We’re all familiar with franchise businesses. When you speak of a franchise most people think of a business such as McDonald’s. The concept of creating a franchise is based on the notion of producing a nearly identical product at many different locations. A person living in Dallas, Texas who is traveling through Florida for example can order a “Big Mac” sandwich which will look, taste and be nearly identical to one he would order and get in his hometown.

Unfortunately, this system and process may not be effectively applied to cosmetic medical practices which rely heavily on an individual doctor’s experience, education background and artistic skills. Although most of the technical aspects of any surgical procedure can be taught to many different physicians, the artistic decision-making and capability required for a hair transplant surgeon may not be easily duplicable.

This concept can be further illustrated by using an example of asking 4 different artists to draw or paint the same a bowl of fruit. Upon observation of the finished paintings one will notice that every one of the paintings will be different. So an individual patient going to one location of a chain clinic may have an excellent result while another patient going to another location within the same chain may have a completely different outcome.

In cosmetic surgery and particularly hair transplantation, patients need to thoroughly research a physician (whether a solo practitioner or one who is part of a chain) to investigate their educational accolades, their results and reviews from previous patients as well as possible malpractice history to effectively choose the most ideal surgeon.