nations. Even the cheaper options in Turkey recommended here are around the 1.5 EUR per graft mark which is still going to be too expensive for many people in India etc (the country in question that sparked this thread). With that said, I'm sure there are some decent clinics that cater to these individuals that we just don't really know about as they are way off our radar. Maybe they're not the best clinics in the world, sure, but I would imagine there are options out there that do respectable work at an (extremely) affordable price point. 

At the end of the day, I would say that most surgeons do charge a rate that is at least somewhat in line with their nations spending power, it's just that some with very strong reputations are able to charge a little more; think Konior in the States, Bisanga in Belgium and Lorenzo in Spain. They're all more expensive than other very well respected surgeons in their respective countries (up to twice as much). Lot's of people from these places choose to go abroad/pick a cheaper clinic due to their lower prices, so it's something that applies everywhere and not just to poorer countries. Hence why places like Turkey have become so saturated with cheap hair mills - to cater to Brits/Europeans who can't afford it at home or in Belgium etc. Hair transplants are just expensive, period, and are elective cosmetic procedures and so they are a luxury whether anyone likes it or not at the end of the day.

Personally, I wouldn't ever pay some of the more ridiculous prices that are out there off principle alone as, really, what's the difference in quality of work between someone like Ximena Vila who charges 2.5 EUR per graft to even say someone like Konior who may charge over 5 times that? I understand very long standing reputations are involved and, as I say, it's absolutely fair for him to demand such a price (I'm not suggesting he should lower it) and makes sense if people pay it (which they do), but there is a huge discrepancy for me personally here considering someone like Vila was trained and worked under another legendary doc in Jose Lorenzo for many, many years at his clinic and now has well over 10 years of expertise in performing HT's.

 

 

 

[Curious25]

2 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

The flaw in his thinking is that once you get surgery you can never go back to shaving as if nothing happened. It's better to do nothing at all then to do something cheaply that could potentially ruin your ability to shave. 

Very good point 

[TorontoMan]

3 hours ago, Curious25 said:

Placing value on anything in this world is subjective. 
 

There is no right or wrong answer to this question . . As the importance of having hair, and the financial means one has, will vary from person to person.
 

You could be a bald multi millionaire, who doesn’t give a rats ar*e about his appearance, and wouldn’t part with even the cheapest of surgeries in an attempt to get him some hair back. 
Equally, you could have a minimum wage worker who deems the revival of his hair as such an important aspect to his life, that he spends his life saving towards surgeries with the best and most expensive clinics.
 

We, as a community of hair enthusiasts, naturally sway towards the mentality of the minimum wage worker in my example - however you have to acknowledge that is won’t be the case for everyone.
 

I have a friend for instance, NW6, late 30’s, and had planned a package deal to Turkey for something like £2000 all in, flights and accomodation - with the promise of getting his hair back. He wasn’t interested in paying more, because his philosophy was, if it doesn’t work out, he’ll just go back to shaving his head. So for him, he valued the potential opportunity of having hair again, to be worth no more than £2000 - this was his budget, and he was content with the roll of the dice attitude, of worst case scenario I’ll just be back to square one.
 

Just because I would never dream of taking that approach for myself, I couldn’t argue with his rationale.   

You'll "roll the dice" on something that is going to leave scars in your head?? Nice. That only accommodated his mentality in the short run and likely set him up for failure too. 

[Curious25]

3 minutes ago, TorontoMan said:

You'll "roll the dice" on something that is going to leave scars in your head?? Nice. That only accommodated his mentality in the short run and likely set him up for failure too. 

He didn’t go through with it as Covid *thankfully* ruined his travel plans from Australia. 

[Melvin- Admin]

2 hours ago, TorontoMan said:

I cringe when I hear the conversation about how much ppl think surgeons should be charging. They find their price relative to the market, and like Melvin said if you want a clinic to charge less or if we somehow determined the price for them artificially.. then you could expect that they would increase surgeries per day and hire cheaper staff as well and you'd get less quality done on something that will last you for the rest of your existence. Cringe even harder when I hear ppl gloat about getting it done "cheap" or for "a good price" especially when they say that coming from Turkey and they're like 3 days post op and have no idea how its going to turn out. 

