POSTED UNDER Beard Transplant REVIEWS
Poor Beard Transplant Results in Turkey
ORIGINAL POST
Poor Beard Transplant Results in Turkey
Real StudentSeptember 17, 2018
Hello All,
This is a very long post, because I wanted to get in a lot of detail for all the readers, but I’ve summarized it here if you don’t want to read it all:
• I had a facial hair transplant surgery with Dr. Apaydin from New Age Clinic in Istanbul, Turkey
• I felt the doctor pressured me into doing a surgery with more grafts than I wanted. I declined the option to do more.
• The surgery was performed on my moustache and goatee and was performed by the doctor and two nurses
• The doctor and the nurses did not bother separating the grafts into single hairs, instead implanting as they were mostly in two and three hair bunches (some four hair grafts) which resulted in a terrible look
• Did a poor job extracting from donor site. Even though I only had 1,100 grafts taken out I now have bald spots on the back of my head.
• Clinic won’t take responsibility for poor job
• Lessons learned:
o Be prepared to walk away, even if you’ve flown halfway across the planet.
o Find the most reputable doctor that you can. The mental anguish and lifelong defects are not worth the few thousand dollars that you may save from going to a cheaper clinic
o Just because a doctor says that they have 20 years of experience, this does not mean that they will do a good job
I want to write about my experience with the New Age clinic in Istanbul and Dr. Ilker Apaydin which I had done during the end of 2017. I had been doing a lot of research into hair transplants and was specifically interested in getting a beard transplant. It was a very bad experience. Although my research led me to some top doctors in California, I was also a bit wary about fear mongering and underestimated the risk of a poor procedure during a hair transplant. So, in this case, I decided to also do some research on clinics in Turkey. Turkey is quite known as being a destination for hair transplants, so I thought that the risk would not be that high if I did my research. I contacted them through Whatsapp and spoke to two ladies named Mel and Fernanda. The conversations seemed to be okay (at least at the time). I did speak to Dr Apaydin through a video call beforehand to do a brief consultation. Things seemed to be okay. One thing that did surprise me was when I asked him how long I would have to wait before I could shave. He said at least 6 months, which was surprising to me as many other reputable doctors on RealSelf say 2 to 4 weeks. This was my first warning sign, but I chose to ignore.
I scheduled my work arrangements, so that I could take up to a month off if I needed it. I flew into Turkey from overseas in North America and landed at a place called the Modus hotel. The hotel itself was nice, I had to switch rooms a couple of times because of either noise or smell issues, but service was good. Mel picked me up in the morning and we walked over to the clinic to meet with Dr. Apaydin. The hotel and clinic are apparently in a nice part of the city. I met with the doctor and we had our consultation to discuss what I was looking for from the surgery. I basically told him that I was looking for one of two options depending on price and practicality. One was a moustache and goatee and the other was a moustache with a chinstrap going from the sideburn to the jawline and ending with a goatee. When he said that the chinstrap option even for a very light chinstrap would be at 3,000-3,500 grafts I was very surprised, as I had seen results for that option using far fewer grafts while searching online. He insisted it would take as much, so I told him that I would rather go with the first option. It was at this point, where we started having our disagreements. He would say to me that this design would look stupid and not right and pressured me to go with a beard instead. I ended up being really confused. How would a moustache and goatee look like a stupid option if millions of men around the planet sport this very look? In my mind, it did not feel right. I felt like he was trying to pressure me in order to have a bigger surgery. I told him I’d think about it overnight.
The next day I walked over to the clinic in the morning. The staff in reception for the building did not seem to have any idea about who I was there for. New Age Clinic is only one operation from the area that rents rooms from this hospital for hair transplants. (As a side note, I have found out that the clinic has broken up and the two doctors have gone their separate ways.) Anyhow, I told the doctor my decision and he seemed okay with it. We then sat down to draw the design. The first design he drew I should have accepted, because he drew another design with some a line jutting out of the goatee, kind of like some semi-coverage on the beard line which was a couple inches). This looked ridiculous, but I accepted to just get on with it and again I felt kind of pressured. Dr. Apaydin has stretches where he seems very nice and other stretches where he is very abrupt, curt and impatient. Mind you this was about 10 minutes and he was still impatient.
