can someone reply to stumpers experience with Dr. Beehner?

[Guest wanthairs]

A rather disturbing experience for stumper from a coalition doc

[Guest wanthairs]

A rather disturbing experience for stumper from a coalition doc

[pushing 40]

Yeah, this sounds bad. Anybody? Hello?

[the B spot]

Dr. Beehner is not a Coalition Doc.

 

I do believe he is recommended by this site.

 

It takes considerable skill to use larger grafts just as it takes considerable skill to create a proper hairline, natural and undetectable.

 

IMO, I do not get the sense that Pat is considering Dr. Beehner for the Coalition (I could be wrong)

 

I think you should get some pics of stumpers session with Dr. Beehner and send them to Pat so he can investigate the situation.

 

Cobblestoning and pitting is terrible and they are caused by excess skin surrounging grafts or by making incisions too deep/large for grafts.

 

Take Care,

J

[jhamil]

Hello to all,

 

I am not a regular writer on this site, but after reading the remark about Dr. Beehner, I felt compelled to respond. I had three transplants with Dr. Beehner. I have to look up the actual counts for each one. The first one was a combo of micro follicular and multi follicular grafts and the others were all micro follicular units. My results are absolutely outstanding!!! The first HT filled in the center of my head (I don't know all the jargon, sorry), and it looks full and thick. He concentrated after that on my hairline and temple areas and the results are great. My nephew was so impressed that he just had his first HT with Dr. Beehner and will be going for another. Even my brother is going for a consultation to get restorative work on the doll plugs he received from another doctor many years ago.

 

My hairline and temples look fabulous and natural and my hair looks full on the top as well. I am actually thinking of a last HT with Dr. Beehner to do a final touch up. If I didn't think he did good work, I would not be going back, nor would I have recommended my brother and nephew to him. he is a top notch surgeon and a first class gentleman. His staff is not only well trained, but friendly and personable. They make you feel at ease and comfortable.

 

I recommend Dr. Beehner unconditionally to all who read this. His work is top notch and you won't be disappointed. I'm sorry I cant give you all the techincal jargon, but I am a layman who is only interested in one thing... the final result! And, the final result with Dr. Beehner is... excellent! If I can find the paperwork for my previous HT's, I'll post thework he did.

 

Thank you.

[Bill - Seemiller]

I think we have to be careful to keep things in context.

 

As of now, we don't know the details of Stumpers experience nor have we seen any pictures (at least, not that I can recall).

 

When in time the surgery took place is another important factor.

 

Those of us who have been around long enough know that the history of hair transplantation is not pretty.

 

But quality hair transplant physicians press forward and adapt their technique to match (or at least come close to matching) the current trends that ultimately lead to a quality hair transplant.

 

Based on the immediately post op pictures that Pat posted, I would agree that his work is ultra refined.

 

Of course all the while, I am saddened for Stumper that he had a bad experience. I know I'd like to see all patients receive a quality hair transplant.

 

I've also posted on this topic here.

 

Bill

[williamR]

I had a several hair transplants by Doctor Beehner and my last one was around the year 2000. I was totally bald on top and needed a major makeover.....

I have been very satisfied and I have never had anyone "ever" say that my hair looks like a hair transplant. The front hair line is very natural and over 7 years still looks that way. (I comb my hair straight back)

I would recommend Dr. Beehner to anyone since he and his staff are very professional. They also have many years of experience and there results have been very satisfactory.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Tom Thomas,

 

If you need help learning how to upload photos, feel free to PM me.

 

You may also want to check out he following instructions here.

 

Bill

[jhamil]

Hello Again all,

 

I was asked to post pics of my results with Dr. Beehner. I made an album of 4 pics in the album section for anyone who is interested. It should be noted that all the hair on the top and front is transplanted. The hairline looks realistic and my hair looks full. Once again, I am extremely pleased with Dr. Beehner and his wonderful staff. I recommend him highly!!!

 

PS - The pics were taken in July, 2007. They are the results of my 3 HT's with Dr. Beehner. There is one pic in there showing my before HT from around 2001 I think. It should be noted that most of the hair on top in the original pic is gone and the new pics show that hair is now transplanted hair. Additionally, the temple area is all pretty much transplanted as well. Thank you.

