Horrible experience with Dr Yeimy Alvarez in Barranquilla, Colombia. 2 Hair transplants, dissatisfied with the results and dishonesty. AVOID!!

[Jnass]

Hello all, linking my previous post of my first HT with Dr Yeimy Alvarez on April 2021

This was the result after the first HT of 3500 grafts with Dr Yeimy Alvarez.

Of course i was dissatisfied with the hairline and resulting frontal density. The doctor offered to give me repair for free so i scheduled it for July 2022.  To my surprise, I travel to Colombia and they had booked the wrong date for me, they already had someone else they were operating that day so they double booked us and asked me to get there earlier. The day before the surgery comes and they charge me full price I was like ok i don't really want to fight and get a bad result so I'm just going to pay. The doctor didn't discuss the surgery plan with me I want to focus on the hairline and midscalp but when i wake up from the surgery realize that they hadn't touched the midscalp only a bit of the crown area, of course I was displeased but was like ok hopefully i get good results this time around. Below are the pics after the second surgery.

At 6 months I was already pretty sure I wasn't going to get the results I wanted so I got into discussions with the Doctor and her assistants. On December she said that if i didn't get the growth I wanted I would get a refund. Well 5 months pass and I didn't get the results I wanted on the frontal or crown area they worked on, the survival rate seemed low. The Doctor then said she never offered a refund as well as her husband and said that I should talk to their lawyers, I off course was angry and stormed out. Below are my results 11 months post the second surgery. 

I'm now debating what to do, i want to still fix the hairline and add some density to the midscalp and then cover the rest with SMP. These pictures are after cutting my hair so donor looks more lighter than usual. Not sure how many grafts I can still extract. Was thinking of going to Pekiner since he has very good results.  Thanks for the help! Avoid Yeimy Alvarez at all costs.  Attaching pictures of my grown out donor below.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Jnass
missing pic

[Melvin- Admin]

Wow that is very disheartening to hear. I would have never paid full price for the second surgery. Especially if you were told it would be free. Do you have any documentation that says they would perform a free touch-up? Also, did you pay via credit card? You might be able to dispute the charges.

[Jnass]

 

3 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Wow that is very disheartening to hear. I would have never paid full price for the second surgery. Especially if you were told it would be free. Do you have any documentation that says they would perform a free touch-up? Also, did you pay via credit card? You might be able to dispute the charges.

It was all over the phone and in-person meetings, unfortunately. I did dispute right after the surgery but it wasn't approved given that it was medical.

Melvin you've gone through several surgeries as well. The next one would be my 5th and I think my last! I don't have any BHT grafts so given my limited donor I think I have one more HT in me to strengthen the frontal area and add some density to the midscalp and then SMP all over to add density. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Melvin- Admin]

3 minutes ago, Jnass said:

 

It was all over the phone and in-person meetings, unfortunately. I did dispute right after the surgery but it wasn't approved given that it was medical.

Melvin you've gone through several surgeries as well. The next one would be my 5th and I think my last! I don't have any BHT grafts so given my limited donor I think I have one more HT in me to strengthen the frontal area and add some density to the midscalp and then SMP all over to add density. Any suggestions? Thanks!

That’s awful! Without proof, it’s an uphill battle. Very disappointing to hear. Ethics are big, a clinic without ethics is doomed to fail. 
 

As for your hair, it’s in decent shape. I’d probably leave it as is, are you on medication?

[Jnass]

1 minute ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

That’s awful! Without proof, it’s an uphill battle. Very disappointing to hear. Ethics are big, a clinic without ethics is doomed to fail. 
 

As for your hair, it’s in decent shape. I’d probably leave it as is, are you on medication?

I'm on dutasteride and oral minoxidil. Switched to Dut from Fin after like 11 years, seemed like Fin stopped working. My main concern is my hairline which limits very much what I can do with my hair and if it's not perfectly combed to the side it's pretty noticeable and vulnerable to sunlight and wind. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Have you talked to Dr. Nader or Dr. Camacho as alternatives?

[Jnass]

5 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Have you talked to Dr. Nader or Dr. Camacho as alternatives?

I've talked to the best in Turkey which are more expensive than Nader and Camacho, don't want to risk it, want surgeons with abundant proven results.

[Qamar]

Check Dr. Munib from Fuegenix.. 

