dr larry gershowitz: terrible work

Terrible. I would give 0 stars if I could. In summary: Larry is not a qualified plastic surgeon – go and check his credentials for yourself. He did a shocking job on me: 1. Immediate loss of all surrounding hair for months, 2. Hideous massive scar, and 3. Shocking hair growth years after the procedure. My life is miserable as a direct result of his work.

Let me explain my story. I agreed to get a hair transplant, and admittedly was very nervous at first. Larry promised me that my experience would be smooth, and I trusted him. So I pulled the trigger and did it! The procedure itself was a positive experience. Larry and Ryan were friendly, and the procedure itself was fairly painless. Roxanne was very helpful and answered all my questions. I was so excited to watch the results show over the ensuing months. 

This is when things started to sour:

1. HIDEOUS MASSIVE SCAR – Larry left a huge scar all the way across the back of my head. It is about 2cm (just under an inch) on average, up to 15 inches long, and NOTICEABLE AT A DISTANCE. The only way I could cover it was by growing my hair very long at the back, although even then it was noticeable. Worse yet, on some parts of the scar the width was larger than on other parts, creating an ugly looking pattern. I spent almost R 50 k to get this procedure done, and I slowly realized I would need to spend another R50k to fix just the scar and undo Larry’s mess.

2. IMMEDIATE LOSS OF ALL SURROUNDING HAIR - Larry told me this would not happen. However, this after-effect, better known as Telogen effluvium, results in hairloss in the area around which the grafts are transplanted I.e. the existing hair that you still have. This is something that can be controlled/minimized if the procedure is performed with care, but between Larry (and Ryan) they did not seem to care and caused the top of my head to be WAY WORSE THAN BEFORE THE PROCEDURE for 5 months afterwards.

3. SHOCKING HAIR GROWTH AFTER PROCEDURE - if the hideous scar and telogen effluvium did not shock you enough, this third and final point will. After months of waiting - probably around 5 months - finally I started noticing the transplanted hair grow back. Finally - some benefit! Or so I thought. I was shocked to discover that the vast majority of the re-grown hairs grew out either dead or wiry. I am talking about hairs that popped out of my head and were literally horizontal on my scalp, with no sign of being a healthy hair. Furthermore, although Larry promised to cover the crown and front, I was still bald because he did not achieve anything close to the required volume needed for coverage. Over a year after the procedure, still there is either coarse/wiry/dead hair or bald skin in the areas Larry promised to cover.

As you can imagine, I have been so miserable with the results and have suffered much emotional pain, embarrassment in public, and devastation because of the bad job Larry did. And I have other (serious) complaints too, but these are less devastating than the 3 above and not worth me including in this review.

To make matters worse, at the beginning of the procedure you have to sign a document that prevents you from being able to have a legal claim against Medhair if the results don't turn out to be what you expected. This document is only presented to the patient on the day of the procedure (long after the hefty non-refundable deposit is paid), giving the patient little leeway to actually get comfortable with the contents, or make changes to it such that it is less unethical. You're already locked in so deep by the time you see that document, Medhair knows you're very unlikely to walk away.

Larry should not be in the plastic surgery business. He is not a qualified plastic surgeon – he is a GP (MB CHB) parading as a surgeon. That is unethical, wrong, and frankly reckless. This needs to stop – medicine is about more than just the money.