Virginia Surgical Failure

[failedtransplant]

I had a transplant at Virginia Surgical in November 2012. 3000 grafts with FUT ($2.5 per graft) and 500 FUE grafts ($3 per graft.) Total of $9,000.

 

These are the results. Photo on the right is after 10.5 months.

 

Has anyone else had experience with this clinic? Has anyone else on here had an experience with a failed transplant? Is it possible this failure is somehow a result of my genetics and not the skills of Virginia Surgical?

 

Virginia Surgical is owned by Linda Carnazza, who is not a doctor. She runs the clinic with her daughter, Danielle Mctyre, also not a doctor. They hire doctors on a per procedure basis. My procedure was done by Dr. Beth Jordan. Note that Dr. Jordan is not a dermatologist or a surgeon and she does not do transplants full time. These are all red flags that I should have picked up on.

 

I think these results are so poor, I should get a complete refund. Linda has refused to refund any money. To her credit, she has offered to have Dr. Jordan and team do a 2nd procedure, free of charge. I’m not sure this is a good option though. There is a limited amount of donor hair and I’m afraid to take a chance with them. I don’t know what Dr. Jordan has to say about any of this, as she has not returned any of my phone calls since the surgery. What do you all think? I feel like I paid $9,000 for a scar.

 

Linda and Danielle have both told me recently that my hair “looks great” and is “right on track.”

[Spanker]

That is a complete failure. I would not under any circumstances have another surgery with them.

[BensonTT]

Dude that looks bad.. Can you sue?

[tacolinowest]

 

,,do you have any immediate post op pics?

[failedtransplant]

To answer your questions- I have some post op photos, but they show my face, so I'd rather not have them on here. Also, as for suing, it will be impossible to get a lawyer to represent me. What are the damages? The doctor is willing to do it again for free.

[tacolinowest]

well than please tell us exactlly where the hair was transplanted,, did any go into the crown? or was it just front and mid scalp?

[Noodles123]

OMG, this is outrageous. They had the audacity to say "it looks great, right on track"? I'm sorry you had to go through this. Under no circumstances should you even entertain the idea of a free procedure. Being that you've already had 3500 grafts, you cannot afford to waste those precious remaining grafts.

[TakingThePlunge]

I'm very sorry to hear about your transplant results. It would be helpful for us to view some post operative photos. It's quite easy to mask your face or even crop the images. If you'd like assistance, I'd be happy to help.

[failedtransplant]

I'll try to redact my face. Hair was plugged into front and crown.

[hairthere]

Sorry to see you were taken advantage of. Do not under any circumstances have another surgery with them. You should consult with a qualified HT surgeon (preferably one recommended by this site) if you want to try again. You have a very high level of hairloss and unfortunately they wasted a good number of your grafts so I would not expect miracles.

[Patriot34]

I know the feeling. Sorry this happened to you. You can perhaps try to get a refund. I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be entitled to it. If you are anything like me though the refund is more based on principle then anything because essentially you feel like a part of your life has been ruined. I was successful in a refund, but now I am obligated to keep the name of the guy and clinic who took a swing at ruining my life of the Internet. At least I am glad to know they didn't profit from it.

 

At this point you only want a remedy so I will focus on that topic. You have a very qualified surgeon in your area named Dr. Lindsey who has seen his fair share of repair jobs with proof to back it up. I can't speak personally on his work, but I have consulted with him and I do find that he is honest and lays out logical options. There are also others who are very qualified that you could go to if you are willing to travel further (this site is an excellent first step). However, you have an extensive amount of loss and you will not be able to get a full head of hair. If you simply want to conceal the scar and have a natural looking hairline that goes about 1/3 - 1/4 of the top of you head then it is possible. The crown is pretty much a lost cause in today's surgical arena based on the hair you have in your donor area and your pattern of loss. Another option is simply shave it all off. Let your scar heal the best you can and consult laser dermobrasion doctors and others who have ventured down this road. There are plenty of people who do this and claim they are much happier as I am sure you can find by searching other forums. Your scar will still be visible, but probably not as much as the situation on top that this clinic left you with.

 

No matter what you choose I want to emphasize that you shouldn't be as hard on yourself as you likely are being. We all want to believe the false claims that people in the medical field make because we feel they are all professional, ethical people. It's a hard lesson to learn, but it could always be worse. Feel free to reach out to me with a PM if you have any questions or concerns.