Dr. Armani or their representative/s... hairtech.

[hairtech]

I posted this on another site... maybe they will answer them here too...

Mr. Brookman or Dr. Armani,

Hi, I need to ask a few questions due to the amount of hype you are getting lately. Can you answer all of these questions as they will help readers here as well as on a different site I post on. BTW, congratulations on the new clinics opening. These are very important questions and they build on each other so please answer them all. Thanks in advance.

1. I hear that your clinic has set a record for 4300 FUE graft extractions in one day. Is this true?
2. If this is, how do you accomplish this? Drill?
3. How many hours did 4300 FUE grafts take to complete?
4. Do you account for every transection occurring. Transcections occur and cannot be ignored. So how do you guys account for this?
5. What is the average hair count per graft in a session as large as 4300 in one day.
6. Do you split the larger grafts down under microscopy. In other words, large grafts of 4,5,6 haired grafts. Do you cut these bulky grafts down.
7. What is the range of punch sizes you use. Most use 0.75mm-1.0mm. Some rarely go beyond the 1.0mm.
8. Post operatively, why do you tell the patients not to literally touch the recipient are for 21 days? Is this something exclusive to you or have been studied by your clinic.
9. I have heard that you believe there is over 10,000 grafts available in the donor area and in all patients. Is this truly your belief and can you provide a calculation to back up this? Very important.
10. What is your average measurements (mm) on hairlines from the eyebrow?


I hope you can answer ALL of these questions as I have seen some of these over and over on a few sites. I will repost the questions on two or three other sites so that the viewers can find the answers you provide. Thank you sir/s.

 

[hairtech_]

handlethe_truth.wav

 

[s.a.f]

Hmmm, some interesting questions but I would'nt hold my breath waiting for a response. :roll:

 

[hairtech_]

Why? Aren't they relevant? I hope someone will answer.

 

[Aplunk1]

HLH is your best bet... Occasionally, Armani's assistants might get back to you in a few weeks/months.

They're very impunctual, if you know what I mean.

 

[s.a.f]

Its easy to make claims to appeal to people but being able to back them up to people who have surgical experience is another thing.

 

[hairtech_]

I agree SAF... But silence IMO speaks louder than posting.

Aplunk1 I love your Burger king face. In fact once I had one of those masks... I went around and had someone take pictures of me in different places... joking around.

As for going on HLH, I got banned for speaking the truth and stating my opinions. I would not go there if I were begged to back there.

 

[bighurt]

well, from first hand experience, i have to say that a lot of things that seem to get thrown around message boards about Armani, most notably the "he's unethical....he just packs as many grafts as possible into your hairline with no concern for future hair loss or available donor area" is a lot of BS.

first of all, we're all adults here. nobody getting a hair transplant is a kid. it's up to us to do research and figure these things out for ourselves. anyone who just blindly goes to a hair transplant doctor and says "do whatever you want...here's the money"...well, i'm not gonna say they deserve a bad result, but they have to shoulder most, if not all, of the blame of a bad outcome. i say that for people getting hair transplant's now, post-internet. i don't think the information was out there 10+ years ago, so people who had a bad result from a procedure before the mid/late 90's are exempt from the 'blame'.

second of all, Armani himself told me right away that he doesn't expect this will be my only procedure. not b/c of me personally, but that's what he tells EVERYONE. i was only a Norwood 2/2.5 at 32 years old with pretty good coverage and have been on propecia (now proscar) for almost 5 years. he still told me that i should not expect to have everything be wonderful and never want/need any work done in the future. he said that i had good donor density and that with 3300 grafts there would certainly be more available down the road should i want a touch-up, etc. now, i'm hoping like hell that never happens, but he did explain everything very clearly from his point of view and said that i am likely to get thinner in zone 2 over the years. he also specifically said "guys you're age don't think they're going to care as much about what they look like when they're 45 or 50. i can tell you, you will care just as much."

