Poor Scheduling Experience with Dr. Umar's clinic

[HairToday72]

as a recent patient it wasnt anything like that for me. my experience of the clinic, staff, scheduling etc was absolutely fine. If anything, i messed them around with the dates i wanted to go in. the lady in admin there was brilliant great comms, replies same day, really honest, caring and reassuring etc.

 

considering i had 5 long days of back to back surgery i can give an actual patient experience of the clinic. i cant fault the skill or care of the dr or his staff who looked after me the whole time. ive had good comms and assistance from the clinic and dr since whenever ive been in touch.

 

As far as contact with the dr beforehand, i had full access anyway i wanted - email, phone or a consult in person was there if i wanted one - full details of the procedure were explained and in writing.

 

price per graft was about the same as FUE elsewhere in uk and europe.

[Sean]

Nice hearing both sides of the story. But I gotta admit, I am impressed at what Dr. Umar is able to achieve with bht and scalp hair. Seen some pretty impressive results and I can't deny that. He has also helped patients that were severely disfigured before and that is a very ethical thing to do. So, as much as I appreciate both sides of the story here, I still think Dr. Umar's surgical results speak for themselves. He has had numerous satisfied patients. I can't really fully have a negative opinion about him but rather think this whole situation was communication error or misunderstanding on payment terms/rules. I agree with some posters regarding payment upfront prior to surgery. What if you don't pay prior, then cancel the procedure, then the doctor loses money on a client he could have made thousands from for that day. If the terms were not reasonable, then the patient could have gone elsewhere. If there was a feeling that the doctor was not communicating with the patient properly, then the patient could have just said forget this I am going somewhere else.

 

There are a lot of "issues" that the original poster went through during this whole process. If you were unsatisfied prior to the surgery with payment terms, treatment, and so forth, then you could have went somewhere else. Why stick around till the end and when the clinic then cancels the procedure instead? But to go through all those "issues" then not have a transplant at all, and etc, then to come here to speak negatively about the doctor, as a way to get back at him, is probably not the right route to take. From those email messages, it seems like the doctor was communicating and responding to questions.

 

But if you were dissatisfied with the emergency surgery change, you should have canceled right on the spot. If you had a problem with the payment terms, you should have canceled right on the spot. If you felt communication was not good enough, you should have canceled right on the spot. If you felt anything else didn't seem right from that point, you should have canceled on the spot. But instead, the clinic canceled you instead, maybe due to not adhering to the policies of the clinic. It's best to save all conversations, chats, emails, phone convo's and etc, when you are going to put down a lot of money for surgery. Especially discussing deals, agreements, and etc, as it may save headaches later on.

[Drew35]

I had my third hair transplant surgery with Dr Umar.

 

He was nothing but professional and honest. I exchanged many emails with Dr Umar before moving forward and he answered every question very thoroughly. I had 5,000 FUE and beard hair transplanted into my hairline, crown, and scar. It lasted 3 days.

 

You don't have to send the full amount all at once. I actually made 3 payments before my hair transplant surgery and Dr Umar was very accomodating.

 

At first I was a little concerned about paying in full, prior to the procedure, but I also have my own business and am able to relate to a physician wanting to be paid in full before a procedure. Dr Umar's time is in high demand. He has staff salaries to pay and a high overhead. He doesn't have time to deal with people not paying for a procedure afterwards. Or stringing him along not paying in a timely fashion. I can absolutely relate to this having to deal with overdue invoices from my customers every month.

 

 

I am very satisfied with what Dr Umar has done for me so far. He was very personable, professional, and accomodating.

 

 

Being a bad Norwood 6 (boderline 7) having someone like Dr Umar being able to use body hair to offer more density is a blessing and I look forward to my next procedure with Dr Umar.

Edited February 18, 2011 by Drew35

[lorenzo]

We heard both sides of the story and most of it is simular except with a few points. Without taking sides here the end result was for the best. Jayc was not content with Dr. Umar actions and Dr. Umar was not content on Jayc actions. At the end there was no surgery which in my opinion was the best resolution.

