Should I switch from Diep to Hasson?

[HTP1]

9 hours ago, Buffaloboy said:

I just really liked Diep before this whole debacle.

So I was holding out... but I think I’m done now.

I don't think there's any doubt Diep can / has produced world class results. A fair few evidenced on here. 

What I'd say to that is THAT'S HIS JOB. 

The same as if I attend a Michelin starred restaurant. Their job is to cook the best food, all of the time. 

That's the baseline expectation. 

However, if I see a few reviews / evidence of the restaurant serving shit, then the fact they can / have produced amazing food doesn't rescue it for me. 

I'll not take the risk (the risk of a bad result is what we're speculating upon here) and choose an alternative. 

The communication you describe is unacceptable. You're not a customer, you're a patient. You're going to potentially have concerns and worries only the person leading / performing the surgery can assist with. 

Sure, they're busy people, but could a 15 minute call not be made for someone who has already put a deposit down within a 7 day window?

Of course it could. 

[Flash10]

Sticking with facts. Melvin mentioned Dr. Diep's FUE transection rate is 5 to 15%. I had a conversation with Dr. Hasson last week and he explicitly told me he has made tremendous strides with his FUE practice over the past 3 years and estimated his transection rate is roughly 2% - similar to the rate using FUT. Hope this helps. I wish you all the best man.

[hybonix]

On 9/1/2020 at 5:33 PM, Flash10 said:

Sticking with facts. Melvin mentioned Dr. Diep's FUE transection rate is 5 to 15%. I had a conversation with Dr. Hasson last week and he explicitly told me he has made tremendous strides with his FUE practice over the past 3 years and estimated his transection rate is roughly 2% - similar to the rate using FUT. Hope this helps. I wish you all the best man.

Transection rate is nice. I switched from Diep though due to donor work, ethics, false expectations set by doctor, unresponsive staff and his overall technique. I also talked to other clinics and they say past Diep's past patients go to them to fix issues or get repair work.

The best clinic in the world said this:

"His donor work looks like someone just tenderized meat." Ouch.. But I can see the resemblance:

Edited September 25, 2020 by hybonix

[follically challenged]

On 8/31/2020 at 1:21 AM, giegnosiganoe said:

I feel terrible for all of the people who book him for surgery simply based on his social media (such as his YouTube videos), which I'm sure is how most people find him. What a surprise they're in for...

Consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

Also, I'll share that I've had a consultation with Diep in person. I'll be honest, I didn't have great expectations due to what I had read in patient review threads about him on this forum, but he's the only surgeon near me and I thought I would at least have something to gain by having him assess my situation in person. What a waste of time that was. When I asked if he could check my donor density with a microscope, etc, he found some excuse. I guess that's not something he does during consultations. He barely looked at my hair from far away, not even taking so much as a glance at my donor area. Then when I asked him how many lifetime grafts he thought I had available via FUE, he told me 10-12k. I know that is blatantly false (and how could he know? He didn't even look at or touch my donor area?) considering I have diffuse thinning all over my scalp, which I have since confirmed affects my donor as well, with weak density and a higher than average number of miniaturizing hairs (on my way to DUPA, lest DHT blockers can prevent future loss). I don't even want to think what my donor area would be looking like if I had blindly gone for surgery with him.

This exactly. It is a shame that youtube followers cannot always get the full picture as to things happening behind the scenes, ins and outs, complications, shortcomings etc...

So a big thank you to this forum, its users, and the moderators for putting everything on the table and allowing full transparency

[jimcraig152]

10 minutes ago, follically challenged said:

This exactly. It is a shame that youtube followers cannot always get the full picture as to things happening behind the scenes, ins and outs, complications, shortcomings etc...

So a big thank you to this forum, its users, and the moderators for putting everything on the table and allowing full transparency

I graduated from a high school that is 4 miles from MHTA. The average per capita income in the area is near ~$100k. That's the average. Now just average out jobs in the tech industry and that average skyrockets. That means many MHTA patients actually reside in that very area and can comfortably afford the cost of hair restoration.

Now that is key to the vast amounts of those Youtube videos we see that Dr. Diep produces. Simply, patients of MHTA are are just a few minutes drive away from the clinic. It is not much effort or expense for them come to the clinic and sit down for the video session 1 year post-op. Dr. Diep then leverages the close proximity of his patient base and pumps out video after video. It is proving a massive success for him. From a business stand point, kudos to him for that.

