Dr. Bessam Farjo

Congratulations Dr Pawlinga!

Thank you all for your kind and generous words. These kind of cases give even more satisfaction to the surgeon because as Dr Alexander and other have said, you can certainly change their life. The original work was indeed baffling but not surprising considering where it was done. I often think that even if you tried you couldnt do a job that bad, but obviously I'm wrong! best wishes to all

I apologise as some of the photos from my above post did not come on. Here they are now:

Dear Alan (Dr Feller), Bill asked me to make a comment about Balody's scar to end the argument about it. I have not seen Balody actually since his last transplant, but when I saw the photo of him on this thread my immediate thought was that he had tilted his head backwards to take a self-photo. This obviously gives the illusion that the scar is lower than its real position. I am surprised that others here couldn't see that. This is why it is essential for the doctor to see and examine a patient in the flesh at consultation before he/she can make a proper diagnosis and recommendation. When he does eventually come to see me for a review I will take more detailed photos of Balody and his scar for the benefit of his fan base here! In the meantime, Mick asked Balody to have someone else take a photo of his donor scar while he is looking in a neutral straight ahead position and here it is. I hope this alleviates any worries anyone had about Balody's scalp. To emphasise the point further Mick recently posted a couple of videos demonstrating excellent scars from surgery performed around a year ago (see Farjo Website). Also for anyone else interested see below a few examples of donor sites of transplants (no previous surgery) done over the last few weeks. The level this particular thread has descended to is very unseemly and undignified. It also saddens and disappoints me greatly that you as a fellow physician have seen fit to resort to personal insults towards me. My only contribution to this thread only sought to demonstrate that you cannot simply and categorically say that above the line is good and below is bad. I interpreted the text that above is much preferable with regards to scar quality while below you have to apply caution. There are other factors to consider most importantly future hair loss. I did not say I would go below the line for no reason as you implied. In your original post you did not make exceptions and I simply wrote to demonstrate there are. The photos I posted were meant to show that potential. My whole theme is that rather than thinking issues are simply either black or white, there are various shades of grey. Yes there are generally accepted rules and guidelines which I try to stick to, but if it is simply about reading the textbook and applying what it says to the letter then we don't need trained doctors, experience, meetings or indeed discussion. Textbooks after all are written by people like you and me who drew on all what I am talking about. I did not say that this kind of discussion should ONLY take place at a scientific meeting. I said it was a more appropriate place to argue scientific issues. I don't know what you mean when you say "doctors in a rented room". If it's meant to discredit such meetings, do you not work out of a rented office? Anyway I only assumed you have respect to such meetings and the ISHRS because of the claims on your website I mentioned in my previous post. Maybe you will choose to start coming to meetings in the future. Also I did not say you need approval from your colleagues. You can certainly do and claim anything you like. I said that valid scientific conclusions result from standing up to scrutiny and argument from your peers. This is why valid and accepted research for example has due credibility when published in peer-reviewed journals (on paper or online) as opposed to something that is not. I admit that I did not give these forums any attention in the past. Certainly say prior to about 2 years ago. I didn't need to as we were very busy. It was Pat who brought to my attention that I was getting bad press here. On looking into it, it appeared to centre around posters who were pushing patients to go to the USA instead. I accepted Pat's criticism that we don't have a presence on the forums and his advice that we should demonstrate our work here. I also insisted that Pat should come and visit to see for himself our set up and patients. He did that of course and was very impressed as is well documented (see Pat's Farjo visit). I did not ask or suggest joining the Coalition. It was Pat who invited us on the strength of his visit during which he observed all aspects of surgery, consultations, post-op reviews, etc. Alan, I would never dream of making any negative remarks about your work on a public forum unless you specifically ask my opinion. If I am seriously concerned or the particular patient asks me to then I would approach you privately. Even then the purpose would be for the benefit of both the doctor and the patient. My understanding is that this whole thread started by someone with a low wide scar from another clinic. That was followed with a patient of yours bringing Balody's misleading scar photo into the argument without the full facts and certainly without Balody's or my request or consent. In future if you have such concern or criticism to make I would really appreciate your input privately for both mine and my patient's future benefit. After all we are all striving towards the same thing which is good work, good results and happy patients. While on Balody, I absolutely assure everyone that he does not work for me or my clinic. I do not pay him for taking part in any forum nor did I ask him to be there for any purpose. You once told me (? 2 years ago before you employed him) that Spex was a "Feller sycophant" when I made a private complaint to you about his methods at the time. Well I don't know if that is how I describe Balody but he is certainly a fan and a very happy patient. He obviously enjoys the forums and noticed the bias by some and wanted to share his good experience. I am surprised about your accusations about him when I can think of at least 1 or 2 others on your side here who show similar enthusiasm. In the past I have strongly discouraged him from making any derogatory or critical remarks about any doctor's work. If you have any complaints or issues with this then please email me privately and I will address them. BTW, 2 reasons why Balody did not go to the patient get together in Manchester. One he suspected it was a marketing exercise by Spex, and two Mick did not have time to organise others because my father passed away that week and his funeral was the very day of that meeting. There really is no need to be angry or confrontational as at this rate you will give yourself a heart attack! That goes for you too, Balody! We can agree or disagree on issues as we are adults and experienced and established hair restoration doctors. I have only met you once 6 years ago at a meeting and you came across as a decent guy. I have not had anything to do with you since, until the reference to Spex I made above. I think that is about the time you started marketing for patients from the UK. Neither one of us can transplant everyone, and I'm sure we will both stay busy for a long time to come. I do not wish nor did I intend to have a go at you or engage in ??mudslinging' as Bill put it. This will be my last post on this thread since continuing would only result in repeating myself again. You will all forgive me for not responding on any other issue over the rest of the week as I am away in Rome, Italy for the ISHRS workshop/meeting there. Best wishes (Dr.) Bessam Farjo