Patient died due to HT

[GoodFella]

A final-year Madras Medical College student died a day after undergoing hair transplant at Advanced Robotics Hair Transplant Centre in Nungambakkam, Times of India reported.

 

As per sources at the Directorate of Medical Services(DMS), the centre was not authorised to perform surgical procedures and that it had a licence only for hair cutting and styling.

 

Anaesthetist Dr. Hariprasad Kasturi and Dr. A Vineeth Suryakumar, an MBBS graduate from a college in China conducted the transplant, said Tamil Nadu Medical Council president Dr. K Senthil.

 

In hair transplant, tiny plugs of skin, each containing a few hairs, are taken out from the back or sides of the scalp under local anaesthesia by the surgeon and then implanted on the bald sections. When Santhosh Kumar went under the knife, it took more than six hours for Dr. Vineeth to remove hair from his scalp. Any procedure requires the anaesthetist to be present throughout, however, Dr. Hariprasad had left the salon.

 

The patient complained of discomfort when the follicles were implanted and was then taken to a nearby private hospital where Dr. Hariprasad worked where first aid was dispensed. After that the medical student left for his hometown of Aarni.

 

His condition deteriorated the next day(May 17) and his family rushed him to Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, where he died within half an hour of admission. "Hospital reports said that he died soon after admission due to multi-organ failure triggered by delayed anaphylaxis and toxic syndrome, " said Dr. Senthil. Anaphylaxis is a strong allergic reaction which can been triggered by anesthesia.

 

A post-mortem was not conducted as a police complaint was not filed by the family. Officials at the directorate of medical education said they came to know of the incident almost a week after the student's death. "We had a representation from his batchmates urging us to inquire into his death. Until then we did not know that he had gone for a hair transplant. We forwarded the complaint to the concerned officials and the salon was sealed after they found it to be unfit for such procedures, " said director of medical education Dr R Vimala. Police have proposed to exhume the body of Santhosh to conduct an autopsy.

 

The state medical council has issued notice to the undergraduate doctor and the anaesthetist, seeking explanation to why the surgical procedure was carried out unqualified doctors at an unauthorised centre. "We have issued notices to them. We have asked Dr Hariprasad why he did not stay in the salon till the procedure was completed. We have asked Dr Vineeth how he performed the surgery without being qualified. Hair transplant is a surgery and Vineeth is not a surgeon, " said Dr. Senthil.

 

The salon has been sealed by DMS.

[JustJax]

Yikes. Very scary reading. Sounds like the clinic (salon) was extremely dodgy on all fronts. Reading this sort of thing reminds me of all the plastic surgery horror stories you see and hear about. Does anyone watch the E! show Botched? Often they feature people who have popped to Mexico and allowed someone to give them nose jobs, face lifts, etc often without using the proper anaesthetic and some 'dentist' has giving them fillers using industrial silicone or glue and other crazy stuff.

[starscream]

http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/chennai-hair-transplant-tragedy-parents-speak-out-after-son-dies-due-procedure-44491

[GoodFella]

Yikes. Very scary reading. Sounds like the clinic (salon) was extremely dodgy on all fronts. Reading this sort of thing reminds me of all the plastic surgery horror stories you see and hear about. Does anyone watch the E! show Botched? Often they feature people who have popped to Mexico and allowed someone to give them nose jobs, face lifts, etc often without using the proper anaesthetic and some 'dentist' has giving them fillers using industrial silicone or glue and other crazy stuff.

 

Yes. Read another article which gave some more details. It said the student was only researching the procedures but this salon offered him 50% discount if he books them immediately. The first hospital he was taken to told him that he needs to be admitted for the night but he didn't have Rs.10k or $140 to pay so he left for home.

[Shampoo]

ridiculously reckless doctors and patient

[Pete-from-Farjo]

Absolutely shocking. Poor guy.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Good fella,

 

This is extremely shocking and very upsetting. And honestly, this is one of those examples that just goes to show how important and crucial it is to select a qualified and experienced hair transplant surgeon to operate your procedure. Some clinics have some experience but employee only technicians to perform surgery where there may be a surgeon, but they typically are uninvolved.

 

Honestly, I am beginning to get more and more concerned about clinics who utilize unsupervised technicians to perform hair transplant surgery especially when they have little to no experience. In my opinion, a licensed, skilled and experienced surgeon should be present during a hair transplant procedure and be at least relatively hands on. There is honestly no excuse for doctors to sit in their office taking more consults while their patient is being operated on by their technicians. I don't care how experience the technicians are, the surgeon should be involved. That's not to say that technicians aren't qualified to perform parts of a hair transplant procedure. But a surgeon should never disappear and be an inactive member of the procedure.