[TomA]

Originally posted by wanthairs:

A rather disturbing experience for stumper from a coalition doc

 

Where are the pictures?

 

I'm not sure how people can comment without them.

[jhamil]

The pictures in the Hair Transplan Photo section of the forum. If there is a way to provide a link from here, I unfortunately do not know how to do it. But, if you go to the Galleries, you will see mine listed under transplants from Dr. Beehner with my nic of jhamil.

[Bill - Seemiller]

The link to Jhamil's pictures can be found here: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=147955

 

Cheers,

 

Bill

[TomA]

Sorry, I meant the pictures from stumper...

[jhamil]

Thank you, Bill... Im not to familiar with the uploading and links stuff.

[Janna]

I have seen first hand Stumper's results by Dr. Beehner. To be honest, even though Stumper's results are not typical of Dr. Beehner's work, I was surprised to see such work from him. Sometimes it's hard to explain why a person gets the results they get. I know Dr. Beehner to be an upstanding doctor and person. No matter how many successess Dr. Beehner has with his patients it doesn't minimize Stumper's concerns. In the end, we all just want every person to get the very best results. I hope things work out for both Dr. Beehner and Stumper.

[jhamil]

Hi Janna,

 

Any chance we can see some of his pictures? Thank you.

[Janna]

I'm sorry, it's up to stumper to decide if he wants his pictures posted. I'd be happy to provide them for him if he likes.

[Bill - Seemiller]

jhamil,

 

Janna is right. It is up to stumper as to whether or not he wants his pictures posted...after all, this is a public forum for all to see.

 

Bill

[jhamil]

How about it Stumper? Can we see the pics and the date when the HT was done. Thanks.

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

I was truly sorry to see the post earlier this year in which "Stumper" stated that he was unhappy with his first transplant session at our clinic. While I take full responsibility for even one patient not being satisfied with some aspect of their surgery, I did want to set the record straight on the circumstances of his surgery, which should be considered by anyone reading his posts. I did not do the surgery myself personally; let me explain.

Approximately two years ago I was approved by the ISHRS (International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery) as an instructor in their formal Fellowship Program and I took on a full-time fellow. It is an intensive one-year program in which there are strict guidelines for 3 hours of didatic interchange between the Fellow and instructor each week, instruction in cutting and placing grafts in the early weeks,teaching of how to conduct consultations, attendance of two major hair conferences during the year, and finally, actual experience in performing hair transplant surgery. I had taken this physician as a fellow around 4 months or so before Stumper's surgery, and the first three months of his time was spent learning the skills the technicians perform, cutting and placing. After that and having assisted and observed me performing over 90 transplant procedures in that 3 month period, we gradually secured over the course of the rest of that year 50 patients like "Stumper" who agreed to let our fellow perform the surgery by himself under my supervision, and in exchange we gave each patient a steep discount in their price (average around $1700 off). Stumper was the 6th patient operated on by our fellow. I have seen at least 25 of these 50 patients back and the results were excellent. I will try to post some of these photos of the work done by Dr. Chris Pawlinga in the photo section, as I had difficulty figuring out how to attach them to this note.

Since the fellowship year was completed September 30th of last year, Dr. Pawlinga has gone on to perform over 90 surgeries on his own as an associate in our practice and has had excellent results and enjoyed wonderful rapport with his patients.

Again, I am truly sorry this patient was not satisfied at that 8 month point after one session. I saw him myself three times during the month or so after the surgery for little things he wanted checked, and we even took his sutures out after Dr. Shapiro's surgery as a courtesy. I wish I was present that day to see the results of our transplant work, but I was out of town on the day my nurse did this for him.

We operate on around 300 people each year and I honestly can't recall another patient who was this profoundly unhappy in quite a few years. This is the first negative poster we have had about our practice in many years.

