Norwood 4, 2100 grafts, FUE, Dr Lupanzula, Mar-20

[baalloss]

Hi Huncholini, my 12 months will be up on 03-Mar-21, and hopefully I will get the doctors view then on why things have panned out in the way that they have.

So, pls hold fire till then.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by baalloss

[RandoBrando517]

Look forward to see the update 

[Huncholini]

Hey Baalloss, do you have an update?

[baalloss]

Warning – long post.

So, here’s a summary:

It’s 15 months since the op, and things haven’t worked out well. Quick-and-dirty review of the whole process :

Weeks leading up to the operation  – good (Scott was very responsive, providing quick answers, clear pre-op instructions etc)

Day of the surgery  - excellent (great doctor,  very pleasant, painless op, friendly staff, etc)

Post operation support - incredibly poor (no advice given, being fobbed off, manipulative actions, toxic)

 

Photos.

Here is the photo that sums up the result. The first is taken on the morning of the op; the middle one, an hour after the op, and the last one is in Jun ’21, 15 months later.

As you can see, things haven’t worked out. The reason is explained below.

 

 

The dream turns sour.

My very first post in this thread explains how I was very impressed with the things leading up to the operation and the day of the transplant itself. That was excellent, and this still stands, of course. However, in the months that followed, things took a turn. I started realising something was not right at the 6-month stage, but was trying to be patient, and it was at the 9 month mark that I came to a realisation that this is not working. (See photos above in post dated 09-Dec-20).

I was emotionally distraught, and wanted to know what could be the reason for this poor result so far. I hoped that the clinic would give me some ideas, advice, information etc. However, there was nothing – I mean literally NOTHING – not one piece of “Oh, it could be because of X or Y or Z….”. No explanation of why the growth was poor, what steps I can take to find out more, what the clinic has done in the past for other patients in this situation etc.  Instead, there was sugar-coating, refusal to accept that there was even a problem and re-assurances that all will be well by the 12 month mark, that I needed to have trust, and that the doctor will only look at my case after 12 months, and at that point, I will get a full assessment, a proper investigation, and we will work as a team to fix this, etc etc. All contact was with Scott. No access to/guidance from the doctor at all. This was all very well, and I totally get the 12 month timescale, but I desperately wanted to know the reason why my transplant wasn’t working, so I came on this forum and wrote the post mentioned above to ask the community here for advice. There was no criticism, no judgement, no blame in that post  -  just a simply request for information.

However, a few days after I posted that, I get a call from Scott and I am reprimanded on the phone for doing this. He mentioned that my post had resulted in the relationship becoming strained, and he also used words like “lawyer” and “court” – not sure if this was a subtle, veiled threat of legal action to frighten me. I brushed that aside, but was frustrated that the rep was not only giving me zero information, but he was now preventing me from getting information from others.

Now, I understand that clinics do not want patients with poor results to talk about it publicly. It’s not good for business. Fine. But as a very stressed patient, I needed to get some advice and since I was getting none from the clinic, I had to turn elsewhere.

This was in Dec ’20. The next 3 months were an emotional rollercoaster, and every day of waiting till my 12-month anniversary (3^rd Mar 2021) was agony. When March came, I sent off my photos to the clinic and looked forward to getting this resolved. A Skype video call was arranged, and the “full assessment” and “investigation”  that I had been promised all along, turned out to be nothing more than the doctor telling me to get a biopsy done and check for lichen plano polaris and frontal fibrosis. Why the doctor couldn’t have spent 5 minutes on the phone back in Dec and tell me this at that point, I do not know. There was no recommendation of which dermatologist to use, no visual examination over video, or any detailed discussion around the why, when, what, etc.

Okay, so I find a dermatologist (in Reading, UK), and have the biopsy done. It turns out I have lichen plano-polaris (LPP). Here’s an interesting back-story :

When I had the initial consultation with the doctor and Scott in London in Feb ’20, I specifically asked the doctor to check for LPP – the reason being that, prior to this, I had had a consultation with another doctor, who mentioned that he suspects that I have LPP and that whenever I have a transplant, I need to get this checked. Dr Lupanzula examined my head a second time, but couldn’t see find any evidence of LPP.

It would be easy to blame the doctor for not correctly diagnosing the presence of LPP, but I feel that that would be unfair as this can be a very elusive condition to diagnose, and I give Dr Lupanzula the benefit of the doubt.

I get the biopsy report from my derm and pass it onto Scott for him to forward to the doctor so that we could have another Skype chat and work out the next steps. I get a call from Scott and his tone is totally different. He’s clearly upset with me, and tells me that our relationship has broken down, and is not sure if he can help. Now, I made certain up till that point, that I did not update my review even though people were asking for it, in case I upset the clinic. However, in a moment of excitement, on another forum, a week or so prior to getting my derms report, I saw an incredible result from a Dr Bisanga patient and I posted I believe something like “Wow, what an amazing result – I wish I had gone to Dr B for my transplant as well”. (I made no mentioned of Dr Lupanzula/Medikemos.). It seems that Scott had seen that post, and maybe made a complaint about it to the owner of the site, who then edited my post to simply say “Oh wow, what a great result.” and messaged me to let me know. So, un-knowingly, I had re-awakened the wrath of the rep.

The phone conversation that followed with Scott was a very un-pleasant and heated one, where he was indirectly saying that he would not help me unless I went to the forums, apologised and wrote positive things about the clinic. Knowing full well that the only “help” I can expect from the clinic will be along the lines of “Get your LPP sorted out, and then come back for a transplant in a couple of years.” I told Scott that if he wanted to help me, then great, if not, then that is fine too, cos I do not play games. Quite frankly, I had grown tired of the constant reprimands, the false promises, the sugar-coating, and constant sales pitch about how amazing the clinic is, how awesome the doctor is and how many happy patients they have, and a lecture about the importance of “building trust”. Yeah, sure, that’s great, but all I wanted to know for the last 6 months was why my transplant had not been successful. How about just giving me some guidance and advice, like the people on the forums did? After 40 minutes, we end the call, and I honestly wanted nothing more doing.

But to his credit, a few days later, he did organise a Skype call between himself, me and the doctor. As expected, the doctor was very pleasant, but I have LPP and I understand that it’s up to me to get this sorted.