As for the other clinics, many of them rely upon extended travel or medical tourism. Once the procedure is done, they travel back home. So a sitdown follow-up consultation a year later is not easily arranged. Otherwise, they'd produce the same volumes of videos. Because we all know those other reputable clinics produce results that surpass that of MHTA patients. They are just at a disadvantage in that their patients are dispersed widely across a large geographical area.

But your right, if a prospective patient comes here, they are able to peer behind the curtains at Dr. Diep's techniques and can make a more informed decision. But then again, this forum is hidden away in a small corner of the interwebs and doesn't have nearly the same reach of Youtube.

[1978matt]

3 hours ago, jimcraig152 said:

I graduated from a high school that is 4 miles from MHTA. The average per capita income in the area is near ~$100k. That's the average. Now just average out jobs in the tech industry and that average skyrockets. That means many MHTA patients actually reside in that very area and can comfortably afford the cost of hair restoration.

Now that is key to the vast amounts of those Youtube videos we see that Dr. Diep produces. Simply, patients of MHTA are are just a few minutes drive away from the clinic. It is not much effort or expense for them come to the clinic and sit down for the video session 1 year post-op. Dr. Diep then leverages the close proximity of his patient base and pumps out video after video. It is proving a massive success for him. From a business stand point, kudos to him for that.

As for the other clinics, many of them rely upon extended travel or medical tourism. Once the procedure is done, they travel back home. So a sitdown follow-up consultation a year later is not easily arranged. Otherwise, they'd produce the same volumes of videos. Because we all know those other reputable clinics produce results that surpass that of MHTA patients. They are just at a disadvantage in that their patients are dispersed widely across a large geographical area.

But your right, if a prospective patient comes here, they are able to peer behind the curtains at Dr. Diep's techniques and can make a more informed decision. But then again, this forum is hidden away in a small corner of the interwebs and doesn't have nearly the same reach of Youtube.

I actually spent 4 months at an Elementary school just up the road in Sunnyvale in the late 1980s.  Nice area for sure.  My Dad worked in IT and used to go there all the time.

I feel like Dr D's standards have fallen over the last 5 years.  He should do 1 HT a day and work on refining his technique.

Edited September 25, 2020 by 1978matt

[ShadowMoon]

2 hours ago, 1978matt said:

I actually spent 4 months at an Elementary school just up the road in Sunnyvale in the late 1980s.  Nice area for sure.  My Dad worked in IT and used to go there all the time.

I feel like Dr D's standards have fallen over the last 5 years.  He should do 1 HT a day and work on refining his technique.

I don't know of any reputable surgeons that do two cases at once. Incredibly irresponsible in my opinion. Imagine if any other type of surgeon ran two surgeries at the same time. The profit margin is high enough for american surgeons, to run two surgeries at once is pure greed.

[Sean]

Best is to ask how many surgeries per day if i book with you?  How much attention can you give me during my surgery?  Can you cater to my goals that I am asking?  Can you make sure my donor isn’t traumatized to the point if visual scarring or donor density losses?  How many grafts can you do in one day?  Will you follow up with me on a regular basis to make sure im ok?  Will you be available if i need prescription for something if there is an emergency as a result of transplant.

 

What do you offer to satisfy a customer?  If there is yield issue, how do you remedy and do you charge more?  Will you have my back?  How many failures have you had this year?   Are there any real patients I can meet that gad similar goals as mine?  
 

 

you can pretty much keep going, but how a doctor answers will probably give you assurances.

[Legend007]

They are both good doctors ..

don’t overthink it . But do with whatever makes you feel comfortAble..

I had experience with both so I will comment on that lAter.

- but if u need to get your deposit back .. it’s easy if u charged it to your debit or credit card . Just call them up n dispute the charge , I told my bank, that I need my $1000 deposit back since  services were not provided .. Your deposit is made to hold your spot for services to be rendered . If you don’t go through with the surgery then services were not provided . Therefore, you get your money back . 
1. it is the clinic’s policy to keep your deposit but it is not law . N since you don’t work at their clinic then u don’t have to abide by their policy . 

2. Since the clinic did not render the service what right do they have to keep your deposit. It’s just an inconvenience to them to rebook another patient .. which they will probably do so . So they aren’t losing any buisiness .

