Incredibly frustrating experience - Matt Zupan/Dr. Shapiro

[ash1983]

Male, 30 years old, had hair transplant procedure with Dr. Paul Shapiro on 12/19/13. Its been seven months and I am not seeing any hair growth. As the pictures posted on my profile illustrate, the hair growth has been patchy, and less than 33% of the hair transplanted has started growing.

 

Needless to say, when I called the Shapiro clinic yesterday for my post op appointment, I was frustrated with the progress so far. Instead of listening to my concerns, their representative Matt Zupan does the following:

 

1. Matt starts off the call by telling me how fantastic my hair growth has been so far. It is obvious he hasn't seen my pictures, since most people can look at my pictures and conclude that the growth is far from "fantastic"

 

2. Then, once I ask if I should use Minoxidil (Rogaine) to stimulate hair growth, he starts blaming me for not using Minoxidil from right after the surgery, and Matt mentions that the handout/videos state that using Minoxidil is mandatory.

 

3. He then proceeds to create a theory that the transplanted hair is growing well, and the reason I still look bald is that my native hair is falling. I then have to remind Matt to look at my file, since I clearly mentioned before my surgery that I have been on Avodart (Dutasteride - 0.5mg) since 2010.

 

4. At this stage, I am incredibly frustrated, since Matt has not looked at my medical records, or looked closely at my pictures, and he is trying to pin the lack of hair growth on me. Before the call ends, Matt again asks me to email him the medications I am on, something I already told the Shapiro group the day of my surgery.

 

I am ok with spending $10000, and living my life with a big scar on my scalp. What I am not ok with, is the utter lack of professionalism displayed by Matt Zupan. At this stage, I have no other option but to pray and hope for hair growth, or be back under the knife.

[Shacked]

Results can take 18 months. Iv'e heard of people having unimpressive growth at 12 months and them boom..amazing by 15th month. 7 months is kinda early to gauge whether its been a failure. Minox will kick start the follicle cycling so you should get on it.

[Questionmark]

I agree with shacked (and haircut in your other thread). We would need before pictures in order to evaluate anything.

 

What I am interested in: Why do you write: Less than 33 %?? You mean like "a third"; rough estimation, by that, or did you document each graft in order to calculate the yield later?

[SADbutTRUE]

welcome to the forum, im sorry your not happy with your result, janna posts here regulary, she works for SMG, send her a email about your concerns , she is very prompt answering questions, without pre op pics ,its hard for the community to see where you started ,from the pics you shown .your hair is kept very short, and it looks natural, grow it out a little bit and with the layering effect you should see an improvement,hang in there, im pullin for ya, keep us posted,and thank you for sharing your story

[ash1983]

Questionmark:

 

My gauge for measuring hair growth has been the lowered hairline, since there was no hair below my prior hairline before the surgery, and now there is a patchy growth, at best. Pictures 1, 3 and 4 show the irregular patches below my hairline. By counting the number of follicles transplanted vs what is growing as my new hairline, I can calculate how much hair is growing post surgery.

 

SADbutTrue:

I don't have pre op pictures, but looking at my top view, I can still see the same bald pattern that was present prior to the surgery. With 2500 grafts put in, I don't see any improvement, which creates my frustration.

[Nowsthetime9]

Ash whats your email. I tried dm you but its not working. I had the same experience as you and wouldime to talk to you more privately about it. Thank you.

[ash1983]

83.ashish@gmail.com

[Shacked]

Ash whats your email. I tried dm you but its not working. I had the same experience as you and wouldime to talk to you more privately about it. Thank you.

 

Why? Your discussion may be useful to others and you are already anonymous on here

[wazaam]

I agree. Any input or information could be of great benefit to other forum members experiencing these same types of issues.

[Nowsthetime9]

All i told ash was that I pretty much had the same experience when dealing with SMG. I wanted to be discrete for now as Im in still in the middle of discussions with Matt but any questions or info I can assist anybody with I will, as Iam here to to tell the full truth regarding my experience before during and after. I have a thread that I have mentioned most of this on as well.

[Questionmark]

For anybody interested http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/171016-1550-fue-smg-artas.html

 

I totally understand wanting to talk to someone in private who is in a similar situation, thanks for sharing your experiences anyway

[wazaam]

Nowsthetime9 how did things go in regards to the one year post op with SMG? I would be interested to hear what their take was on your one year results.

 

 

Are you still planning on another FUE procedure in Turkey. If so I wish you the best of luck and I hope you get the results you are seeking.

 

All of you posts have been a considerable help and they are appreciated.

 

If you prefer to send a pm I totally understand.

[ash1983]

Just received a voicemail from Matt Zupan... He is still harping that one possible reason the hair transplant didn't work is because of my native hair falling off. Despite the fact that I told him, and the team at Shapiro Medical Group, that I have been on Dutasteride for 4 years and that my hair loss stopped during this time, he still insists that the hair transplant didn't work due to my native hair falling off. They aren't making this any easy for me...

