ISHRS membership - is it relevant?

[ZeoRanger]

I was just wondering, do you think ISHRS membership is equivalent to a seal of approval that should basically make patients confident about the choice of their surgeon?

 

I have worked for an industry association (very differrent industry though!) as well.

To the public, membership was presented as a "seal of expertise" but in reality, a business just had to pay a membership fee -- the quality of their work has never been assessed at all...

 

Many industry associations are more concerned about the growth and promotion of their industry and not the professional benchmarks of their members...

 

So what are the views of the ISHRS here?

[xtatic5]

Judging by the membership application, it is not a seal of expertise. There is no mention of a professional assessment. Only that one be of "good moral character." It might, however, indicate that the surgeon is somewhat dedicated to the practice. I think you can check their attendance record for the annual meetings.

[ZeoRanger]

Hmm doesn't give me much confidence as a potential patient then...

 

There are other associations that require their members to undergo professional development each year and they need to quality for membership...

[HARIRI]

Anyone can be a member even my own butcher is a member there. There isn't any serious screening. You may find great and very bad surgeons there.

[Nick153452]

Personally, for me, I never trust official credentials. Personally, I wouldn't care if my surgeon wasn't a doctor, never went to college and worked at McDonalds his whole life and did Hair Transplants on the side (if that were legal). The only thing that matters to me is the track record he/she has with the community and what results they have put out for xx% of the population. Likewise, I don't care if a surgeon belongs to any of these "fancy" organizations. Truth be told, I wouldn't like most of them work with me.

 

Find a surgeon whose results match your goals. Search to forums for patients who had great results, and also search the internet for bad results. By finding bad results you can sometimes see what kind of a person your Dr is and how the remedy bad transplants. Most of the great surgeons guarantee that you will have a good hair transplant.

[scar5]

ISHRS membership is meant to be a ' seal' of approval.

Going as a casual unreliable observer, for what it is worth, which is not much, my personal take on it goes like this.

 

The ISHRS is the premier organization for America, Canada.

 

These days, I think the ISHRS is better than it was.

It has an annual conference, loads of resources, publishes research papers, videos etc., all in all it has to be a positive influence, but I used to hate it.

 

It is American centric. And that means it was incredibly pro-strip. While the Europeans were forging ahead with FUE, and so to a certain isolated doctor in Australia (and sister) the ISHRS were confidently puffing on their cigars congratulating themselves on megaseesions, trico and calling FUE rubbish.

 

That of course is no longer sustainable, for those in the know. I think it is generally a good thing. Back in the 80s and 90s, not so good.

[dingdong12]

Hariri> who are you referring to as your own butcher .you list of docs seem all very reputable??

[Michael Vories, MD]

The ISHRS is simply an organization of doctors. To be a member, you only have to have a valid medical license (There are other membership categories, such as surgical assistants and medical residents). This is done for a reason. As a member and a committee chairman, our goal is provide valid educational information for any physician wishing to learn about hair surgery. This information is not part of the standard curriculum for most medical residencies, including plastic surgery and dermatology.

 

Currently if you are a physician who would like to learn about hair surgery, your options are severely limited. Either you team up with existing, established hair surgeon, or you obtain one of the very few ISHRS fellowships available. Otherwise one must just go to all of the educational meetings, and start their practice very slow and small. Gradually build up the size of the cases you can do over time. As one can imagine, the pathway to becoming an experienced hair surgeon is not nearly as straight forward as other surgical specialties.

[Blake Bloxham]

Hi Guys,

 

I think it is worth mentioning that both our recommendation and Coalition process was designed as a way to truly review hair transplant surgeons and recommend those performing ethical, excellent work to patients seeking consultation. We've dedicated ourselves to only endorsing physicians who meet our standards, and I think the Hair Transplant Network "seal of approval" holds a good amount of clout in the hair restoration community as a result.

 

But then again ... maybe I'm a little biased. ; )

[Blake Bloxham]

Dr. Vories,

 

I think that's a good assessment. Thank you for sharing.

[TonyB]

I asked a similar question recently:

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/172049-bona-fide-international-society-hair-restoration-surgery.html

[Spanker]

To me, results are what matters. Online and in person. HTN is a great place to start. I think even on this network there are different doctors that are best suited for different needs. You have specialists in hair lines, mega sessions, docs who will be aggressive, docs who won't, docs who are super artistic, docs who are very good in fue, docs who are perfect for the 60 year old, docs who get good bht yield, etc. The list goes on and on and some docs overlap into several categories but very few make it in all of them. The best thing to do is to figure out what your need is start researching online, using not only doctor posted results, but pt posted results as well. Hope that helps.

[univprof6]

I apologize if I am blunt, but I am somewhat amazed that people don’t know the true nature of ISHRS :confused:. ISHRS is just an organization of doctors. As long as you have a current medical license, it doesn’t matter if you’ve butchered dozens or hundreds in the past, you can be a good standing member of ISHRS.

 

The best example of ISHRS having absolutely no membership selection criteria is ISHRS 2013 President Dr. Carlos J. Puig himself! Dr. Puig has butchered & scammed many innocent victims in the past. See egs:

 

The Hair Transplant Industry is a Disgrace

 

https://sites.google.com/site/pmgincompetent/

 

hair transplant repair

 

The Hair Transplant Industry is a Disgrace

 

Dr. Puig was elected President by ISHRS members—that should say a lot of the total lack of vetting/checks done by ISHRS regarding its members!

 

A piece of advice to all: before you even consider a doctor for HT, do a lot of research, read all the posts about the doc on this blog and also DO a search on google for the doctor. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn about someone by just searching on google!

