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  1. #11
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    Our clinic is a considerable opportunity for patients in a safe country protected by the European Union. There will be no government coup and no suicide bombers here. Tourists come here annually without risk nor concern for their safety.
    Dr. Cole, the majority of what you wrote in your initial post makes sense except where you start fear mongering about foreign countries. I presume you are referring to Istanbul and your quote I copied comes across as desperate. Istanbul is pretty far from any realistic government coup and suicide bombers there are extremely rare. Millions upon millions of tourists visit Istanbul every year and there are very seldom issues with tourists. Of all the people I have seen travel overseas for a hair transplant, I have never seen anybody have a single issue with safety.

    You can make the argument that going to Istanbul for a hair transplant is risky because of the surgeons, technicians, facilities, etc which is a fair argument, however your part above is just ridiculous.

  2. #12
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    With all due respect, xadiohead, how much business have you conducted in Turkey? I went there over my Thanksgiving holiday to train a group of 50 surgeons on my own dime. These surgeons were from all over the world. I brought enough equipment to train 50 surgeons and then pack it out. Unfortunately, customs stopped my 20-year-old daughter with over 30k in instruments that were coming in and then out. They locked her up in customs jail overnight. They gave her no blanket. Only a mattress on the floor. For dinner, they offered her a cigarette, a cup of coffee, or a candy bar. She chose the candy bar. After I paid a $4000 fine, they released her nearly 24 hours later but seized all the instruments. I have been in and out of Turkey many times over the past four years setting up a training center and training surgeons. I have been very happy that with all my entries until two years ago when they seized but returned my instruments on my exit. Nothing bad has happened in terms of life and limb. I'm not hard on Turkey because it is home to many well-qualified surgeons and friends. It is still not the safest country and the customs people have an agenda at times. I have done a considerable amount of work to build up a clinic and help Turkey prosper from it. I can say that I will not return again. Nothing can be assured in Turkey. It is one of the most geopolitically corrupt countries in the world. I don't trust the political process there, nor the people. I do know there are some great surgeons there. There are also some dangerous surgeons there.

    What we are focused on is something positive and not negative. We know that we can't offer treatment to all individuals. We also know that we can offer an opportunity for patients in a much safer environment. I suspect that getting physicially harmed is only important to the individual being harmed. And, yes, I am highly concerned about the overall quality of care in low-cost centers.

    You can sugar coat Istanbul all you want. I know a far different side of that country.

    My apologies if I offended anyone. However, you never know what will happen from day to day in some countries.

  3. #13
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    check it out. this is just from 2017. https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/in...223800183.html

    and this one from 2016: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_T...27état_attempt

    I think Turkey is the hair transplant capital of the world. I am quite fond of Turkey. One seems to forget about India, which is also quite good with specific surgeons. I was supposed to participate in a conference on-line in Pakistan during the first week of March. It was canceled due to the threat of war with India, and the airport in Pakistan was shut down.

    It isn't just Turkey. what is the focus with Turkey? Why would it bother you that we offer a safer market? Why would it bother you that some markets in this world are potentially unstable at any given moment? We know we can't treat everyone. We offer an option. Nothing more.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by John P. Cole, MD View Post
    With all due respect, xadiohead, how much business have you conducted in Turkey? I went there over my Thanksgiving holiday to train a group of 50 surgeons on my own dime. These surgeons were from all over the world. I brought enough equipment to train 50 surgeons and then pack it out. Unfortunately, customs stopped my 20-year-old daughter with over 30k in instruments that were coming in and then out. They locked her up in customs jail overnight. They gave her no blanket. Only a mattress on the floor. For dinner, they offered her a cigarette, a cup of coffee, or a candy bar. She chose the candy bar. After I paid a $4000 fine, they released her nearly 24 hours later but seized all the instruments. I have been in and out of Turkey many times over the past four years setting up a training center and training surgeons. I have been very happy that with all my entries until two years ago when they seized but returned my instruments on my exit. Nothing bad has happened in terms of life and limb. I'm not hard on Turkey because it is home to many well-qualified surgeons and friends. It is still not the safest country and the customs people have an agenda at times. I have done a considerable amount of work to build up a clinic and help Turkey prosper from it. I can say that I will not return again. Nothing can be assured in Turkey. It is one of the most geopolitically corrupt countries in the world. I don't trust the political process there, nor the people. I do know there are some great surgeons there. There are also some dangerous surgeons there.

    What we are focused on is something positive and not negative. We know that we can't offer treatment to all individuals. We also know that we can offer an opportunity for patients in a much safer environment. I suspect that getting physicially harmed is only important to the individual being harmed. And, yes, I am highly concerned about the overall quality of care in low-cost centers.

    You can sugar coat Istanbul all you want. I know a far different side of that country.

    My apologies if I offended anyone. However, you never know what will happen from day to day in some countries.
    While your response mentions an unfortunate event with Turkey customs agents regarding your daughter & expensive equipment, it still does not back up your claim that those traveling need to worry about a government coup or suicide bombers. You are implying that people who choose to travel to Turkey for a hair transplant need to fear for their life.

    Saying Turkey is one of the most geopolitically corrupt countries in the WORLD is quite the claim. According to transparency.org they were ranked #78 out of 180 countries in 2018 regards to least corrupt (102 are more corrupt). I don't doubt they are very corrupt, I just don't see the point in making outlandish claims.

    I'm born and raised in the US but yes I have been to Turkey recently. I don't even care about Turkey but I don't like a Doctor coming on here posting dumb scare tactics to convince people not to go to Turkey for a hair transplant. As I mentioned there are many potential reasons to consider not going to Turkey for a hair transplant, but you should have ended your post before you started making crazy claims implying people fearing for their life.

