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POSTED UNDER Hair Transplant REVIEWS

Disappointed in the Bosley and MHR Results - Atlanta, GA

ORIGINAL POST

My hair loss problem is in the back of my head....

rdc
$19,000

My hair loss problem is in the back of my head. I've had three procedures over the last five years, and that area of my head is still very noticeably thin. Here are some things to keep in-mind:

1. Current procedures will not make your hair thick enough to cover your scalp. You will have a fine "see-through" layer - escpecially in the back.

2. Beware of pricing schemes! Bosely got me for $8,000 for 1000 grafts the first time and a little over $5000 for the second 1000 grafts. MHR prices differently, and I got 1300 for $6000 plus they required me to buy a $400 healing kit that did nothing for me (try to get out of it).

3. During the procedure, you have little interaction with the doctor. Most of your day is spent with "technicians" who place grafts in the holes that the doc punches into your head. Some of these technicials are not very experienced. One time, a more experienced tech was using my head to teach new people. I had not been informed of this arrangement. Another time, the techs were comparing qulity of graft placements on my head. One tech was clearly better than the other.

4. Recovery is a pain. You have to be careful with washing your hair, the scar heals slowly, suture removal can be quite painful (the last time, the sutures were so deep that it took two techs and a lot of rough handling to dig them out. I am still having trouble four months later.

There is more, and I am happy to share. I am not saying that people shouldn't consider the procedure. I do have enough hair in back that I can grow my hair to different lengths, but people still comment on my bald spot - so I know that it is not just me who sees it. Just be ready to shop the tow or three main clinics, negotiate the price down, don't buy extra stuff, and expect much less than you are promised.

rdc's provider

Bosley (2) and MHR (1)

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Replies (134)

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November 12, 2008
RDC, I was disappointed to read your review of your hair transplant procedures. Today, modern methods of transplantation (called follicular unit micrografting) when properly combined with medical therapies to stop the progression of hereditary hair loss, has the ability to comfortably and effectively restore a full-looking head of hair for the vast majority of patients. Not every patient is a good candidate for hair transplantation. There are many different surgeons who perform this procedure and they all have different backgrounds, experience, artistic skill and expertise. Often, if you visit a large national clinic, you will have little interaction with the surgeon performing your procedure--so it can make it more difficult to judge. Be sure to research smaller, more personalized clinics as well. Caseload is also important--you don't want to be operated on by a surgeon who does hair transplantation once or twice a month. You need someone who peforms this procedure once or twice A DAY. A clinic with steady surgery will also typically have full-time technicians (not people flown in from around the country) so ask about this. Each surgery does take a lot of man-hours so it will be your doc + a team, always. The American Hair Loss Association is a good place to start researching. Also check the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery. Hair transplantation should be able to give you visual coverage in the treated area--even with much less density than you were originally born with--this is the skill of a good transplant surgeon. Your DOCTOR (not a salesperson) should give you appropriate expectations of what the procedure can provide. Another point, bargaining with your surgeon is probably not a good idea. Use the prescribed healing treatments which usually accelerate recovery, decrease discomfort and help with the dissolvable stitches. Computerized injections should make the whole process completely painless. Do your research--photos, videos, consults. Be prepared to travel if necessary. Good luck!
April 26, 2009
Dr. Alan Bauman I respect you as a doctor but to say the vast majority of patients can achieve a full looking head of hair is not being so honest. You have a vested interest in convincing people of this because you are, surprisingly, a hair transplant doctor. The only people you will ever see advocating hair transplant surgeries are the doctors performing them or the patients/associations representing them. This surgery will scar every patient for life from where the grafts are harvested and leave red bumps and scars on top of your head where the grafts were placed. Once you have this procedure done you can NEVER undo the damage it has caused. It has scared, and for all intents and purposes, ruined thousands of peoples lives. Being naturally bald is a walk in the park compared to having an unnatural hair transplant. Think I’m exaggerating just do a Google search under "hair transplant repair" in quotation marks and 10,600 results will come up. There are many doctors who's major source of business is hair transplant repair patients. Don't be the next naive victim like I was and I had Follicular Unit Micrografting from one of the top doctors in the country. The truth has to be told about this industry this has caused enough suffering in peoples lives from doctors more interested in money than patients well being.
September 6, 2011
Dr. Alan I'm myself a surgeon, neurosurgeon to be exact so I am very much acquainted with the procedure. I myself had a hair transplant done but at Nuhart and Im extremely disappointed with the results as well. I already have very dense hair and my problem was thinning hair line and some baldness at the vertex. so I got 2000 grafts which should be more than adequate for my type of baldness. But I'm still sitting with the exact same pattern of baldness with same amount of hair with actually plugging visible in my extreme left of the hairline. The reasons for failure of process is as follows in my humble opinion 1. It is NOT the number of grafts which dictate the thickness but the NUMBER of hair transplanted. In the hairline they are transplanted with only one hair per folic while at the vertex 4 hair per graft. So average for whole head is 3 hair per graft. It is the technician who is making the grafts (with microscope) can make 2000 grafts with 6000 hair or 2000 grafts with 2000 hair. So you cannot make them a liar because they can defend themselves by saying and proving the number of grafts. I think I didn't get anymore than 2000 hair. 2. The technicians (surgical PA's) they are not well trained enough at places and they are not correctly placing it and many grafts come out with the blood drop or simply when they keep applying the cloth on your head. 3. The most important reason for failure of transplant (besides infection, inflammation, shock loss etc.) the technicians NOT preparing the hair graft properly and cutting the root out. If the folic doesn't have the root attached with it in whole IT WILL NOT GROW. PERIOD. Hopefully my comments will soothe some of the people who are financially and emotionally hurt by the process such as myself. Please consider these facts next time anyone thinks of a procedure. Its like a box of chocolate you don't know what you are gonna end up with!
October 29, 2011