 

The whole post-operation “support” has been un-necessarily and frustratingly poor. Having an unsuccessful transplant is an emotional and very painful experience and on top of that, when the rep strings you along, reprimands you, is always in sales-mode and tries to coerce and manipulate you, it rubs salt into the wounds. Rather than help, he was a hindrance, and although Medikemos is a top-class outfit, the after-care made it feel like I was dealing with a second-class clinic in a 3^rd world country. This was purely due to the support rep I had to deal with, and I accept that a clinic shouldn’t be judged by the actions of an employee.

The positives.

-          In fairness, I feel that Dr Lupanzula is a fine doctor. He’s incredibly pleasant and likable, and knows his craft. The day of the operation really was a largely painless experience, and the doctor was involved throughout, even to the point of shaving my hair, taking photos etc. I felt well-looked after in the operating room.

-          The clinic seems to be a family business (I met two other immediate family members on the day of the operation) – and I really like that aspect. It gives it a personal touch and Medikemos is not a faceless, conveyor-belt outfit which just gets multiple clients in every day.

-          The staff on the day of the operation were very friendly and helpful. They even explained what they were doing under the microscope and invited me to have a look. I un-knowingly made them laugh with my loud snoring whilst they were doing the planting, as I had nodded off.

 

Who’s lost out?

We all have – myself, the doctor, the clinic. This whole debacle could have been handled so much better and with such little effort. And that’s the saddest part. It seems that the clinic has outsourced the post-operation support service to an employee, and whilst that makes sense, it comes with risk. Medikemos is probably not even aware of what’s been going on, or the consequences - I’ve got friends in real life who were thinking of a transplant with this clinic after I had mine, but now they will go elsewhere. There have been people PM-ing me online and they’re not too impressed either. Dr Lupanzula has spent decades learning his skill, and I respect and admire him for that, and I would not want him to lose out as a result of this incident.

It’s not un-common for companies to have most departments work very efficiently, but have one department that lets the side down. Or have an employee who is well-meaning but who is not quite in the right job, and uses practices which ultimately harm the company’s reputation. Unfortunately, from my position, the situation of Medikemos appears to be like that of a top-quality restaurant, which has a very highly skilled chef working away in the kitchen, but some customers are turning away cos the serving staff are letting the side down.

 

In summary, I wrote this not to look for an apology or explanation, or refund. Nor sympathy, nor to play the victim. Life goes on. I wrote this because one of THE most frustrating things in my research for a doctor was the sheer lack of negative reviews. To the point that, at our initial consultation, I remember saying to Scott “Surely, there MUST be people for whom a transplant hasn’t worked or the result is poor.” I had no idea that a year later “I” would be such a person. I realise now that there are lots of transplants that are not successful, and there’s a reason why you don’t see many negative reviews……but that’s the subject of another thread.

I posted this update in a hope that someone, somewhere will benefit from this experience. As odd as it seems, the clinic itself could also benefit in the long term.

[InTheSix]

1 hour ago, baalloss said:

Warning – long post.

So, here’s a summary:

It’s 15 months since the op, and things haven’t worked out well. Quick-and-dirty review of the whole process :

Weeks leading up to the operation  – good (Scott was very responsive, providing quick answers, clear pre-op instructions etc)

Day of the surgery  - excellent (great doctor,  very pleasant, painless op, friendly staff, etc)

Post operation support - incredibly poor (no advice given, being fobbed off, manipulative actions, toxic)

 

Photos.

Here is the photo that sums up the result. The first is taken on the morning of the op; the middle one, an hour after the op, and the last one is in Jun ’21, 15 months later.

As you can see, things haven’t worked out. The reason is explained below.

 

 

The dream turns sour.

My very first post in this thread explains how I was very impressed with the things leading up to the operation and the day of the transplant itself. That was excellent, and this still stands, of course. However, in the months that followed, things took a turn. I started realising something was not right at the 6-month stage, but was trying to be patient, and it was at the 9 month mark that I came to a realisation that this is not working. (See photos above in post dated 09-Dec-20).

I was emotionally distraught, and wanted to know what could be the reason for this poor result so far. I hoped that the clinic would give me some ideas, advice, information etc. However, there was nothing – I mean literally NOTHING – not one piece of “Oh, it could be because of X or Y or Z….”. No explanation of why the growth was poor, what steps I can take to find out more, what the clinic has done in the past for other patients in this situation etc.  Instead, there was sugar-coating, refusal to accept that there was even a problem and re-assurances that all will be well by the 12 month mark, that I needed to have trust, and that the doctor will only look at my case after 12 months, and at that point, I will get a full assessment, a proper investigation, and we will work as a team to fix this, etc etc. All contact was with Scott. No access to/guidance from the doctor at all. This was all very well, and I totally get the 12 month timescale, but I desperately wanted to know the reason why my transplant wasn’t working, so I came on this forum and wrote the post mentioned above to ask the community here for advice. There was no criticism, no judgement, no blame in that post  -  just a simply request for information.

However, a few days after I posted that, I get a call from Scott and I am reprimanded on the phone for doing this. He mentioned that my post had resulted in the relationship becoming strained, and he also used words like “lawyer” and “court” – not sure if this was a subtle, veiled threat of legal action to frighten me. I brushed that aside, but was frustrated that the rep was not only giving me zero information, but he was now preventing me from getting information from others.

Now, I understand that clinics do not want patients with poor results to talk about it publicly. It’s not good for business. Fine. But as a very stressed patient, I needed to get some advice and since I was getting none from the clinic, I had to turn elsewhere.

This was in Dec ’20. The next 3 months were an emotional rollercoaster, and every day of waiting till my 12-month anniversary (3^rd Mar 2021) was agony. When March came, I sent off my photos to the clinic and looked forward to getting this resolved. A Skype video call was arranged, and the “full assessment” and “investigation”  that I had been promised all along, turned out to be nothing more than the doctor telling me to get a biopsy done and check for lichen plano polaris and frontal fibrosis. Why the doctor couldn’t have spent 5 minutes on the phone back in Dec and tell me this at that point, I do not know. There was no recommendation of which dermatologist to use, no visual examination over video, or any detailed discussion around the why, when, what, etc.

