Bad experience with Dr. Feller

[JustAGuy]

Bad experience with Dr. Feller

 

I had a very bad experience with Dr. Feller in New York, and I wish I'd chosen a different surgeon. Here's the short version:

 

(1) My transplant failed

(2) Surgery experience was less than stellar

(3) Communication was terrible, including that it was pretty much impossible for me to get Dr. Feller on the phone, before or after the surgery.

 

And the longer version:

 

(1) Failed transplant

 

I noticed my transplanted hair rapidly falling out about 15 months after the surgery, and by a few months after it seemed like I'd lost most of it. I don't blame Dr. Feller for this, because I presume the problem was with my biology and not his skill, but given the other problems, this just rubbed salt in the wound.

 

(2) Less than stellar surgery experience

 

I assumed that Dr. Feller would be placing the transplated hair into my scalp, but after he made the incisions in my scalp, his staffers did all the placement. He had never explained to me that this would be the case. I'm sure I would have chosen him anyway (and perhaps all surgeons do it the same way), but since I'd chosen him specifically because of his reputed skill, I just wish he had explained this beforehand. Communication was bad in general, as I'll explain below.

 

Finally, perhaps about 2/3 of the way through the placement I was extremely uncomfortable from the pain and asked to take a break, and to briefly remove the band from my head to relieve the pressure. One of the staffers, I think her name was Kathy, denied my request, and pretty much barked at me. I repeated my request, but she dismissively insisted that I wouldn't feel any difference from removing the band, and was pretty mean in her tone, which surprised me and of course made me even more uncomfortable. I asked to be able to ask Dr. Feller, so they called him in, and he immediately said it was no problem to take a break and to remove the band temporarily. As soon as I did I felt tremendous relief, despite Kathy's insistence that I wouldn't. Dr. Feller gave me some pain meds and we were able to continue.

 

During my consultation I'd asked about filling in my receding temples but Dr. Feller said there wasn't enough hair from what they would harvest. During the harvesting, Dr. Feller remarked at how dense the harvested hair was, so I asked if that meant that we could do the temples after all, and he agreed. I rather wish I didn't have to be the one to suggest it, and had he not made his comment I wouldn't have known to ask. But to his credit, he graciously did the temple work at no extra charge.

 

(3) Terrible communication

 

This was the main problem, and the reason I decided to share my story.

 

I started my journey by filling out the form on Dr. Feller's site for an "online consultation". I didn't hear back. I called a few days later the receptionist said she'd ask Dr. Feller to give me a call. Again, nothing. I kept calling every couple of days, and kept getting promised a callback, but again nothing. One day I called and the receptionist said, "Dr. Feller looked at the pics you sent and says you need XXXX grafts." I said, "Okay, but I expected an online CONSULTATION, so can I actually ask some questions?" She said she'd ask him to call me, and then of course we continued the charade of my calling every couple of days and never being able to talk to the doctor and his never calling back. I wasn't dissuaded, because I just thought that he was very popular because he was very good and had no need for additional patients because he had all the work he could handle, and that I'd get better attention from him if I became a patient (though I'd later learn I was wrong about that).

 

So one day I finally asked the receptionist if she could just relay my main question to him, which was that I wondered how the surgery would be successful if hair loss continued radiating away from the bald spots he filled in? She said she'd relay my question, and then we resumed my calling periodically and not being able to talk to him and not hearing back from him.

 

One day when I called she said, "I have an answer for you: Dr. Feller said not to worry because you've already lost as much hair as you're going to lose." I knew that Dr. Feller hadn't actually said that, because it was an absolutely stupid statement (I'd had only mild to medium hair loss at that point, I had a lot of hair left to lose, and I was indeed continuing to lose it.) So I knew that she didn't understand whatever it was that he had actually said. I further knew that there was obviously no way I was going to be able to speak to Dr. Feller by phone, because at that point I'd been trying to do so for about FIVE WEEKS. So I gave up and made an appointment and trekked to New York.

 

During the office visit, Dr. Feller gave me the actual answer: He would transplant not just to the bald spots but also to the projected future bald spots, so that when my hair loss continued, I'd already have transplanted hair there. That made sense, but I just wish I'd been able to get that answer by phone or email after several weeks of trying. I scheduled my appointment for surgery, and paid the deposit of $2500.

