How to Avoid Plastic Surgeon Scams in Turkey
There is an opinion that surgeries in Turkey are very cheap compared to surgeries around the world. If the doctor does not have before/after photos of the work, social networks are not very active, the page only has beautiful pictures and articles from the Internet, which are used for advertising, it is worth thinking about.
You should choose (this is a very important point!) not a clinic, but a doctor. But at the same time, you should know information about which clinic the doctor operates in!
This topic is very relevant, because it is about fraud and how to choose your surgeon and how not to fall for those surgeons who are called butchers or very unscrupulous specialists. And before we move on to the topic, we want to remind you that we are a medical tourism company, officially certified in Turkey, a company that really cooperates with different surgeons and helps patients at all stages.
Over the past 10 years, Turkey has become the center of world tourism for plastic surgeries. Patients from absolutely different countries: Israel, USA, Canada, Europe, Eastern countries come to us to have their plastic surgeries. Medicine in Turkey is at a very high level, therefore, there are many plastic surgeons who know how to do their job well. As well as scammers who do not do very well operations and deceive patients. It is very important to understand how to choose your doctor.
Criteria for selection of a plastic surgeon
There are several criteria that we always recommend our patients to pay attention to.
Let’s start with the first. Study the market and price offers on the market. There is an opinion that operations in Turkey are very cheap compared to operations around the world. Yes, this is true: in Turkey, prices are much cheaper, but this does not mean that you can do your operation for zero dollars. Before choosing a doctor or at least choosing several doctors, we must independently monitor the market and understand what the average price for your plastic surgery is.
Let’s say this is breast augmentation with implants. There is an average indicator for the country and you should start from it. Yes, there are many surgeons who do plastic surgery at a cost higher than the market and this is normal: everyone has different experience plus you should not forget about marketing and the popularity of the doctor. There are many different factors, including the complexity of your operation, and, of course, there are lower prices.
The cost may be higher and you can consider a doctor for your operation (if your budget allows and you really liked the doctor), the price of the operation may be lower, BUT not more than 10%. Because when choosing a very cheap specialist, there is a chance to stumble upon a non-expert. The more experience, the more expertise, the more patients the doctor has, the higher the cost – these are normal market relations, so please remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Do not risk your health, if you do not have enough money for an operation, it is better to postpone the operation, save up money and have it done later than to have the operation done incorrectly/poorly and over time have a repeat operation, which will cost much more. Let’s assume that you have already studied the market and are familiar with prices, have chosen five specialists, start following them and here is where the most important thing happens: you start following these doctors on Instagram. What should you pay attention to? First – photos from the operating table. You must understand that if the doctor’s page only has photos from the operating table, this means that the doctor does not monitor the rehabilitation of his patients. Because photos from the operating table are not indicative enough. They are done immediately after the operation, when there is no swelling, no rehabilitation process, many, many factors that affect the final result. An hour after the operation, swelling appears, which, firstly, changes the result of the operation immediately and over time. Of course, the swelling goes away over time. The final result can only be seen after a year, so we at Globalmedik are always in touch with our patients and ask them to send report photos in the first / third / sixth / ninth / twelfth months in order to track the rehabilitation process and give advice. And, yes, our doctors see these photos. If patients allow us to share their results, the photos can be seen on our Instagram. If the doctor does not have such photos on Instagram, this means that he is performing the operation and no longer in contact with the patient. Think about it, why do you need SUCH a doctor who does not maintain contact with the patient during the rehabilitation process?
The second thing to pay attention to is life on Instagram. We all understand perfectly well that doctors do not manage their own social networks – they all have SMM managers or assistants, or people responsible for their Instagram. Therefore, if a doctor has patients, if a doctor has something to show, then there will always be a person nearby who will definitely record everything and post it on the social network. Therefore, please pay attention to Instagram, where there is real life.
Photoshop. Now there is a new trend on Instagram: they photoshop not the “after” result, but the “before” photo. They “show” that the doctor performed the operation, there is the patient’s result and in order to show that this is the most radical transformation, they photoshop the “before” image, providing a less attractive original. This is very often used in rhinoplasty.
