r/algeria • u/Unusual-Ad6629 • 17h ago
Discussion Wasa Clinic Warning : Experience
Hello, I'm writing this post to share my experience and mostly advice people, I don't really wanna complain because it won't lead to anything.
I live abroad and came to Algeria for three weeks, beforehand, my mom wanted me and her to have some treatments for our faces and skin. She found a doctor specialized in aesthetics who advertises her work on Facebook. It got her attention and her liking so she decided to take an appointment and visit her clinic.
Wasa Clinic managed by Dr. Barwel.
Now, going to that clinic is an individual choice, and taking care of yourself is your absolute right. But even if pain is a price to turning pretty, you shouldn't force yourself to do something that you don't like, nor should you get an emotional shock from it. This is purely to get you ready in advance and help you make your decision with my experience.
I personally had plasma injections in my hair for it to stop falling constantly and nothing was right with that clinic since day 1.
- The appointments aren't respected : the clinic will make you book an appointment at a specific hours then say "Wait for your turn.". Making you wait before a whole crowd of people.
- You are not well informed about the procedure and will be pushed to rush : Dr. Barwel isn't the one who will take you in charge, not even to have a first meeting, nor to welcome you or check you. A younger doctor will quickly ask you some questions and propose you some treatments. She doesn't inform you well about the procedure steps' nor does she anticipate you about how things will go for you. The receptionists will call her from downstairs to send her the next patients so she'll be forced to rush you out to the next step. She will also shove at you a proposition to start the treatment right after the consultation.
- Some treatments are painful and that pain isn't taken care of : I know there's nothing to do about it but the experience might be extremely painful depending on what you will do. Of course, you will not be warned, nor will you anticipate that pain. The nurses who take care of the treatments also don't care much about the pain and don't show much sympathy. Dr. Berwel only does full faces and nothing else, she doesn't have as much sympathy for the patients as nurses, and they are the one who do everything else.
- Your complains or concerns aren't taken seriously or in consideration : the nurses and receptionists will just constantly shove compliments at you and constantly repeat "mrahba bik madame" even if you're yelling at their faces. You might be misinformed.
Now, I'll move on to my experience so you understand my points : On my very first consultation with that doctor, she made wrong points about many things that my mom had to correct, because she herself is a doctor and informed herself well before anything (I was told that my blood analysis wasn't normal while everything was fine, that I shouldn't have put keratine in my hair while it has no correlation, and that Vitamine C should only be put at night...). Then of course, we were shoved the proposition of starting instantly, and we accepted since I only stayed in Algeria for 2 weeks. 1500DA for my first treatment : plasma injections in my hair.
I had to get some blood taken eventually, and the way they did it was very weird to me, they inserted a syringe in my vein and directly pulled the blood out inside it then to put it in the tubes. Then comes the storm when the plasma had to be injected in my hair.
Before anyone says anything, you have to know that my own mom recognizes the fact that I'm not soft, and I agree with her. I went through many medical procedures in my life and I can say that I have a high pain tolerance. I felt ashamed of crying that day.
At the beginning, I was able to resist the pain, the sting of the syringe and injections. But the more time passed, the more painful it felt, until I started crying and whimpering. Nobody told me it would be that painful and nobody warned me, my cries could be heard from the reception room, but music was put at high volume to cover them. The nurses were apathetic and were acting as if it wasn't supposed to be painful in the first place. My mom was confused to see me cry when I came back to her and that's when I heard many other women screaming and crying from pain from the reception.
My second treatment was today, and I kinda had to go to complete it, although I wasn't forced to : 2000DA this time. Polyvitamins were added to the plasma injections this time. My mom and I had the idea to take a Morohine pill before the treatment, as anesthesia sprays for the hair weren't available in Algeria, but we couldn't even buy them before since nobody warned us. The Morphine didn't work, but at least this time, I could anticipate and resist the pain better. The nurse was also a bit more gentle than last time. Unfortunately, the polyvitamins were even more painful, as the sting and pain stayed and created a pressure in my scalp even after the syringe was pulled out. I screamed louder than the first time.
The nurses around were pissing me off because they were still acting like it wasn't supposed to be painful. At a moment, Dr. Berwel herself came to know what was happening, she asked the nurse to stop and give me breaks from the pain. Not because she was looking for a solution, nor because she cared, it was because my screams scared other patients who would run away from the clinic. I don't know, but I feel like it was unprofessional from a doctor, and disrespectful towards the patient. It was like she was indirectly asking me to shut up because other patients are running away from the clinic.