Okay, so I find a dermatologist (in Reading, UK), and have the biopsy done. It turns out I have lichen plano-polaris (LPP). Here’s an interesting back-story :

When I had the initial consultation with the doctor and Scott in London in Feb ’20, I specifically asked the doctor to check for LPP – the reason being that, prior to this, I had had a consultation with another doctor, who mentioned that he suspects that I have LPP and that whenever I have a transplant, I need to get this checked. Dr Lupanzula examined my head a second time, but couldn’t see find any evidence of LPP.

It would be easy to blame the doctor for not correctly diagnosing the presence of LPP, but I feel that that would be unfair as this can be a very elusive condition to diagnose, and I give Dr Lupanzula the benefit of the doubt.

I get the biopsy report from my derm and pass it onto Scott for him to forward to the doctor so that we could have another Skype chat and work out the next steps. I get a call from Scott and his tone is totally different. He’s clearly upset with me, and tells me that our relationship has broken down, and is not sure if he can help. Now, I made certain up till that point, that I did not update my review even though people were asking for it, in case I upset the clinic. However, in a moment of excitement, on another forum, a week or so prior to getting my derms report, I saw an incredible result from a Dr Bisanga patient and I posted I believe something like “Wow, what an amazing result – I wish I had gone to Dr B for my transplant as well”. (I made no mentioned of Dr Lupanzula/Medikemos.). It seems that Scott had seen that post, and maybe made a complaint about it to the owner of the site, who then edited my post to simply say “Oh wow, what a great result.” and messaged me to let me know. So, un-knowingly, I had re-awakened the wrath of the rep.

The phone conversation that followed with Scott was a very un-pleasant and heated one, where he was indirectly saying that he would not help me unless I went to the forums, apologised and wrote positive things about the clinic. Knowing full well that the only “help” I can expect from the clinic will be along the lines of “Get your LPP sorted out, and then come back for a transplant in a couple of years.” I told Scott that if he wanted to help me, then great, if not, then that is fine too, cos I do not play games. Quite frankly, I had grown tired of the constant reprimands, the false promises, the sugar-coating, and constant sales pitch about how amazing the clinic is, how awesome the doctor is and how many happy patients they have, and a lecture about the importance of “building trust”. Yeah, sure, that’s great, but all I wanted to know for the last 6 months was why my transplant had not been successful. How about just giving me some guidance and advice, like the people on the forums did? After 40 minutes, we end the call, and I honestly wanted nothing more doing.

But to his credit, a few days later, he did organise a Skype call between himself, me and the doctor. As expected, the doctor was very pleasant, but I have LPP and I understand that it’s up to me to get this sorted.

 

The whole post-operation “support” has been un-necessarily and frustratingly poor. Having an unsuccessful transplant is an emotional and very painful experience and on top of that, when the rep strings you along, reprimands you, is always in sales-mode and tries to coerce and manipulate you, it rubs salt into the wounds. Rather than help, he was a hindrance, and although Medikemos is a top-class outfit, the after-care made it feel like I was dealing with a second-class clinic in a 3^rd world country. This was purely due to the support rep I had to deal with, and I accept that a clinic shouldn’t be judged by the actions of an employee.

The positives.

-          In fairness, I feel that Dr Lupanzula is a fine doctor. He’s incredibly pleasant and likable, and knows his craft. The day of the operation really was a largely painless experience, and the doctor was involved throughout, even to the point of shaving my hair, taking photos etc. I felt well-looked after in the operating room.

-          The clinic seems to be a family business (I met two other immediate family members on the day of the operation) – and I really like that aspect. It gives it a personal touch and Medikemos is not a faceless, conveyor-belt outfit which just gets multiple clients in every day.

-          The staff on the day of the operation were very friendly and helpful. They even explained what they were doing under the microscope and invited me to have a look. I un-knowingly made them laugh with my loud snoring whilst they were doing the planting, as I had nodded off.

 

Who’s lost out?

We all have – myself, the doctor, the clinic. This whole debacle could have been handled so much better and with such little effort. And that’s the saddest part. It seems that the clinic has outsourced the post-operation support service to an employee, and whilst that makes sense, it comes with risk. Medikemos is probably not even aware of what’s been going on, or the consequences - I’ve got friends in real life who were thinking of a transplant with this clinic after I had mine, but now they will go elsewhere. There have been people PM-ing me online and they’re not too impressed either. Dr Lupanzula has spent decades learning his skill, and I respect and admire him for that, and I would not want him to lose out as a result of this incident.

It’s not un-common for companies to have most departments work very efficiently, but have one department that lets the side down. Or have an employee who is well-meaning but who is not quite in the right job, and uses practices which ultimately harm the company’s reputation. Unfortunately, from my position, the situation of Medikemos appears to be like that of a top-quality restaurant, which has a very highly skilled chef working away in the kitchen, but some customers are turning away cos the serving staff are letting the side down.

 

In summary, I wrote this not to look for an apology or explanation, or refund. Nor sympathy, nor to play the victim. Life goes on. I wrote this because one of THE most frustrating things in my research for a doctor was the sheer lack of negative reviews. To the point that, at our initial consultation, I remember saying to Scott “Surely, there MUST be people for whom a transplant hasn’t worked or the result is poor.” I had no idea that a year later “I” would be such a person. I realise now that there are lots of transplants that are not successful, and there’s a reason why you don’t see many negative reviews……but that’s the subject of another thread.

I posted this update in a hope that someone, somewhere will benefit from this experience. As odd as it seems, the clinic itself could also benefit in the long term.

While no words will turn back time and reverse the experience you have had, as a stranger reading your comment, 48 hours after my very first HT, I must say it seems you have handled yourself with great poise, balance and composure despite the cards you have been dealt with. And while there are no good "candidates" to go through what you have gone through (I wouldnt wish it on my enemies frankly) I do believe, from the little I have read, that you have the right attitude to turn this adversity around into a positive story eventually.

I look forward to reading your turn around/success story in the near future

[Scott Medikemos]

From the poster’s comments, it appears he has more of a problem with me than with the clinic. Dr. Lupanzula has continued to act as the professional that he is and will always do so, as expected from a physician with such a world class reputation. 

 

I believe it would be unfair and counter productive to debate about issues that are up for interpretation so instead I will address facts based on my experience working as a professional in this industry.

