TheEmperor

LondonHT, I had marginal yield in my first surgery with doctor Wong and made the mistake of going back for a second procedure, which did not provide much additional benefit. The problem with yield is mostly with technicians damaging your hair when they implant them. The doctor could have done everything perfectly, but if his team is not 100%, there will be occasional bad results. That said, I know its difficult to resist free or discounted grafts, but if you have had problems with yield, you should try to get a refund and choose another doctor. The "yield kings" the docs who I have seen consistently impressive yield for a particular # of grafts, are Dr. Rahal, and Dr. Shapiro.

Let me know the date of the email and I'll see if the email is legit. In fact, please forward it to me, you have my current email. Once I receive the original email from you, I will investigate and report to the forum on the truth of the email. And just to be clear, dont print out the email, save it to a PDF and forward that in an attachment like you did one time before. Just go into your mail client, and forward the original mail to me. Simple. I want the actual email, not a PDF. This is not true. If you do enough research on the forums, you will find a few other patients who have made the same claim. Check on HLH. I am perhaps the only person who was concerned about this possibility and had the foresight to take before photos from directly behind so I could compare to the after photos. My situation is perhaps unique because I was a class of NW5 where the loss was not visible from behind. My expectation was that I would be able to comb the back rim hair forward to help cover the crown. However, as it was pulled down close to an inch, this is no longer possible. Most people who have seen my photos and seen me in person agree that the back was pulled down. I ask anyone to perform this test: While looking in a mirror, do the scalp exercise and pull down on the back hair. You will see your forehead slide up. The skin slides across the surface of the head. If strip removal didn't expand the bald spot, then that would mean only the skin in the vicinity of the scar stretched. If that were the case, when you pullled down in the back, your forehead skin would not move up. I will concede that there may be variations in physiology, which is why I invite forum members to perform this test and report their findings. As far as I know, no one besides me has described the meticulous detail in which you take your photos. You asked me to make very minute adjustments to the tilt of my head while taking the photos. First, I never said you made the claim that it would only take one session. So you are putting words into my mouth. I have made the claim that Dr Wong said my result would be "better" than yours. I reported this in multiple threads. Its been out there for over a year and this is the first time I hear you objecting to the statement. When doctor Wong meant "better", I presumed that would mean that I would have at least as many styling options as you, which I do not. And I assumed the hairline would look as natural. It does not. These are subjective impressions, but I notice you don't have evenly spaced "jaggies" in your hairline. My loss is/was significantly less than yours and my hair characteristics were described as similar. When Wong said my result would be better in the in person consultation, that is the reason I scheduled an appointment. As you know, I had already cancelled out of one appointment because I had concerns on the quality of the result. I wanted some assurance I would get a great result and Wong gave me enough positive feedback to get me to book an appointment. I told him I wanted a symmetrical hairline. I did not get this. He drew in temple closure in the first procedure which he did not plant. After my hair cleaning the day after surgery, I asked Dr Wong, "do you have a few minutes, there are some things we need to discuss", at which point he told me he was with a patient. He was in the cutting phase, so I can see he was busy, and I wasnt going to hang out in the office for an hour as I had a plane to catch. I don't know how much less he could have listened to me. This is partially true. I did not bring up the image brightness manipulation before, but I know some other patients have. You yourself mentioned you had answered to this criticism in other threads. In my blog, there are comments from other forum members who agree the bald sport was made larger by the surgery. My photos have also accurately detailed the poor yield, with photos of individual hairs and hair counts per sq. cm. Everything I have claimed is documented in photos. The only things I cant document are the things that Wong and you said in person. I was not recording our conversations. I have documented everything in the photos in my blog. The second surgery was to give you a chance to make things right. Due to poor growth, the jaggies are still visible as shown in my blog. I have shown photographs of poor yield where the transplanted hairs either did not grow or grew in much reduced diameter. Because there had never been an offer of a refund, there was no incentive for me to work that angle. I decided I was never going to set foot in your office again because of evidence that some of your techs are not getting the same yield as others. Rather than throw away more grafts at your clinic, I decided to share with the forum the reality of surgery with Hasson and Wong. I have detailed the sales techniques (oversell) and how some of the technical limitations of the surgery are glossed over. Hopefully this will help other patients to make better informed decisions. When you say "we expect great things for you", they should know this is how it may turn out.

