Dr Michael May in London

[Daniel150878]

At the age of 17 with no hairloss of any kind but simply inheriting a naturally high hairline which was normal but in my eyes not perfect I naively decided to invest in a hair transplant to attain the "ideal hairline" that I thought would improve my appearance.Having phoned around the more reputable surgeons and being told quite rightly that I was too young for the surgery I finally stumbled upon the dubious surgical skills of Dr Michael May in London who said he didnt care if I was 7 or 70 as long as I paid.My parents at the time thought it was madness as I had a full head of hair but such was my pesistance to continue on this daft venture they finally agreed and so did the unscrupulous doctor May.At 17 years 3 months I told Dr May that I wanted a lower hairline so he proceded to draw a line on my forehead and that was the last I ever saw of him.His assistant a nurse called Linda did the whole of the transplant from start to finish from cutting the strip of donor hair to putting them into the scalp after being cut into mini grafts.Dr May clearly had better things to do with his time but at 17 with no knowledge of whether he should be present or not I didnt think much of it initially.My father took me home and within hours there was liquid streaming from the two areas on either side of the front of my forehead where the grafts had been put in.At this stage I told my father who I lived with as a single parent family and he said dont worry "its nothing" type of response and since I wasnt old enough to even go to a pub never mind question a doctors medical methods I just assumed everything would work out.After several days yellow matter began to ooze out of the areas where the hair had been transplanted so my father phoned the clinic and they responded by saying wash the areas as they are infected but it should be ok.This was late December and living in manchester ,having no car with the clinic in London just foolishly hoped it would resolve itself over Christmas.It didnt and by early January healthy hair which surrounded the grafts began to fall out as well as the grafts themselves.My head looked huge with the two giant mounds of scar tissue that had developed where the grafts had been put and hair that was previously healthy falling out.I blamed myself at the time cursing myself for ever trusting this butcher and felt too embarrassed to tell anyone even my own family so began to wearing baseball caps practically all the time.The infection eventually went and I was left with two swollen areas that remained that way for years,places where hair fell out and has never regrown (this was 1995) and just looking disfigured from what had occurred.Had I been the age I am now 30,I would have set about rectifying the situation immediately with surgery to replace lost hairs but the thought of another hair transplant to repair damage caused by a hair transplant that I never needed in the first place was too daunting.It took me till I was 25 to set about the long road for replacing the hairs...3 hair transplants were needed over a period of 3 years to correct the butchery done by Dr Michael may on 30 the november 1995.Even now 14 years later I still have extensive scar tissue ,scars etc from his work and needless to say the psychological damage has been immense.At 17 I had my whole life ahead of me and this guy has taken it away from me because of his laziness,poor quality of work done by his assisstant and general butchey.Even now 14 years later I wont leave the house without a baseball cap as although the hair has been replaced the lumpiness in the two recipient areas is visible so would urge anyone to stay away from this guy as he should be struck off and sent to prison for what he has done to me

[Guest comb]

And to think that Dr May is the current president of ESHRS and BAHRS. I know that this stands for nothing but he and other doctors sell it as if it does, which can easily fool people.

 

A HT in 1995, even with the best available techniques, on a non balding 17 year old, even if it went perfectly, would never look natural or fulfill expectations. I think such practice is borderline criminal.

[Daniel150878]

Hi Spex,

Thanks for your response.Its comforting to know others understand the misery that can be brought upon by poor surgery and the devastating effects it can have.Im happy with the doctor I am seeing now who has done an exceptional job in replacing the lost hair due to Dr Mays butchery.My only regret is that I didnt follow his advice to cut away completely the original poor work from May rather than the option I elected for which was to add more hair to the areas .I just wished I had gone to this doctor originally rather than May as guys like him should`nt be practising medicine on anyone.

[Daniel150878]

In addition to what I have already written ,I had a "follow up" appointment with Dr May 3 months later which I attended with my mother.Apparently May had to attend an important business meeting which was obviously more important than the horrors I was experiencing so it was left to his nurse Linda who performed the surgery to tell me I had lost the hair that had fallen out due to natural causes rather than infection and she would do another transplant for half price.Interesting theory about losing it via male pattern baldness as at that stage I had barely started shaving and now at 30 I havent lost any more hair other than that lost to infection

[Fookinhair]

Dan, I really feel for you and hope that you can move forward with your life in a much more positive way. Who is your new Dr BTW?

[Mr. GQ]

that's a very sad story Dan and it continues to keep happening even to this day and age to many unlucky hairloss sufferers.

but yeah i too am interested and would like to know who was/is your repair surgeon, so if you don't mind sharing his name with this forum it would be great. also few pictures of your current situation would be very interesting to see.

 

P.S.

i'd go back to that clinic at night with a bag full of rocks and bricks and would smash every one of his windows, got back to my car and jet. if i get caught by coppers, oh well at least that sweet feeling of satisfaction would still be there.

[MikeTheDane]

Deeply saddened by this. I truly wish the best for you.

 

Who is your new surgeon?

[mgem]

Thanks for sharing your experience Dan, i hope everything works out for you all the best. mgem

[LondonTraveller]

I had one consultation with said doctor before settling in the end for Dr Devroye for my first procedure. The consultation lasted 5 minutes and he recommended 800 grafts!!. This would have ended up in disaster.

 

What I cannot believe is that a physician who in the opinion of educated patients and peers produces sub-par work still holds prestigious posts in professional associations.

 

I almost fell for that myself, since I thought that a mediocre practitioner would not be chosen for these positions. But it turns out these honorific titles actually mean very little (It is similar to membership of professional associations where you only have to pay to be listed and is not evidence of profesionalism/quality of work).

 

Said physician also advertises in free newspapers given to commuters saying that 'he has pioneered a new method of HT using follicular units'. Whereas we all know that the true pioneers in this field are Rassman and Bernstein who first described the FU technique in a medical journal in 1995. Also, a true professional does not need to advertise that way, they get referrals through word of mouth.

 

I write all of this as I am quite upset to have read the unfortunate experiences of a number of UK patients at that clinic. I am surprised that the UK medical authorities remain passive.

 

Are any of you aware of any past or present legal action launched against this clinic?

 

So the lesson to be learned is:

 

For UK patients, with the possible exception of the Farjos, the best place to get a HT are:

 

- 'Heathrow airport' (for North American doctors)

- 'Eurostar train stations' (for doctors in Belgium).

 

And that's all there is to it!

[AMR1]

I can not belive I had 2 session with Dr May in 1996 & 1998!!

[glasgow]

guys

i had a consultation with dr may in summer 09 and was not impressed one bit.......he aint a member of the institutes he says he is ( contact them)..i had consultation with farjo.very professsional met with one of his patients and is booked for november

[paragon01]

I also have been at the hans of this clinic and his illustrious assistant, I was told that 800 grafts would leave me with a pencil thin two inch scar, the scar is 10cm and not pencil thin and now means that I have not been able to cut my hair shorter than a grade two for the last 6 years. I walked into the clinic with the mildest of thinning on the crown that wouldn't of made a norwood scale thinking it would be better to get it sorted once and for all rather that take any products, I went back for my three month check and the results looked ok but within a year I was a Norwood 5 and have been that way ever since. If I get my wife to look REALLY closely she can count approximately 20 grafts.