This was the most imformative comments i have read in my due dilligence process. thank you.

My question to you is this, since you seem to identify several areas which can cause a failed process and result, if all of your talking points were optimized as you specify, would you predict a positive outcome?

It seems much blame falls on the "technicians" poor performance. Since this is the Bosley model, it seems the surgeon may be handicapped and not as critical as one would think. maybe i should seek a surgeon who specializes in this proceedure who can both pluck and plug.

other than word of mouth, how do we find the best hair transplant surgeons ?

November 1, 2011
With a box of Chocolate one will ALWAYS know what one ends up with: AN EMPTY BOX!

Another example, please.
November 10, 2011
I don't know if there are any surgeons who both "pluck and plug." I do know I would never go back to Bosley.
I recently had transplant at Sword Medical in Torrence, California. My experience there was very good. It has only been 2 1/2 months, so I can't report on the results yet.
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December 22, 2011
This doctor's comments are truthful and completely accurate. The vast majority of patients CAN achieve good results, provided they can afford one of the nation's best FUE surgeons. Unfortunately the vast majority of patients will NOT achieve good results because they will opt to go with cheaper STRIP procedures with less skilled, less competent surgeons.

I agree with you that this industry is filled with frauds and scam artists who disfigure people and make TONS of money off of them in the process. And I'm extremely sorry to hear that happened to you. However I am one of the success stories and I am 100% happy with my results...so I know for a fact that quality surgeons and quality work do exist in this industry.
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December 22, 2011
As someone who has now done 2 procedures with one of the nation's top hair surgeons, I can give you a little insight here. It is absolutely true that the technicians' performance and skill level is EXTREMELY important. It is also true that often the technicians will be working on you longer than the actual surgeon (although your surgeon should be supervising ALL of their work). As for your question about finding a doctor that "plucks and plugs" himself, an FUE procedure is simply too much work for a doctor to do on his own. It literally requires 4-6 people to do it well. That said, the doctor should be performing the most skillful aspects of the procedure himself: 1) selecting and preparing the donor follicle groups to be removed, and 2) making the recipient sites/incisions. The technicians will then "pluck" the donor follicle groups, process them into individual/smaller follicular groups under the microscope, and "plug" them into the sites the dr. has prepared. While the doctor's work represents the true "artistry" of the process (making him the "architect" of the project), the technicians' skill level is incredibly important as they are doing most of the mechanics of the transplanting. Their stamina is also very important. These procedures can last up to 8-9 hours. And the technicians have to be doing very precise, very detailed work the entire time. The LAST thing you want is some newbies in the room that get sloppy after the first 4 hours. I can imagine this happens quite often at the corporate "chop shop" clinics.