You must understand that if you see something like this on a doctor’s Instagram, you are being deceived. After all, why photoshop something that is already good? We have a “golden rule” not to use Photoshop so that future patients see a realistic picture. Be critical of what you see!
The next thing to pay attention to is the doctor’s experience and the reviews of his real patients. Of course, it is difficult to find information about the doctor without knowing Turkish, but in any case it is possible. There are a huge number of forums where doctors are discussed, there are stories that doctors publish with real videos of patients. You can always find this patient and ask: did he really have an operation? How did it all go? These are real things – real feedback, which we always ask our patients for. Why is this important? Because what a beautiful picture shows on Instagram is not always true.
You always need to think critically, look for different sources of information. At Globalmedik, during a consultation, we always talk about each doctor, give them reviews to read, look at examples of work, give patients the opportunity to study information about the doctor. Choosing a doctor is your responsibility, this is your operation.
Clinic
The clinic is important. In general, Turkey has very good clinics. Often they are better than many other countries in terms of service, in terms of interior. You already know about the quality of the staff. But one thing that is worth paying attention to is the presence of an intensive care unit. We recommend doing operations in clinics that have an intensive care unit, because operations vary in complexity and therefore there are always risks of postoperative complications or complications during surgery. You should know in which clinic the doctor operates because there are many clearly specialized plastic surgery clinics in Turkey, but they do not have intensive care units and these are the risks that the patient takes on when choosing such a plastic surgery clinic for himself. We cooperate with clinics that have intensive care units, because for us it is important: a chance of one in a million, but you must be prepared for it and must know for sure that something can go wrong and you will definitely receive help.
Communication quality
The quality of communication is very important both before and after the operation. When choosing your doctor, you get a consultation, correspond with his assistant. Yes, you do not communicate with the doctor. It is important to understand that if your consultant comes back to you every 3 days, then:
he may not be interested in you
and what will happen when you arrive in Istanbul?
Therefore, it is necessary to be sure to maintain communication during your stay in Istanbul.
Preoperative communication quality is very important: how they communicate with you now, so they will communicate with you after. Most of the communication about the rehabilitation process occurs after our patients leave for their country, they send us report photos, ask questions.
Be sure to pay attention to the quality of communication of the clinic, doctor or assistant. If there is no communication now, then believe me, when you have the operation, they accept the payment, there will be none at all, which is important in the rehabilitation process.
Attraction discounts and promotions.
And the last thing is the attraction of discounts and promotions. Let me remind you that we are in Turkey. Everyone knows that in the Turkish mentality there is such a concept as a discount, yes, if we are talking about a market – a bazaar, then you always need to bargain, we ourselves tell our patients that you must bargain at the market to get a better price. BUT this is not applicable in medicine. You must clearly understand this: doctors are specialists with extensive experience. Therefore, if you are told that only today, only now, there is a promotion – 50%, please be careful, because:
A 50% discount is a very high price, in some cases it is $ 1,000. This means that the real price is completely different and that it is very small, accordingly, think about what level of specialist you can
if you are offered such big discounts, it means that this doctor has no patients, he is ready to take you for any price. A doctor who has no patients is not an experienced doctor or does not do a very good job.
We at Globalmedik have small discounts twice a year: the first time in January. Why? Because January is not a very popular month for plastic surgeries: everyone is celebrating the New Year holidays, and you can’t drink alcohol before or after surgeries. That’s why we have discounts of 5% maximum, and not on all surgeries and not with all doctors.
Second – in August: we have a promotion for hair transplants, because after a hair transplant you can’t swim in the sea or sunbathe, so guys don’t really like to do transplants in August, because someone is definitely going to the sea. That’s why we always give a discount of 100 euros for this very reason, to stimulate bookings in this month, because we know there will be a slight drop. THAT’S IT! There are no more promotions, because we are fully booked, we have specialists who are difficult to book, we have specialists who are in demand on the market and you should also understand this.
Therefore, be careful when choosing your doctor. Turn to the experts, to those people who know EVERYTHING about plastic surgery, who know EVERYTHING about doctors, who know EVERYTHING about surgeries and can give you the right advice.