The nurse shaved a rectangle in the back of my head and we started the surgery. They numbed the back of my head with some needles of anesthetic. I have a pretty decent pain tolerance and despite that I would say that this was very painful. He used a motorized extraction device which they said was a size 0.8. They started extracting for what seemed like quite a while. After they finished, I turned over, the doctor numbed my facial area, created the incisions and they covered my eyes while the nurses implanted the hair grafts. Something felt wrong during this part, as there did not seem to be a delay between extraction and implantation. I later realized this lack of a delay was due to the fact that they did not separate the grafts during the implantation. This was not something I inquired about beforehand as it seemed to be common practice for most doctors, especially one with supposedly 20+ years of experience. Normally doctors will separate grafts into single hairs especially for beard transplants. This provides more hairs to implant while also providing a more natural look. Two hair and three hair grafts are usually used for scalp transplants to provide density in places where people cannot see. What I received was mainly two and three hair grafts spread throughout my moustache and goatee which were plainly visible to anyone. In my opinion, putting two and three hair grafts into the facial area is either negligent or lazy.
Another thing that bothered me was that we agreed upon doing 1,000 grafts for the surgery during our consultation. Midway through the surgery once we were almost done, he tells me that they’ve taken 1,200 grafts. I was pretty upset as I did not want to extract a lot of grafts and 1,000 was what I wanted as my maximum. I would have preferred fewer than that. A typical transplant with that area should be done for probably half the amount of grafts. And after our consultation where I believe he overestimated the treatment options, I was very distrustful. After our surgery he claims they only took 1,100 grafts, however they did not provide a report to verify this. They did not count the number of single hair grafts, two hair grafts or three hair grafts which would allow me to understand how many hairs were extracted. Again, I assumed creating a report would have been something standard for all hair transplant procedures, but apparently not for this clinic. In addition, if they had separated the grafts it would have taken far fewer grafts to complete the surgery or they could have achieved much greater density and coverage if they had separated the grafts. In the end, it was just lazy and careless of them in my opinion.
Some other notes regarding this surgery. Dr. Apaydin injected so much anaesthetic into my facial area that it was very difficult to speak. I’m not sure this is standard practice for beard transplants. I asked the nurse how long the redness would last after the surgery and she said FOUR DAYS. I was quite surprised as I had read that it could take weeks to months for redness to dissipate. The redness is still visible up until now which is more than five months. This leads me to question the quality of the nurses as well. One of the nurses was nice and the other was very impatient and did not want me to take any breaks. When it came time to pay for the surgery, they came over and provided me with a bill that was significantly more than what I was promised after telling me it would be 1 euro per graft. The doctor tried to convince me that the extra price was what I had agreed to and when I tried to show him all the texts he basically just ignored them and kept trying for me to pay the extra cost (I believe around 1000-1500 euros more). There is something very shady about a doctor trying to convince you of paying extra once the surgery has been completed.
Looking back on the surgery, the results were not very good. I now have bald spots in my donor area. This doctor only took 1,100 grafts but was unable to accomplish the task without leaving bald spots for an FUE treatment. I will most likely have to pay for an SMP treatment to cover them up. My beard hair still has gaps, hairs sticking straight out (bad placement), as well as two and three hair grafts all over, all things that I wanted to avoid. In addition, there are still bumps visible even when clean shaven (I’m worried they are permanent).
Nearly a year later and the end result has been cobblestoning (pimple like bumps at every spot where hair was inserted –caused by poor insertion techniques), bald spots on the back of my head and multiple hairs per graft on my moustache leading to an unnatural result.
Final thoughts if you are planning to do a hair transplant surgery:
• Be prepared to walk away, even if you’ve flown halfway across the planet. I felt I was already too committed, so it was difficult to turn back. But, if you enter with the mindset of being able to change your mind at any moment, I think this can save you.
