Why get a second opinion on stem cell therapy
Stem cell therapy is one of the most genuinely promising areas in modern medicine — and, at the same time, one of the most heavily marketed, with international clinics that range from outstanding to outright unsafe. The same patient can walk away from three different consultations with three different stories: one clinic saying surgery is the only path, a second telling them "we can fix anything with cells," and a third quoting a five-figure protocol that's hard to verify. A second opinion exists precisely to interrupt that pattern with a careful, named, written assessment that you can hold in your hand.
There are three reasons patients book a second opinion with us. The first is to avoid bad clinics — to have a licensed physician look at a quote, a protocol, or a website and tell them, honestly, whether what they are being sold is even biologically plausible. The second is to confirm candidacy — whether their specific diagnosis and imaging actually suggest a meaningful response to mesenchymal stem cells, exosomes, PRP, or one of the orthobiologic combinations we use. The third is to explore options — surgical vs. non-surgical, biologic vs. pharmacologic, or simply a less aggressive starting point that respects the principle of "first do no harm."
We built this evaluation as our primary way of meeting new international patients because, in our experience, no other format establishes trust as quickly. A 15-minute video call with a physician — not a sales representative — is a real medical conversation. You bring the facts of your case, we bring the clinical experience, and at the end you walk away with a clear, written answer about whether we believe regenerative medicine is appropriate for you.
Learn about our stem cell therapy program · Schedule the free evaluation
What we review in your second-opinion evaluation
A meaningful second opinion is only as good as the inputs. The more accurate, complete and recent the information you share, the more useful our recommendation will be. None of these items is strictly required — patients arrive with very different amounts of paperwork — but the more we can review beforehand, the more time the live call spends on you and the less on basic intake.
- Your current diagnosis. Whatever diagnosis you have received from a primary physician, specialist, or another clinic. We want both the formal name (e.g. "grade III chondromalacia patellae," "L4–L5 disc protrusion with right radiculopathy," "androgenetic alopecia, Norwood stage IV") and the clinical context: how it was diagnosed, when, by whom, and what the treating physician recommended.
- Imaging and laboratory results. MRIs, CT scans, X-rays, ultrasounds, blood panels, hormone panels, autoimmune markers — whatever is relevant to the condition. Imaging is especially valuable for orthopedic and spine cases because it tells us almost everything we need to know about whether a biologic is likely to help.
- Your current treatment plan. Medications, physical therapy, injections received elsewhere, surgical recommendations, supplements, lifestyle interventions, and anything you've already tried with or without success. We need to understand what has and has not worked before recommending a new direction.
- Previous stem cell or biologic quotes. If another clinic has sent you a proposal, please share it. We will review the protocol (cell type, dosage, route of administration, supplying laboratory, sessions, total cost) and tell you whether it is plausible, what it leaves unsaid, and how it compares to evidence-based practice.
- Your goals and constraints. What outcome would make this worthwhile to you — return to a specific activity, reduce pain by a specific amount, taper off a medication, regrow hair, recover from a chronic illness? And what are your real-world constraints — travel, recovery time, budget? An honest goals conversation is the difference between a useful plan and an unrealistic one.
Who should consider a stem cell therapy second opinion
If any of the following situations describe your case, a free second-opinion call with our medical team is probably worth your time. You don't need to have decided anything — most patients we speak with are still gathering information.
- You've been told you "need surgery". Surgical recommendations should always be examined in context. Many patients are told they need a knee replacement, a spinal fusion, or a rotator cuff repair when the imaging and clinical picture also fit a biologic, conservative, or staged approach. A second opinion clarifies whether surgery is truly the best option or simply the one that was offered first.
- You've been told you have "no options left". "Nothing else can be done" is a phrase patients hear more often than the evidence supports. Autoimmune disease, post-COVID complications, chronic pain syndromes, refractory tendinopathies, and many neurological and metabolic conditions still have meaningful avenues to explore — regenerative or otherwise. We will be honest about the realistic odds, but we will look.
- You've been quoted more than $50,000 abroad. International stem cell quotes range from reasonable to extraordinary. If a clinic is asking you for $50,000–$150,000 USD for a protocol, please get a second opinion on both the price and the clinical justification before paying any deposit. Many of these quotes are not aligned with current evidence or with the cost structure of the underlying biologics.