 

A few days later I remembered another question I'd forgot to ask, so I called, thinking that things would be different once I was a paying patient, but that wasn't the case. When he wasn't available to speak to me, I asked if the receptionist if I could make an appointment to talk to him by phone. She said, "We don't really do that," and that if I wanted to make an appointment it would have to be an office visit and I'd have to come to the office(!). I asked why I couldn't just make an appointment to talk to him by phone, and she repeated that, "We just don't really do that." So I finally just basically inisted that as a paying patient I be spared the hassle of going to their office just to ask a simple question, and she reluctantly made a phone appointment for me. I was then able to talk to the doctor at the prescribed time, but I was kind of astounded at how different it was to make that happen.

 

The surgery was initially a success and I couldn't have been happier. Then 15 months after the surgery I started noticing my transplanted hair falling out rapidly. By a couple of months later it seemed like I'd lost most of it. I didn't think there was anything that could be done, but I figured I should ask anyway, so I tried to contact the office...and you can probably guess the rest. Early on the receptionist suggested that I submit some pictures so Dr. Feller could see the new loss, so I did. A week later I hadn't heard back, so I called and left a message. Nothing. I called a week after that and left another message. Again, nothing. I called about a week after that and this time a different person answered the phone, who said Dr. Feller was in surgery, that she wasn't the receptionist and wouldn't take a message for me, and that I should call back later. I called back later and got the receptionist, and since it had been a solid month since my initial inquiry into my failed surgery, I asked if I could make a phone appointment to talk to Dr. Feller? Typically, she suggested that I make an appointment to come into the office, all the way across the country. I persisted in asking for the phone appointment, and she said she'd ask him if that were possible.

 

She called back and said that Dr. Feller said the pictures I sent weren't clear, and could I come in to the office so he could see better? (groan) I suggested I just re-take the pictures, and asked what he meant by "not clear". Did he mean blurry? "Yes, blurry," she said. (I submit one of the pictures below so you can decide whether it was really too blurry to be useful.) So I had I feeling that she wasn't relaying what he actually said accurately, just as she mis-relayed the answer to my pre-op question. So I said I needed to know exactly what he needed to see that he wasn't seeing so that I didn't send more useless photos and waste his time and mine? She said she'd ask him for clarification and get back to me. I asked if I could speak to him directly so there would be no miscommunication, and she said she'd run my request by him.

 

Of course, I don't know why Dr. Feller needed to see the pics in the first place. I just had a couple of simple, general questions: What might have caused the transplanted hair to fall out, and was there anything I can do to prevent any remaining transplanted hair (if any) from falling out?

 

But I never got to ask those questions, much less get an answer. I called the next day and left a message. Nothing. I called a week later and left another message. Nothing. At that point I gave up. It had been about six weeks since my initial inquiry about the failed surgery. It's now been over a month since my last attempt, so clearly this is a lost cause.

 

------

Again, I want to stress that I don't question Dr. Feller's competence, and that the failure of my surgery was probably to factors beyond his control. What I'm more concerned about is the fact that he wouldn't even deign to talk to me about it.

 

Dr. Feller strikes me as someone who enjoys being a successful surgeon not because of a genuine desire to help people, but rather because of the status and accolades he gets. That's just the impression I get.

 

If my transplant was destined to fail no matter who did the surgery, I wish I had chosen a different surgeon.

Edited March 19, 2011 by JustAGuy

[Dutch]

I'm really sorry to hear your experience, it's very alarming & most of what you said is disturbing considering his reputation in the industry. Chin up my friend. Why don't you email Hasson & Wong for advise? Joe there and Christina are very nice to speak to and they will give you good honest advise.

I'm sure the seniors and editors on here will also point you in the right direction.

Stay strong my brother

[TakingThePlunge]

JustAGuy,

 

Let me begin by saying that I'm very sorry to hear your hair transplant experience was so frustrating and your transplanted hair has inexplicably begun to fall out. Communication between Dr. and patient is a key component in any surgical procedure.