In general I feel that if a doctor doesn't feel comfortable with a patients I feel it is his right to cancel he surgery.

 

Just my opinion

[ej]

its kind of easy to praise our own results , but this is about Jcs expeirence .... everybody talks about there experience without listening to Jcs , Im seeing people jump into this thread and apart from John Breeze where are your results ? ... you tube is the same old same .... can we not accept that this actually may be a factual account of a patient and dr experience ..

 

ej

[The count Of Baldecristo]

its kind of easy to praise our own results , but this is about Jcs expeirence .... everybody talks about there experience without listening to Jcs , Im seeing people jump into this thread and apart from John Breeze where are your results ? ... you tube is the same old same .... can we not accept that this actually may be a factual account of a patient and dr experience ..

 

ej

 

 

I agree and i see it other times as well. This is about one guys experience its his thread and if it is a negative one somehow some people feel they have to balance it out with their experiences making the unhappy guy look like he is a weirdo or something.

 

If in a thread of a happy patient of a doctor an unhappy of the same doctor comes in and post his different experience the forum moderators will say this someones else thread if you have a problem start your own. Maybe you should do the same for the threads of the unhappy patients. Instead of reminding us how great the doctor is and his record etc you could just leave the patient warn us of what might go wrong.

 

The guy had a poor experience and i would like to know more and put my focus there, if i am interested in the good experiences of the other guys that posted i can see their threads no need to hijack here. same goes for the unhappy patients that hijack the happy patients thread but there i see the moderation works properly so no need to comment there

 

But here there is a need to comment and people should not take away from the guys experience, i am pretty sure the view of the patient and the doctor is enough.

[Tao]

I'm with Lorenzo on this one. Neither side was satisfied. What is the truth? Always depends on where you're standing. There was no surgery and all payments were returned. Each can go his own way. Probably for the best. Best of luck to you both.

[lorenzo]

Tao your transplant looks really good! Congrads!!

[Heliboy]

I havent chimed in on the forums in quite some time because of the simple fact that I was able to move on from my horrific past experiences with hairloss/scalp trauma due because DR Umar was able to give me my life back with BHT . I can assure you that he is always VERY upfront about any expectations and I speak from a repair patient standpoint that literally never thought I would show my scalp again due to scarring /poor work from previous surgeons many years ago.

 

Dr Umar has advanced the use of body hair to a level that NO ONE really ever believed would be possible only several years ago . When Dr Umar started working on me in Sept 2005 when BHT was starting to show some possiblity of benefit to low scalp donor patients such as myself so many skeptics were out there not believing in BHT use but he continued to work and make body hair serve its purpose for those who need it.

 

I can assure anyone that wants an upfront and HONEST opinion about expectations of their repair with BHT/ or anyone seeking scalp FUE Dr Umar will give you an evaluation that you can rely on. Anyone considering hair transplants especially FUE has to deal with cost issues. I've had over 20,000 grafts by Dr Umar so believe me I KNOW but I enjoy every day the investment I placed in myself and was able to get my life back. I had to take out various loans to make it all happen over the course of several years but its

all worth it

 

We all know when it comes to money/finances things can be sensitive but it sounds like Dr Umar and his office tried to resolve the fee issue and the timing issue. From a patient standpoint I can assure you that Dr Umar did not mean for this to happen and can assure you that his patient standards are very high. I do hope that everything has worked out and that you are able to resolve your hair loss issues because living life without the stress of hairloss is priceless.

 

Take care!

Heliboy

Dr Umar Repair Patient

Sept 2005-Sept 2008 (20,000 + grafts)

(Living life now with a great looking NW 0 hairline) :-))

[Tao]

Wow Lorenzo. You too. You must be thrilled. Congrats.