- You want to compare clinics objectively. It's entirely reasonable to want a second clinic's honest read on a first clinic's plan — and vice versa. We do this often. We will not trash a competitor; we will tell you which parts of the plan are well-justified and which are not, and what we would do differently.
- You're considering autologous vs. allogeneic cells. Patients are often quoted a stem cell protocol without being clearly told whether the cells are their own (autologous) or from a donor source (allogeneic), where the allogeneic cells come from, and how dosage is calculated. A second opinion lays this out in plain language so you can make an informed decision.
Guide: how to choose a stem cell clinic
How our virtual second-opinion evaluation works
The evaluation is a 15–30 minute video call with a named, licensed physician on our medical team. You will know in advance who you will be speaking with, their cédula profesional (Mexican medical license number, publicly verifiable through the SEP registry), and their area of expertise. We do not pass second-opinion calls to sales staff or pre-screening agents — the call is with the physician from the first minute.
Before the call, you will be asked to upload (or email) any imaging, lab work, prior consultation notes, and quotes you would like reviewed. Upload happens through an encrypted form that respects Mexican LFPDPPP and US HIPAA-aligned medical-record handling standards. The physician reviews the materials before the call so the live time is spent on your specific case and on your questions, not on intake.
During the call, the physician walks you through their reading of your situation, what regenerative options are or are not appropriate, what realistic outcomes look like, what the next clinical step would be if you decided to proceed (and what it would cost), and what alternative paths are worth exploring. You will have time for questions and we will not rush you.
Within 48 business hours after the call you receive a written summary by email — signed by the physician — restating the key findings, the recommendation, any alternative options discussed, and the references or sources used. You can share this document with another physician, with family, or with insurance if relevant. We do not require any decision on the call itself.
Meet the licensed physicians who run the evaluation
What does the second opinion cost?
The second-opinion video evaluation and the written summary are free. There is no obligation to book any treatment afterwards, and we will not pressure you to do so. This is our primary way of meeting new international patients — and we have built our practice on the assumption that an honest first consultation is the best advertising we will ever do.
We are transparent about why this is free. Stem cell therapy and broader regenerative protocols are our main business. When a second-opinion patient is a good candidate and chooses to proceed with us, that is a meaningful revenue stream. When the patient is not a good candidate, or simply chooses a different clinic, the cost of the consultation is ours to absorb — and we are comfortable with that math because it forces our medical team to give the honest answer every single time. If we recommended treatment to everyone who called, this funnel would stop working. So we don't.
There is no hidden cost downstream either. If after the second opinion you choose to proceed with a treatment at Regeneris Therapy, you will receive a complete written estimate before any deposit. All prices are quoted in USD or MXN, both currencies are accepted, and the estimate includes consultation, laboratory work, biologics, the clinical session, follow-up visits, and any required materials. No surprise add-ons.
What you receive at the end of the evaluation
Every second-opinion patient walks away with a structured, named, written answer to four questions. We refuse to send patients home with vague reassurance or hedged language — the whole point of the evaluation is to leave you with usable information.
- Are you a candidate for regenerative medicine? — A yes/no/maybe answer with the clinical reasoning behind it. "Maybe" answers come with the specific additional information we would want (a fresh MRI, an inflammatory panel, a cardiology clearance) before being able to commit either way.
- If yes — what protocol would we propose? — The cell type or biologic (mesenchymal stem cells, exosomes, PRP, peptides, IV therapy, or a combination), the dose, the route of administration, the number of sessions, and the supplying laboratory. No vague "stem cell package" — a real clinical proposal.
- What are realistic outcomes — and over what time frame? — The honest range of what we have seen in patients with comparable presentations, the time frames over which improvement typically appears, the percentage of patients we have seen respond, and the cases in which the protocol failed to help. No guarantees, ever.
- What alternatives should you consider? — If we don't believe a regenerative protocol is the best path for you, we will say so and explain what we would do instead — including referring you back to a surgeon, a rheumatologist, a sports medicine physician, or a different clinic better suited to your case.
Honesty policy — when we tell patients no
A meaningful share of our second-opinion calls end with us telling the patient that stem cell therapy is not the right option for their situation. We tell patients no when the imaging does not support a biologic response (advanced osteoarthritis with full joint-space collapse and severe bone-on-bone deformity is the most common example); when the underlying condition is being actively driven by something the biologic cannot reach (an unresolved autoimmune flare, an undiagnosed metabolic disorder, a structural lesion that needs surgical correction first); when the patient's expectations are not aligned with what the evidence supports; and when, frankly, we believe a different clinic or a different specialty would serve them better than we would.
