Multi Unit Hair Grafting Procedure

[Researchinghelp]

I have experienced the most horrific outcome of a hair transplant after my recent procedure. The hair surgeon used 860 multi unit grafts in the crown area, 120 micrografts in the front hairline and 280 fu in between those areas. I had severe pain, much bleeding and scabbing.

What would cause this outcome?

[frankdatank]

You need to go see a doctor as soon as possible if you haven't done so already.

[Researchinghelp]

Yes, the doc said it would be fine. They said it wasn’t infected but prescribed me antibiotics.

The third picture in my initial post is day 30. Had severe shock loss.

These pics are before surgery and after.

[JayLDD]

Jesus christ. Who was the doctor? They should be in prison.

[Researchinghelp]

Dr.Chris Pawlinga works with PAI Mefical in Nashville, TN - he travels here from New York to do the surgeries. Turns out he is a family practice medical doctor who trained under Dr. Beehner (very well respected) for a year but not an actual surgeon.

He was recommended on this site but now I can’t find his recommendation profile.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Researchinghelp

[JayLDD]

Dr.Chris Pawlinga works with PAI Mefical in Nashville, TN - he travels here from New York to do the surgeries then leaves. Turns out he is a family practice medical doctor who trained under Dr. Beehner (very well respected) for a year but not an actual surgeon.

He was recommended on this site but now he can’t find his recommendation profile.

 

You should file a lawsuit. This is a genuine case of medical negligence from outdated and medieval techniques. Goes with out saying that you're not going to see any growth and are likely to look far worse than you did before.

 

Are you sure it was Pawlinga and not someone saying they were Pawlinga? Some of his results online look fine with true follicular units, which isn't what you received.

[Researchinghelp]

Yes, it was him although I didn’t meet Him until the morning of my surgery. The director of the practices gave me the consultation. He used multi unit hair grafts for the largest portion. I could find very little cases of his considering he has been doing surgeries for 15 years+.

[Researchinghelp]

PAI has this procedure Multi Unit Hair Grafting trademarked and their website shows it is the best method out there. It was a disaster.

[Baldrick101]

Those black bits look as though you have scalp necrosis but a professional's opinion is needed. If that is the case you will be left with scarring and no hair will take there.

[jjsrader]

Tar & feather that butcher!

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Research,

 

I say the following from the perspective of a medical doctor and not with any intent to stoke the flames of this situation:

 

Several of those dark patches appear to be necrosis. Even in a healing state, necrotic skin often requires prolonged antibiotic therapy, possible surgical wound debridement, and usually follow-up wound care. I advise you in the strongest terms to make an appointment with an outside doctor who focuses some aspect of their practice on wound management and have an evaluation.

 

Best of luck,

 

Dr Blake Bloxham

[Researchinghelp]

I appreciate your input. Just trying to find honest answers. The doctor that did this said it was not necrosis nor an infection but just “looked yucky” and would take extra time to heal. The scabs are almost gone today but not completely -day 37 and the shock loss is currently devastating. I wanted other professionals opinions as to how often this occurs and why???

They say they have never seen anything like this yet assure me I will have good results in a year.

[Dolph1969]

I thought HT's like this were a thing of the past.:eek::eek:

 

See a reputable HT surgeon asap.

 

Good luck getting this sorted out.

 

To lighten it up a bit, I think I found who your Dr was...

[Gasthoerer]

Jesus Christ,

 

What did this clinic do to you?

 

This is an far oudated technique they used which alone is horrific. On top, this is clearly a horrible infection and/or necrosis. Go to a doctor asap and then to a lawyer straight after.

 

If you contacted the clinic with this Pictures or in Person it is criminal to just sent you home with some meds.

 

Why did you go to this clinic and use this procedure? How can you be so calm with such a nasty infection? Sorry, this is really hard to understand for anyone.

 

I wish you the best, but it is your life...you have to act.

[Speegs]

PLEASE read Dr. Bloxham's post above and URGENTLY seek medical attention.

 

This is going to require antibiotics if not more to fix.

[Speegs]

I appreciate your input. Just trying to find honest answers. The doctor that did this said it was not necrosis nor an infection but just “looked yucky” and would take extra time to heal. The scabs are almost gone today but not completely -day 37 and the shock loss is currently devastating. I wanted other professionals opinions as to how often this occurs and why???

They say they have never seen anything like this yet assure me I will have good results in a year.

That is a bogus statement by them, they can't claim that they've never seen a case so foul as yours and yet guarantee pristine results to come out of it.

 

Please seek medical attention from a dermatologist or hair restoration physician more trustworthy.

 

Your scalp health is at risk, as is the possibility of disfigurement or worse if you get a blood infection.

[Researchinghelp]

This is my hair 4 weeks AFTER surgery and what my scalp looked like before(taken at the doctor’s office during consultation)

The doctor’s office broke up the scabs with a scalpel 2 different times during the hair washing process (at aprox.1 week and 2 mark) and oral/topical antibiotics. Scalp is still not completely healed and extensive shock loss.

I have been to the office many times getting reassured each time that I will have fine results in the end. They have recommended a hair laser treatment to expedite the healing and even offering it at NO COST- generous right?

At this point I do not trust their advice or care.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Researchinghelp

[Speegs]

This is my hair before surgery and Week 4 following the procedure-

The doctor’s office broke up the scabs with a scalpel 2 different times during the hair washing process (at aprox.1 week and 2 mark) and oral/topical antibiotics. Scalp is still not completely healed and extensive shock loss.