 

This is certainly a tragedy.

 

Bill

[GoodFella]

Good fella,

 

This is extremely shocking and very upsetting. And honestly, this is one of those examples that just goes to show how important and crucial it is to select a qualified and experienced hair transplant surgeon to operate your procedure. Some clinics have some experience but employee only technicians to perform surgery where there may be a surgeon, but they typically are uninvolved.

 

Honestly, I am beginning to get more and more concerned about clinics who utilize unsupervised technicians to perform hair transplant surgery especially when they have little to no experience. In my opinion, a licensed, skilled and experienced surgeon should be present during a hair transplant procedure and be at least relatively hands on. There is honestly no excuse for doctors to sit in their office taking more consults while their patient is being operated on by their technicians. I don't care how experience the technicians are, the surgeon should be involved. That's not to say that technicians aren't qualified to perform parts of a hair transplant procedure. But a surgeon should never disappear and be an inactive member of the procedure.

 

This is certainly a tragedy.

 

Bill

 

This is why forums like these are so important. People tend to discount the importance of research. You won't believe how many Hair Transplant clinics are popping up daily in India. Doctors have now reached salons to market themselves. Small 3 chair salons are putting up boards offering hair transplant. All they do is refer the patient to the doctor and get a small $50-100 commission.

 

Hairloss problem is growing and these so called doctors are properly butchering the patients because they can't afford expensive surgeries.

[TakingThePlunge]

What a horrible shame! This really puts things in perspective. People often consider hair transplant surgery to be fairly mundane and, under the care of a skilled and experienced surgeon, it does have an excellent track record for safety. But...all surgical procedures come with some degree of risk and that risk increased dramatically when the procedure is performed by unskilled, unlicensed and poorly trained individual.

 

Never take safety for granted when undergoing surgery.

[MAGNUMpi]

Honestly, I am beginning to get more and more concerned about clinics who utilize unsupervised technicians to perform hair transplant surgery especially when they have little to no experience. In my opinion, a licensed, skilled and experienced surgeon should be present during a hair transplant procedure and be at least relatively hands on. There is honestly no excuse for doctors to sit in their office taking more consults while their patient is being operated on by their technicians. I don't care how experience the technicians are, the surgeon should be involved. That's not to say that technicians aren't qualified to perform parts of a hair transplant procedure. But a surgeon should never disappear and be an inactive member of the procedure.

I agree. I've been to a few for consults while another patient was being worked on and couldn't help but think that if I got my HT at that clinic the doctor could be out in the office during my procedure having a consultation with someone else, while the techs are doing the work.

[MrGio-WHTCClinic]

There are too many red flags to discuss here. Failures of the doctors, business, and patient are civil issues. The local government has a criminal action to dispose.

[Dr Tejinder Bhatti]

Dear HTN Members,

 

 

It is with shock and sadness that I read about this horrible incident that occurred in my country. The truth however is that this is the result of nothing more than greed and greed knows no international boundaries. Why greed?

 

When you consider the low cost of entry into the field of hair restoration due to the proliferation of FUE worldwide then it simply becomes a matter of common sense. It requires only a relatively small investment to begin FUE with a high and quick return on the investment. FUE today is a fast money endeavor for many clinics. This is true all over the world including the popular FUE destination of Turkey, India and even in Europe and North America.

 

This particular case exemplifies this issue and reinforces the fact that FUE surgery is still surgery and when unqualified individuals get involved the chances of negative outcome are increased. This is a situation that never should have occurred.

[Stig]

Good fella,

 

This is extremely shocking and very upsetting. And honestly, this is one of those examples that just goes to show how important and crucial it is to select a qualified and experienced hair transplant surgeon to operate your procedure. Some clinics have some experience but employee only technicians to perform surgery where there may be a surgeon, but they typically are uninvolved.

 

Honestly, I am beginning to get more and more concerned about clinics who utilize unsupervised technicians to perform hair transplant surgery especially when they have little to no experience. In my opinion, a licensed, skilled and experienced surgeon should be present during a hair transplant procedure and be at least relatively hands on. There is honestly no excuse for doctors to sit in their office taking more consults while their patient is being operated on by their technicians. I don't care how experience the technicians are, the surgeon should be involved. That's not to say that technicians aren't qualified to perform parts of a hair transplant procedure. But a surgeon should never disappear and be an inactive member of the procedure.

 

This is certainly a tragedy.

