Best doctors who perform HT surgeries themselves?

[bruce90]

Hi,

Just wondering who the best surgeons are that actually perform the surgery themselves? So far I know of Dr. Bhatti and Dr. Demirsoy who both do the extracting and incisions themselves. Would like some more recommendations please since I'm looking at doctors that limit the use of techs.

Thanks,

[Triple7]

Konior 

[Upshall]

When you say “themselves” do you also mean placement? Because you only mentioned incision and extractions. 

[bruce90]

I know most doctors won't do the entire operation themselves so generally I mean the ones who do the extractions and incisions themselves as I told those parts require the most skill.

Edited March 11, 2019 by bruce90

[Kiwi Guy]

Realistically the only one I know who does the extractions, incisions AND graft implantation's for the most part by himself is Dr Konior, there may be others but I don't know them.

[Baldrick101]

I don't understand the obsession and fixation by some people on Dr only surgeries. There is no advantage. 

[bruce90]

2 hours ago, Baldrick101 said:

I don't understand the obsession and fixation by some people on Dr only surgeries. There is no advantage. 

I'm not sure why you think there would be no advantage. If you go to a clinic where they're using only techs then you have no clue how much experience each individual person has.

If someone who lacks experience does a crucial part of your surgery like extractions then there's a chance many of your grafts can be transected. 

Extractions require a lot more skill to do than implanting. I'd rather have a doctor who I know has over 10 years of experience rather than some random person.

[RecessionProof]

Konior is known for doing most of the procedure himself. I’m pretty sure Gabel and Cooley are similarly very involved with minimal use of techs (as well as Nadimi, who also works at Konior’s clinic).

 

There’s a lot of debate over how much the balance between doctors and techs matters. Some would argue that utilizing techs for the heavy lifting is often beneficial, as it’s very difficult for most surgeons to perform this kind of meticulous surgery over the course of several hours. Many techs are very skilled and have years of experience, so I don’t think a tech heavy clinic is necessarily bad as long as you talk to the clinic and make sure you’re on the same page about who will be doing what.

 

Personally though, I wanted as few variables as possible for my own surgery so Konior was a no brainer. 

[Gasthoerer]

This topics has been discussed a thousand times and the names are always the same. Out of me head (typical comment)

- Konior (not many FUE results by patients) and Nadimi (relativly unknown)

- Keser (atypcal way of extraction)

- Hei(t)mann (no mircoscopes)

- Lupanzula (implantation mostly by techs as far as I know)

- HLC (3 surgeons specialized for different cases e. g. one for BHT)

 

There you go. HLC might be the cheapest option.

 

[Baldrick101]

19 hours ago, bruce90 said:

I'm not sure why you think there would be no advantage. If you go to a clinic where they're using only techs then you have no clue how much experience each individual person has.

If someone who lacks experience does a crucial part of your surgery like extractions then there's a chance many of your grafts can be transected. 

Extractions require a lot more skill to do than implanting. I'd rather have a doctor who I know has over 10 years of experience rather than some random person.

Personally I would not want a fatigued Dr working on me alone for 10 hours a day. Lets say the doctor does 2000 odd extractions on his own. The grafts are then left in dishes and out of the body for many hours. Do you expect him to trim, prepare and sort them too on his own? Then he has lunch. Then he comes back and does all the incisions on his own. He will need to constantly stop to keep an eye on the grafts and make sure they are kept in optimal conditions. Following the incisions he then starts implanting the grafts all on his own. Not only will he be very tired doing this but the grafts will have been out of the body for far longer. Now imagine the doc does this 5 days a week. No thank you. Doesn't make any rational sense to insist on a doctor only procedure unless its a small case. Some of the top clinics have techs that have been working for them for 20 years, they are highly skilled and arguably more skilled at implanting than the actual surgeon himself. I would rather have this tech doing some of the work as they are true specialists and very skilled.

Of course, if you go to bosley or wherever then you may get a travelling tech who is likely inexperienced. But you aren't doing yourself any favours by wearing blinders and insisting on surgeon only transplants.  

[bruce90]

I dont know if you guys purposefully glaze over the points I make when responding to my comments. I never said I wanted a doctor to do the entire surgery but I said I would prefer the doctors do the extractions. 