[Nowsthetime9]

Waazam, my one year post op with SMG was and still is being evaluated on the photos I sent to Matt through email. I told him I didnt like the way things had turned out and that I expected alot more from the procedure. He wanted to see more photos which I sent and we have not spoken again yet which was about two weeks ago. But in relation to Ash, his tone and attitude was the same in regards to why my HT was not a failure and that my expectations were higher then what the reality of what hair transplants actually accomplish and I think we finally agreed to disagree until we speak again regarding the new photos I sent him. The last 13 months has been complete frustration and dissapointment and like Ash already has mentioned, SMG has not made this difficult process any easier at all. Again as mentioned in my personal thread, this is not a put down or in any way an excuse to dog SMG, Iam only stating 100 % facts and true statements. Im here for others as well as myself to help better understand the reason why our HT's were not a success.

[GreatPelo]

Most first time patients see their end results by a year. Seven months is still to0 early. You are definitely in a wait and see mode....while continuing your medical therapy.

 

No doctor is going to tell you to wait 18 months if a patient wants a second surgery....so most growth occurs at the year mark. Adding 3 months end results for each additional procedure.

 

Best of luck!

Edited July 17, 2014 by GreatPelo

[Zup]

Ash, Yes, that's true......but I said much more.

 

As well as, I never said the growth appeared fantastic, but uniform, but a little spotty on the hairline and it may fill in yet but if not we'll stand behind it. I also indicated concern, when I said would you like me to set up a phone appointment with Dr. Paul and we should break the next 6 months up into two follow ups not just one, to follow you closely.

 

We ,however, need to see it through before we act or do anything.

 

The fact that I believe he may be losing native hair, is his crown is thinner also and no work was done there. Yes, he is on Avodart and that's great, but it still is no guarantee one keep all his hair. The meds works best in the crown and works in the front but not quite a well. Patients can definitely loss hair on meds, it does not mean not to to use them, it buys a patient time. Propecia and Avodart work well, specially initially. I don't believe the meds ultimately stop the problem, like turning off a facet, but more like turning it down and may lose their effectiveness over time.....especially if the hair loss problem is genetically a strong one. It is still away to hedge against progression which is critical when you are dealing with a progressive problem and a limited source. Sometimes the meds just delay things, so rather then losing hair over 5-10 years it 20-30 years. The longer one keeps the native it buys them time for new technology that may work even better.

 

Ash, will speak with Dr Paul Shapiro tomorrow and we will do everything we can to help and see this through.

[ash1983]

Matt,

 

I don't want to argue, as the pictures speak louder than words. There is no uniform growth, whether the hairline or the top. I can live with a failed procedure, but what irritated me was that you weren't willing to consider any points that I was raising, and you wanted to convince me, the patient who is actually seeing his scalp unchanged, that my native hair has suddenly starting falling from the operated area, so much so that the entire area still looks bald.

 

I am open to any further dialogue, but please, admit to your mistakes and acknowledge the facts I am raising.

[hsrp10]

Hope it works out for you and that you can achieve a resolution here.

As someone pointed out it's still on the early side at only 7 months, so it could grown in from now

 

Some forum users have reported that their hair loss actually worsened on DUT, so meds unfortunately are not a guarantee of hairloss prevention. User Paulygon has a good approach where he gets a hair caliber check at his hair restoration physician every few months I believe, to see how much Fin is actually working.

[rev333]

could this be from shock loss of native hair?

[Mickey85]

Results can take 18 months. Iv'e heard of people having unimpressive growth at 12 months and them boom..amazing by 15th month. 7 months is kinda early to gauge whether its been a failure. Minox will kick start the follicle cycling so you should get on it.

 

I have never heard of anyone having unimpressive growth by 12 months and then amazing by 15... EVER.

[GreatPelo]

I agree with Mickey85.

[Questionmark]

I also would love to see at least one single example of that phenomenon.

[Janna]

Waazam, my one year post op with SMG was and still is being evaluated on the photos I sent to Matt through email. I told him I didnt like the way things had turned out and that I expected alot more from the procedure. He wanted to see more photos which I sent and we have not spoken again yet which was about two weeks ago. But in relation to Ash, his tone and attitude was the same in regards to why my HT was not a failure and that my expectations were higher then what the reality of what hair transplants actually accomplish and I think we finally agreed to disagree until we speak again regarding the new photos I sent him. The last 13 months has been complete frustration and dissapointment and like Ash already has mentioned, SMG has not made this difficult process any easier at all. Again as mentioned in my personal thread, this is not a put down or in any way an excuse to dog SMG, Iam only stating 100 % facts and true statements. Im here for others as well as myself to help better understand the reason why our HT's were not a success.

 

Nowsthetime,

 

We understand your frustration and would like to speak with you at your convenience. I'll send you an email with my contact details.

Our main goal is to produce happy and satisfied patients. If you're not happy, then we want to work on achieving that goal. We are sorry that you have had a frustrating experience with us. We hope to remedy that going forward.

 

I understand that Ash has been in contact with Dr. Paul. We will support Ash as we do our other patients throughout the growth process and will work with you until you are satisfied. Thanks.

[KO]

Do you have before and after pictures of the crown? I find it hard to believe that somebody can lose crown hair on dutasteride. I hope you will be able to post the photos so we can see what you mean.

[win200]

Yeah, I have a difficult time believing that a patient so young could lose enough hair on Avodart in such a short period of time to render the transplant a wash. That's just implausible. Yeah, Avodart can lose its efficacy over time, but that's a REALLY potent drug.