Bill - Seemiller

@harin and @Ashishmehta, Since you are both patience are these surgeons, please be sure to provide your input on the recent topic I’ve created about their potential recommendation. If you go to the “hair transplant experiences in surgeon reviews“ section, you will be able to see the topic I create it. You can view the top of directly by clicking thanks, Bill

Wow, that's a very impressive result considering this guy was essentially a full Norwood 7 and now he looks like has just about a full head of hair again. Nice work Dr. Sethi and Dr. Bansal. Best wishes, Bill

Dear forum members, As many of you know, we gather as much information as possible about a physician, their staff, technique and track record before they are even considered for recommendation on the Hair Transplant Network. Part of our review process involves getting input from patients and the members of this forum community. To learn more about this review process, click here. We would appreciate your input regarding the potential recommendation of Dr. Pradeep Sethi and Dr. Arika Bansal of Mumbai. At this time, both physicians are only being considered for recommendation, not the Coalition. To see our standards for recommendation, click here Dr. Pradeep Sethi and Dr. Arika Bansal are a husband and wife team of surgeons that work in tandem on each hair transplant procedure at their clinic in Mumbai. They perform hair transplant surgery exclusively and operate on only one or two patients per day between the two of them. Both doctors perform both FUE (follicular unit extraction) and FUSS (follicular unit strip surgery) although at this point, they perform very few strip procedures. Their primary technique is a modified version of FUE referred to as Direct Hair Transplantation or DHT. During this technique, follicular units are extracted using a motorized device and planted simultaneously. They started performing this technique in 2012 and published a scientific paper in the Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Science (JCAS) about it in 2013. Both Dr. Sethi and Dr. Bansal are members of several well respected professional organizations including the ISHRS, AHRS, IADVL and the ACSI. Dr. Bansal is also a board certified diplomate of the ABHRS (American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery). Dr. Sethi and Dr. Bansal have just under 10 years of experience performing hair transplants and have been performing exclusive hair transplant surgery since 2013. They specialize in FUE (DHT), BHT (body hair transplantation), eyebrow transplantation, eyelash restoration, beard transplantation, scar repair and other repair procedures, etc. They also provide medical treatments for managing male and female pattern baldness. Dr.Sethi and Dr. Bansal have the staff and experience to perform large, densely packed sessions of ultra refined follicular unit hair transplantation exceeding 3000 and 4000 grafts when appropriate for the patient. Typical session sizes range between 2500 and 3000 grafts. Large session sizes may exceed 5000 grafts for patients with an optimal donor area. The surgeons use a motorized punch used called the MPCID Marathon typically ranging from .8mm to 1mm depending on the patient and the size of the graft. This reduces trauma and resultant scarring to the skin while eradicating damage to the surrounding follicles. Dense packing typically ranges from 35 to 50 grafts per square centimeter (FU/cm2) which they feel provides an adequate an illusion of density while preserving vascularity to the scalp. Dr. Sethi and Dr. Bansal use all the latest techniques including the trichophytic donor closure technique for strip procedures, microscopic dissection and minimally invasive tools to minimize trauma and maximize dense packing. During both procedures, the surgeons pre-make all recipient incisions and then grafts are simultaneously excised and implanted into tiny recipient incisions ranging from .9mm to 1.05mm. In order to create the most natural looking hairline and result, Dr. Sethi and Dr. Bansal select only the finest 1 haired follicular units for placement in the first two rows of the hairline. Given Dr. Sethi's and Dr. Bansal's vast experience in performing both state of the art FUE (and some FUSS) and providing only the best results, in my opinion, they should be considered for recommendation. In the last couple of weeks, Dr. Sethi and Dr. Bansal presented several examples of their procedure and results on this forum. Their recent patient and surgical photos can be found below: 2815 Grafts - DHT (Modified FUE) with Dr. Sethi & Dr. Bansal 5604 Grafts with Dr. Sethi & Dr. Banal - DHT (Modified FUE) 3500 grafts with Dr. Sethi & Dr. Arika, DHT (modified FUE), 6 months 2742 grafts with Dr. Sethi and Dr. Bansal, DHT (modified FUE), 1 year 7892 grafts with Dr. Sethi & Dr. Bansal, DHT (modified FUE), BHT (Beard Hair Transplant), 9 months 6386 grafts with Dr. Sethi & Dr. Bansal, DHT (modified FUE), BHT (Beard Hair Transplant), 9 months 8584 grafts in 2 sessions with Dr. Sethi & Dr. Bansal, DHT (modified FUE), BHT (Beard Hair Transplant), 8 months 5000 grafts with Dr. Sethi & Dr. Bansal, DHT (modified FUE), BHT (Body Hair Transplant), 1 year 3900 grafts with Dr. Sethi & Dr. Bansal, DHT (modified FUE), 1 year 4980 grafts, Dr. Sethi & Dr. Bansal, DHT (modified FUE), BHT (Beard Hair Transplant), 6 months You can find additional examples of their work by visiting the “Results Posted by Leading Hair Transplant Clinics” forum and by using the “search” feature. I welcome input and comments from forum members regarding their potential recommendation. To view our standards for recommendation, click here. Best wishes, Bill - Managing Publisher of this Community