 

Of course, we do need to give the clinic the opportunity to present their side of the story here but I do want to address one concern:

 

"I assumed that Dr. Feller would be placing the transplated hair into my scalp,"

 

~ While there are a small handful of hair transplant physicians who are hands on when it comes to placing grafts, it's highly unusual. Generally, doctors remove the strip and make the recipient site incisions leaving actual placement to their techs. This is a long and tedious process and is best shared by more than one individual. Also, skilled and experienced techs are much faster and more reliable as it is one of their main functions.

 

Dr. Feller does have an outstanding reputation not only for his ultra-refined hair transplantation but also for his care and concern for his patients. I suggest we give him the opportunity to reply before jumping to conclusions.

 

All the best,

[hairthere]

Justaguy, Can you provide better photo documentation of your pre, intra, and post-op? Also, is your hair wetted down in that picture? Thanks.

[Tao]

JustAGuy,

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. That sounds incredibly frustrating. Your write up seems balanced and fair so I'm eager to hear the response from Dr. Feller's clinic. I agree with Dutch. Though the doctors they represent didn't do your surgery, submitting your photos to some of the excellent reps on this board will likely result in some very good feedback. I know I'd be interested to hear why transplanted hair would fall out after 15 mos. if that is indeed the case. Thanks for maintaining a civil tone and I hope everyone else will as well. And I also hope that you find a good solution!

[wb280]

Hi mate, it must be frustrating experience for u. However, like David mentioned, its only fair the clinic gets to post online their side of the story. Before that happens, i prefer not to pass judgement but only share your disappointment in your failed attempt. Thats tough to stomach, i know that. All the best matey

[JustAGuy]

Thank you for the replies.

 

@TakingThePlunge, my concern wasn't that Dr. Feller didn't do the placement himself, it's that (as I said), he never explained that his staffers would be doing it instead.

 

Can you provide better photo documentation of your pre, intra, and post-op?

 

I can, but I won't. It's completely irrelevant. As I said, the main point I was trying to get across was that it was pretty much impossible for me to get Dr. Feller on the phone, before or after my surgery, so the photos (and the results) are beside the point. And the reason for posting the pic, as I said, was to demonstrate that I think it wasn't so blurry that it was insufficient to show I suffered hair loss post-op. Whether my hair was wet or not is also irrelevant, because under the same conditions as the picture I used to have a full head of hair post-op. My post-op hair simply fell out several months after surgery, and I think the picture is sufficient to show that to the doctor. I resent being made to feel like I'm on trial. It's the reason I waited so long to post here, because this is exactly the kind of response I expected. I'm just a guy who had a failed surgery and tried to explain that my surgeon wouldn't talk to me about it, but instead I'm getting demands for pre-op photos. It's beyond disappointing.

[hairthere]

Demands? All I did was ask nicely if you could post some pictures that better document your experience. I don't own this site, I'm just another poster like you and it's your perogative to post them or not. If you're going to be that sensitive then you probably should have followed your instincts about not posting.

Edited March 17, 2011 by hairthere

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Justaguy - i don't think anyone on this board is here to bash you! I really think everyone is here for support. I know for a fact hairthere is a great guy, he don't know me from Adam and he allowed me to personally call him and ask a ton of questions. Also, I know for a fact Dr Feller is an excellent surgeon, however, I like you , felt more comfortable with MY surgeon placing the grafts. That IS the reason I chose Dr Konior. Also, I've sent Dr Konior a ton of emails and he has personally returned everyone of them.

 

I am sure you will get the answers you are looking for. I am extremely sorry for your situation and I hope things get better for you!

[baldingbro]

I believe JustAGuy deserves some quality time from Dr Feller to spend with him after all he is a patient of Dr feller and his transplant is a failure(may not be Dr's fault ).

[bonkerstonker]

Just a guy from what i take from this is you seem a reasonable guy that wouldn't try to ruin a good surgeons name so i believe what your saying a 100% and i personally hate bad customer service and really feel for you when it's regarding something as important as this i would of been going nuts my self so i'm very interested what the responce from Dr feller will be but to be fair i've never heard anyway say anything about his customer service before and have only heard good things about his clinic. :confused:

[Levrais]

I hope this thread will get the clinic's attention. The most disturbing part of this would be if there was something that could have been done to save the grafts but he never got to find out. Hang in there brother!