• Find the most reputable doctor that you can. The mental anguish and lifelong defects are not worth the few thousand dollars that you may save from going to a cheaper clinic
• Just because a doctor says that they have 20 years of experience, this does not mean that they will do a good job. Doing something poorly for 20 years can provide a different kind of experience.
This is a very long post, because I wanted to get in a lot of detail for all the readers, but I’ve summarized it here if you don’t want to read it all:
• I had a facial hair transplant surgery with Dr. Apaydin from New Age Clinic in Istanbul, Turkey
• I felt the doctor pressured me into doing a surgery with more grafts than I wanted. I declined the option to do more.
• The surgery was performed on my moustache and goatee and was performed by the doctor and two nurses
• The doctor and the nurses did not bother separating the grafts into single hairs, instead implanting as they were mostly in two and three hair bunches (some four hair grafts) which resulted in a terrible look
• Did a poor job extracting from donor site. Even though I only had 1,100 grafts taken out I now have bald spots on the back of my head.
• Clinic won’t take responsibility for poor job
• Lessons learned:
o Be prepared to walk away, even if you’ve flown halfway across the planet.
o Find the most reputable doctor that you can. The mental anguish and lifelong defects are not worth the few thousand dollars that you may save from going to a cheaper clinic
o Just because a doctor says that they have 20 years of experience, this does not mean that they will do a good job
I want to write about my experience with the New Age clinic in Istanbul and Dr. Ilker Apaydin which I had done during the end of 2017. I had been doing a lot of research into hair transplants and was specifically interested in getting a beard transplant. It was a very bad experience. Although my research led me to some top doctors in California, I was also a bit wary about fear mongering and underestimated the risk of a poor procedure during a hair transplant. So, in this case, I decided to also do some research on clinics in Turkey. Turkey is quite known as being a destination for hair transplants, so I thought that the risk would not be that high if I did my research. I contacted them through Whatsapp and spoke to two ladies named Mel and Fernanda. The conversations seemed to be okay (at least at the time). I did speak to Dr Apaydin through a video call beforehand to do a brief consultation. Things seemed to be okay. One thing that did surprise me was when I asked him how long I would have to wait before I could shave. He said at least 6 months, which was surprising to me as many other reputable doctors on RealSelf say 2 to 4 weeks. This was my first warning sign, but I chose to ignore.
I scheduled my work arrangements, so that I could take up to a month off if I needed it. I flew into Turkey from overseas in North America and landed at a place called the Modus hotel. The hotel itself was nice, I had to switch rooms a couple of times because of either noise or smell issues, but service was good. Mel picked me up in the morning and we walked over to the clinic to meet with Dr. Apaydin. The hotel and clinic are apparently in a nice part of the city. I met with the doctor and we had our consultation to discuss what I was looking for from the surgery. I basically told him that I was looking for one of two options depending on price and practicality. One was a moustache and goatee and the other was a moustache with a chinstrap going from the sideburn to the jawline and ending with a goatee. When he said that the chinstrap option even for a very light chinstrap would be at 3,000-3,500 grafts I was very surprised, as I had seen results for that option using far fewer grafts while searching online. He insisted it would take as much, so I told him that I would rather go with the first option. It was at this point, where we started having our disagreements. He would say to me that this design would look stupid and not right and pressured me to go with a beard instead. I ended up being really confused. How would a moustache and goatee look like a stupid option if millions of men around the planet sport this very look? In my mind, it did not feel right. I felt like he was trying to pressure me in order to have a bigger surgery. I told him I’d think about it overnight.
The next day I walked over to the clinic in the morning. The staff in reception for the building did not seem to have any idea about who I was there for. New Age Clinic is only one operation from the area that rents rooms from this hospital for hair transplants. (As a side note, I have found out that the clinic has broken up and the two doctors have gone their separate ways.) Anyhow, I told the doctor my decision and he seemed okay with it. We then sat down to draw the design. The first design he drew I should have accepted, because he drew another design with some a line jutting out of the goatee, kind of like some semi-coverage on the beard line which was a couple inches). This looked ridiculous, but I accepted to just get on with it and again I felt kind of pressured. Dr. Apaydin has stretches where he seems very nice and other stretches where he is very abrupt, curt and impatient. Mind you this was about 10 minutes and he was still impatient.