 

Heliboy, really happy to hear that things have worked out well for you. Would love to see some pics. 20k grafts! That has to be some kind of record. Congrats to you!

 

Jayc, I really hope you find a doc that gets you to where you want to be.

[jayc]

After a lot of thought, I just wanted to put some closing thoughts on this. I appreciate all of your comments, including those of Sanusi Umar. As much as I think that many of Sanusi's comments are not completely factual, I appreciate his time. I could rehash all of his comments with my version and emails - but I don't think that would resolve anything. Ultimately, its a he said she said and its about feelings. Yes, I was frustrated with him and his staff. But there were no unkind words spoken to them. If his staff felt I wanted any special treatment or had bad feelings, I apologize.

 

Final thoughts: Based on the positive results, Dr. Umar seems to have a unique talent and niche practice that can help many patients. I congratulate him for this service. Dr. Umar's price of $7 FUE including BHT is fair compared to other practices. His request for payment in full one month in advance was unusual for me, but as stated it is his practice. Communication is difficult in medicine. I'm sure Dr. Umar and his staff have done an excellent job with others. My experience did not go that way. I hope the experience with me teaches his office to improve on scheduling and communication with future patients and truly wish him well in his future practice in serving those with a similar need.

[secondtime]

I am sad to see that your experience is different from mine.

I am a physician and a surgeon. I Was very worried about choosing my doctor.

I was unlucky to have had a surgery during the bad days which left me with a huge scar and very few additional hairs (1200 at the time I needed 2000-3000) 12 years ago.

 

My experience with Dr Umar and his staff was totally different . It was very positive.

I was treated like all the other patients. Eventhough I would have liked "special treatment" as a physician, I did not get it but I got their nice courteous day to day simple interaction.

Although I have to say they tried to accomodate me with time.

 

I have to admit that in this area of medicine where you do only ONE CASE PER DAY, and you do cases on same patient for 2-4 days in a row, you have to make people pay up front because people take things lightly and tend to cancel and as a result of this 1-4 days are down completely and the doctor has to pay for the whole staff. We do the same in the infertility area with patients scheduled for 2 hours first visit , if one patient does not show half the day goes down.

 

His staff was very professional to me at all times. He is a confident but humble guy himself. I love the pay he speaks, I love his voice. He is reassuring but yet down to earth, humble eventhough he means what he says. He told me "he would give me a youthful nice hairline with enough density" he showed me a video of a guy who seemed to have similar baldness as mine and showed me the outcome of that guy.

 

In all honesty now at almost 4 months I feel that his claims might actually come all true. MY hairline is perfect, I am waiting for more density...it is filling up day by day. I will be posting more pics on my main thread as they come. I am excited.

 

I am really aggravated at negative threads that are out of anger and NOT out of objectivity.

I hope that my hair keeps growing to show you that you the negative ones how WRONG THEY ARE.

 

It is time to PRAISE surgeons with INOVATION and COURAGE.. I am tired of praising the ones that have been doing th esame thing over and over for 2 decades

[aaron1234]

27K?!? Hot damn, I should have been a body hair transplant surgeon!

[ssstingray]

I have begun my journey in repair in the most precious hands in the world when it comes to hair restoration- Dr. Sansui Umar of Califronia (Redondo Beach)

 

I never inflate anyone-but Dr. Umar was truly put on this earth as a savor for 1) patients that request hair restoration 2) the less unfortunate souls (including myself) who got butchered from surgeons in the 90's

 