After most of our first sessions grow out by 8-10 months, the density on top, even in bald men, is very acceptable and is not "tufty" to an observer. Most of our patients come to us wanting the entire top horizontal area of the scalp filled in with hair, and I find this is best accomplished if performed over 2-3 sessions using a combination of 70-80% FU's and 20-30% MFU's (multi-follicular unit grafts), all cut under the microscope with care not to damage any follicles. There is a brief period of a few months when the hair is short, before significant overlap occurs, when there can be some detectability on the middle, particularly if the patient has dark hair or a pale scalp. We also do all-FU procedures, and we try to sort this out in the consultation as to which one the patient wants. There are some patients with such an obvious contrast of dark hair and pale skin that we tell them we will only use an all-FU approach. Obviously, the extremely dense all-FU approach has the two negatives of either having to be limited to a somewhat smaller area and of being more expensive for that single first procedure if an equivalent number of hairs/follicles are going to be moved. The "combination" approach has the benefit of being more affordable and gives very predictable density after 2-3 procedures. Another situation in which we perform dense all-FU surgeries is for those with mild recession and flat temples which need filling in, in whom we can try to pull it off in "one pass" with around 2000-2500 FU's. Half of these patients still later need some filling in for fully satisfactory density.

Again, I take full responsibility for what happened in my fellowship program, but did want to set the record straight for anyone judging our practice. Incidentally, I am not currently instructing a fellow and am taking a rest from this particular academic activity, but do allow many doctors to come for a few days at a time to observe us.

There are varous approaches in hair translant surgery by different doctors, most of whom obtain excellent results with their methods. When Pat Hennessy visited us, he did urge me to try to be more active in helping educate the public about some of these different approaches. Many others besides myself are coming back to using slightly larger grafts of 2 FU's each in the central areas in order to obtain more visible density in their results. In the coming months I will try to take more time in this regard. Thank you.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[Guest wanthairs]

Dr. Beeher,

 

Thankyou for replying to this thread that I started. It gives further evidence that you indeed are commited to producing the very best results for your clients.

[Mike1651]

Hello All:

Earlier this month, I posted a reply to stumper's original post in another area of the forum--to be brief, my experience with Dr. Beehner was an excellent one...after reading Dr. Beehner's reply here today, I think it's obvious that stumper misled us somewhat when he said it was "Dr. Beehner" who performed his surgery--I've had four HT's & I can vividly remember each doctor...I understand that Dr. Beehner took responsibility for his associate, but, the point is stumper didn't phrase his post in that manner...just my two cents!!!

[the B spot]

Mike--- I can understand your point of view, but if the surgery was performed under the auspices of Dr. Beehner and his practice, then it is Dr. Beehners responsibility, period. I understand that an associate performed the surgery, but only under the observation and authorization of Dr. Beehner.

 

Regardless of circumstance or cost, if a patient is unhappy, the patient is unhappy.

 

You cannot, nor should any of us attempt to discredit Stumper or others in this situation, which can be very emotional.

 

Please note-- this is something that everyone can be guilty of, myself included, and something I try very hard not to engage in.

 

I applaud Dr. Beehner for stating his position and the events of the situation. As Wanthairs alluded, it denotes the type of care and consideration Dr. Beehner provides to each patient, whether operated on by Dr. Beehner or associates.

 

I think everyone is looking forward to Dr. Beehner and Dr. Pawlinga's work and the explanations as to their philosophy.

 

I am certainly glad that you and the other patients who have posted are happy as well.

 

Take Care,

J

[Mike1651]

Hi J:

You point is well taken, as well...I definitely understand how emotional the results of a HT can be--I was butchered myself during my first HT...there's no question Dr. Beehner is ultimately responsible for his associates performance, but, I just didn't think stumper made the circumstances perfectly clear in his initial post...this is the great thing about the HT forums as it gives all of us the opportunity to share experiences & pass it on to others who are trying to educate themselves on the various pitfalls that may exist.

[TomA]

Well I agree with you both to some degree. Your positions are not mutually exclusive.

 

B-Spot's statement that "if the surgery was performed under the auspices of Dr. Beehner and his practice, then it is Dr. Beehners responsibility, period" is certainly TRUE.

 

On the other hand, Mike's statement that "I just didn't think stumper made the circumstances perfectly clear in his initial post" is also TRUE.

 

I think it should have been made clear that, 1) The surgery was performed by an intern, and 2) that stumper received a substantial discount for agreeing to be a guinea pig of sorts.