he was not promising the holy grail or selling himself as anything he wasn't. he also is a personable, likeable guy from what i could gather in my short time meeting him. at the end of the procedure, i jokingly said to him "you're not only a doctor, but an artist" and he laughed with me and said "c'mon now, i gotta keep my feet on the ground."

i didn't get that he's some egotistical guy out for only money or that he's performing procedures that will leave people miserable down the road.

i could be wrong, i'm not a perfect judge of character, but that's my impression.

his staff was very attentive and friendly and definitely took their work seriously which you have to respect.

as i mentioned in my other post, i do think the post-op advice and support should have been better and they should recognize that their post-op procedures are not a "one-size-fits-all" approach. it's just not feasible for a lot of people to leave scabs on for 4 weeks or not go swimming for 12 months, etc.

now i'm just hoping that i can get a result like some of the others that he's had (both ones i've seen in person and on his website)....

*fingers crossed*

 

[hairwegoagain]

Why not phone him and ask? I have no opinion of Armani one way or the other, but would frankly lose respect for any professional who would feel the need to respond to background noise on an internet chat board.

 

[hairtech_]

Bighurt,

You bring up some good points. However, I have seen egotistical doctors be fake(nice) in front of patients and then the real doctor comes out the rest of the time... to the point that I could swear they had split personalities... One doctor did not have bed side manners at all.

So my point is that while I am completely happy/glad that you had a good experience. I would expect no less from any clinic. However, my aim is to find clinical answers to my questions at hand. Nevertheless, you have helped answer many things since you began your other thread concerning Dr. Armani. I applaud and thank you!

I hope the other answers come too. :smack:

hairwegoagain,

It isn't background noise if you answer questions. Why don't you go and lose respect for those clinics who post anything for that matter.:shakehead: Gosh too many times do we see clinics posting a bunch of marketing crap that makes my stomach turn... ie, photoshoped photography, or clinics attacking other clinics online. :shakehead: That is where the respect should be lost. My questions are clinical and should in fact help that clinic. BTW I emailed him and I might just call him... however it would be easier to just answer here. He and/or his staff posts online... so when a clinic accepts the responsibility to post results or claim things online, then that clinic should be able to answer questions and especially clinical ones. :shakehead:

Again silence speaks mountains.

 

[hairwegoagain]

Why don't you go and lose respect for those clinics who post anything for that matter.:shakehead: Gosh too many times do we see clinics posting a bunch of marketing crap that makes my stomach turn... ie, photoshoped photography, or clinics attacking other clinics online. :shakehead:

I do, actually.

Again silence speaks mountains.

You just posted your challenge this morning. Again, I have no opinion of Armani or any other hair transplant surgeon...but do you think that responding to you or any other random internet poster is a priority for them? I hope to hell it's not. I don't know about mountains, but THAT would speak volumes.

 

[hairtech_]

I disagree because the clinic at hand does in fact post. So random or not, clinics tend to post answers all the time... maybe not on this particular site but I post on several sites and there are clinics posting answers to questions all the time. Everyone is entitled to their opinion though. :dunno:

 

[Optimist]

I have never seen anyone from Armani's clinics post on this site. So, I'm not sure why you would expect them to reply here.

 

[hairtech]

I posted it on 3 sites total. Which ever site they post on... I will bring it here too.

 

[hairtech_]

Ok, I got an answer from a representative... Comments are welcome and thank you Armani and pals for a quick response!

Thomas,



Good Evening and thank you for your email. It will be my pleasure to answer the majority of your questions.



Our record is in fact 5200 FUE but we do not look for records, we are only interested in perfect results. Our aim is quality. AlviArmani have a number of proprietary technologies and highly trained staff that allow this to be performed at this speed. This procedure takes a full day to accomplish. Our grafts are taken safely and we do not separate naturally occurring follicles. If we take a 2 or 3 hair follicle then it is implanted as such. The average works out at around 1.5 - 2 hairs per follicle and as such a 4000FUE case will amount to around 6-7,000 hairs.



