Opinions of Dr. Robert True in New York

[MICROGRAFT]

If you are looking for a DOCTOR DO NOT LET LOCATION DETERMINE WHO YOU CHOOSE. That being said I had a procedure with Dr True in 1998. I had previous work done and went to Dr True for a repair. He did not do a good job and I was very unhappy with the results. He did not do what he said he would be do in terms of results. In short he made a bad situation worse.

[Robertj]

I have a consultation appt. with Dr.True Feb.14.

He has been highly rated by this site.That is why I selected him as well as location.I will post my first impressions of him afterwards.

[GratefulHead]

Notsohairy,

I am 9 months out with Dr. True (1500 FU grafts) and my improvement is dramatic! Select the folder / little person icon above and read one of my November 2003 appends for some details on my story. I voluntered to attend an Open House Seminar with Dr. True last Thursday (also my 9 month check-up appointment day). There were at least 8 guys there with transplants by Dr. True. All of them looked really good and all of them were very pleased. I plan on getting my second transplant for more density with him later this year. Best wishes for a successful transplant!

 

Robertj,

Did you consult with Dr. True as you had planned? Can you share your impressions? You are on the right track by doing lots of research and getting consultations.

 

Micrograft,

Your repair work with Dr. True was performed around 6 years ago when the all-follicular unit procedures were in their infancy. Since you didn't receive that type of procedure, it is understandable that your transplant was sub-par when compared to today's standards. Nevertheless, could you be specific in what aspects of your "results" were poor?

 

Likewise, could the others who rated Dr. True negatively please provide some helpful details on their experiences? Thank you.

GratefulHead

[MrJobi]

Hi

 

I had a procedure with Dr True 2 months ago. He was a "true" professional and was very honest. During the inital consultation he actually suggested less grafts than I was interested in due to "shock loss" as I did not tell anyone about my procedure. How many Doctors would do that? Also,3 people in the office who had already had work done were very happy with their results ( and looked great) so I had a good feeling from the start. Although it's only been 2 months, I am starting to see growth.. I would rate him as very professional and talented.

[NYC Guy]

I had a consult with Dr. True some time ago. Actually more of my time was spent with a consultant who worked there. While I really wanted to talk primarily with Dr. True, the consultant was firm that he could answer most of my questions and encouraged me to dialogue extensively with him before I could talk to Dr. True. Also, while the consultant had good hair density, his hairline looked pluggy to me and to my eye this was not close to an "undetectable" HT. He had dark hair and so the sharp contrast with his pale skin may have made it difficult for him to have a better looking hairline via HT. The strip scar is a concern of mine and I asked to see his. While his hair covered it in the back and no one would notice it due to this, when he lifted it up to show me the scar, the scar looked quite wide to me with a significant (in my mind) area of bald skin. I have seen other strip scars in person which look much less noticeable. I doubt this guy can cut his hair very short at all. Given his pluggy hairline and big strip scar, I was surprised that this guy had a job interacting with prospective patients. He told me that over the years he had something like 10 surgeries, which sounded like way more than I've ever heard anyone having (although this might explain why his strip scar was so big). He told me Dr. True had done work on him (and certainly all recent work), but it wasn't clear to me whether Dr. True had done all of his work. Seeing this guy did not give me a lot of confidence in the result I might get.

 

Finally I was able to speak with Dr. True who was very nice and quite soft spoken. He was effectively answering many of my questions and he outlined what he thought my options were for a HT. However, he was unwilling to give me more than 10 minutes of his time. When I still had questions I wanted answered, he redirected me back to the consultant and left the room. Maybe he was very busy that day and had to go right back to surgery or something, but it didn't make me feel very valued as a prospective patient.