The nurse shaved a rectangle in the back of my head and we started the surgery. They numbed the back of my head with some needles of anesthetic. I have a pretty decent pain tolerance and despite that I would say that this was very painful. He used a motorized extraction device which they said was a size 0.8. They started extracting for what seemed like quite a while. After they finished, I turned over, the doctor numbed my facial area, created the incisions and they covered my eyes while the nurses implanted the hair grafts. Something felt wrong during this part, as there did not seem to be a delay between extraction and implantation. I later realized this lack of a delay was due to the fact that they did not separate the grafts during the implantation. This was not something I inquired about beforehand as it seemed to be common practice for most doctors, especially one with supposedly 20+ years of experience. Normally doctors will separate grafts into single hairs especially for beard transplants. This provides more hairs to implant while also providing a more natural look. Two hair and three hair grafts are usually used for scalp transplants to provide density in places where people cannot see. What I received was mainly two and three hair grafts spread throughout my moustache and goatee which were plainly visible to anyone. In my opinion, putting two and three hair grafts into the facial area is either negligent or lazy.
Another thing that bothered me was that we agreed upon doing 1,000 grafts for the surgery during our consultation. Midway through the surgery once we were almost done, he tells me that they’ve taken 1,200 grafts. I was pretty upset as I did not want to extract a lot of grafts and 1,000 was what I wanted as my maximum. I would have preferred fewer than that. A typical transplant with that area should be done for probably half the amount of grafts. And after our consultation where I believe he overestimated the treatment options, I was very distrustful. After our surgery he claims they only took 1,100 grafts, however they did not provide a report to verify this. They did not count the number of single hair grafts, two hair grafts or three hair grafts which would allow me to understand how many hairs were extracted. Again, I assumed creating a report would have been something standard for all hair transplant procedures, but apparently not for this clinic. In addition, if they had separated the grafts it would have taken far fewer grafts to complete the surgery or they could have achieved much greater density and coverage if they had separated the grafts. In the end, it was just lazy and careless of them in my opinion.
Some other notes regarding this surgery. Dr. Apaydin injected so much anaesthetic into my facial area that it was very difficult to speak. I’m not sure this is standard practice for beard transplants. I asked the nurse how long the redness would last after the surgery and she said FOUR DAYS. I was quite surprised as I had read that it could take weeks to months for redness to dissipate. The redness is still visible up until now which is more than five months. This leads me to question the quality of the nurses as well. One of the nurses was nice and the other was very impatient and did not want me to take any breaks. When it came time to pay for the surgery, they came over and provided me with a bill that was significantly more than what I was promised after telling me it would be 1 euro per graft. The doctor tried to convince me that the extra price was what I had agreed to and when I tried to show him all the texts he basically just ignored them and kept trying for me to pay the extra cost (I believe around 1000-1500 euros more). There is something very shady about a doctor trying to convince you of paying extra once the surgery has been completed.
Looking back on the surgery, the results were not very good. I now have bald spots in my donor area. This doctor only took 1,100 grafts but was unable to accomplish the task without leaving bald spots for an FUE treatment. I will most likely have to pay for an SMP treatment to cover them up. My beard hair still has gaps, hairs sticking straight out (bad placement), as well as two and three hair grafts all over, all things that I wanted to avoid. In addition, there are still bumps visible even when clean shaven (I’m worried they are permanent).
Nearly a year later and the end result has been cobblestoning (pimple like bumps at every spot where hair was inserted –caused by poor insertion techniques), bald spots on the back of my head and multiple hairs per graft on my moustache leading to an unnatural result.
Final thoughts if you are planning to do a hair transplant surgery:
• Be prepared to walk away, even if you’ve flown halfway across the planet. I felt I was already too committed, so it was difficult to turn back. But, if you enter with the mindset of being able to change your mind at any moment, I think this can save you.