3. When I called dr diep office to get my deposit back .. they said No !

n I was like we see about that , n didn’t need to speak to them any further, n handed up the phone  

then I called my bank n told them exactly what I just mentioned . They did not provide me any services n I need my $1,000 deposit back . Then the bank did whatever they do . N 

2 days later my money was back in my bank account . 
 

know your rights !! 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Legend007

[Legend007]

Dr diep office is super busy , so if he doesn’t do 2 patients a day , then do u want to wait 18 months instead of the current 9 months to get a ht from him.

- me personally ,. That was the main reason I didn’t go to him .. $20,000 I prefer to be the only patient . 

[jimcraig152]

1 hour ago, Legend007 said:

3. When I called dr diep office to get my deposit back .. they said No !

n I was like we see about that , n didn’t need to speak to them any further, n handed up the phone  

then I called my bank n told them exactly what I just mentioned . They did not provide me any services n I need my $1,000 deposit back . Then the bank did whatever they do . N 

2 days later my money was back in my bank account . 

Only applicable within a certain window. I believe it is 30 days. If beyond 30 days, even the CC companies can't do anything about it.

So how long before you made the call to the bank after you made the deposit?

[Legend007]

Like I said .. that’s their policy for the 30 day thing to cancel for the clinic . 

I think the bank is around 3-6 months to dispute the charges .. 

again this is just policy from companies .. 

- I canceled my appointment on the 11th month . So I was way pass the deadline to dispute chArges with the clinic or the bank .

but I still got my refund .. it’s very hard for the clinic to withhold your deposit when services were not provided .. if they actually sold u something, then yeah it be more difficult to get your money back .. 

- n since the clinic did not provide you services it’s difficult for them to argue with the bank when u open a grievance against them . 

[jimcraig152]

Well, I think I have a pretty baseline understanding of Dr. Diep's MO. He spends an hour per 1000 FUE grafts session with the patient. That is administering the anesthesia, performing extractions, and performing the graft incisions. The rest is left to the techs. He also spends 15 minutes going over the paperwork before you are given the pill cocktail. My FUE procedure was 2337 grafts. I was the second patient that day in for a 7:30am call time. After waiting a good 15-20 minutes in the lobby, I walked into Dr. Diep's office at about 8:00am. I was given the pill cocktail, signed away my patient rights by agreeing to arbitration, and lead into the procedure room sometime ~8:30am. As I was lead to the procedure room, the door for the first patient was open and I got a glimpse of the first patient. I saw no blood. Then the door was closed as I walked by. I didn't see Dr. Diep again for another hour as we didn't get started until between 9:30am-10:00am. During that time, he undoubtedly was performing surgery in the other procedure room with the first patient for that hour. I can remember one of his techs walking into my room to grab a microscope. We didn't get going until after 9:30am. I was there until 10pm, knocked out 90% of the time. 14 total hours, give or take. The only time I was awake during the procedure after the administration of the anesthesia was:

1. When I was woken from the pain during donor extraction. FUE is supposed to be a pain-free procedure, yeah? Mind you, I was under general anesthesia AND local anesthesia and still woke from pain. How much thrashing was going on during my donor extraction to wake me from those meds do you think?
2. Lunchtime. As I climbed back into the chair after lunch, they didn't care to change the beddings. It looked like someone was executed on that chair.
3. Sometime in the early evening late afternoon as the anesthesia was wearing thin.

These bullets above, I've detailed in my thread. So given Dr. Diep spends 1 hour/1000 FUE grafts (obviously less if FUT). My procedure had 2337 grafts. We didn't get started until 10:30am. That puts the time Dr. Diep spent with me finishing up right at around noon/lunchtime. The only times I was aware Dr. Diep was in the procedure room with me after the anesthesia was when I woke from the pain during extraction and at the end of the procedure. I think Dr. Diep's "I'm in a hurry" techniques are done so he can finish the work with his two surgical patients per day before lunch time. He undoubtedly has consultations at lunchtime as that is when patients are able to leave work for an appointment. I bet he takes lunch around 2:30pm. My consultation with him was at 4:15pm on 12/26/2019. When I arrived on time, there were two consultation patients ahead of me. One was waiting with me in the lobby and one that was exiting after paying his deposit. Another was a follow-up patient (he had on a head covering). There was one more consultation patient that I could see in the lobby after me at close to 5pm. Dr. Diep likely spends the remaining hours after lunch attending to patients' awaiting consultation. He has yet to make money from those patients. And make no mistake about it, those free consultations aren't free. Before you walk out of the clinic, you are told you have a few days to pay the $1000 deposit, or lose your scheduled surgery date. Then you have a week after the deposit to get a refund if you change your mind. He is making money from those consultations.

