Any questions about plastic or cosmetic surgery? From this week onwards, you can ask them in a live chat conversation at KliniekOverzicht.nl. The online consumers' platform joined hands with chat developer LiveCom to enable four clinics in Belgium and the Netherlands to chat with potential clients.

"Am I eligible for liposuction? How can I prevent excessive transpiration? Can you tell me more about a consultation for labia correction? These are questions that are awkward to ask on the phone, especially with colleagues around", says KliniekOverzicht.nl, an online consumers' platform on plastic and cosmetic surgery, beauty and wellness. "And if you send an anonymous e-mail, you'll have to wait and see if you ever receive a reply." The consumers' platform seizes on this need by enabling online visitors to chat live with staff members and specialists from four Dutch and Belgian clinics.

People consulting the online consumers' platform during office hours can obtain advice, anonymously and live, from Body & Face Maldegem (Belgium), Kliniek Sportstad Heerenveen, Transhair Vlijmen and ViaSana Mill. "A web chat is the ideal tool for bringing consumers and private clinics together. We observed a growing need for a chat option, but the clinics didn't act on it", says Cetin Sevim, joint manager of KliniekOverzicht.nl.

The Dutch chat developer LiveCom facilitates the service. Sevim: "We've been trying to find the right partner for over seven months. LiveCom eventually turned out to be the only provider that could offer us exactly what we wanted. If the chat service will prove a success in the coming months, we'll roll it out for all 217 affiliated clinics."