• Find the most reputable doctor that you can. The mental anguish and lifelong defects are not worth the few thousand dollars that you may save from going to a cheaper clinic
• Just because a doctor says that they have 20 years of experience, this does not mean that they will do a good job. Doing something poorly for 20 years can provide a different kind of experience.
Real Student's provider
Replies (24)
November 8, 2018
I had recently beard transplant and I did it in the UK just because i read so many horror stories from Turkey. I think it's important to find a real doctor which can show to good result. Even if it cost many more thousands. Hope you are doing better, that sound indeed as a horror story and people need to make sure they get a good doctor.
November 30, 2018
The reality of Turkish clinics, and this applies in general I think as it was the same when I did LASIK, is that they are little more than sophisticated beauty salons. Patients wait to be treated like they are at the barbers and there is a conveyor belt approach to treatment.
You are unlikely to receive any kind of individual care which is so important in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. And, in my opinion, work on the face requires the highest level of individual care.
You are unlikely to receive any kind of individual care which is so important in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. And, in my opinion, work on the face requires the highest level of individual care.
November 30, 2018
Hi, sorry to hear about your experience in Turkey. It is unfortunately not very different from my own and other stories that I'v heard. Are you undergoing any treatment or do you plan to remove grafts?? Would love to know.
In my case it is 2.5 years since and I still have a lot of red discoloration in the graft sites. Hope you are dealing with it well and get better soon!
In my case it is 2.5 years since and I still have a lot of red discoloration in the graft sites. Hope you are dealing with it well and get better soon!
December 2, 2018
Hi Pacificblue,
Thanks for commenting and reading my story. My area is also still discoloured one year out from the surgery. It is strange to read advice given from doctors saying that discolouration only lasts a few weeks to months. I am sad to hear that you still have discolouration after 2.5 years!
With regards to my grafts, yes, I have begun some electrolysis treatments to get rid of the grafts with multiple hairs (majority) and to also try to get rid of the bumps (cobblestoning). It has definitely helped, although I still have discolouration and while it also helps with the bumps it is not 100%, as my skin has not returned completely flat.
Please let me know how you have dealt with your issues.
Thanks!
Thanks for commenting and reading my story. My area is also still discoloured one year out from the surgery. It is strange to read advice given from doctors saying that discolouration only lasts a few weeks to months. I am sad to hear that you still have discolouration after 2.5 years!
With regards to my grafts, yes, I have begun some electrolysis treatments to get rid of the grafts with multiple hairs (majority) and to also try to get rid of the bumps (cobblestoning). It has definitely helped, although I still have discolouration and while it also helps with the bumps it is not 100%, as my skin has not returned completely flat.
Please let me know how you have dealt with your issues.
Thanks!
December 4, 2018
Yes that sounds familiar. My biggest issue is red discolouration, my skin is a lot smoother now but when I shave I use an electric razor so as not to risk ingrown hairs which can cause pigmentation and bumps! I have been to several dermatologists and tried a whole list of things:
- steroid and anti-fungal cremes
- IPL (intense pulse light) treatment
- Fraxel laser
- Pulsed dye laser (V-Beam)
Well the cremes didn't do a thing except waste time and make my skin worse. I think in my case the redness is caused by inflammation or something similar to scaring.
IPL didn't do much but I only did a couple of sessions.
I found laser the most effective. For smoothness of skin I think you should discuss using fraxel laser with an expert. But for redness I found the V-Beam laser worked best. I wanted to do up to 6 sessions then take a break and start again, but because of life stuff I stopped after the 4th. It's been a year and I will start again soon.
Time has helped, but I think I realise I have to start laser again if I want to improve significantly. Eventually I will have a lot of the hairs removed, but first I want to reduce the discoloration more.
Keep us posted on your progress! All the best!
- steroid and anti-fungal cremes
- IPL (intense pulse light) treatment
- Fraxel laser
- Pulsed dye laser (V-Beam)
Well the cremes didn't do a thing except waste time and make my skin worse. I think in my case the redness is caused by inflammation or something similar to scaring.
IPL didn't do much but I only did a couple of sessions.