Splitting hairs, I apologize for my delayed response as I am just seeing this topic. Dr. Lorenzo was recommended sheer while he was in UK but you are correct, when he went back to Spain, he decided that he would take a break from all four I’m communities. However, the last I spoke with him he did express interest in being recommended again however, when I followed up with him, I didn’t hear back again. I appreciate you recommending that we consider Dr. Vila for recommendation. If you happen to have any contact info for her, please send me a private message with that info. I will reach out to her and attempt to learn more. Best wishes, Bill

OK so allow me to explain because this title is probably confusing. FUT versus FUE is one of the most discussed topics however, what people don’t realize, is that FUE IS FUT. FUT stands for follicular unit hair transplantation and was named that way because instead of using the old mini-graft technique which contains approximately 4 to 8 hairs - surgeons began using hair groupings as they appear naturally in the scalp, called follicular units. The follicular unit can be anywhere from 1 to 4 hairs. A follicular unit transplant procedure involves both harvesting hair from the donor area and implanting them into tiny recipient incisions in the scalp. However, when we talk about FUSS and FUE, we are strictly talking about the donor harvesting technique portion of the FUT procedure. FUE stands for follicular unit excision, recently renamed by the ISHRS from follicular unit extraction. This donor harvesting technique involves using one of many various excision devices to harvest follicular units one by one from the side and back of the scalp or other areas of the body. FUSS stands for follicular unit strip surgery and involves harvesting a strip of tissue containing hair follicles, suturing or stapling the wound, typically using the tricophytic closure technique, slivering the tissue and dissecting follicular units from the strip using microscopes. So what about the implantation part of the procedure? Why is there so much focus on the donor harvesting technique? Well there are some names for the implantation part of the procedure, such as stick and place but the focus is on the donor harvesting because that’s what ultimately determines the viability of the graft. If a graft is damaged, it’s typically during the donor harvesting portion of the procedure. However, grafts can be damaged during the implantation part of the procedure if the technicians or surgeon is not careful and crushes it during implantation. That’s why implanter pans were developed for example. They assist with implantation while minimizing damage to the follicles. For more detailed information about all of the above, I suggest reading the content below that we’ve written on our website. https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/Hair-Loss-Treatments/follicular-unit-extraction.asp https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/Hair-Loss-Treatments/FUE-vs-FUT.asp https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/Hair-Loss-Treatments/FUE-hair-transplant-implantation-devices.asp Now, there are many more links that I can post, but if you follow the above links and then follow the links in each content page above, you will see more about specific extraction devices, sharp versus blunt punches, the history of FUE, etc. I’d love to hear everyone’s input on this. Bill

Hairlosspa, It is not the same thing to compare many different topics about FUT verses FUE to waiting more than one topic to present a single case of poor growth from a clinic. As I mentioned above, the duties and the responsibilities of the moderators are to keep this forum fair and balanced. Creating multiple topics about FUT versus FUE doesn’t create an unfair environment. However, it is unfair to a particular surgeon to create multiple topics that they have to keep track of and respond to regarding a single case or practices at an individual doesn’t necessarily like. So yes, there will be times where we simply say, a topic has already been created for this and to keep discussion there. Clearly, we wouldn’t do this for general educational topics, but when it comes to a controversy that involves multiple parties sharing their side of the story and views and a need for moderation - then we are not going to create more work for everybody by allowing multiple topics about the same thing, especially when it’s potentially damaging to an individual. I trust this make sense to you and that it clears things up. Bill