Obviously I think the most important parts should be done by a doctor and parts that require less skill can be done by techs. Most doctors who are involved in the surgery do the extractions themselves and create the slits and the rest is done by techs. Doing extractions for a 2000 graft fue is most likely 4 hours at the most.

[Sean]

I think Dr Keser can be added to that list.  

Dr Vories also does the work himself.

Dr Bhatti I believe does as well. 

 

[PlzRespond]

Correct me if im wrong but I believe most doctors in the US are required to perform removal of the fue grafts/strip as this is considered "surgery." In some cases I've heard of PA's doing the extraction for FUE under the doctors supervision. Techs/nurses are allowed to do the implantation part. It's overseas and in Canda where the rules are different and techs can be utilized for extraction.

[Jhonny]

I absolutely agree with bruce90, in fact I am too only considering doctors that do extractions and incisions by themselves.

The ones I know so far are Bhatti, Demirsoy, Lupanzula. 

I'm very interested to know more names as well (on this price range in my case only).

[negger]

i think...

1- juan couto

2-rafael de freitas

3-keser

4-lupanzula

5-bruno pinto

6-lorenzo

7-konior

[PlzRespond]

11 hours ago, negger said:

i think...

1- juan couto

2-rafael de freitas

3-keser

4-lupanzula

5-bruno pinto

6-lorenzo

7-konior

How do I pronounce your user name?

[Rawkerboi]

Dr. Radha from India too..

[negger]

On 4/6/2019 at 10:20, PlzRespond said:

¿Cómo pronuncio tu nombre de usuario?

negger ; i dont understand your question, im sorry english is not my lenguage

[LaserCap]

Some great answers.  I think it is ludicrous to think that a doctor can do everything.  If he did, the patient would be in the chair for days.  

Do place a lot of value in the clinical staff.  These are MA's and nurses that typically, this is all they do.  This position, which requires trimming and placing, requires time.  First, they have to learn how to trim grafts. It is typically the Doctor that decides how the grafts should look.  They also have to learn the nomenclature.  (If the doctor says, double up, it means that the staff should place two grafts in the same slot.  This typically happens farther back in the pattern to provide more density).  After X amount of time, these "experts" can do hundreds of grafts in a day.  Then comes the placing.

How good you are at this can take years.  I now plenty of MA's  that this is all they do. And they are great at it.  Honestly, I would not trust a doctor to do any of this work, But when it comes to making sites, there is a difference between a doctor and a tech.  This same subject was discussed at the ISHRS a couple of years ago. Why? Because of the level of education and understanding medicine. While this can probably be done by doctors with their eyes closed, (not brain surgery), it goes require knowledge.  Where to make incisions, how deep, what angles, are important.  I recall reading a report that several patients passed away on the chair because the person doing the procedure was not an actual doctor.

But what happens, as time passes, the staff does become the doctor.  The verbiage becomes the same. Actions become the same.  I'll bet some doctors, from time to time, allow staff members to do incisions, etc because they have seen the techs do the work properly.  Negligence? Perhaps.  Unfortunately the patient is under the local and is oblivious to any of this.  Is the tech working under the umbrella of the doctor? Sure.  But at the end of the day, if something does go wrong, it is the responsibility of the doctor.

How many times have I seen techs, students, do FUE harvesting? OFTEN.  Is it right? It all depends on background and education.  The problem, I find, is that when it comes to hair restoration there is no regulatory industry.  Can you imagine, a doctor can go to the local library, read up on hair restoration and start practicing the next day?  It is the patient that suffers.  This is why I am happy to contribute whenever I can.  It takes YEARS of continuous work for a doctor to know what he's doing.  Same applies to techs.

In summary, it is always about results.  Review photos. Tons of them.  If the doctor and staff are good at what they do, they'll have hundreds of photos available to you.  Not just 5 or 6.  If so, RUN the other way.

[Portugal25]

Kinda copy pasting from another post but we are discussing the same here. 

I am going to book my second HT and for me it’s all about having a world class Doctor doing the whole procedure with a steller technique and the best price. 

Searched Doctors that do the entire surgery themselves with either stick & place or DHT that have a steady flow of patient posts showing great results and charge a price I can afford as I need 4-5k grafts. 