 

In terms of his diagnosis, his upfront suggestion to me was that I get just 800 grafts via strip surgery. I am a Norwood 5A with diffuse coverage on top. Every other doctor told me I should start with at least 2000 grafts. I also believe 800 grafts is too small an amount to warrant strip surgery. When I pressed him and told him I thought I needed more, he did outline an option for 2000. I also inquired about the possibility of FUE. While their office (True & Dorrin that is) claims to offer it in their literature, I was seriously dissuaded from going that route. My impression was that they like to tout the fact that they do both strip and FUE as a way to get every type of prospective patient in the door, but that they actively try to steer everyone toward strip. I am actually a fan of good strip surgery, but I thought this was odd and my guess was that they have not had great success with their FUE patients - I certainly do not know this to be true, however.

 

After Dr. True left, I repeated a request I had made earlier to the consultant that I wanted to see before and after pictures of past patients which had similar hair characteristics to mine. He responded by finding another who guy worked there to show me his results. This guy's hair did look very good, but it was nothing like mine. I have thin dirty blond hair and this guy had wavy brown hair. When I pressed the point that I still wanted to see pictures, the consultant rummaged around in another room for a while and then came back and said something to the effect that he didn't have any pictures handy of patients that fit my characteristics. I was silently incredulous when he said this.

 

I know Grateful Head and some others have had great experiences with Dr. True, but I was not sold. Having had consultations with a couple of other HT doctors, I came away least impressed with my consultation at Dr. True's office. Needless to say, I decided to cross off Dr. True from my list after that.

[Mr. Marc]

Hey NYC Guy:

 

Have you had the opportunity to meet any other Doc's besides Dr. True? If so, I'm curious to see who you met and what your impressions were. Thanks.

[NYC Guy]

Marc,

 

I also met with Dr. Bernstein some time ago. I liked the fact that he meets directly with you and there was no consultant there (that I met with anyway). Dr. Bernstein struck me as very honest, as he was very candid about what was realistic to expect. He was defintely not a salesman and in fact he recommended that I not get a HT right away, but instead start on Propecia and then come back and talk to him in a year. I did get on Propecia which has worked well for me, but I am still probably going to get a HT at some point.

 

I certainly think that the patient photos on Bernstein's site are impressive (superior to what I have seen on most other HT doctor sites), but I have not seen any of his patients independently document their progress online. I did meet one patient of Bernstein's in person who had a nice looking result. I think this patient is actually the handy man for Bernstein's building, as well as some others on the upper east side (I recognized him in the lobby of a friend's apartment building some months ago).

 

I think Bernstein is worth seriously considering. Whoever you consult with, before you move forward you should make sure that you yourself meet with former patients in person. Do not be satisfied with reading accounts of others (myself included) having met patients of a particular doctor, as positive as these accounts might be. You need to see the work up close and meet with patiwents who have similar hair characteristics to yourself.

 

I also had some telephone consultations with doctors outside of NYC, after submitting photos online. I would encourage you to also consider doctors outside of NYC as well.

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

 

Grateful Head,

 

I just wanted to let you know that I did not vote in your survey at the start of this thread. I know you are looking for color behind the reasoning for people's votes.

[heavy kevie]

Notsohairy,

I had 1500 fu's done with Dr.True on St.Patty's

day.I drove down from Boston,{where I had my consult with him}.He is a gentleman,and very professional.I know that means little in the grand scope of what we're trying to accomplish,but it helps.The procedure it self was very comfortable.I had no pain during,little after,and not one bit of swelling.

Dr.True also called me a week and a half later,while he was in Boston,and removed my sutures himself,{his assistant based in Boston was going to do it the next day}.I'm only 7 weeks post op,so no real noticable results yet,but I'm healing well,with just minor shock loss in doner area.He also did a great job of fixing old punch graft work done I had in the early 90's.I'm excited to see what goes on by Summer's end,and very confident I will be happy.