 

Bill

 

Bil,

 

I am afraid to say that the majority of your recommended surgeons are taking consultations during procedures. Erdogan operates on up to 4 patients at any one given time for Pete's sake. Konior and Wesley are two surgeons who come to mind that are probably much more hands on than others. Can you elaborate more on what exactly you would expect them to be more hands on and present with, the whole surgery including graft placements? Just the incision making process? During FUE, do you expect the surgeon to be present the whole time during FUE extractions? My take on it is that I can live with a surgeon not being as hands on during FUE graft extractions and graft placements as long as it's the surgeon performing 100% of the incisions into the recepient, his technitions working on me are experienced , and that specific clinic consistently delivers quality results.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Stig

[sivy28]

to be honest id go one further , ive worked in surgery in the nhs for 27 years , I would expect the surgeon to carry out all the important parts of the surgery anaesthesia, extractions , (critical for transection rates) incisions, overseeing the implantation. in surgery the techs /assistants are there to assist the surgeon not do the procedure unless they are medically qualified so why do we expect less when we are paying for it ?

[Stig]

I don't disagree with you, however, there are clinics where surgeons are not very hands-on yet still produce the best results out there, I.e. I view H&W as the best clinic for strip FUT, yet Dr Hasson is taking consultations whilst his techs are placing grafts. How do I know this, because he spent 45 mins consulting with me whilst he had 2 surgeries on the go. Apparently he even goes home whilst techs work into the night placing grafts. However, I can't fault him because look at the quality results that consistently come out of that clinc. Same with Lorenzo, his techs will extract FUE grafts and perform graft placements, yet I think his FUE results are the best out there. Then I look at Dr Konior who does everything himself, only performs 1 procedure a day, and will only consult after he is done with he surgery. He also produces outstanding results, yet I think the H&W and Lorenzo are just as good. Therefore I would have no issue at all letting either of the 3 perform my procedure. In theory, I do completely agree with you that the surgeon should absolutely perform much more and be much more hands-on, but with these top surgeons, it seems they can still achive the same high standards by not having to be so hands on. As I said, Bill is going to have to remove most of his recommended surgeons if he expects the surgeons to be that much more hands-on.

[sivy28]

But how many patients do have good results, how can you gauge what percentage. It's amazing how many post straight after surgery then for the first few months then dissappear for some reason, supposedly to busy enjoying life etc then there's those who had a good result and obviously been pushed by the clinic to represent them, there's the not so good results where those supporting the clinics jump in to fudge over the opinions, then even a good result pops up from a technician mill. It all seems so variable, if a clinic is under a surgeon's name then he should do the work so you know what your getting when you pay your money otherwise how do you know who's doing the surgery if the tech /team leaves or changes, etc for example. unless they are named you don't know who you are getting so you are spending your money blindly. It looks like that the fue procedure relies on lots of variables /conditions being correct. Experienced hands precisely extracting, safely handling the grafts storing them correctly precise depth incisions, artistry in Flow and placement, your own body's ability to heal, stimulate growth etc I could go on, so when you are deciding to have the procedure done your aiming to minimize any risk to failure so the choice in the actual person performing the surgery is critical but it's so difficult if you cannot determine that. which is what's happening as you say even in the so called top clinics.

I wish it was easier find what percentage of successfulo results come out of clinics but it's not because a lot of the information out there is obviously tainted.

Edited June 11, 2016 by sivy28
Spelling

[JustJax]

But how many patients do have good results, how can you gauge what percentage. It's amazing how many post straight after surgery then for the first few months then dissappear for some reason, supposedly to busy enjoying life etc then there's those who had a good result and obviously been pushed by the clinic to represent them, there's the not so good results where those supporting the clinics jump in to fudge over the opinions, then even a good result pops up from a technician mill. It all seems so variable, if a clinic is under a surgeon's name then he should do the work so you know what your getting when you pay your money otherwise how do you know who's doing the surgery if the tech /team leaves or changes, etc for example. unless they are named you don't know who you are getting so you are spending your money blindly. It looks like that the fue procedure relies on lots of variables /conditions being correct. Experienced hands precisely extracting, safely handling the grafts storing them correctly precise depth incisions, artistry in Flow and placement, your own body's ability to heal, stimulate growth etc I could go on, so when you are deciding to have the procedure done your aiming to minimize any risk to failure so the choice in the actual person performing the surgery is critical but it's so difficult if you cannot determine that. which is what's happening as you say even in the so called top clinics.

I wish it was easier find what percentage of successfulo results come out of clinics but it's not because a lot of the information out there is obviously tainted.

 

You make some valid points, but in terms of people not posting because they are "supposedly to busy enjoying life", I wouldn't discount this as genuine. What benefit to come back and post a lie? Surely you just wouldn't post at all.

