What is going on with all of these no growers lately??

[Cant decide]

There boards are funny. It seems like people posting great results comes in waves as does people posting bad results. I think we are in a period now where a good number of people are posting bad results. It is my understanding that no growth or very low yield with a good doctor is pretty rare but over the last couple of weeks, there must be 4-5 guys that are complaining about no growth at 6+ months. I am at one month and this makes me very nervous. I think we all agree that it is "Rare" but with the number of these guys on the board today, I am not do sure anymore. It could just be that these guys (and rightfully so) have somthing important to blog about and thats why is seems they are larger in number than they really are but it still gives be pause and makes me wonder if that 1, 3 or 5 % that we all reference is truely accurate.

[hairlosscursed]

unfortunately there are many people out there with very poor results from top docs that they have not the even courage do write about the situation due to disappointment and fear.imagine that they gave a large amount of money from years and years savings for their dream and desire to get back what they had and instead of that they took only "some improvement"and no one is responsible for this...no warrant no explanation exists by the time you move out of the surgery office... then the future seems to be much better and we always waiting....the 6 month post up then the 12 month post up and finally the 18 month post up to ensure what we was afraid of...poor yields poor results and finally we re realize that the money we spent for the grafts we used was not worth it..the worst thing in this industry is that there are no warranties and no responsibilities about the amounts af money we pay...can you imagine your self buying a brand new car of 20.000 and finally to realize that something is wrong with that...????no problem you have warranty for 3 or 5 years????what kind of warranty you have for an HT???? NOTHING...and then of course you have to save money AGAIN to get a second or third pass without anyone wondering HOW the hell i ll be able to save AGAIN this large amount of MONEY????HOW? i don t know the economical status of everyone in here but i can say that the economical crisis is global and i don t belong to the rich people environment at all...and finally i think that the majority of the people here is the same as everyone...

Edited November 10, 2010 by hairlosscursed

[Bill - Seemiller]

Cant Decide,

 

I agree that there have been an exceptionally high number of patient posted concerns on this forum over the last several months. While each case needs to be individualized and taken one at a time, I do understand why recent hair transplant patients would be confused or concerned.

 

The reality is, even the best hair transplant physicians have cases of less than optimal results. The reasons for this can sometimes be explained but often times cannot be. This unknown variable has been commonly referred to by leading physicians as the "X" factor. Until the reason(s) for this phenomenon can truly be discovered and explained, there will always be occasional cases of poor growth. Additionally, there will always be the occasional case of bad scarring and/or other complications.

 

What truly separates an elite hair transplant surgeon from the rest are how these cases are handled when they arise. Ultimately, we expect physicians recommended by this community to stand behind their patients and work to resolve their concerns fairly and amicably.

 

While we don't necessarily govern each clinic's policy on handling poor growth, bad scarring or other complications, I personally feel strongly that at the very least, physicians ought to take care of their patients at no additional cost to the patient. Ultimately, physicians who are doing state of the art work will only see a handful of these cases every year. Thus, their willingness to make things right with their patients on their own dime will far outweigh the cost of a potentially damaged reputation for neglecting or ignoring them.

 

I also strongly recommend that each prospective patient discuss the possibility of poor or no growth with their physician and become familiar with their surgeon's philosophy/procedures on handling these types of concerns. In my opinion, all patients should know ahead of time whehther or not they'll be presented with the possibility of a free procedure, steep discounts, or even a partial or full refund for a failed procedure. In my opinion, physicians should take the time to verbalize rare complications and their policies for helping them should these complications arise.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Tsakalos]

Cant Decide,

 

 

 

What truly separates an elite hair transplant surgeon from the rest are how these cases are handled when they arise. Ultimately, we expect physicians recommended by this community to stand behind their patients and work to resolve their concerns ...

 

guess again, unfortunately what u whould expect from the "elite clinics" is such cases is (sometumes) far away from your expectations ...

Edited November 10, 2010 by Tsakalos

[hsrp10]

"there must be 4-5 guys that are complaining about no growth at 6+ months. I am at one month and this makes me very nervous."

 

I had mine almost 2 months ago now, and this is making me quite nervous as well. I am hoping to see some minor but at least tangible results at the three-four month mark. Fingers crossed.....

Not seeing many "wow, nice progress!" reports recently here or elsewhere is making the doldrums quite nerve racking. :-)

 

I do think this is important info to get out there though, along with not underestimating the required down time for shaved native hair to grow back etc. In other words, keep in mind you might not be back to your normal self for at least five-six months.....

[sasha2077]

Yeah I am at 12 months with little to now growth on 3000 grafts from a top doc and he thinks I should wait another 6 months.

 

That's fair and I think he is going to hook me up with a free or very inexpensive procedure to that yields maximum grafts.