Heavy Kevie

[Wallywonka]

Notsohairy, I too had a great HT from Dr True. 2605 on March 30 2005. I know that I'm supposed to loose the new hair for several months...but this has not happened. I had swelling only on days 3 and 4. By day 5 I went golfing. On day 10 my sutures were removed. At this time 5 weeks out...I can not believe the results. I still have 40% of my graft hair and it is still growing. Even, where hair has broken off at the surface..it is starting to grow again. Some new hairs are over an inch long but most are about 1/2 to 5/8 inches long. I definiatly see folicles where the hair has gone into the sleep state. But there are so many that have not. I had my wife look at the scar last night and it is almost undetectable...just a thin red line from ear to ear. I still feel numb on top and of course the results may change on me..but up till now, I have no shock loss in the scar area and no other signs of an HT. It is so natural that no one has said anything to me about it unless I mention it. Dr True, in my case was a genious as was his assistants and Dr Dorin who also worked on me. I can hardly wait to see what 4 or 5 months brings. Wallywonka

[Dr. Robert True]

I think I need to respond to NYC Guy's post in this thread.

 

I do want to offer an apology. I spend 30 to 45 minutes with most consultations. (There are many I may see longer, or even several times in order to establish a comfortable level of understanding). The only times I can think of that are less is when I am in the middle of a case from which I can step out for about 10 minutes only. For this reason I prefer my consults scheduled in the afternoons when we are done with surgery, so that we can give each prospective patient all the time they need. Although I do not recall this specific instance, it must have been one of those circumstances. It is my custom in such cases (which are not common place) to tell the patient my time will need to be brief and invite them to return for a second consult if they still have questions or concerns that have not been addressed. It is common for prospective patients to have consultations with several doctors. We routinely receive feedback that prospective patients find our consultations to be the most thorough and informative they have encountered.

 

I do not have "consultants" in my practice, but I do employ two patient educators as assistants. They help me with every consult, by gathering basic history, taking baseline photos, and providing basic orientation to the treatment process. This allows me to focus my time with the patient on specifics of their situation and treatment options. Patient educators are widely employed throughout health care to improve patient care. I believe this practice enhances our consultations.

 

You expressed concern about the results of the assistant you met with (10 procedures, pluggy hairline, donor scars). John is a revision case.. When I first met John he had heavy old style plugs and extensive donor scars. We have come a long ways since then. But the extensive donor depletion from his original treatment does require him wearing his hair longer. His history and result are not typical of that of most patients. Your characterization of his hairline as "pluggy" is contrary to the daily comments of prospective patients who meet him and say they find his result to be excellent. He is a skilled and compassionate educator and a fine example of the improvement possible when revising old technology. I invite you and anyone else interested to view his case and results at http://www.truedorin.com/patientsresults.php?id=92. Don't you agree there has been a remarkable improvement from his before pictures? In addition, on our web site and in consultations we show the minimal scars we consistently produce with our approach to strip harvesting.

 

You raised a question about the treatment size I recommended (800 vs 2000). As you have indicated in your previous posts on this forum you are a diffuse thinner, exactly the sort of case in which shock loss could be a very significant factor. In such cases I often suggest proceeding in smaller steps focusing on the areas of greatest thinning and proceeding from there to minimize the shock loss factor. The way you described our interaction suggests that I simply acquiesced to your request for 2000 graft option. I know that in including such an option I would have explained that while the size of your balding pattern could certainly demand a 2000 graft treatment, doing so would carry more risk of shock loss.

 

You suggested that we are not serious about or successful with extraction and use it to simply lure in patients. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have diligently developed extraction over the past four years. I routinely perform extraction cases.

However, this experience has shown that the benefits of diminished post treatment discomfort and small punctate scars are often outweighed by the slower, increased sessions, and significantly greater cost of the FUE process. We do not steer patients away from FUE, but when presenting a fair and balanced discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of FUT vs. FUE we find the majority of patients elect FUT.

 

I regret that although you were shown many examples, we were not able to find result examples you found precisely pertinent. We have an extensive result portfolio to which we are constantly adding. I feel that the time constraint must have been a factor here again. I'm sure if I had more time with you we would have found the right examples for you. As you recall, John suggested taking advantage of our open door policy to return to see more live results in addition to seeing more pictures and speaking to references.

 

I invite you to come back for a second consult. Many patients do. We will spend more time, provide more examples (photo and live), provide references, and answer all your questions to your satisfaction.

[HairHope]

Dr. True,

 

Eloquently written and you seem to be a very compassionate physician. Kudo's to you.

