ProspectivePatient

I've found CJD's comments and arguments to be logically sound. Maybe that's because I don't regard doctors as gods who always do the right thing (and no, let's not debate the existence of god(s)). Anyway, ultimately it's the patients who are responsible for their decision to go to this doctor instead of that doctor. But people, please think critically and decide for yourself. IMHO, a doctor who only draws hairline and does incision is not worthy of his title. Heck, I might be able to do that myself without going to medical school, with minimal training. If I am to pick a doctor to go to, then Erdogan is not the guy. Good luck though !!

I'm so sorry for what you've gone through. As baldness patients we probably have to place a high level of trust into our doctors (and their clinics). Possibly in the future we can do something as suggested in this post to protect ourselves more.. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/177585-hair-density-how-justify.html Best of luck with your recovery and repair efforts..

I like KO's answer. My reasons (which he didn't mention) are: - You are still young. Your baldness is not yet stable. HT now will not make you happy for a long long time. - 5k will most likely not be enough to bring a huge difference to your head Have you tried buzzing your hair?

It seems that people have run out of excuses to say about the possibility of doctors giving an overestimate for the amount of grafts. To a certain extent, I guess I should care more about the final result than the cost of a transplant, but I would prefer transparency in this issue. If no doctors or clinics are willing to provide the full recording of procedures, I think it's a pretty safe bet that overestimate is a real problem.. If you prospective patients out there are reading this, I would encourage you to either request full recording as a measure of protection. If not, it might be better to buzz your hair and live with it until further development in this medical practice. After all, I've heard that most of those who decide to buzz their hair are pretty happy with themselves, unlike many who undergo hair transplant surgeries. Be aware that one hair transplant procedure is typically not enough to keep you happy for long, so be prepared to shell out 20k and still be unhappy.. Good luck to all of you..

Thanks for your comment, hadenough2014. I think you have a good point, although I do believe that sooner or later some doctors will be exposed. The idea is when a patient goes for a HT, he shouldn't have to depend much on luck (to get a skilled and ethical doctor). Besides, as you've visited this thread Heartbroken and mental breakdown...that is what all i have to say - Page 10 - Forum By and for Hair Loss Patients, doctors can threaten to have legal action against patients who trash their work. I wonder what kind of legal actions he can impose on his employees. In the financial market, they actually have the whistle-blower rewards. I doubt that they have the same thing for medical market, especially when the evidence is quite subjective and excuses are many (patient doesn't have the right kind of skin, patient doesn't take good care of his grafts after procedure, etc..). In the case that doctors do issue some kind of compensation for a failed procedure, the most a patient can ask for is 100% of the cost, which actually doesn't cover: travel expenses, loss of salary, psychological stress, loss of donor grafts, etc.. I would rather have some measure in place to protect ourselves than to put total trust in the doctors and hope for the best. I hope this discussion becomes more popular and we get more comments, and I hope that patients begin to ask for a total recording of their procedures. We should realize that as customers we also have rights, and we should demand them..

AllIsWell, I'm sorry to hear that your procedure didn't go as expected. I have started a thread about the HT industry and how we as patients should demand more quality work from the doctors. We need to stand together on this, because for now, I feel like we are sitting ducks with not much ammunition in case something goes wrong. Please visit my thread here http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/177585-hair-density-how-justify.html In any case, best of luck with the growth and the refund..

Hey Sean. I'm sorry to hear that you are having the doubt. It really sucks to be unsure about something like this. However, you have chosen one of the top doctors, so let's hope it turns out alright. But wouldn't you feel much better if you had something to verify that the doctor had done everything in his power and ethics to help you? I'm quite surprised that not many patients have voiced this concern. Probably they have it, but decide to "go with the flow" in fear of offending the doctors. I would be interested in seeing the full recording of procedures become a common practice. As patients we should demand what's fair. Come on, can some top doctors/ top clinics voluntarily provide this option to the patients? After all, you have nothing to hide from the patients, right? I'm not a proponent of having this procedure in another country unless you are a citizen of that country. I think there are too many risks involved. I support the fact that patients should wait close to 1 year before they can get a refund though, as it might take time for the HT to fully mature. Besides, I find your comment that 90% of the population is middle class to be an overestimate. Most people in order to have this kind of surgery done have to save up 1-4 months of his/her salary. Not a small amount..

