Say it ain't so.

[Berba11]

5 hours ago, Oxiborick said:

Yeah, that seems to be the most likely scenario.

Shame really, I really liked these guys.

That doesn’t explain that the work is bad generally. The big gaps between implantations, the rows in the crown, the total lack of planning & putting nothing in the midscalp… These people shouldn’t be doing HTs, period. 
 

Who was the clinic?

[Oxiborick]

5 hours ago, Berba11 said:

That doesn’t explain that the work is bad generally. The big gaps between implantations, the rows in the crown, the total lack of planning & putting nothing in the midscalp… These people shouldn’t be doing HTs, period. 
 

Who was the clinic?

I dunno, I think "doing amateurish work" and "accidentally snuffing half the graphs" are manifestations of the same thing. 

I'm holding off on naming them for now. Going to work on getting this straightened out this week.

Man, this sucks to an unbelievable degree. I just wanted to not be bald anymore.  

[mr_peanutbutter]

iare you on medication? midscalp hairs are about to go..

 

edit: nvm, read you are on it

 

so thats good

Edited October 31, 2022 by mr_peanutbutter

[Oxiborick]

I guess I should have known better because of the really low fee, which a reliable source now tells me is "too low for the USA." Ah well.

Here's to hoping that the 1500~2000 grafts that were actually implanted will yield successfully. Rogaine + Propecia has worked wonders on me in the past, and hey there's always Toppik -- which my surgeon herself recommended! 😐

I will definitely be getting a second one, probably at least a year from now and more likely January 2024. The clinic under discussion here informed me before the procedure that my "donor is awesome" (their phrasing), and if the missing grafts in this case were just extraction misfires, some of the follicles that were targeted for them may very well still be intact. Even if they all died horribly in the extraction process and/or handling I probably still have at least 3000~4000 available to use. (The surgeon I consulted with about the botch job -- the one I mentioned in the OP -- says it could definitely be repaired.)

Will probably go to Mexico. Dr. Nader, as well as Dr. Cortez in Tijuana, seem to be the best I can find based on patient testimonials, and they're right over the border. 

Anyway, I appreciate all the support and advice I got here. This was actually a real roller coaster psychologically, but I feel better after consulting with you guys.

[pkipling]

I really hate to see that this still happens, and I'm sorry you're going through this. I'm glad you found this forum and seem to be making the most of it. While it's not an ideal scenario, you'll definitely have the proper resources/knowledge moving forward to formulate a really solid game plan to repair this.

Thanks for sharing your story here, as it really helps highlight just how important thorough, detailed research is for other people looking for a hair transplant. 

Keep your chin up - and we'll collectively hope for the best!  

[gaz9318054]

Please name the clinic.

[SeanT1]

Sorry about your situation, at least they didn't butcher your donor area and you're safe for a second transplant.
Don't be afraid to travel abroad to a great doctor if need be.

Please remain optimistic that you'll have a head of hair again, patience is key. 

 

[general-etwan]

Enough people have already said it and I don't mean to add to any bad feelings at all, but yes, this is extremely poor work. Unbelievably poor. Just look at how spaced out the grafts are, how few there are in areas of balding, the unnatural bleeding pattern on the crown, etc. This is wicked.

Good luck to you in finding a way to fix this. It can be fixed. As others have said, you will have options. Eugenix in India one of them.

[Oxiborick]

12 hours ago, general-etwan said:

Enough people have already said it and I don't mean to add to any bad feelings at all, but yes, this is extremely poor work. Unbelievably poor. Just look at how spaced out the grafts are, how few there are in areas of balding, the unnatural bleeding pattern on the crown, etc. This is wicked.

Good luck to you in finding a way to fix this. It can be fixed. As others have said, you will have options. Eugenix in India one of them.

I looked at your journey materials and it looks like your baldness is very similar to mine. My crown was worse than your front and your front was worse than my crown, but on balance, about the same. Maybe I could get this fixed with like 3000 grafts? It looks like I will have, at least, 1500~2000 grafts from this one (assuming they do survive), so they at least might work as a foundation for a real hair transplant. 

Sadly I don't really have much of a beard to speak of, but my donor is pretty extensive from what I understand (both the "clinic" under discussion here and some other doctors have told me this) and apparently they didn't completely wreck it.

How many grafts do you think I actually got? I've heard estimates from 1500 to 2500, but never more or less than that.

[wylie]

On 11/2/2022 at 4:44 AM, Oxiborick said:

Sadly I don't really have much of a beard to speak of, but my donor is pretty extensive from what I understand (both the "clinic" under discussion here and some other doctors have told me this) and apparently they didn't completely wreck it.