 

The the overwhelming majority of people are on forums to get initial advice (pre and post surgery) or perhaps to narrow down a decision on whether to proceed and what clinic or doctor to go with. A smaller percentage like to share and post about their full experience, creating a diary thread, wanting to help others. Some of those will stick around long term, but others move on with their lives because they not longer need to think or worrying about their hair.

 

I have frequented a number of forums (all types) over the years and some of them I visit intensely for a while but then perhaps haven't gone back for several months. For example, 18 months ago I had upper eyelid surgery. Pre and post surgery I posting regularly on a cosmetic surgery forum, but within about 3 months when I was fully healed and was getting back to life, I was A) not overly thinking posting updates and B) there wasn't much to update and I was 99% healed. Plus the fuss of trying to take good pics, cropping them, uploading them etc made me keep putting off doing the posts. I feel a bit bad about it as I know I have enjoyed and benefits for reading others experiences and seeing before and afters etc. But ultimately I just got on with life.

[sivy28]

thank you justlax,

I understand what you saying and i agree to some extent but the posts I was mainly referring to though were the ones where they get just past the ugly duckling phaze then disappear then its difficult to see what result they may have had

 

sivy

[Mick50]

The bottom line is it's a risk ,but it's a risk most of us here were /are willing to take ,I'm one of the ones who basically went to a tech clinic and had a pretty good result ,not perfect but being a NW 5-6, 4200 grafts were never going to give total coverage but I would say a good 90 percent of the grafts grew otherwise I wouldn't have the result I achieved. I actually think some people are not suitable for getting a hair transplant for reasons other than the physical ones i.e.,donor supply NW level etc, personality type is just as important if you're the type thats going to overly worry about what could go wrong maybe a transplant is not for you, all you can do is do your research pick a Doc you're happy with then go for it ,all i can say it's one of the best decisions I've ever made, going from the full horseshoe look ,to having a hairline and frontal coverage .has made a big difference to my life.

Best of luck whichever you decide

[MAGNUMpi]

/assistants are there to assist the surgeon, not do the procedure unless they are medically qualified so why do we expect less

sivy28 you made some great points. It is a glitch in the industry at the moment IMHO. A patient has no way to know if the tech is an amazing/qualified person who has been there for years and assisted in great outcomes, or a new trainee who has been there for a month and a half and is transecting like it's popcorn.

What about a list of good techs? I've heard some names over the years (Lorezo's for instance) but not many. Patients are paying top dollar for their chosen Dr. to work on them. The doctor "should" be doing the work.

[Melvin- Admin]

But how many patients do have good results, how can you gauge what percentage. It's amazing how many post straight after surgery then for the first few months then dissappear for some reason, supposedly to busy enjoying life etc then there's those who had a good result and obviously been pushed by the clinic to represent them, there's the not so good results where those supporting the clinics jump in to fudge over the opinions, then even a good result pops up from a technician mill. It all seems so variable, if a clinic is under a surgeon's name then he should do the work so you know what your getting when you pay your money otherwise how do you know who's doing the surgery if the tech /team leaves or changes, etc for example. unless they are named you don't know who you are getting so you are spending your money blindly. It looks like that the fue procedure relies on lots of variables /conditions being correct. Experienced hands precisely extracting, safely handling the grafts storing them correctly precise depth incisions, artistry in Flow and placement, your own body's ability to heal, stimulate growth etc I could go on, so when you are deciding to have the procedure done your aiming to minimize any risk to failure so the choice in the actual person performing the surgery is critical but it's so difficult if you cannot determine that. which is what's happening as you say even in the so called top clinics.

I wish it was easier find what percentage of successfulo results come out of clinics but it's not because a lot of the information out there is obviously tainted.

 

This is not just FUE, FUT surgeons typically only cut the strip and do the suturing, techs place and dissect the grafts, no matter what procedure its good to remember that modern day hair restoration is a team procedure.

 

When you're moving 2000+grafts in one sitting fatigue is easy and likely to occur. Thats why surgeons have delegated certain aspects of the procedure to techs. For example graft placement, in FUE i feel scoring the graft is crucial therefore this should be done by the surgeon. However, the removal of the scored FU can be removed by the tech, the site incisions should be done by the surgeon as well, the graft placement can be done by the tech. In doing this youre ensuring the surgeon performs the crucial aspects with no fatigue to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, no surgery is guaranteed and even a 99% success rate doesn't mean you wont fall in the 1%. At some point you either take a leap of faith or buzz your head and move on with life.

[Shampoo]

A+ post Mick50

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

Wow that is really sad. A young boy going to medical school. Still cant wrap my mind around how the hospital let a person leave when they knew he needed to be admitted. Couldn't get away with that here in the States.