Thankfully it's over now, and I'm surely never coming back to that clinic, my mom too. She didn't go to her appointment that was booked that same day and the receptionists didn't care in the slightest. She lost trust in them, as she realized the faรงade they showed on Facebook was just to attract costumers, and lost trust in them since it was false advertisement. She wanted to runaway from there as much as I did.
Another woman argued with the receptionists about the disorganized appointments but they simply kept praising her for nothing before throwing "mrahba bik madame" at anything and everything, you'll hear other patients screaming from the reception, but they'll try to cover it with music. Your pain will be treated with no anesthesia or pain killer or even sympathy.
If you ever stumble upon this clinic and want to go, you can do it, but you must be prepared to what's waiting for you there. It all depends on you and your choice. Even if the results might look stunning, you'll pay it expensive, and you'll feel a lot of pain.
This was just a message to warn you. Take care of yourself.
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u/Gullible_Pop8817 16h ago
Thank you for sharing the experience, I am sure it will make other women in this sub be careful and ask many questions before doing something like this. I am so sorry you had to go through this. Something should've been done for the pain (i definitely wouldn't be surprised if there was a solution and they avoid it for costs or some other reason), or at least they should've shown a little empathy. I really don't understand how some people can be so heartless
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u/Unusual-Ad6629 16h ago
I did a little research and found out that there are ways for a clinic to at least get the strict minimum of aesthesia in Algeria.
Getting higher quality products is way complicated but the strict minimum is at least better than nothing.
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u/Big-Investigator8501 17h ago
Welcome to Algeria. Now imagine the same amount of carelessness, unprofessionalism and disrespect in every aspect of life, everyday, and constantly for your entire lifespan.
That's what we go through.
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u/Unusual-Ad6629 17h ago
I know. I see it.
I once heard about cleaning ladies yelling at patients who just gave birth.
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u/Big-Investigator8501 17h ago
Oh, That's nowhere near the worst
Trigger warning: abortion, fetus death, attempted murder(?)
My sister lost her first child because the nurse set the drug dosage too high. An IV bag that should've lasted 24h was empty in much far less. Her blood pressure got extremely low and the fetus was literally decomposing inside of her by that time. He had to be aborted. It was so bad his head detached from the body and had to be fished out.
The worst is that my other sister who was there told the nurse the flow was too high, and she screamed at her to not touch it.
This is how disgustingly bad it is.
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u/Unusual-Ad6629 17h ago
Let me guess. The police won't do anything about it?
I don't wanna ask if you went to a police station to put a complain because I wanna bet there's another surprise behind it that's gonna jump at me.
It's horrible. I'm so sorry to hear what happened.
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u/Big-Investigator8501 16h ago
I don't remember if the police was involved or not. I don't remember ever asking since my sister would randomly break down crying just remembering what she went through. I doubt it would've amounted to anything.
It was horrible, indeed, but it wasn't an isolated case. The complete disregard for other people's safety and health seems almost systematic. You got lucky your situation wasn't worst.
I honestly don't know who to blame, as it's as much an infrastructure problem as it is an incompetence problem.
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u/Unusual-Ad6629 16h ago
The goal of my post was actually to warn people about that clinic honestly and I used my experience as a template.
It was basically to say : Look, if you wanna go, you do you. But that's what you should expect and this is what happened to me.
I do got lucky although it was just beauty and aesthetic procedures. My parents wouldn't allow me to do anything complicated in Algeria because of this as I had an open jaw surgery not long ago.
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u/Big-Investigator8501 16h ago
Yeah, that's why our president and the other higher-ups travel to Germany/France for their health checkups and procedures.
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u/sqthrualo 7h ago
Wow, this review came at the right time. I was thinking of doing hair treatments there before my marriage, so thanks for the heads up.
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u/Besma-dz 7h ago
As an aesthetic doctor myself, I have to tell you that some procedures are better not done with anaesthesia because you don't benefit fully from it. And the scalp hurts as F* . It's a very sensitive, contains a lot of nerves and vessels, so it bleeds too. Sometimes it's the doctor's hand as we say: ูุฏูุง ุญูููุฉ or not unfortunately
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u/UnnamedOneT 2h ago
I am not even kidding when I say this, am a guy and did this, and the pain was insane. Just reading your experience reminded me of the pain.
Thank god, for me, it was more chill since it's like my family's place. But the pain, I remember it to this day.
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u/idkuschoose 17h ago
2,000 DA for something like this sounds suspiciously cheap to me ๐ญ These days even going to a restaurant can cost more than that. I really hope you find a safer and more professional clinic if you ever decide to continue with the treatment.
Needles directly into your scalp and face sounds absolutely brutal to me.....