 

I am definitely starting to think its not going to grow at this point. If, all of a sudden, I received a growth spurt in the next few months I would be very happy with that.

 

To be continued...

[YouOnlyLiveOnce]

Tsakalos-

 

Its clear that you're unhappy with your procedure/results. Care to share your experience with the rest of the group? I even messaged you privately to inquire about it and didn't get a response. There's no point to keep repeating how unhappy you are about it if you're not willing to share the details. People come to the boards to here what us transplant patients have to say.

 

I think hair loss cursed hit the nail right on the head. I think people with poor results are ashamed and saddened. They've saved up and spent 10k+ only to receive unsatisfactory results. I can see why it would be hard to share the results but people need to hear these worse case scenarios.

[SteelWorker]

I had a surgery nearly 4 months ago and I have seen very little growth so far. Only a handful of grafts. When I contacted the clinic at month 2, I was told wait to month 3 and you will see a significant amount of growth. At month 3, the clinic said wait to month 4 or 5 for good growth. I hope I just don't hear the same story every month about waiting another month to see growth. It seems like the ultimate dangling of the carrot in front of the horse.

 

I too went to a very respected doctor on this board. One of the reasons people don't post disappointing results is a lot of the popular doctors have very strong supporters and followers and if you question your result from them, they somehow attack you and take it personally that you are questioning the doctor they are so proud of. You are made to feel that no way this doctor could have done a poor job and somehow you as the patient are to blame. I have seen it on this and other forums many times.

[multiplier]

you have any pics to post?

[Blake Bloxham]

guess again, unfortunately what u whould expect from the "elite clinics" is such cases is (sometumes) far away from your expectations ...

 

Tsakalos,

 

I really think it would be helpful if you could expand on this a bit. Would you mind sharing your story with some of the inquisitive members in this thread, or directing them to an area where they can read previous posts regarding your hair restoration journey? Thanks.

[uselessgomez]

Are most of the poor growth posters as of late people who've had FUE or strip? And any of them first timers?

[fritz68]

I think that predictions of growth timelines vary so much, disappointment has as much to do with expectation as it does to a poor transplant.

 

Dr. Lindsey writes "Then I'd like to see you in 6 months when maybe there's a little growth but by and large you're getting frustrated" whilst Hasson and Wong states "By the fifth to sixth month after the procedure the patient can expect to see considerable new growth. The new hair will be approximately two to three inches in length and the hair shaft will begin to thicken"

 

Based on my own results (now 8 months post-op), if I listened to Dr. Lindsey I would have been quite chilled out by my barely visible growth at 6 months. But my expecations were based on overly optimistic timelines, the amazing early growth patients I saw, and pure optimism. So I was stressed out, thinking it had been a failure, "unless something drastic happens in next few months".

 

Something drastic did happen.

 

So with respect to the sudden burst of patients with poor growth at 6+ months that I've seen, I think one must separate the 'too high expectations of very early growth' from the 'failed procedure'. I've seen both on this forum recently. Fortunately the former is rare.

[Tom60]

what an awesome thread! i never thought about this haha. I was away for a bit, but I totally agree that good results come in waves.

 

that is why we are all here though! This community is there for good and bad results.

 

Providing accurate knowledge about this subject is the primary objective.

[Spanker]

I actually think that there are many more good results NOT posted than bad results not posted about....ESPECIALLY from quality surgeons.

 

 

If I had a bad HT I would be letting everyone know about it....along with what the doctor was willing to do about it.

 

 

I would like to see a standard of care on this subject....something that the patient can expect, and if not, satisfaction given.

 

I think that a clinic should refund or partially refund no-growth patients and should work with other patients that do not meet resonable expectations.

[kathie47]

good point spanker.

 

at least recently it does seem that there has been a trend of non-growers though.

 

lets get some good stories rollin in

[ej]

I read about a dr who had a patient with a poor result where the dr stood by the patient and offered him a free procedure with himself or to pay for a procedure with a dr of the patients choice , thought that was a good way of working things out towards a satisfactory outcome

ej

[gillenator]

Guys,

 

Whenever business gets slow, complaints go up. Rather than go into a lengthy thread, I have seen this happen before over the years.

 

Part of it can be attributed to patients seeking the discount doctor because more of them are running display advertising in their local newspapers. Some begin doing radio campaigns. You rarely see the top docs doing this marketing blitz to the unknowing public.

 

The other thing I always notice and IMHO has become a trend are that more and more repuatble docs are going ahead with cases that are more marginal, meaning the patient does not make the best candidate for the procedure, "but has the money to do it". I suppose that can be hard for the best docs to refuse. Notice I said marginal. I also see a trend of younger men getting procedures having good success with hairloss meds like Propecia. Years ago, many of these same docs would have turned away these same young men.

