Ziering Medical UK may have advertised a misleading hair transplant ad, but I assure you my before and after shots were the real deal

I took the before and after pictures myself, not the clinic, and the results were dramatic

Ziering Hair Transplant Ad

As someone whose before and after hair transplant headshots have been in this newspaper, and as such are grafted on to cyberspace as permanently as the 2,783 hair follicles that were plucked out of the back of my head and jabbed into the front, I am qualified to speak about just how seriously you should take those pictures.

Bear in mind you can do a reasonably convincing job of making a bald man look suddenly hirsute with just a comb. Donald Trump does it every day. In an unregulated industry – itself a scandal – and one built on the knowledge that appearances can be deceptive, don’t be too shocked to learn there are those out there who might be into deception. Not everyone though, and finding someone you feel you can trust is the hardest part. Horror stories abound. I took the before and after pictures myself (or rather with the aide of my own photographer), not the clinic, and the results were dramatic.

The Ziering advert; the ASA pointed out those on the right have thicker hair all over their heads

Finding someone you can trust is by far the most difficult problem and, unfortunately, in my experience, the more you are prepared to pay, the less likely you are of being lied to. And once committed, there is no going back. Especially if going back means to Thailand or Turkey.

In this case, it appears the advert showed three bald men, overlaid with fake testimony, then cut back to three thick-haired individuals. If that is enough to convince you these are people to be throwing money at, then you might need your head examined, not merely perforated.