Medical Hair of Restoration. A nightmare experience

[Hary]

Hi all.

So I finally decided to fill in my bald forehead with some transplanted here and decided to get it done at Medical Hair Restoration in Houston under Dr. Jaime Recasens.

During my consultations with their consultant Ali, I was never educated about the density of my new hair. I was told that it's going to be 1200 grafts in my case. I paid full amount and was sitting on the surgery chair.

Part of my hair at the back of my head was trimmed and anesthesia was given.

Now comes the twist. The doctor asks me to draw a line on my forehead and tell him what am I expecting. I told him I don't know what is realistic and he being a doctor should do and and then i'll comment. I drew lines several number of times and finally arrived at a consensus. Now he tells me about the density of the transplanted hair and that it would not be even 50% of my natural hair. Should mention here that I have long thick hair, just my hairline has receded because I use to pull out my hair when I was young. I've never had any hair loss.

So he tells me about the density and says that I will have to come for another surgery if i want a perfect density. Even though he was correct but all this he's telling me after cutting my hair and giving me anesthesia. This was never talked about before, neither by him nor his consultant. I felt cheated and asked him to stop. That was pretty brave I think on my part but I was feeling cheated. If he had to tell all this, he should have done that before giving me anesthesia. He took me for a surprise and talked about things that were never told to me before.

They are going to take 2 weeks to give me my money back.

 

However, I don't know in what ways I can take a legal action against them because they gave me anesthesia eventually for nothing and then talked about things that they never talked about before.

 

I met Dr Robert McClellan at Hair club today and pretty impressed with him. He was laughing at the Medical Hair Restoration doctor and told me that its not a patients job to draw lines on the forehead because he would not know what is realistic and what would look mechanical.

Also, he wasn't happy about the fact that the Dr at MHR told me everything after giving me anesthsia.

 

So can anyone tell me what legal action can I take against MHR ?

 

Please suggest something.

 

Thanks

[Hary]

Hi all.

So I finally decided to fill in my bald forehead with some transplanted here and decided to get it done at Medical Hair Restoration in Houston under Dr. Jaime Recasens.

During my consultations with their consultant Ali, I was never educated about the density of my new hair. I was told that it's going to be 1200 grafts in my case. I paid full amount and was sitting on the surgery chair.

Part of my hair at the back of my head was trimmed and anesthesia was given.

Now comes the twist. The doctor asks me to draw a line on my forehead and tell him what am I expecting. I told him I don't know what is realistic and he being a doctor should do and and then i'll comment. I drew lines several number of times and finally arrived at a consensus. Now he tells me about the density of the transplanted hair and that it would not be even 50% of my natural hair. Should mention here that I have long thick hair, just my hairline has receded because I use to pull out my hair when I was young. I've never had any hair loss.

So he tells me about the density and says that I will have to come for another surgery if i want a perfect density. Even though he was correct but all this he's telling me after cutting my hair and giving me anesthesia. This was never talked about before, neither by him nor his consultant. I felt cheated and asked him to stop. That was pretty brave I think on my part but I was feeling cheated. If he had to tell all this, he should have done that before giving me anesthesia. He took me for a surprise and talked about things that were never told to me before.

They are going to take 2 weeks to give me my money back.

 

However, I don't know in what ways I can take a legal action against them because they gave me anesthesia eventually for nothing and then talked about things that they never talked about before.

 

I met Dr Robert McClellan at Hair club today and pretty impressed with him. He was laughing at the Medical Hair Restoration doctor and told me that its not a patients job to draw lines on the forehead because he would not know what is realistic and what would look mechanical.

Also, he wasn't happy about the fact that the Dr at MHR told me everything after giving me anesthsia.

 

So can anyone tell me what legal action can I take against MHR ?

 

Please suggest something.

 

Thanks

[Hary]

Also, my advice to all is, never ever go to Medical Hair Restoration. They will always keep you in dark the way they did in my case.

 

Also, i forgot to mention that when I talked to their consultant after pulling out of the surgery in the middle, the doctor comes in and was mad at me. He says I'm not going to draw anymore lines on your forehead and that he has already wasted his 2 hours.

 

Then he stands up, draws 3 lines on my forehead and says farther down you go from your current hair line its going to be 1200 extra grafts and that was totally ridiculous.

 

Dr. McClellan drew a line to show me how a realistic hair line would look like and said that he won't do more than 1000 grafts because there needs to be some optimum spacing between various transplanted hair and that he won't clutter a lot of hair.

