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Free tools
The four questions every patient asks
Each tool uses the same checked facts as the guides and runs in your browser: nothing you enter is stored or sent.
Is this clinic legitimate?
The official registers to check the clinic and the person who treats you, the questions to ask and the red flags, as a checklist.
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What will it really cost?
The quote, the flights, the nights before you can fly, the days off work, a companion and a second trip.
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Which destination fits me?
The destinations compared on flight time, EU rules, the registers you can check yourself and the follow-up.
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When can I fly home?
Your dates: the days before flying, back to work, the result, and the check-ups to book at home.
Open the toolGuides
Clear answers, sourced and dated
Before you book: the checklist
Twelve checks before you pay a deposit for treatment abroad: your doctor first, the surgeon and clinic in official registers, the written plan, aftercare, insurance.
Read the guide
If something goes wrong
A complication or a poor result after treatment abroad: what your health system does in 19 home countries, and what to prepare before you go.
Read the guideCheck a doctor or clinic abroad
How to check the doctor, dentist and clinic in the destination's own official registers: what to search with, a good result, specialists, red flags.
Read the guideInsurance for treatment abroad
Why standard travel insurance usually excludes planned treatment abroad, what specialist cover should include, and what to ask and read before you buy.
Read the guideFlying home after treatment
How many days to wait before flying home after treatment abroad, the signs of a blood clot, eye surgery, medicines in hand luggage and help at the airport.
Read the guideAftercare when you are back home
Planning aftercare at home after treatment abroad: who to tell, records and implant cards to bring, check-ups per treatment, prescriptions, urgent signs.
Read the guideRefunds for care in Europe
Living in Europe: the two routes to get planned treatment in another EU country paid back, who to ask first, and what is never refunded.
Read the guide
Hair transplant
Hair is moved from the back of the head to thinning areas. It is surgery under local anaesthetic, and the hair restoration surgeons' society says a doctor must make every incision: the main risk abroad is a clinic where technicians do the surgery.
Read the guide
Dental implants and veneers
Implants, crowns and veneers are the most common treatment people travel for. Implants usually need two trips, months apart, and the hardest part is what happens when something fails after you are home.
Read the guide
Weight-loss surgery
Gastric sleeve, bypass and band make the stomach smaller (a gastric balloon does too, without surgery). It is major surgery with follow-up for life: UK surgeons' societies urge caution with surgery abroad, mainly because the follow-up at home is often missing.
Read the guide
Cosmetic surgery
Tummy tuck, breast surgery, liposuction, nose and face surgery, buttock lifts. No surgery is risk-free, clinics abroad may not provide the follow-up, and the UK aesthetic surgeons' association (BAAPS) says the Brazilian butt lift has the highest death rate of all cosmetic procedures.
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Laser eye and lens surgery
Laser surgery reshapes the front of the eye; lens surgery puts an artificial lens inside it. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes, but the eye needs checking within 24 to 48 hours and regularly for at least six months, which is the hard part abroad.
Read the guideWhat a member sees
A free treatment file turns the same facts into a checklist for each clinic and a dated plan for the trip. These examples run through the real checklist and planner.
Destinations
Where people go, and how to check a clinic there
🇹🇷 Turkey
- Registers
- 3 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- Local rules only
- From London
- About 3 h 30 flying
🇭🇺 Hungary
- Registers
- 1 official register to check
- Patient rules
- EU cross-border rules
- From London
- About 2 h 15 flying
🇵🇱 Poland
- Registers
- 2 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- EU cross-border rules
- From London
- About 2 h 15 flying
🇪🇸 Spain
- Registers
- 3 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- EU cross-border rules
- From London
- About 2 h flying
🇲🇽 Mexico
- Registers
- 2 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- Local rules only
- From London
- About 10 h 15 flying
🇹🇭 Thailand
- Registers
- 3 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- Local rules only
- From London
- About 12 h 30 flying
🇰🇷 South Korea
- Registers
- 1 official register to check
- Patient rules
- Local rules only
- From London
- About 11 h 30 flying
🇲🇾 Malaysia
- Registers
- 5 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- Local rules only
- From London
- About 13 h 45 flying
🇮🇳 India
- Registers
- 2 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- Local rules only
- From London
- About 9 h flying
🇨🇿 Czechia
- Registers
- 3 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- EU cross-border rules
- From London
- About 1 h 45 flying
🇭🇷 Croatia
- Registers
- 3 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- EU cross-border rules
- From London
- About 2 h 15 flying
🇧🇷 Brazil
- Registers
- 3 official registers to check
- Patient rules
- Local rules only
- From London
- About 12 h flying
Sourced and datedEvery fact links to its source and shows when it was checked. Clinic websites are never a source. How we check.
IndependentNo commissions, no paid listings, no "partner clinics". We never rank clinics or recommend a surgeon: we show you how to check them.
PrivateThe tools run in your browser. We never ask for medical details; in an account, the treatment you consider is kept only with your explicit consent.
The Across family
Three sites, one method, for people whose lives cross borders
The same rules on all three: every changeable fact tied to its source, dated and marked by how it was checked.
Not medical advice
Medicalacross helps you ask the right questions and check the answers. Whether a treatment is right for you is a decision to take with a doctor or dentist who has examined you.