We have a variety of punch sizes, but they are no larger than the width of the follicle that we are extracting. Each patient is unique so it is impossible to give an exact answer on what punch size we use as it varies patient to patient. We base our donor availability once again on what each patient can offer. The average donor region has around 40,000 grafts of which we can extract 50% without affecting the look of the donor region. It is important to remember that each patient is unique; as such we need to manage the expectation of all patients based on their own expectation and what is achievable from their donor area.



Finally the measurement for the eyebrows to the hairline is 50% of the distance from eyebrows to bottom of chin. This is based on ancient theory and particularly the Vitruvian Man designed by Leonardo da Vinci and Marcus Vitruvius Polio. Each patient has different size heads so there is no set measurement. This also depends upon the expectation of the patient, some like to lower hairlines and some prefer a more mature hairline.



I hope this has answered the majority of your questions in full. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information.



Regards



James Brookman

Alvi Armani

 

[hairtech_]

My response to the email is my own opinion and should not be construed as nothing more. I don't have actual proof or have worked or visited this clinic. And any comment I say here in response to the email is my own psychoanalysis based on previous work and/or experience. Comments I make here are not necessarily pointing to what the email was saying. Just my own observations.

Well my analysis is this... key things to pick out of the letter...

1. First off, a quick response was good. It showed professionalism under fire or hard questioning.

2. "AlviArmani have a number of proprietary technologies and highly trained staff that allow this to be performed at this speed."

A typical statement that makes me cringe because how many times do we hear this? "Proprietary" in the field of medicine is bothersome to me. And in this field alone do we see physicians hording this and that... for financial gain ONLY... except maybe Woods because as time has passed I see why he did what he did... but that is my opinion and on the flip side, everyone has the right to do so.

3. Avoidance of actual punch size... Something that is common to select clinics... but at least they say they have punches that are as small as the follicular graft size whilst other clinics hide punch size based on enormity.

4. "Our grafts are taken safely and we do not separate naturally occurring follicles. If we take a 2 or 3 hair follicle then it is implanted as such."

Great answer! I like untouched grafts!

5. Average follicular graft is 1.5 - 2 hairs per follicle in a 4000 graft case which tells me that they pick off the majority of 2's and 1's... which is odd in my mind but that was the answer we got.

5. "The average donor region has around 40,000 grafts of which we can extract 50% without affecting the look of the donor region." I don't know how to answer this one. Clearly, they believe that the donor area has more than what most think. I leave that one for you all to judge.

6. "This is based on ancient theory and particularly the Vitruvian Man designed by Leonardo da Vinci and Marcus Vitruvius Polio."

This is just "filler" words in my opinion. Sort of throwing that out there to impress me. It doesn't mean anything clinically. Leonardo DaVinci drew pictures. I asked for the average of their hairlines from the brow up. Many physicians can easily give an answer to this because, an average conservative hairline from brow up is documented in books as 7-9cm. Not saying that was bad just not what I was looking for.

7. "This also depends upon the expectation of the patient, some like to lower hairlines and some prefer a more mature hairline."

Not the answer I was looking for. What the patient might want may not be what the patient needs... a decision that is so critical. Too low a hairline and you are screwed. Start high and then work your way down is something I learned from a doctor and I actually believe that. A conservative approach you cannot go wrong because you can always walk it down. A too aggressive approach... may or may not lead you to problems. Maybe Armani has a conservative/aggressive approach... I don't know because they did not provide an average. So this answer was sort of neutral.

8. All other questions were left out.


So what does everyone else think?

 

[hairtech]

Guys and Girls,

I am officially banning Prodding ;-) It doesnt seem gentlemanly.

