What percentage of hair transplant patients get ripped off?
- Thread starter Pequod
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Hairloss23
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i suppose that is subject to whether the customer thinks they got a raw deal, I'd imagine most of the more recent ones who go to surgeons who are members of the IAHARS (or whatever it's initials are) would be happy with their results, the further back you go though, the worse hair transplant's were, even some of the richest guys in the world can get hair transplants that look awful (see Cesc Fabregas). If you asked me to put a number on it then I would say for this decade, probably around 30-50% feel like they could have got better results. 20-30 ripped off, there are a lot of cheeky surgeons out there such as Dr Cole, our very own Arfy can tell you all about him.
I would say 95 to 98% at least in the US. Even if that means trying to get the patient back for more procedures. Rarely will a hair transplant doctor do a fair job for fair pay. Some of them don't even do any of the procedure instead relying on the assistants (I refuse to call them technicians. You are either a doctor, a nurse, or an assistant). It is all about getting the money.
In fact one poster suggested that they all do at least some bad work to make business for each other doing each other's repairs. It makes total sense. If two doctors each do two hair transplants that is a total of four. However, if they both screw up one of them, those two people will go to another doctor for repair so now you have the original 4 hair transplants plus 2 repair hair transplants for a total of 6. Remember they all have you sign wavers saying there are no guarantees.
You will often see hair transplant doctors say a natural hairline is not symmetrical which is a lie. Even if they aren't perfectly symmetrical, they are a lot closer to symmetrical than they aren't. I just came across a website saying that a perfectly symmetrical hairline does not look natural. That is total horses**t. No one notices a perfectly symmetrical hairline as being off, weird, or unnatural. They notice one that isn't. A doctor who says they aren't symmetrical is one who lacks competence, artistry, is lazy, just doesn't care, or is trying to get you back to fix it.
Not once have I heard an hair transplant patient complain about a perfectly symmetrical hairline. One problem is doctors freehand draw the hairline which is never going to be symmetrical. Some are worse than others. There is not a reason in the world even 20 years ago that there isn't a machine that projects a symmetrical laser hairline on a patient that the doctor can then draw in. Even then his drawing will not be perfect but it will be close enough. A 1/8 inch difference in a hairline is noticeable. A 1/4 inch difference may as well be a mile off.
One time I saw a picture of an African American hair transplant patient. His hairline was very short and both sides were symmetrical and it looked great. However, it was just ever so slightly tilted, probably 1/4 inch and it was very noticeable.
Sorry for the rant. Just trying to give people more information to watch out for as the industry is getting worse and worse.
In fact one poster suggested that they all do at least some bad work to make business for each other doing each other's repairs. It makes total sense. If two doctors each do two hair transplants that is a total of four. However, if they both screw up one of them, those two people will go to another doctor for repair so now you have the original 4 hair transplants plus 2 repair hair transplants for a total of 6. Remember they all have you sign wavers saying there are no guarantees.
You will often see hair transplant doctors say a natural hairline is not symmetrical which is a lie. Even if they aren't perfectly symmetrical, they are a lot closer to symmetrical than they aren't. I just came across a website saying that a perfectly symmetrical hairline does not look natural. That is total horses**t. No one notices a perfectly symmetrical hairline as being off, weird, or unnatural. They notice one that isn't. A doctor who says they aren't symmetrical is one who lacks competence, artistry, is lazy, just doesn't care, or is trying to get you back to fix it.
Not once have I heard an hair transplant patient complain about a perfectly symmetrical hairline. One problem is doctors freehand draw the hairline which is never going to be symmetrical. Some are worse than others. There is not a reason in the world even 20 years ago that there isn't a machine that projects a symmetrical laser hairline on a patient that the doctor can then draw in. Even then his drawing will not be perfect but it will be close enough. A 1/8 inch difference in a hairline is noticeable. A 1/4 inch difference may as well be a mile off.
One time I saw a picture of an African American hair transplant patient. His hairline was very short and both sides were symmetrical and it looked great. However, it was just ever so slightly tilted, probably 1/4 inch and it was very noticeable.