[TC17]

I hope the cause of your grafts falling out can be found and fixed. I wish you all the best.

 

As for the other issues you described, I feel it is only appropriate to give Dr. Feller the opportunity to be heard before reaching a conclusion.

[Blake Bloxham]

JustAGuy,

 

I'm very sorry to hear about your experience. I think all the necessary steps to obtain a reply from Dr. Feller's clinic have been taken, so hopefully we will hear something soon. In the mean time, if you have any specific questions or if there is anything I can do to help (or any one else for that matter), feel free to ask in this thread or via private message.

[hairthere]

@newhair, Thanks for the kind words, I do appreciate it and was happy to help answer your questions and I'm psyched for your upcoming surgery with Dr. Konior.

 

@justaguy, Here's why I asked you to post your pre-, intra-, and post-op pictures. You claim the problem wasn't with the surgery, but really with customer service. However, had the surgery been a success I don't think this post would exist, is that accurate? You also put up one picture of your hair looking like it was wetted down, which puts your hair in its worst possible state. Therefore, how could you expect this forum to not want to examine both issues?

 

Now, in my six years of being on these forums I have read one person complain about losing HT grafts, and that was very recently. Hair loss, as you realize, is progressive, and what commonly happens with HT surgery is the results look great, and then you lose more native hairs. It happened to me, and I had to have another surgery. This is extremely frustrating, and costly, but it's a fact of life. Is it possible this is what happened to you?

[Levrais]

Hairthere, I would be willing to bet that if he had gotten to speak with his ht doc about the problem, then the post would not be here. At least that's the way it reads to me.

[Dr. Alan Feller]

Justaguy,

I cannot possibly help you, or any other patient, if you don’t find the time in your schedule to visit the office for a follow up. You were asked each and every time you contacted us to simply stop by, but you either declined or ignored the invitation. Without physically seeing you for myself there is nothing I or any other doctor could possibly do for you.

 

Short of a visit I asked you to send in a series of photographs to give me an idea of your results. What I received from you was a single photograph that showed your hair wet down and tussled in a way that made it obvious you were trying to minimize the benefit of the transplant.

 

I do not personally take calls from irrate and aggressive patients 15 months after their procedure because there is simply no time. I do all my own surgeries, all my own follow ups, all my own consultations, and am on call 24/7 to handle immediate post op concerns.

 

If you or any other of my patients wish to speak to me you may visit the office and have my full attention in person where I may be able to see and examine you for myself rather than wasting time guessing and speculating on the phone. Furthermore, there are serious legal and malpractice issues that may be associated with discussing surgery on the phone as opposed to in the flesh.

 

Now, with respect to your hair, in all my years of practice I have NEVER had a patient whose grafted hairs grew only to fall out 15 months later. Some miniaturizing, yes, but actually falling out, no. That’s why I told Sharon to get you in for a follow up visit immediately as I wanted to see this for myself. In reality, I suspect that it wasn’t your hair transplants that fell out, but rather your native hair. That is a much more reasonable scenario. All of this was communicated to you when you called and when you emailed, but you simply didn't want to visit.

 

As for my use of techs to place grafts, this is now the gold standard in modern HT and is why all patients should find out how many staff a clinic has and how much experience they have. I’ve written extensively about this on many HT forums. It’s also clearly stated on my website which you did read before coming to my office for a procedure.

 

Furthermore, I walked you into the procedure room during your consultation myself to show you an actual surgery being performed at which time you watched 2 of my techs inserting grafts. So it’s beyond me why you are writing you were not informed. Finally, on this point, the consent form you signed prior to your surgery clearly states that technicians of my choice are utilized for your procedure. Be happy to post it on here with you signature if you wish. In fact, I’m happy to post every picture and note I have about your case right on this thread. As many have learned by now, I hide nothing, and hide from nothing. Your claims are simply untrue.