 

Contrary to what some may think, giving reasons why a result is not where it is expected to be BEFORE the normal timeline has exhausted doesn’t help anyone. I’m not one to tell patients things simply to pacify them as I don’t think it is the right thing to do. And while at nine months the odds of a full turn around are low, there is still a high probability that improvements will continue and this difference is what helps to contribute to the final assessment, and any subsequent remedies should they be deemed necessary. 

 

With regards to my performance, I’m not sure how what was originally stated as being “good” and “fine” as late as the nine month update here in this thread has turned to “the whole post-operation support” being poor. Regardless, I’m sorry for any negativity that a patient may interpret from me as that is never my intent. I will endeavour to learn from this experience and look for ways to improve. I’m a repair patient and know full well the agony of dealing with poor outcomes. 

 

As all of our UK patients know, I’m available for discussion any time. Due to the decision by Medikemos Hair Restoration to part ways with Hair Restoration Network several months ago, I do not feel it would be right to continue this discussion here so hopefully my post sheds enough light on the issue so we can all move forward.

[GUCCI]

16 hours ago, baalloss said:

Warning – long post.

So, here’s a summary:

It’s 15 months since the op, and things haven’t worked out well. Quick-and-dirty review of the whole process :

Weeks leading up to the operation  – good (Scott was very responsive, providing quick answers, clear pre-op instructions etc)

Day of the surgery  - excellent (great doctor,  very pleasant, painless op, friendly staff, etc)

Post operation support - incredibly poor (no advice given, being fobbed off, manipulative actions, toxic)

 

Photos.

Here is the photo that sums up the result. The first is taken on the morning of the op; the middle one, an hour after the op, and the last one is in Jun ’21, 15 months later.

As you can see, things haven’t worked out. The reason is explained below.

 

 

The dream turns sour.

My very first post in this thread explains how I was very impressed with the things leading up to the operation and the day of the transplant itself. That was excellent, and this still stands, of course. However, in the months that followed, things took a turn. I started realising something was not right at the 6-month stage, but was trying to be patient, and it was at the 9 month mark that I came to a realisation that this is not working. (See photos above in post dated 09-Dec-20).

I was emotionally distraught, and wanted to know what could be the reason for this poor result so far. I hoped that the clinic would give me some ideas, advice, information etc. However, there was nothing – I mean literally NOTHING – not one piece of “Oh, it could be because of X or Y or Z….”. No explanation of why the growth was poor, what steps I can take to find out more, what the clinic has done in the past for other patients in this situation etc.  Instead, there was sugar-coating, refusal to accept that there was even a problem and re-assurances that all will be well by the 12 month mark, that I needed to have trust, and that the doctor will only look at my case after 12 months, and at that point, I will get a full assessment, a proper investigation, and we will work as a team to fix this, etc etc. All contact was with Scott. No access to/guidance from the doctor at all. This was all very well, and I totally get the 12 month timescale, but I desperately wanted to know the reason why my transplant wasn’t working, so I came on this forum and wrote the post mentioned above to ask the community here for advice. There was no criticism, no judgement, no blame in that post  -  just a simply request for information.

However, a few days after I posted that, I get a call from Scott and I am reprimanded on the phone for doing this. He mentioned that my post had resulted in the relationship becoming strained, and he also used words like “lawyer” and “court” – not sure if this was a subtle, veiled threat of legal action to frighten me. I brushed that aside, but was frustrated that the rep was not only giving me zero information, but he was now preventing me from getting information from others.

Now, I understand that clinics do not want patients with poor results to talk about it publicly. It’s not good for business. Fine. But as a very stressed patient, I needed to get some advice and since I was getting none from the clinic, I had to turn elsewhere.

This was in Dec ’20. The next 3 months were an emotional rollercoaster, and every day of waiting till my 12-month anniversary (3^rd Mar 2021) was agony. When March came, I sent off my photos to the clinic and looked forward to getting this resolved. A Skype video call was arranged, and the “full assessment” and “investigation”  that I had been promised all along, turned out to be nothing more than the doctor telling me to get a biopsy done and check for lichen plano polaris and frontal fibrosis. Why the doctor couldn’t have spent 5 minutes on the phone back in Dec and tell me this at that point, I do not know. There was no recommendation of which dermatologist to use, no visual examination over video, or any detailed discussion around the why, when, what, etc.

Okay, so I find a dermatologist (in Reading, UK), and have the biopsy done. It turns out I have lichen plano-polaris (LPP). Here’s an interesting back-story :

When I had the initial consultation with the doctor and Scott in London in Feb ’20, I specifically asked the doctor to check for LPP – the reason being that, prior to this, I had had a consultation with another doctor, who mentioned that he suspects that I have LPP and that whenever I have a transplant, I need to get this checked. Dr Lupanzula examined my head a second time, but couldn’t see find any evidence of LPP.

It would be easy to blame the doctor for not correctly diagnosing the presence of LPP, but I feel that that would be unfair as this can be a very elusive condition to diagnose, and I give Dr Lupanzula the benefit of the doubt.

I get the biopsy report from my derm and pass it onto Scott for him to forward to the doctor so that we could have another Skype chat and work out the next steps. I get a call from Scott and his tone is totally different. He’s clearly upset with me, and tells me that our relationship has broken down, and is not sure if he can help. Now, I made certain up till that point, that I did not update my review even though people were asking for it, in case I upset the clinic. However, in a moment of excitement, on another forum, a week or so prior to getting my derms report, I saw an incredible result from a Dr Bisanga patient and I posted I believe something like “Wow, what an amazing result – I wish I had gone to Dr B for my transplant as well”. (I made no mentioned of Dr Lupanzula/Medikemos.). It seems that Scott had seen that post, and maybe made a complaint about it to the owner of the site, who then edited my post to simply say “Oh wow, what a great result.” and messaged me to let me know. So, un-knowingly, I had re-awakened the wrath of the rep.