I have been to the office many times getting reassured each time that I will have fine results in the end. They have recommended a hair laser treatment to expedite the healing and even offering it at NO COST- generous right?

At this point I do not trust their advice or care.

The fact they are making you guarantees is a liability on their end, especially with such graphic evidence to the contrary, do you have their claims in writing?

 

You may want to reach out to other patients to learn if they've had similarly unsavory experience and proceed in tandem with a class action legal recourse.

 

This is an unacceptable situation, especially the silly attempts to guarantee a positive outcome for you when they simply do not know that and have provided no evidence to trust that.

[TomCruise]

You need to post a picture of your scalp immediately following the transplant. Your "before" pictures looks like it was taken roughly 20 years before.

[Researchinghelp]

You need to post a picture of your scalp immediately following the transplant. Your "before" pictures looks like it was taken roughly 20 years before.

 

The before picture was taken at the doctor’s office and are straight from the file. Scalp immediately following the surgery-a few hours afterwards taken at home.

[hairthere]

I've been on these forums ten years and don't ever recall seeing a post-op picture as brutal as the ones you are showing. This is clearly not normal and I would heed Dr. Bloxham's advice and seek out another medical doctor's care immediately.

[dan26]

Gofundme for your legal bills so we can put this guy out of business permanently?

[Gasthoerer]

It’s very obvious you have dead flesh on your scalp. Stop posting, stop going to this butcher and go to the emergency room. Why would you trust this guy. The moderators should immediately flag his name and create a warning list for surgeons like this.

 

There is nothing to add.

It is your scalp, your health, you life. Do sth to save it NOW.

[Researchinghelp]

He claims that he does all procedures the same way but it is in my slow healing that is the problem-not the technique.

I am not sure why this physician was recommended not his website but now I don’t see his name listed. See below-

appreciate everyone’s concern.

 

Dear Forum Members,

 

As many of you know, we gather as much information as possible about a physician, their staff, technique and track record before they are even considered for recommendation on the Hair Transplant Network. Part of our review process involves getting input from patients and the members of this forum community. To learn more about this review process, click here.

 

We would appreciate your input regarding the potential recommendation of Dr. Chris Pawlinga of Saratoga Springs, New York.

 

As a long time associate, colleague, and protegee of Dr. Mike Beehner’s, Dr. Pawlinga has over 5 years of experience and performs hair transplants exclusively with Dr. Beehner at his clinic in Saratoga, New York. Dr. Beehner (click here to view his recommendation profile) has watched over Dr. Pawlinga for years and is confident in his ability to perform state of the art hair transplant surgery with excellent results.

 

Dr. Pawlinga and his full time staff of 5 technicians that he and Dr. Beehner both benefit from have the skill and experience to perform over 2000 follicular unit grafts in a single session. While he continues to evolve and refine his technique to perform larger sessions when appropriate for the patient, Dr. Pawlinga prefers to meet his patients’ goals in multiple sessions to minimize the risk of scarring and conserve the scalps’ vasculature.

 

Dr. Pawlinga typically performs hair transplantation on one patient per day in order to grant him/her with his full attention. If session sizes are minimal, he’ll sometimes work on two patients in a single day.

 

Dr. Pawlinga believes in customizing his hair transplant procedure in order to meet his patient’s goals and expectations. Using a combination of needles and custom cut blades as small as 0.8mm, Dr. Pawlinga carefully creates tiny incisions to mimic the hairs’ natural direction while minimizing trauma to the scalp. Dr. Pawlinga likes to use parallel (sagital) incisions in between existing hairs to avoid transection while using perpendicular (coronal/lateral) incisions in areas of no hair to maximize density.

 

Dr. Pawlinga uses a single blade scalpel to harvest the donor strip to minimize transection and uses a single running suture with a standard closure on the donor wound. While Dr. Pawlinga can and has used the trichophytic closure technique, he feels that his standard closure produces pencil thin scars on par with trichophytic closures.

 

All follicular units and the occasional double follicular unit are dissected and trimmed under microscopes and carefully placed into the recipient sites by his experienced staff to maximize hair growth yield. Dr. Pawlinga feels that using some double follicular units in conjunction with follicular units can aid in the appearance of density while maintaining naturalness in a select group of patients.

 

Dr. Pawlinga is very hands on and likes to place some of the grafts himself, especially in the critical hairline areas. Towards the end of the procedure, he’ll often use the stick and place to add density to the frontal core.

 

Given Dr. Pawlinga’s experience and commitment to quality follicular unit hair transplantation, I believe that he should be considered for recommendation. See our standards for recommendation.

 

Patient and surgical examples can be found below:

 

1654 Grafts with Dr. Pawlinga

 

3700 Grafts in multiple sessions with Dr. Pawlinga

 

2585 Grafts in 2 sessions with Dr. Pawlinga

 

1576 Grafts with Dr. Pawlinga

 

1300 Grafts dense packing at hairline

 

2474 Grafts in 2 Sessions with Dr. Pawlinga

 

1790 Grafts Hair Transplant Repair

 

Surgical Photos

 

I welcome input and comments from forum members regarding his potential recommendation.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Spanker]

I agree that this looks like necrosis and you should probably be on antibiotics. Pretty bad.