 

If one of my techs was nasty to you during your procedure I should think you would have told me during the procedure or just afterward during our post op conversation. If after a quick investigation I found it to be even partially true I would make the offending technician apologize to you in writing and probably dock her for a week or more. Perhaps even fire her if the offense were severe enough.

 

In this case, Kathy may have had a very very good reason for refusing to remove your bandage during a procedure and she did the right thing by not doing anything until I approved of it. That may have been something for your wellbeing that you just don’t understand. Kathy has worked for me for me for over 8 years and I never heard a negative word mentioned about her from any patient until your post.

 

As for your grafted hair falling out, I highly doubt that’s what happened. More than likely your native hair fell out over the past 15 months. But anything can happen where surgery is concerned and I was intensely interested in seeing your results. But you refused to visit, so I’ll never know until you actually come in.

 

Isn't it just common sense to visit your doctor at least once if you have a concern or a problem before going online to vent? Perhaps the "blame" is unfounded or misplaced, but once you've gone public you will become committed to your position, even if it's proved to be wrong. And this is why I believe patients who rashly write negative opinions online actively don't visit for follow ups. They don't want to be shown they may have been mistaken and that they may have projected their anger erroniously. I've already proved that with at least 3 other patients in the past.

 

 

That's enough for this inapproprite thread., the very best of luck to you.

 

 

Dr. Feller

Feller Medical, PC

Edited March 18, 2011 by Dr. Alan Feller

[Michael5577]

What I'm getting out of Dr. Feller's problems is that some patients complain about a lack of communication and aloofness. Perhaps it's something that Dr. Feller could improve?

 

Dr. Feller, do you really expect all your patients to fly across the country or from a different continent just for a quick visit? Is this a reasonable request? I think proper pictures and phone calls are more appropriate.

 

In any case, there were many red flags in this matter before the surgery and the complainant should've picked somebody else if he was uncomfortable with Dr. Feller's behaviour. There are at least ten surgeons in North America who do first-rate work.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Michael5577

[JustAGuy]

Justaguy, I cannot possibly help you, or any other patient, if you don’t find the time in your schedule to visit the office for a follow up. You were asked each and every time you contacted us to simply stop by, but you either declined or ignored the invitation.

 

Wow. Dr. Feller thinks it's "simple" for his patients to find time to fly across the country for an office visit, but he can't find time to take a 10-minute phone call from a former patient. I think that says it all.

 

But anyway, it's absolutely not true that I was asked to come in every time I called, as I documented in my post. The receptionist *often* made the request for me to make an office visit, but she certainly didn't do it every time, or even most of the time. You certainly weren't privy to my conversations with the receptionist.

 

Without physically seeing you for myself there is nothing I or any other doctor could possibly do for you.

 

But my questions were general in nature: What might cause a transplant to fail, and what if anything could I do to prevent further loss? Any competent physician can speak in general terms about causes and treatments about various afflictions. That's all I was seeking here. If I'd been able to talk to you by phone, presumably you would have given me the answer below (that you thought that perceived loss would be more likely to be native hair than transplanted hair), and if you needed better pictures you could have directed me on exactly what you needed to see.

 

Short of a visit I asked you to send in a series of photographs to give me an idea of your results. What I received from you was a single photograph that showed your hair wet down and tussled in a way that made it obvious you were trying to minimize the benefit of the transplant.

 

Again, this is absolutely not true. First, I sent no fewer than five separate photos. Second, my hair was wet simply *to better show the loss*, since, by golly, I presumed that's what you wanted to see. If you wanted me to try to hide the loss, I can't fathom how that would have been more helpful to you in reviewing my problem.

 

As anyone can see from the photos, my remaining hair is *long*. Without wetting it down and pulling it to the side, the loss isn't as clearly visible. (In fact, my long hair does thankfully hide much of my loss.) And again, after the surgery I had a nice full head of hair, covering the spots that *now* appear bald in the photo -- which was the point.

 

I do not personally take calls from patients 15 months after their procedure because there is simply no time.

 

Frankly, I find that rather shocking. But at least everyone is now forewarned that this is the case.