The phone conversation that followed with Scott was a very un-pleasant and heated one, where he was indirectly saying that he would not help me unless I went to the forums, apologised and wrote positive things about the clinic. Knowing full well that the only “help” I can expect from the clinic will be along the lines of “Get your LPP sorted out, and then come back for a transplant in a couple of years.” I told Scott that if he wanted to help me, then great, if not, then that is fine too, cos I do not play games. Quite frankly, I had grown tired of the constant reprimands, the false promises, the sugar-coating, and constant sales pitch about how amazing the clinic is, how awesome the doctor is and how many happy patients they have, and a lecture about the importance of “building trust”. Yeah, sure, that’s great, but all I wanted to know for the last 6 months was why my transplant had not been successful. How about just giving me some guidance and advice, like the people on the forums did? After 40 minutes, we end the call, and I honestly wanted nothing more doing.

But to his credit, a few days later, he did organise a Skype call between himself, me and the doctor. As expected, the doctor was very pleasant, but I have LPP and I understand that it’s up to me to get this sorted.

 

The whole post-operation “support” has been un-necessarily and frustratingly poor. Having an unsuccessful transplant is an emotional and very painful experience and on top of that, when the rep strings you along, reprimands you, is always in sales-mode and tries to coerce and manipulate you, it rubs salt into the wounds. Rather than help, he was a hindrance, and although Medikemos is a top-class outfit, the after-care made it feel like I was dealing with a second-class clinic in a 3^rd world country. This was purely due to the support rep I had to deal with, and I accept that a clinic shouldn’t be judged by the actions of an employee.

The positives.

-          In fairness, I feel that Dr Lupanzula is a fine doctor. He’s incredibly pleasant and likable, and knows his craft. The day of the operation really was a largely painless experience, and the doctor was involved throughout, even to the point of shaving my hair, taking photos etc. I felt well-looked after in the operating room.

-          The clinic seems to be a family business (I met two other immediate family members on the day of the operation) – and I really like that aspect. It gives it a personal touch and Medikemos is not a faceless, conveyor-belt outfit which just gets multiple clients in every day.

-          The staff on the day of the operation were very friendly and helpful. They even explained what they were doing under the microscope and invited me to have a look. I un-knowingly made them laugh with my loud snoring whilst they were doing the planting, as I had nodded off.

 

Who’s lost out?

We all have – myself, the doctor, the clinic. This whole debacle could have been handled so much better and with such little effort. And that’s the saddest part. It seems that the clinic has outsourced the post-operation support service to an employee, and whilst that makes sense, it comes with risk. Medikemos is probably not even aware of what’s been going on, or the consequences - I’ve got friends in real life who were thinking of a transplant with this clinic after I had mine, but now they will go elsewhere. There have been people PM-ing me online and they’re not too impressed either. Dr Lupanzula has spent decades learning his skill, and I respect and admire him for that, and I would not want him to lose out as a result of this incident.

It’s not un-common for companies to have most departments work very efficiently, but have one department that lets the side down. Or have an employee who is well-meaning but who is not quite in the right job, and uses practices which ultimately harm the company’s reputation. Unfortunately, from my position, the situation of Medikemos appears to be like that of a top-quality restaurant, which has a very highly skilled chef working away in the kitchen, but some customers are turning away cos the serving staff are letting the side down.

 

In summary, I wrote this not to look for an apology or explanation, or refund. Nor sympathy, nor to play the victim. Life goes on. I wrote this because one of THE most frustrating things in my research for a doctor was the sheer lack of negative reviews. To the point that, at our initial consultation, I remember saying to Scott “Surely, there MUST be people for whom a transplant hasn’t worked or the result is poor.” I had no idea that a year later “I” would be such a person. I realise now that there are lots of transplants that are not successful, and there’s a reason why you don’t see many negative reviews……but that’s the subject of another thread.

I posted this update in a hope that someone, somewhere will benefit from this experience. As odd as it seems, the clinic itself could also benefit in the long term.

I feel so bad about your bad experience with this specific clinic. That you had poor growth and did not get what you paid for and also that doctor did not treat you well in post operative process, like you said "the clinic would give me some ideas, advice, information etc. However, there was nothing – I mean literally NOTHING – not one piece of “Oh, it could be because of X or Y or Z….”. No explanation of why the growth was poor"

Every time a patient has a hair transplant with a specific clinic, an ethical doctor should check if the scalp is healthy or not before the hair transplant. And if its healthy then he proceeds to a hair transplant. Especially you should feel safe with a good doctor that he would check your scalp. Like you said he checked you scalp in your initial appointment and he did not mention anything about lichen planopilaris....!!! So that's his fault, not yours. You paid so much money to solve your problem and be happy and now you feel terribly and sad, spending your money for nothing....

Thank you for sharing with us your experience, this will help a lot of members to make the right choice. Of course clinics try to hide these reviews, but patients should post them to be present for everyone to see their bad experience with a specifil clinic. Thank you again and i hope you find a solution to your problem, as it is very unpleasant to have a failure in a hair transplant. Good luck mate !

[ITA]

15 minutes ago, GUCCI said:

I feel so bad about your bad experience with this specific clinic. That you had poor growth and did not get what you paid for and also that doctor did not treat you well in post operative process, like you said "the clinic would give me some ideas, advice, information etc. However, there was nothing – I mean literally NOTHING – not one piece of “Oh, it could be because of X or Y or Z….”. No explanation of why the growth was poor"

Every time a patient has a hair transplant with a specific clinic, an ethical doctor should check if the scalp is healthy or not before the hair transplant. And if its healthy then he proceeds to a hair transplant. Especially you should feel safe with a good doctor that he would check your scalp. Like you said he checked you scalp in your initial appointment and he did not mention anything about lichen planopilaris....!!! So that's his fault, not yours. You paid so much money to solve your problem and be happy and now you feel terribly and sad, spending your money for nothing....

Thank you for sharing with us your experience, this will help a lot of members to make the right choice. Of course clinics try to hide these reviews, but patients should post them to be present for everyone to see their bad experience with a specifil clinic. Thank you again and i hope you find a solution to your problem, as it is very unpleasant to have a failure in a hair transplant. Good luck mate !

Yes it's true, I also wrote that surgeons should visit the scalp of their patients before proceeding to a transplant to check if it is healthy or not, but, it would cost too high in terms of money and time, in addition to the fact that many would not undergo the transplant.  As for the fact that patients should post their negative experiences on the forums, many choose to do so on the wrong ones, and therefore often deleted, our friend @baalloss just for a comment on the clinic that the consultant did not seem suitable, was called back by administrator and has been changed to him.  I understand why many clinics / surgeons stop their collaboration with HRN, because here is the only place where the truth comes out.