Now I am acutely aware of these times during my procedure because in the procedure room directly in front of the patient chair is a TV. Under that is a clock situated slightly to the right. And anyone who has seen Dr. Diep's work knows there is a marked difference between the work he does on the left vs. the work he does to the right. Always always, the shortcomings to his work are more pronounced on the right side. Coincidence? @Dadda confirmed that Dr. Diep starts on the left, then moves right. I originally thought if he underestimated his graft count, he just parks himself on the right and pulls more extractions. Hence the asymmetry. But I don't think that is the case any longer. I think if he is delayed, which was the case with me (I am thinking patient #1 ahead of me came late that day), he starts making compromises so that he can finish in time to make his appointment with his patients awaiting consultation. No efforts are made to graph the donor site; this industry standard practice is NA at MHTA. The thrashing of the donor supply. What can't possibly be anywhere near 5%-15% transection loss. Recall Specific_Violinist's donor. Compare my 2337 graft donor site to the 500 graft count higher 2800 FUE donor site of this patient (and yeah, I know there is a difference in density). The unnatural rapid-fire linear grid placement pattern of grafts. They aren't for efficiency or are his style. They are compromises made so he can meet his consultation appointments. Meaning his work is compromised. Just to give you an idea how packed his consultation schedule is, my consultation appointment was initiated on 11/4/19. The actual consultation appointment was 12/26/19. The procedure date was 7/24/2020.

So that what I am stating doesn't sound like rampant speculation, any other recent MHTA patients want to chime in if Dr. Diep was hands on or even present in the procedure room with them after the AM hours? I am willing to bet the farm the answer is 100% NO. Can any other Dr. Diep patients weigh in on the placement of the clock during your procedure? I was in the procedure room at the end of the hall. Was the clock easily viewable from your procedural position and thus easily viewable from Dr Diep's surgical position behind you and to the right? @Tentpole91, @Dadda, @kdlmajothers?

 

 

Edited September 26, 2020 by jimcraig152

[ciaus]

Thanks for sharing these details, I'm surprised to read that you were actually knocked out during the procedure -was that recommended or encouraged? Did he discuss the option of remaining conscience? Were you restrained at all to minimize movements? The risk of involuntarily moving around or jerking when one of the techs or doctor is doing something would be a major consideration for me. I would always opt for suffering through being awake to make sure I didn't make any disruptive movements etc.

[AB2000]

15 hours ago, jimcraig152 said:

Well, I think I have a pretty baseline understanding of Dr. Diep's MO. He spends an hour per 1000 FUE grafts session with the patient. That is administering the anesthesia, performing extractions, and performing the graft incisions. The rest is left to the techs. He also spends 15 minutes going over the paperwork before you are given the pill cocktail. My FUE procedure was 2337 grafts. I was the second patient that day in for a 7:30am call time. After waiting a good 15-20 minutes in the lobby, I walked into Dr. Diep's office at about 8:00am. I was given the pill cocktail, signed away my patient rights by agreeing to arbitration, and lead into the procedure room sometime ~8:30am. As I was lead to the procedure room, the door for the first patient was open and I got a glimpse of the first patient. I saw no blood. Then the door was closed as I walked by. I didn't see Dr. Diep again for another hour as we didn't get started until between 9:30am-10:00am. During that time, he undoubtedly was performing surgery in the other procedure room with the first patient for that hour. I can remember one of his techs walking into my room to grab a microscope. We didn't get going until after 9:30am. I was there until 10pm, knocked out 90% of the time. 14 total hours, give or take. The only time I was awake during the procedure after the administration of the anesthesia was:

1. When I was woke

 

 

I'm getting the impression that you are not a candidate for a hair transplant.

[ShadowMoon]

1 hour ago, AB2000 said:

I'm getting the impression that you are not a candidate for a hair transplant.

Why's that? 

