July 17 2009, 3:36 pm PT | Posted in: Hair Transplantation
This is in response to Unethical Graft Counting — Avoid the Scam!
That’s scary! I have a related question - do you think these Doctors “waste” grafts or do they cut thin strip containing less number of grafts to begin with? i.e., cut 3000 grafts from “donor” area and put only 1000 grafts on balding areas to save labor cost? or, Do they cut a strip with ~1000 grafts and put 1000 on head.
If it’s the later, at least the patients will have the grafts for a later surgery. If the later, the doctors are worse than Bernie Madoff!
Having been through 3 surgeries, one good way to approximately estimate how many grafts were implanted was to count (a) number of hours and (b) number of technicians putting those grafts on your head. For 1640 grafts HT — it took 2 techs@NHI about 5 hours (excl lunch break); for 1850 grafts HT — it took 3 techs about 6 hours; for 1400 grafts HT — it was about 4 hours for 2 techs. I don’t know if these are somewhat standard.
The question is really whether or not you always get what comes out of the head. Most hair transplant doctors will be close to the graft estimate when cutting the strip, but what if the doctor got more grafts than you paid for? Does he/she throw the extras in the garbage? This is a matter of ethics and you must know that your doctor cares about your hair supply and does not waste it. Everyone has a finite amount of donor hair, and to throw those precious follicles away would be awful. If you have an ethical and honest doctor, the doctor will ALWAYS do things in your interest, even if it means giving you more than you paid for. But if he scams patients as a way to make his living, a skunk should be known by his smell.
As for speed of your procedure — all technicians are not created equal. Some are efficient and fast, while others are just the opposite.
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Balding Forum
Maybe I can save a few people out there from a nightmare that never goes away. There is a Dr. Paul Riggs and his quack John Satino. I was 25 and Satino talked me into 800 plugs. I was sold on their hairscalplaserclinic.com which made a laser transplant seem so high tech. Anyway, if I knew then what I know now, I would have sued the pants off all of them. However, the statute of limitations restricts this. Anyway, Satino, who is NOT a doctor is the one that did the strip removal. This by the way, is illegal as he is NOT a doctor. It was the most painful procedure I ever had. I was in the chair 8 hours, and not once did they offer me food. Here is the kicker. After 7 hours, Satino says to me,” I know you are under contract for 800 plugs but, we have 300 left over. Do you want to pay for the rest of them?” I was in such a daze, hungry and ready to pass out, do you think I would have said no? That is kind of like someone says to you “hey we got you 60% vision back in your eyes but for another $1000, you can have 100%” who is going to say no, so they charged my credit card for the remainder. Regardless, I left from the place and waited for the “great” results to come in. Months passed, with very little results, I called Satino who said be patient. Close to a year went by and very little growth had come in. I called Satino and he said he didn’t understand how this happened and if I wanted to, he would do another procedure “free”. Nevertheless, I had 12 months to think about what they had done to me and said “not a chance”. Today, 10 years later I look in the mirror at holes and plugs sticking out of my head with so little density, it looks idiotic. What business do these f’in clowns have allowing a 25 year old kid to do this procedure not to mention “upselling” during the procedure? I hope they die a very slow death for ruining my life and who knows how many others. If you see a response to this from some “happy client” you know it was posted by someone from their group. I would put my email here so you can email me, but it probably would be removed. I will figure out some way to get the word around. If you decide to get the procedure done, make sure you ask about future hair loss, noticeability after the procedure and also the pain that you will have in your donor site possibly forever. It is interesting that nobody ever mentions these things, but I have first hand experience and it is absolutely true. If this post gets edited or deleted, it will be obvious what is happening on these sites.