[Melvin- Admin]

I’m sorry to hear about your experience. I hope you can get the LPP sorted soon. Please do let me know if there’s anything the forum can do to help 🙏🏼

 

[Huncholini]

Thanks for posting this baalloss. I'm sorry to read about the experience you've had and the emotional stress it has caused you, I really hope things get better for you.

It's credit to this forum that a negative experience with a well known clinic is made available to the public and not censored. Having both positive and negative reviews is what helps people make informed decisions on where they want to have their hair transplant.

Regardless of what has happened here, I would consider the alleged threatening of legal action when a patient is simply asking for post operative care a huge red flag. A patient supervisor should imo show empathy especially in a situation like this. It seems like the correspondence baal had with the supervisor in question was the complete opposite.

"where he was indirectly saying that he would not help me unless I went to the forums, apologised and wrote positive things about the clinic."

Imagine already being incredibly stressed about the result of your transplant only to have the person who should be providing post operative care threaten you with legal action and use your relationship with the clinic as leverage and try to coerce you into writing an apology and a positive review.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Huncholini

[ITA]

Also I would like to ask this consultant who finished his post by writing “do not feel it would be right to continue this discussion here” and where would he like to continue it?  In a courtroom, how did you threaten on the phone or better still for him in one of the many complacent forums? 

[HugoX]

1 hour ago, Egy said:

Also I would like to ask this consultant who finished his post by writing “do not feel it would be right to continue this discussion here” and where would he like to continue it?  In a courtroom, how did you threaten on the phone or better still for him in one of the many complacent forums? 

I was also interested in knowing why the clinics representative would need to threaten according to baalloss with “lawyer” and “court” when all he wanted was information and help about his situation, aren’t client of Medikemos allowed to express their feelings and thought without their approval? It sounds crazy to me, and in no way did what baalloss say here sound threatening or "negative", he was just looking for input and information about his transplant. 

[Britanium]

1 hour ago, HugoX said:I was also interested in knowing why the clinics representative would need to threaten according to baalloss with “lawyer” and “court” when all he wanted was information and help about his situation, aren’t client of Medikemos allowed to express their feelings and thought without their approval? It sounds crazy to me, and in no way did what baalloss say here sound threatening or "negative", he was just looking for input and information about his transplant. 

A ethical clinic/rep would do everything they can to assist and help a patient without using such threats. We have seen amazing support by clinics such as De Freitas, BHR and Eugenix for example. They have very good reps and are a credit to the clinics. I don’t see that here with this rep. And it does not reflect well for the Medikemos clinic. I’m glad that the rep in his post above does actually say he will learn from this experience. Nobody should be reprimanded by the clinic themselves or by any rep. Disappointing to read they handled it in the way you described. 

[Coady]

Is the reason the transplant failed lpp? 
 

 

[Maz_a]

Hi baalloss,

I'm very sorry to hear about your outcome and hope you have since been able to make some steps in the right direction.

Thank you for your honest review, which you wrote in a very balanced way, giving credit where it was due and pointing out problems.

Without these reviews, people aren't able to trust these forums and make decisions taking into account all of the positives and negatives, so you're a credit to the community for doing so.

Ironically, what put me off going with Dr Lupanzula was Scott's attitude on the phone to me before I had my procedure booked (bad mouthing other clinics / surgeons etc.). It just left a bad taste in my mouth and came off as very unprofessional.

Dr Lupanzula would be wise to consider the impact the behavior of his team can have on the overall clinic and choices people make. And hopefully all can learn from the experience here. As I said, I hope you have been able to take positive steps forwards in whatever form and wish you the best.

Maz

Edited September 15, 2021 by Maz_a

[Patrick Temples]

On 6/20/2021 at 6:01 PM, baalloss said:

Warning – long post.

So, here’s a summary:

It’s 15 months since the op, and things haven’t worked out well. Quick-and-dirty review of the whole process :

Weeks leading up to the operation  – good (Scott was very responsive, providing quick answers, clear pre-op instructions etc)

Day of the surgery  - excellent (great doctor,  very pleasant, painless op, friendly staff, etc)

Post operation support - incredibly poor (no advice given, being fobbed off, manipulative actions, toxic)

 

Photos.

Here is the photo that sums up the result. The first is taken on the morning of the op; the middle one, an hour after the op, and the last one is in Jun ’21, 15 months later.

As you can see, things haven’t worked out. The reason is explained below.

 

 

The dream turns sour.

My very first post in this thread explains how I was very impressed with the things leading up to the operation and the day of the transplant itself. That was excellent, and this still stands, of course. However, in the months that followed, things took a turn. I started realising something was not right at the 6-month stage, but was trying to be patient, and it was at the 9 month mark that I came to a realisation that this is not working. (See photos above in post dated 09-Dec-20).

I was emotionally distraught, and wanted to know what could be the reason for this poor result so far. I hoped that the clinic would give me some ideas, advice, information etc. However, there was nothing – I mean literally NOTHING – not one piece of “Oh, it could be because of X or Y or Z….”. No explanation of why the growth was poor, what steps I can take to find out more, what the clinic has done in the past for other patients in this situation etc.  Instead, there was sugar-coating, refusal to accept that there was even a problem and re-assurances that all will be well by the 12 month mark, that I needed to have trust, and that the doctor will only look at my case after 12 months, and at that point, I will get a full assessment, a proper investigation, and we will work as a team to fix this, etc etc. All contact was with Scott. No access to/guidance from the doctor at all. This was all very well, and I totally get the 12 month timescale, but I desperately wanted to know the reason why my transplant wasn’t working, so I came on this forum and wrote the post mentioned above to ask the community here for advice. There was no criticism, no judgement, no blame in that post  -  just a simply request for information.

However, a few days after I posted that, I get a call from Scott and I am reprimanded on the phone for doing this. He mentioned that my post had resulted in the relationship becoming strained, and he also used words like “lawyer” and “court” – not sure if this was a subtle, veiled threat of legal action to frighten me. I brushed that aside, but was frustrated that the rep was not only giving me zero information, but he was now preventing me from getting information from others.