[jimcraig152]

6 hours ago, ciaus said:

Thanks for sharing these details, I'm surprised to read that you were actually knocked out during the procedure -was that recommended or encouraged? Did he discuss the option of remaining conscience? Were you restrained at all to minimize movements? The risk of involuntarily moving around or jerking when one of the techs or doctor is doing something would be a major consideration for me. I would always opt for suffering through being awake to make sure I didn't make any disruptive movements etc.

I was surprised too. I got a shot to each upper arm followed by this comment from Dr. Diep:  " I gave you that to relax you." I was relaxed alright. So relaxed, I was under for most of the 12-hour procedure. The anesthesia regiment was not discussed at all. I know some of his other patients didn't get GA. But I know he was delayed for my procedure. So his need to rush through me to get to his consultations required that he give me GA perhaps?

That is another thing about my experience with his MO. Dr. Diep doesn't volunteer any information. If you don't ask, he won't tell you. And depending on what you ask, you might not get a straight answer. For instance, patients asked why he doesn't map out the donor site for symmetrical extraction. This was the answer Melvin got from him. No one has gotten an answer from him yet as to why he places graft incisions in row/grid patterns.

I wasn't restrained in anyway. But when I finally saw Dr. Diep again at the end of the surgery he mentioned that I moved around a lot. He also told me he was able to pull off the procedure with only pulling 87 more grafts (original estimate was 2250), that I have a big head, and he expressed in a surprised tone that the recession went pretty far back. As if he didn't examine me well enough beforehand.

But yeah, if you are considering an HT, now you know a bit better what to expect and what questions to ask. As for me, I do expect good results. But I still question a lot of Dr. Diep's tactics and now that I have first hand experience, I can spell out the flaws of his underlying techniques. He isn't any where near the top of the food chain his videos paint him to be. Even his most ardent supporter can't say he is in the same class as less-talked-abouts like Nadimi. What he is near is a highly dense population of affluent HT candidates/patients that he can leverage to pump out video after video. Take those videos away and what is left is:

• Linear constructed hairlines. Linearity of which is broken up by adding zig zags below the hairline
• Asymmetical donor extraction
• A large punch used in donor extraction
• Overharvesting of donors in patches/small areas as no attempts are made to diffuse/spread out extraction
• Very likely a high rate of transection loss
• Unnatural placement of grafts in rows/grid

 

[ciaus]

35 minutes ago, jimcraig152 said:

For instance, patients asked why he doesn't map out the donor site for symmetrical extraction. This was the answer Melvin got from him. No one has gotten an answer from him yet as to why he places graft incisions in row/grid patterns.

I read that reply in the link about maintaining virgin areas in the donor for future surgeries. I would only be cool with that if I knew that I was going to be getting consecutive additional surgeries to address loss already present. No way I'd agree to it on an open-ended basis so that x number of years down the road he has an easier time doing extractions. That's going to effect how much you can buzz your sides down, which is like one of the main reasons you bother with fue instead of fut.

[jimcraig152]

5 minutes ago, ciaus said:

I read that reply in the link about maintaining virgin areas in the donor for future surgeries. I would only be cool with that if I knew that I was going to be getting consecutive additional surgeries to address loss already present. No way I'd agree to it on an open-ended basis so that x number of years down the road he has an easier time doing extractions. That's going to effect how much you can buzz your sides down, which is like one of the main reasons you bother with fue instead of fut.

"The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it."

In another thread, the answer the patient got directly from MHTA was "We start from the middle, then move left. Then go from there." Something to that extent. I'll post it here when I find it again. But in other words, Dr. Diep can't even get his stories/responses consistent. What is a tell tale sign someone isn't telling you the truth? The stories are never the same.

As for me, I told Dr. Diep in my consultation that I've never taken any meds to treat hairloss. I asked him to prescribe to me propecia. He then told me the cheapest places to find it (Costco, then Walmart). He also told me to use Rogaine foam. I trouble getting the prescription fulfilled from Dr. Diep that I didn't bother and asked my Kaiser Dr. to write a prescription for me. So I've been using the Dr. Reddy Finasteride I get from Kaiser since May and it has totally worked. I can't tell if Rogaine has worked yet. But the point is, meds haven't kicked in yet. So why perform extractions in anticipation of follow-up work being needed?

It's just another one of the compromises he makes at the expense of the patient in the procedure chair. And the lie to go along with it hasn't yet been perfected.

5 hours ago, AB2000 said:

I'm getting the impression that you are not a candidate for a hair transplant.