Pgdmmb, It is the responsibility and duty of the moderators to keep this forum fair and balanced - which is the spirit of our terms of use. We have long-held surgeons accountable for their results by allowing patient to share they’re genuine opinions and experiences. Surgeons who are recommended, who know longer meet our high standards are discontinued in their recommendation status. However, each situation is investigated prior to removing a surgeon on a case by case basis. One poor result is not the same as a particular surgeon no longer producing outstanding results on a regular basis. However, this has happened and we have removed many surgeons as a result Similarly however, patients must also be held accountable for their posts. We are neutral until there is a reason not to be. In other words, when a patient begins unfairly maligning a surgeon, it is the duty of the moderators to step in. Unfairly maligning a surgeon or another member for that reason is not fair or balanced and is against our policies. So if you feel this is unfair of the moderators, then I’m sorry you feel that way but these are the rules and they are clearly listed. We certainly appreciate member feedback and opinions and will do our best to continue to be fair. We aren’t perfect and sometimes, it may appear that we are leaning one way or another but there is always a reason. We aren’t always correct in our assessment, we are not infallible and we recognize that. However, members will be held accountable for their posts just as surgeons will be held accountable for their results. Best wishes, Bill

Hairlosspa, I’m not exactly sure what happened above but I will ask Melvin because I’m a little unclear. I’m also unclear about what’s going on with some other topic about FUT versus FUE that he says will not be anymore. That doesn’t sound right to me so I need to check with him. Just for being suspended in advertently, all I can do is apologize. I wasn’t involved but obviously, we certainly don’t want to give members the impression that we ban them for no reason. On the other hand, in what way do you mean that we Moderat too much? When something is unbalanced or unfair, there is a need to moderate. There are some forums that moderate WAY more than we do and there are other forums where it’s a free-for-all with no moderation. However, I would like to hear your opinion on why you think it’s too heavy moderated. So send me a private message rather than hijack this topic and let’s discuss it. Bill

I too am very sorry to hear about what happened. However, since you have had hair transplant surgery 26 years ago, I doubt there are any grounds to sue even if the procedure was a complete failure. And I suppose I would ask the obvious question… Why are you waiting so long to consider taking action when I’m sure you were on happy with the results a year afterwards? Or, if you were happy a year after words, The reality is, hair transplant surgery does nothing to stop the progression of male pattern hair loss. That’s why nonsurgical treatments like Propecia and Rogaine are recommended especially for young people to still have a lot of hair they could lose. Now if you were not given informed consent, that is you weren’t told about these things in writing, I suppose there could be a case but again, the fact that it was 26 years ago, I highly doubt there would be any case here. Frankly, any judge would probably think that the only reason while you’re trying to go out your surgeon so many years later is because you’re low on money and are looking for ways to make something quick. Otherwise, why I haven’t you pursued legal action 20 years ago or even 25 years ago? No I’m not saying that’s what you’re trying to do, I’m just saying that it will likely be construed as that, assuming any lawyer would even take your case. But I’m not a lawyer. In my opinion however, I suggest dropping the wall and instead, visiting one of our prescreening hair restoration physicians to see what they can do to give you the head of hair I want and deserve. Melvin posted a link above and you can also find our list of prescreened surgeons at the top of the screen on both mobile and the computer. Best wishes, Bill

Raker, Of course it’s all about money, do you actually think hair restoration is a charity? I could understand if we were having a discussion about feeding the homeless or the American Red Cross. But hair transplant surgery is a cosmetic elective procedure and at the end of the day, those who can pay for it, can undergo the procedure. Otherwise, doctors wouldn’t do it. Now don’t get me wrong… I’m not saying that doctors don’t care about their patients. Of course they do and they want the best for them. But, they do expect to be paid and if they can’t get paid, then they can’t proceed with the procedure. Now I will admit, I personally think the clinic should have done something to work something out especially since legend stated that the money was there. Perhaps he could’ve done something to prove the money was there by showing an account statement? Perhaps that may have satisfied the clinic? I really don’t know how much conversation and negotiation there was however, I do think that something should have been worked out rather than just seeing the procedure get canceled. But don’t make a mistake in thinking that hair transplant surgery is a charity. It is an elective cosmetic procedure that most people don’t get or have money for. The lucky few that do undergo the procedure and doctors get paid well for it. And they should. Bill