 

Now I am not saying that this is the case with the men that the first poster was referring to, and this is not so directly related to yield issues unless their doctors were imcompetent, but it does not sound like it was the case. It may not be so much a strip or FUE issue as much as we might think.

Edited November 12, 2010 by gillenator

[ej]

Gillenator , you make some interesting points ! I dont want to take the thread too off topic but i think there are 3 points to address and people need to understand :

 

1 poor results sometimes do happen

 

2 expectations need to be managed

 

3 What can the Dr do to help, and the patient reasonably expect from the dr if it is a poor result

 

I think these points need to be clarified at the consultation stage

 

regards

ej

[grow123]

My two cents - I had FUE in early August by a Doc in Atlanta, Ga that I later learned in not approved by this forum. I'm just over 3 months and not much happening growth wise. I know it's still early so I'm trying to stay patient but it is tough!!! If/When my "something amazing" happens I'll let everyone know and post pics. Hate the Wait and I have shared thoughts already so keep your fingers crossed for us!!

[Blake Bloxham]

 

The other thing I always notice and IMHO has become a trend are that more and more repuatble docs are going ahead with cases that are more marginal, meaning the patient does not make the best candidate for the procedure, "but has the money to do it". I suppose that can be hard for the best docs to refuse. Notice I said marginal. I also see a trend of younger men getting procedures having good success with hairloss meds like Propecia. Years ago, many of these same docs would have turned away these same young men.

 

I wanted to quickly comment on this point. While I appreciate your perspective and thoughtful response, I don't think this generalization is true for the physicians recommended by this site. Granted, I won't comment on whether or not these type of practices happen in the industry as a whole, but the hair restoration physicians recommended by our network are the most ethical, talented, and demanded out there.

 

In a field where, as you stated, money can become a deciding factor, these doctors refuse to indulge in practices like seeing too many patients in a day, shilling unproven techniques, or subscribing to any sort of mediocrity simply because they could. It's my understanding that even in saturated areas and through a tough economy, these doctors are booked for months, and I believe it's because they both produce high quality results and do not indulge in any of the unsavory practices discussed above (like accepting borderline candidates simply to fill their schedules).

[waveskier]

I had a surgery nearly 4 months ago and I have seen very little growth so far. Only a handful of grafts. When I contacted the clinic at month 2, I was told wait to month 3 and you will see a significant amount of growth. At month 3, the clinic said wait to month 4 or 5 for good growth. I hope I just don't hear the same story every month about waiting another month to see growth. It seems like the ultimate dangling of the carrot in front of the horse.

 

I too went to a very respected doctor on this board. One of the reasons people don't post disappointing results is a lot of the popular doctors have very strong supporters and followers and if you question your result from them, they somehow attack you and take it personally that you are questioning the doctor they are so proud of. You are made to feel that no way this doctor could have done a poor job and somehow you as the patient are to blame. I have seen it on this and other forums many times.

 

I also would consider my growth slow for 4 months. My hairs are thin and wispy, nothing like the hair from the area they were taken from. I have been told to give it 6 months. I just hope something kicks in here in the next few weeks.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Guys,

 

Let's not let discussion turn into mass hysteria. Seeing little to no growth at 4 months is nothing to worry about. I encourage those who've recently gone through hair transplant surgery not to panic or forget that growth rates vary for each patient. It still takes up to a year to see the final results.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

 

P.S. Very few patients see significant growth at 3 months.

[SteelWorker]

Bill,

It is hard not to have hysteria. We have spent lots of money on these grafts. Most of us pay by the graft. We went through something physically and mentally demanding. Lets face it, we all went in with good expectations. If not, none of us would have had a transplant to begin with.

 

Would it be possible for you or some hair transplant veteran to post growth expectations by month?

 

For example, list what is expected by 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 months. It would help a lot of us that are experiencing a lot of anxiety about this at 3 or 4 months out that aren't seeing much.

[Spanker]

Bill,

It is hard not to have hysteria. We have spent lots of money on these grafts. Most of us pay by the graft. We went through something physically and mentally demanding. Lets face it, we all went in with good expectations. If not, none of us would have had a transplant to begin with.

 

Would it be possible for you or some hair transplant veteran to post growth expectations by month?

 

For example, list what is expected by 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 months. It would help a lot of us that are experiencing a lot of anxiety about this at 3 or 4 months out that aren't seeing much.

 

 

Yeah, I have seen very very few people with anything noticable until about 4 months. Keep us posted but I agree with Bill that if your expectations are reasonable the cool out for a few months and let it grow. Everybody is different so the time it takes to grow will vary. There are some loose time lines but I would not start to worry unless I was seeing very little results until at least 6 months....then I would be concerned that me expectations might not be met.

[Sparky]

By this chart i'm only 50% grown out, result!