The following article provides you with a good lead on how to go about choosing the right hair transplant center with a well regarded hair transplant surgeon performing the hair restoration surgery and with affordable hair restoration.

Questions to consider when choosing your prospective hair transplant surgeon and clinic

Before and during your contact with your prospective hair transplant surgeon and clinic, you need to look for signs and signals that this surgeon and clinic is capable of providing you with a quality result – a natural looking hair transplant. Unfortunately there are a number of clinics and surgeons out there that do poor quality work. Before, during and after the clinic interview there are some questions to ask yourself privately to try and reduce the risk of getting a hair transplant from a cowboy surgeon.

How did you find out about the clinic and the surgeon? In the yellow pages or by personal recommendation? A personal recommendation by someone who has already had a transplant from the clinic / surgeon you are considering is best. If you don't have a friend or colleague who can give you a recommendation, it's okay to start with an advertisement or even the yellow pages, but you need to do more footwork to find out whether the surgeon / clinic is good. Never be duped by ‘affordable hair restoration', less expenditure might render unsatisfactory results.

• How long has the clinic / surgeon been in business? If the clinic / surgeon has been around for a few years it suggests they must have a regular stream of (presumably satisfied) customers to stay in business.

• What reputation does the surgeon / clinic have? These days with the availability of powerful search engines on the internet it is fairly easy to find out other peoples' opinions of the clinic / surgeon involved. Just type in their name and see what comes up.

• What reputation does the clinic / surgeon have in the business and legal arena? You could check with the better business bureau or equivalent in your area and check for any lawsuits brought against the clinic / surgeon. Often this can be done online. Contact your state medical board to see if any complaints have been filed against your hair transplant doctor or hair transplant clinic.

• What qualifications does the surgeon have? Is he/she a member of a professional organization specifically for the hair transplant profession? There are a few professional organizations (eg. In North America - The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons (ISHRS)) that attempt to improve hair transplant standards and ensure members do quality work. Membership of these organizations is not a guarantee that the surgeon is good, but it helps.

• In your contact with the clinic what is your general impression? Is the clinic in its own physical location or is it run from the back office of a general practice? Many hair transplant and cosmetic surgery clinics are in standalone buildings, others may be attached to larger dermatology clinics, each of which is valid. But some “clinics” are run by renting time in a surgery to do the operation and the only physical location may be a rented office not connected to a medical establishment. These small operations with a limited or no permanent location give cause for concern. They are harder to monitor and more difficult to contact if things go wrong.

• What is your impression in the interview? Does the surgeon sounds like he / she knows what they are talking about? Do they show pictures of their own work? Do they explain the risks as well as the benefits of hair transplantation?

• Do you feel some personal compatibility with the surgeon? You will be having a relatively intimate, albeit professional, relationship with this individual over a period of time if you have multiple hair transplant sessions. You need to feel comfortable with who you are dealing with.

• How pressured do you feel to sign up for the hair transplant? If you feel unduly pressured it is better to walk away. Give yourself time to think about it. You can always sign up later or find a different clinic. Clinics and surgeons that push hard to get you to sign up may be losing sight of their professional conduct requirements – to put the patient before profit.

• Prior to the surgery, did you actually meet with the surgeon who will oversee the transplant? Or did you just interview with a representative consultant, a nurse, or a technician? You should expect to see the surgeon at least once prior to the actual surgery. If you don't see the surgeon before the procedure, or get only limited information, walk away from this clinic.

• Who will actually conduct the surgical procedure? It is not necessarily going to be the surgeon who will conduct the procedure form start to finish. Hair transplants usually involve quite a lot of people. If the surgeon is not going to be present and the procedure is to be done entirely by nurses or technicians, this is cause for concern.

• Is your hair transplant surgeon's practice dedicated solely to surgical hair restoration? And if not, what percentage of his/her practice is? How many hair transplant operations does the surgeon conduct in a week/month/year? Some clinics and surgeons are exclusively focused on hair transplantation, they do nothing else. This is another indicator that the clinic and surgeon have extensive experience in hair transplantation.