Thanks again for giving a good answer, JoeTillman. I do think that I'm in the minority for fussing the probably unnecessary stuff . I guess I don't have the level of trust that you place in those reputable clinics. True, they don't need to overcharge because they are making enough money as it is, but think about it, an extra few grands with almost zero risk of getting caught (for now, that is) is pretty lucrative. I don't know about you, but if I can earn 25% more of what I'm earning right now, I will be happy. Sure, that might sound unethical, but if everyone is doing it, then it's not unethical anymore, it becomes the norm. I would just be a fool for not taking that extra 25%.. One good thing about this business is that we can go to different doctors to get different estimates, and if all the estimates are pretty consistent, then there's a lower probability of being overcharged. In a competitive market, I would expect the price to be competitive. The only exception I can think about is that all the clinics agree that they will inflate the estimates by a fixed amount (25% for example). I hope this is an unlikely case.

Thanks, JoeTillman for your insights and hypotheticals. Let me clear it up a little bit, I don't plan to sit through the whole video of the procedure, unless the result doesn't come out as expected. The taping of the procedure is intended to be a preventive measure to encourage the doctors to be more diligent with their work. Think of it as a transparency measure. Right now I believe that we are giving doctors too much leeway and little responsibility. Let's say the true amount of grafts needed is 4,000. What then prevents the doctors from saying you need 5,000? Surely nobody is going to count the 1,000 "phantom" grafts. Surely the patients will be very grateful when the doctors say they transplant 5,231 grafts for the price of 5,000. That might not be a gross overestimate, but that's easily $4,000- $5,000 of the patient's hard-earned money for nothing. I think your point No.2 is a little ridiculous, as no one would be that meticulous in measuring the density, not even me. Again, this comes back to my previous paragraph. We only do it if the HT turns out to be a failure. And as far as I know, even the top doctors have failed at some procedures. Your point about doctors feeling nervous when taped is also a little strange. I might consider the possibility that they have "tricks" that give better results and that they don't want the public to know. But to think that they get nervous and mess up their work because they are being taped? Those pros who have supposedly done thousands of procedures over years or decades?

Yes, I understand the idea of trust and ethics, but I also like to have some kind of verification, maybe just for the peace of mind (or am I a weirdo for thinking like this?). But look at all the people who are supposedly very ethical and later found out to be not so ethical (most recent: Bill Cosby). Ethics is a very funny issue. Who would have thought those CEOs could take away money from their poor employees and stockholders, right? There's a video on YouTube about a doctor in India performing 100 grafts/cm2, possibly a record. You can clearly see 100 of them, so that's what I expect of other post-op pictures and videos as well. Do you guys know of any clinic/ HT doctors who actually tape the procedure to give to patient later? I know that there are excerpts on YouTube, so maybe there are videos of full procedures somewhere.

Hi there. This is my first question on this forum, so forgive me if it's something old, but I've done my homework but still can't find a satisfactory answer to my concern. I've looked at before and after photos of many patients, and wonder how as patients we are sure that the doctors are implanting the agreed-upon amount of hair. Is that something that the patients have to take on faith? Let's say given the area and the amount of grafts, we come up with 60 grafts/ cm2, so should we expect to see 60 incisions (or at least close to that number)? I know that some of you will say many grafts are transplanted without a mark, so how are we to determine if that is the case? As far as I'm aware, no clinic agrees to tape the whole procedure (or have a friend of the patient tape the whole procedure) and hand it to the patient as a souvenir. Why not? Again, sorry if this post seems cynical. Just wondering if anyone feels the same way. Thanks for your time.