I am from Toronto Canada and had surgery by two Dr's in the 90's that scarred me for life. These doctors worked in the same building and apparently were "famous" in the downtown Toronto Yorkville area. I was 18 at the time when the first Dr cut my scalp right down the middle 5 X and the other Dr continued the buthering for a few yrs. It was perhaps the worst mistake I ever made. What is more devastating to me is that both of these doctors started working on me when I was 18 and more importantly in an area where they did know the extent of how bald I was going to be. Sound familiar? The rest is history. There are no words to describe being butchered at a young age by 2 doctors that in my opinion should be banned from practicing. Like I asked one of them recently-how important was the money to you then? and what the consequences it imposed on me. After consulting with 4 other doctors a few yrs ago... they all said the same thing-you were to young.. why did they do this. "You should Sue" one of them said. The last time I confronted one of them he claimed that was the standard of care. I asked him what exactly is the standard of care on a not needed elective procedure on an 18 yr old. Sometime no treatment is the right treatment. I am in the process of filing my complaint agaist both of them to the Royal College-not for money but for what they did. Who witnessed this? Everyone around me-friends and family over the years. The best way to describe walking around with a butchered head at the age of 22 (by then) is simply-a bad accident and then add some plugs to intensify the situation.

 

I am now 37, and a fairly established dentist in Toronto. I will be displaying to Toronto the results of Dr. Umars work in the near future (still in process). To some, my head will never be perfect-but what I can tell you is what Dr. Umar did in 7 days worth of surgery cannot be compared to what the other 2 doctors did to me over 5 yrs and still left me scarred and plugged. Dr. Umar has a talent that is beyond the scope of the procedure itself. He is naturally gifted in this field and the plane ride to Rodono was worth it. I was the 3rd of 4th "tack pin" that he places on the map of the world in his reception area- from Toronto. Its ashame that other Dr's cannot mimic biology like Dr Umar can. He is a genious and I call his approach bio-mimetic. He insurts hair like mother nature does. I am not a hair surgeon or a specialist. But I am a hair transplant past butchered victim of having approx 5 strip surgeries and 5 scalp reductions. I will tell you this. Never -ever do a strip method. Why? because go further bald and try cut you hair. You will regret it if you want your hair somewhat short. And scalp reduction should be banned. Period.

 

ok enough said about that. In summary-my experience with his office was beyond excellence. The fact that he makes you pay upfront-only makes sense for this type of work. What would you do if you were the surgeon? I would do the same-make the patient pay upfront. After all-he is only working on you!. What other red carpet service do you want? His office and staff is a pleasure.. But the true mastermind and talent is him himself. His staff is also an extension of himself-in other words- extremely competent. His nature is pleasant but you can tell-once he gets to work on your head-his concentration and skill go to full force. I would never let anyone else touch my head again in the entire world except for Dr Umar. I trust him more on my head than mother nature.

 

Dr Umar will eventually post my story, my pics, and my face-and I do this without hesitation. I honestly will tell you that this his skill and techniques are the next best thing-perhaps even at the same par -as hair cloning. People reading this might laugh. I don't. With hair cloning who knows what would happen-caner, etc. uncontrolled cell replication. Lets say they cloned hair, and it came back from a lab and it was not perfect, but was unlimited-well that is what body hair is without the risk of uncontrolled cell multiplication. Perhaps cloning will be better? will it come out? will it be perfect? will it be in our lifetime-which is the main point. The ratio makes sense with the work of Dr Umar. The donor and recepient ratios match. If you have the back of the head to work with, the sides, an entire body, and a beard-the ratios are there. But more importantly it is done minimally invasive with no scars-or at least almost none to the detectable eye. In addition, it is placed like mother nature by him. I think the only thing that may be better than this-is genetic alteration-but this does not apply to any of us.

 

Dr. Umar has exceeded my expectations and I am only at the 4 month mark.

 

This is my first time on a message board. For yrs I gave up even looking at hair restoraton until last March when I entered "hair translpant repair" in google, and I was blessed to see Dr Umar's name come up. I couldn't even imagine the results he could complete on a virgin, non-damaged scalp. I have done just over 10K grafts so far and have some more that I choose to do. My advise to anyone that need repair work-don't even hesitate for one moment-Dr Umar is the surgeon to see. Why live in a world of mutilaton when Dr Umar can change your life, like he is changing mine. In terms of cost-if you want something bad enough-you will find the money. I am telling it like it is. I have so much respect for this Dr I invtited him to my wedding this year. stay tuned for my story on his website in the near future.

