Choosing a Doctor and Clinic

Choosing a clinic, doctor and procedure can be a minefield. Kiely Healthcare provides the following recommendations as a guide to prospective patients when making the difficult decision of choosing a clinic and doctor which is suitable for their particular requirements.

The Clinic

• Location:The prospective patient should check that the clinic and doctor are based full-time in Ireland. This allows the patient to have their initial consultation, procedure and aftercare carried out in Ireland by the clinic doctor and gives the patient the reassurance that the doctor will provide 24 hour follow up care. Some businesses and franchises fly doctors into a country to operate on patients. The doctor often flies back to the country of origin after the operation leaving only peripheral, less trained staff to provide back up for the doctor's work. The prospective patient should ask if doctors from other countries are flown in to carry out the operations.
• Doctor owned and led (DOL): It is preferable that the clinic should be owned and led by the doctor. Doctors have an ethical duty to act in the best interest of their patients and must abide by the ethical guidelines provided by their governing bodies. They must provide full information to the patient, including reasonable expectation of success and any possible side effects. They must be registered practitioners in the country where they operate. Non DOL clinics, businesses and franchises run the risk of being motivated by profit only.
• Initial Consultation: Always see the doctor who will be performing the procedure for the initial consultation. He/she is the only person who can truly assess your requirements and suitability for treatment.. The patient should insist on seeing the operating doctor and no one else for his/her consultation.

The Doctor

• Location of Practice: Ideally the doctor's main centre of practice should be in Ireland where he is available fulltime for the patient.
• Registration: He should be registered with the Irish Medical Council. The doctor's degrees and Registration with the Irish Medical Council should be clearly displayed on his surgery wall.
• Consultation: The doctor should see you for the initial consultation.
• Procedure: The same doctor should perform your procedure and provide the follow up care. He should be fully available at all times should a problem arise.
• Membership: Ideally the doctor should be a member of the ISHRS ( International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons). To check if the doctor is a member of the ISHRS - go to www.ishrs.com and look under 'Find a Hair Restoration Doctor'
• Photographs: The doctor should provide you with genuine 'Before and After' photographs of his own work and genuine testimonials from his patients on request.

Dr.Kiely is an Irish resident and his clinic is based full-time in Ireland where all elements of the procedure are carried out-including initial consultation, surgery and aftercare. He is one of the leading Hair Transplant surgeons in Europe. He pioneered the introduction of Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) in Ireland.He is a member of ISHRS (International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons), BAHRS (British Association of Hair Restoration Surgeons), ESHRS (the European Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons) and The Trichological Society of London

Despite the huge growth of his practice over the last 15 years he insists on seeing all patients himself for the initial consultation. He carries out all the procedures himself, with his highly trained operating team, and he sees the patients personally for follow up care. He is fully on call himself for all patients following their procedure. See Doctor Profile

Information and Disclosure

• Information: Be sure that full information on the procedure is given to you at all times and that you understand the information and terminology fully.
• Shaving the head: For individual graft extraction techniques (FUE/DHI etc.) the back of the head must be shaved. The patient must leave the clinic with the shaved area exposed. Salespeople will often glide over this fact. Be sure you ask the doctor if the back of the head will be shaved and exposed when leaving the clinic. This situation does not apply to FUT. See FUT v. Other techniques.
• Advertising Advertising by a clinic should accurately represent what services the clinic provides. Sometimes advertising can be over enthusiastic. Be cautious of phrases such as 'non invasive', 'no scars' etc. All surgery involves breaking the skin and so is, by definition, invasive and leaves small, microscopic scars. In expert hands these are practically undetectable. If advertising 'sounds too good to be true' then it probably is.
• Informed Consent: Be sure that you are given full information verbally and in writing about the nature of the procedure and any possible side effects or complications. These should be included in the 'Consent Form' which you should take home and read carefully before signing. A copy of The Consent Form should be given to you at the initial consultation.