To all travelling abroad for HT- PLEASE do a local consultation first to avoid wasting $

[doogg]

Hi all, want to share my personal experience as a warning to everyone who is planning to travel overseas for a HT. 

The summary warning is this: Please do a local consultation to check if you are a good candidate first before paying for your surgery and flying overseas. If not, you run the very real risk of only finding out you are not a good candidate for HT when you are there, wasting your trip and have all your expenses down the drain (with potentially no refund). 

I am a nw3, 31 years old. Been researching HT for a while now, and decided to book my surgery with a renowned doctor in another continent. Sent detailed photos, had phone and video conferences with the staff at the clinic, without any problem. Clinic was very encouraging. 

Flew across continents for my HT. Only on the day before HT, at consultation, was I told that I don't have good donor density and thus the doctor will not go through with the hair transplant. Not only that, the clinic was initially only will to make a small partial refund. This means a few thousand dollars down the drain, not to mention air tickets, hotel bookings and other expenses etc. After a lot of negotiating, the clinic agreed to give me a bigger partial refund.

I've done quite a lot of research on this forum, and from what I've read before the HT, I got the impression that people finding out that they are unsuitable HT candidates the day before the surgery is quite a rare occurrence, and did not come across any advice that you should do a local consultation first to check your donor density. To be honest, though of course the HT clinics are not obliged to, I think it would be ethical for clinics to warn their overseas patient about this risk and advice them to do a local consultation first, to be sure they are suitable candidates before paying for the surgery. 

So to all who are planning to fly overseas for their surgery, do yourself a favour, pay a few hundred dollars and get a local clinic in your country to check your donor density, sending the report to your overseas clinic to confirm you are a good candidate, before paying for your surgery and flying over. You don't want to go through the stress, the disappointment and the money down the drain only after you flew thousand of miles to the clinic. 

I feel like this is not mentioned enough on this forum, especially when there are so many people who fly overseas to renowned surgeons for HTs. Hope this helps, and I hope this does not happen to anyone else!

Edited April 14, 2022 by Melvin- Moderator
Removed 10k member didn’t lose 10k no clickbait titles

[HappyMan2021]

You should name the clinic. 

[JP28]

That’s super messed up, I feel so bad for you man. You should definitely name the clinic so people know who they are dealing with.

[RTC]

Name the clinic please - why make a warning like this without naming them?

[doogg]

I was made to sign a non disclosure form in order to receive the refund. As stated above, and to be fair to the clinic, the contract I received (before i paid the deposit) already stated that there will be no refund if I am not able to go through with the surgery due to the fact that I am not a suitable candidate. It just did not occur to me that it is not such a rare occurrence after all, to be an unsuitable candidate. The clinic has out of good will issued a partial refund. 

Also, this post is to warn others to do a local consultation before flying overseas for surgery, regardless of which doctor it is. 
 
I am not sure if all clinics have this non refund clause in the contract, Regardless, a consultation locally would definitely be helpful. 

[TheGreatPretender]

I am sorry for this happening to you. Its really messed up state of afairs especially when you pay for something you will not get. 

If it helps (probably doesn't) it would also be possible for the local clinic to say you were legible for a transplant and the one you went overseas say the contrary. Doctors do many times have different views and that is what makes me think that you should receive a refund as just because doctor X doesn't believe you are suitable for a surgery it shouldn't prevent you from spending that very same money in a doctor with a different vision provided he is ethical and well reputated. But even then you should defo get refunded because you got no service at all from the said clinic. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by TheGreatPretender

[shiba1985]

That is unfortunate. Can you post a picture of your donor area for us to see. ?

I dont understand the NDA. If the clinic think they are doing what is right, even if they dont give you money back or give everything back why have a patient sign a NDA. weird. 

 

[asterix0]

A local consultation would not help you in this case, as that doctor's opinion, if positive, still would not sway the original clinic's opinion.

I have never heard of paying up from the full sum before the procedure is even done...it seems like this is illegal for them to withhold your money.

 

[RTC]

Quite concerning to hear this.. 

[Mike10]

I fail to see what this has to do with the clinic. This can happen with any clinic. Actually props to the clinic for turning you down! This shows that they were not after the money. 

[RTC]

10 minutes ago, Mike10 said:

I fail to see what this has to do with the clinic. This can happen with any clinic. Actually props to the clinic for turning you down! This shows that they were not after the money. 

Not giving him a refund is ethical to you?

[TheGreatPretender]

Would it be possible to open a dispute through a chargeback process? 

I know a lot of banks may be able to help especially when there is a huge amount involved.

[Mike10]

44 minutes ago, Aslitarcan sucks said:

Not giving him a refund is ethical to you?

The partial refund is fair to me. Because if there is no patient that day they lose money

[Gokuhairline]

if you are from USA, the NDA you signed in another country does not hold up.....also, tl:dr, and its unfortunate what happened but its obvious that one should do 110% due diligence before a HT even if the clinic was right down the block from where you live, let alone over seas, name the clinic to help others. 

[ITA]

1 hour ago, Mike10 said:

they were not after the money. 

But they withheld a good part of it, however, so very doubtful about your statement, they could have withheld a small part, just to amortize the expenses incurred that day, but not a large part of the amount.

[PizzaWolf]

If this went down like the initial poster said and isn't just some kind of drama/troll attempt, I would classify what the doctor did as not just unethical, but straight-up theft. There were no services rendered. The doctor was entitled to zero reimbursement. The clinic should quit giving online consultations if they're that bad at analyzing photos.

Also, they clearly knew keeping his money was wrong if they made him sign an NDA before giving him a partial refund. This sounds like an extortion tactic from a clinic that has lots of previous experience doing it.