Well said. Here's my thinking, if the surgeon is doing great work, why shouldn't they charge more, if the patient is willing to pay whats the problem. It's a business, it's not like they're going to pocket all the money, it will go back into their business. They have employees that have families, why don't their employees deserve a raise, or a bonus. Let's face it monetary incentives make the world go round. We're in a field of cosmetic surgery, there is no medical need for any of this, it's a luxury. Pigeon holding surgeons into feeling they have some "duty" to charge a certain amount is absolutely ridiculous and laughable. 

I'll give an example of Dr. Mohebi, when I went to visit him earlier this year, I saw how well he treats his employees, most of which have been with him for years. They don't look at their positions as 'jobs' they seem them as careers. Their productivity, passion, is so much better. When you go to these hair mills, guaranteed 99.9% of the people there are just seeing it as a job. That's why they stay for a few months and find something else. There is no quality control, nothing. I would rather pay a little more to a surgeon who's had the same staff for years. A place where people feel part of a team, rather than a temporary place to earn a paycheck. The end result will show it.

[blackislback]

4 hours ago, Curious25 said:

if it doesn’t work out, he’ll just go back to shaving his head.

Unfortunately it's not work like that... Even by FUE method still leave small scares, depending how well HT is done, can be more or less visible, but definetely very difficult to shave head after FUE or any other method, most of people think like that "if it doesn't work, will shave my head"  , so that's why by my opinion better not do HT, if can't choose quality clinic-doctor, cause repairing and bad results, later can cost us much more in finance and in mental healthy, as can't shave head, and need live with job half-done.

And now back to the thread's title, it's difficult say how much someone is ready to pay or not, i know why @Melvin- Moderator opened this thread, as in other thread with other question, was started discussion, why in some countries too expensive, and that is not moral in countries where lower standard, GDP, etc. to be higher prices... And it's good this thread is opened, as good to hear opinion of people here, and that some people can benefit from experiences of others here...

All we know, this is not real medical problem, HT not some essential surgery, in meaning it's not something like you have to do surgery of kidneys transplantation, to be able continue living, but it's just aesthetic thing, some people don't care about their baldness, some care, know many people around me who started their baldness at their 20s and never thought to do HT, but for me hair means much, and i decided for HT, but sure if there was other priority like some other essential health problems, rather will choose that type surgery than HT, it's all about choice when its about HT, so same about price, we choose want do it 1x or 2x times good way, and pay little bit more, or choose low-cost hair mill clinics, and then damage donor area, depression, trying find good reputable clinic to repair first fail, experience mental health pressure, depression, etc. , this even is aesthetic surgery, it's very important do it right way 1st time, as if we made wrong choice, it's not easy repairable, like "i'll shave my head" , or it's not like made mistake bought bad car, will sell it and buy new better, here no space for such mistakes, as if we make them, will cost us much more now or later...

Marketing psyhchology is very powerful thing, and it's  influence on deseperate people is even stronger, than to rational people, who try think twice, in meaning if can't afford in this moment 2-3e per graft, to wait 1-2 year and then do HT, but it happens oposite for desperate people + magic of Marketing hair mills, much spam all around by "wow" results of their patients, sure they choose best cases in public, and then those target groups, think will get same results and same doctor with big "movie" smile and shiny photoshoped teeths will do their HT, reality you realize late, when arrive at some building with 7-10 rooms and 10-20 patience same day when your HT, and see around you young guys, instead doctor from FB-INST advertise , and that's end, top results is difficult here expect, that's why x times here at forum by more experienced members, who past x clinics, good-bad scenarios, by their sincere experence try warn HRN members in meaning, don't do HT, if didn't acumulate right budget for good-recommended clinic, must not be even these clinics here recommended, but at least to get recommendation of few people who get solid results.

