HWT Clinic Review
Dr. Demir Akillioglu and Dr. Yunus Yildiz’s HWT Clinic Comprehensive Review Based On Patient Testimonies
HWT Clinic Score
Pricing
Pre-Surgery, Consultation and Booking
Facilities and Accommodation
Physicians and Staff
Surgery Methods and Doctor Involvement
Post-Surgery, Instructions and Aftercare
Online Reviews
Before and After Photos
Pricing: 2/5
Transparent pricing is available.
Detailed all inclusive packages are listed.
Aftercare medications, and shampoos are included in the price.
A fixed price for a single surgical session.
The premium package is affordable (Price < 3000€)
In terms of how they approach the subject of transparency in their pricing, we can take a look at this quote from their website:
“We offer a number of packages that provide different services and costs to suit all pockets.”
As indicated, they give no example of any pricing for any of their services on their website or social media accounts. In fact, after investigating other sources, we couldn’t get a range of costs even in the patient reviews.
Also, we want to point out that the clinic does not even hide the fact they charge differently for every patient.
This is a huge negative point in all aspects. In such a competitive landscape, we expect the clinics to at least grant their potential patients the comfort of knowing how much it will cost them beforehand.
Furthermore, offering different hair transplant prices to each different patient creates a big gap in their reliability.
Thankfully, at least, they provide some information about what other services they provide in each of their packages:
Standard Services within Every Package
Accommodation in a 5-star hotel for 2 nights
VIP transfer between the airport and the hotel
Consultation with a doctor (individual recommendations, personal meetings, and full blood count)
A personal patient consult that speaks one of the languages available in the clinic: English/French/German/Portuguese/Spanish/Romanian/Arabic
Aftercare products such as medications and shampoo
One final note is that although we know what additional services are included in the clinic’s all-inclusive package, we don’t know how much they affect the overall price due to absent transparency.
Instead, the clinic encourages the customers to get in touch to get a price list.
Pre-Surgery, Consultation and Booking: 4/5
Scalp condition improved with pre-op instructions for the best result.
1-1 online consultation with the doctor is available.
Detailed hair loss and transplant report provided. (+)
English-speaking customer success and sales specialists available.
Detailed information of phases provided.
HWT Clinic has an all-in-one “hair transplant guide” page that goes over pre-op instructions in-depth. On this page, patients can find various lifesaving tips to improve their scalp condition before surgery. Knowing which activities and medications are forbidden or encouraged is a big plus.
These instructions could be more personalized and structured, but the clinic provides no chance of having a one-on-one direct consultation with a doctor before you come to the clinic. Instead, your first time seeing the doctor is when you come to the clinic.
The clinic’s website provides seven different languages for foreign customers, which is an immensely high number that is difficult to find. So, communication in any aspect is never an issue at HWT Clinic.
A lot of fundamental pieces of information, such as the background information of the clinic’s surgical team or, in fact, even the supervising surgeons, are absent on the clinic’s website. In fact, the clinic never even mentions who the leading doctors and clinic’s founders are. This is a minus that creates unreliability.
Reaching the clinic is a bit one-sided. Patients leave their contact information and wait to get a call, a WhatsApp message, or an email from the clinic asking for photos of the scalp from different angles. Given the fact that many competitors in the field use questionnaires or even graft calculators, we believe that this part could have been more viable.
For each transplant method, HWT Clinic provides a detailed list of information explaining the phases of not only the surgery but the whole hair restoration process. So patients can at least get an idea of what is there to experience with each method without waiting for the clinic to respond.
Facilities, Services, and Accommodation 3/5
Transfers are done with a VIP van.
5- star International Hotels included.
3-night accommodation included.
Operation rooms in hospitals/clinics are top-notch.
The hotel and clinic are in the central location.
HWT Clinic’s representatives provide your entire transfer between the airport and the clinic with a VIP transfer.
A 2-day stay in a 5-star hotel is included in the clinic’s packages. We believe that 1 night extra for rest would have been better as it provides the necessary recovery for the graft health. Leaving a gap in the time required for healing after the heavy stress of the surgery is a minor minus in their accommodation services.