I can't believe there are posters in this thread who would defend this kind of behavior. You should be embarrassed.

Edited April 11, 2022 by PizzaWolf

[doogg]

19 hours ago, TheGreatPretender said:

I am sorry for this happening to you. Its really messed up state of afairs especially when you pay for something you will not get. 

If it helps (probably doesn't) it would also be possible for the local clinic to say you were legible for a transplant and the one you went overseas say the contrary. Doctors do many times have different views and that is what makes me think that you should receive a refund as just because doctor X doesn't believe you are suitable for a surgery it shouldn't prevent you from spending that very same money in a doctor with a different vision provided he is ethical and well reputated. But even then you should defo get refunded because you got no service at all from the said clinic. 

I agree with what you said on doctor's opinions. I guess the best option for overseas patients will be to send the report from the local consultation on donor quality etc for the clinic to assess?

[doogg]

Out of curiosity, for those who have undergone hair transplant with renowned doctors, is there a similar clause in the contract about "full payment before surgery and no refund for unsuitable candidates"? 

[TheGreatPretender]

2 minutes ago, ahglet said:

I agree with what you said on doctor's opinions. I guess the best option for overseas patients will be to send the report from the local consultation on donor quality etc for the clinic to assess?

Depends on each doctor and how reputable he/she is within the industry I suppose. The truth is there is no right or wrong answer in this scenario as different docs have different views for treatment. 

I think the only thing that would have saved you here is having a face to face conversation with the doctor so they could have told you in person that you weren't suitable for a HT. But then again you wouldn't have known by the time that would have been a necessity. 

 

[doogg]

22 minutes ago, TheGreatPretender said:

Depends on each doctor and how reputable he/she is within the industry I suppose. The truth is there is no right or wrong answer in this scenario as different docs have different views for treatment. 

I think the only thing that would have saved you here is having a face to face conversation with the doctor so they could have told you in person that you weren't suitable for a HT. But then again you wouldn't have known by the time that would have been a necessity. 

 

Yup I think the only thing i could have done that would 100% prevent this is to have an in person consultation and conduct the microscopic test before paying anything for the surgery. However I believe that for most patients flying overseas that is not possible. 

As such as long as in the clinic's contract they retain their right to not give refund if you are not a suitable candidate, you are exposed to risk by not having an in person consultation first before payment. 

[anotherbaldguy]

35 minutes ago, ahglet said:

Out of curiosity, for those who have undergone hair transplant with renowned doctors, is there a similar clause in the contract about "full payment before surgery and no refund for unsuitable candidates"? 

One of my surgeries I had to pay a "renowned" doctor upfront.

Turns out they had over-quoted me by about 100 grafts, so rather than refund me they kept the rest under their "inclusive fee" structure. While 100 grafts doesn't seem like a lot, given their prices this worked out at about $1200.

The results were sub par as well (a lot of technical errors) and when I complained they refused to help, which recently forced me to undergo another surgery with another clinic.

On the one hand people will argue you should be grateful to the clinic for refusing to operate and making your life worse. On the other hand no services were rendered so it seems incredibly unfair you have to pay at all. You are pretty much on your own in this industry. 

Edited April 11, 2022 by anotherbaldguy
grammar

[doogg]

13 minutes ago, anotherbaldguy said:

One of my surgeries I had to pay a "renowned" doctor upfront.

Turns out they had over-quoted me by about 100 grafts, so rather than refund me they kept the rest under their "inclusive fee" structure. While 100 grafts doesn't seem like a lot, given their prices this worked out at about $1200.

The results were sub par as well (a lot of technical errors) and when I complained they refused to help, which recently forced me to undergo another surgery with another clinic.

On the one hand people will argue you should be grateful to the clinic for refusing to operate and making your life worse. On the other hand no services were rendered so it seems incredibly unfair you have to pay at all. You are pretty much on your own in this industry. 

Sorry to hear that, that sounds like such a bad experience. 

I agree with you, but I am sure the clinic will argue that the they could have another patient booked in that day so we have caused them a loss in earning etc etc. I think the clinic can keep maybe the fees for booking the operating room ( if the clinic does not own it), but keeping any more of the payment is quite controversial. 

however I think ultimately in this industry the doctor has the ultimate power and say, and so it is up to us to protect ourselves by preparing as much as we can. 

[Mike10]

I can see why there are different views on this. The clinic acted according to the terms of the contract so I do not see a malpractice here. It is a business and every patient who does not go through with the OP costs money. It is not a consumer friendly practice that is for sure. But what would have been much worse is if the clinic would have performed the OP. The patient would have been set up for a life long desaster. 

[MAIZE1694]

Props to this clinic, not for turning him down "for his own good", but for writing such a predatory contract and convincing OP and others to sign it. 

Most clinics I've researched book by a non refundable deposit. Paying everything up front with no guarantee of the procedure, just doesn't seem right.

I thought the EU was known for strong consumer protection? I guess cosmetic surgery does not fall in to this realm.

OP - can we please see what your donor looks like?

 

[Britanium]

6 minutes ago, MAIZE1694 said:

Props to this clinic, not for turning him down "for his own good", but for writing such a predatory contract and convincing OP and others to sign it. 

Most clinics I've researched book by a non refundable deposit. Paying everything up front with no guarantee of the procedure, just doesn't seem right.

I thought the EU was known for strong consumer protection? I guess cosmetic surgery does not fall in to this realm.

OP - can we please see what your donor looks like?

 

Agreed it would be good to see and hear exactly why the OP was deemed not to be suitable for a procedure 👍🏽