 

He was surprised when I told him about the way Dr at MHR houston started drawing three lines on my forehead.

[Rambler]

I had a similar experience with an endodontist. Numbed me up and then the story changed. I walked out. I wouldn't bother with any legal action as long as they do refund your money. No harm done really except some wasted time and a numb head for a few hours. Consider yourself lucky (or just smart for leaving). The outcome could've been much worse had you not left when you did.

[Hary]

True, but don't you think they should be taught a lesson ?

I mean who wants medicines and anesthesia for no good reason ? After all all these things are definitely good for you body and are taken only when it is required. So I am wondering if I could really take a legal action against them

[Dr. Ricardo Mejia]

Hary:

 

As a physician we all want patients to have a good experience, and it is unfortunate yours was not. I would like to share some comments that are good for others to learn about in this case.

 

1. A surgery was scheduled without meeting the doctor personally. It is the physicians responsibility to assure the proper informed consent, expectations and education is given to the patient in regards to results density, complications risks etc. Their are many excellent consultants that do the proper informed consent that is in line with the physician. Several are on this site. However, just like their are bad lawyers, doctors, engineers dentists etc, their are also inexperienced consultants that do not always represent the exact procedure because of lack of knowleddge and or training. Consultants are not doctors and are generally paid a commission to sell the procedure. In many cases they underestimate the number of grafts to keep the cost lower to make the surgery more attractive. It is imperative that patients meet with the physicians to assure their goals and expecations will be met. I do not utilize sales reps, but if I did I would assure they represented the procedure as a physician on my behalf. There are many good consultants that contribute to this site and are good patient advocates.

 

2. Drawing lines on the forehead. It is the physicians responsibility to get into the head of the patient and find out who he is, what he wants and what he expects. I have some patients that come in with templates of exactly what they want. As long as it is realistic and natural. That is fine. During my consultations, I do ask patients to draw what they are looking for. It gives me a chance to get into their head a little bit and see what there perspective is. Some like you do not know and defer to the physicians judgement and I will draw it for them. Others draw nice hairlines, some are way unrealistic and this lets me know I have to spend more time to educate the patient on what a normal hairline should look like. A good physican knows good hairlines. Asking a patient to draw is an initial point for dialogue and discussion for proper education and understanding. Every person is unique and customized in my practice. Their are many forehead shapes and sizes which have different hairlines to look great. Consequently there are different options and choices for patients which affects the overall density size and area to be filled in. This is all part of the consultation and part of the informed consent.

 

3. You can take legal action and probably spend alot more money than all the transplants for the rest of your life or you can be a patient advocate and help the next patient. You can warn patients not to go like you have done. The reality is they will have more patients. To help the next patient, it would be wise to meet with the doctor and consultant together and voice your disatisfaction regarding your experience to assure it does not happen to another patient. This may not be what you want to do, but rest assured if a patient like you came to me with a complaint, i would listen and if things were really wrong, heads would roll.

 

Good luck.

[Dewayne]

I'd say forget it, if they give your money back.

 

Another thing, what about the second doctor you went to? Hair Club for Men? Do yourself a favor and look at one of the doctors either recommended here or in the coalition. They've been vetted pretty good.

 

I can say from experience, as I found there is a world of difference sitting in that chair with one of the top hair transplant surgeons in the world. I've had two physicians in my 42 years that have absolutely blown me away, and one of them was 3 months ago during my transplant. And I've moved around some; four different states. The other was a 35 year old general practitioner in Wilmington, North Carolina back in 2003.

[hairthere]

mhr to hair club is going from bad to just as bad. do yourself a favor and consult with feller, h&w, rahal, shapiro, etc. in other words TOP doc....

 

also forget the laswuit and move on.

[vincehair]

Maybe they should be hassled a little for the b.s.???

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hary,

 

Welcome to our discussion forum.

 

I never heard of the physician asking the patient to draw themselves a hairline. I hope he was only doing this as an exercise to teach you about realistic goals and not that he used your design for the surgery.

 

In my opinion, take this as a learning experience, get your money back, and move on.

 

What you should be learning from this is to take your time and research both hair transplant surgery, what is realistic and what is not, and choosing a surgeon who has a proven track record of success. Be careful not to be lured by marketing hype. Talk to real patients who have had excellent work and consider their surgeons.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill