Dr. Brandy

[arfy]

I thought that I would start a new thread for Dr. Brandy, rather than continue adding onto the "Open Letter to Dr. Bernstein" thread. Obviously that thread has taken a left turn.

 

Today Pat wrote:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I've suspended Dr. Brandy's recommendation until I can get clarification on these issues.

 

In general most surgeons have moved away from doing scalp reductions. They were over used and caused too many problems for Dr. Brandy and others. My understanding is that Dr. Brandy like most surgeons has moved away from doing reductions unless the person is an ideal candidate with extremely elastic skin.

Pat

Well, I must say I am impressed. Pat, if you are willing to remove surgeons from your list if they don't live up to your standards, I congratulate you. I'm sure that is not easy, but if it needs to be done, I commend you.

 

I don't know a lot about Dr. Brandy, so I can't say too much. But I have been able to find out a few disturbing facts about him on the web. He invented a process called the scalp lift, which I believe is a radical type of scalp reduction. This was not back in the 80's, he wrote a paper about it in 1993. So if he stopped doing it, it probably wasn't very long ago.

 

Dr. Brandy still lists Scalp Reductions on his website as a treatment option. The guys who would actually benefit from one are much better served by just getting good FU grafts placed in that area.

 

This is a website for a clinic that Dr. Brandy has: http://www.enhancedimagesmd.com/mens/hair_restoration.htm

Look at how they describe the HT process, and decide if this seems deceptively written:

 

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Enhanced Images performs an array of hair restoration procedures, including an exclusive hair transplantation process called Natural Hair IntegrationSM. Developed for men with thinning hair, this technique restores fullness and density gradually so the treatment process goes virtually unnoticed...

During the procedure, the surgeon removes a strip of hair follicles from the lower rear portion of the scalp and divides the strip into hundreds of hair grafts that contain as few as one hair each.

The surgeon removes a strip of follicles from the scalp? Where does it say that this is surgery? There is no mention of removing a strip of scalp, or suturing up the donor site. One thing that rubs me the wrong way is when doctors gloss over the surgical aspects of hair transplant surgery. And the idea that you can get a hair transplant and "no one will notice", is ridiculous. Oh I'm sure that has happened, once or twice, out of the thousands of hair transplants that have been done. What they should really say is "No one will notice- if you stay in the house for one to two weeks". For a clinic to advertise that a hair transplant can be performed with no-one noticing after the surgery, is deceptive, plain and simple. A good surgeon will try to EDUCATE the prospective patient, NOT FOOL THEM.

 

Finally, there was an article about Dr. Brandy in his local newspaper, that I posted about back in October, but no one responded to:

http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20011024hhair1024p1.asp

The pertinent part of the story is this section, where the author describes the techs dividing up the donor strip:<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> They wore the same special magnification lenses as Brandy, enabling them to see three to six times better than the naked eye. The strip ended up in hundreds of rice-sized pieces, with hair follicles still attached for angled placement by nurses into the incisions left by Brandy. A true Follicular Unit grafting session requires high-powered binocular microscopes, in order to divide up the donor strip without transection. Newspaper articles sometimes get the facts wrong, but this looks bad, in my opinion. And the article was written last year...

 

[This message was edited by arfy on January 20, 2002 at 07:50 PM.]

[Questioner]

Arfy, that was very well-researched and presented clearly and convincingly. I, however, will not commend the publisher of this site as you did on suspending Dr. Brandy's recommendation to visitors of this site, because your research suggests that no recommendation in his favor should have been made in the first place. If it requires the prompting and research of posters to get Dr. Brandy's methods reviewed, something was not right in the first place, and I hope that not too many people followed the recommendation.

[Jonny]

Pat has been under flame for quite a while about this guy, and he was actually defending Brandy tooth and nail. Defending a guy like Brandy sets a tone on how he'll defend other docs that have no place on a recommended list. Agreed, Brandy should never have been put on this list in the first place if he was thoroughly checked out (which is what Pat claims he does with all surgeons on his list).

 

Questioner, it's posts like yours and others that "put Pats heels to the fire" (as he says) to correct his mistakes, or correct his marketing however you want to interpret it.

 

One last thing, we really don't know what happened between Brandy and Pat. Maybe Pat removed him from the list for quality and ethic concerns, or maybe Brandy decided not to advertise here anymore. We really don't know, but I'm glad to see he is gone.

[arfy]

I hope that if there are other "not-so-recommendable" docs on Pat's list, he will weed them out.

 

A recommended list loses it's meaning, if the quality of the surgeons is not uniformly excellent.

[arfy]

Hi Pat

i hope you'll keep the forum updated with your decision about Dr. Brandy.

 

As you know, the "regulars" here are keenly interested in who you pick for your "recommended list." If you leave Dr. Brandy off indefinitely, I know that I for one would be curious about what you decide (and why you came to decide it.) I hope you'll keep us posted.

 

Thanks for providing a forum to discuss this stuff.

[Timetested]

Dr. Brandy is an obvious choice to get his 15 minutes of hair transplant atrocity fame. It's a start but what the HT industry needs is the same format only on a wide sweeping scale.

 

I have no compassion for Dr. Brandy and his incompetent counterparts. I do have empathy and compassion for the lives he destroyed.

 

Timetested

[Gregg]

Do not go to Dr. Brandy! I received a hairlift from him and 4 transplant sessions. I still had nothing resembling a frontal hairline after 4 sessions.

[EastCoast]

I was butchered and lied to also by a previously recommended surgeon. I am glad Pat does not defend any of these creeps. I do believe some of these Docs con Pat for a while till he catches on. Buyer beware in this HT business.

[arfy]

Wow, this old thread came back up.

 

Since this thread was started, I've met three different patients who had scalp lifts from Dr. Brandy, with devastating life-wrecking results.