I found laser the most effective. For smoothness of skin I think you should discuss using fraxel laser with an expert. But for redness I found the V-Beam laser worked best. I wanted to do up to 6 sessions then take a break and start again, but because of life stuff I stopped after the 4th. It's been a year and I will start again soon.
Time has helped, but I think I realise I have to start laser again if I want to improve significantly. Eventually I will have a lot of the hairs removed, but first I want to reduce the discoloration more.
Keep us posted on your progress! All the best!
March 11, 2019
Thanks pacificblue. I hope the vbeam works in getting rid of the rest of the redness. For myself, its been an extremely slow process and even now I still have some dark discoloration in my receiving site a year and a half later. Let me know if you have any updates. The electrolysis helped me get rid of some of these bumps and horrible multi-grafts in my beard area although I still have many left.
August 7, 2019
Hi - thanks for sharing your story my friend - I hope your situation has improved since - I know how hard this is because I had similar experience in turkey with transplanted facial hair 12 months ago but my beard is growing too straight and not looking natural. Was wondering do you think laser hair removal is the best option or should maybe I try a better proven surgeon to adjust the angle of the hairs? I dont want to deal with all the scars and redness if I do get it removed but I also know getting a 2nd transplant could make it worse. So theres a risk either way but the way things are now im too self conscious when I talk to my friends and family and cant live like this. Was hoping you could give me some advice and let me know if youve seen your face go back to normal after the laser removal please? And recommend the best clinic for this? Thanks.
August 7, 2019
Hi - thanks for sharing your story my friend - I hope your situation has improved since - I know how hard this is because I had similar experience in turkey with transplanted facial hair 12 months ago but my beard is growing too straight and not looking natural. Was wondering do you think laser hair removal is the best option or should maybe I try a better proven surgeon to adjust the angle of the hairs? I dont want to deal with all the scars and redness if I do get it removed but I also know getting a 2nd transplant could make it worse. So theres a risk either way but the way things are now im too self conscious when I talk to my friends and family and cant live like this. Was hoping you could give me some advice and let me know if youve seen your face go back to normal after the laser removal please? And recommend the best clinic for this? Thanks.
December 30, 2019
Hi 45redf,
Apologies for the late reply.
I'm sure you have taken some sort of action since you posted this message.
I totally understand the dilemma you are going through. It's tough to face friends and family in this situation, and I dealt with the same thing.
In my situation, I did not use any lasers, instead I decided to use electrolysis which is a process of using an electric current to destroy the hair follicle. The difference between this and laser hair removal is that you can target each hair individually and the results are permanent. With a laser you will be lasering an entire area and I did not want to laser away my entire beard which would remove my original hairs.
From all the doctors I have spoken to, most have not recommended doing an additional hair transplant because of the resulting scars that would occur by removing hair from the face. I wanted to do the exact same thing because my donor area was destroyed, but the possibility of more scars would be devastating.
My course of action has been to remove the implanted hairs through electrolysis. This has helped remove multi-hair grafts, remove bumps and decrease redness. Additionally, I had an SMP performed on the back of my head to improve the look of my donor area. Since, I like to keep my hair short, I have to shave my head every day or every other day. Things are not perfect, but they are definitely better than before.
I hope you can share what you decided to do and I will do my best to reply quickly.
Thanks
Apologies for the late reply.
I'm sure you have taken some sort of action since you posted this message.
I totally understand the dilemma you are going through. It's tough to face friends and family in this situation, and I dealt with the same thing.
In my situation, I did not use any lasers, instead I decided to use electrolysis which is a process of using an electric current to destroy the hair follicle. The difference between this and laser hair removal is that you can target each hair individually and the results are permanent. With a laser you will be lasering an entire area and I did not want to laser away my entire beard which would remove my original hairs.
From all the doctors I have spoken to, most have not recommended doing an additional hair transplant because of the resulting scars that would occur by removing hair from the face. I wanted to do the exact same thing because my donor area was destroyed, but the possibility of more scars would be devastating.