It makes absolutely no difference what the clinic who did this to you said, they have proven to be utterly negligent and incompetent and you cannot take their word for anything. This clinic should not be in business, it does look like someone who had never done a transplant before. It also makes zero difference with how nice and personable they have treated you, as you now face the prospect of getting repaired with a diminished donor, and prior to this procedure you were well on your way towards a Norwood 7 scale of hair loss. 

You have to be extremely careful moving forward, you cannot read some Google reviews and pick your next clinic based off of 5 star reviews, because you don't have enough donor to repair two mistakes, it will be challenging enough to fix this as you have a large area to cover. I strongly suggest you visit with someone who specializes in repair and has a proven track record of success doing that. I speak from experience, it took me years to repair my botched procedure and I had to use beard hair, as I was long out of scalp donor. Best of luck to you.

 

[Oxiborick]

1 hour ago, wylie said:

I speak from experience, it took me years to repair my botched procedure and I had to use beard hair, as I was long out of scalp donor. Best of luck to you.

 

Thanks for your feedback. What was your botched procedure like, if you don't mind my asking? Was it as bad as mine?

[wylie]

1 hour ago, Oxiborick said:

Thanks for your feedback. What was your botched procedure like, if you don't mind my asking? Was it as bad as mine?

Yes, it was, but I had two things going for me: I kept my original hairline, which had always been high, and my crown was untouched (this was 25 years ago, when they were doing something called "scalp reductions'" (Google it) so my repair was limited to filling in the numerous strip scars (exclusively beard hair) and softening the hairline (scalp hair) and filling in the front half (all beard hair) and I can vouch for beard hair, because without it, I could not have been repaired. I wore a hat for 20 years I was so embarrassed by my hairline and hair plug appearance, It was a long running nightmare, and there were only a handful of doctors in the world who could have repaired me. I'm extremely grateful, and relieved,  to look normal again. 

Edited November 6, 2022 by wylie

[Oxiborick]

Update: This bunch is still insisting I got 3800 grafts. This is what you call gaslighting, right?

I referred them to this thread and asked them to address the issued raised within but they refuse to read it. "We're not reading it," they said.

Man this whole experience is just one massive depressing, disappointing train wreck. I'm never going to trust anyone again in any context unless they're someone close to me or they have an outstanding reputation (beyond Google reviews, lol).

Edited November 17, 2022 by Oxiborick

[Berba11]

4 hours ago, Oxiborick said:

Update: This bunch is still insisting I got 3800 grafts. This is what you call gaslighting, right?

I referred them to this thread and asked them to address the issued raised within but they refuse to read it. "We're not reading it," they said.

Man this whole experience is just one massive depressing, disappointing train wreck. I'm never going to trust anyone again in any context unless they're someone close to me or they have an outstanding reputation (beyond Google reviews, lol).

Sorry to hear that they are fobbing you off, though quite unsurprising. 
 

This is why it’s important you name the clinic. You could save someone else this kind of heartache. There’s literally another thread posted yesterday in which someone had booked with a dodgy clinic in Turkey for Jan 2023 but found this forum just in time and has potentially saved them self from a similar fate to yours. 

[Spring15]

Please name the clinic so users can avoid this practice 

[Berba11]

On 11/2/2022 at 9:44 AM, Oxiborick said:

I looked at your journey materials and it looks like your baldness is very similar to mine. My crown was worse than your front and your front was worse than my crown, but on balance, about the same. Maybe I could get this fixed with like 3000 grafts? It looks like I will have, at least, 1500~2000 grafts from this one (assuming they do survive), so they at least might work as a foundation for a real hair transplant. 

Sadly I don't really have much of a beard to speak of, but my donor is pretty extensive from what I understand (both the "clinic" under discussion here and some other doctors have told me this) and apparently they didn't completely wreck it.

How many grafts do you think I actually got? I've heard estimates from 1500 to 2500, but never more or less than that.

Also, as well as really needing to name the clinic that did this to you (there's literally zero benefit to you or anyone else by keeping it a secret, especially now that the clinic have effectively washed their hands of you having raised your concerns), it might be worth telling us which doctors you've been talking to regarding repair work. You've already blundered into one bad clinic without doing proper research - it's critically essential that you don't do it again. Most people can just about survive one bad HT (as long as the donor isn't savaged). Two strikes and you're well & truly out...

[Pbaird98]

8 hours ago, Oxiborick said:

Update: This bunch is still insisting I got 3800 grafts. This is what you call gaslighting, right?

I referred them to this thread and asked them to address the issued raised within but they refuse to read it. "We're not reading it," they said.

Man this whole experience is just one massive depressing, disappointing train wreck. I'm never going to trust anyone again in any context unless they're someone close to me or they have an outstanding reputation (beyond Google reviews, lol).

Yeh absolutely guaranteed they have read it and just don’t want to address any of the concerns. Decent/ethical clinics/Drs have no problem addressing concerns either privately or publicly, this shower obviously prefers the la, la la fingers in ears approach.. 

