CMinHouTX

Thank you both for responding to my post. Dr. Charles, thanks for the warning. I will keep your words in mind when looking for a hair restoration physician.

I live in Houston, Texas. I recently consulted with a highly regarded plastic surgeon about having a rhinoplasty and chin enhancement surgery. During the consultation, the doctor suggested that hair restoration would improve my appearance. He recommended Dr. Carlos Puig. When I got home I "googled" Dr. Puig, and that is how I found this web site. I searched the forums for "Puig" and read quite a few postings. Virtually every comment I have read about Dr. Puig is extremely negative. Some contributors have gone so far as to call Dr. Puig a "butcher". So, I figured Dr. Puig is not the doctor I should see. While reading through some other posts, I read one in which the contributor wrote that he had had a very good experience with a Dr. Keene. So, I sent an email to Dr. Keene asking if she could refer me to a hair restoration doctor in Houston. Guess who she referred me to?: Dr. Carlos Puig. She wrote: " I believe Dr. Carlos Puig is in Houston, and has an excellent reputation for hair restoration surgery among his peers." I am having a hard time reconciling the negative comments about Dr. Puig with the fact that two respected doctors have referred me to him. I have a couple of unrelated comments, and another question. First, I've noticed quite a few postings in this forum by people who disclosed that they work for physicians who have been highly recommended in this forum. It seems obvious to me that someone who works for a physician has a self-interest in promoting that physician. I would have greater confidence in the comments I read in this forum if people who work for recommended physicians were not posting comments or solicitations, such as "We would be happy to see you in our office for a free consultation..." Second, the idea of a physician having "a special" - that is, a reduced price - on his or her services bothers me. Since when do medical doctors have "specials"? What happened to the concept of "usual and customary" fees? If your acceptable fee for a given service/procedure is $x.xx, then set your fee at $x.xx. Having "specials" seems unprofessional to me, and makes me wonder...if you're willing to accept a lower price per FUE, then what are your services really worth? Should I negotiate when I come to your office? Do you perform the same quality of work on patients who pay less per FUE? Can you imagine negotiating with a neurosurgeon? "Well, Dr. Smith, I'd like you to remove my brain tumor, but I think $10,000 is a bit steep. I'll give you $6000." I don't want "blue light special" doctor working on me. Finally, I used the "find a quality physician" tool on this web site. For the whole state of Texas, only three physicians are recommended. That seems odd to me. I clicked back a few pages and finally found a link to what I wanted to know: "Learn about our selection criteria." At the bottom of the "How we select the hair restoration physicians recommended on this site" page is the following disclosure: "How this online community is funded. "Those surgeons who are carefully reviewed and chosen for recommendation on this site contribute a monthly fee to co-sponsor this online community and display their before and after photos, videos and contact information." So, I have to ask: How objective are the recommendations on this web site? I'll probably get blasted for that, but I think it is a legitimate question.