@chicago2017 and all, While I can appreciate that you are unhappy with your results, we have yet to see any real good photos showing your crown and mid scalp. I do agree with you that Dr. Keller should have posted more photos of the midsection from the top down angle and to your crown since that’s where the grafts were transplanted. However, I suggest that you take some realistic photos under natural lighting rather than extremely harsh lighting which always makes it results look worse than it is. Honestly, the crown and midsection according to the photos I’ve seen do look improved and given your level of baldness, I’m not surprised that you don’t have more density. In my opinion, you have got an a great start with 3000 grafts and if you want to get another procedure, you can obtain more density. While I reserve my final comments until I see more accurate photos of your crown and midsection after surgery, I am inclined to agree that your expectations may have been too high. The reality is, with your level of boldness, there’s no way that 3000 graphs will give you the kind of density that you want. I have had to undergo 4 hair transplant procedures in order to get the results I have and I still have thinning areas in the crown. Some people may be unhappy with the results I have if their expectations were to achieve a full, thick head of hair like the high school glory days. But I’m very happy with my results and most people don’t even know I’ve ever experienced any thinning hair. However, I’m confident in the way my hair looks now so I will even show people my crown my putting my head down and people saying, oh yeah I guess it’s a little thinner there but it still looks good. Considering I would be completely bald without my hair transplants, I am very happy with my results. But I also had to be realistic with what could be achieved on a Norwood five A with 9600 grafts. The reality is, it would take 22,000+ grafts (50,000 hairs) all over the top of a completely bald scalp in order to achieve for density. And this is not realistic because we don’t have that many available grafts in our donor area. It would take approximately 11,000 grafts to achieve The “illusion of density” which means it will appear thick under normal lighting but under harsh lighting, it will still appear thinner. So I think you can imagine that only 3000 grafts placed in a large area of baldness such as the crown which is considered a black hole for grafts and the midsection which is a very large area simply will not achieve the kind of density and coverage you want in a single procedure. You or others might wonder why other positions might have had what looks like better results with the same number of graphs and a similar balding area. I’ll people also have to understand that hair caliber, shaft diameter, thickness, Color, hair to scalp color contrast ratio, placement of the grafts, area of the scalp where they are transplanted, etc. all play a vital role in achieving this illusion of density. So if you take this post seriously and really analyze and evaluate what you have versus what can be achieved, I think you’ll see that they are pretty much in line. Now personally, I think doctors should do a better job explaining this to patients and even let their patients now that they will likely require more than a single procedure to meet their goals if they want a thicker looking head of hair. However, part of the purpose of this community is to help educate patients so they can do their research before they undergo surgery. I wish I could’ve personally explained all this to you before you underwent surgery and maybe would have a different outlook today on your results. Maybe would’ve prepared like me knowing that you would’ve had to go for more than one procedure to meet your goals. So like I said, I’d still like to see better photos not under harsh lighting as I explained above about the illusion of density, harsh lighting will impact what the result looks like and its simply not a fair comparison. That said, I’m still inclined to agree that your expectations may have been too high which is why you’re not happy with what you have right now. At the end of the day, whether you are happy or not, to achieve more thickness and density, you will require another procedure. This should have been explain to from the beginning. Hopefully it was. Best wishes, Bill

@chicago2017, Since Dr. Keller may not see this post for awhile, feel free to post your own photos showing your results and share a detailed account of your experience. I understand you didn’t get grafts put into the hairline, but the mid section and crown look good according to the above photos. If you can take photos of your scalp from the top down or of the crown alone, we’d be able to provide our comments based on your photos as well. Best wishes, Bill P.S. I’ve take the liberty of editing Dr. Keller’s post to remove the part about the frontal area being transplanted.