My course of action has been to remove the implanted hairs through electrolysis. This has helped remove multi-hair grafts, remove bumps and decrease redness. Additionally, I had an SMP performed on the back of my head to improve the look of my donor area. Since, I like to keep my hair short, I have to shave my head every day or every other day. Things are not perfect, but they are definitely better than before.
I hope you can share what you decided to do and I will do my best to reply quickly.
Thanks
December 30, 2019
Hi real student, thanks for your reply its great to hear things are improving for you I reallyhope it works out for you - I know what you mean when you said its tough facing family and friends when a beard transplant goes wrong.
Anyways im still in same situation as 16 months ago when i got my first and only transplant so far - was planning on getting 2 more surgerys with a new doctor in new year - one too remove my old one and another to and more density but the scarring is something im really concerned about and am still considering Laser hair removal or electrolysis like you said but im worried how my face will look underneath if i do?
Please can I ask you respond to my Direct message i just sent you - would really appreciate if we could discuss this further. Many thanks - and all the best. Thanks
Anyways im still in same situation as 16 months ago when i got my first and only transplant so far - was planning on getting 2 more surgerys with a new doctor in new year - one too remove my old one and another to and more density but the scarring is something im really concerned about and am still considering Laser hair removal or electrolysis like you said but im worried how my face will look underneath if i do?
Please can I ask you respond to my Direct message i just sent you - would really appreciate if we could discuss this further. Many thanks - and all the best. Thanks
March 3, 2019
Sorry to hear about your experience. This guy also completely ruined my hair. I had a HT done about 10 months ago and he destroyed my donor area. I now have bald patches everywhere that are impossible to hide. It'smentally
March 11, 2019
Hi Selkies, sorry to hear that this happened to you too. The positive reviews on this website cannot be trusted unfortunately.
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I've been meaning to post this review for quite some time, but held off because it was too traumatic to think about and also because RealSelf kept impeding me. My main goal for posting this review was to help inform anyone who was planning on making the mistake of seeing this doctor. Unfortunately, we could not save each other from making this mistake, but hopefully we can prevent others from following suit and making a terrible mistake themselves.
All the best - and please post a review yourself.
Regards.
I had my HT in June 2021 and I am unhappy to report that NOTHING has changed at this doctor's clinic. The doctor still pressures you into something you don't want. He's impatient and rushes you. He recommends far more grafts than needed. His clinic destroyed my donor area just like yours, ripping open a bald spot!! His clinic STILL does not bother to separate grafts into singles/doubles/triples!! Finally, the survival rate of the grafts was 33% (so they destroyed my donor zone for no reason).
You would think after your detailed review they would take your constructive criticism to heart and improve their practices?
But no, they just lure in more gullible patients trusting the doctor's "20 years experience" even though he's only been specializing in HT for 13 years and as you note, 20 years of sloppy work is 20 years of sloppy work...
Anyway, sorry what happened to you but it was kind of you to write a detailed review to help others. I've tried to do the same.
Thank you for sharing this. I'm sorry that this happened to you. Yes, this "doctor" is a menace to the community. To make matters worse, I suspect that most of the positive reviews are fake. This site makes it extremely difficult to post negative reviews and extremely easy to post positive ones. We should make an effort to share our stories on other forums as well. This fraud should be put out of business, so that he can't harm anyone else. It angers me that this person takes self-conscious and desperate individuals and preys on them. Sick behaviour.
"This fraud should be put out of business, so that he can't harm anyone else."
I've submitted a formal "ethics violation" complaint to the ISHRS asking them to expel the doctor from their organization. I don't know about you, but I was swayed by his ISHRS membership and I found this was a deciding factor for many others who I asked.
Expulsion from the ISHRS won't revoke his medical license, but at least he won't be able to "hide" behind the credibility of the ISHRS anymore pretending he's a "reputable" doctor when he's anything but..
The whole process is very formal with an ethics committee convening and conducting an investigation. I had to prepare about 15 pages of documentation and photos, etc. I was told the investigation will take 3-4 months to complete, so hopefully we'll get a decision by April-May.
I'll update my review, and post back here when I learn of their decision.