Now, I understand that clinics do not want patients with poor results to talk about it publicly. It’s not good for business. Fine. But as a very stressed patient, I needed to get some advice and since I was getting none from the clinic, I had to turn elsewhere.

This was in Dec ’20. The next 3 months were an emotional rollercoaster, and every day of waiting till my 12-month anniversary (3^rd Mar 2021) was agony. When March came, I sent off my photos to the clinic and looked forward to getting this resolved. A Skype video call was arranged, and the “full assessment” and “investigation”  that I had been promised all along, turned out to be nothing more than the doctor telling me to get a biopsy done and check for lichen plano polaris and frontal fibrosis. Why the doctor couldn’t have spent 5 minutes on the phone back in Dec and tell me this at that point, I do not know. There was no recommendation of which dermatologist to use, no visual examination over video, or any detailed discussion around the why, when, what, etc.

Okay, so I find a dermatologist (in Reading, UK), and have the biopsy done. It turns out I have lichen plano-polaris (LPP). Here’s an interesting back-story :

When I had the initial consultation with the doctor and Scott in London in Feb ’20, I specifically asked the doctor to check for LPP – the reason being that, prior to this, I had had a consultation with another doctor, who mentioned that he suspects that I have LPP and that whenever I have a transplant, I need to get this checked. Dr Lupanzula examined my head a second time, but couldn’t see find any evidence of LPP.

It would be easy to blame the doctor for not correctly diagnosing the presence of LPP, but I feel that that would be unfair as this can be a very elusive condition to diagnose, and I give Dr Lupanzula the benefit of the doubt.

I get the biopsy report from my derm and pass it onto Scott for him to forward to the doctor so that we could have another Skype chat and work out the next steps. I get a call from Scott and his tone is totally different. He’s clearly upset with me, and tells me that our relationship has broken down, and is not sure if he can help. Now, I made certain up till that point, that I did not update my review even though people were asking for it, in case I upset the clinic. However, in a moment of excitement, on another forum, a week or so prior to getting my derms report, I saw an incredible result from a Dr Bisanga patient and I posted I believe something like “Wow, what an amazing result – I wish I had gone to Dr B for my transplant as well”. (I made no mentioned of Dr Lupanzula/Medikemos.). It seems that Scott had seen that post, and maybe made a complaint about it to the owner of the site, who then edited my post to simply say “Oh wow, what a great result.” and messaged me to let me know. So, un-knowingly, I had re-awakened the wrath of the rep.

The phone conversation that followed with Scott was a very un-pleasant and heated one, where he was indirectly saying that he would not help me unless I went to the forums, apologised and wrote positive things about the clinic. Knowing full well that the only “help” I can expect from the clinic will be along the lines of “Get your LPP sorted out, and then come back for a transplant in a couple of years.” I told Scott that if he wanted to help me, then great, if not, then that is fine too, cos I do not play games. Quite frankly, I had grown tired of the constant reprimands, the false promises, the sugar-coating, and constant sales pitch about how amazing the clinic is, how awesome the doctor is and how many happy patients they have, and a lecture about the importance of “building trust”. Yeah, sure, that’s great, but all I wanted to know for the last 6 months was why my transplant had not been successful. How about just giving me some guidance and advice, like the people on the forums did? After 40 minutes, we end the call, and I honestly wanted nothing more doing.

But to his credit, a few days later, he did organise a Skype call between himself, me and the doctor. As expected, the doctor was very pleasant, but I have LPP and I understand that it’s up to me to get this sorted.

 

The whole post-operation “support” has been un-necessarily and frustratingly poor. Having an unsuccessful transplant is an emotional and very painful experience and on top of that, when the rep strings you along, reprimands you, is always in sales-mode and tries to coerce and manipulate you, it rubs salt into the wounds. Rather than help, he was a hindrance, and although Medikemos is a top-class outfit, the after-care made it feel like I was dealing with a second-class clinic in a 3^rd world country. This was purely due to the support rep I had to deal with, and I accept that a clinic shouldn’t be judged by the actions of an employee.

The positives.

-          In fairness, I feel that Dr Lupanzula is a fine doctor. He’s incredibly pleasant and likable, and knows his craft. The day of the operation really was a largely painless experience, and the doctor was involved throughout, even to the point of shaving my hair, taking photos etc. I felt well-looked after in the operating room.

-          The clinic seems to be a family business (I met two other immediate family members on the day of the operation) – and I really like that aspect. It gives it a personal touch and Medikemos is not a faceless, conveyor-belt outfit which just gets multiple clients in every day.

-          The staff on the day of the operation were very friendly and helpful. They even explained what they were doing under the microscope and invited me to have a look. I un-knowingly made them laugh with my loud snoring whilst they were doing the planting, as I had nodded off.

 

Who’s lost out?

We all have – myself, the doctor, the clinic. This whole debacle could have been handled so much better and with such little effort. And that’s the saddest part. It seems that the clinic has outsourced the post-operation support service to an employee, and whilst that makes sense, it comes with risk. Medikemos is probably not even aware of what’s been going on, or the consequences - I’ve got friends in real life who were thinking of a transplant with this clinic after I had mine, but now they will go elsewhere. There have been people PM-ing me online and they’re not too impressed either. Dr Lupanzula has spent decades learning his skill, and I respect and admire him for that, and I would not want him to lose out as a result of this incident.

It’s not un-common for companies to have most departments work very efficiently, but have one department that lets the side down. Or have an employee who is well-meaning but who is not quite in the right job, and uses practices which ultimately harm the company’s reputation. Unfortunately, from my position, the situation of Medikemos appears to be like that of a top-quality restaurant, which has a very highly skilled chef working away in the kitchen, but some customers are turning away cos the serving staff are letting the side down.

 

In summary, I wrote this not to look for an apology or explanation, or refund. Nor sympathy, nor to play the victim. Life goes on. I wrote this because one of THE most frustrating things in my research for a doctor was the sheer lack of negative reviews. To the point that, at our initial consultation, I remember saying to Scott “Surely, there MUST be people for whom a transplant hasn’t worked or the result is poor.” I had no idea that a year later “I” would be such a person. I realise now that there are lots of transplants that are not successful, and there’s a reason why you don’t see many negative reviews……but that’s the subject of another thread.