 

HH

[Wallywonka]

Dr. True: I am so pleased to hear your beautiful response to NYC Guys lopsided view of his visit with you. I believe that your perspective of the visit is substantiated by the way you have handled my HT as well as the many others that I researched before I decided for your office to handle my case. I can only speak for myself as to the professional, highly skilled staff, including John who gave the best of care to me. I would like to add for the benefit of NYC Guy, that actually I spent very little , hardly any time with you or Dr Dorin before surgery. My consultation was with John in your Pougkeepsie satelite office and I only met you on the day of surgery. I felt no further need to consult with you on that occasion as John had already answered all of my questions professionally and satisfactorily. I thought his hair looked very good. He also had another HT patient stop by to show me his results after 2 HTs. Perhaps NYC guy had not done his homework before consultation and expected more than what was reasonable for that day. NYC Guy is the first discontent [about you]that I've read on this forum. For my part...I can't wait to show you the results so early on. I'm 6 weeks out and have new growth and 40% of HT is still growing and has not fallen out. This..I believe attests to the exceptional skill used by your trained staff of technicians, in my case, that has resulted in some very unussually quick results. No scar problems; no shock loss; no pimples, redness..nothing but hair! Thankyou Dr True. Wallywonka

[Robert_]

I just wanted to chime in on this thread a little about my own experience with True and Dorin Medical Group. I had the fortunate opportunity to fly up to New York to witness them both in action performing a hair restoration procedure on Northern as detailed here.

 

When I visited True and Dorin Medical Group I was pleased to meet and talk "hair" with two fine physicians that truly put the patient first in their practice. This was not only evident in their care of Northern, but was reitterated over and over by the patients that I met that were coming in for follow-up appointments. I got to see up-close Dr. True and Dr. Dorin's meticulous surgery procedures first-hand as well as their highly-skilled staff laboring away from early in the morning until very late into the day.

 

John, their patient educator, was extremely knowledgeable and competent. I exchanged dialogue with him throughout the day and there was never a question in my mind that the patient's well-being and satisfaction were ever compromised.

 

NYC Guy, you most certainly have the right to your opinion and to share your thoughts, however I am very glad that Dr. True posted his reply. I believe that it showcases his true empathy for the hair loss sufferer.

 

I also encourage you to revisit True and Dorin Medical Group. This is in no way to detract from Dr. Bernstein as he is also a great physician in the NY area. In my personal opinion, there really is no "losing" situation in regards to choosing from one clinic or the other. You will not be dissappointed going either way.

 

Wallywonka, thank you for posting your sentiments and I hope to hear more about your progress.

 

-Robert

[Spursman]

I traveled all the way from the UK for a consultation with Dr True and his team. Dr True came highly recommended and I was very pleased with the consultation, it was very thorough and he answered all the questions with good detail.

 

I have also e-mailed him with more questions and him replies quickly and effectively.

[northern]

I am really glad this thread started. I can now put in my two cents worth when it came to my experience with the True and Dorin Medical Group. After winning the contest for a 'Free Hair Transplant' I began my quest to New York in November of 2004. My consultation was over the phone with Dr. True. It wasn't long into the consultation I knew I was in good hands. Dr. True personally made sure I had all the information included flights, hotels etc for the trip. On the day of my surgery even though I was a contest winner I was treated as a VIP the moment I step into the office. The consultation was very detailed and thorough as I sat very comfortable knowing that I was dealing with absolute professionals. The entire procedure was painless and I was awake for it all. The medical team would constantly ask me if I was okay and do I feel any discomfort. I was estatic that our Forum Moderator Robert had the time to fly into New York to capture the entire procedure. His detailed write up really captured the experience that I had with the True and Dorin Medical Group. When my procedure was complete Dr. True made sure I could hail a cab to my hotel in New Jersey. This is the part I tell everyone back home. We tried to get a cab for fifteen minutes with no luck. He said I would be better going on the subway system to New Jersey. I was a little intimidated by this seeing that I just had surgery and not adapting well to the big city. Dr. True actually rode the subway system with me to make sure I made it to my hotel in New Jersey. I thought that was awesome. So not only was he meticulous with the procedure he was very compassionate with my well being. Now nobody in this forum could tell me I wasn't in good hands. When I got home and had my local medical doctor remove the stitches he told me the way they closed the donor area was quote 'a work of art'. In terms of the results from my procedure the following link speaks for itself. This procedure has been a life altering event for me. My self esteem and self confidence has been renewed because of it. Thanks to the True and Dorin Medical Team. My Results