Sorry for the rant. Just trying to give people more information to watch out for as the industry is getting worse and worse.
arfy
Established Member
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- 17
One of the problems in trying to make sense of the industry - the damage can take years to become apparent. For example, a guy might be happy with his first two procedures. Years go by. What could happen next :
- As he loses more hair, it becomes more obvious that his transplanted hair doesn't look natural unless mixed in with "original" hair. But that hair is going, or gone.
- He looks into getting his third procedure - "sorry, you have limited donor hair to work with". The first two procedures weren't efficient, and his precious donor supply was wasted. He didn't know.
- He doesn't have the same laxity in his donor area any more, and his next strip procedure results in a bad scar
- Hair from FUE grafts harvested outside the "safe zone" might fall out eventually.
- The doctors did a bad job of planning, and put the hairline too low. As he gets older, the hairline doesn't fit.
- Bad planning of graft usage in relation to the patient's pattern of hair loss (lots of donor supply used on a dense hairline, not enough conserved for the mid scalp, not even to mention the crown)
I don't know about "rip offs" - those words mean something specific to me (false promises, etc) which certainly happens - it's happened to me. That's a very specific issue. However, in more general terms, regarding long term satisfaction, I'd guess only 20% of patients would get a hair transplant again, if you asked them 10 years later. There are no long-term satisfaction surveys regarding hair transplants, and there never will be, IMO, because nobody wants to know the answer. The doctors certainly don't.
- As he loses more hair, it becomes more obvious that his transplanted hair doesn't look natural unless mixed in with "original" hair. But that hair is going, or gone.
- He looks into getting his third procedure - "sorry, you have limited donor hair to work with". The first two procedures weren't efficient, and his precious donor supply was wasted. He didn't know.
- He doesn't have the same laxity in his donor area any more, and his next strip procedure results in a bad scar
- Hair from FUE grafts harvested outside the "safe zone" might fall out eventually.
- The doctors did a bad job of planning, and put the hairline too low. As he gets older, the hairline doesn't fit.
- Bad planning of graft usage in relation to the patient's pattern of hair loss (lots of donor supply used on a dense hairline, not enough conserved for the mid scalp, not even to mention the crown)
I don't know about "rip offs" - those words mean something specific to me (false promises, etc) which certainly happens - it's happened to me. That's a very specific issue. However, in more general terms, regarding long term satisfaction, I'd guess only 20% of patients would get a hair transplant again, if you asked them 10 years later. There are no long-term satisfaction surveys regarding hair transplants, and there never will be, IMO, because nobody wants to know the answer. The doctors certainly don't.
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Probably entirely dependent on the hair transplant surgeon. eventually every hair transplant will look bad as the non donor hair falls out as time progresses very few hair transplants can stand alone forever and once you're in, you're in. Low hairlines a tradeoff. Great while you're young, but when hair loss progresses, you're screwed and all out of donor hair. Conservative hair transplants are the best option long term, but they'll leave you dissatisfied if you're still young and want to have trendy haircuts like your normal friends. It's always a tradeoff, youth vs longevity, only thing you can do is find the best surgeon you can afford and hope that he can get good results without using too many grafts in one very small area (hairline).
Rizwan Younis
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75% - 80%
follicle2001
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I don't know what "ripped off" means. If you mean you got less grafts than you paid for, only the docs know for sure. Most docs have at least some wiggle room in price and you can negotiate things a bit. If you mean you elected to have a hair transplant based on their ads and reputation and website, not sure that is what I would call "ripped off."
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I agree with a lot of what you say. I think that many people who get low front hairlines do get trapped into having to have future procedures. IMHO, higher hairlines that look more mature also tend to look more natural and hold up better over time, but many (most?) younger males would not be happy with such a hairline.
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I agree with a lot of what you say. I think that many people who get low front hairlines do get trapped into having to have future procedures. IMHO, higher hairlines that look more mature also tend to look more natural and hold up better over time, but many (most?) younger males would not be happy with such a hairline.