How we check

What "true" means here

Every clinic price on ClinicTrue was copied from the clinic's own website. We show you the page we took it from and the day we saw it. We do not round prices, bundle them or improve them. If the clinic changes its price, ours is out of date until we look again, and the date tells you how old it is.

What "checked" means here

"Checked" means we looked a clinic or surgeon up in a public registry and we tell you what the record said on the day we looked, with a link so you can repeat the check yourself. It means the clinic was on the list that day. It does not mean the clinic is safe, and it does not mean we vouch for anyone's results. No registry catches everything. If we learn of a credible report of harm at a clinic, we remove the check line and say that we removed it.

How we check

We visit each clinic's own website and copy the price we find there, with the page address and the date. We do not round it, bundle it or add to it. If a page shows a range, we show the range.

In Colombia we look each clinic up in REPS, the Ministry of Health's register of health providers. We match by name and city, and we accept a match only when the clinic's phone or address backs it up. Each line shows the date we checked and the date of the REPS data we checked against. If we cannot match a clinic, the line says so and links to REPS so you can search yourself. A clinic can be registered under a different name.

In Mexico, the Mexican plastic surgery board's directory blocks automated lookups, so we do not check it. Each Mexican clinic page links to the directory so you can look the surgeon up yourself.

In Costa Rica we look for the doctor's name in the public register of the Colegio de Médicos y Cirujanos de Costa Rica. Where we find a matching record, the line says so, with the date we checked and the specialty only if the register shows one. Where we have not checked, the line says "Not checked yet" and links to the register so you can look the surgeon up yourself. A doctor can be registered under a different name, so a line that says we could not match a name is not a finding about the doctor.

One other source is used, and only for surgeons: the price a surgeon sets on their own public Doctoralia profile. We read the profile, keep only a real surgery price or a consultation fee (never a fee repeated on every surgery), and show it under the label "Set by the surgeon on their Doctoralia profile", with the date we saw it and a link to the profile. These prices are kept apart from clinic website prices and are not in any median. We take nothing else from Doctoralia, no photos, contact details, reviews or ratings.

We re-read the public sources every day, a few at a time, so that every clinic price, registry line and clinic website is looked at again at least once a month. Each price and each registry line shows the day we last checked it. If we have not re-checked a price in 90 days, or the clinic's page now shows a different number, the line says "confirm with the clinic" and the price is left out of every average, comparison and "from" figure until we confirm it again. A registry listing we have not re-confirmed in 90 days, or whose record has dropped out of the register, stops reading as verified. Nothing is removed because one look failed: a page that is down for a day changes nothing.

We do not visit clinics, review surgeons or check outcomes. When we hear of a credible report of harm at a clinic, we remove its check line and say so on the page.

How clinics are ordered

Every clinic list uses one method. Clinics that publish prices come first, then clinics that do not; inside each group the order is alphabetical. No clinic pays to appear higher. Paying and non-paying clinics are shown the same way, in the same order, with the same checks. A clinic without published prices still has its own page. If a paid placement ever exists, it will say "Sponsored" before you read it.

Fees

Patients never pay ClinicTrue. We never charge for placement or order. Payment does not change what we show you or the order we show it in.