[NYC Guy]

Dr. True,

 

Thank you for your apology for the brevity of my consultation with you and for your thoughtful and comprehensive post. First let me say that it is obvious by the many posts here that you have a lot of very happy patients and that should speak volumes more to any interested parties than the initial impressions of someone who attended one consultation - i.e. myself. Patient satisfaction necessarily must be the truest measure of success. Having said that, I just posted my honest perspective of the one consultation I had and I think any and all feedback is valuable to contribute to these forums.

 

I do not recall having been told upfront that the consulation would need to be short (as you suggested you sometimes do if you know you are pressed for time due to a live case), but I appreciate your invitation to come back for a second consultation. Given the feedback of others here, it sounds as though my experience was the exception, rather than the rule.

 

I will allow that "consultant" was my word and I am happy to use the term "patient educator", so my apologies if the word I used seemed to have any negative connotations in your mind - that was not my intent. I would have had no issue with talking to a patient educator first if I felt I was then given adequate time to talk you, Dr. True.

 

Although I wanted to have more time to talk with Dr. True, I will say that the patient educator was very compassionate and seemed to want to make sure all my questions had been answered. The problem was that, although I did ascribe some value to the educator's answers to my questions, I really came to the consultation to get these answers directly from Dr. True. Again, this all comes down to having more time with Dr. True, a problem which could be remedied with a second consultation.

 

In terms of the results of the educator I met with, I clicked on your link and that is indeed the gentleman I met with. I will grant you that in those pictures on your site, his results do look very good. Perhaps "pluggy" was too extreme a word to use (certainly I would never use that word based on those photos), but the results did not look entirely natural to me in person. Wally Wonka suggested that perhaps I had not done my homework and did know what to expect, but I have researched HTs extensively.

 

In terms of the treatment size of 800 versus 2000 grafts, I believe you did indicate that 2000 could result in more shock loss as you suggested you likely did. If memory serves, either you or the educator indicated that you typically don't transplant into an area of scalp unless 70% of the original hair has already been lost (please correct me if I am off here). I guess this is the threshold at which the benefits of new grafts can outweigh the risk of shock loss in the recipient area. The 800 versus the 2000 option was of great interest to me and I wanted to make absolutely sure that I fully understood the pros amd cons of each option. It was when I was asking questions to you about one option versus the other that you needed to go.

 

I will say that another doctor did think I could do 3000 grafts without risk of significant shock loss - I will qualify that statement by noting that this was a phone consultation based upon photos I had submitted online. I have no doubt that an in-person consultation is far more accurate at gauging what an appropriate plan of action should be and that this 3000 graft recommendation may have been different had I been diagnosed in person. At the same time, another live consulation I had did result in a 2000 graft recommendation without any input from me. I am not saying one recommendation of any of these doctors is necessarily better than the others, but it is interesting to note the disparity and leaves me less confident in going with any of these options. Consensus in opinion would have been far more comforting and reassuring.

 

In terms of FUE, it was very much the educator who I felt tried to steer me away from that option, even when I said cost wasn't a major issue ( I was aware of the significantly higher cost of FUE). By the time I got to talk to Dr. True, I had felt I had been dissuaded from looking further into the FUE option by the educator.