All of this being said, this is why Dr. Bauman's comments above about how to choose a clinic are extremely important. A smaller clinic with a constant caseload of FUE transplant procedures is more likely to have dedicated, full-time, highly skilled technicians working there. In my case for example, my surgeon is an independent practitioner who runs his own clinic. They only do FUE, and they do 2-3 per day. I had one procedure done there in 2009, and a second one done just yesterday. The four technicians on his team who worked on me all day yesterday are THE VERY SAME 4 ladies that worked on me 2 years ago. They all work 5 days/week, and they perform 2-3 procedures every day. They are a rock solid team of professionals, and they do AMAZING work (and they do it with a smile). This is NOT something you're EVER going to find at a national "chain" clinic like Bosley or NuHart. These places are constantly losing their most skilled technicians and rotating in new untrained technicians, and guess how the newbies learn...by working on patients like you. No thanks.
December 22, 2011
;-)
December 23, 2011
One other comment: You can also pay a huge amount at a big well-known company (Bosley) and have terrible results. That's what I did on my first procedure. Therefore I was very selective this time!
April 27, 2012
So where did you have your surgury done???
I am researching places for myself.
Thanks
June 21, 2016
"Hair transplantation should be able to give you visual coverage in the treated area--even with much less density than you were originally born with--this is the skill of a good transplant surgeon." With a comment like this, I'd say you're worse than Bosley. More density than you were born with? What does that mean?
(unregistered guest)
February 2, 2009
sounds like you went through a lot of research. Are there any new hair loss treatments you've investigated that are more promising then Bosley or others you've tried?
(unregistered guest)
May 11, 2009
Well i just did mine recently in Irvine, Ca. it costed me 3900 dollars, for 1735 grafts. Well you go through a little irritation but not any serious pain. I just have to wait and see now the results. Well shop around and always bargain for the price, trust i brought lot of doctors from 12000 to 5000, i meant bosely, they are a hoax and BS, dont go there....i mean this is lot of money, the hair transplant is now an easy safe procedure, and it should be very affordable, where I mean anywhere from 2500 dollars to 10000 max, but not over that... good luck and go do it...
November 10, 2011
I had a very positive experience with Sword Clinc in Torrence, California. It too soon to report on the results but will report back in January.
April 28, 2009
Dear Understand. Come to Los Angeles and have the procedure performed by real "top" surgeons. I'm not aware of any "top" surgeons in Cleveland, Ohio. I can tell you that "all" of the top celebrities have the procedure performed and are as happy as they can be. They also get cosmetic work done and the practice anti aging medicine with "injectable" growth hormone, the only real anti aging medical therapies. So, in my humble opinion, do your homework and come to Los Angeles.
April 30, 2009
Cleveland is where I had my initial procedure then I went to Dr. John P. Cole for the follow up procedures. He is one of the top surgeons in the county. Trust me these procedures have ruined so many peoples lives. Just do a simple search on the internet under "hair transplant repair" and you will see what im talking about. Honest to God if I had a million dollars to undo the damage done to me I would give it in a heartbeat. These scars are here for life and I don't want anyone else to suffer like countless thousands have already. Please don't be nieve and have this procedure because once the damage is done it can't be undone, it is with you for life. When you get married you can get divorced but once you have a hair transplant there is no going back, your locked in for life.
May 28, 2009
Please can anybody give me reviws about MHR?
May 28, 2009
I think Bosley owns MHR, so it might be more helpful to get reviews about specific surgeons.