[HappyMan2021]

2 hours ago, Jnass said:

The day before the surgery comes and they charge me full price I was like ok i don't really want to fight and get a bad result so I'm just going to pay.

this sounds like outright fraud and deception to me. 

Both parties had agreed the surgery was free. OP travels to another country, in a pretty vulnerable state - seems like he has no choice really but to accept that he will have to pay for surgery. What is the other option? Complete waste of an international trip, all the time, money, stress, of travel, etc?

@Jnass if I were you I would DEMAND a refund. If they don't comply, time to hire a lawyer. 

[Jnass]

40 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

this sounds like outright fraud and deception to me. 

Both parties had agreed the surgery was free. OP travels to another country, in a pretty vulnerable state - seems like he has no choice really but to accept that he will have to pay for surgery. What is the other option? Complete waste of an international trip, all the time, money, stress, of travel, etc?

@Jnass if I were you I would DEMAND a refund. If they don't comply, time to hire a lawyer. 

I already demanded a refund. Before surgery they make you sign things that pretty much relieve them of guilt if the results aren't successful.. they already told me if I wanted to instigate further to talk to their lawyers so I think it's a battle not worth pursuing... but at least I can warn others.

[HappyMan2021]

31 minutes ago, Jnass said:

I already demanded a refund. Before surgery they make you sign things that pretty much relieve them of guilt if the results aren't successful.. they already told me if I wanted to instigate further to talk to their lawyers so I think it's a battle not worth pursuing... but at least I can warn others.

Those pre-surgery contracts are alot less legally binding than you may think. You can also argue that you were kind of forced into it under duress. Its unreasonable for you to fly to a different country, literally be 1 day or hours before surgery, then have the terms and conditions changed on you. That is an insane amount of pressure for you to agree to the terms and conditions. Perhaps you can even argue that this was pre-medidated; that they in fact intentionally chose to wait until the very last moment to do this price switcheroo on you. 

There is a chance you may be misinterpreting things as well. You seem to think it is a threat from them when they say 'talk to the lawyers'. Perhaps the clinic is literally and more innocently telling you to 'talk to the lawyers' so you can negotiate some type of settlement? 

It actually doesnt really make sense for the head of a hair transplant clinic to get involved and bogged down in some legal matter. If you are a company owner and you have a potential legal problem, it makes sense to hand it off to the professional lawyers, who are the experts in this. 

I say take them up on their suggestion and literally talk to their lawyers. What do you have to lose?

At the absolute minimum you should do a free consult with a local lawyer near you. Most consults are free. 

Edited June 6, 2023 by HappyMan2021

[Jnass]

4 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

Those pre-surgery contracts are alot less legally binding than you may think. You can also argue that you were kind of forced into it under duress. Its unreasonable for you to fly to a different country, literally be 1 day or hours before surgery, then have the terms and conditions changed on you. That is an insane amount of pressure for you to agree to the terms and conditions. Perhaps you can even argue that this was pre-medidated; that they in fact intentionally chose to wait until the very last moment to do this price switcheroo on you. 

There is a chance you may be misinterpreting things as well. You seem to think it is a threat from them when they say 'talk to the lawyers'. Perhaps the clinic is literally and more innocently telling you to 'talk to the lawyers' so you can negotiate some type of settlement? 

It actually doesnt really make sense for the head of a hair transplant clinic to get involved and bogged down in some legal matter. If you are a company owner and you have a potential legal problem, it makes sense to hand it off to the professional lawyers, who are the experts in this. 

I say take them up on their suggestion and literally talk to their lawyers. What do you have to lose?

At the absolute minimum you should do a free consult with a local lawyer near you. Most consults are free. 

thanks for the suggestions! I actually first talked to her about my results and my discontent but then she handed me over to her husband the Manager of the business and he was adamant in saying that they don't do refunds and are not going to give one. And that if i wanted to instigate further that I could talk to their lawyers who would give me the same response.. they offered another "free" touch up but I was like no way im ever letting them put a finger on my scalp again. 

[HappyMan2021]

1 minute ago, Jnass said:

And that if i wanted to instigate further that I could talk to their lawyers who would give me the same response

Talk to the lawyers 🙌🙌🙌

Contrary to popular belief, most lawyers really do prefer settling these types of matters amicably. There are alot of negatives for the lawyers and the clinic if this turns into some sort of protracted legal dispute. 