 

Finally, to be clearer, I will elaborate on my inability to see examples while I was at your office, photographic or otherwise. Dr. True, in your post you say, "I regret that although you were shown many examples, we were not able to find result examples you found precisely pertinent." That could be interpereted by a reader that I was overly finicky about finding a case fitting my exact hair characteristics and loss pattern. In fact, while I was introduced to one other gentleman with good results who worked at the clinic (but whose hair was very different than mine), I WAS SHOWN NO PHOTOs AT ALL while I was at the clinic, despite asking the educator for them (I asked the educator for photos before and after talking to Dr. True, though I did not get a chance to directly ask Dr. True for photos). Therefore, I certainly was not shown "many examples". I did comment to the educator that I had seen photos on the website, but I was really hoping to see more when I was at the clinic. I have no doubt that you have an extensive result portfolio as you state, but for some reason I was not able to see any of it.

 

While I'm sure you do have an open door policy to see live results as you state (which is admirable) and are open to prospective patients speaking to references, neither of these options were suggested to me by the educator. The way I left hings with the educator was that if I decided I wanted to pursue a HT further with Dr. true that I would I give the educator a call. Perhaps if I had, at this point he would have suggested these other possibilities.

 

Respectfully,

 

NYC Guy

[MrJobi]

Hi

 

My consultation was 3 months ago or so and I was shown several pictures but it is impossible to see every type of "hair" and hairloss trend. I don't know many people with the same hair as myself. I spoke with several people there and all were happy with a great result . In addition, the consultant with the dark hair had a great hairline as I meticulously examined it on more than 1 occasion from up close ( no way it was pluggy as I would have left!). I thought it was nice to have 2 people who were consultants/educators to share their experience(s) with me. It's almost 3 months since my surgery and I can see a significant difference already ( I had 1417 grafts). I can't wait till it's 6 months or so. As far as my scar, my hair is pretty short and you can't see anything? I've yet to go too short but I want to wear my hair longer when I can.

 

JB

[Wallywonka]

This has bee agreat thread. Thanks everybody. I feel even better knowing that so many had good results from begining to end with Dr. True.

[MrJobi]

Hi

 

Time flies! Just had my 2nd procedure at T&D ( a month ago) and all is well. As the first, it was a very positive experience. 1417 the first & 1476 the 2nd.. Once again , it's the waiting game

 

Good luck

[the B spot]

All, I realize that many patients immediately jump to the defense of their doctor. In this case, we must realize that although great doctors strive to please every potential customer, one specific doctor cannot please every individual at every consultation. There is no problem with that, at all!!!!!!!! Imagine if doctors were rated on how many prospective clients walked out of the office, or decided against surgery at that facility? I have heard nothing but positive comments about True and Dorin, and judging by Dr. True's lengthy response he is committed and does care about his patients. This does not mean a patient cannot have a "bad" consult, or get a bad "vibe". The real test of a surgeon is his or her results, period. My sons pediatrician in a complete a-hole, but he is the best there is, period. I think everyone can take something away from this one and move on.

NYC Guy-- I hope you find the best HT Doc for you, and keep us posted as to your experiences.

[bono43m]

I had a procedure with Doc. True when he first starting doing procedures when it was called Elliot and True.a friend of mine also had a scalp reduction.I would say and its only my opinion that hes just a fair Doc.I have been more impressed with the procedures i had performed with Dr. Breemer of Saratoga hair Transplant and Dr. Feller who performed my final procedure which was a 850 graft dense packing of the hairline with more refinement.

If anyone would like to see my one month post op pics from Dr Fellers procedure done on Nov 15th of 2005 i would be more then happy to share them.I also plan on taking pictures this weekend of this procedure 3 plus months out and would be happy to also share them.My addy is candlemn42@verizon.net if anyone is interested..

Terry aka bono43

[MrJobi]

Hi

 

I think you are comparing two different time frames and technologies. That would like be comparing a car from 15 years ago with a 2006 model.. The hair transplant industry as a whole has grown leaps and bounds just in the last 5 years with Follicular units, dense packing, and the new Tri- closure. Dr. True did my 2 surgeries in the last year and I can tell you it could not look better.. I think it's only fair to compare apples to apples to make an accurate comparison.

[bestinthebusiness]

Thank you all for this thread. It has been very helpful to me in my decision to pursue a HT.

[nbm3]

Went to see Dr. True. Was ultimately pleased with his attention to detail and to make you feel at ease. Are there any more updated reviews of his procedures after 2006?