My search lead me to Kaan Pekiner: 2.15€/graft for Stick&Place with all manual FUE and does BHT from the beard to add density for 2.4€/graft. Check his results in this forum and the italian forum https://bellicapelli.forumfree.it/m/?f=64816590

Couldn’t find any other Doctor with this level of technique/results at this price level. 

Let me know if you find other Doctors with posted results that are doing the whole procedure themselves with either stick&place or DHT with Lion implanter at this price point. 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Portugal25

[California]

Hello from Darling Buds India/ Dr. Bhatti's Clinic. 

Interesting topic. At Darling Buds, we do believe that the HT Surgeon should be doing most of the critical tasks himself/herself. Even though we have registered nurses (who have been with our Clinic for many years and who have tons of experience) assisting Dr. Bhatti but he chooses to perform the tasks that warrant the Surgeon's involvement, himself. 

Here is a link to a YouTube video giving a glimpse of the tasks that Dr. Bhatti take care of for this Patients. 

Below is a link to a related discussion and Dr. Bhatti's opinion on this matter:

https://www.regrowhair.com/extraction-vs-insertion-what-is-the-most-important-stage-in-follicular-unit-extraction-fue-hair-transplantation/

At our Clinic, we follow the best practices in the field of FUE. In today's HT industry, there is more to a Clinic than meets the eye. The best way forward is to research Patient's comments posted on this and other HT forums to make up our minds rather than go by the tall claims on the Clinics on their websites and social media. 

One last observation: I had a chat with Dr. Bhatti a few years ago when he visited San Francisco. I asked him that since he was so well known in the HT world in India and abroad, if he would consider opening franchise offices in some metro cities of India such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai etc. His response was short and sweet...."I live in Chandigarh. My Clinic is in Chandigarh. If I open another Clinic, I won't be able to perform the procedures myself. I only take on the Patients that I can help myself. My Patient care and my reputation is way more important to me than money. So, no to franchise clinics".

 

Best regards,

California

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Interesting topic, but just because a surgeon does everything himself doesn’t guarantee success. IMO technicians are a crucial part of modern hair restoration.

In the old days, every surgeon would do everything themselves. These were the days of hair plugs when surgeons would consider 1,000 grafts a mega session. Surgery wasn’t better back then just because they worked by themselves.

[Portugal25]

39 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Interesting topic, but just because a surgeon does everything himself doesn’t guarantee success. IMO technicians are a crucial part of modern hair restoration.

In the old days, every surgeon would do everything themselves. These were the days of hair plugs when surgeons would consider 1,000 grafts a mega session. Surgery wasn’t better back then just because they worked by themselves.

 

Melvin in Turkey they are relying in cheap labour from 20 somethings and Syrian refugees to charge those ridiculous all inclusive prices so I could never advise someone to chose a tech based clinic in Turkey.

In Portugal it`s pretty much the same, my best friend did his HT in a well known Portuguese clinic because of the Doctor that runs it and he ended being operated by a Senegalese tech (results are average and I am pretty sure the Doctor would have done better).

Edited August 6, 2019 by Portugal25

[Melvin- Admin]

23 minutes ago, Portugal25 said:

 

Melvin in Turkey they are relying in cheap labour from 20 somethings and Syrian refugees to charge those ridiculous all inclusive prices so I could never advise someone to chose a tech based clinic in Turkey.

In Portugal it`s pretty much the same, my best friend did his HT in a well known Portuguese clinic because of the Doctor that runs it and he ended being operated by a Senegalese tech (results are average and I am pretty sure the Doctor would have done better).

Yes, black market FUE is a real problem. However, not all technicians are equal, just like not every surgeon is equal. Many reputable clinics have technicians who’ve been with them for decades.

A lot of times these technicians may even be more skilled at certain aspects of surgery than the surgeons themselves. For example, extracting grafts, implanting grafts etc. Bottomline, choose a clinic with a reputation of consistent results. These clinics don’t hire taxi cab drivers or refugees. 

[DrTBarghouthi]

I believe that some aspects of the HT are best done by experienced techs. Moreover, the procedure is physically demanding and i do believe that the entire procedure will be extremely exhausting to do entirely by one person (doc or tech), and this in turn will have a negative effect on the quality of work and results.