Please help me

[yael]

I will remove this as agreed as to give judgment after the result and not rush into any pre's.

Edited January 16, 2013 by yael

[Spanker]

If they told you that was ultra refined fut and an up to date technique, you were scammed.

[Blake Bloxham]

Yael,

 

At this point in time, the only thing you really can do is wait for the results to fully mature. Unfortunately, this doesn't occur until the 12 month mark, but I don't recommend "worrying" about it, because nothing you really do now will change the eventual outcome.

 

I think you should use the time between then and now to conduct research on our forums and garner a bit more knowledge about hair transplantation. This way, by the time your results mature, if you aren't satisfied, you will know how to proceed.

 

Do you have any pictures of the wound closure?

[Blake Bloxham]

Yael,

 

In my opinion, it is very difficult to tell from those images. What's more, at this point, the grafts are implanted and growing, so I'm not sure I would focus on the negatives. Like I said before, I think, at this point, you should direct your attention toward monitoring and recording the growth, and truly evaluating the final result at the 12 month mark.

 

Altogether, I'm sorry to hear that you are concerned. However, it's still definitely too early to tell, and I would try to stay positive.

 

However, if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know!

 

Good luck!

[Blake Bloxham]

Yael,

 

I'm sorry to hear this. I truly feel for you, but again, I really don't think any action needs to be taken until the 12 month mark. At 4.5 months, your results are approximately 20% matured, and it's far too early to declare the procedure a failure or claim you were scammed.

 

I think if you need to tell your parents anything, you might want to simply remind them that the results take approximately 12 months to completely mature, and a secondary procedure could be necessary at that time. In the meantime, please feel free to ask any questions and definitely utilize the forums to gain the knowledge necessary to answer any questions your parents may have.

 

Again, if I can be of any assistance, please feel free to send me a private message.

[Bill - Seemiller]

yael,

 

While the incisions do look rather large and certainly isn't the ultra refined technique we're used to seeing by physicians recommended by this community, there's no definitive way to tell whether or not your physician performed follicular unit grafting from these photos.

 

I know first-hand how difficult it is to wait, which for you is probably enhanced by anxiety caused by what your hair will look like after the results grow in. However, try not to worry. While the results may not be real dense due to grafts being spaced further apart, it may still look natural after your new hair grows in.

 

Once your hair transplant has matured (1 year after surgery), you can then evaluate whether or not you want/need another procedure. In the meantime, I suggest continuing your research on this forum and garnering support from our veteran members.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

yael,

 

Also, do you have a recent photo of your scalp showing your progress at 4.5 months? Have you seen any growth yet?

 

Best,

 

Bill

[1978matt]

I see your doctor is a recommended one. Did you have the surgery at his US office?

 

3000 grafts is not many over such a big area.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Given Dr. Meshkin is recommended by this community (I didn't notice you listed your physician on your profile), I feel confident that he's performing follicular unit transplantation. Dr. Meshkin does quality work however, I do not consider his technique ultra refined. I'd also like to know why the incisions appear larger than we're used to seeing from him, unless your blood and scabs are creating this illusion, which is possible.

 

By the time your hair transplant matures, I suspect your results will look natural albeit, not very dense since 3100 grafts over a large bald area won't provide a lot of fullness.

 

I will contact Dr. Meshkin regarding this post and our questions/concerns so that he may respond with his input.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

yael,

 

Thanks for your response. While your identity will remain protected, we do ask that patients do allow their physician to share their side of the story. This includes posting photos (with their identity concealed) as appropriate.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

yael,

 

I know that some physicians differ in their opinion on what makes a procedure "ultra refined". However, while I feel confident that Dr. Meshkin performs high quality follicular unit hair transplantation with natural looking results, in my opinion, he doesn't meet this community's high standards for what we define as "ultra refined". To learn more about how this community defines "ultra refined", visit ultra refined follicular unit hair transplantation.