Bill, Joe did not increase the size of the box to completely hide my face. He drew in some eyebrows, and as you know, my request was to hide my cheeks, facial hair, and eyebrows completly. He did not comply. The pictures are still very revealing. I have sent an email to Joe with this specific request. You were copied. The last email was sent on the 18th. My questions are still open to the forum. There is an impasse here. I have contacted the doctor with specific instructions, they have not complied, and the forum admins refuse to get involved. Thus my question to the forum.

It's been a week since Joe from Hasson and Wong posted his pictures of me, and he still has not edited them to address my concerns about anonymity. I have asked that he completely cover my facial features, facial hair, and eyebrows. Bill from HTN has been copied on at least one of these requests. Anyone that I work with can easily identify me from the photos. The damage may have already been done, but for professional reasons I cannot have people linking my identity with online threads. I took painstaking effort in my blog photos to hide identifying marks, facial hair, and any facial features and I expect the same concern for my anonymity from Hasson and Wong. Regardless of whether they feel they are properly protecting my identity, I have requested that they make changes. I would like to ask the forum, is it the responsibility of doctors to protect their patients anonymity? Should the doctor's consultant be the one who decides what is properly protecting a patient's identity, or should the patient decide? I would also like to ask the forum, if a doctor does not protect a patient's identity, should the forum adminstrator remove the photos?

Forum/All, I am still waiting for Joe to edit the photos to completely block my facial features, including cheeks, facial hair, and eyebrows. I am not asking him to hide the hair, just cover more of my identity. In the meantime, I sent Joe a letter detailing my dissatisfaction with the surgery. Below. ----------------- Please show doctor Wong the close ups of the grafts from the second surgery to get his opinion on what went wrong. Almost to the graft, I can go through the close ups of the grafts planted (on the left side) between the jaggies in HT#2 and see that they grew at an almost insignificant diameter when compared to the jaggy grafts. This is why the jaggies are still visible. From surgery #1, its easy to see a divide up the middle, where more grafts are growing on the left side. Now that I have had 6500 grafts, I know that I don't have many in the bank for future work. Unfortunately, what I have now is see through, I have a large and uncoverable crown, and I am a slave to a styling routine to hides the deficiencies of the transplant. Not what I expected for 20K. Perhaps you can understand my frustration. If you want a list of my grievances related to the surgery: 1) Evidence that some technicians got better growth rates than others. 2) Jaggies. WTF was Dr. Wong thinking planting pronounced and evenly spaced hair clusters? 3) Scar is 3-4mm, requires hair 1.75" long to hide. Apparently this is a normal scar and the reason it's hard to hide is the fine side hair. You saw the donor areas going in, you could have told me I would never be able to use clippers again. 4) Expanded crown. Despite what happened with you, I am 100% positive that the surgeries expanded the bald area by pulling the skin down. Part of my reason to go ahead with strip as opposed to a minimalist FUE approach was the expectation that I would be able to cover the crown with 6-7K grafts and have a fullish restoration. Before strip, I knew the hair at the back could be combed forward to help, now the hair at the back needs to be combed UP, and there is a significant bald area visible from directly behind. My pictures from directly behind show this. Your pictures are with my head tilted forward. 5) Dr. Wong didn't follow hairline he drew first time. I realize the wisdom in the hairline he planted, I'm sure an asymetrical hairline has less risk of looking completely fake, he does it on 95% of his patients, but he drew in very mild temple closure which he didn't plant. He planted this in the second surgery. I though the line was a "contract". Did he run out of grafts? Change his mind? 6) Hairline doesn't look particularly natural. I can only comb hair from left to right. When combed the other way or combed back, something just doesnt look right. Everyones head and face are shaped differently and I don't think Wong got the correct read on the hairline. 7) Dr. Wong relayed an anecdote of a patient who had grafts that weren't permanent. I am not sure why he told me this unless he thinks I will have the same problem. If so, I am screwed. I don't have high hopes for the transplant hair staying for the long haul, especially the really fine ones that appear to be damaged or miniturized.

Yes, I am still waiting for Joe to fully hide my identity in his posts and remove the photos that he copied from my blog.

Joe, As I said before on multiple occasions, you will be able to wear me down eventually. The out of context posts are scrambled and do not tell the whole story, but I don't have the time to set them straight. You are not trying to argue to a truthful conclusion, you are just trying to obfuscate things until I leave in frustration. Most of the people who posted in the HLH threads were in agreement with me, with the exception of yourself and a couple former H&W patients. H&W pays good money to these sites for advertizing; and the moderators are mindful of that. I have discovered that the unhappy former H&W patients lurk in the background and contact people offline. That is the only way to spread the truth. Your image is not nearly as sterling as you think. That said, I have removed my blog. The pictures are mine, and they are private. Please remove the pictures you copied from my blog from your posts. They are not yours to post.