Instead of being in a hospital, HWT Clinic has its own clinic to treat its patients, which is filled with the latest technologies and top-notch design. Its operation rooms show a clear sign of hygiene on the interior, and the building has an easy-to-spot outlook on the exterior design.
Its location is a bit unfortunate. It is not in a central location at all, not even the slightest; in fact, getting to the clinic or anywhere from the clinic can be quite a hassle on your recovery days. It is on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, Atalar. It is close to Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW), though with only 22 km of distance, but far from Istanbul Airport (ISL) with 71 km of distance.
Sadly, one other part that the clinic’s website does not inform us about is the name and the location of the hotel they have chosen to include in their package. However, the patient reviews online confirm that the hotel they stayed in was, in fact, a 5-star hotel like the clinic promises, which is good to know.
Physicians and Staff: 3/5
A dermatologist or plastic surgeon is available.
An anesthesiologist for sedation is available.
The surgeon has done over 1000 hair transplants.
3 or more technicians/nurses are part of the operational team.
English-speaking physicians and staff.
So, right off the bat, we do not know if the clinic has a plastic surgeon or dermatologist or not. In fact, we do not have any single information about their leading doctors. Not having a professional who is an expert in the field of hair restoration is necessary if clinics want their potential customers to trust them.
Similarly, information about the founding and the leading doctors of the clinic, Dr. Demir Akillioglu and Dr. Yunus Yildiz cannot be found on the website; it can only be found from other online sources. These external sources do mention that they have been in many surgeries over the years, but we do not know anything more. That is a big minus.
HWT Clinic has an anesthesiologist on its surgical team, Dr. Asuman Dincer. She’s been working in the field for over 20 years and has been in more than 4000 surgeries. The fact that they have a professional to administer local sedation is a big plus. We are not given any information about their anesthesia options, but that is a small minus.
The clinic provides absolutely no knowledge about the technicians or nurses within the operational team, just like the primary doctor or the plastic surgeon. In other words, patients have no clue about whose capabilities they will have to trust with their health.
In theory, the fact that the entire clinic is full of English-speaking staff could help during the consultation process by learning more about the surgical team. However, we have no clear way of knowing it.
Ultimately, there is a huge hole in the clinic’s presented information about its surgeons. We believe a more well-thought transparency is very much needed here.
See other hair transplant clinic’s PSR scores:
Surgery Methods and Doctor Involvement: 2/5
A doctor performs & supervises all operations.
Bio-enhancements are used for harvested graft preservation.
Only one patient a day accepted / No simultaneous operations.
Needle-free local anesthesia and sedation are available.
Laser-assisted hairline drawing and telogen/miniaturization check.
According to online patient reviews, Dr. Demir Akillioglu and Dr. Yunus Yildiz are present in every surgery for hairline drawing and supervising the surgery. We want to point out, however, that the clinic itself does not highlight this.
Aside from providing a surgeon’s involvement in each transplant, HWT Clinic doesn’t take any other steps to support the surgical process, as no bio-enhancements are used in their surgeries. Bio-enhancements are essential as they help ease the physical stress on the scalp by feeding it with nutrition. Without them, the clinic’s success is negatively affected.
Not having any information about accepting only one patient a day on the clinic’s website likely means that they do not have such a policy. In our framework, this is a critical factor, as having multiple simultaneous operations in a single day harms the attention and skills of doctors.
We have mentioned that the clinic’s services include local anesthesia with their surgical team’s anesthesiologist. However, these anesthesia and sedation options are not needle-free. So, surgery’s pain is only reduced to a certain point.
The clinic mentions using laser-assisted hairline drawing for better accuracy. Miniaturization checks exist in pre-op examinations for all methods. Both of these services are difficult to find. This is a plus in our framework.
Post-Surgery, Instructions and Aftercare: 3/5
Regular post-op doctor consultations are provided.
Re-operation guarantee or lifetime warranty available.
Online post-op instructions are easily accessible.
Post-op ATPv spray provided for increased graft survival.
