The doctor's plight - Concerned Observer

[hairturkey]

Before a surgery, the doctor should explain every detail of how the surgery will go,

what kind of results they should expect and what the patient limitations are in terms of donor sufficiency vs size of the bald area.

 

It is upon the patient to ask questions and make sure everything is clear before they undertake the surgery. Once the surgery has started there is no turning back, they have to trust the doctor and the entire team to give the best they can.

 

In this industry I have observed that very good doctors are falling prey of psychologically unsettled patients who have unrealistic expectations from the surgery. If things turn out in the realistic way that is expected, but not what the patient wanted, they threaten the doctor with writing a bad report on the internet and insult them; using it as an excuse to get away with disrespectful behavior. The doctor is then pushed to the corner, trying to clear his name off the bad report that was not even of their doing. This is becoming such a common occurrence and it is not in any way fair at all. I would like us to find a solution for this.

 

Concerned Observer

[chris39]

Of course it happens , but a bad transplant can also occur due to poor surgical skills on the part of the surgeon / technicians . There's a well known Turkish surgeeon on here who got greedy and compromised quality for profit , and it's quite likely he'll never get his reputation back . These are the kind of surgeons who should be exposed .

 

On the flipside , it's also true that people can kill a surgeons reputation due to unrealistic expectations. I've seen cases wher the result looks solid to me , and others , but the patient just doesn't see it .

 

Another reason why a transplant can fail is due to patient physiology . It's something at present that neither the surgeon nor the patient can predict . It's not the surgeons fault and it's not the patients fault . It's an issue that has not really been addressed , and it's a topic I like to see more research on . It can be that the grafts just don't take from the off , or can even be a good transplant initially but for some reason ( possibly due to poor blood supply ) the density decreases after a year or more .

[pkipling]

In general, it's up to the surgeon to try and discern whether or not a prospective patient is emotionally/psychologically stable enough to proceed with a hair transplant. There isn't a science to this, however, so it is possible that patients with unrealistic expectations who are determined to be unsatisfied no matter what will slip by. We see these patients in the forum from time to time inquiring about a hair transplant, and it eventually becomes clear that they're just not ready to move forward with a procedure - and that doing so would most likely result in even more frustration and heartache for them.

 

Chris39 also makes a good point about patient physiology and it's current unpredictability. Unfortunately, there is always a risk with hair transplants (and any medical procedure, in that case) and even the best surgeons in the world can run into problems when a patient's specific physiology just doesn't want to cooperate. On these rare occasions, it's heartbreaking for all parties involved, especially when it seems there's no one really to blame.

[Shampoo]

In this industry I have observed that very good doctors are falling prey of psychologically unsettled patients who have unrealistic expectations from the surgery.

 

I have thought the same thing myself.

 

To be honest it surprises me, but it probably shouldn't, when we see patients on this message board with obvious mental illness obsessing and sometimes freaking out about their hair transplant even when the results look pretty decent. You would think the doctors would be able to easily spot these types during the consults and pre-op communications, but I guess not.

[hsrp10]

So is the OP a hair restoration surgeon or clinic rep from Turkey that is experiencing this issue?

That's what I got from reading the post.

[hairturkey]

I think to some extent the doctor can be able to tell that the patient is unstable, the best way is not to accept such patients. But if the doctor is are sure that they can give the patient the best results, then they can risk it. However factors like impatience, anxiety make the patient over-react without reasoning out.

 

Then again, good results also depend on the after care that the patient does when they are back home. Failing to treat the transplanted hair with care after the surgery can make a good hair transplant look bad in the end. Then obviously the doctor is to blame on something he has no control over. Good results come from perfect co-operation of the two parties.

 

Chris39, I perfectly understand the fact that some doctors get greedy as they start earning more money then they compromise the quality. That is a completely different case to deal with. I agree with you on this, such practices should definitely be avoided.

 

hrsp10 Its not just a specific practice going through this, I think its an issue that every surgeon faces. Some claims might be true, others might just be maliciously intended. Posts on bad surgeries should be investigated further by the people and the forum administrators to establish the truth before making an innocently hardworking doctors name look bad. Both the patient and the doctor should be asked their opinion on the claim. That is the only way this can be resolved.