And yes, this is business, wheter we admit or not, and doctors-clinics have full freedom to create their prices, based on x factors - their internal costs, VAT, country's standards, their results, experience, skills, etc. , as every goods - have their buyers, same here, one who can pay more will choose those more expensive, or one who doesn't have in this moment right budget, will wait 1-2 years and afford such doctor, at least there are around us plenty of doctors 1 to 3e, which many people can afford, by saving money 1-2y, if has no right now full amount... As doing at hair mill 2-3k euros 1st HT, and then pay 3-4k for repair = in total 5-7k, so it's better first time pay 5-7k, then have 2x time big stress, pass 2x times something we didn't have to, and so on, but its up to us, will we allow marketing attract us with top "offers" ,  like 1999e for HT+hotel+"vip" transfer, hotel 5x stars+transfer = minimum 700e in TR, and then for 1300e to expect 4k grafts to be done well , i dont think it's real, one who believe in this, still believe seems in santa claus and that stork bring children on this world ... I'm sure those who not count grafts, in many cases lie about number of grafts, as someone who say 4k in 4-5h did = he is super fast, or super problem will make ...

So, i'm not against some clinics set higher prices, as their results, reputation, care about patients, good staff, good enviroment, rooms, clean, etc etc. allow them higher prices, and it's open market, everyone can set what wants, its up to patients, to research market and find does it worth pay like that or not... And maybe it's best for first time find some middle with 1-2e per graft, and later decide like some members here with those "top" doctors-clinics, when need less grafts, to fix some smaller things.

[Balding Bad]

It's wild that anyone would ever base their hair transplant decision solely on cost. Yes, I get it, not everyone has the same financial freedom or luxury, but you gotta look at it this way: You are deciding to undergo this completely elective procedure because you are unsatisfied with how you currently look and want to improve yourself cosmetically.

You are essentially investing in yourself, so why wouldn't you want to spend a premium/top dollar to ensure (or as close as possible to guaranteeing) outstanding results? Because the only other alternative to that is getting poor results, in which case you are worse off than when you first started. Not only are you thinning or bald, but now you're thinning or bald with a SCAR! 🤕🥵

It's bewildering that people are willing to gamble on their looks just to save a few bucks. It's counterintuitive and contradictory to getting a cosmetic procedure to begin with! But, hey, we all have our reasons and we are free to do as we choose I guess...

Edited October 22, 2021 by Balding Bad

[deeznuts]

So I might just be saying this as someone with a steady job in tech but...

10k... Even 20k is almost a drop in the bucket over the course of your life. Yeah it seems a lot in the here and now but lots of people can save 10-20k in a year if not less. So at most you're losing a year of earnings. I see people buy luxury cars and that's 10k/20k lost to depreciation that you'll never get back. There's lot of dumber shit you can spend your money on... 

On 10/21/2021 at 11:24 AM, TorontoMan said:

I cringe when I hear the conversation about how much ppl think surgeons should be charging. They find their price relative to the market, and like Melvin said if you want a clinic to charge less or if we somehow determined the price for them artificially.. then you could expect that they would increase surgeries per day and hire cheaper staff as well and you'd get less quality done on something that will last you for the rest of your existence. Cringe even harder when I hear ppl gloat about getting it done "cheap" or for "a good price" especially when they say that coming from Turkey and they're like 3 days post op and have no idea how its going to turn out. 

I check out reddit for hairtransplants some times and the number of people who are making legitimately terrible decisions is baffling. I saw one dude pay more for his business class flight to Turkey than he did for his transplant. 

[deeznuts]

On 10/22/2021 at 2:47 AM, Balding Bad said:

It's wild that anyone would ever base their hair transplant decision solely on cost. Yes, I get it, not everyone has the same financial freedom or luxury, but you gotta look at it this way: You are deciding to undergo this completely elective procedure because you are unsatisfied with how you currently look and want to improve yourself cosmetically.