 

Keep in mind however, that smaller blades, incisions and grafts, while preferred by many patients isn't the only viable approach to quality hair transplantation. Some physicians prefer to cut follicular units a bit larger (with more tissue surrounding the graft, typically referred to as "chubby" grafts). These "chubby" grafts are typically stronger and studies suggest the possibility of higher growth yield since they can better withstand any forces (ex: squeezing during placement) placed them during surgery. Read more on "Chubby versus Skinny Grafts" by Coalition member Dr. Mike Beehner. The downside is that there is significantly more trauma to the scalp during surgery and grafts can't be placed as closely together (dense packing).

 

That said, I've seen a number of quality, very natural looking results from Dr. Meshkin and other physicians who use slightly larger follicular units.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[TommyLucchese]

I don't want to give potential false hope, but I've seen work like that on the boards that turned out well. I can't remember any particular threads but I remember from how stand out the immediate post op pics looked. Of course, I'm not a surgeon so maybe there is a difference between yours and ones that did turn out well.

 

Unfortunately, only time will tell. Though hopefully your doctor can give you (and us) clarification in this thread. I hope it works out well for you!

[Dr. Michael Meshkin]

Hello every one and thanks bill for letting me know about this link so I could have a chance to respond to this case. Before I start I would like to mention that this patient had a very thick waxy layer of some hair remedy on his hair and scalp on the day of the procedure. It took me along while to try to take it off as much as I could but there was still some stuck to his head. Most of the so called scabs that is seen and we were not able to clean before the dressing is the blood that got stuck to the wax and if we tried to clean off it would have compromised the grafts. This was explained to the patient and for him to post and question the size of the scabs knowing it was his waxy hair and scalp is unfair.

I have been doing hair transplants for more than twenty years and majority of my clients travel from all over the world. Most of my patients are referral patients who have seen my work and come to me because of the quality of work that I do. My technique is what makes me different from other doctors when a client chooses to come to me for his hair transplantation needs. We do one to two procedures a day and only perform microscopic follicular unit hair transplantation at our office, the last time I did micro and mini grafts as some people suggested to this patient on this forum was fifteen years age.

Each treatment option is customized to patients’ needs and concerns. I have six assistants using microscopes separating the follicular units. Each unit contains between one to three hairs and sometimes four hairs. The units are then placed in the recipient area according to the number of hair that they have. If they are one hair units, they are placed in the frontal hair line, temples and temple points, if they are two or three hair units, they are placed a little behind in the mid scalp to crown areas. We do not cut the two or the three hair units into one hair units and we keep them in their natural state. Since the donor hair that we take out is limited, we can take that amount of units and place them in a smaller area and densely pack or if the patient insists we can spread it and cover a larger area, but he may need subsequent procedure. In the latter case of coarse, it’s not densely packed but it does cover a larger area. I have used this technique in many patients in the past and have placed their photos on this forum and as you can see the results speak for themselves. Again, I customize the technique to meet patients need and concerns and if we use larger units to cover a larger area for one patient, that does not mean we do not do ultra refined hair transplantation at our office.

During the consult and prior to surgery, I review the technique that we use and go over patients concerns and expectations. In this case, since the patient was twenty one years old and traveling from out of the country, I had many phone and email consultations with him. Due to his unrealistic expectations and his age, I refused to do surgery on him a couple of times. However, each time his parents and him insisted that he wants to have the surgery done and done it with me. He was using many products on his head and I had instructed him to stop using them not knowing what they were. When he came for his procedure, his scalp was covered with some sort of very very thick waxy product. Prior to starting the surgery, I spend a long time trying to remove the wax as much as possible. Some of the thick scabs was from the blood sticking to the remaining wax and that’s why it look thick and waxy. We always clean the recipient area before final dressing goes on the head, however in this case we could not clean the area without compromising the grafts.