If you are trying to say that I sound like a stressed worry-wort, you'd be mistaken. As I write these things, I am as calm and optimistic as can be. Actually talking about my HT has been very therapeutic. Having the ability to articulate my experience, critically analyze the work, and think may come off as being a stressed individual, but then again you'd be mistaken.

[ShadowMoon]

17 minutes ago, jimcraig152 said:

If you are trying to say that I sound like a stressed worry-wort, you'd be mistaken. As I write these things, I am as calm and optimistic as can be. Actually talking about my HT has been very therapeutic. Having the ability to articulate my experience, critically analyze the work, and think may come off as being a stressed individual, but then again you'd be mistaken.

Thanks for sharing. It disappoints me when the biggest showcase of Dr. Diep's flawed technique decided he needed to delete his post. I don't know who talked him into that. 

I am completely blown away at how terrible your experience was. My own was pleasant in every way. 

Got there at 0630 for a 0645 appointment. Surgical tech was waiting at the door for me. She immediately checked me in and took me to their evaluation room. She went over some paperwork with me, had me sign everything but the consent, and gave me prophylactic antibiotics. In addition, she gave me new OR shoes and a t-shirt. Afterward, she washed my hair. Dr. Gabel got there at 0715 bright eyed and bushy tailed and we spent almost an hour going over consent, talking about hairline, taking pre op pictures. They gave me valium and some oxy for pain before surgery. After 20 minutes, I was lead to the OR. 

He used a vibration device to distract from the lidocaine. He laid down the rules for telling me about pain, emphasizing that if I don't say anything, I will likely have bleeding issues due to the epi in the lidocaine. He had the strip out and staples done in 30 minutes. No pain. Afterward, I had some lunch. I went back in in 15 minutes. I got numbing shots on my recipient site. He didn't leave the room until he was done with incisions. 

There was a small gap of time for the techs to finish, and he left to answer emails. He called in two techs to expedite the process of refining the grafts. At one point there were five techs on microscopes. He let me choose the music to listen to on the speakers. He out in all the grafts on my right side while a tech did my left side. At certain points when you can only do one side due to angles, he left the room. There was never any wasted time. I never felt like he wasn't part of the process. He talked with me the entire time, and it was actually enjoyable conversation. 

The techs were extremely friendly and showed me the grafts in trays and let me look in their microscope. 

He gave me two follow up appointments, no charge, and saw me personally in each one to make sure everything was okay. He did slight readjustments the first morning after on two grafts that had inched upward.

For the first week, he personally responded to my emails within minutes. He cut back to only operating 4 days a week so that he can spend Fridays doing consultations. 

On top of all that, he produces more natural results than Dr. Diep. He comes close to Dr. Konior, who taught him a great deal about hair restoration surgery. He has almost 20 years of experience. In addition, he is a board certified face/neck surgeon, which is incredibly difficult to perform.

He charges half the amount for FUT vs. FUE. I was out of that office at 5 PM.

It's just night and day. I got my procedure done four days after you so I have been following your experience with great interest. Thanks for sharing and letting people know the truth.

 

[jimcraig152]

@ShadowMoon, the way you've just written about your experience sounds like a passage out of a traveler's guide about a whimsical recollection of a far and away --I got to go there before I die-- destination. Night and day compared to mine. I am not being unfair at all with articulation of the events either. @kdlmaj confirmed in my thread what I stated was pretty much what he experienced with MHTA that followed mine by 4 days. He stated, he was glad he was knocked out for 100% of it.

I can add more color to this too. As I arrived there on time, a good 10 to 15 minutes passed before someone attended to me. Then I was greeted with, "Hi, you are..........?" as she searched for my name in the stack of paper appointments for that day, "Mr <last name with held>." She then gave me the final docs to fill out and the menu for which I was to order lunch. Then walked back into the procedure room from which she came. As I was seated in the lobby filling out the papers, I could hear Dr. Diep's voice from the back room saying, "You mean he is here already?!" Remember, the door was left open to the other patient's procedure room as I mentioned earlier so I could hear Dr. Diep loud and clear when he said that.