 

Dr. Perry Argiropoulos. Toronto Canada.

[lorenzo]

Jayc excellent response. I takes a man to apologize (regardless of the situation). I wish you the best in your future hair transplant.

[Shadow of the EMpire State]

My BRIEF take:

 

(1) Based on what I have seen from photos (I've been at this game for 8 years, so I know all about deceptive photos), Umar is one of the great hair-transplant surgeons in the world. Maybe the best. His 3,200 FUE transplant is the best work I have ever seen. Google it. Type in "umar," "3200" and "fue," and you'll be amazed.

 

(2) Umar didn't handle this particular case as well as he could have, and that assessment includes no latent conclusion whether jayc's allegations are correct. No one knows what really happened, but whether the patient is wrong or right, a noteworthy doctor should not go onto a public forum and attack a patient. He should calmly give his own account without the use of ad hominem attacks. A doctor isn't a construction worker. He should behave in a manner consistent with his station even if his anger is justifiable.

Edited January 31, 2011 by Shadow of the EMpire State

[Sparky]

Don't you like construction workers?

[Sparky]

I've seen that 3200 case, I was impressed.

[Atticus]

I had some hairline work done by Dr. Umar to correct my aversion/revulsion to my old Dracula hairline. The old hairline affected my confidence level, and aged me by ten years. Please see photos:

 

(Link Removed by Moderator)

 

Though mine was a small job, extraordinary care was given to me, and only to me for the entire day!!!!!!!!! I look at pictures now, and I look better than I did ten years ago. Dr.Umar and his staff were pleasant, honest, and fair. They did explain all the paperwork given to me at length, and I could understand why a Doctor running his own practice needs to be paid BEFORE the procedure. It is just common sense, and I had no problem paying before since the fact was not hidden in any way. This new hairline has improved my life greatly, and I am much happier. I was getting tired of being called Mickey Mouse or Dracula by me friends. I really bothered me more and more over the years.

 

Thanks Dr. Umar!

 

Atticus

Edited February 4, 2011 by TakingThePlunge
Third Party Link

[lorenzo]

I dont think anyone is doubting Dr. Umar work. There was a conflict that seems to be worked out with no damage to anyone. This conflict in no way affected the work of Dr. Umar, that was never questioned.

Once again its nice to see a thread that started a bit nasty turn out very pleasant.

Edited February 3, 2011 by lorenzo

[jayc]

Hmmm ... I wonder what the intention is of former Umar patient's to jump in talk about the work done when that was not questioned. I was ready to close the door. But I'm sorry this really bothers me. I've seen Atticus post countless glowing reports about Umar on the other hair loss forum site for "600 nape hairs". I'm not sure if there is compensation for each post for each nape hair placed but its rather troubling. Just as I closed the door this time of advertising disturbs me ...

 

Again, never questioned Umar;s work. You can go to the other posts regarding that. I had problems with scheduling and communication with Umar and his clinic. Amongst all of his comments, Umar never commented about the fact that his clinic told me he had "a conference" in the middle of the day, now its an ID badge issue. Umar never explained this emergency that he had that he scheduled a week before by appointment for an entire morning. He now says its a "voluntary faculty" position. he didn't need to lie to me. On top of that he never apologized personally for this fabrication.

 

He did not seem concerned that I had planned my life around this procedure. He did seem concerned when he cancelled my procedure. My vacation takes a lot of planning(as I'm sure yours does). Getting two weeks off to recover is extremely difficult. He didn't apologize for messing up my schedule. In fact he said I was "making a mountain of a molehill." Now Umar, if it was such a small deal, why not cancel your "conference" and cancel your "emergency" so that you can take care of the patient that YOU scheduled.