His donor density was very limited and we were only able to remove 3100 grafts. while the patient was insisting to cover all of scalp from the frontal hair line to the crown area with this many grafts, it was explained to the patient that if he wants to cover the larger area then the grafts will be farther apart, spread out and he may need subsequent procedure in the future. It was also explained that if I densely packed the grafts will be closer together but we can cover smaller area . However the patient insisted to have coverage in a large area. Since the patient had unrealistic expectations from the surgery from the beginning, I have video recorded our consultation with him, his parents, and my staff members present.

After the procedure all of these conversations were repeated with this patient on numerous emails. I explained to him that the transplanted hair takes up to one year to grow in and he needs to be patient. However, against my advise he continued using foreign objects, products, and remedies that I am not familiar with after the procedure to facilitate this process. At this point, hopefully if the remedies and the objects did not damage the transplanted hair, I advise him to be patient for the final result. Again I stand behind my work and try my best to keep my patients happy.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Dr. Mike Meshkin

[yael]

I would like to take the time to thank you for your response and the clarification for me and other board members. I would like to also state that i did not know the huge scabs were from the blood attached to the wax so me questioning is just in order to know better and seek enlightenment after some one suggested in private that it looks rather odd and outdated. I would also like to add that im also one of the patients who came all the way from the end of the world to do this and this is because i was and still facinated by your work, i do not doubt the grafts will grow as i told you, i was doubting the size of scabs but now as you clarified it is from blood stuck to the wax, this i think is a very logical anwer and i consider it to be the truth. I want to add that this post was never meant to belittle or doubt your credentials as they speak for themselves but rather to seek enlightenment and have a possible answer as why the appearance looks odd, after all i was not throwing claims, i was asking questions, i have to also say that you have been very very helpful with me concerning my questions since the procedure and i appreciate this, i also did not put your name in the post so as to avoid misconceptions if i was wrong; the forum members saw your name on my profile as i was asked when setting the account who my surgeon was. I would also like to add that the remedies i use are rogaine (this caused my waxy layer) and the dermaroller(0.5 mm length, it is very usefel for increasing rogaine absorbtion) and have some mesotherapy sessions(vitamin injections in scalp, very common in asia and france and are combined with hair surgery to achieve optimal results).Finally, I would like to say that i also sent you a link for this thread on your email as i believe you have the right to answer and this shows that i did not intend to be unfair or misleading.Finally i would like to thank you again for replying and i hope this turns out to be one of your usual top notch work.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Dr. Meshkin ,

 

Thanks for sharing additional information regarding this patient. The explanation you provided regarding the size of the scabs, making grafts appear larger makes sense. Furthermore, I agree that grafts spaced over a large bald/balding area will not produce the kind of density required in a single procedure, but also agree that going for coverage over density is a viable approach - and one clearly coveted by the patient.

 

I do ask however, that if the video you have includes identifying information, that you do not post it in order to protect the patient's identity. While I don't expect posting the video is necessary, if you feel it becomes necessary, please remove all identifying information first, which includes blurring of any faces and the editing out of any names.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

Note that I was sent private messages asking if I could remove this topic. While I understand that the patient was trying to be considerate to Dr. Meshkin, I responded both to the patient and physician that we do not remove discussion topics once they've been started unless there's a real valid reason to do so.

 

This community invites and allows patients to share genuine opinions and concerns about any and all physicians whether they're recommended or not. Physicians/clnics (recommended or not) are then invited to reply to those concerns in the interest of fairness. This community's transparency enables its members and visitors to draw their own conclusions and make informed decisions about treatments they are considering. We don't sweep genuine concerns under the carpet. Instead, we ask and hope that patients who start discussion topics sharing their concerns and/or physicians/clinics will update the community on their progress and/or with any resolution to their concerns.

 

This community's transparency and public accountability is what makes us a credible and trustworthy resource.

 

Thus, we ask that Yael and/or Dr. Meshkin keep this community posted on the patient's progress as time continues.

 

Onwards and Upwards,

 

Bill

[Blake Bloxham]

Dr. Meshkin,

 

Thank you for clarifying!