M1A1, I appreciate your comments. It is surprising to me that they can't admit that mistakes were made, even with the photo evidence I have provided. Some simple math puts things into perspective: The strips taken were 30cm x 2.6cm. That is 10"x1", or ten square inches of hair! That is an amount of grafts that would cover the front (with the conservative/receded hairline) at full density. As most of the grafts were focused in this area, I can say I did not get anywhere near full density, not even half density. I would say about 1/3rd original density. I feel really bad for Drew. IMO, they should have never operated on him. Unfortunately, Drew seems to be blaming himself for the outcome, because he asked for a hairline that was "lower than prudent." I might be able to get some outdoor shots.

Joe, I have noticed that the photos you posted by me are hosted on your personal hairtransplantmentor.com site. As those photos are property of Hasson and Wong, why is it that they are hosted on a third party, independent site? Do H&W own hairtransplantmentor.com? Please remove the photos until they can be edited properly to hide all areas of my face, facial hair, and eyebrows.

Bonkerstoner, Satisfaction? Yes and no. Having hair on top fulfills some psychological need, so in that regard, even though I dont think it looks good, it does look better than being a cue ball. On the other hand, I am now a slave to a specific styling routine, have to have very frequent haircuts, and actually have less options than I had before. I used to be able to use clippers on my side and back hair which had a very clean look. Even just 5 years ago, I had enough hair on top, that with the sides clipped short I did not look bald or "bad". Wind is now an issue, and the spectre of future loss means I am on the treadmill for life. Also, there are the hair lookers. Can they detect it? A more sustainable solution would have been to get 3K fue in a diffuse, see-through pattern on top. I would have been able to buzz the sides, it would have been very low maintenance, a very clean look, and I would not be bald. Essentially returning me to my state of around 5 years ago. What I have now feels like some variation of a combover. So while correctly styled, I look better, but I dont look THAT much better, and with the new hair comes a host of problems.

Joe, it has been a full day since I have mailed you a formal request to better hide my identity in the photos you posted. I am also waiting for a copy of the chart. I dont have an objection to your posting photos of the result, but there is enough identifying information in your photos for someone to identify me from them. They need to be edited properly. Look at my own photos. No details of my face, facial hair, or eyebrows are shown. Bill, if Joe has not properly edited the photos within the next couple hours, please take them down. I am sure he will be happy to put up less revealing images when he gets the time, and I have no objection to that, as long as no features of my face or eyebrows are shown.

Joe, I stand by my statement that there is something being altered between your before and after photos. The color of everyone's hair changes. Most likely you use a different set of settings on the camera. Because this pattern is consistent across almost all of your photos, it is obviously a willful decision to make the outcomes look better. This is not slander. This is you reacting to someone who has called you out publicly on this matter. Why dont you answer the question. Why does everyone's hair look 3 shades lighter in your "after" photos? Its an easy enough question. Regarding the thread on the other forum that was closed by the moderator. The reason it was closed was not because I slandered you, or lied, or misrepresented anything. The reason it was closed was because I would not allow you to post photos that would compromise my identity. Some previous H&W patients were copying photos from my blog and reposting them in that thread. Some of these pictures were mislabelled, in an attempt to confuse my message. I told people where my blog was (here on HTN) to support my conclusions, but apparently that was not enough. Because I could not link my HTN blog on the other forum, the moderator was not comfortable hosting a discussion about photos on another commercial site. I offered to post any photos you sent me to my blog, after I screened them for anonymity. You did not take me up on the offer and waited for the thread to be closed. If you remember from that thread, some of the posters questioned your motives and said you sounded like the angry, slandering patient, and I sounded like the cool professional. I would be VERY HAPPY to have that thread opened for public review, if possible. In the meantime, don't try to recast it into something it was not. The other threads to which you refer were not slandering you or your clinic. Someone would ask a question about scarring, and ask something like, "Can I still use clippers after I have a strip surgery." I would answer based on my personal experience at your clinic. My answer might be "I had a 4500 graft strip surgery at H&W and I have to grow the side hair to 1.75 inches to hide the scar. I can no longer use clippers on the side or back." Completely truthful, and in my opinion helpful to prospective patients to hear from someone who has problems with the scar. You would typically jump into the thread and cause a fight, causing the thread to be derailed. Unfortunately, this creates an environment of censure where it is very difficult to express my honest opinions about the surgery. There is a much larger issue at play. I recognize that the forums are all commercial and only allow objectivity to a certain point, beyond which it impacts their revenue. I dont remember saying that you were wearing a hair piece. The very full look with bangs that you wore in the 2006-07 time frame I have referred to as the Bieber look. In contrast to your more conservative, combed back look of later years, I have questioned how you were able to acheive such density given such advanced loss. It definitely creates a "Wow" impression when seeing it in person. One explanation could have been a partial hair piece, a more likely explanation could be copious amounts of wax, toppik, and hairspray. Please post a link to the thread where I said you were wearing a hairpiece so we can veryify the truth of this. My objections beyond the outcome of the surgery, relate to claims you make, like me being offered a partial refund. That is just not true. It is difficult for me to carry on a meaningful discussion with someone who lies to protect themself. Do you have any documentation showing you offered me a refund? Wong actually said of the first surgery "this was a good transplant". A refund was never on the table. Despite what looked like marginal yield to me, the second surgery was discounted because of "patient dissatisfaction"; no admission of poor yield was made on your part. I have stated before that we can go round and round on this, but as this is your job, you will eventually wear me down. You are battling hard to maintain your image. It has become clear to me why the dissatisfied patients eventually disappear from the forums. Despite how you are painting me in this thread, I am a successful professional who is genuinely dissatisfied with the procedure. I believe the benefits were oversold, and I have also provided photo evidence of what I believe show some issues with the surgery (unattractive jaggies, expanding crown, poor yield, wide scar, etc) I posted my 1.5 year photos to get some closure and update everyone on the forums with how it turned out. I feel people need to see what kind of results might actualize when the great Hasson&Wong claims, "we expect great things for you." If this causes some people to more carefully consider their options, I have done something ethical and good. -The Emperor.