I posted this update in a hope that someone, somewhere will benefit from this experience. As odd as it seems, the clinic itself could also benefit in the long 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Patrick Temples
Annoyed

[Melvin- Admin]

@Patrick Temples

Glad you’ve edited out your post, someone registering to post that is highly suspicious. 

[blackislback]

Thank you very much baalloss for sharing your experience, very nice by you, and you didn't blame or said anything bad, wrong, unprofessional, in any segment of your review, but in very  nice, polite way wrote all, explained and shared your experience.

And thanks to Melvin-moderator, adinistration to allow members share their experience, sure for members like baalloss who really in nice, polite way shared experience, by mention good and bad sides of his journes, and it's right of all us who did HT, to do it, what's else point of forums like this .

Dissapointed here by attitude of clinic's support - coordinator between patient and doctor, and dissapointed by doctor's decicion not respond before 12 months, imagine you buy new Mercedes car, and call Mercedes oficial dealer, to report engine not work well and you would like they check it or tell you what to do, as you can't drive car in normal way, and they tell you "sorry, but until 12m past we can't check your car, try drive like that" ,  or company renovated your house, and you found some hole on top of house where rain enter, and then  you report it to building company and they tell you "wait 12 months or try fix it yourself until pass 12m" .

Serious and good clinics = doctors, will take his responsibility, even not his guilty for ex. if LPP cause, but at least can respond after 6-9m and suggest customer like go check your skin, scalp, visit dermatologist, or whatever, you know sometimes is enough few nice words, that patient feel support and not left alone on road of nervs, depression , etc.

Good product without good support, now or later will decrease image of good product, as good support is sometimes 30-50% of good product, same here, if doctor did good surgery, pre-op, op, etc. but post-op support 0, all previously even done good, can become useless... Strange that good dr. like Lupanzula didn't realize it, and i was on his place, will consider about support-coordinator guy, warn him to change his habits in communication by patient, without some treats, better response, and will think as doctor to respond after 6-9m, and not some rule must pass 12m and nothing before... Not cost much few minutes call or few lines writing to patient by doctor and giving some suggestion what to do further, as then bad side-effect as boomerang, that this will mean to much other patients, in decision choose this clinics.

After all , coordinator-Scott, instead realize his mistakes, and say sorry to baalloss , apologize in nice manner, accept his responsibility, mistakes in communication, and don't do it future, he came and almost in same way continue replying to baalloss, hope he will learn something by this lesson, that good product, without good support isn't so good, and hope dr. Lupanzula will realize same, but i'm afraid most of doctors see this like "oh it's only 1 of 100 patients, we don't care" , unfortunately it's not true, that way 1 of 100 statistics means more, as many rational people this will mean much.

Once thanks forum for allowing sharing opinion for all clinics-doctors , and thanks to baalloss for his honest review and sharing experience.

[Lightmare]

Hey @baalloss I am super sorry to hear about this and hope you can remedy the situation in the coming years.  Scarring alopecias look very sinister and hard to diagnose visually based on what I have read.

I come here for your help because I suspect I might have scarring alopecia.  I am on my 8th month post HT looking worse than at month 5.5.  The transplanted areas were growing on track, and pretty uniformly (one side wasn’t massively better than the other), until about 5.5 when I started shedding a lot (I was nearly bald in all the transplanted areas before).  Now my result is patchier than before - the fall doesn’t appear to be uniform and one side is far worse than the other.  There are a couple possibilities but one is that I have both scarring alopecia and MPB.  I am weighing a biopsy but know those leave scars.

My question to you is this: your 5 month results actually appear (of course variables like lighting, hair length etc can affect things) to look better than pre op, but then your 9 and 15 month results look possibly worse than 5 months.  Did you get growth in the scarred areas at all, that then fell out later never to grow back?  Or did those areas never grow at all and the difference was due to lighting or hair length etc?  I know any hair follicle (transplanted or not) would not survive a scarring attack but my question is more whether a transplant into the scarred area would grow there once before getting killed off, or would just not grow at all. 

Thanks in advance, again very sorry for what happen to you and hope you can find a way out.  I know it is possible to transplant into an inactive scar so there is hope.  I also hope we can learn from your experience.

Edited January 17, 2022 by Lightmare

[Mathew007]

Hi Guys

 

I have had a consult with Scott a long time ago and I can say that (in my opinion) he came across very abrupt and very rude. He has some very strong views and certainly communicates them in a way that really put me off wanting to engage with him any further. I did not go ahead and dr lupanzula because I did not want to have to deal with Scott - It's really not a great look on the clinic and does a disservice on the Dr who could actually be very good. There is way to communicate with people without being being rude to clients. 

[Mike10]

What stands out here is Lupanzula did a major misstep in overlooking the scalp issue. The deplorable attitude towards the patient post op may have been a consequence of the patient posting his failure on a public forum. Even though that can really damage a surgeon's reputation, one should expect from a top clinic to deal with such incidents in a professional manner.  

[Melvin- Admin]

2 minutes ago, Mike10 said:

What stands out here is Lupanzula did a major misstep in overlooking the scalp issue. The deplorable attitude towards the patient post op may have been a consequence of the patient posting his failure on a public forum. Even though that can really damage a surgeon's reputation, one should expect from a top clinic to deal with such incidents in a professional manner.  

Strange first posts, they’ve been reported. If you had a negative experience how about creating your own thread and sharing some pictures so the community can help you. Otherwise, it just looks like you have an axe to grind. 

[RTC]

43 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Strange first posts, they’ve been reported. If you had a negative experience how about creating your own thread and sharing some pictures so the community can help you. Otherwise, it just looks like you have an axe to grind. 

Some people lurk here and only feel the need to post once they see something that resonates, I don't think it's necessarily dodgy..

Edited May 24, 2022 by Aslitarcan sucks

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, Aslitarcan sucks said:

Some people lurk here and only feel the need to post once they see something that resonates, I don't think it's necessarily dodgy..

It may not be dodgy, but the best thing to do is to create your own thread and share your own experience with pictures included. 

[Mike10]

6 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

It may not be dodgy, but the best thing to do is to create your own thread and share your own experience with pictures included. 

I did not have a bad experience, I never had any contact with Medikementos. Honestly, I am not too sure why my posts were considered strange.