[Nick153452]

I think telling people on this site to do a lot of research beforehand is preaching to the choir. Most, if not all of us, have gone to some of the best surgeons in the world and have spent a lot of time selecting their doctor based on pt results and also results posted from the clinic. It's unfortunate the there are doctors out there who went into medicine in order to take advantage of those who are in desperate need of a certain result that they are unable to give them. In my opinion, those doctors need to have their medical license taken away. In this day and age, everyone has the resources to research their doctor beforehand. I can understand how it would have been a lot harder in the earlier plug das when the internet didn't exist, but really, I don't even understand how people can commit to such an important surgery without first doing even minimal amounts of internet research.

[TomCruise]

I apologize if I am blunt, but I am somewhat amazed that people don’t know the true nature of ISHRS :confused:. ISHRS is just an organization of doctors. As long as you have a current medical license, it doesn’t matter if you’ve butchered dozens or hundreds in the past, you can be a good standing member of ISHRS.

 

The best example of ISHRS having absolutely no membership selection criteria is ISHRS 2013 President Dr. Carlos J. Puig himself! Dr. Puig has butchered & scammed many innocent victims in the past. See egs:

 

The Hair Transplant Industry is a Disgrace

 

https://sites.google.com/site/pmgincompetent/

 

hair transplant repair

 

The Hair Transplant Industry is a Disgrace

 

Dr. Puig was elected President by ISHRS members—that should say a lot of the total lack of vetting/checks done by ISHRS regarding its members!

 

A piece of advice to all: before you even consider a doctor for HT, do a lot of research, read all the posts about the doc on this blog and also DO a search on google for the doctor. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn about someone by just searching on google!

 

You do raise some good points....

[TakingThePlunge]

To me, results are what matters. Online and in person. HTN is a great place to start. I think even on this network there are different doctors that are best suited for different needs. You have specialists in hair lines, mega sessions, docs who will be aggressive, docs who won't, docs who are super artistic, docs who are very good in fue, docs who are perfect for the 60 year old, docs who get good bht yield, etc. The list goes on and on and some docs overlap into several categories but very few make it in all of them. The best thing to do is to figure out what your need is start researching online, using not only doctor posted results, but pt posted results as well. Hope that helps.

 

Spanker,

 

Well said! I often get emails and PM's from people asking me who is the best. I know that it may come off as evasive when I say that I can't tell them who the best surgeon is for them. That is something that they'll need to determine on their own based on their specific needs.

 

All of the above is true and the best surgeon for me may not be the best choice for another guy. On the other hand, choosing a hair transplant surgeon is not like finding your soulmate either. You can likely find a few very good docs who are more than capable of delivering the results you are looking for.

[Bill - Seemiller]

I personally have a firm appreciation for the ISHRS. However, in order to do so, you have to understand its purpose.

 

The primary mission of the ISHRS (International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery) is to educate hair surgeons ranging from the beginner to the master. It is by far the most prominent hair restoration professional organization in the world and the host of the five day annual scientific meeting. Their website provides useful information about hair restoration and profiles and contact information for its 700 plus worldwide physician members. For highlights from last year's meeting, view "Highlights from the 2012 ISHRS Scientific Meeting in the Bahamas".

 

To become a member of the ISHRS, a physician must hold and maintain a valid medical license and be willing to pay their membership fee.

 

In my opinion, the ISHRS is an excellent organization for physcians (and technicians) to belong to as it promotes ongoing education, sharing innovative techniques, publications on the latest hair restoration research, participating in workshops and learning from each other.

 

Unlike this patient community however, the ISHRS does not prescreen and recommend surgeons based on producing only the best results. Thus, in my opinion, prospective patients are better off researching patient communities like ours when considering and selecting hair restoration physicians for their next procedure.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Great thread. I agree with most of what is bantered around here although perhaps a few guys have had 1 cup of coffee more than they need, but the points they raise are valid.

 

My take:

 

No, its worthless as a tool for patients. I'm in the ISHRS mainly so that I get the Forum periodical which I think is as good as anything of seeing what is going on in the hair world, and I've been to 2 meetings which may be 1 more than would have been optimal. Any doctor can join it and then appears to be an expert....as I see from probably 1 patient a month who presents for repair. Now I do think the ISHRS plays a role in guiding research, and full disclaimer...I got a grant a few years ago to study how hair gets its blood supply after transplantation, and I'm likely to apply for a follow-on grant. But for the consumer, its worthless.

 

A far better source of information for patient education is one of the 2 main hair transplant discussion forums, this, and the competing site. An hour or 2 spent on these sites BEFORE going to the doctor's office for that first visit, or after that visit and before deciding on surgery, is an hour or 2 well spent. I answer the phone some of the time at my office, many readers know that I can be blunt...and I almost always tell patients to go on the forums before they come so that they have some education as to what to expect, and they also have seen some cases from different doctors.

 

Now these forums are not perfect, but until someone invents something better, its a great way to get educated and see examples of different doctors work. There is a tendancy on the forums for big swings in opinion in a short period of time, almost like watching the stock market on tv... I've seen excellent doctors get slammed for nothing and the occasional pop up miracle doctor. As I tell people all the time, if you see someone who only has great reviews...be skeptical, nobody hits homeruns everytime they are at bat. And if you see someone with no good reviews....well I'd probably not go there either. But if it appears that the doctor (or insert any type of business here) makes most people satisfied and seems reputable, its probably a practice worth considering. But thoroughly looking at various doctors' approches and cases is an excellent preparation for considering whether to have surgery or not.

 

Again, good topic.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA