Anyone been to PAI Medical Group?

[thanatopsis_awry]

Fishman,

 

As discussed in PMs, I wish you the best of luck, which unfortuntely I think you will need.

 

Getting a HT is indeed a very tumultuous process -- emotionally, to say the least. If you get *any* reservations about the quality of their work, which I hope you end up getting a good glimpse of prior to the op, by all means just take a step back.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Bill,

how can you say he'll hopefully get a good result when the clinic admittedly uses mini and micro grafts? true his appearance might improve because he'll have hair where there wasn't any, but there is no way the quality will be as good as if he had FUs grafted. i think it's irresponsible of us to not give him full warning and try and educate him a little bit. isn't that what this forum is for?

 

i honestly don't care what doc he uses (coalition or not) but i just hope he understands what he'll be getting for his money.

 

hairthere,

 

It's not that I don't agree with you - but it appears that he made up his mind. I just don't want to send him running from the forum.

 

I want to be clear however, that it is strongly my opinion that one should stay away from any surgeon still doing minigrafts. I hope that their website is simply outdated.

 

Bill

[MeBlindMelon]

The dude isn't listening to guys who have years, years and more years of experience, who've already had bad work done, who have thousands and thousands of posts and Lord only knows the hours we've all spent researching.

 

Who knows, MAYBE they have stepped up there game. But if they are still using such lingo as mini and micro grafts- he'll be another statistic. I can only wish I'd been warned!

 

Because he's made his decision does not mean we shouldn't let him hear about it. Why even join this site and pose the question then???

[fishman35]

Here is the deal, for the 10th time.

 

I asked for anyone who had experienced PAI. All I got was "not familiar with them, but lot's of red flags" or things like that. No actual experience, just conjecture. The only doctor who this site recommends in Tennessee is Dr Fisher. He does many other surgeries besides hair transplants and he charges $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. ($15,000 for 1,500 hairs)I want a doctor that only does hair transplants, not nose and boob jobs too! This is like buying auto parts at K Mart.

I have done my own research. I visited with 2 Nashville PAI patients. (One I went to school with). Their hair looked fantastic! They showed me before pics from family events to compare with what they look like today. If PAI is a "typical hair mill", then I could not tell.

 

I learned long ago that you cannot deny someone their own experience. I appreciate all that you guys have said, but I wanted a patient of PAI to respond. Someone who has never been to PAI and says it sucks is like a virgin trying to tell a porn star how to screw. Lot's of theory and hear say. None have you have been there, I met with people who have. I will do before and after pics, (if allowed), so others do not have to "guess" anymore. That is how you help, share actual experience, strength, and hope.

[PLEASE GROW PLEASE]

The fact that nobody has ever posted an expierence about Pai on here or any other sites would be a huge red flag for me .

It doesnt mean your going to get a bad transplant but I just think the guys here are trying to point you in a direction where your almost guaranteed to get a result youll be happy with.

Whatever you decide I hope you share your expierence with us. Make sure you see at least 30 or 40 photos from surgeries the doctor performed ,not Pai. Ask him what density hes going to pack the hairline? You know all the questions. Alot of places set you up for a second procedure .Good luck and remember people really are here to help you

[hairthere]

Fishman, my response was based on the FACT (not lots of theory and hearsay) that PAI admittedly uses outdated technology. have you ever seen the difference between an all FU procedure versus the minigrafts the PAI patients recieved? if not, i suggest you do so just to fully ensure you did all your homework. good luck.

[Bill - Seemiller]

fishman,

 

Where are you seeing that Dr. Fisher does other cosmetic surgeries besides hair transplantation? His website http://www.fisherhaircenter.com only has him listed as doing hair transplantation.

 

Physicians who are recommended on this site either perform exclusive hair transplantation or hair transplants as the speciality of their clinic.

 

If you are looking for patients of Pai, I'd recommend using the "find" feature of our community and searching "PAI". If you can't find anything, you will have to research them in particular somewhere else.

 

As I said before, if you've already made up your mind on this clinic, we wish you well. But our members are trying to help direct you to known quality clinics using the most up to date techniques.

 

Bill

[fishman35]

Well, I got it done yesterday. It went perfectly. We ended up doing a level 12 because the loss on the top was greater than I thought. The FU's in the front look flawless and the MHU's in the back look great. While I was in there, a patient who was coming in for his 1 year follow up came into the room. They had his file out with pictures and he had Bosely "doll plugs" from 10 years ago. They had to fix that with one session, then they did a level 10. He looked fantastic! He told me that I made the right decision. The doctor called me that night to make sure all was well. If PAI was a "hair mill" that doesn't care about their patients, I doubt they would have called. I can already see what it is going to look like. The doctors who prepared the follicles stated that they are flawless and my scalp is in greta shpe. I will start posting here tomorrow with pics.