 

Now, with respect to your hair, in all my years of practice I have NEVER had a patient whose grafted hairs grew only to fall out 15 months later. Some miniaturizing, yes, but actually falling out, no. That’s why I told Sharon to get you in for a follow up visit immediately as I wanted to see this for myself. In reality, I suspect that it wasn’t your hair transplants that fell out, but rather your native hair. That is a much more reasonable scenario. All of this was communicated to you when you called and when you emailed, but you simply didn't want to visit.

 

Again, this is simply false. Sharon never, ever communicated to me that it was my native hair that likely fell out vs. the transplanted hair. I absolutely never heard that. Why you thinks you know what Sharon told me, when I was involved in the phone conversations and you weren't, is beyond me. Anyway, my understanding from my pre-op office visit was that grafts would be placed throughout the whole shaved, genetic-loss area, even areas that were not yet balding, to deal with the issue of future native loss, so I wan't expecting future native loss to be so visible. Maybe that was an unrealistic expectation. I think I may have lost some to much of the transplanted hair from my new hairline and temple area (where there was no native hair before), but I can't tell for sure because I don't have good Before pictures of those areas.

 

 

As for my use of techs to place grafts, this is now the gold standard in modern HT and is why all patients should find out how many staff a clinic has and how much experience they have. I’ve written extensively about this on many HT forums. It’s also clearly stated on my website which you did read before coming to my office for a procedure.

 

Again, my issue isn't that this was the practice, only that it wasn't communicated to me directly. I'm sorry I missed it on the website. I think it's not unreasonable to think that it's better if a surgeon explains a procedure in detail, rather than expecting that it's the patient's responsibility to find out for himself.

 

Furthermore, I walked you into the procedure room during your consultation myself to show you an actual surgery being performed at which time you watched 2 of my techs inserting grafts.

 

Your memory is better than mine. I don't recall this. I don't deny it happened, I just don't remember it. Maybe I saw it but I thought they were doing only some of the placement and you would be doing most of it.

 

The consent form you signed prior to your surgery clearly states that technicians of my choice are utilized for your procedure. Be happy to post it on here with you signature if you wish. In fact, I’m happy to post every picture and note I have about your case right on this thread. As many have learned by now, I hide nothing, and hide from nothing.

 

Well, you certainly hid from my phone calls -- as you admitted. I don't deny that I signed a consent form, but did it say that the technicians exclusively would be doing the placement and you wouldn't be doing any? I doubt it. Regardless, again, I just think it's better when a surgeon explains things explicitly. Clearly we have a difference of opinion on that matter.

 

If one of my techs was nasty to you during your procedure I should think you would have told me during the procedure or just afterward during our post op conversation. If after a quick investigation I found it to be even partially true I would make the offending technician apologize to you in writing and probably dock her for a week or more. Perhaps even fire her if the offense were severe enough.

 

Dr. Feller, if this experience has taught me anything, it's that you don't much care for my feedback. So forgive me if I'm skeptical that you would have been very concerned had I told you about this earlier. In any event, I'm not seeking an apology, and I certainly don't want anyone to be punished, but I do think that Kathy should learn to treat patients with a little more courtesy. (Though I can't extrapolate to other patients' experiences, because maybe she was just having a bad day when I was in.)

 

In this case, Kathy may have had a very very good reason for refusing to remove your bandage during a procedure and she did the right thing by not doing anything until I approved of it. That may have been something for your wellbeing that you just don’t understand. Kathy has worked for me for me for over 8 years and I never heard a negative word mentioned about her from any patient until your post.

 

Which again tells me that you wouldn't have taken any complaint I made seriously. According to you, everything is my fault. Anyway, I don't dispute that she may have had a health reason for not wanting to remove the bandage but, as I said in my initial post, she insisted that removing it wouldn't relieve any pressure (which was wrong), and she was very mean about how she denied my request.

 

Isn't it just common sense to visit your doctor at least once if you have a concern or a problem before going online to vent?

 

Not if the main complaint was that the doctor wouldn't talk to me by phone after my surgery, no.