You are essentially investing in yourself, so why wouldn't you want to spend a premium/top dollar to ensure (or as close as possible to guaranteeing) outstanding results? Because the only other alternative to that is getting poor results, in which case you are worse off than when you first started. Not only are you thinning or bald, but now you're thinning or bald with a SCAR! 🤕🥵

It's bewildering that people are willing to gamble on their looks just to save a few bucks. It's counterintuitive and contradictory to getting a cosmetic procedure to begin with! But, hey, we all have our reasons and we are free to do as we choose I guess...

You have possibly the best username on these boards man. 

[Balding Bad]

2 hours ago, deeznuts said:

You have possibly the best username on these boards man. 

Thank you, sir.

But I dunno man, your username is def a front runner for best username as well... 🤣

[Melvin- Admin]

4 hours ago, deeznuts said:

So I might just be saying this as someone with a steady job in tech but...

10k... Even 20k is almost a drop in the bucket over the course of your life. Yeah it seems a lot in the here and now but lots of people can save 10-20k in a year if not less. So at most you're losing a year of earnings. I see people buy luxury cars and that's 10k/20k lost to depreciation that you'll never get back. There's lot of dumber shit you can spend your money on... 

I check out reddit for hairtransplants some times and the number of people who are making legitimately terrible decisions is baffling. I saw one dude pay more for his business class flight to Turkey than he did for his transplant. 

It really is baffling. I see people buy a 20-30k car working at burger king. You can finance a hair transplant so there’s no excuse. I think @Curious25 hit the nail on the head. These people have a thinking that they’re max willing to invest 1-2k on a procedure, thinking surgery is like buying a TV. Not fully realizing how devastating and really debilitating a bad HT could be, it’s a dangerous mindset. 

I remember speaking with Dr. Bisanga he told me about a guy who worked as a manager in a good job. He went to a cheap place and got botched. It was so bad that he had to quit his job and get a low paying warehouse job, just so he could wear a hat. He lost his house, marriage, and career. It was literally the worst decision of his life. Thankfully he found Dr. Bisanga. The irony is he could’ve easily afforded Bisanga the first time, but thought a good surgeon wasn’t necessary. In the end, the cheap surgery cost him everything. 

[Balding Bad]

2 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

It really is baffling. I see people buy a 20-30k car working at burger king. You can finance a hair transplant so there’s no excuse. I think @Curious25 hit the nail on the head. These people have a thinking that they’re max willing to invest 1-2k on a procedure, thinking surgery is like buying a TV. Not fully realizing how devastating and really debilitating a bad HT could be, it’s a dangerous mindset. 

I remember speaking with Dr. Bisanga he told me about a guy who worked as a manager in a good job. He went to a cheap place and got botched. It was so bad that he had to quit his job and get a low paying warehouse job, just so he could wear a hat. He lost his house, marriage, and career. It was literally the worst decision of his life. Thankfully he found Dr. Bisanga. The irony is he could’ve easily afforded Bisanga the first time, but thought a good surgeon wasn’t necessary. In the end, the cheap surgery cost him everything. 

Wow, that story sounds almost like a Family Guy episode. 😂

Although getting back on the topic of pricing, I know my previous post advocated paying top dollar for the best doc, but I do feel that there is some validity in voicing criticism when it comes to wanton overpricing being charged by some doctors.

For instance I saw on another thread@g4designs was more or less balking at the the sticker shock of being quoted $25,000 for his procedure (3,000 grafts) with Dr. Konior. My hair loss is relatively similar to g4designs' and I reached out to Dr. Konior recently for a consultation as well and he quoted me at $28,000! He may be one of the top docs, but that extra $3,000 kinda seems absurd to me on top of the elevated premium he already charges. Please note I am by no means knocking him. He is free to charge whatever he feels is commensurate with his experience and skillset, but it does ultimately seem a bit arbitrary...

Moreover, I just learned from a friend of mine recently that a friend of his got a HT in LA a few years ago for a whopping $40,000! At a certain point I think these prices do become unreasonable.

Anyways, I guess my main point is be prepared to pay top dollar for quality work, but make sure to shop around and do your homework!

Edited October 23, 2021 by Balding Bad