Also, regarding the anesthesia. Dr. Diep shot my both my arms up with GA within 10 seconds. Then as he was applying the LA to my forehead and scalp, it was only then when he said this is the worst part of the whole process. "Everything else would be painless." he said. Well, the extraction was the most painful part; as mentioned earlier, I woke up through GA and LA from that pain. Dr. Diep was definitely in a rush with me so he could finish up to get to his consultations. I wonder who the other patient was that day ahead of me on 7/24/2020. Because Dr. Diep was in a bigger rush with him to get to me. Maybe we can get him to chime in here if he is out there.

I think the mods here get upset when patients single out any one surgeon. I've asked Melvin if the mods can recuse themselves from moderating discussions about surgeons that performed work on them individually. Let one of the other mods do it. I think that is necessary for impartiality because this site is about patients getting the best for themselves. And the mods are human like the rest of us and can be unconsciously partial. That is the optics anyway. In any case, even if we aren't singling out any one surgeon. I think we can all agree that any surgeon performing more than one restoration procedure a day can be dropped off any recommended list. Too many compromises are made in all such historical instances. It is not just an MHTA/Dr. Diep problem.

 

Edited September 27, 2020 by jimcraig152

[jimcraig152]

@hybonix, with your procedure just days away now, make sure to practice taking photos of your hair now. It's harder than it looks. Also, having lots of before pics is a great reference and testament for others in their decision making. And you'll never get the chance again.

Good luck man. Look forward to hearing about your results.

Edited September 27, 2020 by jimcraig152

[hybonix]

35 minutes ago, jimcraig152 said:

@hybonix, with your procedure just days away now, make sure to practice taking photos of your hair now. It's harder than it looks. Also, having lots of before pics is a great reference and testament for others in their decision making. And you'll never get the chance again.

Good luck man. Look forward to hearing about your results.

Thank you so much for the great advice. I’m practicing now and I look forward to posting my own story. I appreciate your wisdom and kind thoughts. 
 

Regarding my upcoming surgery with Ron Shapiro, I’m not nervous at all, because I’m confident in my surgeon. When I was with Diep, it was a different story. Reading your posts is honestly terrifying. Comparing your experience with literally every other patient’s hair transplant (who didn’t go to Diep) is not even in the same ballpark... Your story is the polar opposite from everyone else who has gone to top tier surgeons like H&W, Konior, Rahal, Cooley, Gabel, Nadimi and etc. The dysfunctional staff and lack of organization at Diep’s office was a huge red flag to me when initially working with them. Every time I called to try and get more information, they punted to reach out by email. It took weeks to get any type of response and when I did, it was lackluster and unhelpful. It was so shockingly bad that there was a debacle of their staff attempting to get me connected to Diep for my consultation. During this two hour process, my wife literally said “Are you kidding me? Is this a place you trust to do your surgery? That’s awful.” It’s definitely not surprising to see this dysfunctional behavior continue through to the operating room and in the office.
 

Now that I’ve worked with other top tier clinics, the experience is dramatically different. All others are responsive, helpful, and intelligible. I know it’s about the results, but what about being able to do your job and be competent so that your patients feel comfortable with the clinic? It honestly baffles me that Diep is on the recommended list based on his staff alone... Again, the results talk, but I find it unacceptable that Diep’s clinic operates the way it does when compared to literally every other clinic. It’s so shockingly bad it honestly disgusts me as no human deserves that treatment. It’s not a witch hunt at all, but just speaking the truth. I really hope Diep tightens things up or he’s going to continue to lose more potential patients...

[jimcraig152]

42 minutes ago, hybonix said:

Every time I called to try and get more information, they punted to reach out by email.

Same for me with MHTA, and I am an actual patient of theirs. Started with phone calls. Then phone calls were punted to call backs. Call backs then punted to email. Emails punted to the Onpatient.com portal. From the Onpatient.com portal, I got a message stating I didn't register my invite as a cop out for why they didn't deliver any of the things I asked for. I did register my invite with messages sent through the portal. But they dropped the ball on even that, so I sent them screen grabs from Onpatient.com as proof. They must have found out they made a snafu. Then finally responded via the Onpatient.com portal without the 3 simple things I asked for. Along with a response via email with a notification for a potential follow-up appointment. Yeap, no witch hunt. It is the honest truth about the current state of things with Dr. Diep/MHTA.

Excited for you buddy! Can't wait to see your thread! Can't wait to see OP's (@Buffaloboy) thread too.

[hairlosscpa]

After reading all this, there is no way I can reccomend Dr. Diep to my friends. Thanks all for posting!