Bad experience

Provider Review

• 14 Jan 2018

Dr phipps performed my hair transplant and just about everything that could have been done poorly was. I spent 8 months wearing hats hoping that some of the mistakes from the procedure would be covered up via recovery and hair growth. Eventually, the rest of my hair grew long enough to hide the transplant area with comb overs.  This is what happened:   I came into the initial consoltation and expressed concerns about some of the side effects from poorly grafted hairs. Specifically, divots and transected follicals. I was repeatedly and thoroughly told that those would not be a problem. That Dr Phipps' method was far better than the Artas system because she could "feel" the follicals while retrieving them and could therefore avoid cutting them in half. She said that the arts system was far worse. I also discussed a large number of grafts with  the sales person and Dr Phipps suggested about 30 percent fewer. The day of the procedure comes along and as the initial incisions are being made Phipps realizes that there is a larger area to cover on one side than she thought. So she decides to try to make the hair seem thicker by placing them in a completely unnatural criss cross pattern. I was in the chair so I couldn't monitor what was going on and trusted her experience level. This was one of the biggest mistakes. The procedure finishes and I went home to recover. I am immediately and shocked and horrified by the sight of the transplants. One side looks fairly natural in its placement of hairs and the other side is a perfect grid.  I am not kidding. A permanent, very obvious, unnatural grid was etched onto one side of my head. This is when I realize that I'm stuck. There is nothing I can do to fix the situation.  I call them and they tell me to wait 1 year to see the results. This is their go to for all problems. Wait because once the procedure is done they won't try to fix anything for a year. They'll say that another procedure can mask the effects of the first one. This is where it gets much worse. Each transplant site recesses. Which is exactly what I was worried about and what people online often avoid. Poorly placed follicles are not level with the surrounding tissue and it sinks in. This made the transplant area look like a dolls head. On top of this, a large dent forms in my forehead. This dent we find out is due to a substance (which was a steroid I believe) being injected into the wrong depth of the skin. The result? A massive 2-3 inch dent in my forehead for at least 3 months. If I weren't working at a business that allows hats at any time it would have been incredibly embarrassing. As time went on, one side began to grow and the other side showed much less progress. I was told to wait again. About a year later one side is nearly as thick as expected and the other is about half as much. I would not say that the thin side looks like hair.  There are far too few strands to consider it a normal patch of hair. It's creepy. I was told in a post op meeting that many of the hairs on that side were transected as I had worried. Instead of having 3 hairs grow out of a follicle 1 or 0 would. They promised a few extra free transplants to cover it up if I wanted to go through another procedure.  Its about a year later and it looks unnatural if you look closely or if the wind blows my comb over up. Between the ~4k spent on this, the rage and depression and the recovery time I would not wish her work on anyone. After the procedure you will realize that there is nothing that you can do other than to have gone to a different doctor. I hope this message helps someone avoid their business.