Most comparisons of hair transplant clinics rank them by opinion. We do not. We compare only checkable facts — board certification, society membership, who holds the instrument during your surgery, and whether any price is published anywhere. Every claim carries its source and the date we checked it; anything we cannot confirm is marked “not stated”, and clinics can request corrections any day of the week.
Cities covered
Nashville, TN
Independent practices hold most of the local search results.
4 clinicsCharlotte, NC
National chains occupy a third of local results.
1 clinicIndianapolis, IN
Per-graft promotional pricing is common in local advertising.
1 clinicKansas City, MO
Mixed market: dedicated hair practices and multi-service surgical groups.
2 clinicsRichmond, VA
Smaller market; many patients travel for treatment.
2 clinicsRaleigh, NC
Chains dominate search; disclosure among the independents varies sharply.
1 clinicColumbus, OH
The most chain-dominated search results of any market we reviewed.
2 clinicsSalt Lake City, UT
Two local models: a multi-city FUE brand with a named local physician, and a facial-plastics group.
2 clinicsLouisville, KY
No dedicated hair-only practice — multi-service plastic surgery groups carry this market.
2 clinicsMilwaukee, WI
A named 25-year surgeon vs an anonymous multi-city brand — and weekly payments instead of prices.
Compare by service
FUE
One name, three different who-performs models. City by city.
7 of 22 clinicsFUT (strip)
The technique most clinics dropped — and the two-quote comparison it enables.
8 practicesNeoGraft
The most common device — with the index's only two published prices.
1 practiceSmartGraft
NeoGraft's competitor device, stated in the Columbus market.
All services, compared on what clinics state →
What we evaluate
| Criterion | Weight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Who performs the surgery | Highest | This is the question the ISHRS puts first. Its position is that preoperative evaluation, surgical planning, donor harvesting, hairline design and recipient site creation should be performed by a licensed physician or physician extender. In practice clinics vary widely, and most patients never ask. |
| ABHRS board certification | Highest | ABHRS certification is specific to hair restoration and verifiable in a public registry. A surgeon can be an excellent plastic surgeon or dermatologist without holding it — that is not a disqualification, but it is a fact worth knowing, and it is checkable in two minutes rather than taken on trust. |
| ISHRS membership | High | Membership in the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery signals participation in the specialty’s standards-setting body — and the member directory is public, so the claim can be checked in one click rather than read off a logo. |
| Who evaluates your hair loss | High | Hair loss has causes that require diagnosis — androgenetic alopecia, telogen effluvium, scarring alopecias and systemic conditions present differently and respond differently. The ISHRS warns that non-physician evaluation risks misdiagnosis, failure to identify hair disorders or underlying disease, and unnecessary procedures. A consultation that is really a sales appointment is a different thing from a medical evaluation. |
| Price transparency | Medium | Whether the clinic publishes per-graft rates or total ranges anywhere. Published figures are rare, correlate with consistent pricing, and are the only way a patient can calibrate a quote before a sales conversation. |
| Malpractice coverage of the full team | Medium | The fourth of the four ISHRS patient questions. If part of the procedure is performed by someone not covered, the patient carries a risk they were never told about. |
| Verifiable results | Medium | Before-and-after photographs should depict the clinic’s own patients, treated by the surgeon who would treat you. The ISHRS lists fraudulent photography among the markers of black-market operations. |
| Named in AI answers | Editorial | Whether the clinic appears when patients ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews who to trust in its city. Tracked with dated screenshots, measured separately from quality, and never part of the evaluation itself. |
Full methodology, including the featured-placement and corrections policies →
Guides & tools
Glossary · Norwood scale, illustrated · Financing calculator · Consultation checklist · Physician-performed list · ABHRS list · Published prices
How to Check Whether Your Hair Transplant Surgeon Is Actually a Surgeon
Four questions the ISHRS tells patients to ask, two public registries you can check yourself, and what the answers mean.
What Does a Hair Transplant Cost in the US? (2026)
Per-graft rates, typical graft counts by stage of loss, and what actually moves the total.
FUE vs FUT: What Actually Differs
Scarring, graft yield, recovery, cost and candidacy compared directly.
Hair Transplants Abroad: What the ISHRS Warns About
Why the price gap exists, what happens when a case needs revision, and the questions that travel poorly.
Common questions
How do I know a hair transplant surgeon is qualified?
The ISHRS publishes four questions patients should ask: who evaluates your hair loss and what is their licensure, who performs each part of the surgery, whether anyone not licensed by the state will make incisions or harvest grafts, and whether the whole team is covered by malpractice insurance. Board certification is separately verifiable through the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery.
Do technicians perform hair transplants?
Sometimes. The ISHRS runs a consumer campaign specifically about unlicensed technicians performing substantial parts of hair restoration surgery, citing risks of misdiagnosis, missed underlying disease and unnecessary procedures. Its position is that evaluation, planning, donor harvesting, hairline design and recipient site creation should be performed by a licensed physician or physician extender.
How is this directory compiled?
Each city page compares clinics on verifiable fields only: ABHRS board certification, ISHRS membership, who the clinic states will perform the surgery, price transparency, and whether the clinic appears in AI assistant answers for that city. Fields we cannot confirm are marked "not stated" rather than guessed. Featured placements are labelled and do not affect the comparison.