Janna, I appreciate your comments. It is perhaps that I should be addressing my complaints about integrity against Joe, as 99% of my communication was with him. I suspect with the thousands of patients he deals with, he may not remember the specifics of my case two years after the bulk of communication has occurred. For the record, no offer of refund was ever made. This thread is the first I had heard of that as a possibility, and this came from Joe, not Dr. Wong. Perhaps Joe mixed me up with another patient? In hindsight, if I made a mistake in this whole matter, it was associating Joe with Dr. Wong. The majority of my communication was with Joe, he is just their internet sales rep, and his excitement about the great things Dr. Wong was going to do for me was what got me to sign up with them. Had I based my decision on actual rapport I developed with the doctor as opposed to his reputation, I would have chosen differently. I dont think I was disfigured, but I think there were some yield problems which have limited my potential outcome. I also think there are some realities of the surgery that were glossed over or misrepresented. For instance, I have a 3-4mm scar which is on the high side of normal, but I have to grow my side hair to 1.75 inches to hide the scar. I feel that the doctor could have looked at my hair quality and mentioned this as a very real possibility, that I would never be able to use clippers again. But I entered into the surgery with the belief that most scars are "pencil thin" and patients can still use clippers. On the other side of the surgery, I find out the scar is normal, the reason it is hard to hide is because of my hair quality. This is something they could have warned me about so I could make an informed decision. I have very few grafts left in the bank and I know I will never get to where I was initially told. I am absolutely convinced the strip increased my bald spot (and it seems about half the posters online agree with my photo evidence), and the photos show that the hairs planted between the jaggies in #2 all grew at a significantly reduced calibre. Obviously something happened wrong in the second surgery to cause this, otherwise these hairs, or at least some of them would have grown at the same diameter as the jaggy hairs. IT really does not seem like another 1500 grafts grew in the front. Call it a perfect storm. Alot of things just did not go right. The realization that had I chose a different doctor, or perhaps even a different surgery date with different technicians, that the results could be significantly better, makes this painful. I have to live with what I have now.

Corvettetester, THe issue of customer service with H&W comes down to trust and honesty. When you've been lied to (in this case, for instance, the claim that a refund was offered), makes it difficult to deal with them. And because I believe they have problems with quality control and damaging grafts, I have no incentive to step foot in their office ever again. I am sure they WANT to work with all their patients. The larger issue is the honesty and integrity in which they conduct their business.

mahhong, I dont know eactly what they are doing, but the after pictures show less contrast between skin and hair and as such may help the result to appear fuller than they are. I am also surprised that the photos from Joe show less detail and clarity of the hairline than my photos, leading me to believe there is some kind of blurring going on. In my case this helps to hide the jaggies. My point is that the H&W Blue Wall photos are highly optimized and cast the hair in the best possible light, which does not match reality.