Here is a pic from today. Not the greatest quality, but had to shrink it down.

[PLEASE GROW PLEASE]

Congraft fishman35. Happy to hear your happy.

Look forward to the pics

[dakota3]

Congrats!!! I will say though that just because they call doesnt mean they arent a hair mill. The Bosley doc called me the night of my surgery

[hairthere]

fishman, glad to hear your procedure went well and that they used FUs in your hairline. please do post pics when you can.

[Guest josh - b]

fishman,

 

You've got a lot of native hair which of course is excellent

It just looks from your photo that the density you were given into your hairline is quite low.

I'm not trying to be negative but i'm just advising u to be realistic and realise that there won't be a huge cosmetic difference.

 

I wish all the best in your results.

[Bill - Seemiller]

fishman,

 

I'm glad to hear your experience went well. The picture is blurry so it's hard to tell the placement of the grafts.

 

From the looks of it, you should have a definite improvement but may decide you want to get a second HT for more density in the future.

 

Heal and grow well.

 

Bill

[lovestospoon]

I'm very interested in seeing your results. Please post more pictures!

[fishman35]

Here was my month results I posted onj this forum: http://hair-restoration-info.c...566060861/m/39210315

 

I just had my 1 year photos done and will post them Monday afternoon.

[hairsearch]

I was doing an internet search on PAI Medical Group Reviews, and this forum was the first hit. The last posting was well over a year ago. Fishman35, did you ever get a hair transplant from PAI? Has anyone else had first hand experience with them?

[hairsearch]

I evidently did not look far enough to see that fishman35 had actually gone through with the transplant and posted results at 8 months. Fishman35, if you're still participating in this forum, I appreciate some comments. I understand that the doctor does not actually place the transplants. I OK with this, I guess. A lot of doctors and dentists have technicians to do tedious, repetitive tasks for them, but the technicians have to be VERY good. Do you have any comments about this? Also, PAI claims that they can place 6500 hairs at one session, one to four hairs at a time, and that over 90% do not fall out. From what I can tell, 6500 hairs/session is not a typical claim. Did you have this many hairs transplanted? It's hard for me to imagine how this much work could be done in 6 to 8 hours.

[Maxxy]

Hairsearch,

 

You need to understand the difference between grafts and hairs, each graft can contain 1-5 hairs. 6500 "hair" transplants are fairly common place.

 

Also, most transplant surgeons will have techs place the vast majority of grafts, if not all.

[hairsearch]

Maxxy,

Thanks for your post. It's somewhat reassuring to know that placing 6500 hairs is common. I probably mis read some of the other doctor's sites I visited. One doctor says he can do up to 3000 grafts in a session, which would average a little over 2 hairs per graft. If this session lasts 8 hours, this means a graft every 10 seconds. This still seems almost superhuman for one person, especially considering how close the graphs are to each other, and that they are being placed among existing hair. I'd like to understand this a little better before having a transplant done by anyone.

[Maxxy]

This will vary between clinics but generally there is 2-3 techs placing grafts.

[hairsearch]

So you're saying that most grafts are placed by techicians rather than doctors? The only other doctor/clinic that I've been able to locate in Nashville says that the doctor places each graph. Not sure which is the norm, but it seems that the success of transplant is highly dependent on the skill of the person/s actually doing the graphs. Do you agree?

[Maxxy]

Yes, I agree that a large percentage of any result is down to whoever handles and places the grafts. I personally don't know of any doctor that places 100% of the grafts. In my experience, most doctors do very little, if anything, when it comes to the placement of the grafts.

[hairsearch]

What the doctor at PAI told me is that he handles the anestesia, makes the incision and stitches it back, and plans where the hair is placed. The technicians make the grafts. I'm not sure what questions to even ask about the qualifications of the technicians, or how to verify these qualifications. I guess what it boils down to is talking to people that have had work done, and if possible, looking at this work. There is an organization called the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons. The doctor at PAI is not a member, but I'm not sure this is even relevant considering how much the outcome depends on the technicians. Any thoughts, suggestions?

[threedone]

I have been to the Chicago location and was not very impressed with the before and afters or the fact that I never did meet with a doctor, but have never heard any bad things either.

 

While doing a search I ran across this. (promotional link removed)

 

Not unless I am wrong it is illegal to guarantee any medical procedure. Guys have died from HT's (not the doctors or clinics fault, on one the patient was high on coke and coded in the chair with the eppi).

 

I am glad your surgery seems to be going well but if they are "guaranteeing" a medical procedure their medical license should be revoked.

[MikeTheDane]

Most doctors do not plant all grafts themselves - but if they are not the one making the incitions for them, thats a red flag.

 

As for the resultss of fisherman, definitely not impressed by the pluggish look of his hairline.

 

Thankfully he doesn't look butchered, but results are subpar.