Ok since both titles seemed inaccurate I changed the title to something a bit more generic. I trust this will meet no objections. “Couldn’t Have Surgery With Dr. Diep - Here’s Why” Best wishes, Bill

If people have a problem with the new title how about suggesting a new one instead of crying foul about this one. Let’s be constructive here people. What do you think is fair? Bill

Dr. Sethi and Dr. Bansal, Thank you for presenting several examples of your results. This is truly very impressive result as our the others I’ve seen so far. I will be looking over the rest of them soon. Keep up the great work. Best wishes, Bill

So I went ahead and changed the title to couldn’t afford procedure with Dr. Diep last minute” which is a lot more realistic and truthful. Dr. Diep didn’t cancel on you, you just realized you couldn’t afford the procedure and therefore, you couldn’t proceed. If you feel another title of this topic is more realistic, please let me know and we can consider changing it. But I don’t think it’s fair to say he canceled on you when in reality, you just couldn’t afford it. At the end of the day, while hair transplant surgery is desired, it is an elective procedure and we need to be able to pay for the procedure in order to achieve it. Best wishes, Bill

Legend, Like the others, I’m truly sorry to hear about your situation but I also don’t think title of this topic as fair. It’s not that Dr. Diep cancel on you, is that you just can’t afford to pay for the procedure so you can’t have it. So I think we should change the title of the topic to something more realistic. What do you think might be more reasonable? This makes it sound like that the doctor just bailed on you for no reason when there’s obviously a reason and you admitted it yourself, you can’t pay for an FUE procedure anyway. While it’s truly unfortunate, this doesn’t sound like it’s something that the doctor did out of malicious intent, but you realize you couldn’t afford it so therefore, you had to move on and undergo a procedure that you can pay for. So please let me know what we should change the title of this topic to Orr I guess I will think of something to change it to that’s more realistic. best wishes, Bill

Chris, i ask that you post some photos or some may assume this review isn’t legitimate. Please post some before and after photos so we can see your results for ourselves. best wishes, Bill

Nice post Melvin, and important tips that I believe all hair transplant patients should consider reading and implementing. What does everybody else think? Any other tips members would like to add? Bill

Have any of you tried Revita shampoo? It contains 1 % ketaconozole but also contains other active ingredients that nourish the hair and scalp, making the hair very soft which enables you to use it every day as appropriate. So for those of you using other shampoos only a couple times a week because the active ingredient is harsh on the scale, you might wanna consider using Revita. Bill

Good one @Raker - no surgery is 100% guaranteed and for any surgeon or hair transplant clinic to sell a procedure that way is deceptive at best. Nobody can guarantee zero complications and 100% growth on every procedure. So I definitely recommend people stay away from hair transplant surgeons that guarantee results 100%. Best wishes, Bill

Panamera, I believe I already removed that topic. Please check. Bill

TJ miles, I don’t think anybody can tell you for sure how much scarring you will have as a lot of it will depend on your physiology and your tendency for scarring. That said, when you’ve got and scrapes and cuts or other marks, how has the scarring been? Is it typically minimal or is scoring pretty obvious on you? This will give you at least some idea. Now, when follicular units are extracted via FUE, it will leave little whites scars but, since your complexion is also pretty white, it might be fairly noticeable. Dr. Cooley is right, ACell does help with minimizing appearance of scoring so that may be the best route to go. On the other hand, if you I have no need to redistribute the follicular units, you could go the laser hair removal or electrolysis route which should minimize scarring even more. I don’t know that anything is truly scarless but this is something to look into. best wishes, Bill

Any of us who have done some research on hair transplant surgery and even those who haven’t have been lied to do something agree about the procedure, how it works and expected results. Some still associate hair restoration surgery with the old “hair plugs“ or “corn rows” from the long past while others have been led to believe that today’s hair transplant surgery can produce a full head of hair that matches the old high school glory days. Visut “Hair Transplant Myths” to learn about some of the falsehoods associated with the procedure. Your thoughts? Bill

To many of us who have been members of this for him for a while, the question above may seem obvious. But many individuals researching hair transplant surgery may not know exactly how it works. So for some of you newer members or visitors researching hair restoration surgery for the first time, you are encouraged to click on and read the below article. Ofcourse, regular members and contributors are encouraged to read the below and provide your feedback as well 🙂 How Does Hair Transplant Surgery Actually Work? best wishes, Bill