  5. #15
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    I presume you have no friends nor relatives that encountered an issue. Like I said unless you or someone you know lost a life or limb, why would anyone be concerned? What is your focus on Turkey? I didn't mention Turkey. You did. Scan through the link I sent. It's one bombing after another. Yet this is not the point. The point is that we choose to offer surgery in a safer environment. One could go to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, or Pakistan. We are in Greece for a reason. We feel safe there. Patients are welcome to go wherever they want. If anyone ever desires to know a good clinic in any country, I do my best to direct them in this way. I do all I can to direct patients.

    My travel in Turkey is different. I get picked up by a private car. I get delivered to a hotel cleared by the US Secret Service which always tells me that travel in Turkey is dangerous. Yes, I have patients in the secret service. Then I go from Hotel to the clinic in a car and back. I don't travel about alone. You can sell Turkey all you want, but anytime you must walk through a metal detector to enter a hotel, you should have cause for concern.

  6. #16
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    The hotels I go to in Turkey have offsets from the entrance. They always stop cars and put a mirror under the to look for bombs. No bombs. You get in. Don't sugar coat this scenario.

  7. #17
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    Now consider the hotels they put you up in. Most likely there are no offsets No bomb checks. Little security. They don't follow secret service protocols. They give you a room and that's about it.

  8. #18
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    I have asked faculty members to come to Turkey for conferences over the past several years. Many refuse to come. Those that do come always say the same thing, "my family and friends think I am crazy to come here".

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by John P. Cole, MD View Post
    I presume you have no friends nor relatives that encountered an issue. Like I said unless you or someone you know lost a life or limb, why would anyone be concerned? What is your focus on Turkey? I didn't mention Turkey. You did. Scan through the link I sent. It's one bombing after another. Yet this is not the point. The point is that we choose to offer surgery in a safer environment. One could go to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, or Pakistan. We are in Greece for a reason. We feel safe there. Patients are welcome to go wherever they want. If anyone ever desires to know a good clinic in any country, I do my best to direct them in this way. I do all I can to direct patients.

    My travel in Turkey is different. I get picked up by a private car. I get delivered to a hotel cleared by the US Secret Service which always tells me that travel in Turkey is dangerous. Yes, I have patients in the secret service. Then I go from Hotel to the clinic in a car and back. I don't travel about alone. You can sell Turkey all you want, but anytime you must walk through a metal detector to enter a hotel, you should have cause for concern.
    My focus is on Turkey because that clearly is the country you were referring to in your initial post, and that has been proven to be true by your responses.

    The link you sent shows deaths for Istanbul:

    A shooting inside a nightclub that killed 39 people
    Bombing at one of the airports that killed 41 people
    Suicide bomb that kills 5
    Bombing at Grand Bazaar that killed 11

    Yes all terrible events but it is hardly "one bombing after another". Also there are roughly 15 million people that live in Istanbul alone and it is far from the extremely dangerous place you are trying to make it out to be for those considering going there. Just about all the main hair transplant clinics in Istanbul that foreigners travel to are provided a private car/driver so that is a mute point.

    When I was there recently I toured the city, rode the BigBus tour bus throughout, ate at a variety of restaurants, rode the tram, walked around various places, etc and never once did this relatively skinny American white boy feel remotely scared even though I was by myself. Many there speak some English too so getting around isn't difficult. I was in new orleans the previous week and I felt more scared there than Istanbul.

    I have nothing to gain out of this, again just don't like to see people who many wanting to go to Turkey decide otherwise because a Doctor is telling them they essentially need to fear for their life.

  10. #20
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    Buddy, you are out of touch with reality. You have no idea who I am nor what I stand for nor why I stand for it. FUE was non-existent in 2003. I figured it out. I taught it to the rest of the world in one form or another. I travel the world in an effort to promote this procedure. Without my efforts FUE would not be where it is today, the most popular procedure in the world. It is a mistake for you to lecture me. Turkey is a very dangerous place. It has nothing to do with the surgical opportunities there for patients. Turkey is dangerous in every sense of he word. There is no question in my mind that you are focused on Turkey for a reason and it has nothing to do with your sight seeing experiences. If you go to Turkey and you are not careful, your life is in grave danger. There are very bad people there just as in many others parts of the world. You may have nothing to gain, but don't make the mistake of giving people a false sense of security in traveling to places that have inherent dangers just because you rode a bus without incident. You can't get into the airport in Istanbul without standing in line to go through security. That should be your first clue that bad people reside there.

    This is not at al about Turkey. You just want to promote Turkey as a safe and enjoyable place. The true population of Istanbul is even higher. If you ever wanted to get into a major traffic jam, this is the place to travel.

    Our objective is very simple. High quality surgery, great service, affordable pricing, and a very safe environment carried out by a very well trained team headed by two of the most experienced surgeons in the world in FUE. Take your Turkey argument and have it for Thanksgiving. I had my last Thanksgiving in Turkey. I have no desire to ever return primarily because it is inherently corrupt. This is not to say that some very good surgeons reside there just as in India. There are only far more bad clinics in both countries than good clinics. We are only giving patients an option without hope that we can treat all patients. We know we can't possibly treat all patients, but in some countries they hire nurses to do the entire surgery, lower standards of care, and do their best to treat as many patients as possible. This is the real danger we are doing our best to prevent. If we can also help some patients avoid dangerous locations, we will do this, as well.

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