My apologies for yesterday, i was out of office for a period in meetings. I can not understand why you would have been on hold for 8 minutes, my receptionist should have taken a message and i would have called you back the second i recieved it. I will look to create lucidity pertaining to some of your questions.

In the UK, AlviArmani has 2 (two) offices, one in London and one in Manchester. As demand from the UK is so high we have set up these permanent offices to assist and answer any questions you may have regarding AlviArmani hair transplantation.

The UK office is located in Bank, Central London and i (James Brookman) am available any time for a consultation and to answer your questions. For clarity i do not charge to hold a consultation. Consultations are completely free and you will leave with a full understanding of your hair loss and in what ways we can assist you on your journey. My colleague Wayne Walton is based in Manchester. Wayne is a 2500 FUE patient and will also assist wth questions and for any interested party he will show his result in person.

My mobile is 07734 033916 so please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have questions or wish to book a consultation.

... just a quick one for Hairtech, apologies if you think i missed a question or in some way avoided an answer from your email, i am more than happy to answer any question regarding AlviArmani services. Though please understand that not all questions have a straight forward answer due to the complexities of the work and indeed the operations we provide.

Warmest Regards,

James Brookman
Business Director
Alvi Armani

 

[hawk001]

Ok, I got an answer from a representative... Comments are welcome and thank you Armani and pals for a quick response! Thomas, Good Evening and thank you for your email. It will be my pleasure to answer the majority of your questions. Our record is in fact 5200 FUE but we do not look for records, we are only interested in perfect results. Our aim is quality. AlviArmani have a number of proprietary technologies and highly trained staff that allow this to be performed at this speed. This procedure takes a full day to accomplish. Our grafts are taken safely and we do not separate naturally occurring follicles. If we take a 2 or 3 hair follicle then it is implanted as such. The average works out at around 1.5 - 2 hairs per follicle and as such a 4000FUE case will amount to around 6-7,000 hairs. We have a variety of punch sizes, but they are no larger than the width of the follicle that we are extracting. Each patient is unique so it is impossible to give an exact answer on what punch size we use as it varies patient to patient. We base our donor availability once again on what each patient can offer. The average donor region has around 40,000 grafts of which we can extract 50% without affecting the look of the donor region. It is important to remember that each patient is unique; as such we need to manage the expectation of all patients based on their own expectation and what is achievable from their donor area. Finally the measurement for the eyebrows to the hairline is 50% of the distance from eyebrows to bottom of chin. This is based on ancient theory and particularly the Vitruvian Man designed by Leonardo da Vinci and Marcus Vitruvius Polio. Each patient has different size heads so there is no set measurement. This also depends upon the expectation of the patient, some like to lower hairlines and some prefer a more mature hairline. I hope this has answered the majority of your questions in full. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information. Regards James Brookman
Alvi Armani

I feel someone who is being asked to shell out USD 50,000 or more for a transplant deserves a better response; a more customized one; and that too from a professional not some marketing man. Only a Doctor is fit to review a patient and then give professional opinion. How can Shawky give an opinion when he is not a Doctor or a technician who assists Dr. Armani in his procedures. Even I can give a number. 4000-5000-8000 grafts and get a higher commission as the no. of grafts are more.

I visited their clinic in Dubai and got the same email response. I was also told that if I was short of time, I could also cover two areas (front and crown) in one surgery. Now, isn't this pure marketing?

I don't think such a thing can happen in USA or Canada where the general laws are strict. Doctors must be required to follow some code of conduct rather than just have their staff sell their talent. Not appreciated.

 

[metalheaddude]

I found Armani and his staff quite reluctant to answer anything online or even by email. They always want to "call you" which in reality is probably a good thing. They need to know you're serious.

 

[Cassin]

I have never seen anyone from Armani's clinics post on this site. So, I'm not sure why you would expect them to reply here.

Reps aren't allowed here...not even hair transplant docs unless they speak to the site owner. Its not worth the trouble.

Sometimes is takes us awhile to notice.