WARNING- Dr. Carlos Spera

[szubizar]

I just got back from a follow-up interview with this "surgeon" one year after our surgery. The purpose of this post is to warn vulnerable prospects from becoming another victim to this professional salesman.

 

Let me introduce you to the background: I'm 20, and I had my surgery with this doctor when I was 19.

 

I had a somewhat receding hairline, with some small entries. The doctor suggested 1500 drafts for me.

 

Here are some warning signs I ignored in my rush to get a surgery done (always a terrible mistake; seriously, folks, don't rush with this procedure):

 

- The interview did not last more than 5-7 minutes. Their photo album only had 4 pictures of surgeries done. They rush in patients in and out.

 

- They asked to set an appointment for the surgery, and the first topic to come was money. During the initial interview and the day of the surgery, they never went into specifics into what they were in fact going to do to me.

 

- The day of the surgery, the surgeon was barely around. It was two women in nurse dresses who put in the grafts. 95%+ of the work was done by these women, not the surgeon. He came in once to inject me with more local anesthesia when I was feeling pain after the first hour of surgery on the incision of the back of my head.

 

Results:

 

- The hairs were put in sticking strictly up and straight. The sides of my head were done with the hairs standing up instead of coming out in an angular shape from the corner of the entry going downwards. It was not natural-looking. Separation between each hair is large; there is lots of transparency around the transplant area.

 

- My hair came out kinky. Some of the frontline hairs are twisted and limp, and there are evens some 2-hair and 3-hair growths on the hairline.

 

- The hairline on front is straight as a ruler. Same for the lines they did to cover the entry. No irregularity at all to create a natural look.

 

My hair does not look natural. I have to side-comb it to cover the transplanted covers to the entries, because the transparency is so apparent and the hairline looks incomplete.

 

Encounter with the surgeon:

 

- I kept calling to set an appointment with the surgeon, as they never called me even 1 year after the surgery. They had no interest in follow-up.

 

It took an entire month, as the doctor was never "available".

 

When I was finally given the appointment and went, I waited an hour and a half to talk with the surgeon, despite the appointment being at 4 pm sharp. The discussion with the doctor did not last more than 6 minutes.

 

The doctor told me that I was mistaken, that my surgery had been done fine, that all the other doctors (recommended by this site, by the way) that I had gone to for an opinion were just looking out to criticize, that they always do that.

 

His descriptions of Dr's like Glenn Charles and Bernard Nusbaum were, and I quote this verbatim "Son unos comemierdas" (Translation from Spanish: They're all shit-eaters).

 

He and the nurse he had brought in basically started to laugh at me when I explained that kinky hair growth on fine-haired men was often the result of poorly implanted grafts.

 

He kept insisting that my hairline was fine, and I asked him if he'd be willing to put that to the test by asking for outside opinions. He said it was irrelevant.

 

I was dismissed, they walked out. I didn't know whether to be furious or cry my eyes out at the arrogant treatment by this surgeon. I was duped out of hard-earned money, that they will certainly not reimburse.

 

This doctor preyed on a desperate 19-year old, and he believes he can get away with it since he has appearances on TV and radio interviews.

 

I want this to be a cautionary tale for prospects out there. I don't wish this feeling of devastation I am now feeling.

 

You may contact me for corroboration.

[Sparky]

I dont understand why people like yourself arent suing these butchers. The only reason I didnt sue is because I didnt want my parents or anyone else to find out about my HT.

 

He shouldnt get away with this.

[szubizar]

Because these scoundrels always make you sign a "results may vary" paper before surgery, and even if that can be dealt with, I'm still 20, which means I don't have the disposable income to hire a lawyer and carry out a case.

 

The money for HT was saved.

[Sparky]

do it no win no fee. You can pierce that "results may vary" BS.

[freakin]

It is not hard to see how an ill-natured surgeon and his staff can take on a cavalier attitude when you signed waivers relieving them of responsibility. Furthermore, they can, and will, make you feel that you are the one with the problem. Human nature at its worst. Sorry that you have to go through this.

[danny_m]

Dude,

 

I really feel for you, i know the feeling very well, i am only 22 and have just had my HT done, obviously being young, cost was a factor in my decision, however after luckily stumbling across this site and talking with a lot of people i have (hopefully) picked a good doctor (obviously i wont know until i see the results in the next 6-9 months!).

 

I felt what must've been a tenth of a percent of the anger you feel as i read your post! It is horrific that these cowboy doctors, can so easily prey upon people, and nearly destroy peoples lives with the "work" they do.

 

Wish there was something in place that gave you some kind of reprisal against them!

 

Wishing you all the best mate, keen to find out how things progress, keep us updated!

[danny_m]

Also are you able to post pics of the results so we can see for ourselves?

 

Ta

[Raphael84]

Hey man,

 

Sorry to hear of your HT experience. Nobody should have to go through that. Especially so young. But I suppose that the younger "desperate" genration are their "bread and butter".

 

Anything we can do to help, were here man!

 

How is your donor area and scar?

Whereabout are you based, or where is this Dr located?

[Severn]

There are two non-issues in your account, but the rest are inexcuseable.

 

The kinky hair is often normal for the first few growth cycles. My 300 micro grafts I had back in '96 came out corkscrewed but eventually straightened out. There is a thread somewhere on here describing how to straighten them out.

 

The second issue is that of the nurses doing the graft placement. Even the very top HT doctors use techs to insert the grafts. The docs' work is to determine how much of the strip to take out, it's location, and to perform a proper closure. Then most importantly placing the proper graft incisions at the proper angles and distribution.

 

If the doctor cut the grafts and placed them too(tech work), he'd be there 48 hours doing your procedure.