[Oxiborick]

What's really awful about this is the psychological impact. I thought this guy (the clinic owner) was my friend. 

Going forward, if someone is friendly toward me, I'll always suspect they're just trying to screw me over. I have autism, too, so it's hard enough for me to form friendly relations with people.

Will probably name them soon, just got to make sure I'm safe doing that first.

[asterix0]

10 minutes ago, Oxiborick said:

What's really awful about this is the psychological impact. I thought this guy (the clinic owner) was my friend. 

Going forward, if someone is friendly toward me, I'll always suspect they're just trying to screw me over. I have autism, too, so it's hard enough for me to form friendly relations with people.

Will probably name them soon, just got to make sure I'm safe doing that first.

It is more subtle, don't think in terms of always or everytime. 

See if a lawyer will consider some pro bono work to help you with your case, that you were taken advantage of, and were lied to regarding number of grafts.

[wylie]

9 hours ago, Berba11 said:

Also, as well as really needing to name the clinic that did this to you (there's literally zero benefit to you or anyone else by keeping it a secret, especially now that the clinic have effectively washed their hands of you having raised your concerns), it might be worth telling us which doctors you've been talking to regarding repair work. You've already blundered into one bad clinic without doing proper research - it's critically essential that you don't do it again. Most people can just about survive one bad HT (as long as the donor isn't savaged). Two strikes and you're well & truly out...

This times ten thousand. 

[wylie]

4 hours ago, Oxiborick said:

What's really awful about this is the psychological impact. I thought this guy (the clinic owner) was my friend. 

Going forward, if someone is friendly toward me, I'll always suspect they're just trying to screw me over. I have autism, too, so it's hard enough for me to form friendly relations with people.

Will probably name them soon, just got to make sure I'm safe doing that first.

Did you have a personal relationship with him before your surgery? If you did not, there was no reason to think of him as your "friend", if he worked to somehow make you feel this way, simply as a paying customer, then the guy sounds like a sociopath and a con artist, which further explains how he could do such awful work and then continue lying to you and now refusing to take responsibility. There are good doctors out there, this forum is where you can find them, but trust me, this aint my first rodeo, and this guy is taking the default position that was  the primary response to bad work for many decades. Did he make you sign any disclaimers before he operated on you? If so, forget legal action, and if you didn't sign anything, know that your chances of successfully suing him lie somewhere between slim and none. 

Furthermore,  it's smart to do your research and "trust, but verify", so don't let this scumbag change your worldview. Anything medical related, from HT's to  colonoscopy, needs to be thoroughly researched and the doctors vetted. There no guarantees even if you have done your homework, and if you haven't, well, you are more likely to sit in the same chair that you did for your procedure. 

Edited November 17, 2022 by wylie

[Berba11]

7 hours ago, Oxiborick said:

What's really awful about this is the psychological impact. I thought this guy (the clinic owner) was my friend. 

Going forward, if someone is friendly toward me, I'll always suspect they're just trying to screw me over. I have autism, too, so it's hard enough for me to form friendly relations with people.

Will probably name them soon, just got to make sure I'm safe doing that first.

You’re absolutely safe to name the clinic who did the work (as long as you’re telling the truth, obviously). This entire forum is dedicated to people sharing their HT journey’s & discussing clinics. 

[Oxiborick]

14 minutes ago, Berba11 said:

You’re absolutely safe to name the clinic who did the work (as long as you’re telling the truth, obviously). This entire forum is dedicated to people sharing their HT journey’s & discussing clinics. 

I'm definitely telling the truth, I just don't want to say anything bad that isn't true inadvertently. You guys sure this isn't 3800 grafts? It doesn't look like it, but I'm not an expert about this stuff.

[Spring15]

6 hours ago, Oxiborick said:

I'm definitely telling the truth, I just don't want to say anything bad that isn't true inadvertently. You guys sure this isn't 3800 grafts? It doesn't look like it, but I'm not an expert about this stuff.

Look for yourself at the results posted by users in the results and reviews sub forum. You'll immediately notice how much more densely placed the grafts are (which is paramount) compared to how sparse your grafts are. Looks around 1500-2000 grafts max

I'm sorry to say but this is probably the worst performed surgery we have seen on this forum this year

[Berba11]

8 hours ago, Oxiborick said:

I'm definitely telling the truth, I just don't want to say anything bad that isn't true inadvertently. You guys sure this isn't 3800 grafts? It doesn't look like it, but I'm not an expert about this stuff.

It’s my honest opinion from these photos that less than 3,800 grafts have been implanted, yes. You can count the incision sites yourself to check. (There’s apps can that help with this I believe - maybe some other forum members know which ones!)
 

It’s also clear as day that the work is poor generally with no real planning. You don’t even need to say anything bad about the clinic - the pictures of the work do that for you. You just need to say who did it.