[HARIRI]

I may agree little bit somehow with JUSTAGUY.. When you go for a quality doctor, for sure you will be expecting him personally to place the grafts and not only staple the wound and do the incisions... According to my talk to various good HT surgeons, they were proud to state that the doctor himself place the grafts carefully with extreme talent and not let some of his nurses do that. So if I was in his place I would surely be disappointed. Also whats wrong with talking to your patient on the phone when he needed you the most, For example Dr Rahal did even talk to me before i pay my deposit for my surgery to explain to me all with patience with answering all my questions and worrying doubts. He made 100% comfortable (Doctor to patient direct conversation is very very important). So the bottom line is a 10 min call wouldn't be harming to comfort a patient who came all the way just to get his HT right.

Edited March 18, 2011 by HARIRI

[hairthere]

I know some of you are going to read this thread and feel empathy for this patient and believe Dr. Feller is wrong in the way he handled things. It's understandable, as hairloss makes us very vulnerable and of course we can all identify and empathize with this feeling.

 

However, after having three surgeries with and knowing Dr. Feller for six years, I have seen the way he handles his business and the way he treats his clients. Both are with the utmost respect and care. I would say try and read between the lines with this poster. Look at the way he responded to me asking very nicely for him to post more pictures. Had he simply declined I would think nothing of it, but he accused me of putting him on trial. Does this sound rational to you?

[Bill - Seemiller]

JustaGuy,

 

Since I was not privy to any communication between you, Dr. Feller and/or his clinic, I'm not going to comment on this. What I can tell you however, is that the only way any physician can provide an adequate assessment of your situation is to see you in person. Obviously, it's rather difficult for you to fly across the country for an in-person consultation. But perhaps there's another leading physician closer to you that you could see. If you discuss this with Dr. Feller, he may recommend someone (since I don't know your whereabouts) and with your permission, can discuss your case with the other physician so he has all the information he needs to make a similar assessment.

 

You've already shared your experience and concerns. It's to nobody's benefit to continue arguing about what was said in private conversation. But what would be beneficial is to consult with a leading physician (Dr. Feller or another) in-person and let them offer an assessment of your case.

 

To be fair to the community however, I do suggest you consider posting some additional photos showing your hair before surgery, when the results grew in, and then now. I also encourage you to post dry photos showing your hair brushed and styled. This will give the community a better idea as to what may be going on with your hair.

 

Best wishes in resolving your concerns amicably,

 

Bill

[Shadow of the EMpire State]

I do not personally take calls from patients 15 months after their procedure because there is simply no time.

Good Lord. This response is so manifestly ridiculous and disingenuous that it ought to send off alarm bells in the head of anyone considering Feller.

 

He can't find 15 minutes a month to take a phone call from a patient who's put thousands of dollars in his pocket, but he somehow can find the time to meet with that patient for an extended period if the patient were only to . . . fly across the country to meet him at his office.

 

The needle on the gauge just did a 720.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Future_HT_Doc
Language

[Spanker]

Yeah, the "I do not personally take calls from patients 15 months after their procedure because there is simply no time." comment kind of struck a chord with me.

 

I do believe that Dr. Feller is good at what he does and I really believe he wishes that he would like to go back and ammend this statement. When you write such a long response, things might come out a little different then was intended.

 

I can say that I would NEVER EVER let a doctor touch me that said he would not speak to me personally if I had problems 15 months later because of lack of time. I would have to follow that up with, "Do you have so many patients that are unhappy 15 months later that it takes a lot of time to tend to these people?"

 

I would not expect this to be the case with Feller as he is known to be one of the top doc's in the country.

 

However, I think that one sentence got away from him as I am sure he would not intentionaly write such a thing. At least I reaally hope so.

 

Also, I do believe that there is a very realy possibility that this is native hair loss, BUT I would not expect the OP to have to style his hair in a certian way to take that pic, given his charateristics. I to think that he was doign his best to show the loss. But he could have been a nw6 prior to surgery, without a preop pic, most will never know.

 

Good luck to all, hate to see these things happen.

[baldingbro]

This is the second time on this forum I have seen a patient of Dr Feller who complains about the result and communication problems.

While I agree that Dr feller gives stellar results , it looks like the way he treats patient with a bad results is horrible.

Edited March 18, 2011 by baldingbro