 

Regarding paying before the procedure IN FULL before the procedure. Well that's arguable. Down payment maybe. 50% maybe. 70% maybe. I think I'd prefer at least going to the dealership, prior to purchasing my car, literally and figuretively .... $27,000.

 

Regarding your work Atticus: you had 600 follicles placed of nape hair. I saw your photos. I'm sorry the results aren't impressive to my eye. 600 won't do didly for most of us who need repair. To each their own I guess.

[jayc]

Correction ... He DID NOT seem concerned when he cancelled my procedure.

[Atticus]

Hmmm ... I wonder what the intention is of former Umar patient's to jump in talk about the work done when that was not questioned. I was ready to close the door. But I'm sorry this really bothers me. I've seen Atticus post countless glowing reports about Umar on the other hair loss forum site for "600 nape hairs". I'm not sure if there is compensation for each post for each nape hair placed but its rather troubling. Just as I closed the door this time of advertising disturbs me ...

 

Again, never questioned Umar;s work. You can go to the other posts regarding that. I had problems with scheduling and communication with Umar and his clinic. Amongst all of his comments, Umar never commented about the fact that his clinic told me he had "a conference" in the middle of the day, now its an ID badge issue. Umar never explained this emergency that he had that he scheduled a week before by appointment for an entire morning. He now says its a "voluntary faculty" position. he didn't need to lie to me. On top of that he never apologized personally for this fabrication.

 

He did not seem concerned that I had planned my life around this procedure. He did seem concerned when he cancelled my procedure. My vacation takes a lot of planning(as I'm sure yours does). Getting two weeks off to recover is extremely difficult. He didn't apologize for messing up my schedule. In fact he said I was "making a mountain of a molehill." Now Umar, if it was such a small deal, why not cancel your "conference" and cancel your "emergency" so that you can take care of the patient that YOU scheduled.

 

Regarding paying before the procedure IN FULL before the procedure. Well that's arguable. Down payment maybe. 50% maybe. 70% maybe. I think I'd prefer at least going to the dealership, prior to purchasing my car, literally and figuretively .... $27,000.

 

Regarding your work Atticus: you had 600 follicles placed of nape hair. I saw your photos. I'm sorry the results aren't impressive to my eye. 600 won't do didly for most of us who need repair. To each their own I guess.

 

 

Hmmm. Your response makes me wonder about your comportment as a Doctor, as you seem to make unsubtantiated defamatory claims (ref. Inference about kick backs for nape hairs) with absolutely no evidence. As a Doc, I think you would be a little more professional. As far as my results, those pictures were taken at less than six months, so the full thickness had not been achieved yet. The resounding positive comments make it clear my results are not "less than impressive" as you are infer. Having said that, I am very happy with my results, your opinion matters not to me.

 

Thanks Doc,

 

Atticus

Edited February 3, 2011 by Atticus

[jayc]

Atticus -

1) Your photos are unimpressive. you had 600 nape hairs. 600 mostly single hair follicles. You are not even a Norwood 1. Your claims overextend the work you had done. That's just factual.

 

2) one only need look at your prior posts to wonder what your intentions are. Of 19 posts that you made on this forum about 17 overly support Umar. Others have wondered about Atticus' intentions as he knows well. In his prior Atticus asks - "Does that make a shill?" Does it?

one of your posts does state of the 600 nape hairs, 100 were free?

[hairthere]

jayc, Many patients feel indebted to their HT docs and a certain loyalty kicks in on these forums. I admittedly feel compelled to often defend Dr. Feller, and it's purely because I had such a great experience with him and I know the kind of work he does and the care he and his staff give. I have never been offered a dime from Dr. F for posting in his defense. I suspect that's what you're seeing from Dr. Umar's patients.

 

Regarding your scheduling dilemma: I agree that a little more sympathy from the doc would have been appropriate as it does sound like a major inconvenience for you. It can also be disheartening when you get yourself all psyched up for a procedure like this only to be let down. I hope everything works out for you in the future and you find a great doc to do your surgery.