Medications and shampoos are available.
According to the surgery phases that can easily be found on the website, the clinic does the first hair wash with a medical shampoo following the day of the surgery. During this process, the patients are taught how to carefully wash their scalp with the same shampoo. To keep these instructions fresh, regular post-op doctor consultations are provided by the clinic.
On the other hand, it is a bit weird that the clinic does not provide any re-operation guarantee or lifetime warranty despite having regular post-op doctor consultations. Patients can see this as a lack of trust in their success.
The clinic has an extensive list of what to do and not to do after the surgery. For any period of time post-transplant, from the first week to the first year, patients can find various instructions online to safely monitor their process.
Despite providing an aftercare package with shampoo and various medications, the clinic lacks post-op ATPv spray to increase graft survival. This does not come as a surprise as ATPv sprays are a type of bio-enhancement, and bio-enhancements are not used in the HWT Clinic, as we mentioned earlier.
Online Reviews: 3/5
The clinic has over 500+ online reviews.
Negative reviews are positively handled.
Independent review website ratings 4.5+.
Video testimonials of actual patients are available.
High satisfaction rate.
| Website | Google Reviews | Trustpilot Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Review Count | 127 | 89 |
| Review Rating | 4.8 | 4.9 |
The clinic does not have many online reviews, which may seem like a drawback. However, we do not always view this as a bad sign, as having too many reviews can also be due to fake reviews sometimes. So having less but reliable is better than more but fake.
Unfortunately, though, these small amounts of reviews alone are not handled positively, too. There are various negative reviews that are left without an answer. We believe that doctors should at least accept criticism and respond to negative reviews instead of looking over them.
Some of the good reviews are as follows:
Some of the bad reviews are as follows:
Before and After Photos: 5/5
Before/After photos available.
Natural-looking results (especially hairline).
Graft survival over %90.
No overharvesting.
The surgery technique is indicated.
HWT Clinic’s website has a gallery of multiple hair transplant before and after photos showing the results of their patients. Also, more patient testimonies, along with information about the surgery technique, can be found on the clinic’s social media accounts.
The hairlines and results look mostly natural, and we don’t see any signs of overharvesting, which is a great sign.
Graft survival could have been better, though, and the apparent low survival rate is likely due to the lack of some techniques we mentioned earlier, such as bio-enhancements.
Here are the before and after photos of HWT Clinic:
Conclusion
HWT Clinic Rating
In all aspects, HWT Clinic seems to provide a half-promised service as there are cons as much as pros in their packages.
Providing transparency about pricing is among the most crucial parts of building trust. The clinic not only fails at this but also outright tells that different costs are charged for different customers.
It is difficult to learn about the leading doctors of the clinic as the clinic’s website only provides information about their anesthesiologist and nothing else. The surgical team is a complete mystery.
So, essentially, the difficulty in learning about their medical team and pricing is mostly the reason for reducing the clinic’s rating.
On the good side, the fact that the clinic provides a supervising doctor in every surgery is a big plus that is difficult to find. It would also be great if we could meet the same doctor in a one-on-one consultation before the whole process begins.
The clinic’s benefits are a bit difficult to achieve due to its location. However, once you do, the accommodation services they provide are top-notch.
Lastly, we think the clinic could improve its graft survival rates a lot by having an actual plastic surgeon or a dermatologist in their clinic and including bio-enhancements in their hair restoration process.
Our objective rating for the clinic is 3.0/5.0 according to our Price-Service-Result (PSR) framework.
Finally, we leave the following question for you to answer:
Do you think it is acceptable to pay differently or even more than the customer before you for the same service?
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FAQ
Does HWT Clinic have a clear price list available?
No, the clinic gives no information about any of their service costs. Instead, patients are expected to reach out to learn more about their prices, which can change from one patient to another.
Is HWT Clinic on Instagram?
Yes, the username is @hairworldturkey. Patients can DM for questions.
Does HWT Clinic have bad reviews?
Yes, of course. These reviews, however, are not handled well. In fact, they are not handled at all, as most negative reviews are left without an answer from the clinic.