Also, lawyers are 3rd parties to this matter and therefore do not have the emotions, passions, or egos involved. The lawyer will be a cooler head, a more level-headed person you can talk to. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Unfortunately, without any proof, it’s your word against theres. Take this as a valuable lesson. Make sure you get it in writing next time. Unethical clinics never prosper, believe me.

[Jnass]

Yes, right now I just want to move past this and see whats the best solution for my resulting recipient and donor area. 

[Henry]

That doctor was an asshole. All things considering though, you may not be happy with your hair but, i do think it looks good enough for you to just live your life and move on from this. 

[RTC]

Sorry to hear this bro. Utter scumbags. I would try to live it with it for a year and see how you feel before going for another procedure. Also, have realistic expectations - alot of repairs just don't work perfectly, due to limited donor, damaged recipients etc

[Al - Moderator]

It doesn't look too horrible overall. The worst part is the hair line. I'd do a small session of about 200 single grafts to refine the hair line and 200 to 300 into the midcsalp. That's all. 500 grafts max because it looks like your entire balding area may be increasing in size, so you don't want to use too many grafts for certain areas if you'll need them later.

 

[TheHappySnowball]

Hey @Jnass,

 

Sorry to hear about such a bad experience you have had. But has @BeHappy as said also, I don't believe your hairline is that bad at all, minor tweaking and it'll look pretty good. The only thing I would say is your midscalp does look a bit bare, and it was ashame that she didn't touch that spot to help add some density there. But, there are some things to consider as well. In the first surgery you had with her, it was focused on the hairline and extracting enough grafts to make it normal. I'd say there was a possibility of either not enough grafts, the fact that your body may  be strongly resistant to any DHT therapy, or both. Either way the results were not what you wanted. Throughout the second procedure, it sucks to hear that she didn't listen to your directions(if it was indeed agreed upon on both parties to touch up mainly the midscalp). But there could have honestly be a possibility here that she just didn't have enough grafts extracted to justify a foreseeable possible unhappy customer at the midscalp, albiet it wasn't the result you wanted anyways. I really do hope it all can turn out for the better and I'm wish you the best of luck.

I wanted to post on here as well because I JUST RECENTLY got my FUE HT by Dr. Yeimy Alvarez, and am on day 1 post op. I am currently VERY SATISFIED with my results, but just as Jnass initially was as well, only time will tell. I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I'll post a full experience I've had with her once I get my pre and post pictures from them sometime tomorrow. Until then, I just hope this doesn't dissuade anyone from completely distrusting her because I personally felt like I had a really good experience(thus far) with her and her entire team. Of course, Jnass did as well, until the results didn't occur. So only time will tell.

[Gatsby]

13 minutes ago, TheHappySnowball said:

I am currently VERY SATISFIED with my results

Twenty four hours post op?🤔

[Gatsby]

@Jnass I am so sorry that this has happened to you. But the first thing that I would do is nothing. Do not jump out of the pan and back into the fire. Give yourself some time to think and heal a little. The worst thing you could do now is make a surgical decision based on emotion. I also had two very bad surgeries when I was young and in some ways reacting emotionally to them left me with more scarring that might have been able to be avoided if I had have just done nothing at the time.

Firstly you are able to take medication which is a big bonus in your case. Secondly I would at some point start looking at EXCELLENT repair surgeons and see what they say. Do not start another surgery but listen to what they have to say. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but you can never do enough research and that still holds true even more so now. My concern is that you will pull the trigger to whoever promises to tell you what you want to hear when you are feeling desperate. As hard as it is take your time. Your hair actually is no where near as bad as you perceive it.

[consequence]

Can you show us a current pic of your hairline without your hand holding it down (like in your first few pics). Hard to see what’s going on with the hair pulled taut?

I appreciate your frustration. It’s disappointing to see people act unethically when you’re in such a vulnerable state.

I know people have financial restraints but in general it’s not a good idea to give the ball back to a guy that fumbled it in the first place.

Edited June 10, 2023 by consequence

[A_4_Archan]

Sorry for all the things you have gone through brother...but its not looking as bad as you are taking it..it has flaws and to be honest transplants do have flaws...and everytime people aren't geting good results...but currently you don't have to take any hasty decision regarding your surgery ....just give it some time and calmly look for a surgeon who is doing good repair work...