This is the single most important sentence on this page: we would rather lose a sale than ship a patient into a protocol we don't believe will help them. The internal cost of that policy is real — every "no" is a paying patient we don't keep. The long-term cost of the opposite policy is much higher, both for patients and for a clinic's standing in the medical community. Saying no when no is the honest answer is what builds the kind of practice physicians and patients trust over decades.
If we say no, you get a written summary explaining why, the alternatives we would explore, and (where appropriate) the names of clinics or specialists that we think would be more useful for your specific case. We are not in the business of holding a patient captive to one clinic's view.
How we support international patients
Privacy and medical record handling
Your medical records are sensitive — and we treat them accordingly. Records uploaded through our intake form are transmitted over TLS and stored in encrypted form on infrastructure that meets the standards required under Mexico's Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de los Particulares (LFPDPPP) and aligns with US HIPAA practices for protected health information. Access is restricted on a clinical-need basis to physicians and authorized clinical staff.
We do not share, sell, or otherwise disclose your medical information to third parties for marketing purposes. We may, with your explicit consent, share a de-identified summary with a relevant external specialist if a referral is the right next step — and only then. You may request deletion of your records at any time, in writing, and we will honor the request subject to the limited record-keeping obligations Mexican health regulation imposes on medical establishments.
Our full privacy notice and the LFPDPPP-mandated Aviso de Privacidad are published on the privacy page linked at the bottom of this document. The privacy notice covers retention, your ARCO rights (Access, Rectification, Cancellation, Opposition), our designated privacy contact, and how to file a complaint with INAI (the Mexican federal data-protection authority) if you ever feel your rights have been violated.
Read our full Privacy Notice (LFPDPPP-compliant)
Frequently asked questions about the second opinion
Either English or Spanish — your choice. Our physicians and clinical staff are bilingual, and many of our international patients are most comfortable in English. If you would prefer the written summary in one language and the call in the other, that is also fine; just let us know when you book.
Revisado por Dra. Claudia Labastida Salazar · 2026-05-27
We routinely book second-opinion calls across US, Canadian, Mexican, and European time zones. Cancún follows Eastern Standard Time year-round (UTC-5, no daylight saving), so we are generally on the same clock as the US East Coast. Our booking system shows times in your local zone, and we can offer evening slots on request when that is easier on your schedule.
Revisado por Dra. Claudia Labastida Salazar · 2026-05-27
Yes. The second opinion is virtual by design, precisely so geography is not a barrier. We have done second-opinion calls with patients in the United States, Canada, the UK, Spain, Australia, and across Latin America. If a treatment is later recommended and you decide to proceed, our international patients team helps coordinate travel, lodging, ground transportation in Cancún, and clinical scheduling.
Revisado por Dra. Claudia Labastida Salazar · 2026-05-27
Anything you have: imaging reports and the images themselves (MRI, CT, X-ray), recent lab work, prior consultation notes, surgical or treatment recommendations, medication and supplement list, and any quotes or proposals from other clinics. The more we can review in advance, the more the live call focuses on your case rather than on intake.
Revisado por Dra. Claudia Labastida Salazar · 2026-05-27
Yes — and we strongly recommend it. After you book, you will receive an encrypted upload link where you can share documents in advance. The physician reviews the materials before the call so they arrive prepared, which makes the live time substantially more valuable.
Revisado por Dra. Claudia Labastida Salazar · 2026-05-27
Genuinely free, and there is no upsell scripted into the call. Our physicians do not work on commission for second-opinion calls, and the clinical answer they give you is independent of whether you ultimately book treatment with us. If a treatment is appropriate and you'd like to proceed, you will receive a complete written estimate — but we do not ask for any payment information on the second-opinion call.
Revisado por Dra. Claudia Labastida Salazar · 2026-05-27
The information on this page and provided during the second-opinion evaluation is medical information, not personalized medical advice or a substitute for in-person care. A virtual second opinion does not establish a doctor–patient relationship requiring continuity of care, and our physicians do not prescribe, diagnose definitively, or recommend that you discontinue any current treatment without coordination with your primary physician. Outcomes vary by patient and depend on a full in-person clinical evaluation.
